I just realized that no one has yet mentioned Scott Pilgrim, which is a shame.
GV leans pretty heavily to the superhero side of things. I mean, good comics are good comics, regardless of genre, but I am just not interested in a lot of stuff.
I just realized that no one has yet mentioned Scott Pilgrim, which is a shame.
That's one of those books I consider really great, but everyone already pretty much knows about. It's the same reason I didn't mention Asterios Polyp. It's phenomenal, but it also made every Top 10 Best-Of list the year it came out, so I figure the people who are open to reading it, already have.
Immortal Iron Fist
Lucifer
The Unwritten
DMZ
Incredible Hercules
Planetary (I know is started in the '90s, but we all waited a decade for it to be completed)
All-Star Superman
Justice Society of America (Geoff Johns)
Secret Six
Sinestro Corps War
52
Y: The Last Man
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
The Five Fists of Science
We've neglected to mention Criminal and Incognito, which deserve to be on the list for trying to school everyone on the foundational material that modern comics rest upon.
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
edited February 2011
Astro City: The Dark Age - It's been around for 16 years, "sporadic" could not begin to describe its publishing schedule, but when Astro City does come out it is invariably the best fucking thing on the stands. This series-within-a-series answered a bunch of long-standing questions, delivered a story with an incredible emotional wallop, and took the book to a new level creatively.
All-Star Superman - the best Superman story ever told. It puts to shame all the idiotic efforts to make Superman "relevant," or extreeem, or any of that horseshit by showing us how the first and greatest superhero is revolutionary and life-affirming just the way he is, as the ultimate role model for compassion and justice. I feel like a better person for having read it.
Ex Machina - I really admire the book's unique premise - it's hard to find those in the superhero aisles sometimes - and the way it's presented as a rollicking adventure that deals with relevant issues in a very fun, deft way. It's so fun, in fact, that I sometimes overlook the incredible level of craftsmanship and artistry that must have gone into it.
Gødland - for my money the best book Joe Casey's ever done, it's a heartfelt tribute to a great era of comics but avoids the trap of simply being an "homage" or feeling like a cover band: it pays tribute to the reckless inventive spirit of the Kirby era not merely by repackaging the same ideas but by being reckless and inventive in its own way, combining the best of the 60s and the modern approach into something new.
Punisher MAX - One of the best and most grown-up things Garth Ennis has ever done, taking a one-note character and using him to tell a series of the most bleakly nihilistic crime epics ever committed to the comics page. There's a bit of silliness here - Barracuda, Nick Fury - but also stories like The Slavers that are as serious and harrowing as anything you could find in the novel section at your bookstore.
Seven Soldiers - A contender for my favorite comic book ever, taking seven mostly-new characters, creating entire worlds and sagas for them in the course of four issues apiece, and then crashing it all together in one of the most gleefully unhinged, artistically daring, and emotionally moving finales ever, and in the process revealing no less than the secret origin of the entire DC Universe itself. Seven Soldiers is, to me, proof that there is still plenty of life and energy in the superhero genre, that there are still new approaches and new ideas to try instead of endless rehashes of better days.
Y: The Last Man - I feel like Y is the 21st-century counterpart to Preacher - it has the same clear, instantly accessible art, likable protagonists, and meandering, picaresque story, but replacing some of the troublesome machismo and adolescent rebellion with a more West Coast, liberal sensibility. It's like Preacher graduated high school and went to Berkeley. I thought Y's story was sometimes kind of slight and glib - everything goes down smooth and then you realize later it was basically pure sugar - but I can't deny both the craftsmanship of the writing (it's no wonder he moved on to TV) and the sheer entertainment value.
Punisher MAX - One of the best and most grown-up things Garth Ennis has ever done, taking a one-note character and using him to tell a series of the most bleakly nihilistic crime epics ever committed to the comics page. There's a bit of silliness here - Barracuda, Nick Fury - but also stories like The Slavers that are as serious and harrowing as anything you could find in the novel section at your bookstore.
Whenever I start to wonder if I'm capable of truly hating anything, I reread the Slavers. And every time I do I want to burn people from this earth.
It was a bit alternative but that really worked, and along with All-Star Superman it shows the different ways you can protray the character and the world he lives in.
Also I would suggest that Fred Van Lente's Incredible Hercules is one of the best series of the last ten years, because it effortlessly combined ancient mythology and a modern setting and was just so much fun to read. The overarching plot-line was really compelling but the individual, smaller arcs were just as much fun.
I really need to read All Star Superman, as much as everyone talks it up. I've only read the first issue because it was a FCBD comic a couple years ago.
CorporateLogoThe toilet knowshow I feelRegistered Userregular
edited February 2011
I am going to say that everything Jeff Parker has done is damn good
X-Men: First Class, the Atlas stuff, hell his Exiles run washes the bad taste of Claremont out of your mouth
Shame that Marvel seems to shitcan half his books, though I guess that should be a shame on comic book dudes for not reading his books in the first place
Yeah, I noticed he's yet to be invited to a creators retreat. It's unfortunate but not unexpected. I think he's got a lot of fans like us, but it hasn't quite reached the level that he's got books pushing 45k units a month.
