The 41-Year Old Comics Virgin: Recommendations

[David T. Cole]

So I've been reading comics on my iPad recently and loving it.

As I posted, I've read a lot of Dark Horse Star Wars comics but I've pretty much caught up now and I'm branching out but I need some suggestions. This is what I've read:

• Watchmen (read this before the movie came out and absolutely loved it!)
• From Hell (hate hate hated it)
• Dark Knight Returns (great)
• Preacher book 1 (great but the other ones are only available as single issues digitally so I might have to go to a real book store)

I welcome your suggestions!

[nymusix]

I'm a fan of the Batman The Long Halloween and The Killing Joke, which a lot of The Dark Knight is based upon. 

Obviously if you liked Dark Knight Returns then check out other Frank Miller stuff...

I also highly recommend a couple of Brian K. Vaughn series - particularly Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina. Very thought provoking series' between the two of them.

As I mentioned in another thread I'm currently reading Sandman, which is pretty great, and if you liked American Gods, it's very thematically similar.

Also, if you're looking for something a little bit darker and deeper then Maus is a great read. It's not easy but it's definitely worth reading.

[David T. Cole]

Oh I forgot I did read Maus when it came out. That it came from a Wacky Packages guy is a bit of a mind fuck.

[TravisNelson76]

I'm in basically the same boat.  I had read a few comics over the years but have just in the last month or so gotten much more into it the whole thing.  I even visited an actual comic store last week!

Without a doubt, you need to read Saga.  And probably Y: The Last Man.  Both are by Brian K. Vaughan.  And both are just really good at world-building and at mixing drama/humor.  The new Hawkeye (by Matt Fraction and David Aja) is also great -- and I'm not someone who is generally interested in the superhero side of comics.

Beyond that, I've also totally enjoyed Nowhere Men, Punk Rock Jesus, and The Manhattan Projects.

[David T. Cole]

This is the 4th time someone mentioned that Hawkeye series to me so I'll have to check it out. I'm not generally into the capes and cowls stuff either.

[Chip]

Make it 5 times for Hawkeye and 2 times for Saga.

I hear good things about East of West and Pretty Deadly and they are in my to-read queue. They are both more western than super-hero. East of West is an alternate history four horsemen of the apocalypse. I think Pretty Deadly is about a woman whose father may be Death.

The current run of Wonder Woman delves a lot more into the mythology and less on the super-heroes. It reminds me a lot of Sandman with a lot of gods running around as people. 

[ApathyMonger]

Make it 5 times for Hawkeye and 2 times for Saga.

I hear good things about East of West and Pretty Deadly and they are in my to-read queue. They are both more western than super-hero. East of West is an alternate history four horsemen of the apocalypse. I think Pretty Deadly is about a woman whose father may be Death.

The current run of Wonder Woman delves a lot more into the mythology and less on the super-heroes. It reminds me a lot of Sandman with a lot of gods running around as people. 

I'm not sold on Pretty Deadly yet (I'll get the collection), but I enjoyed East of West. It's by Jonathan Hickman though, which is an acquired taste. I love his series The Manhattan Projects too.

The last new series I read that I really liked was Nowhere Men, from Eric Stephenson and Nate Bellegarde. You can read the first issue for free here: https://www.imagecomics.com/comics/releases/nowhere-men-1 Lazarus, by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark is very good too.

Also, for fans of the Adventure Time cartoon, the comic series written by Ryan North is fantastic.

[Kate]

More love for Hawkeye and Saga.

I often recommend Astro City for new to comics folk. It plays with superhero stuff without being too dark or fanwank-y. The Tarnished Angel, in particular is one of my favorite comic books ever.

[David T. Cole]

I picked up Sandman and I'm just through issue 1 or maybe 2. Loving it. Thanks.

[EricJ]

Has anyone recommended Transmetropolitan to you yet? It's sort of a Hunter S. Thompson wish-fulfillment fantasy set in an insane near-future funhouse mirror world. (I can almost guarantee that everyone behind Black Mirror has read it.)

