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The 41-Year Old Comics Virgin: Recommendations


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I'm branching out but I need some suggestions.

 

What genres are you interested in? There's a wide variety of EVERTYTHING out there!

 

For myself, I'll add in love for Hawkeye & Saga, and Rising Stars, too.  As well as the both the Carl Barks and Don Rosa Ducks stuff. (It's better than you think.)  Fantagraphics is actually in the midst of reprinting the Carl Barks Duck stuff, and will soon do a Don Rosa set, as well.

 

I'll also add in "Sex Criminals" (well, anything by Matt Fraction is generally a guaranteed win in my book!)

 

I've posted some recs above, but to give a littel context...

Rat Queens: An all-female D+D comic turned on it's head. Lots of gratuitous swearing and violence. (And some good drink recipes in the letters columns.)

Umbral:  Darker-edge fantasy (Maybe a tad bit darker than Saga?)

Bone:  Adorable fantasy-adventure from Jeff Smith. (Available in original B+W and Colorized editions.)

Starman: Even if you're not the Capes & Cowls kinda guy, try this, Really.  Intelligent, plot-driven superhero saga with a beginning, middle and end,. (And the Shade is a spectacular creation!)

Black Science: Hard(er) edged science-fiction.

Lucifer: Great (and finite) saga spun off from the Sandman title, about the titualr prince of Hell. (And check out their [unrelated] follow-up series "Unwritten" as well.)

Saviors: Old-fashioned "Aliens invade earth, stoner guy must save everyone" with a twist, (The author of this [James Robinson] also did the aforementioned "Starman".)

Edited by ShadowDenizen
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Rat Queens is perfection. Seriously. If you are a D&D fan or if you play(ed) an MMO, definitely pick it up.

 

Thanks, TiffanyNichelle. I didn't know about Rachel Rising. I will get it ASAP.

 

iZombie is good. Also, it will be a TV show later this year, so there will be some talk around it on the forums at the time. ;)

Edited by Crim
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I was thinking of picking up some Big Hero 6 trades in advance of the Disney movie set for November. Has anyone read this? Is it any good?

 

There are no Big Hero Six trades.

 

Big Hero Six have only ever appeared in maybe a dozen issues, plus a few cameos in big battle scenes. They've had two mini-series, but neither of them did well enough to be collected. The last series sold so badly it was outside the Top 200 of the month. I've only read it because Marvel gave it away for free on Comixology last year; it's okay.

 

I assume they'll put something out in time for the movie, but there are no plans announced yet.

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I'm a comic virgin & ok with that, but I have a kiddo asking to read some. Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can start for her? She's a tween & a prolific reader. Just this year I've let her watch some superhero & sci-fi shows & movies with me & she really enjoyed it. I tend to be somewhat protective with content so I'm hesitant being so uneducated in this department. Help!

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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!
David, Garth Ennis' run with THE PUNISHER was great. In particular, PUNISHER:BORN, which goes into his time in Vietnam, is essential Punisher reading. Also, FURY:MAX (any of the series) are good.

There are literally so many great comics out there right now!

I also recommend older stuff if you dig vintage comics. Right now I'm reading old stuff like GHOST RIDER, TOMB OF DRACULA, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, BATMAN, JONAH HEX, SWAMP THING, and a bunch of other stuff. The new stuff is good, but I'm finding so much cool reading with the vintage comics/series right now. I'd like to one day get all the older stuff and read from the beginning, but that's a daunting task!

Edited by canucktvwatcher
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I love the 70's/80's Marvels stuff. John Byrnes' run on "Namor" and "Fantastic Four" are phenmenal, and I'm gaining new appreciation for "Shang-Chi- Master of Kung Fu" as I work through that run, too.

 

Special  love for "Tomb of Dracula"! (I was able to get both omnibi in great condition for cheap recently!)

I also got the "John Carter of Mars" omnibus in the deal, but haven't gotten to that lately.

