I need your help. I've maintained my comic book collection since 1986, but I've always been an on-again-off again type of guy. I'll collect books for 6-18 months at a time and then not buy anything for a year - and so on...
Here's what I'm looking for from you guys. I'd like to head into my local shop and pick up some of the best stories in the last year or two. I read everything and anything - I'm not pidgeon-holed into a particular brand. I'm probably looking to buy graphic novels because I'm really more interested in the good writing and art than I am about the re-sale value of the books (but I'll buy a string of books if they're really good).
So my question to this learned board is the follows: What are the best storylines of the last year or two? Which books had some really great runs? What books really wowed you when it came to the art and the writing?
Again, I'm not really a Marvel or DC specific guy. I'll read anything if it's good. So hit me with your opinion of what the highlights of the last year or two have been in the comic world. I could pick up the most recent Wizard and see what they say, but I trust you guys more.
My 2 highest recommendations are probably Y: The Last Man and Fables. Both are DC Vertigo titles and have been published for about the last 2 years or so.
Y: The Last Man is a story about a plague that simultaneously wipes out every living organism on the planet with a Y chromosome. So basically every man and male on the planet is DEAD...except for amateur escape artist, Yorick Brown, and his pet helper monkey Ampersand. He is the last man.
Fables is a story about basically every fable and fairy tale character you can think of living in present day New York City in their own secret community. A guy called the Adversary exiled and ran them out of their homelands. The head of security of Fabletown is The Big Bad Wolf, now called Bigby, who is trying to win the heart of Snow White, the deputy mayor. Fables is really good because its kind of a new spin on familiar characters, and it kind of throws away a lot of the old Disney cliches. For example, Prince Charming is now basically a manipulative, gold-digging, Euro-trash douche bag. Bigby Wolf is the hero. Stuff like that.
Darkhorse comics also publishes this fantastic Japanese manga called Blade Of The Immortal. Its about a samurai named Manji, who has been infested by Holy Bloodworms that make him immortal. Manji's sole purpose now seems to be able to gain the gift of death after killing so many, so he makes a pack with a priestess that if he kills a 1000 bad guys, he can finally die and be at peace. Some of the violence and imagery in this series is really fucked up and twisted, but its a great story. Darkhorse did flip imaging for the series, so it reads from left to right instead of right to left like most Japanese manga.
"Don't compare my arm to your cheap arm!" -Edward Elric
I really enjoyed the new Teen Titans series (not the Teen Titans Go adaptation title).
The best storyline in the past year is the culmination of Alan Moore's Promoethea series, but you need to read the whole series to understand what's going on. I recommend getting the initial trades.
Smax, another Alan Moore title, is a four-part mini spinning off of his Top Ten superhero cop ensemble. It's a story that alternately hilarious and spooky.
Bendis's Daredevil series is good comics period. You can grab any issue and the first page catches you up quickly.
Paul Pope's 100% is a very good five-part series that ended last year.
Alan Davis is producing another The Nail miniseries set in DC's Elseworlds. It's jam-packed with DC characters and a cosmic-scale story.
The new volume of Powers just began, and it's a good noir read. I also enjoy Amazing Spider-Man with the John Romita Jr. art.
And if you want a great anthology, get the McSweeney's #13 journal. It's a huge collection of various comic stories and styles.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
DC/VERTIGO: Y: The Last Man [W: Brian K. Vaughan, P: Pia Guerra] All the males on the planet are dead except for wannanbe escape artist Yorick Brown and his pet monkey. They set out with two travelling companions to get to Yorick's girlfriend Beth, who's in Australia.
