I have a theory. Out of all of us webcomic-lovers, there's got to be at least some of us who like print comics too. So I've started this topic to hear which ones you like the most. Note: all types are treated equal here, be it western comics, manga, manwha, or whatever. As long as I can go down to my local comic shop and pick it up.
I don't care how mainstream or artsy fartsy it is, if you love it, share it with the rest of the class. Wolverine in A Very Dragonball Z Christmas? Fine! Waldo Finds Himself? Fine! Also, it can be a series, miniseries, one-shot or anything else I've forgotten.
If you can link an image to a page or a cover of the comic, that'd be best. If you decide to link a page, try your best not to let it be a spoiler. I might want to read it someday!
(Note: We all know Watchmen is a great comic, but don't think you'll get intelligent points by claiming its the only one you've bothered to read.)
I'll go first to kick things off:
The Ultimates 1 and 2
(http://spidey82.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/ultimates-2009-12-31.jpg)
One of the best I've read, I have nothing but respect for these comics. I didn't care about pretty much any of the characters within beforehand and now I want Captain America in every Marvel book. There is an Ultimates 3 out there, but that book is a travesty. Trust me.
Ultimate Spiderman series
(http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/thumb/b/b7/Ultimate_Spider-Man_Vol_1_118.jpg/300px-Ultimate_Spider-Man_Vol_1_118.jpg)
My favorite version of the web-head in existence. Also worth noting is that it's over 10 years strong and every issue has been written by author Brian Michael Bendis. So if anyone out there is weary of American comics due to the swapping of writers, you've got no excuse to pass this one up.
King of Thorn
(http://andyme.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/king-of-thorn.jpeg)
A relatively short suspense manga series about patients with a life-threatening disease being put in suspended animation only to wake up to a future where their medical facility is overrun with thorns and monsters. Both the art and story are top notch.
Death Note
(http://z.about.com/d/manga/1/0/G/-/-/-/deathnote1_500.jpg)
It's popular for a reason, folks. If you haven't checked it out yet, get out from under that rock and take a peek. Warning: Reading it may cause joy.
Alright, I think this post is long enough. How about somebody else help me get this rolling, hmm?
I mostly read manga. Here's a few of my favorites.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1sHleFmwN54/SoLohYfaF0I/AAAAAAAAAvw/M05K5GhFs2w/s800/Kuroshitsuji.jpg)
Kuroshitsuji aka Black Butler. It's about a boy who made a pact with a demon to get his revenge.
(http://www.rubberslug.com/user/1f4a2466a1514096b9aa26c0caa6f3d7/466391-2272111-Slayers%20-%20Zelgadis%20Lina%20Manga.JPG)
Slayers. A fantasy-comedy about the Bandit Killer Lina Inverse who steals from bandits and and gives to herself.
I read Japanese and American comics. Mostly Japanese, but now building up a larger collection of English-language comics. Also building up a collection of webcomics in print.
I am too lazy to search for images.
Great comics:
- The Flight comics anthology series
- Excel Saga (better than the anime. way better.)
- Death Note (the only series I own completely)
- Descendants of Darkness
I also loved Watchmen WAY more than I thought I would. I need to be faster about reading Mushishi and Gintama as well.
Descendants of Darkness is one of my favorites too. It just came out of hiatus(although the sales of the current book will depend on whether the series will be continued or not).
I occasionally read some marvel comics. I have to agree with you that Ultimates 3 was a travesty. I've read most of the other Ultimate Universe things as well. Actual superhero comics in the regular Marvel universe are often too dense in backstory and characters I don't know but am expected to know that I can't read them. I did read most of Deadpool and Agent X though - Deadpool is hilarious.
Other than that, I've read some of Alan Moore's stuff (Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), about three quarters of Y: The Last Man and a bunch of Mike Mignola's Hellboy.
Back in High School I used to read Naruto and Bleach, but that's not something I enjoy anymore.
I stopped reading Ultimates after the "domestic incident" with Jan and Hank. Seeing a man beat his wife, spray her with poison, and then attack her with toxic, wild animals... it pretty much put me off the series.
