Tales From the Longbox 32: "Comics Worth Reading"

[MockBot]

Automatically generated comment thread for Tales From the Longbox 32: "Comics Worth Reading" (http://www.i-mockery.com/comics/longbox32/default.php).

[Muadi'ib]

Awesome, I'm reading about half of those books right now.

[Doctor_Who]

Great list, Proto. Right now the only ones I'm reading are Fables and X-Men, but you've given me a lot of great stuff to look for next time I visit the shop.

[Aries]

Another entertaining and informative article, Proto! So...will you ever get around to the 10 things you like and hate about Star Wars Episode 3?

[Poxpower]

Dude you must be RUINED from buying so many comics.
Haha

[neoboman]

Nice to see you posting positive things about comics for once (as long as it doesn't happen too frequently). I've only read the first two, but I'll definitely check out some of those.

[Purple Man]

A damn good list - especially Daredevil and Hellblazer. I'd just like to add Captain Britain and MI13, it's a fun title any fan - newbie or nerd - can get into.

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Good list of Marvel and DC titles. I'm not usually a "big two" reader, but I might check a few of these out.

The only superhero comic I buy regularly is Batman/Superman. And, it's usually pretty good. I'd say it's worth checking out.

I'd also like to mention that "Heavy Metal Magazine" is always a great read.

And, to anyone with kids (or who doesn't mind reading a kid's story if it's good, and really well written), I'd like to add "Amelia Rules" to the list. It's kind of an updated "Peanuts".

Also, to add a few Manga to the list...

Ice Blade- Gritty crime drama at it's finest.

Tramps Like Us- A romantic comedy smarter than any movie of the genre. It's about a stressed out career woman who keeps a mischievous younger man as a pet. It's not as sick as it sounds.

Nana- Very fun. It's two roommates with the same name dealing with their hectic lives.

Doll- A series of very haunting short stories about androids. Plus, the artwork is incredible!

A couple Man-wha (Korean comics), I recommend.

Soul To Seoul- My favourite comic (of any nationality or genre) out right now. Hands down! It's basically about Korean American teenagers trying to find their place in a bustling New York City.

Tarot Café- Gorgeous artwork and creepy stories, centered around Tarot predictions.

Out of American graphic novel series published as Manga, I recommend...

Bizenghast- This series is AMAZING! It's about a young girl named Dinah who spends her nights getting ghosts to cross over in various surreal dream-worlds.

I Luv Halloween- Dark, sick, gory humor! It's about a group of sociopathic trick-or-treaters that do horrific things to obtain candy. Most of the characters are usually dead by the end of each volume (and back the next). I love it!

[KanyonKreist]

I stopped reading Iron Fist when Fraction and Brubaker left. I know it's not fair to Dwayne Scwhatever, their successive writer, but I'd read his work and I just didn't see any chance that the series would remain at that level of quality. I mean, how could it?

[DarkfireTaimatsu]

Hear, hear. I just picked up the latest JSA trade today, in fact. Part 3 of Thy Kingdom Come.

[Relaxing Dragon]

I was wondering where 100 Bullets was, but then I remembered that it just recently finished up its run. And I'm only at issue 88, which bothers me :/

[Copper]

I periodically read Fables, myself...usually when the TPB come out and I have an hour lunch at work, heh. The others, not so much, even if I am an X-men and Buffy fangirl. Maybe I'll have to give Astonishing a second look. And as for the Buffy, I will admit to not recognizing Xander at first, but it was a pleasant surprise.

And to Tetsu: Check out Les Bijioux (I have a feeling I'm butchering the spelling) if you haven't already. It's the same artist as Tarot Cafe (which is a fab book, too!) I Luv Halloween is just...wrong on so many levels (but I find myself flipping through it anyway.) and Bizenghast needs to come out quicker, dammit!

[Mockery]

Pox, believe me when I say that, if he never bought any comics, Proto could be a retired man with an island of his own by now.