MARVEL: Daredevil [W: Brian Michael Bendis, P: Alex Maleev] Bendis has turned DD's world on it's ear since starting on the series a couple years back. DD's secret identity was published on the front page of the Daily Globe, but Matt Murdock denies it and sues the paper, trying to maintain his ID while bringing down the Kingpin and declaring himself the Kingpin. Amazing Spider-Man [W: J. Michael Straczynski, P: Mike Deodato] John Romita's off the title for a while (he's doing Wolverine with Mark Millar in October), but the new artist rocks and the new story involving characters from an infamous moment in Spidey-Lore rocks so far. Supreme Power [W: J. Michael Straczynski, P: Gary Frank] It's the Squadron Supreme, but done in a frighteningly realistic way. Ultimate Spider-Man [W: Brian Michael Bendis, P: Mark Bagley] Spider-Man as a teenager without a bunch of bad continuity. Ultimate X-Men [W: Brian K. Vaughan, P: Andy Kubert] X-Men without a bunch of bad continuity. Ultimate Fantastic Four [W: Warren Ellis, P: Stuart Immonen] The FF without a bunch of bad continuity. Avengers [W: Brian Michael Bendis, P: David Finch] Well, Bendis took over Avengers with this month's #500 and promises to basically dismantle the team we hold near & dear in the (Marvel) comics event of the year! Fantastic Four [W: Mark Waid, P: Mike Wieringo] Galactus is coming next month and will choose a FF member as his new herald. The series has been fantastic since the creative team began, so pick it up! Powers [W: Brian Michael Bendis, P: Michael Avon Oeming] Bendis' creator-owned series about cops that have to police superpowered individuals. Just relaunched under Marvel's Icon banner, so it's more accessable than ever.
CALGARY FLAMES: Your 2004 Western Conference Champions DVDs I Own
I would have to agree with those who have already posted. Both Y the Last Man and Daredevil are the two comics I look forward to the most each month, a close third is Hero, followed by Invincible.
I'd say my favorite book of the last year has been Thanos. They're cancelling it at issue 12, anyways, so if you can track down the back issues it's worth your time.
Thanks, all. It looks like I have some catching up to do. I thought the first mention of Yorick and his pet monkey Ampersand was a rib, but I guess not.
Superman: Red Son........an Elseworlds three-part series with the what if? scenario of Superman's rocket ship crash-landing in post-WWII Russia.
Superman: Secret Identity is a PHENOMENAL Elseworlds story about a real guy named Clark Kent who wakes up one day with Superman's powers. Highly recommended.
As others have said, Daredevil and Fantastic Four have been two the best mainstream superhero series in recent years, and I'll add the Flash to that list. Waid does an even better job with Flash than he does with the FF.
There's also the 'Batman: Hush' series, which I believe is now entirely out in trade format. I personally had some problems with the conclusion, but overall it's a pretty decent storyline just as long as you forget about continuity and turn your brain off a bit.
Basically, the comics community will recommend everything done by Geoff Johns, JMS & Bendis. Johns' work on The Flash rocked, especially Blitz and the mindbending finale.
Mark Millar also does a lot of good stuff.
CALGARY FLAMES: Your 2004 Western Conference Champions DVDs I Own
I suppose I could shamelessly self pimp my own site here - www.stillontheshelf.com - I do a weekly column there and on another comic site that basically talks about comics you should be reading...
Some recent good stuff -
Fables - absolutely. A must read.
On the DCU side - Robin (same writer as Fables) and Birds of Prey are probably their best two titles right now. Robin is kind of mid arc, and they are about to start that whole War Games mess, so you might wait on that one until at least October. I am also really enjoying The Flash, but that might take a few issues to get into, and you might want to pick up several of the recent trades before getting into that one.
For Marvel - a tough one, depends on what you like. Daredevil is outstanding, and Ultimate Spider-man might be a good read. Supreme Power is also outstanding, though it could be tough to pick up at this point.
If you want to try some smaller press stuff, you might check out Dead@17 - best to get the trades for that one, as the second mini is just about over. Noble Causes just started up as an ongoing for Image, a good read, Ant from Arcana is decent, and Usagi Yojimbo at Dark Horse is always good. You also might check out something from IDW, their horror books are outstanding, and still pretty young.
Again, it just depends on the sort of thing you like in a comic - superhero, dark, funny, horror ... different strokes for different folks.
Just avoid anything with the name "Austen" on it as a writer :)
Chuck Austen is quite possibly one of the worst comic book writers of all time. How fitting it is that Austen is the guy that wrote the DC comic adaptation of the CINO movie.
"Don't compare my arm to your cheap arm!" -Edward Elric
Jeff Smith's Bone is either just out or is getting ready to come out in a "One-Volume" edition. All 55 issues for about 30-40 dollars. It's a 1300-page softcover. A phenomenal story, a phenomenal deal. I also highly recommend Y, ASM and Daredevil.
