µB
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A gray world of dread

Anything by Alan Moore. Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, League of Extraordniary Gentlemen, Lost Girls (if you don't mind porn). Note that the movies don't come close, especially LoEG totally raped the comic.

Other favourite authors/artists include Neil Gaiman (If you don't mind a touch of goth, Sandman is very, very worth it), Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan rocks), Garth Ennis (Preacher/Hellblazer), Sam Keith (The MAXX) and Bill Willingham (Fables is a good read, but gets a bit weaker towards the end).

I'm usually not into superhero stuff, but the Frank Miller arcs, Arkham Asylum (stunning Dave McKean art) and The Killing Joke (Moore) are some good Batman books.

On the eastern side of things Akira has already been mentioned, I also enjoyed Eden (Endo Hiroki), Blade of the Immortal (Samura Hiroaki) and Nausicaä (Miyazaki Hayao).

And if you don't mind taking a peek at european stuff, keep an eye out for anything drawn by Moebius (aka Jean Giraud) or written by Alejandro Jodorowsky. The Incal series is very good.

[/fanboy]

Last edited by µB (Aug 18, 2010 8:46 am)

Subway Sonicbeat
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Brazil

Oh yeah, Sandman, how could I forget. Is really good. Also Constantine looks good, although I never read it.

Lazerbeat
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Tokyo, Japan
µB wrote:

And if you don't mind taking a peek at european stuff, keep an eye out for anything drawn by Moebius (aka Jean Giraud) or written by Alejandro Jodorowsky. The Incal series is very good.

[/fanboy]

This is a very overlooked series of comics. Also recommend Metabarons although im not sure the English run was completed?

For bargain awesomeness Bone the one volume edition is hard to beat.

Subway Sonicbeat
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Brazil

Oh Moebius... The most beautiful drawings I've ever seen.

EDIT: Just saw that he designed TRON.

Last edited by Subway Sonicbeat (Aug 18, 2010 1:12 pm)

µB
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A gray world of dread
Lazerbeat wrote:

For bargain awesomeness Bone the one volume edition is hard to beat.

Agreed, Bone is good fun.


Edit:

Subway Sonicbeat wrote:

Oh Moebius... The most beautiful drawings I've ever seen.
EDIT: Just saw that he designed TRON.

I love Moebius' art. It's fantastic how much depth he can cram into a 2x1 inch panel. He also did some design on The Fifth Element.

Last edited by µB (Aug 18, 2010 1:33 pm)

Dauragon
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Washington DC

The Sword by the Luna Brothers

Just about any stand alone batman arc by Jeff Loeb/Tim Sale (Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Haunted Knight, a few others)

The Demo series by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. It's about superpowers but in a more realistic setting. No spandex or anything. (you can get the first volume in trade paperback, the second volume just finished coming out in issues so that trade will probably be coming out soon as well)

The Surrogates

Channel Zero by Brian Wood.

nickmaynard
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rochester, ny
Bit Shifter wrote:

Torso by Brian Michael Bendis, a "true crime" style series (collected into a standalone trade paperback) about the Cleveland Torso Murderer. I loved it. Gave my copy to a friend who I thought would love it, with the intention of buying another copy for myself later, never got around to it. I should do that.

torso is a seriously incredible book.

tacticalbread
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))<>((

Haven't read a whole lot, but like µB said, Alan Moore is great. Watchmen was incredible. So much better than the movie (to be expected). Also, I though Scott Pilgrim was great.

And if you're not opposed to Manga, Elfen Lied, FLCL are both incredible as well.

low-gain
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA
infradead wrote:

watchmen of course

Battle Lava
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µB wrote:
Lazerbeat wrote:

For bargain awesomeness Bone the one volume edition is hard to beat.

Agreed, Bone is good fun.

Triple agree, Bone is great.  Really recommend it.

likeluke
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brooklyn!

µB brought up dave mckean, who is just generally gorgeous. it's pretty pricey, but his book Cages is a pretty huge work that shouldn't be overlooked.
anything art spiegelman has been connected with is key reading. of course there's Maus, but in the right places you can find back issues of his magazine Raw, which was amazing. some of the best alt-writers/artists garnered a lot of recognition for their work in Raw (charles burns, kaz, the guy who did amy and jordan [can't remember his name right now because i'm a bitch]).
someone hit or miss for a lot of people is craig thompson, i've gotten into a lot of arguments over his book Blankets. i think it's great, but there's a lot to talk about with it (a good sign of awesome art?). also, his book Goodbye, Chunky Rice is truly BEAUTIFUL.
i'll also be a huge proponent of winsor mccay for my entire life. the Little Nemo in Slumberland collection is super expensive as of now, but if you want a good introduction to his stuff, there's a paperback collection of his previous work, "Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend". for someone drawing and writing comics at the beginning of the 1900's, he was inarguably producing work well before his time. amazing stuff.

i'll probably come back with some more later.

likeluke
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brooklyn!

actually, EVERYTHING that µB listed is totally on point. listen to him. for awesome old moebius, get some old issues of Heavy Metal.

(seriously.)

Dauragon
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Washington DC

Brandon Graham's King City is fucking rad as hell. I don't know if there is going to be a trade of it though. It's currently on its 11th or 12th issue right now.

NOM STAR
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Chicago, IL USA

Also I don't want to piss anyone off, though I doubt it'll be an issue, but you can download comics (demonoid has TONS, I just got Torso last night because of this thread) and read them with programs like FF View (mac, it's what I use).

Just mentioning it because it seems like price is a huge factor in your buying. I think, in the case of comics, illegal downloading can actually help the industry a TON. Get caught up by questionable means -> buy new books when they come out. I think it's a much move viable option than not being able to afford to be in the loop and thus passing on a book. I'd have never been able to afford to buy all of Y: The Last Man, but buy most of Vaughn's new stuff as it comes out. Same goes for my Walking Dead habit. Catch up online, then buy em when I can.

*E
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µB wrote:

Anything by Alan Moore. Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell, League of Extraordniary Gentlemen, Lost Girls (if you don't mind porn). Note that the movies don't come close, especially LoEG totally raped the comic.

I'm not much of a comic buff but I do own Watchmen and V for Vendetta.
They are really great check them out!

Subway Sonicbeat
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Brazil

Love And Rockets is nice, i liked - but not much, but then it goes a bit off from graphic novels, right?