I was a huge comics reader from high school until my early '30s - probably a $20-$30 pull list each week. My comics reading trailed off throughout 2001, and pretty much stopped completely after 9/11. Seriously - even though I was reading lots more than superheroes at the time, something about seeing that and not seeing the Justice League and Avengers coming to the rescue broke something inside of me, and I felt nauseous whenever I went into a comics store for years afterwards.

I've recently begun reading some comics on my iPad and computer, but I can't get into anything regularly. I also can't justify paying what a comic costs vs. the amount of entertainment I get from it.

[Mini-Mart]

Ditto on Transmetropolitan and Y: The Last Man but more importantly, and I cannot stress this enough, read all of Preacher ASAP.  You will not regret having hard copies.  The run is un-fucking-believable.

[Edna Crandall]

My boyfriend is a huge comics reader, and I've read bits and pieces of the books taking over our house. What I really dig:

Fables - Fairy tale characters are from a parallel universe but have been expelled to ours. You can either start with the first one, or with 1001 Nights of Snowfall, which is an anthology of tales in the universe but outside of the main story line. 

Irredeemable - what if Superman went bad? 

Batman: What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader - Neil Gaiman's Batman arc. Great stuff.

Rising Stars - kind of Heroes-ish, if you liked that. I think the first comic I read. 

I also like the current Wonder Woman run, and have been meaning to read Hawkeye. 

[ApathyMonger]

Fables is great, but probably should have ended a few years ago when they wrapped up the main storyline. At least it's finally ending soon; I hope they don't mess it up.

[Omar G.]

I'm not into superhero comics either and Hawkeye is exactly not that and dispenses with all the capes and cowls stuff for the most part.  And it's funny.

"Y The Last Man" is great. The main character reminds me a lot of Marko from "Saga."

I think you'd like "Sex Criminals," but I could be completely wrong. There are some incredibly clever porn jokes in it that make me giggle, but it's also got a very intriguing premise and great art.

Have heard good things about Nowhere Men but haven't dived into that yet. 

[David T. Cole]

I have a stoopid question. What's the typical release schedule for a comic like Saga? One a month? Every two weeks?

[TravisNelson76]

I THINK (but am not sure) that it is once-per-month while in cycle.  But that they take longer breaks between six-issue (or so) story cycles.  Basically, best prepare yourself for some waiting.

While you wait, just get going on Hawkeye.  Then Nowhere Men.  Then Y: The Last Man.

[David T. Cole]

Will do!

[Chip]

That's true on Saga. They do 6 issues monthly then take around three months off. 18 was the end of the last arc. This is a great way to do it because people can buy collections and catch up to read the monthly. DC Comics does NOT understand this. 

Edited February 20, 2014 by Spynotebook

[Omar G.]

Hawkeye keeps getting delayed and they just released 16 and 15 out of order (15 is out next week), which if you're OCD I imagine would drive you insane. 

[TravisNelson76]

What is up with that Hawkeye "16 before 15" business?  If it's a writing/art timing issue, then why not just make #16 into #15?  DISAPPROVE.

[Omar G.]

Because they're now using a different artist for the Kate storyline and Aja seems to be the one running behind. Rather than holding both, they decide to release the Kate/Beach Boys issue (#16) first.

[Muu-muuChainsmoker]

Bringing my recommendation over from the EHG comment thread in case anyone here wants to chime in:  Locke and Key by Joe Hill. 

[ApathyMonger]

Bringing my recommendation over from the EHG comment thread in case anyone here wants to chime in:  Locke and Key by Joe Hill. 

I read the first arc when it came out years ago. Now that the series is finally over, I'm going to catch up.

In terms of new series, I just read Vol. 1 of Ales Kot's spy/science fiction series Zero. Each issue is by a different artist, and the story changes to fit the artist's strengths. So some issues are talk-y, some are big fight scenes, etc. The first issue is free: http://www.comixology.com/Zero-1/digital-comic/47490

Edited February 26, 2014 by ApathyMonger

[Muu-muuChainsmoker]

ApathyMonger, there is (not really spoiler, but just in case)

a Calvin and Hobbes visual tribute

in Keys to the Kingdom that is just outstanding.

