Comic Suggestions?

[Zbu Manowar]

Comic book suggestions, anybody? Not anything post 1998, thanks.

[Psycho Squid]

The Dark Knight Returns
Best Batman comic ever.

[Zbu Manowar]

I've been thinking about that one. I saw a design of DK2 that has Batman with these giant fucking robot hands and it somehow interested me. Is it just a retread of the Batman mythos, a style redesign, or just something else?

[Psycho Squid]

Well the plot for TDKR takes place some time in the distant future when Batman is in his 50s and retired from crime fighting. A mutant gang appears in Gotham City and starts to terrorize the city. Batman knows that he is the only to stop them and comes out of retirement. He also gets a new Robin who is this teenage girl. DK2 is the squel to TDKR. Its a good book but TDKR is about the most dark and gritty Batman book I have ever read. This book is definity a classic.

[Zbu Manowar]

Sounds like my cup of tea. Thanks, man, I'll be sure to get it once I get some money in my pocket. That and some more of those DC Archives.

[Protoclown]

Watchmen.
Sandman.
Preacher.
Transmetropolitan.


Uhh...why nothing past 1998? That seems a rather arbitrary cutoff point to me.

[unclehobart]

2nd recoomendation for Dark Knight. Its gritty, raw, violent, graphic, and strips away the candy-like sweetness of the original DC comics format.

[Zbu Manowar]

Originally Posted by Protoclown

Watchmen.
Sandman.
Preacher.
Transmetropolitan.


Uhh...why nothing past 1998? That seems a rather arbitrary cutoff point to me.

Well, nothing past 1998 Marvel/DC wise. I'm still pissed off that Marvel sold out its flagship titles to the Image crowd, who then just pissed on the ashes while Marvel went screaming into bankruptcy. Petty, I know, but I just can't get back into Marvel titles anymore. Plus DC has gone sideways, making Superman and the rest somehow 'super-real' to the point of killing all creative conflict and just making all the stories about fighting.

Preacher, however, is a series I badly need to get back into. I picked up a few issues and thought they were brilliant. Anybody got the names of the graphic novels?

[Protoclown]

The Preacher graphic novels go like this (off the top of my head, anyway): Gone to Texas, Until the End of the World, Proud Americans, Ancient History, Dixie Fried, War in the Sun, Salvation, All Hell's A-Comin', The Alamo.

As for Marvel and DC, you really should give them another chance. I had to stop collecting for financial reasons back in 95 when I went off to college, which was fine, because I was a big Marvel whore, and Marvel was just starting to slip into the shitter at that point. Never cared much for DC.

Then I got hardcore into the Vertigo line when I got out of college and read everything I could...and then I started branching out a little into the mainstream DCU. Good stuff.

As for Marvel, ever since Joe Quesada took over and brought in a largely new team of editorial staff, Marvel has shot their way STRAIGHT out of the shitter and are back at Number One. I never thought I'd see the day I'd pick up ONE Marvel book again, let alone find that they make up the majority of books I buy.

Never in a million years thought I'd buy Spider-Man, but J. Michael Strazcynski's current run is brilliant. Never could get into The Incredible Hulk until Bruce Jones started writing it. They've brought on Garth Ennis to do the Punisher, Brian Michael Bendis to do Dardevil...the whole Ultimates line is a fucking great "relaunch". The revamp of X-Force (now X-Statix) with Peter Milligan and Mike Allred is one of the best books on the shelf. Check some of this stuff out, it's highly worth your while. I can recommend a lot of things to you...don't discount them just because it's Marvel though. A couple years ago I would have done just that and I'd be missing out on some fantastic books.

Check out Alias by Brian Michael Bendis from Marvel. It's a mature reader's title. Yeah, they finally grew some balls like DC and have a "mature reader's" line, but it has nowhere near the breadth and scope of Vertigo (and word has it they're eliminating the "line" per se and just bringing those books back into the regular Marvel fold...with "explicit content" warning labels of course).

I felt no need to reiterate about Dark Knight after some other guys mentioned it...but you really DO owe it to yourself to check it out. One of the most defining moments in comics. DK2 doesn't live up to the original, but it's still a fun book and the artwork is breathtaking as always.

[mburbank]

Scoutmasters Naughty Jamboree
Swollen Fist
Lone wolf and Underage Catholic School girl
The Dark Knight Returns a Sweater that Doesn't Fit
Big Eye Lusts for Amberis
X-Men All Plane Crash Special
Fatty Catmaster and the Spackled Plastic
Little Lu Lu Kills Again
Brother Negro the Ju-Ju Man
The Shambling Big Mouth Billy Bass
Crackers at Midnight
The adventures of Licensed Product

[Zbu Manowar]

Well....I'll wait until I see a Marvel comic that catches my eye. The only thing I cared for so far 1998 and beyond is the Spider-Girl line of comics where the old school creators from the early '90s were able to wrap up some of the old storylines from Fantastic Four, Thunderstrike, Thor, etc.

Meanwhile, anybody into the DC Archive Editions?

[mburbank]

Fisty McGiblets: War Journal

[Spectre X]

I hear the Spawn series is pretty good, gotta get me one of those.

[sadie]

nerds. :P

[Protoclown]

Dude, I have every issue of Spawn from 21-100, and the first 20 in trade paperbacks. I used to like that book, but now I fucking hate it. I'm thinking of getting rid of my collection, I might sell it to you if you're interested.

[Zbu Manowar]

Sorry, the only thing I liked of Spawn was the figures until they started to be mass-produced to the extent of looking like shit (Anime Series 10). I'll pass, thanks.

[Protoclown]

Uhhh...okay? I was talking to Spectre X anyway.

[Ninjavenom]

I'm hella interested, proto. If Spectre declines, anyway. As far as comic recommendations go, all i can recommend is Shidima, a book about a ninja assassin. I can't say much more, because all i've read is the premeire issue #0, but it looked pretty good from what i've read. It should be in its ninth or tenth issue, by now, i think. Also, for anyone who hasn't read it, Deathlok is pretty good, mainly for a cyberpunk effect. Don't forget the Akira manga series, either. The only downside is that they're TPB reprints of the strip's run in a japanese magazine, so they come in five volumes. $25 a piece, but they're nearly an inch thick, so it's still a pretty good deal.

[Zbu Manowar]

Sorry, Proto, my mistake.

[Protoclown]

I just wanted you to know that I was responding to Spectre X's display of interest...I would never recommend Spawn to someone if they didn't show interest in it in the first place.

I only recommend good comics.

[Zbu Manowar]

Zing! Somewhere McFarlane is crying. But not as much as Liefeld should.

[Protoclown]

Rob Liefeld makes McFarlane look GOOD.

[Zbu Manowar]

Indeed. The only thing worse than a bad writer is an opportunistic little bastard who draws two pages, gets some money, then runs. X-Force was a fucking fluke.