I am brand spanking new to print comics - the first comics I ever read were webcomics ^.^ Right now, I'm mostly sticking to graphic novels as I'm not ready to commit to a serial, but my "I've read this!" list is pretty limited at the moment.
I've read Watchmen and Top 10 and Road to Perdition. Whee! Road to Perdition was incredibly intense - I haven't watched the movie, but the comic was pretty great!
I read a lot of print comics, mainly mainstream superhero comics. I try to read other genres as much as possible.
My favorites right now are:
- Fantastic Four
- Avengers
- Hulk
- Green Lantern
- Savage Dragon
- Invincible
- Fearless Dawn
Best comic out right now: The Secret Six. Imagine The A-Team, but with super villains. It's one of the funniest things you'll ever read, while simultaneously one of the most horrifying and disturbing things you'll ever read. I'd suggest starting with the first miniseries "Villains United," and going on from there.
Second best comic out right now: The Incredible Hercules (which should be changing into "Amadeus Cho: Prince of Power" soon.) It's a good old fashion FUN comic. Now, that doesn't mean it isn't well written, or have dramatic moments. It's got nice writing on various levels, primarily its telling a story of the "heroic cycle" that Amadeus Cho (the 7th smartest person on the planet) is going through, as well as referencing the same cycle Herc went through back in the day. Also, it has the best sound effects I've ever seen in comics. "NUHKRAK!" for example is the sound of Thor (in a Hercules costume) kneeing Hercules (in a Thor costume) in the godly jewels.
One of my all-time favorite series is "Young Justice," really fun and funny series about the DC sidekicks. It was amazingly awesome, but got canceled for that god-awful Teen Titans cartoon, so I'm a little bitter about that. But it's an amazingly fun read.
I'm also collecting the tpbs of the "Justice League International," the Justice League series from the late 80s\early 90s. Again, lots of fun to read, with good characters and occasional drama. (A good way to get into reading them would be to check out the recent "Formerly Known as the Justice League" and "I Can't Believe It's Not Justice Leage!" minis.)
In case you couldn't tell, I really like fun comics. Keep the overblown angst, just give me good characterization with a good sense of humor.
The only print comics I've read recently are Runaways, Chew, and The Walking Dead. There's a couple of others that I've been meaning to read and should probably get on top of...
I've got shelves and shelves devoted to graphic novels that I've bought over the years! A selection of favourites include:
Zot! (http://www.amazon.com/Zot-Complete-Black-Collection-1987-1991/dp/0061537276/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267045553&sr=8-1) by Scott McCloud (sort of a superhero story)
Finder (http://shop.lightspeedpress.com/collections/all) by Carla Speed McNeil
Scott Pilgrim (http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Pilgrim-Vol-Pilgrims-Precious/dp/1932664084/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267046095&sr=1-1) by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Sandman (http://www.amazon.com/Sandman-Vol-Preludes-Nocturnes/dp/1563890119/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267046128&sr=1-1) by Neil Gaiman (and various)
Black Jack (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Jack-Vol-Osamu-Tezuka/dp/193428727X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267046167&sr=1-1) by Osamu Tezuka
Hikaru No Go (http://www.amazon.com/Hikaru-No-Go-Vol-1/dp/159116222X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267046196&sr=1-4) by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata (Deathnote artist)
Kekkaishi (http://www.amazon.com/Kekkaishi-Vol-1-Yellow-Tanabe/dp/1591169682/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267046303&sr=1-1) by Yellow Tanabe
I use to read a lot of comic books from DC, Marvel, Image, etc. These days I barely read anything.
My all-time favorite comic book series is Jeff Smith's Bone. I have all the individual issues as well as the nine color TPBs from Graphix.
I'm 39 and I was a comic-a-holic. Now I'm in recovery but it's a never ending process.
I have 4 cases of comics in storage. I try very hard to resist buying any these days.
I have an original Elseworlds "In Darkest Knight" where Bruce Wayne gets the Green Lantern ring instead of Hal Jordon. I have both Gen 13 and Spawn #1's (among very many other number 1's). I even have the beginning of the "Preacher" series.
