Comic Recommendations

[愛]

Hey guys. I'm not normally browsing around this section, but as of late, I've been getting into comics. I'm a bit of a newcomer when it comes to the scene of comics, so I would like to get a few recommendations from everyone.

I enjoy Sci-Fi, apocalypse, anything Marvel/DC...give me your best! Thanks, everyone. :)

[discordiatookie]

Outside of the TMNT universe, I guess my top two comics would be Invincible and The Walking Dead, both written by Robert Kirkman. Invincible is a superhero comic about a teenager whose father is the most powerful hero on earth. It starts off with him getting his powers, juggling school, dating and being a hero. I wouldn't want to spoil too much in case you get into it, but things get pretty nuts in the first dozen or so issues, with some huge twists that keep it from being 'just another superhero comic'. Nowadays though, he's graduated school, quit college, worked for the government and is currently going solo, with a newly pregnant superhero girlfriend. Very funny, very cool. I love it. The Walking Dead is about just that - zombies. And one man's journey so far to survive. There's been some truely horrific moments, from both zombies and other humans. I love it also.

[Candy Kappa]

dark knights return, but stay away from DK2 :P
watchmen, some think it's heavy reading, but I finished it within a day.
Kitty pride and Wolverine 1-6#
Arkham Asylum: A serious house on a serious earth.
most of civil war arc
preacher
Nemi, nice comic.

[Koschei]

Deadpool-I stick to the regular series. Man it gets confusing with 6 monthly books of one character.
Invincible- awesome
Kick-Ass- Its pretty kick ass
I also like the stuff that UDON puts out. (chuckles, put out)

[Damien Kash]

Jeff Smith's "Bone"
one of my alltime faves.

[Candy Kappa]

Geek Floor is pretty good *cough* shameless advertisement *cough*

[plastroncafe]

These days I'm more of a Trade/Graphic Novel type, than a monthly issue girl. I blame being poor through college and getting behind on things. So most of my recs are of trades.

Gaimen's "Sandman" are worth a read, as are "The Books of Magic"
G.Willow Wilson's "Cairo".
The first half of "Y the Last Man" was really kick ass.
"Hellblazer" if you like your magic creepy and laden with sex, booze, and cigarettes.
"Usagi Yojimbo" Just....because.
"Action Philosophers"

[Spitfire]

I just in the past year really got into comics. I'll list some of my favorites they might interest you.

Punisher MAX - Well written with great character devolpment and awesome story arcs. Garth's run is all I read, which was issues 1-60. You can buy hardcover volumes with 12 issues a pop in them. There's 10 story arcs in all of which span 6 issues a piece. There's also some one shots like "Born".

Wanted - A book about super villains. It's fun, funny, and awesome. Nothing like the movie.

Kick - Ass - This one is a toss up. I've seen a pretty even split on it. The movie is pretty much the same save a few differences. I find them to be major but most people can live without them.

Moon Knight 2006 - The new Moon Knight series was quite good. They're all available in 5 trades. The series was only 30 issues. It tapers off towards the end but the first 4 trades are pretty solid. I really like the character development in this one. They paint Moon Knight to be quite a psychopath.

The Killing Joke - This speaks for itself. Arguable the best Joker story ever, it's a must read.

Superman: Red Son - What if Superman was a communist Russian? A great story that has some pretty clever writing.

Batman: Vampire - Another what if story. I enjoyed this one a lot. The idea of Batman becoming something that goes against everything he stands for is an interesting concept. The progression is fun to watch and the artwork is rich and very Gothic.

Batman: Knightfall - I liked this one when I read it. It was awhile ago but I remember most of it. It's 3 books long. The story was fun and I didn't feel too left out. I had to buy one extra book that explains one of the characters origins but other then that I understood it just fine. One issue I do have though if the story skips ahead a bit at one point because they didn't collect some of the issues. It's not super important stuff but it'd have been nice to read.

A Death in the Family - Jason Todd's, Robin, farewell. This story is pretty good and a classic.

Batman: War Games - This ones a long series it spans 3 books and also includes a prelude and epilogue called War Drums and War Crimes. It's about Black Mask mainly and his rise and fall as the crime boss of Gotham. I liked it and it made me like Black Mask a lot. I also like the idea of Batman being at fault for everything that happens and him having to deal with that.

Batman: Hush - Another somewhat classic story. It's not that old but it has great artwork and a storyline that caught a lot of attention when it did come out. I liked it but the follow up books Heart of Hush and Return of Hush weren't that great in my opinion. I think Hush really only had one good story in him.

That's a lot right there. Take from it what you will. I know I listed a lot of Batman but I own quite a bit of it. That's what I started with and then I spread out. Happy hunting! Also if you're looking for a cheap way to get some trades Mile High Comics is having a nice sale this week on them. I just picked up some trades cheap.