[hisholiness]

Thanks for the list of comics Proto. I've been meaning to get back into comics and now i've got somewhere to start. I've been wondering about The Walking Dead comic. If anyone has any opinions about it i'd like to read them. Looks interesting. Thanks again Proto!

[MallardMan]

Good list. Just to throw a few more into the list...

Both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps have been pretty outstanding for the past couple years.

Marvel's recently given pretty much all of their cosmic guys to Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, and they've been doing some great stuff, particularly with Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova. They've actually made Nova into an interesting character - a feat by any stretch of the imagination.

One more to throw in there: Jonah Hex. I started getting into the title to just try and get away from all the Marvel "Let's jump into the next crossover!!!" and DC's "Sure, Grant - you just do your thing" garbaget and was surprised to find a really dark and interesting book about a character who's probably doing what he's doing just to get the shit kicked out of himself. Jonah's an ugly son of a bitch in the late 19th century, wandering the west and getting his ass into trouble. No super powers, no magic, no fantasy. Just a guy with a ridiculously scarred face getting into trouble with guns and dames.

[MallardMan]

One more that I forgot to mention: Booster Gold. The book is pretty much as close to actual super-hero fun as you can get in comics these days, now that we're well and deep into another turn on the old "grim and gritty". Booster Gold has a bit of continuity to it, but the book is about a time traveling corporate super-hero from the 25th century who has now decided to grow up a little and help make sure that time doesn't get screwed up. Pretty standard, really.

[Nick]

While I absolutely love comics, I prefer trade paper backs and graphic novels to monthly comics. I just enjoy reading the whole story without having to wait.

[Icculus]

I'm with nick on that one...It also keeps me from falling into the trap of buying them twice.

[Poxpower]

Warning to everyone: DO NOT BUY HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE.
Unless you like paintings of hot women doing things like riding motorcycles, cutting off the heads of ogres and kissing lesbian cyborgs.

The stories are shit though.

[Angryhydralisk]

I'd say this is a pretty insightful article here. Iron Fist and Buffy probably the most unexpected thing to look into.

I'm not much of a comic fan but if I ever got inclined I'd check these out.

[Ant10708]

I agree with Nick and it makes it easier then buying a comic once a month

[Relaxing Dragon]

hisholiness: I've been reading The Walking Dead for a while now, and I definitely give it my endorsement. It's a damn fine zombie read, great characters and art, and an engrossing story. You'll definitely want to check it out.

[Commanderraf]

I've been reading about Captain America lately (not the comics themselves, but different webpages and books on the subject) and I was amazed that the same character that was created in the World War II to promote propaganda WAS the modern day Captain America with no reboots or alternate universes; just by using some imagination and a big chunck of ice. I was thinking of picking up a Captain America book, but now with this article, I have DECIDED to pick up a Captain America book.

Thanks Proto. I hope the comic industry gives you some kind of commision for this and the Longbox entries (I've also been tempted to buy the "One More/Brand New Day" and the "All Star Batman and Robin" just to show them to everybody I know and let them know how hilarious they are. Without evidence, they would'nt believe me).

-Goddamn Commanderraf

[Delirium]

None of these comics are sold over here.

[caffman]

delirium, where is over here?

[Julio]

When I as a kid I used to read comics quite a lot, even though I never got any special degree of insight about their true quality. These days I mostly read an old collection of comic srtips (Calvin & Hobbes being my favorite) as well as other local ones that are published on the local newspapers (my favorite one being Trino).

Commanderraf: Being that you are a fellow Mexican, do you think that you can give me advice about a good way to start reading comic books again?

[Protoclown]

Aries: It's coming soon. Within the next month or two for sure.

Poxpower: You have NO idea, dude. Roger is right. I could own my own island by now. But what would I have to READ on the island without comics??

Tetsu Deinonychus: I was reading Superman/Batman for a while (probably the first 30 issues) but I lost interest in it sometime after that and dropped it. Too many crappy stories in a row.

KanyonKreist: Go back and give Iron Fist another chance. Seriously. The book hasn't lost ANY momentum at all since Brubaker and Fraction left.

