New To Comics, Recommendations?

[Fox12]

I've just finished my first comic books, Watchmen and The Killing Joke, and I was rather impressed. They were almost literary, and had far better writing than most books. I've also read a few web comics, but I don't count them. I'm new to comics, and have next to no experience with them, but I'm curious to read more, so I have two questions for the comic fans among you.

First of all, what are some really good graphic novels you would recommend? They can be mainstream classics or cult classics most people haven't heard of, as long as the story is good. I don't care what the subject matter is, I'm open to all sorts of genres. I would also prefer self contained stories or a series that has a natural story to it. I don't want to read a massive series or a series that is still ongoing, but rather a book that I can finish and be satisfied. I'm not interested in picking up a new issue every month.

My second question is where would you recommend finding graphic novels? The only place I know of is Barnes and Noble, which tends to have the obvious classics (like the aforementioned Watchmen) but not much else. I don't care if it's an actual store or an online store of some sort. I live in Georgia.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

I would highly recommend a graphic novel called "Wanted". Watchmen is my favorite graphic novel of all time, so if we have similar taste I am sure you would like Wanted too. I think it is a great one to start with and some of the best twists and lines I have ever seen in a comic. Wanted was also one of my first comics/graphic novels.

As for where to get them, I am not in the States. I usually buy most things on Amazon these days, or I buy at Chapters/Indigo, but I am pretty sure that is Canadian only. Just go on the look out for a small comic book store, most towns/cities usually have one or two.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Just in case your curious, Wanted the movie is based on Wanted the comic novel. But it's actually good. In fact, if they changed the name of the movie, you may not recognize that they were supposed to be one in the same.

It is really good. Don't be put off by terrible memories of cinematic junk.

I can't really add a suggestion though. Not really big into graphic novels.

As for where to find them...

Comic shops, silly.

 

[WolfThomas]

Find something you think looks interesting, read it and keep reading wherever it leads. That's the best way.

A thing I've found is if you like an author they're pretty consistent across their stuff.

Really there are too many great series to recommend them but if if I had to only name three I'd say Transmetropolitan, the Invisibles and Preacher.

 

[Vausch]

The Green Lantern event Sinestro Corps War is an excellent book, but it requires a little backstory reading to fully get all of what's going on. I'd suggest keeping wikipedia open.

The 2006 run of Blue Beetle with Jaime Reyes is wonderful. Nothing really special needed to be read beforehand, it covers it pretty well and is fairly self-contained.

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is a very dark but equally funny book. Written by Jhonen Vasquez, creator of Invader Zim. Its sequel comic, Squee, is also hilarious.

As for where to buy the books, a lot of companies are offering them digitally for ipads and computer reading now, so there's that. Otherwise I'd just ether order at the bookstore or online. Really do not understand the aversion to that so many people seem to have.

 

[Kyle Melville]

Ohhhh boy. It's so difficult to recommend without overwhelming. Well, I suppose that just may be how you got in this predicament and one I'm still trying to get out of. Really, WolfThomas has a great idea and I would suggest going by that. Just have fun and explore. Another method is listening to comics podcasts. I personally prefer 11 O'Clock Comics as they are pretty good at covering a lot of ground without spoiling but still telling you why they find what they're reading interesting or not. Some small recommendations (because I can't help myself) worth at least reading the back cover of would be:
- Identity Crisis (has a good array of DC characters and a story that I got quite into. A nice little mystery with some whoa moments.)
- V for Vendetta (much like the movie, but quite different to where you have some extra awesome meat to chew on.)
- Maus (A fantastic story of a Jewish guy surviving the holocaust. A very serious message conveyed through lighthearted art.)
- Scott Pilgrim (awesome because it willed awesomeness into your brainspace. A somewhat quick read, but I enjoyed every minute of it.)
- Batman: the Long Halloween (because everyone will suggest Year One and they should. A nice array of Batman characters with a fairly solid murder mystery.)
- Adventure Time (manages to be as awesome as the show.)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection (goes back to the beginning of the Turtles in their black & white glory. The writers even make some really interesting commentary after every issue.)

Unfotunately, I'm not terribly versed in Marvel comics. I need to work on that.

 

[King of Asgaard]

Grab Sin City volumes 1-4; they're excellent. 300's good too.
For more Batman, check out Batman: Year One and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, in that order preferably.
Also, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volumes 1 and 2 are great, as is V for Vendetta.
I have to bring up Transmetropolitan, all 10 volumes are amazing.