 

As an aside, I also pre-ordered the Shanower/Young "Oz" omnibus due out soon.

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I just finished the Dark Phoenix Saga. Once I got into the Claremont style, it was awesome. But what comes next? I need to read it, right now.

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I've been meaning to go back and read the Claremont stuff from the beginning because of the podcast. But I need to catch up on some current continuity before I travel back to the 1970s.

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I just finished the Dark Phoenix Saga. Once I got into the Claremont style, it was awesome. But what comes next? I need to read it, right now.

 

The next big story after Dark Phoenix was actually Days of Future Past. The thing I always find rather interesting about it is that despite how iconic a story it is... it lasted all of two issues. And then after that, I believe the X-Men went into space and we got the first Brood Saga.

 

I've been delving deep in the various Essential X-Men that covers Claremont's run. It's weirdly disappointing to go from that to current stuff, even if I like current stuff, there's just stuff that is lacking. Claremont was such the king of the slow-burning sub-plot... even if his common colloquialisms are downright quaint anymore, you don't really get characters thinking, internalizing or building relationships like they used to.

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I'm a big fan of Fables and American Vampire.  The former does the fairytale twist much better than Once Upon a Time and the latter returns vampires to their proper status as creepy as fuck monsters.  

 

I also think that all of the Batman stories that Jeph Loeb wrote or co-wrote are brilliant (and that he's completely ruining this brilliance at Marvel).  I'm one of the few who hated Dark Knight Returns but I do think Year One was solid.  

 

I hate Superman more than almost anything but I still recommend Red Son.  It's the only Supes centered story that I actually enjoy.

 

I've been reading the comic adaptation of Del Toro and Hogan's The Strain trilogy.  I think the artwork does an amazing job of bringing the vampires to life and that the story is streamlined nicely, but there are little things that didn't make it from the books that I'd like to see (and this tells me they probably won't end up in the show either).  

 

New 52 is made of evil and, despite a few exceptions, I can never recommend them to anyone.  I say we just wait for DC's next reboot and see if it's any better.

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New 52 is made of evil and, despite a few exceptions, I can never recommend them to anyone.  I say we just wait for DC's next reboot and see if it's any better.

 

The New 52 is the primary reason I read more Marvel books now. Aquaman and Wonder Woman started off pretty good, as did Grant Morrison's Action Comics.

 

I just caught up on the last six issues of Earth 2 and that has turned out to be a pretty good book, actually.

 

The next big story after Dark Phoenix was actually Days of Future Past. The thing I always find rather interesting about it is that despite how iconic a story it is... it lasted all of two issues.

 

And yet they somehow just released a 392 page hardcover of it. (It actually collects a bunch of related comics).

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I hate Superman more than almost anything but I still recommend Red Son.  It's the only Supes centered story that I actually enjoy.

 

I'm not a big Superman fan, but I love Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All Star Superman. ASS #10 is maybe my favourite single issue of all-time.

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I've been re-reading teh John Byrne run on Fantastic Four (thanks to the omnibuses I picked up on the cheap!!)

And it's pretty damn good, even after all this time!

 

I'm not a fan of the CURRENT Bryne stuff, but he was pretty spectacular in his heyday.

 

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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.

I like is stuff too. Back when I read comics regularly, Queen and Country was really fun. Plus for each story arc he gets a different artist so each story has a different look. Great characters though. I even have a little sketch somewhere in my house of Tara Chase and her boss from the artist who did the first run. 

 

Gotham Central was great too. It was basically Homicide:Life on the Street set in Gotham (they even had the murder victim board!). It kind of worked though, I especially liked seeing how some cops liked Batman but some hated him (makes them look bad and actually makes their job harder, since if you are arrested and on trial and the defense calls Batman to the stand how does that work?).

 

Rounding out the Rucka recommendations, check out White Out. Murder mystery comic set at the south pole. If anyone has a chance read it somewhere very cold, and it will be almost creepy. I remember I got it for Christmas one year and that January I moved to Northern British Columbia. I had no TV so I read it in like a day, and even though I was inside and warm, the story plus the snow outside made me feel cold. 

