The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Self-contained recommendations
ryuprecht
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I did some searching and didn't see a related thread, so I feel free to lock it and refer if it's been done to death.
I'm not a big comic book fan, but I've read some graphic novels recently that I liked a lot, and I was looking for recommendations. I don't want to get into a monthly, serialized read though, as I greatly prefer my reading to be self-contained, with a beginning, middle, and end. In the last few months, I have read:
Bone
Watchmen
Ronin
300
Dark Knight Returns
Akira
I'm looking for things that are similar to this. Thoughts? I think I would tend not to go for Manga, but I could easily be persuaded to if needed (Akira is something from my childhood, which is why I bought the whole set to read).
Thanks!
I'm not a big comic book fan, but I've read some graphic novels recently that I liked a lot, and I was looking for recommendations. I don't want to get into a monthly, serialized read though, as I greatly prefer my reading to be self-contained, with a beginning, middle, and end. In the last few months, I have read:
Bone
Watchmen
Ronin
300
Dark Knight Returns
Akira
I'm looking for things that are similar to this. Thoughts? I think I would tend not to go for Manga, but I could easily be persuaded to if needed (Akira is something from my childhood, which is why I bought the whole set to read).
Thanks!
ryuprecht on
0
Posts
Y - The Last Man follows this pattern as well, although it hasn't run to its completion yet.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
PSN: OrneryRooster
The Invisibles - Think Xfiles on a bad acid trip
Hitman - Forget preacher, this is Ennis´ greatest work
Transmetropolitan - Whoever thought that a story about a Journalist could be this fucking good?
Hard Boiled - Frank Miller and Geof Darrow´s massterpiece, this shit inspired Matrix
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
I'm pretty sure The Invisibles "inspired" Matrix.
Living a virtual life, the whole pod was copied off, among with lots of quotes and tech from the comics... and the Matrix creators even name-dropped Geof Darrow as their inspiration (and hired him to draw them a story, and made 2 Matrix animated shorts in his style)
My digital art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=8168
My pen and paper art! http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=7462
uh, Geof Darrow did all of the conceptual art for the Matrix movies.
So yeah, he did kind of steal the pod-image from himself.
It's the Matrix meets the X-Files meets 90s Drug Culture meets the Justice League.
the first ghost in the shell
we3
the filth (yes yes y'all)
uncle sam
1602
planet hulk
scooter girl
last of the independents
fantastic four/iron man: Big in Japan
and there's stuff that has a self contained story in one trade, but there's more if you felt like looking (which is really the beauty of comics)
welcome back, frank (the punisher)
any of the queen and country trades, though it helps to read them in some kind of order
punisher max: the slavers
sin city
the human target
I'd add Kingdom Come and Marvels up there.
That's what you mean.
I mean MY GOD! The first TPB lines up perfectly with the movie.
That's borderline Greg Land bull shit right there
I mean, he had his whoa face but that's not the same thing.
Doesn't matter
Invisibles will always be better than The Matrix? Wanna know why?
Grant Morrison that's why
Yeah, geez, don't read Ruins. I imagine that double feature would be something like spending an evening with the most beautiful girl in the world, and then having to spend another night with her after she's been mangled in a car accident that launched through the windshield and into a wheat thresher.
And also, despite the experience, she's much less interesting to talk to now as well.
Geebs: Astro City's made use of that device on more than one occasion. I shouldn't assume you haven't read any of the series, though, because it's hardly obscure.
also a sign of "nobody talk to me like I know what happened in astro city"
Now that I think about it, about half of the stories are not from the hero's perspective.
I know what you mean, cause I often feel the same way about manga, but the thing is, if you're looking for stories that have a clear beginning, middle and end, they've really got the market cornered. Like with Akira, the story might encompass four or ten or twenty-five volumes, but when it's done it's done.
I'm not big on the giant robots and the little girls and so on, but the cool thing is manga has enough genre diversity that whether you're into autobiography, crime, or whatever you can usually find it. One of my all-time favorites is called Sanctuary - it's a very realistically-done (well, in a "Dallas" sort of way) crime/poltical thriller about two former friends - one a rising politician, the other a member of the Yakuza - who seem to be enemies, but are actually secretly working together to take over and reform Japan from the inside out. Aside from being massively entertaining and in parts quite moving, it's also a pretty educational screed about the inner workings of both local and national politics, and the sense of disconnection Japanese have from their government. It's a complete story in, I believe, twelve volumes and I can't recommend it enough.
Pretty much everything people recommended here is good - allow me to add my vote to The Invisibles (one of modern comics' few genuine tours-de-force, it's a Lovecraftian/sci-fi/international espionage thriller about the meaning of life), We3, and Astro City (an ongoing series, but almost every issue is a self-contained story).
It's great, but it's also far from a primer on any of the featured characters and I therefore think it's moreso for longtime fans than people looking for an introduction.
Batman's files at the ends flesh things out a bit, though, and it works well enough if you want to see what the DCU has to offer without really understanding any of it.
Justice was very, very good. I imagine its even better reading it all in one sitting, versus on a bimonthly schedule. Great art and a huge cast of characters.
:^::^:
PSN: OrneryRooster
Does the first Sin City count? You don't have to read the rest after all.
Crimson is rad in my opinion, especially if you dig Humberto Ramos' style.