Now, I'm of a rather unpopular opinion, but I really didn't care for Wanted. I thought it was poorly written and quite juvenile, especially coming off such great works as Watchmen and the Killing Joke. But I'm of the opinion that Mark Millar is a bit of shit writer in general, too, so that's not saying much.

 

[Benni88]

I saw somebody recommend Preacher. It is a must. Reading it at the moment for the first time and it's amazing.

I also read Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind a little while ago. I was a big fan of the film but the comic is just awesome. Soooo much stuff in them that wasn't in the movie.

 

[Soviet Steve]

I tried getting into comicbooks twice. First with the spiderman clone saga as a kid and then with Superman Red Son last year. I'm currently reading Tails Gets Trolled (It's available for free online) and the writing is leagues beyond either of the industry's attempts, and as such I wouldn't recommend them.

 

[Linksmash]

So, so many good ones. For comics grounded in reality i'd recommend Blankets by craig Thompson and Essex County by Jeff Lemire. Another great ( slightly fantastical one) is I kill Giants. 'serious' non heavily in continuity super hero book? ex machinia and the boys . The latter only if you can tolerate some childish humour mixed with wonderful character development. Weird creepy body horror? Black Hole by Charles Burn. Sci Fi? Manhattan Project or the new Prophet series. Sci-fantasy? Saga. Freaky weird drama? morning glories. Horror? americasn vampire. Lushly drawn grown up version of toy story? The stuff of legend.
I could go on.
I'd second the Preacher recommendations and if you want to stay with Alan Moore there are the obvious recommendations, but i'd also give top 10 a go.
I've wasted my life!

 

[Massaudi]

The newest run on daredevil is excellent, just read that.

 

[Flatfrog]

How has no one mentioned Sandman yet? Far and away the most obvious next step for you if you're getting into the classic rise of the literary comic, and it's a pure joy from start to finish. I've recently introduced my daughter to it and it's been great to see someone else experience it for the first time.

From the same era, there's also V for Vendetta (already mentioned), Swamp Thing and Hellblazer.

Neil Gaiman's work on Miracleman was the best thing he ever wrote in my opinion but didn't last long enough for him to really hit his stride.

If you're interested in something a bit different, you might also try Cerebus. The first book is just a silly Conan parody, but the subsequent books up to and including Guys are kind of amazing (apart from Melmoth which is a bit dull). Jaka's Story isn't a bad starting point, it stands pretty well on its own. After Guys, though, the whole thing does kind of fall to bits as Dave Sim descended inexorably into arseholedom.

I struggle in the comic book store with the sheer volume of books there are to choose from and I don't really have the money to read as many as I'd like.

 

[GiantRaven]

This thread is lacking in it's David Hine-ness. Let me remedy that:

Strange Embrace [http://www.comixology.com/Strange-Embrace-Vol-1/comics-series/755]
Storm Dogs [http://www.comixology.com/Storm-Dogs/comics-series/9053]
The Bulletproof Coffin [http://www.comixology.com/Bulletproof-Coffin/comics-series/4411]

Three great self-contained stories in three different genres. The first issue of each is free on Comixology.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

What I am recommending isn't a Comic Book, per-Se, but you can get them in book form.

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson are hilarious. I recommend getting as many of the books as you can.

 

[Lictor Face]

I've always enjoyed the hellboy franchise.

The Marvel Civil War series was fun to read, if somewhat confusing if you didn't start from the first issue.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I would do as you are and stick with novels or compilations, it's good to have an entire storey in one, it tends to be cheaper, and you can get a good indication from reviews if it is any good.

Pick some hero's you like... and if you haven't seen many read some of the event novels, or ones that collect heros, to have a gander, Marvel Civil war is good for that.

I am a fan of the Punisher, and Marvel Universe vs The Punisher, and Marvel Universe vs Wolverine is good too as a prequel. Some other Marvel ones I really enjoyed were The Ultimates 1 and 2, and the Marvel 1602, which is a really good story where the usual superheroes exist in 17th Century England. (Check out Peter Parquagh )

I would also reccomend any of the MI:13 storys. Captain Britain and Blade are pretty damn cool, and having them on a team is awesome!

Outside of Marvel I would reccomend the Walking Dead compendiums, Batman's Dark Knight Rises and Dark Night Returns (the sequal), Batman The Long Halloween and Spawn (Get the series... it's really good.) Also... I love the Darkness and Witchblade... so I reccomend that!

