[insane_cobra]

Let's talk comics!

I'll start by saying this The Surrogates thingie looks mighty interesting. What do you think?

What current comics do you read? I know many of you are familiar with Sandman or some Moore's classic works, but what about newer stuff? Is anyone trying to stay up to date with what's happening in the world of sequential art?

[Lucien21]

[SakSquash]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

Wow...that actually looks...cool...

[After a brisk nap]

Off the top of my head..

Fables, Bill Willingham
Sleeper, Ed Brubaker
Queen & Country, Greg Rucka
Daredevil, Brian Michael Bendis
Human Target, Peter Milligan
Cities of the Fantastic, Schuiten and Peeters

I also dabble in a few of the Vertigo titles, and keep filling in the back catalog of milestone comics (Stray Toasters, Batman: Year One, Blankets,...). Keeps me busy.

Nothing horribly current, but lots of the Dark Knight.

[Kolzig]

I used to order WildStorm comics (DV8, Gen13) some years ago, when the company was still independent and actually made good comic books.

Alan Moore's From Hell was great, I read it last summer.
And yeah I read the whole Bone epic few months ago.

I'd really want get my hands on Miller's Batman comics.

[insane_cobra]

What is Cities of the Fantastic? Never heard of it.

I'm totally hooked on Y: The Last Man. The first trade was just magnificent, then I found the second one to be a huge letdown, but from there on it just keeps getting better.

Another Vertigo title I like is Losers. It has more gripping action, suspense and pure wit than any Hollywood blockbuster in the last 10 years.

Fables is fine, I'm enjoying it, but I must say I expected it to be a tiny bit better.

I'm currently looking into Grant Morrison's The Filth. That man is insan. He has always been, but this is just... I'm speechless. Seaguy was fun, Vimanarama was fun, but this is just sick. I love him.

And speaking of Morrison, We3 was absolutely gorgeous. It's funny to say this about a comic book whose main characters are three cyborg animals, but... It made me cry. There, I said it.

[gillyruless]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

What is Cities of the Fantastic? Never heard of it.

I'm totally hooked on Y: The Last Man. The first trade was just magnificent, then I found the second one to be a huge letdown, but from there on it just keeps getting better.

Another Vertigo title I like is Losers. It has more gripping action, suspense and pure wit than any Hollywood blockbuster in the last 10 years.

Fables is fine, I'm enjoying it, but I must say I expected it to be a tiny bit better.

I'm currently looking into Grant Morrison's The Filth. That man is insan. He has always been, but this is just... I'm speechless. Seaguy was fun, Vimanarama was fun, but this is just sick. I love him.

And speaking of Morrison, We3 was absolutely gorgeous. It's funny to say this about a comic book whose main characters are three cyborg animals, but... It made me cry. There, I said it.

Grant Morrison is wonderful. Have you read the Invisibles? One of the best Vertigo series ever, that one.

Another favorite writer of mine is Garth Ennis. Preacher's wonderful. Too bad the series is finished now.

100 Bullets is now my favorite Vertigo series. I do read Fables and I agree with you, insane_cobra, the series has such a wonderful premise. I do like it a lot but I though the series would be a lot better.

I read the first few issues of Y:The Last Man but gave up on that series. I have heard a lot of good things about it so I've been thinking about getting the GNs.

I'm also as you know a big SIP whore.

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by gillyruless

Have you read the Invisibles? One of the best Vertigo series ever, that one.

Another favorite writer of mine is Garth Ennis. Preacher's wonderful. Too bad the series is finished now.

100 Bullets is now my favorite Vertigo series.

All of them are on my wishlist, but the problem with multi-volume stories like Preacher and The Invisibles is they're pretty expensive to collect. It's somewhat different with 100 Bullets, but those other two will have to wait a bit longer.

Do give Y a chance. Although I think the first issues were the best, maybe you'll find something for yourself later in the story. The secret of Yorrick's miraculous survival has been revealed recently so I'm eagerly awaiting those TPs.

[chapter11studios]

1. Walking Dead
2. Y: The Last Man
3. Astonishing X-Men
4. Joss Whedon's Serenity (Firefly TV series spinoff, prequel to the upcoming movie).

Can't go wrong with any of those.

[[toj.cc]Phantom]

1.) Punisher MAX
2.) Ultimate X-Men
3.) Uncanny X-Men
4.) Wolverine

[Maquisard]

I read all kinds of Ultimate series from Marvel: Fantastic Four, Spiderman, X-Men, the Ultimates (the Ultimate universe version of the Avengers), and they're all pretty cool. The one gripe I have with the new F4 movie is that they didn't make Victor's transformation as cool or as scary as it was in the Ultimate comics (that aint no face mask! It's his face! And he's got disjointed legs! And spikes! And poison gas!).

