Beginner's guide to comic books.

[Benjamin Strange]

I've been on these boards for a long time, and in that time I've come to the conclusion that you are all a bunch of nerds. This makes you uniquely qualified to provide insight into the nerdiest of subjects:

Comic books.

I'm somewhat of a comic book idiot. I know who Superman, Spiderman, and Batman are, as well as their general backgrounds and histories, and I am aware of some of the less mainstream stuff, such as Spawn and The Maxx, but by and large I'm clueless.

There's a small comic book shop 3 blocks from my house, which seems to have a pretty decent collection. I'm kind of attracted to the compilations, as I probably need to do a lot of catching up on what's been going on in comics for the last 50 years. What should I look into? What's good, what's bad, what's essential, what can I skip?

I'm a n00b. Enlighten me, oh geeky ones.

[hbarcat]

There is only one comic that I recommend:



http://www.boneville.com/

[Ben Lesser]

I'm not incredibly well informed, but Neil Gaiman's Sandman series is an absolute must read, imo.

[Happynoj]

The only comic books I read are Buffy The Vampire Slayer Series 8. Less than a month until episodes 6-10 come out in trade paperback!

[steve66]

Ive been collecting for years. Never read them. I just buy, board, and bag them.

[StanFan]

I like the old Ninja Turtles comics from Mirage Comics. I only own one issue though, but the basic plot is this paranoid bad guy is haunted by the Turtles and claims to see them wherever he goes. He is so out of it by the end that the Turtles convince the guy that he is also a turtle and he ends up killing himself. Pure awesome.

[Mon Rominee]

Originally Posted by Ben Lesser

I'm not incredibly well informed, but Neil Gaiman's Sandman series is an absolute must read, imo.

Agreed. As well as graphic novels like the Authority, Swamp Thing, the Watchmen... periodicals like Transmetropolitan (Spider Jerusalem, what a cool character), lots of cool Manga (and even "Americanized" left to right read Manga, other great noir stuff like Frank Miller's work, or even classic Punisher, DEFINITELY McFarlane Spawn stuff...run the gamut, and ask the shopkeepers alot of questions. I am not as about the comics as I used to be, so I don't know about the current "gems"...but know what you like, and just explore.

Mon

[Rumzini]

Ah...now were talkin.

Back in the 90's I spent waaaay to much money on comics. Of course this was a huge BOOM for the X titles, (X-Men, X Force)...to many to list. However there were some pretty good stories and BEAUTIFUL artwork. Check out anything Jim Lee. Of course I wasn't a big Spiderman fan but that was the era of Todd McFarlane, (Spawn), Spidey never looked better. Really had that arachnid look to him. Since I mentioned Spawn...that is a great read. However I stopped collecting soon after he first came out. You also mentioned The Maxx...which is another Image release from the 90's. I have the first several issues and enjoyed the storyline...just...out there, weird stuff. Of course at the same time my favorite was the Silver Surfer. There was a mini series that was out at the time called the Infinity Gauntlet...which was the back story to one of the big multi hereo/issue storylines that was out at the time. Ya know where the story starts in Spiderman #20, the next episode is in Captain America # 50, and so on so on. Anywho the whole series began in Silver Surfer and tied in many other titles.

Of course with all of the money I spent back then, (at the shop every week), I was buying basically junk titles that were gonna go nowhere. However I really didn't buy them for that. It was total escapism from reality. I bought so many titles back then can't even think of what they were. Makes me wanna go drag them out.

I think I will.

[john turner]

i love ultimate spiderman, i really dug the "no mans land" batman series, and jms's amazing spiderman was, just like everything else he does, absolutely fabulous, imo.

many of the batman graphic novels are fantastic, imo. batman and son is cool, hush was really cool, bruce wayne murderer?, etc. the man who laughs was great too. killing joke gave a rare insight into a possible origin for the joker, and that was pretty good.

as for superman, i generally don't dig the man of steel, but an "elseworld" graphic novel, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman:_Red_Son

was fantastic - imagine if instead of landing in smallville usa, he landed in the middle of the ukraine, in the 30's.

[Atoz]

[Mon Rominee]

Anyone read "Marvel 1602" by Neil Gaiman? One of the best graphic novels I've read in years. Truly an outstanding work.

[Ben Lesser]

Originally Posted by Mon Rominee

Anyone read "Marvel 1602" by Neil Gaiman? One of the best graphic novels I've read in years. Truly an outstanding work.

A friend of mine read it and said that it's excellent. It's on my "to read" list.

Gaiman can do no wrong, imo. At least not out of what I've read.

[Mon Rominee]

Originally Posted by Ben Lesser

Gaiman can do no wrong, imo. At least not out of what I've read.

Yeah, even Coraline is amazing. And it's a children's book.

[ElMon]

+1 to what has been posted already, and might I add in Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher Series. Good Ol Boy preacher from Texas gets invaded by celestial offspring of an Angel and Demon, giving him the ability to command anyone (even God himself) with the 'Word', who then goes on a journey to confront God for abandoning his post in heaven, along with his long lost girlfriend Tulip O'Hare and a 100 year old hard-drinking Irish vampire named Casidy, the whole time pursued by the Saint of All Killers and a secret religious society that wants to use said preacher as a messiah figure for when they engineer an Armegeddon on Earth.......

great stuff.


Oh, and get J.O Barr's The Crow. And don't forget Sam Keith's The Maxx

[Ben Lesser]

Originally Posted by Mon Rominee

Yeah, even Coraline is amazing. And it's a children's book.

Have you seen the trailers for the movie? It's going to be so cool in 3D.

[artistanbul]

I like comics that end. Unique stories, seperate stories, limited editions etc.

Here are some that I like:

Slaine: A swords and muscles comic with a celtic setting.
Most of DC Vertigo series.
All of Dave McKean & Gaiman's works
All of Frank Miller's works. Especially Sin City & Batman
Most of Alex Ross' works. Especially Kingdom Come
And Conan. Read all of them.

[heroincredible]

Originally Posted by ElMon

+1 to what has been posted already, and might I add in Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher Series. Good Ol Boy preacher from Texas gets invaded by celestial offspring of an Angel and Demon, giving him the ability to command anyone (even God himself) with the 'Word', who then goes on a journey to confront God for abandoning his post in heaven, along with his long lost girlfriend Tulip O'Hare and a 100 year old hard-drinking Irish vampire named Casidy, the whole time pursued by the Saint of All Killers and a secret religious society that wants to use said preacher as a messiah figure for when they engineer an Armegeddon on Earth.......

great stuff.


Oh, and get J.O Barr's The Crow. And don't forget Sam Keith's The Maxx

Big +1 to Preacher.

Pretty much most things by Vertigo are pretty good. Such as:

The Losers
The Exterminators
Y: The Last Man
Transmetropolitan
100 Bullets

[baalroo]

This question is not really gonna help you much honestly. It's sort of like saying "so, I've heard the beatles, metallica, and wayne newton. You guys like this "music" stuff, what CDs should I buy?"

What movies do you like? books? are you looking for depth of story or light escapism? Clear cut heroes or anti-heroes? Heck, maybe not even heroes at all? etc etc etc

It's a very broad genre with 80 years of material, if you ask a large forum like this such a vague question you're going to get 50+ different versions of what's "good," and none is going to be that helpful. One man's Zoolander is another man's Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

[Rumzini]

I thought Zoolander was a Massacre...at least I wanted to take a Chainsaw to it.

[megadan]

I do admit to reading online comics.

Achewood is the greatest work of art since Calvin and Hobbes.