Relaxing Dragon: Yep, the last issue of 100 Bullets came out the same day this article posted. Great book. Not quite sure about the ending though.

hisholiness: I have to admit that I've not yet checked out The Walking Dead. I read a shitload of comics but that is one I've not checked out yet. I've heard lots of good things though.

MallardMan: Booster Gold almost made my list, but I think it'd be pretty inaccessible to someone unfamiliar with the DC Universe. And I had to draw a line somewhere. I read the current Jonah Hex book for about the first 20 issues or so, but I had to drop it because I was spending too much money. Might start trade collecting that one though.

Nick and Icculus: Believe me, I hear ya. I'm starting to trade wait for some books (like Conan) now myself. I like to support the industry as much as I can though, so I buy a lot of issues monthly and then I sell them on eBay later and then swap out for the trades. Some books I sell over what I paid, some under, but on the whole I think I break fairly even.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I hope you check out some of those books and that you aren't disappointed!

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

And to Tetsu: Check out Les Bijoux (I have a feeling I'm butchering the spelling) if you haven't already. It's the same artist as Tarot Cafe (which is a fab book, too!) I Luv Halloween is just...wrong on so many levels (but I find myself flipping through it anyway.) and Bizenghast needs to come out quicker, dammit!

I've heard good things about Les Bijoux. I'll definitely have to check it out.

And, I Luv Halloween is so wrong it's right!

Warning to everyone: DO NOT BUY HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE.
Unless you like paintings of hot women doing things like riding motorcycles, cutting off the heads of ogres and kissing lesbian cyborgs.

The stories are shit though.

Actually, the stories range from awesome (like John Buscamares, and Awakenings) to awesomely bad (like The Kiss), but I'm usually pretty amused by them. And, there's almost always one really good story, and at least one "so bad it's good" story per issue. I dig it!

Of course, all the sexy sci-fi-girl paintings you mentioned don't hurt, either. ;)

[Copper]

I've heard good things about Les Bijoux. I'll definitely have to check it out.

And, I Luv Halloween is so wrong it's right!



Actually, the stories range from awesome (like John Buscamares, and Awakenings) to awesomely bad (like The Kiss), but I'm usually pretty amused by them. And, there's almost always one really good story, and at least one "so bad it's good" story per issue. I dig it!

Of course, all the sexy sci-fi-girl paintings you mentioned don't hurt, either. ;)

It's a good story, but too short, in my opinion. It's five issues long (or 6. Man, the memory *is* the first thing to go...) but they skip a lot between the next to last book and the last. Not so much skip as...fast forward, I guess you could say, and I get the impression it's the type of stories I'd have liked to read. (I enjoy the whole "gathering of the fellowship" type of thing and discovery of powers type stories.)

As for Heavy Metal, gods, I haven't leafed through one of those seriously since I was in college. Now and then, I'll flip through them to check out the art, but lately nothing past the covers has really grabbed me.

[RevengeVirus]

Outside of my hatred for that Godless Femi-nazi Joss Whedon, I dig just about all of these right now.

also, I throw X-factor along with Captain Britain and MI13 in there as well.

[King Credo]

I got a girlfriend so I had to unsubscribe to all but two series. I wish you made this article when I could buy more than just Deadpool and The Sword.

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Why does having a girlfriend mean you had to drop all those comics?

Is she telling you what to read?

[Copper]

Could be that Credo's spending most of the comic money on her *laughs* At least, I hope that's the case and she's not making you give up comics.

[mrpointy22]

Kudos, on mentioning Buffy. The comic is great and the TV show is untouchable.

Copper: As for the Buffy, I will admit to not recognizing Xander at first, but it was a pleasant surprise.

'Cause of the numerous other characters who wear any eye patch? :p

[hobbsend]

Well done on a damn fine list Proto! I can not thank you enough for including Fables as part of your list, and I'd add onto that the series that took off from Fables, Tales of Jack

[hobbsend]

Well done on a damn fine list Proto! I can not thank you enough for including Fables as part of your list, and I'd add onto that the series that took off from Fables, Tales of Jack