[Candy Kappa]

what plastron and spitfore said, lots of goodies

[discordiatookie]

Yeah, if we're talking TPBs, i'd also second Sandman by Neil Gaiman. There's a helluva lot to it, so if you like your stuff 'epic' then check it out! Also, Sin City by Frank Miller is great, and you can't go wrong with checking out all the classics, such as Watchman, V for Vendetta, Dark Knight Returns, Preacher, you know, all the ones you see in all they lists... Did anyone else ever read Girls by the Luna Brothers? That was ace too.

[愛]

Thanks for all of the recommendations, everyone! I'll be on the lookout for these! :)

[Brodie]

Don't forget Scott Pilgrim. Those books are awesome. Movie....eh...

[Powder]

Everything non TMNT that I read is still connected...

Savage Dragon
Paleo
Usagi Yojimbo
Panda Khan
Gizmo
...Etc

I don't read anything that doesn't tie into the TMNT so these are all I can suggest lol.

[Brodie]

^ That's terrible.

[Archon_Turtle]

Just looking at what is currently on my desk, this is all good stuff.

The Walking Dead -Currently my favorite on-going series
The Runaways - One of the best Marvel books of all time IMO
The Ultimates (volume 1 and 2) - Solid book. All your marvel favorites.
Wolverine: Old Man Logan - A little slow, but solid and beautiful
Thor (by J Michael Straczynski) - Best. Thor. Ever.
Chew - A really really really fun image book about a cop that gets psychic visions from the things her eats.
MouseGuard - Probably one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen.

[Brodie]

I picked up a slew of books from a comic shop this weekend that was running a $5 sale...

These are decent picks, thus far...

ULTIMATUM
Marvel Zombies 3
Marvel 1985
Immoirtal iron Fist, vol 4
Spider-Man: New Ways to Die

[Voltron]

To date, I've yet to find anything by Jeph Loeb or Grant Morrison that I've remotely liked. Each seem to take turns taking huge dumps into printing presses then receiving awards for it. Stay away from those asses at all costs.

All costs.

[Powder]

Lone wolf & cub is pretty tight.

[TMNT_Guy]

Mad Love. Best Harley Quinn story yet.

This maybe cheating but Dr. McNinja is a great super hero parody/comedy. I count this because even though it is a webcomic, you can puchase McNinja books that have all the stories online and some exclusive ones.
http://drmcninja.com/

[Sewer Bull]

http://graphicnovelreporter.com/content/graphic-novels-core-list-booksellers-adult-fiction-and-nonfiction-feature-stories

Quite an interesting list, 135 titles altogether. The contents of Core Ten might be debatable and some titles in the expanded list are pretty much for filling the list, but all in all, it's a good set of graphic novels to browse through.

[jaymq]

Beasts of Burden - http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/13-834/Beasts-of-Burden-1

Talking animals (some even with a foul mouth on them), supernatural occurrences, watercolor comic book.

Dunno if it's your thing, but its a 4 part mini series from Dark Horse. Really good one at that. I totally recommend it to almost anyone.

<-- my current avatar is of one of the main characters. Orphan.

[jaymq]

Beasts of Burden - http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/13-834/Beasts-of-Burden-1

Talking animals (some even with a foul mouth on them), supernatural occurrences, watercolor comic book.

Dunno if it's your thing, but its a 4 part mini series from Dark Horse. Really good one at that. I totally recommend it to almost anyone.

<-- my current avatar is of one of the main characters. Orphan.

http://www.darkhorse.com/Features/eComics/1090/Beasts-of-Burden (three mini-issues)

(note: double-posted, since my last post was over a couple weeks ago and an edit likely wouldn't have been noticed. Hope that isn't a problem)

[Slap-Happy]

I've been reading Deadpool alot. I like it very much.

I also like BMB's Avengers that recently started.

Other Reccomendations:

Dark Knight Returns - I mean, come on. Arguably the most famous Batman story ever. I also reccomend these Batman books:

Year One
What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader
Dark Victory
The Long Halloween
The Killing Joke

I liked Joker by Brian Azzarello.

Watchmen. It's a no brainer.

I liked Spider-Man Noir.

Superman for all seasons.

Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Marvel stuff.

I'll think of some more later, but that's what I got now.

[cowabunga14]

Swamp Thing
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Astounding Wolf-Man
GrimJack (mostly volume one material)
The Sixth Gun
Comc Book Comics
Bratpack
Cerebus the Aardvark
Boris the Bear
The Death-Defying 'Devil (Dynamite miniseries)

[Brodie]

Holy ****. Just finished up Old Man Logan, and I can't recommend that book enough. Such a nontraditional Marvel story, and moreso a nontraditional Wolverine story.

[jaymq]

Holy ****. Just finished up Old Man Logan, and I can't recommend that book enough. Such a nontraditional Marvel story, and moreso a nontraditional Wolverine story.