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I also recommend older stuff if you dig vintage comics. Right now I'm reading old stuff like GHOST RIDER, TOMB OF DRACULA, TALES FROM THE CRYPT, BATMAN, JONAH HEX, SWAMP THING, and a bunch of other stuff. The new stuff is good, but I'm finding so much cool reading with the vintage comics/series right now. I'd like to one day get all the older stuff and read from the beginning, but that's a daunting task!

 

This is the era I grew up in.   All the titles you mentioned were on sale when I started collecting.

 

I was about to say SWAMP THING but you got there before me.

 

So I'll just add WEIRD WAR.   I was strictly DC.  New comic books used to come out every two weeks.  The first week, I'd buy the superhero titles: Batman, Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Justice League, etc.   The second week, I'd still be itching to buy new books, and that's when I'd go for the spooky titles, like WEIRD WAR, HOUSE OF MYSTERY, HOUSE OF SECRETS, etc.  Oh, and PLOP!, lol.

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Okay, so I'm reading All New X-Men. But issue 16 opens with a recap of a bunch of stuff I've missed. What goes in the gap between 15 & 16? Thanks!

 

Edit: okay, it's part of Battle of the Atom. But damnit, I remember when they used to put footnotes in these things to avoid confusion.

Edited by Joe
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The first trade for "Alex + Ada" is out next week, collecting the first 5 (or possibly six?) issues of the series.

If you haven't checked this out yet, do yourself a favor and do so.

 

In these modern days of largely hyperacive comics, this is a simple but elegant tale.  It's clever, well-written, well-drawn, with intriguibng characters and a relevant storyline.

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What's out there in the way of space opera comics? I know there's GOTG, Saga, BSG & Star Wars comics. What else?

 

The big "Annihilation" crossover event at Marvel from a few years back is what jumpstarted the modern iteration of the GOTG, and is pretty terrific, especially for a big event series.

 

One thing I was reminded of lately that I'll recommend is Grant Morrison's run on the JLA. It's Morrison doing his Morrison thing, great character work surrounded by big ideas, and it's a tremendous amount of fun. It's also kind of the beginning of the "wide-screen" style of comics that you see more prominently in "The Authority" (and all over modern comics). Howard Porter's art isn't stellar, but it gets better as the series goes on. The series also includes the DC One Million crossover, which is my all-time favorite comics crossover. 

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The big "Annihilation" crossover event at Marvel from a few years back is what jumpstarted the modern iteration of the GOTG, and is pretty terrific, especially for a big event series.

The "Annihilation Classic" book is a lot of fun. It reprints the origin stories for all the characters in "Annihilation," so you get to see where all the Guardians of the Galaxy came from. Rocket Raccoon has a four-issue miniseries that is INSANE. And Groot apparently predates the Fantastic Four, because there's a super-early Marvel monster comic in which a space tree monster named Groot attacks Earth.

 

You also get a nice overview of star-themed "regular guy with cosmic powers" characters: Star-Lord, Nebula, and Nova are all suspiciously similar, at least in their origin stories.

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The big "Annihilation" crossover event at Marvel from a few years back is what jumpstarted the modern iteration of the GOTG, and is pretty terrific, especially for a big event series.

Never read Annihilation, although your description also seems to fit Operation Galactic Storm which was from the 90's and also pretty awesome. Although I am not sure there are trades for it and back issues might be hard to track down (it was a 19 part crossover).

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One more recommendation to throw on the pile. I just finished reading Walt Simonson's run on Thor, and it's just about the platonic ideal of what a superhero comic should be. Truly an epic story, filled with gorgeous art, pitch-perfect character moments, and more F-Yeah! moments than you'll find anywhere else. I can't possibly recommend it more highly, it's instantly become one of my favorites (also, issue #380 is one of the most gorgeous comics I've ever seen). 

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