As for the more...ahem...sophisticated stuff:

Invincible
Walking Dead
Fables
Y the last man. All excellent.

BTW, I read We3, it was awesome!

[artwking4]

Originally Posted by chapter11studios

4. Joss Whedon's Serenity (Firefly TV series spinoff, prequel to the upcoming movie).

This is a comic book?

[omloflump]

I stopped reading 'em when I was maybe 14 when I realised that they were, at that time, mostly rubbish. Marvel produced endless variations on rubbish, and DC followed. The independents never held my interest either. Now, it seems, nothing much has changed. I love Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's wonderful '60s creations and I'm a huge fan of Watchmen, but, aside from that, comics seem to deserve their reputation. The corporates are inevitably to blame. Oh and thanks to Uderzo, the hitherto magnificent Asterix has lost its steam.

I do, however, like the medium a great deal. And even though I found Maus quite awful, it did help bring some much needed reassessment of public opinion towards comics.

[Kolzig]

Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men has been very excellent so far.

That guy can write, seriously.

[[toj.cc]Phantom]

Originally Posted by Mares

I read all kinds of Ultimate series from Marvel: Fantastic Four, Spiderman, X-Men, the Ultimates (the Ultimate universe version of the Avengers), and they're all pretty cool. The one gripe I have with the new F4 movie is that they didn't make Victor's transformation as cool or as scary as it was in the Ultimate comics (that aint no face mask! It's his face! And he's got disjointed legs! And spikes! And poison gas!).

As for the more...ahem...sophisticated stuff:

Invincible
Walking Dead
Fables
Y the last man. All excellent.

BTW, I read We3, it was awesome!

In the original comics there is no transformation he's just a rich guy that gets ticked of at Reed and has his armor (not his skin) crafted by monks. He then uses a wide array of weapons and a small array of mysical powers to fight the Fantastic 4.

[Shodan]

Are graphic novels allowed here too? If not, I'll go start another thread... I want some graphic novel recommendations.

[Starflux]

I'm a big fan of Bryan Lee O'Malley, with his Scott Pilgrim-series (TPB 2 just out!) and older work like Lost at Sea. Great, clean visual style that's reminiscent of manga, but it's the sometimes natural, sometimes theatrical, but always pop-culture-heavy dialogue that really lights my fire.

[omloflump]

Graphic novels should be allowed, since most of them are just made up of a series of standard comics. Watchmen, Dark Knight etc. were initially released as individual issues.

[syntheticgerbil]

Well I can't recommend much as a lot of the recent stuff I've read hasn't been that great and some of the stuff I have isn't always that great either.

If you can find them, pick up all four Scud the Disposible Assassin TPBs. Only problem is it's missing it's last issue. (another story) Also if you can get the nine issue run of La Cosa Nostroid, sort of dealing with the Scud storyline, it's really great storytelling. It's just missing it's last issue also. (ugh.)

Then there's Sam and Max. Find their big TPB if you can. Also you should track down Steve Purcell's Gumby's Winter Fun Comic if you can. His Toybox comics found in Fast Forward #3 and the Hellboy Christmas Special are gorgeous, but once again hard to get ahold of.

If you aren't overwhelmed by Evan Dorkin, get Dork, Hectic Planet, and Milk and Cheese TPBs. He's been imitated thoroughly by many less respectable independent comics the past decade or so. Easy to get ahold of at just about any comic book store. Hit and miss stuff sometimes though.

If you've already read Sam Kieth's The Maxx, then I think you should pick up the newer Epicurus the Sage TPB, a funny look at Greek Philosophy. Also his 4 issue Wolverine vs. The Hulk comic is the best superhero thing I've ever read. (Not very superhero-like at all though.)

And TenNapel again with the Creature Tech TPB and the Gear TPB, if you can possibly find it. I think it's really gorgeous cartoon stuff all done with a paintbrush and a bottle of ink.

Spumco made four large sized 64 page comic books that are funny and have really high standard production. Only problem is since they are oversized, most comic stores don't carry them as backstock.

Also if anyone isn't aware of it, I suggest you find every existing issue of Larry Marder's Beanworld. It's deceptively simple, but it's somehow one of the most innovative and involving comics I've ever read. Or at least it's set up that way, as the comic started about 1981 and came out whenever it felt like it until 1994. Don't know what happened to it.