Frequently Asked Forum Questions | ||||
Search Older Posts on This Forum: Posts on Current Forum | Archived Posts | ||||
: Aww, I love the cute animals - but Mouse Guard is also a comic love of mine.
: Okay, hah!
: -The Sandman series (an existential odyssey which really comes into its own
: by the end of the first volume) is the most life-changing thing I've ever
: read. Season of Mists and Brief Lives are my favorite volumes, but you
: should probably start at the beginning.
: -Omega: The Unknown (very zany, yet personal reboot of a silver age
: superhero). One volume, short and sweet.
: -The original Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men collections (the series went
: downhill after he left in my opinion, but his run ends in a conclusive
: way) are my favorite traditional superhero comics ever. Whedon's writing
: with Cassady's amazing storytelling handles characterization and action in
: a perfect balance.
: -Also on the X front, Peter David's X-Factor series has quite a bit of great
: stuff in it.
: -Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force run and now his Captain America are pretty
: addictive (and I can't stand Captain America usually). He is utterly
: brutal to his characters. Truly pushes them through the gauntlet.
: -Batman: Year One and Batman: The Long Halloween are great if you loved the
: Dark Knight films (which were heavily inspired by those comics, besides
: Killing Joke, Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall, and No Man's Land). I've
: also gotten through the first volume of the new 52 reboot of Batman (The
: Court of Owls) and enjoyed it thoroughly as well if you want something
: brand new and currently ongoing.
: -I think you'd like Jonathan Hickman. He has great talent for epic space
: opera. Marvel realized this and he's now heading Avengers and making my
: head spin. SHIELD was great. I hear his indie comics are also great
: (they're in my queue). In the first issue of SHIELD, there's time travel,
: space, infinity, secret societies, and Leanardo Da Vinci. Those are all
: things I need in a story, hah.
: -Just recently read the first volume of Morning Glories. It's been described
: as Lost in a creepy prep school. Which seemed about right. I read it in
: one sitting and it was pretty cheap. Looking forward to the rest.
: -Alan Moore's V for Vendetta is a much better paced and more intelligent take
: on Orwellian society and revolution than the movie.
: -If you're wanting even more serious stories, Speigelman's Maus is a go-to
: classic.
: Most of these are all pretty cheap on Amazon... I'm sure i can give you more
: if you have any specific genres or characters in mind. :)
Wow, I guess I was a lot more tired last night than I thought. I've definitely read Sandman, and I have no idea how that one slipped my mind. Mig was actually kind enough to mail me his whole collection for a little bit. That was the second comic series I read, before my roommate loaned me Preacher. Definitely a good one that I need to re-read at some point. A lot of it went over my head. But that is definitely one of the more emotional comics I've read. I got really choked up on Season of Mists and The Wake, and really, really fascinated by World's End.
Typically, I prefer the more heady, existential/philosophical stuff to the straight-up action or more physically-focused stories. I'd rather read a comic of two characters sitting and talking to each other in a room with nothing going on physically but a lot going on mentally than a bunch of action sequences. I think those actually take the most skill to make interesting in comic format. Also, anything with some sort of meta commentary, where they make you stop and think about what you're reading, and yet still manage to do so without pulling you out of the story. What Bioshock was/is to video games.
Additionally (and although I fundamentally disagree with Cody's opinion) I do still find that comics have a hard time surpassing film. While the comic versions of Watchmen and V for Vendetta are undoubtedly filled with way more ideas and symbolism, I don't think that they're likely to better capture the idea or the intent of the story than the films. I prefer not to have redundant experiences. I was fortunate that I read Watchmen before I saw the film, but I think the film did such a good job that from now on I'm going to stick with that (don't worry, I'll go back and read it again at some point down the road, it's just that for now if I ever feel like re-experiencing Watchmen, the film doesn't take as long to get through and contains a lot of the same messages). I feel like the same would be true of V for Vendetta, which is what's stopped me from picking that up before. I love that film as it is.
Along those lines, I watched the Year One animated film. It was great, but even that felt redundant after watching Batman Begins. I'm definitely more interested in some original Batman stories that maybe haven't made it onto the screen yet. Stuff where I don't know how it'll turn out.
I'm interested in reading some more Alan Moore writing. Swamp Thing always interested me because it seemed so far outside the realm of his style, I wanted to see how he worked with that.
Maus sounds fascinating (even though I also disliked Animal Farm for the use of animals). See, I guess I'm just kind of a tough guy to please when it comes to comics.
I'm gonna look into all of these. There's a comic shop here in Chicago that I love to visit, I'll take a look at whatever they might have. :)