(http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/marvel_dc/images/thumb/9/9c/Batman_In_Darkest_Night_1.jpg/300px-Batman_In_Darkest_Night_1.jpg)
I have the first 20 or so of the Nightwing solo series done by Dixon, McDaniel and Story including the Wizard 1/2. This was the series that made me go "WOW, comic art can be amazing." The art alone made the book worth reading but the story of a bunch of bodies washing up in Gotham harbor and Dick branching out to his own city (Bludhaven... Bloodhaven... I forget) to solve the mystery was loads of fun.
(http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4733/nightwing00fclf7.jpg)
If you can't tell, I've alway been more of a DC guy than a Marvel guy but I do have some Spiderman, Avengers and Punisher stuff.
For example I have the entire Scarlet Spider "Clone Storyline" of Spider Man's from back in the 90's.
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_JWt7HrYXzSE/SQ_VftEOShI/AAAAAAAACXc/J82l5ZdT_u8/s400/ScarletSpider.jpg)
I used to have both Punisher and Punisher War Journal #1's but I sold them.
I have a signed copy of the Death of Superman but it has been opened.
(http://www.noisetosignal.org/images/posts/comicdeaths-superman.jpg)
I have original copies of "Kingdom Come" although I doubt they are worth diddly because I've read and reread them so many times.
I liked Hal Jordan but after the Coast City and Parallax thing I got really tired of his whiny crap. Both he and Green Arrow turned into a couple of badly written drama queens. So I'm actually much more fond of Kyle Rayner. I always loved to hate Major Force ever since they put an A-Bomb under some alien metal and made Captain Atom and when MF killed Kyle's girlfriend and then him discover her stuffed in his fridge... oh man I was hooked.
Nightwing is still one of my all time favorites. But I got into comics because of Barry Allen and the Flash.
| (http://gravyboy.com/blog/media/1/20080330-coie8.gif) | (http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/1/11352/762724-crisis_on_infinite_earths_tpb____page_231_super.jpg) |
| (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6xoH967aC00/RvECQeByywI/AAAAAAAAEc8/ewmxocA1NLk/s400/so-a2-1.jpg) | (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6xoH967aC00/RvECQ-ByyxI/AAAAAAAAEdE/P4Wp4ec984Q/s400/so-a2-2.jpg) | (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6xoH967aC00/RvECROByyyI/AAAAAAAAEdM/PvRe5lnryJY/s400/so-a2-3.jpg) |
I still love comics but once they brought back Barry Allen I just couldn't take it anymore. I had seen a lot of heroes fall and be risen again (the way Kevin Smith brought Green Arrow back to life was particularly awesome) but once they confirmed an afterlife with the way they brought Hal Jordan back as the Spectre and then Barry Allen... well death really just didn't seem like that big a deal anymore. Some heroes were on long trips through space that lasted longer than others were dead.
In fact I think I saw that as a joke in one comic where two heroes are catching up and the one says something like "yeah I was traveling this other galaxy trying to discover something or other and save blah blah blah so I was gone a couple years." and the other one says "yeah while you were gone I got killed by this one evil dude but I'm ok now."
Once the fear of death is taken away I just couldn't see the drama anymore. Worlds get destroyed, heroes die, blah blah blah. It all goes back to being ok at the end of the story arc.
So I'm pretty much done with print comics. For me, webcomics tend to be a lot more interesting and original. I do pick up the occasional graphic novel. I recently picked up Batman: Ten Nights of the KGBeast as I used to have original copies of it when I was a teenager. The story is good but the art doesn't hold up. And the fact that Batman basically left the KGBeast to die was so cool and original in that story. But since then; Dc brought him back again which is as I said, both lame and the reason I don't read print anymore.
I could never really get into superhero comics because they keep rebooting, actually.
I still grab comics I think look interesting or are recc'd to me, but I'm also mainly a webcomic reader. Most recent print stuff doesn't interest me...Kuroshitsuji was an exception.