[Monty]

I understand if you don't believe me, but Don Rosa's The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is an incredibly good graphic novel.

[SomethingClever]

Everyone else has been recommending non-superhero comics, which are great, but I'll recommend some fantastic superhero comics.

Batman: Year One, by Frank Miller - If you loved Dark Knight Returns, this is the companion piece to it, and it's every bit as good. Before he lost his mind, there was a stretch of about 10 years where Miller was arguably the best comics writer on the planet, and Year One is Miller in his prime.

Ultimate Spider-Man, by Brian Michael Bendis - The whole idea of Marvel's "Ultimate" line was to allow new readers to jump in without having to worry about 50 years of convoluted backstory. That didn't work out so well for the most part, because most of the comics stunk, but Ultimate Spider-Man is the exception. Bendis and artist Mark Bagley stayed on the book for the first 110 issues, which is unheard of (in fact, it set a record), and it resulted in a comic that is super consistent and has a really great handle on its characters. It's a pretty perfect gateway into superhero comics.

All-Star Superman, by Grant Morrison - It's the perfect Superman story. Self-contained, 12 issues, overflowing with inventive ideas and beautifully drawn. It gets everything right. Maybe the most fun run of comics I've ever read.

And also superhero, but not the same as the others: Miracleman, by Alan Moore/Neil Gaiman - It's been out of print for ages because of a crazy and convoluted legal battle, and you could only find it by paying big bucks on ebay or "through methods". However, Marvel finally won that legal battle, and they're reprinting them (as well as allowing Gaiman to finally finish his story), so you could actually start now and read them as they get rereleased. It's an absolutely unbelievable series that will seriously get in your head and stay with you afterwards. I cannot recommend it enough.

And for something non-superhero that hasn't been mentioned yet: Bone, by Jeff Smith - Think Calvin and Hobbes meets Lord of the Rings. That sounds ridiculous, but it's not, it's great. Easy to pick up and hard to put down. Plus, it's really easy to get your hands on a copy of the entire run without having to track down a ton of different collections.

[Chip]

@SomethingClever have you read the current Ultimate Spider-Man with Miles Morales? It's pretty great. I'm also psyched about Miracleman. I have a lot of the issues from when it was in print and I am excited that I can now get other people to buy and read it.

[David T. Cole]

I understand if you don't believe me, but Don Rosa's The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is an incredibly good graphic novel.

That actually looks really interesting!

[Omar G.]

I've got the first two issues of the new "Miracleman" comics. They look really great, still need to dig into them.

Love how Moore's name is completely absent. Credit: "The Original Writer."

[David T. Cole]

Another milestone. Today I went to a real comic book store (Golden Apple in LA) and bought a book (The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen). So there's that.

There was a line-up when it opened, is Wednesday new comic day? I thought all that stuff was Tuesday?

[Chip]

I think that was his choice. It was something about the original original creator of the Marvelman stuff not getting proper credit in the 1980s. I kind of want to dig into the wikipedia entry about all this.

Wednesday is new comic day. DVDs and music are Tuesdays. Not sure about other media. 

[David T. Cole]

So this collection of TLOEG is printed on some sort ever-so-slightly semi-gloss stock that is SUPER FUCKING ANNOYING to read. I'm sure it's a function of just being used to what you started with but I really don't like comics on paper.

[jellysalmon]

I agree with Dave on that semi-gloss stock. Paper comics are also annoying to have. Individual issues are hard to catalog and both collections and issues take up a ton of room. I want to read comics but have no interest in owning/collecting them. I tried brokering an agreement with the local comic store to pay the owner and have a set amount of time to read them in-store. No go unfortunately.

A lot of good stuff has been recommended already, I'm going to second Rising Stars for more a modern superpowersy book and Astro City for a more classic/mythic superpowersy book.