It's pure ****, IMO. It writes like a glorified fan fiction! I did enjoy the art, but the story wigged me out in so many ways. I should have closed the damn trade after I saw Wolvie went pacifist. The rest is fairly predictable.

[Grey]

Batman- No order

Killing Joke- The. Best. Joker. Story. Ever.
Collected Legends of the Dark Knight- Blades
Dark Knight Returns- Must Read but I think it's a tad overrated IMO.
Year One
KnightFall
Hush- Loeb's not a real good mystery writer, but I do like the way he narrates from Batman's head.
Batman and Robin series: GM isn't my favorite but I am enjoying his stuff in this crazy silver-age style romp
Superman/Batman: Public enemies- Again Loeb, so it's very toungue in cheek silver age not making so much sense stuff. However, I think reading the dichotomy between the two character's in their dual narration sums the way they are being written in today's books. Loeb did the same thing with the Red Hulk, where I appreciate the duality of him and the Green Hulk, and love the character but his stories are a little up and down and illogical.

[joe-eyeball]

1. Punisher MAX (my alltime favorite)
2. Usagi Yojimbo (just plain awesome)
3. The Walking dead (awesome and brilliant) Also, can't wait for the TV show
4. Judge Dredd (One of my guilty pleasures)
5. The Boys (Garth Ennis is sick)
6. Just about anything by Garth Ennis
7. Transmetropolitan (F'ed up)
8. V for Vendetta (Classic and cool)
9. Kick-Ass (Kicked ass)
10. 100 Bullets (Very nicely done series)
11. Honorable mentions: Sandman, Watchmen, The Darkness, and Marvel Noir.

[Leo656]

The entire run of Preacher. I only have the first three trades and haven't read the rest yet b/c I'm poor, but what I've read so far makes me feel safe in recommending the entire thing. As long as you're not easily offended, that is. Graphic sex, violence, deconstruction of religion, foul language and a character named Arseface... something for everyone!

The Boys is also great for that, and again, reading the entire thing from the beginning is the only way to go.

All the Superman and Batman stuff people recommended is solid, but I disagree about Grant Morrison and Jeph Loeb, I think they're awesome MOST of the time but more in a fanboy-pleasing, widescreen action movie kind of way, not so much as far as in-depth character stuff. Although Loeb's "Superman For All Seasons" and Morrison's entire Batman run have plenty of character stuff.

Morrison's "Batman RIP" is great if you read it and pay attention. "Final Crisis" wasn't everyone's cup of tea, and you kinda need a PhD in DC to fully understand and enjoy it, but I thought it was brilliant once I read it all at once (after hating it when I first read it, go figure).

Booster Gold is the best comic book dealing with time travel that anyone has ever done.

"The Man of Steel" and "Superman: Secret Origin" are both great. Two different versions of the Superman origin, both supposed to be "definitive" with plenty of conflicting points, but honestly, they're both so well-written that it doesn't even matter. "Superman: Birthright", however, was ass and it's not surprising they don't mention it anymore.

"Zero Hour" and "Infinite Crisis" are awesome stories about alternate Earths and parallel timelines. They're both sequels to the original "Crisis on Infinite Earths", but I honestly find them more streamlined and enjoyable than the original, and you don't need to have read it to follow either of these sequels. "IC" in particular sums up the entire plot of "Crisis" in like three pages.

"Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight", "The Final Night", and "Green Lantern: Rebirth" chronicle the fall and redemption of Hal Jordan, the preeminent GL of Earth. Awesome stuff.

"Guy Gardner: Reborn" and issues 1 through 16 of his own series are highly underrated, especially the "Yesterday's Sins" arc around issue 10 or so, the "secret origin" of Guy Gardner and the trauma of his childhood that added tons of depth to a character mostly used as a one-note joke.

That'll do for now, I don't wanna be here all day. :P

[Grey]

oh and We3 by Morrison, a 3 issue(?) mini about animal soldiers who escape the lab they are being worked on.

[jaymq]

oh and We3 by Morrison, a 3 issue(?) mini about animal soldiers who escape the lab they are being worked on.

Ah! I've been trying to remember the title of that one for a few days now. Thank you for suggesting it! :D

[Grey]

With Pleasure! It's quite good, but some people aren't crazy about Quitely's art. I remember hating it for a long while, all the way from New X-men, but about a year ago I just started to love it! I even bought a Batman statue based on his cover to Batman and Robin!

[Grey]

It's pure ****, IMO. It writes like a glorified fan fiction! I did enjoy the art, but the story wigged me out in so many ways. I should have closed the damn trade after I saw Wolvie went pacifist. The rest is fairly predictable.

You want predictable? The Red Hulk storyline was so predictable, that before I read the first page, I figured it out. Loeb did the same thing with Hush.the second Tommy Elliot showed up I knew it!