Quote from: RobSo I'm pretty much done with print comics. For me, webcomics tend to be a lot more interesting and original.
Argh! Forgive my rant, but this sounds like exactly the same attitude I've been battling since I started making comics 15+ years ago. I've been saying since forever that there are comics to suit
everyone's tastes, if they're willing to look. I've seen so many great independently published comics over the years that have struggled to get noticed, and if only they could get the exposure they deserved they'd be selling thousands of copies. The struggle was always getting them into the hands of the fans. I understand that in smaller cities and rural areas the comic shops didn't have the same diversity I was accustomed to seeing, but I talked to so many people-- even at conventions where there was a wealth of talent in Artists Alley-- that complained they didn't like comics because they didn't like superheroes or goth/horror (which was the other major option in the '90s, thanks to DC's Vertigo line), it made me want to tear my hair out.
Anyway. My point is, there are still plenty of print comics that are worth reading, with a range of genres just as interesting and original as what you see in webcomics. If you are a comics fan it's worth seeking them out. Many are available to borrow from public libraries (which is where the majority of my comics come from these days). Yes, webcomics are great and they are free and they've helped tackle some of that exposure problem. But there is
so much amazing stuff available only in print, it would be a crying shame to forget about it, or to believe it was never there.
Quote from: Doomami on February 24, 2010, 12:31:58 AM
Also worth noting is that it's over 10 years strong and every issue has been written by author Brian Michael Bendis. So if anyone out there is weary of American comics due to the swapping of writers, you've got no excuse to pass this one up.
Bendis is my hero. :D I will feel my life is complete if I achieve a quarter of his writing ability. Very few other comic authors have such a flair for hilarious dialogue, relatable characters, and epic storylines.
Oh noes! I have angered the Tara! :o
LOL. I understand what you are saying. And I'm sure to an extent it's true. But I get books from the local library in this little town all the time. Usually I have to get them sent in from another library on the exchange program because this one is so small.
I was just at the biggest comic store in the area last week. I really didn't see anything that was't mainstream and the owner and I actually had a long talk about cyclical storylines and how a lot of stuff just keeps repeating.
To put it another way, the options you are describing just aren't there for me. I get my best exposure at Cons and usually I'm there for the webcomics. But if I see something cool I try and pick it up.
But the biggest issue is as you stated exposure. If I don't know it exists I can't really seek it out. And if there is a bunch of stuff that I don't know about I can't peruse through it and try and find the original stuff I might like.
But I believe you. There is probably some great stuff out there in print I'm dismissing with my attitude and for that I'm sorry. It's an economy of motion thing for me. Webcomics are just there. I can get them with a click. Even if I don't know about them there are search engines and listing sites to tell me about them. It's just really easy.
Whereas finding something in print that I don't know about is pretty much the opposite of that.
Quote from: RobOh noes! I have angered the Tara! :o
:D
My local library is teeny-weeny too, so I have to place an order and wait for all my graphic novels as well. But just to prove my point (and also because I worked in a bookstore for 10 years and I can't help recommending books to people), here are some titles I think you might like, Rob, if you haven't already read them:
The Big Book of Barry Ween, Boy Genius (http://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Barry-Ween-Genius/dp/1934964026/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267125589&sr=8-1) by Judd Winick
Astro City (http://www.amazon.com/Life-Big-City-Astro-Vol/dp/156389551X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267125670&sr=1-1) by Kurt Busiek and others (chances are pretty good you've already read this series, but just in case)
and the Zot! (http://www.amazon.com/Zot-Complete-Black-Collection-1987-1991/dp/0061537276/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267125751&sr=1-1) collection I mentioned in an earlier post.
All those should be get-able through interlibrary loan.
Hm... of course, all those were from the previous century, so I don't know if this is helping my case or not... ;)
Between my brother and I we must have around 1000 comic books. We started collecting Iron Man when we were kids and eventually we've collected comics from all over the world.
We've collected tons of superhero comics, but not very many lately as most of the titles that we kept up with are practically unrecognizable from what they used to be.