See that's not really Marvels fault. They gave ATLAS a billion chances to sell. An ongoing, a handful of minis, back-ups.
It really came down to a lack of demand
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited February 2011
X-Men First Class should have kept on going, for years it was the best X-Men book on the stands.
And everyone forgot Mini Marvels, we should all be ashamed. I will without hesitation swap out Mini Marvels with Tomasi's GLC run on my list. I'm so sorry Chris G., it's the best please forgive me.
Yeah, as much as we deride the big two for never giving smaller characters a chance, with Atlas they gave them, like, three.
It just seems that nobody gives a shit about the Agents of Atlas. I have to say I never felt any desire to pick them up despite some other people on this forum saying how good they were.
The first Agents of Atlas trade was one of my most favorite trades, because it made me go from not giving two shits about Agents of Atlas (I picked it up because it was getting such high praise here) to absolutely loving Agents of Atlas. I'm not even sure how it happened. There was just something about the way it was written that made me like these characters, want to know what their story was and what was going to happen to them. I'm very sad that so few people bought it. I doubt that it's even that few people liked it; I think that few people tried it. I can't imagine that it's a rare person who is interested in the continuing adventures of a no-nonsense man stuck in a gorilla's body, a killer robot who managed to transcend his programming, a secret agent who has been fighting the world's most devious mastermind since the fifties, an honest-to-god siren who can bring love to even the most hardened heart with but a song, a half-Atlantean powerhouse who's been on ice for decades, and a man from Saturn who has technology beyond our understanding (and a biology to match).
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AriviaI Like A ChallengeEarth-1Registered Userregular
edited February 2011
Name recognition is likely a factor. I looked at the Agents of Atlas wikipedia thing and was only able to place one of them as Namor's sister, maybe, and that doesn't inspire interest.
Name recognition is likely a factor. I looked at the Agents of Atlas wikipedia thing and was only able to place one of them as Namor's sister, maybe, and that doesn't inspire interest.
The whole point of the agents of atlas was that they were a team that ~unless you were a comic book historian~ you weren't supposed to be familiar with. They were for all intents and purposes going for "a man out of time" feel by reconstituting a team that hadn't been in print for more then 40 years.
Which, let's be honest, probably isn't the thing to draw in thousands of readers.
I - after reading the first trade - found it pretty refreshing. It was pretty cool to see a group of characters that were on the one hand blank slates (since they haven' been in comics for a long time, and - as I understand it - were reinvented somewhat for Agents of Atlas), but on the other felt like they had decades of history together.
I can't imagine that it's a rare person who is interested in the continuing adventures of a no-nonsense man stuck in a gorilla's body, a killer robot who managed to transcend his programming, a secret agent who has been fighting the world's most devious mastermind since the fifties, an honest-to-god siren who can bring love to even the most hardened heart with but a song, a half-Atlantean powerhouse who's been on ice for decades, and a man from Saturn who has technology beyond our understanding (and a biology to match).
GustavFriend of GoatsSomewhere in the OzarksRegistered Userregular
edited February 2011
I'm throwing in my hat with Locke and Key for sure. Great detail illustrations, wonderful characters, and this amazingly bizarre mixture of childhood fantasy and adult horror. It's just charming and gripping all at once. Love it.
I can't imagine that it's a rare person who is interested in the continuing adventures of a no-nonsense man stuck in a gorilla's body, a killer robot who managed to transcend his programming, a secret agent who has been fighting the world's most devious mastermind since the fifties, an honest-to-god siren who can bring love to even the most hardened heart with but a song, a half-Atlantean powerhouse who's been on ice for decades, and a man from Saturn who has technology beyond our understanding (and a biology to match).
Well, I think I've seen every single thing I would've mentioned in here. Fables, Scalped, Criminal, Doctor 13, Green Lantern Corp, Sinestro Corp War, Agents of Atlas, Nextwave, Annihilation, Red Son, New Frontier...
Hey, wikipedia tells me that Bizarro Comics came out in 2002, so I'm gonna include that as well, I love that book. Short works by a variety of authors along with an overarching plot starring Bizarro and Mr. Mxyzptlk.
edit:: Oh crap, I forgot ULTIMATE ADVENTURES! Which I think I and like one other person like, but I'm including it anyway. It's friggin great.
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Garlic Breadi'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm aRegistered User, Disagreeableregular
Ultimate Adventures was the Hawk-Owl and Woody book, right? That was good, but I don't think I'd put it in the "best of the best" category. I'm pretty annoyed that none of the writers who've played around in the Ultimate universe have deigned to acknowledge the existence of Hawk-Owl and Woody, despite the fact that Hawk-Owl is clearly a good enough fighter to fight Cap to a draw.
It's probably my favorite book in the Ultimate Universe, so I'm sticking by it. But then, I also didn't think that All Star Superman was the best thing ever, so what do I know?
Garlic Breadi'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm aRegistered User, Disagreeableregular
edited February 2011
That's because it can be if you read it wrong.
