Recommend me obscure comic books and manga!

[Queen Michael]

1.Love and Rockets, both the "Locas" stories, and the "Palomar" stories. Also, if you can, try and find the original issues. There's a lot of really cool science fiction stuff they don't include in the compalations, like Errata Stigmata, Twitch City, or the "Bang" stories.

2.I also recommend graphic novel "Alias the Cat" by Kim Deitch. While I'm not all to sure about Kim Deitch's other work, this book is freakin great, featuring a complex story set in the 1910's and a present day cartoonist.

3. A lot of Alan Moore's more underrated work. While Watchmen and V For Vendetta were great, Promethea and Top Ten are so overlooked when they are sooooooo freakin good.

4. The Baltimore series, by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. It's steampunk, splatterpunk, alternate future, vampire fiction, gothic, Poe's Red Death GOODNESS!!

1. Already read both the Locas compilatons and the Palomar saga. Great stuff.

2. I think the library's got it, I'll give it a look.

3. Top Ten is absolutely fantastic. There's more sheer entusiasm in it than in any of his other work. And Promethea's not bad either.

4. This one, I know the library's got.

 

[FirebirdXR]

I'm gonna have to rec Onepunch-Man

It's a manga that satirizes the whole shounen genre, primarily by having a protagonist that beats all of his opponents with a single punch. It's pretty damn amazing, IMO, and more people need to read it.

Edit: I'd also recommend The Breaker, if you're at all interested in mystical-martial-arts-in-modern-day stuff. It's one of the best takes on the concept that I've seen, and I find it rather addicting. Don't have a link though unfortunately.

^_^

I was about to make this suggestion myself.

There also the original webcomic, which looks like it was drawn by a 8 year old with Parkinson's, but the story and humor still hold up surprisingly.

The leap between that and the remake drawn by the guy who drew Eyeshield 21 is pretty outstanding.

Plus, entire length-chapters pointlessly devoted to a single badass scene.

 

[pyrosaw]

1.Love and Rockets, both the "Locas" stories, and the "Palomar" stories. Also, if you can, try and find the original issues. There's a lot of really cool science fiction stuff they don't include in the compalations, like Errata Stigmata, Twitch City, or the "Bang" stories.

2.I also recommend graphic novel "Alias the Cat" by Kim Deitch. While I'm not all to sure about Kim Deitch's other work, this book is freakin great, featuring a complex story set in the 1910's and a present day cartoonist.

3. A lot of Alan Moore's more underrated work. While Watchmen and V For Vendetta were great, Promethea and Top Ten are so overlooked when they are sooooooo freakin good.

4. The Baltimore series, by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden. It's steampunk, splatterpunk, alternate future, vampire fiction, gothic, Poe's Red Death GOODNESS!!

1. Already read both the Locas compilatons and the Palomar saga. Great stuff.

2. I think the library's got it, I'll give it a look.

3. Top Ten is absolutely fantastic. There's more sheer entusiasm in it than in any of his other work. And Promethea's not bad either.

4. This one, I know the library's got.

Oh! Forgot, the various works of Jhonen Vasquez! Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, I Am Sick, and Filler Bunny! If you like Invader Zim, you'll love this.(Same cartoonist.)
Oh, and don't forget Kurt Busiek's Astro City. Much like Top Ten in some respects, and I love it's use of religion.
Well that's *cough* Doktor Sleepless *cough* about it.

 

[Crispee]

Anybody else ever read Y: The Last Man? It's an adventure comic series about an escape artist named Yorick and his pet Monkey Ampersand, who discover they are the last male organisms on the planet, with only females in charge of everything after the Genderdice of unknown cause. They must travel across the world with some other people to achieve their respective goals. It's a pretty interesting concept.

Interesting idea but I found it increasingly misogynistic and the whole magical thing just started to annoy me, sorry.

I should've mentioned I've only read the first two volumes, had no idea there was magic involved.

I never got the impression of misogyny myself, it looked to me like a fairly neutral depiction of women.

 

[KOMega]

I'm gonna have to rec Onepunch-Man [http://www.mangainn.com/manga/3027_onepunch-man]

It's a manga that satirizes the whole shounen genre, primarily by having a protagonist that beats all of his opponents with a single punch. It's pretty damn amazing, IMO, and more people need to read it.

Just read all of it. I really like it XD

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Battle Angel Alita, some days it seems like me and James Cameron are the only people who've read it >.> But it's a bizarre, violent, philosophical cyberpunk martial arts epic. I'd recommend avoiding the sequel Last Order though, it's sort of meant to be an End of Eva "real ending" to the series but the original ending is pretty darn good and Last Order meandered so long the artist cancelled it... so it's an unfinished "real ending" that gets really crappy after a few volumes.

Arrowsmith, it's a Kurt Busiek (Marvels) written comic about World War 1 as it takes place in an Alternate Fantasy Earth. It's exceedingly interesting for both History Nerds and people who love Fantasy/Alt-History as it captures both tones with amazing skill. Sadly there's only one trade and the story never actually "ends", but it's still worth reading.