Manga-wise, some of my favorites are Man-Machine Interface (Ghost in the Shell 2) by Masamune Shirow, Sgt. Frog by Mine Yoshizaki and anything by Tsukuba Kotobuki or Shunya Yamashita. I'm also a fan of Kenichi Sanada's art and composition but not of his writing so much.
I've also gotten some great European comics like Les Armes du Metabarons which has some fantastic art by Travis Charest, and I really liked Massimo Frezotto's Keepers of Mazer and Songes: Coraline by Terry Dodson.
-S
Quote from: TTallan on February 25, 2010, 10:07:31 AM
Quote from: RobSo I'm pretty much done with print comics. For me, webcomics tend to be a lot more interesting and original.
Argh!
I'd say the guilty party isn't so much superheroes but serials in general, and even more specifically with editorial teams at the larger companies whose work is continuity-based rather than story-based, and where the business of comics drives the art rather than the art necessitating the business. This sounds like juvenile malcontent speak, I know, but if you think about the stories you're talking about, they all take place in never-ending titles (or a crossover of many such titles) which are directed by an editor rather than an author. I'm in full agreement with Rob that this kind of thing kills a love of the story, it killed mine too and I stopped reading superhero books altogether.
Webcomics aren't any more original across the board than print comics, though, it's just that print comics have one giant, top-heavy genre that dwarfs and overshadows the others and webcomics don't. Webcomics are more than full of their cliched genres, themes and premises...Sonic comics, boy-love manga, strips about college-guys who play video games, alien-among-humans stories...and print comics have fantastically original and diverse titles, like
(http://readingandrooibos.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/blankets.jpg)(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51068HM92SL.jpg)(http://images.indiebound.com/294/597/9781896597294.jpg)
(http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/alexawards/2004alex/persepolis-book.jpg)(http://www.comicopolisonline.com/images/Love_amp_Rockets.jpg)(http://www.lambiek.net/artists/d/dorkin/dorkin_evan_1a.jpg)
and a book everyone who enjoys comics should read at least once,
(http://www.starland.com/sus/2006/images/060224Bone.jpg)
And there are a ton of other really creative, talented people working in print...Kyle Baker, Darwyn Cooke, Chris Ware, Chester Brown, Dan Clowes, James Kochalka...and that's only people whose work I like. Personally, I don't read many webcomics with any faithfulness or regularity. Most of my comics come in printed form, mostly because it's so much easier for me to find comics that appeal to what I like by looking at a cover and flipping through a few pages, plus there's usually a Snotty Douchebag section for me to look in most stores.
I like more subtle, dramatic stories:
Angel by Erika Sakurazawa
With The Light by Keiko Tobe
Shirahime-Syo by CLAMP
Densha Otoko (Train_Man) Illustrated by Hidenori Hara, Written by Hitori Nakano (Anonymous)
...and similar books. I actually don't pick up many comics, mainly because not many interest me, or I don't want to jump into continuity and have no clue what's going on. THANKS, Marvel/DC. I started in comics late, and so many of my favorites are short series or one shots, hence why my website is short stories and one shots.
Quote from: Rob on February 24, 2010, 09:51:06 PM
I have the first 20 or so of the Nightwing solo series done by Dixon, McDaniel and Story including the Wizard 1/2. This was the series that made me go "WOW, comic art can be amazing." The art alone made the book worth reading but the story of a bunch of bodies washing up in Gotham harbor and Dick branching out to his own city (Bludhaven... Bloodhaven... I forget) to solve the mystery was loads of fun.
(http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4733/nightwing00fclf7.jpg)
I've been reading comics since I was 10 years old but I stopped picking the up when I was 14... but Joe Madureira's run on Astonishing X-Men (Age of Apocalypse) got me back in and Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel's
Nightwing got me reading DC. I loved the curvilinear perspective that Scott drew and his website (http://www.scottmcdaniel.net/) has some great tutorials on it (click on
drawing comics in the left frame).
Now, I have a fair sized library of comic book trades, collected manga digests, and comic strip collections. I'm a big fan of One Piece and Darwyn Cooke.