Edited March 5, 2014 by jellysalmon

[SomethingClever]

It's no good for new stuff, but depending on whether you've got a good library system, you can usually read a lot of great comics that way.

[TiffanyNichelle]

If you want to try something that's independent and not about super-heroes, check out anything by Terry Moore. He has two complete stories- Strangers In Paradise, which is kind about two women in love but the story is bigger than just that, and Echo, which is more like a science-fiction thriller. Right now he's in the middle of another series called Rachel Rising. A girl comes back to life from the dead and that's the beginning of her story. Everything is written and drawn by him and it's all in black and white.

[Wilowy]

A couple more trades I highly recommend are Greg Rucka's "Batwoman: Elegy" - incredible story and sick, sick art!

Seriously, if you haven't seen Joss Whedon's "Fray" - that needs to be next on your list. Like stat. :) Here's a well-rounded review of it: http://picturemereading.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/graphic-novel-review-fray-by-joss-whedon/

Also, Sex Criminals is pretty good so far. 

[girlonthepark]

Hey Dave!
Things you might enjoy (some are series and some are one off graphic novels):
1) Unwritten - a guy discovers he is the real life inspiration for a Harry Potter like book series and weird things start happening.
2) Chew - Tony Chu is Cibopathic, able to get psychic sensations of the past of anything he bites into or ingests. He uses this special power to solve crimes.
3) Ex Machina - A superhero type dude is the mayor of New York City.
4) Gotham City Sirens - Shorter run but Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and Catwoman are roommates. Foxy ladies abound.
5) Fatale - Supernatural noir.
6) iZombie - Told from a female zombie’s perspective, a detective series that mixes urban fantasy and romantic dramedy.
7) Morning Glories - Weird stuff is happening at a prep school.
8) Gotham Central - A look at the cops who work on the Gotham City Police Force.
9) Greek Street - Greek myths translated into an urban setting (only three trades - eventually got cancelled).
10) Kill Shakespeare - Kind of like Fables but with Shakespeare characters.
11) Powers - Noir detectives investigate superhero crime.
12) Runaways - A group of kids discover their parents are supervillains.
13) Black Hole - A group of teens in the '70s get infected with an STD that mutates them.
14) Fun Home - Alison Bechdel talks about growing up in a funeral parlour with a closeted father.
15) Scott Pilgrim - You might have already read this, but if you ever miss Toronto, it will fit the bill. :)

[Danny Franks]

Can I recommend DC: The New Frontier, by Darwyn Cooke?

It's a really cool take on the transition from Golden Age to Silver Age superheroes, in universe. Set in the 1950s and 60s, it puts the likes of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in established roles, and then introduces The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and others, bringing them all together to fight an alien threat.

I'd say the book is more of a collection of interlocking tales, than a single narrative, and it's full of beautiful moments like this and this. The artwork is utterly gorgeous, just comic book perfection, the writing is so strong, and Cooke has such a grasp on all of the characters. I'm generally not a fan of 'Elseworlds' stories (self contained, alternate universe DC stuff), but this is just about my favourite mini series ever.

And another recommendation, We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. Be warned, if you are at all fond of animals, this story will have you choked up for almost the entirety of it. In a good way... kind of. Think the Incredible Journey, but with cybernetically enhanced animals, capable of wreaking untold havoc without really understanding the consequences of it.

They're both short as well. The New Frontier was six issues, collected in two TPBs, and We3 was only three issues, collected in a single TPB.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Danny Franks

[girlonthepark]

Throwing another post up since I am at home and able to reference a few other things my collection visually instead of just pulling things out of my head.
1) Cowboy Ninja Viking - A series that revolves around a counter-intelligence unit where the operatives have multiple personality disorder. (I was disappointed they didn't do more issues of this - only two trade collections - but it has been optioned so that is interesting.)
2) Lucifer - Actually a spinoff from the Sandman series.
3) Birds of Prey - I am particular to the Gail Simone stuff.
4) The Boys - Also Garth Ennis who did Preacher. (Full disclosure - I am half heartedly recommending this as I find with Ennis that things start off really well and then kind of hit a point for me where I feel like it is more about shock value than story. I abandoned Preacher about four trades in and abandoned The Boys around three.)