Echo, a pretty darn cool superhero-ish(?) story about a woman who gets... infected? by a prototype battlesuit and the problems that ensue. It's by Terry Moore of Strangers In Paradise psuedo-fame (in the Indie Scene I guess) so the characters are VERY real, which adds a lot to the story.

Sebastian O, it's by Grant Morrison but DAMN is this small and weird, it's a 3 issue Mini-series about an Assassin in a Steampunk-ish London at the turn of the century. If you're familiar with the work of Michael Moorcock it's essentially "Grant Morrison does Jerry Cornelius".

Highroads a World War 2 Adventure Comic about an American Captain, an Ex-Mistress of Hitler, a midget British Actor who specializes in Hitler impressions and en Ex-Kamikaze Pilot. Good luck finding this one, it's so obscure I don't think it's still in print...

Street Angel the tale of Jesse Sanchez, a dangerous martial artist and the worlds greatest homeless skateboarder. It's sort of like if Tank Girl and Scott Pilgrim got married and had the worlds weirdest baby.

and for "Too Darn Good Not To Recommend" I'll throw out Atomic Robo because if you aren't reading it you should be, written by Brian Clevinger of 8-bit Theater Fame, Atomic Robo is essentially Doc Savage... if he were a short, clever robot built by Nikola Tesla who uses old fashioned "curses" like "Horsefeathers".

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I would have to say Jing: The King of Bandits.

Not sure how obscure this manga is, as I first read it in high school, of all places. It's a fun action adventure series about Jing, the King of Bandits who is capable of stealing anything that he lays his sights on (even emotions and stars in space), who is accompanied by his loud, wise-cracking crow Kir. Together they pull off heists to priceless artifacts and wonders of the world, while stealing a little something-something on the side. Each score contains its own range of tones, as some heists are silly and humorous, while others are dark and serious.

The series has an initial run of 7 volumes and it's continuation, Twilight Tales, goes on for another 7 volumes. It's a great series and I really recommend it.

 

[silentNate]

Anybody else ever read Y: The Last Man? It's an adventure comic series about an escape artist named Yorick and his pet Monkey Ampersand, who discover they are the last male organisms on the planet, with only females in charge of everything after the Genderdice of unknown cause. They must travel across the world with some other people to achieve their respective goals. It's a pretty interesting concept.

Interesting idea but I found it increasingly misogynistic and the whole magical thing just started to annoy me, sorry.

...magical thing? I've read the entire thing twice, but I'm not sure what you're talking about here.

Had to use wikipedia to jog my memory...

Spoiler

According to an agent of the Setauket Ring, the plague struck the moment Agent 355 removed the sacred Amulet of Helene from the nation of Jordan. The amulet carried a warning that if it was ever taken from its homeland, it would create a tragedy greater than the Trojan War. It is also suggested that the wedding ring Yorick bought for Beth may have protected him and Ampersand from the effect of this curse.

 

[Queen Michael]

Battle Angel Alita...

Echo...

Sebastian O...

Street Angel the tale of Jesse Sanchez, a dangerous martial artist and the worlds greatest homeless skateboarder. It's sort of like if Tank Girl and Scott Pilgrim got married and had the worlds weirdest baby.

and for "Too Darn Good Not To Recommend" I'll throw out Atomic Robo because if you aren't reading it you should be, written by Brian Clevinger of 8-bit Theater Fame, Atomic Robo is essentially Doc Savage... if he were a short, clever robot built by Nikola Tesla who uses old fashioned "curses" like "Horsefeathers".

I've read Battle Angel Alita; in fact it was one of the first manga series I ever read. Excellent stuff.
I've collected half of Echo so far.
I never got around to reading Sebastian O. when the library had it. Still kicking myself to this day.
Street Angel is so damn awesome.

I would have to say Jing: The King of Bandits.

My little brother got it years ago, and I read it. Shonen's not really my thing, though.

Claymore
Action / Horror / Fantasy
In a medieval world, villages are being attacked by the youma, demons that can take the appearance of their victim. The only people who can stop them are the Claymore, a group of young women named for the swords they use. They are half-human, half-demons who, mostly unwillingly, became Claymore.

This one, I like a lot.

Had to use wikipedia to jog my memory...

Spoiler

According to an agent of the Setauket Ring, the plague struck the moment Agent 355 removed the sacred Amulet of Helene from the nation of Jordan. The amulet carried a warning that if it was ever taken from its homeland, it would create a tragedy greater than the Trojan War. It is also suggested that the wedding ring Yorick bought for Beth may have protected him and Ampersand from the effect of this curse.

Ah, thanks.

 

[teebeeohh]

Empowered by Adam Warren, It is somewhat famous in certain circles but it really needs more exposure for being a smart, funny superhero comic series.

i would just like to second that, Empowered is really really good and people how check it out should not be turned off by the artstyle or the large amount of fanservice(it gets better later on). It's funny and clever and has really great characters and when i really sucks you in it decides to give you tonal whiplash.

other than that i really am not comic/manga hipster enough to recommend something. I'll now go back to listening to music you never heard of while reading weird books.