But, like with Hush, the comic as a whole was alright, with some nice characterization, Loeb just can't...can't write mystery. But despite that I am actually one of the few fans of the Red Hulk and his potential in the hands of fresh writers.

[Venom]

My taste in comics is a bit odd, as I usually prefer alternate versions of mainstream heroes and somewhat offbeat books.

Here's some that I recommend:

Empire - Mark Waid
Incognito - Ed Brubaker
Ignition City - Warren Ellis
League of Extrordinary Gentlemen - Alan Moore
Marvel 1602
Spider-Man Noir
Dark Reign: The Sinister Spider-Man
Wanted - Mark Millar
The Rocketeer - Dave Stevens
Ultimate Spider-Man #'s 60-65 (Venom arc), 123-128 - Brain Michael Bendis
Countdown Presents: The Search for Ray Palmer (fun series crossing several Elseworlds)
Speeding Bullets
Gotham by Gaslight
Batman/Houdini: The Devil's Workshop
Batman/Spawn crossover
Batman/Spider-Man crossover

Man...there' more Elseworlds that are really fun and great stories, but I'm mssing the names right now.

[Candy Kappa]

Battle Pope

Atomic Robo

Runaways

[Nelson]

Incredible Change-Bots by Jeffrey Brown and Superf*ckers by James Kochalka.

Give those two authors a try if you get tired of the mainsteram superhero stuff.

[Venom]

Forgot to mention Irredeemable and Incorruptible, both by Mark Waid.

[wilddiverse]

I always recommend Christopher Priest's Quantum & Woody. If you're a fan of some Ha-Ha in your capes, this is a good one.

Also Joe Kelly's original Deadpool run.

Ex Machina.

Garth Ennis' Unknown Soldier
Peter Milligan's Human Target

Hellboy & (probably moreso) the BPRD series.

There's always more good comics.

[Krutch]

Yeah, if we're talking TPBs, i'd also second Sandman by Neil Gaiman. There's a helluva lot to it, so if you like your stuff 'epic' then check it out! Also, Sin City by Frank Miller is great, and you can't go wrong with checking out all the classics, such as Watchman, V for Vendetta, Dark Knight Returns, Preacher, you know, all the ones you see in all they lists... Did anyone else ever read Girls by the Luna Brothers? That was ace too.

I know I'm a little late to the party but DUDE. "Girls" was fantastic. Probably in my top three favorites of all time. You should check out their other work too. Good stuff.

[AquaParade]

Sounds like a great thread for me to "geek out" in :lol:

Lets see...I'm just going to list some of my favorite graphic novels and tpb's, and hope that it works as a "recommendation" for you.


Swamp Thing - I'm up to the third volume of the stories written by Alan Moore, and i'm falling in love with it. It's touching, haunting, and beautiful. It's really a great series, but not the most "traditional" comic book.

Weapon X - You said you like Marvel, right? Well this is one of the best marvel titles I have read. The story is one man's slowly paced vision of Wolverine's "origin". The art is intricate, colorful, and fantastic to look at. The story almost feels like a weird science fiction/horror movie, and works wonderfully for the character. If you are a Wolverine fan, you should definitely check this out.


Ultimate Spider-Man - Let everyone else argue about whether the Ultimate line or 616 line is the better Spider-man series. I love them both, but for someone new to comic books, the Ultimate line is PERFECT. It's a modern retelling of the Spider-man mythos, from his origin to the clone sage, and tons of great original stories too. The series catches some flak online, and it's biggest criticism is the treatment of Spidey's "rogues gallery". I agree that some of the classic Spider-man villains are a bit weaker in this series, but let it be known that Spider-man characterization is great! Following Peter around this world is totally addicting. His social life is as big a part of the story, if not more, then the super-hero aspect, and it works wonderfully. If you are a Spider-man fan who hasn't checked out this series, you are seriously missing out.


Batman: The Long Halloween: Great art, great mystery story. The sequel "Dark Victory", is even better, in my opinion. Great portrayal of Batman's world. I don't care for the way some of the more infamous Batman villains are handled by Jeff Loeb and Tim sale, but they definitely handle the criminal underworld aspect beautifully. Batman is presented as the dark character that fits his world so well. Love this book.

Watchmen - Great book. Read it!

[jaymq]

Another recommendation:

Fables (DC Vertigo)



Also, I'm curious. Did you find anything you liked from the recommendations made?

[Grey]

Jeff Parker has brought the Red Hulk to science fiction life! Try it!

[azrael]

Azrael
Batman
Batman and Robin
Detective Comics
Batgirl
RedRobin
Kick-ass vols 1 and 2

[Spitfire]

Kick Ass 2 has the slowest release time I've ever seen in a comic. First issue came out November, issue #2 came out like 2 weeks ago I think.