Comic Book recommendations.

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

So i finished reading Moore's "Watchmen" and a series of "Blacksad" albums, recently.
The first one don't think needs an introduction. Plenty already said about its themes, deconstructivism, etc. But beside the contents, what struck me after coming back to "Watchmen" is how good the form also is. Gibbons' art, restriction with how panels are used, all of it is so clean, and elegant and really helps you with following the story.
Now, the latter, "Blacksad" is also something i immensely enjoyed. Mainly the art, which is a work of a former(?) Disney animator, but also the setting. Noir detective stories, set in alternative 50s America, not shying away from political background, racial tensions, cultural zeitgeist etc. Except with antropomorphic animals instead.

Any other good comics/graphic novels i could read? Looking for something self-contained, that doesn't end on a cliffhanger, nor requires an immense familiarity with the "lore" etc. Superheroes optional.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

Dave Gibbons never gets enough credit for his work on watchmen. People just don't talk about when they bring up Watchmen.

I like reading comics but it's always a financial drain on me. Recently I picked up the first volume of Ms. Mavel. Worth the praise, pretty good even though the art doesn't really click for me.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Kingdom Come, Nuff Said.

If not about Superhero stuff well I usually read tie-in comics for Video games that range in quality.

I enjoyed the Warcraft Comics for all their worth.

 

[WindKnight]

Sticking strictly to one-off miniseries or relatively self contained chunks of long running universes

We3 - The Incredible Journey with power armoured pets and a bit of gore.

Last Stand Of The Wreckers - The Dirty Dozen with transformers, which became a shot in the arm to refresh fans and the franchise alike.

Pride of Baghdad - fictionalised account of a group of Lions who escaped the baghdad Zoo during the invasion of Iraq.

Maus - Account of both the authors parents, a jewish couple, surviving nazi germany, alongside modern conversations between the author and his father he had while learning the story, with the conceit that Jewish characters are portrayed as mice, Germans cats, etc.

Livewires - Marvel set Super secret Black Books project androids spend their time going after other super-secret black books projects aiming to shut them down before they run amuck and cause disasters.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Gotham Central. All about the police department in Gotham and how they function when you have to to deal with supervillains and a vigilante hero who doesn't exactly play well with others. Has similar themes to Watchmen, in that this is a bunch of flawed but otherwise fairly normal people dealing with the fantastic in a crappy world that they may or not be making crappier with their attempts to help

 

[09philj]

- Alan Moore and David Gibbons also collaborated on V for Vendetta, a very British indictment of authoritarianism. Not as tight a plot as Watchmen, but the titular antihero is a continuously compelling character.

- Brian K Vaughan's The Private Eye is a pretty good post-cyberpunk graphic novel, although not as good as Vaughan's ongoing series Saga or Paper Girls

- As Windknight said, Art Spiegelman's Maus is excellent, an extremely powerful account of the Holocaust.

- Joe Sacco's graphic journalism's really good, especially Palestine and Safe Area Gora?de.

- I really liked Marjane Satrapi's autobiography Persepolis.

 

[votemarvel]

I'll go for a couple of series written by Gail Simone.

The first is Leaving Megalopolis. In it the great heroes of a city are driven to murderous insanity and a small band of survivors have to try and find their way out of the city before they become yet another victim.

Next would be Crosswind. The best way to describe it would be to think of Freaky Friday if the people undergoing the swap were a put upon housewife and a hitman. I admit I'm kind of biased here because I love body swap movies and books (though trying to find something in the latter that is not erotica is a challenge unto itself).

 

[Marik2]

Comics are Weird!!!

 

[Saint of M]

I'm trying to remember the number of the issue, but there was a really good Deadpool comic that had him try to keep a young teenager from committing suicide...by taking her on his missions. Hiliarity ensues, but it does include beating up a mob boss and the two taking his seats for Hamilton.

The Manga Zombie Powder is also a fun romp. Only four volumes before it was cansled, but its done by the same guy who did Bleach. The main charecter is a goofball like Vash, but likes swords and has no issues killing people.

 

[09philj]

Inio Asano's manga is really good. Solanin is sort of like a depressingly realistic version of Scott Pilgrim vs The World, as it's just about a bunch of dumb young adults failing to act their age or achieve anything meaningful. Still, it's one of his more upbeat works. His magnum opus is probably Goodnight Punpun, a relentlessly gloomy story following one man's life from childhood to early adulthood, rammed with surrealist imagery, including the main character being represented by a crudely drawn small bird and conversing with God in the form of a photo realistic floating head.

 

[Callate]

I'm surprised no one has brought up Gaiman's original Sandman run.

Preacher is... not to everyone's taste. Ennis has, shall we say, some issues. But if you can put up with (or enjoy) a significant amount of violence, perversion, and blasphemy, it's a pretty enjoyable ride.

Spoiler

"Son of man or son of God, you can't fuck your sister and expect much good to come of it."

Oh, and Transmetropolitan. Spider Jerusalem is one of the most memorable characters in comics.