Originally posted by TeapotJeff Smith's Bone is either just out or is getting ready to come out in a "One-Volume" edition. All 55 issues for about 30-40 dollars. It's a 1300-page softcover. A phenomenal story, a phenomenal deal. I also highly recommend Y, ASM and Daredevil.
They debuted the HC edition at San Diego ($150). I believe the SC will be shipping shortly.
I picked up the softcover of that last wednesday... boy that sucker is thick. Great read, though, but not quite the choice for someone just getting back into reading comics :). What, with Bone being done, and all....
Originally posted by The Vile1Chuck Austen is quite possibly one of the worst comic book writers of all time. How fitting it is that Austen is the guy that wrote the DC comic adaptation of the CINO movie.
AMEN to that. And somehow, he continues to get really HIGH PROFILE assignments. Thus far he has ruined a whole group of X-Men with what had to have been the worst two or so years of stories EVER. Next up, Superman. Yikes!!
Originally posted by The Vile1Chuck Austen is quite possibly one of the worst comic book writers of all time. How fitting it is that Austen is the guy that wrote the DC comic adaptation of the CINO movie.
AMEN to that. And somehow, he continues to get really HIGH PROFILE assignments. Thus far he has ruined a whole group of X-Men with what had to have been the worst two or so years of stories EVER. Next up, Superman. Yikes!!
Don't forget Avengers and now Justice League.
"Don't compare my arm to your cheap arm!" -Edward Elric
If you follow the advice here you'll get hooked on a $20 a week habit and end up with little to show for it.
The best idea is to go to Borders Books, take a copy of each issue and read them in the food section. I also go to a library where they have most of the popular trades/graphic novels.
The only ones I buy regularly are Secret Wars and Batman: Gotham Nights, which continues the Hush storyline. There is also a $.25 Batman coming soon worth getting.
For the current "hot" issues, the new Amazing Spiderman makes the bad continuity even worse, yet has been sold out of many stores. The DC Identity Crisis has a controversial rape scene in it.
(Sidenote: the link to Poolboy's site works, but I couldn't navigate it to find any reviews.)
I am in no way a 'fan' of Chuck Austen, but he did have a few good story ideas come from him with the X-Men. Bringing Juggernaut into the team was a great idea. And call me crazy, but with a better artist, I think The Draco could have been a better read along with Holy War. Also, his past few issues of Action Comics have NOT been a let down. Using Gog to kick Superman's ass was awesome. Didn't he do the twelve issue U.S. War Machine mini series a few years ago as well?
Anyways, new stuff...
JSA is still the best team book on the shelves today.
THANOS should be on any comic book readers must read list. Thanos is the best villian this side of DOCTOR DOOM. Thanos trying, in his own twisted way, to make amends for his past misdeeds. They even have him going up against The Beyonder right now, yes THAT Beyonder!
THOR, up till recently, was a damn good read. After this whole Avengers Disassembled fiasco, Neil Gaiman was supposed to be writing it, but has since either dropped out or Bendis got him off the book in favor of one of his friends.
IRON MAN again, up till recently, has been really good. It MIGHT get better with Warren Ellis writing after the Avengers cross over.
CAPTAIN AMERICA fucking ruled the Marvel universe. Sadly, Bendis has to ruin a good thing by putting a personal friend of his on the book, cutting short a two year story arc which would have seen Steve Rogers become vice President of the United States. The idea was to have the president get killed and have Steve become the president. This would have been the single best storyline EVER written for Captain America. FUCK YOU Brian Michael Bendis!
NIGHTWING. This book has only gotten better and better since Chuck Dixon left it. It was nice to have a Batman title get away from the Batman fold and really come into it's own. Sadly, thatnk to the new Gang War storyline running through all the Bat-Titles, Nightwing's gonna start to suck pretty soon.
Later!
Cerebus: RIP 1977-2004.
"What do you think it's like being created by a manic-depressive, paranoid schizophrenic, hypochondriac, misogynist with delusions of grandeur and a messiah complex?"
Doyle's death actually contributed to what I think is Angel's greatest strength; the tension. The precedent of Doyle creates the expectation that any character could conceivably be killed at any time (well, except for Angel).