Also, Boom and Self Made Hero released some cool Cthulhu and Lovecraft collections if that is your thing.

[David T. Cole]

I understand if you don't believe me, but Don Rosa's The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is an incredibly good graphic novel.

Wow, expensive book to get these days.

[TheGongOfDoom]

If you want to try something that's independent and not about super-heroes, check out anything by Terry Moore. He has two complete stories- Strangers In Paradise, which is kind about two women in love but the story is bigger than just that, and Echo, which is more like a science-fiction thriller. Right now he's in the middle of another series called Rachel Rising. A girl comes back to life from the dead and that's the beginning of her story. Everything is written and drawn by him and it's all in black and white.

I read  a piece a few months back where he mentioned that Strangers In Paradise was going to be returning.

Strongly recommend AGAINST reading Preacher. It very quickly devolves into a sicko creepo barfo vile sicko fest as Ennis says FUCK PLOTTING AND STORYLINES I'MA THROW OUT MORE SHIT AND PUKE FART AND BUTTFUCKING JOKES AND IMAGES THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE!!! NO, MUCH MORE THAN THAT.

It's pathetic really. He had the chance to really go somewhere but once he saw that DC wasn't gonna censor him he dumbed down the comic. Waste of time. DO NOT READ PREACHER.

*Ahem*

Starman by Jerry Robinson, about Opal City and the son of the original Starman. Looking back on it now, Jack Knight is kind of laughable as he is pretty much the stereotype of todays hipster shitbag, tattoo's, being in to all things 1950's, having really shitty taste in clothes and fashion.

The Golden Age by Robinson, an Elseworld's tale about the JSA and the 1950's

[girlonthepark]

Strongly recommend AGAINST reading Preacher. It very quickly devolves into a sicko creepo barfo vile sicko fest as Ennis says FUCK PLOTTING AND STORYLINES I'MA THROW OUT MORE SHIT AND PUKE FART AND BUTTFUCKING JOKES AND IMAGES THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE!!! NO, MUCH MORE THAN THAT.

It's pathetic really. He had the chance to really go somewhere but once he saw that DC wasn't gonna censor him he dumbed down the comic. Waste of time. DO NOT READ PREACHER.

I very much felt that way too, but I thought it was just me since I only started reading comics actively about 8 years ago and I never got all the way through Preacher.

This might be a weird analogy, but it felt a little like if Kevin Smith made Clerks but instead of adding in semi-interesting/funny dialogue to kind of keep things going, the entire thing was just masturbation and corpse fucking . . . which, no.

By the time that inbred hillbilly guy starts ploughing that fish, I was like "Thanks, but I think I give up!"

Ah Preacher . . . It started out so well too!

Oh! Another thing I am really looking forward to in May is the first trade of Velvet which is sort of like if Miss Moneypenny from James Bond had her own spy adventures.

(Apologies if my recommendations are heavily based around trades - having a small child doesn't make going to the comic book store on the regular particularly easy so I tend to wait and grab collections as they pile up.)

[Wilowy]

Trades are the way to go, imo. All that comicy-goodness really gives you a chance to delve in and soak it all up. Unlike an 8-minute read through and then having to wait another couple of weeks to a month for the next 8 minutes. Trades are much more satisfying to me, and I love the bigger, sturdier format! 

[TheGongOfDoom]

I very much felt that way too, but I thought it was just me since I only started reading comics actively about 8 years ago and I never got all the way through Preacher.

This might be a weird analogy, but it felt a little like if Kevin Smith made Clerks but instead of adding in semi-interesting/funny dialogue to kind of keep things going, the entire thing was just masturbation and corpse fucking . . . which, no.

By the time that inbred hillbilly guy starts ploughing that fish, I was like "Thanks, but I think I give up!"

Ah Preacher . . . It started out so well too!