 

[Simonism451]

I tried getting into comicbooks twice. First with the spiderman clone saga as a kid and then with Superman Red Son last year. I'm currently reading Tails Gets Trolled (It's available for free online) and the writing is leagues beyond either of the industry's attempts, and as such I wouldn't recommend them.

Trying to get into comics with the clone saga...That's really tough luck, mate. I feel for you, but trust me, even for comic books the clone saga is sort of sub-par. As for Red Son, well, it's written by Mark Millar and, well, that's that.

OT: Most of Alan Moore's (the guy who wrote both Watchmen and The Killing Joke) other work is quite good as well, with From Hell and V for Vendetta standing clearly at the top.
Somewhat outside of the typical superhero stuff are Rogue Trooper and Judge Dredd, two long-running series from british publisher 2000AD, that are respectively sci-fi war and sci-fi crime stories, both of them fun in a very eighties kind of way with very heavy-handed "satire" and dumb sounding future words (Rogue Trooper is set on a planet called Nu Earth on which there's a city called Nu-Paree). Anthologies of both of them can be bought relatively cheaply on Amazon.
Greg Rucka's spy miniseries "Queen&Country" is quite exceptional as well, featuring probably one of the most realistic depictions of the complexities of modern secret services in any work of fiction as well as one of the best written female protagonists ever to appear in a comic.
While far more lighthearted, you can check out whether or not you like his writing in the swashbuckling steampunk pirate/western webcomic he's doing with artist Rick Burchett at http://www.ineffableaether.com/2011/07/11/ch01s01-2/ .
Apropos webcomics: Thrillbent.com hosts a number of free ongoing series of surprising quality and there's some other real cool stuff aside from the classic comic strip model out there on the web: Gravedigger by Cristopher Mills and Rick Burchett (hard-boiled noir short stories featuring an unlikeable greedy asshole surrounded by other unlikeable greedy assholes who eventually end up dead http://www.gravediggercomic.com/ ) and Delilah Dirk by Tony Cliff (a sort of non-sci-fi, non-horror Doctor Who with simply amazing art (seriously it looks great) http://www.delilahdirk.com/ )
As for where to get the stuff, well, there's obviously Amazon to fullfill most of your needs, but you'll have to deal with shipping costs and long waiting times, so for the less exotic stuff, I'd just google for comic shops in the next bigger city. Something's bound to turn up (is that Georgia the state or Georgia the country?). Alternatively, thre's Comixology.com which features quite a selection of digital versions of comics, that you can buy and download for a relatively low price.

 

[KazeAizen]

I've just finished my first comic books, Watchmen and The Killing Joke, and I was rather impressed. They were almost literary, and had far better writing than most books. I've also read a few web comics, but I don't count them. I'm new to comics, and have next to no experience with them, but I'm curious to read more, so I have two questions for the comic fans among you.

First of all, what are some really good graphic novels you would recommend? They can be mainstream classics or cult classics most people haven't heard of, as long as the story is good. I don't care what the subject matter is, I'm open to all sorts of genres. I would also prefer self contained stories or a series that has a natural story to it. I don't want to read a massive series or a series that is still ongoing, but rather a book that I can finish and be satisfied. I'm not interested in picking up a new issue every month.

My second question is where would you recommend finding graphic novels? The only place I know of is Barnes and Noble, which tends to have the obvious classics (like the aforementioned Watchmen) but not much else. I don't care if it's an actual store or an online store of some sort. I live in Georgia.

In terms of the superhero stuff I could recommend Superman: Red Son, Kingdom Come, Justice, and I can't believe I"m saying this The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. Its an alright book and a decent Batman story which is why I recommend it but he goes out of his way to make Superman look bad which is something I can't tolerate. Its not even really the tasteful kind of look bad. Also any of the Crisis books by DC are pretty good. Especially Identity Crisis.

 

[Ace Morologist]

Recommendations:

Bone by Jeff Smith (in the one-volume edition). You can find it in bookstores (sometimes) or order it online. It's cartoony fantasy fun.

If you're up for a longer investment of time and money, the manga series Lone Wolf and Cub is great samurai noir action. It's completely finished, but it's in like 26 volumes, and you'd have to either special order it at a bookstore or order it online.

--Morology!

 

[EHKOS]

I'm not well versed in comics, but I liked Spider-Man Noir.