Oh! Another thing I am really looking forward to in May is the first trade of Velvet which is sort of like if Miss Moneypenny from James Bond had her own spy adventures.

(Apologies if my recommendations are heavily based around trades - having a small child doesn't make going to the comic book store on the regular particularly easy so I tend to wait and grab collections as they pile up.)

Smith did a Batman Joker story a few years back that was even more repulsive than what Ennis did on Preacher. He turned the Joker into this swishy sashaying homosexual who goes on and on about how much he'd love to get fucked in his butthole by Batman and how much he'd love to suck Batman's dick. I'm amazed that DC let him get away with it,, since the 'book' on Bats is pretty strict about what you can and can't do.

[Chip]

Smith did a Batman Joker story a few years back...

What comic are you referring to? I tend to stay away from Kevin Smith comics because they take so long to come out sometimes. I am really curious why DC would allow that characterization.

[HerrElvis]

I could go on and on with recommendations, but I'll limit myself to a few right now.

 

For non-superhero books, I find that Oni Press has a really diverse line of narrative comics that a lot of people can get behind.  An earlier commenter recommended Scott Pilgrim, and Oni published that.

 

1)  Queen & Country (Oni) - This is currently on hiatus, but the books are all collected in "Definitive Editions" covering everything from the main title that has been published so far.  There have been a few spin-off miniseries (Declassified, which covers back story of various characters) and a couple novels as well. 

 

Queen & Country stars Tara Chace, an operative for the Special Operations Section of the UK's SIS (MI6).  Greg Rucka wrote all of the main series, both novels, and two of the three Declassified series.  This is in general a fascinating look at the politics and action of secret spy stuff.

 

2)  The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius (Oni) - This one is written and illustrated by Judd Winick from the Real World: San Francisco.  Don't let that deter you.  There have been three miniseries about Barry, and they are all collected in "The Big Book of Barry Ween."

 

Barry Ween is a 10 year old genius stuck in a normal, midwestern life.  He has the general misanthropic personality of a foul-mouthed 10 year old with the ability to change the world  He does it while trying to stay relatively covert.  This book is funny as hell and throws in some actual emotion and story telling, too.

 

3)  Northwest Passage - Scott Chantler wrote and illustrated this series, which is collected in a single annotated volume.  Set in 1755, this is a mix of American Western action adventure and British sea faring adventure that tells about a conflict over a settlement in the search for the Northwest Passage.  Think of James Fenimore Cooper without the absolute boredom.
 

Like I said, I have a bunch more I could suggest, but I'll leave some for later.

[ShadowDenizen]

Simple question.

 

What comic titles (past or present) would you recommend to others?

 

My (partial!) list?

(And note that I'm excluding the established classics, like "Watchmen", "Dark Knight Returns", etc.)

 

• Camelot 3000
• Preacher
• Fables
• Starman (James Robinson run)
• Hitman (Garth Ennis writing for DC)
• Cerebus
• A Distant Soil
• Batman: Cataclysm/ No Man's Land
• Strangers in Paradise
• Hellboy/ BRPD
• Locke & Key
• Unwritten
• Chew
• Saga

Edited May 20, 2014 by ShadowDenizen

[Fukui San]

I'll keep it to 10

 

100 Bullets

Astro City

Bone

Books of Magic

Death Note (Manga)

Fables

JLA/Avengers

Lucifer

Saga

Sandman

 

I've skewed towards broadly accessible and self-contained. Any of these you should be able to give to a 15 year old or a 50 year old.

Edited May 20, 2014 by Fukui San

[ShadowDenizen]

All good choices!

 

Can't believe i overlooked "Bone"!

And I love "Lucifer", though I think "Unwritten" is more of Carey & Gross' magnum opus, IMO.

[Mars477]

I'm a huge Greg Rucka fan.  Read his shit.  It is excellent.  Check out Lazarus, with Michael Lark.  Also excellent are Punisher vol. 8, Gotham Central, Queen and Country, and Stumptown which are all incredible comics with incredible plotting and strong, very diverse, characters.