The whole thing is basically a rip off of Batman from Robin's point of view, which I personally enjoyed but could see someone not liking because it's mostly lacking in originality.
I think the reason a lot of people don't like it is because of how it clashed with the earlier Ultimate Universe. It was primarily serious and groups like The Ultimates were presented as the pinnacle of fledgling superheroics. Enter a silly Batman riff who proceeds to kick Captain America's ass.
I just want one writer to acknowledge that Hawk-Owl and Woody exist. Shit, you could even say that they died in the Ultimatum event. It's inconceivable that the Ultimates would make a trip to see what's up with Hawk-Owl, then proceed to ignore his existence even when the action moves to Chicago.
Posts
GV leans pretty heavily to the superhero side of things. I mean, good comics are good comics, regardless of genre, but I am just not interested in a lot of stuff.
Tumblr Twitter
Lucifer
The Unwritten
DMZ
Incredible Hercules
Planetary (I know is started in the '90s, but we all waited a decade for it to be completed)
All-Star Superman
Justice Society of America (Geoff Johns)
Secret Six
Sinestro Corps War
52
Y: The Last Man
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born
The Five Fists of Science
All-Star Superman - the best Superman story ever told. It puts to shame all the idiotic efforts to make Superman "relevant," or extreeem, or any of that horseshit by showing us how the first and greatest superhero is revolutionary and life-affirming just the way he is, as the ultimate role model for compassion and justice. I feel like a better person for having read it.
Ex Machina - I really admire the book's unique premise - it's hard to find those in the superhero aisles sometimes - and the way it's presented as a rollicking adventure that deals with relevant issues in a very fun, deft way. It's so fun, in fact, that I sometimes overlook the incredible level of craftsmanship and artistry that must have gone into it.
Gødland - for my money the best book Joe Casey's ever done, it's a heartfelt tribute to a great era of comics but avoids the trap of simply being an "homage" or feeling like a cover band: it pays tribute to the reckless inventive spirit of the Kirby era not merely by repackaging the same ideas but by being reckless and inventive in its own way, combining the best of the 60s and the modern approach into something new.
Punisher MAX - One of the best and most grown-up things Garth Ennis has ever done, taking a one-note character and using him to tell a series of the most bleakly nihilistic crime epics ever committed to the comics page. There's a bit of silliness here - Barracuda, Nick Fury - but also stories like The Slavers that are as serious and harrowing as anything you could find in the novel section at your bookstore.
Seven Soldiers - A contender for my favorite comic book ever, taking seven mostly-new characters, creating entire worlds and sagas for them in the course of four issues apiece, and then crashing it all together in one of the most gleefully unhinged, artistically daring, and emotionally moving finales ever, and in the process revealing no less than the secret origin of the entire DC Universe itself. Seven Soldiers is, to me, proof that there is still plenty of life and energy in the superhero genre, that there are still new approaches and new ideas to try instead of endless rehashes of better days.
Y: The Last Man - I feel like Y is the 21st-century counterpart to Preacher - it has the same clear, instantly accessible art, likable protagonists, and meandering, picaresque story, but replacing some of the troublesome machismo and adolescent rebellion with a more West Coast, liberal sensibility. It's like Preacher graduated high school and went to Berkeley. I thought Y's story was sometimes kind of slight and glib - everything goes down smooth and then you realize later it was basically pure sugar - but I can't deny both the craftsmanship of the writing (it's no wonder he moved on to TV) and the sheer entertainment value.
Whenever I start to wonder if I'm capable of truly hating anything, I reread the Slavers. And every time I do I want to burn people from this earth.
Grant Morrison's Batman run
We3
Seaguy
Seven Soldiers
I Kill Giants
Hellboy
Justice League: New Frontier
A lot of Grant, but.... I mean, Grant has been doing some damn fine work.
It was a bit alternative but that really worked, and along with All-Star Superman it shows the different ways you can protray the character and the world he lives in.
Also I would suggest that Fred Van Lente's Incredible Hercules is one of the best series of the last ten years, because it effortlessly combined ancient mythology and a modern setting and was just so much fun to read. The overarching plot-line was really compelling but the individual, smaller arcs were just as much fun.
X-Men: First Class, the Atlas stuff, hell his Exiles run washes the bad taste of Claremont out of your mouth
Shame that Marvel seems to shitcan half his books, though I guess that should be a shame on comic book dudes for not reading his books in the first place
It really came down to a lack of demand
And everyone forgot Mini Marvels, we should all be ashamed. I will without hesitation swap out Mini Marvels with Tomasi's GLC run on my list. I'm so sorry Chris G., it's the best please forgive me.
It just seems that nobody gives a shit about the Agents of Atlas. I have to say I never felt any desire to pick them up despite some other people on this forum saying how good they were.
The whole point of the agents of atlas was that they were a team that ~unless you were a comic book historian~ you weren't supposed to be familiar with. They were for all intents and purposes going for "a man out of time" feel by reconstituting a team that hadn't been in print for more then 40 years.
I - after reading the first trade - found it pretty refreshing. It was pretty cool to see a group of characters that were on the one hand blank slates (since they haven' been in comics for a long time, and - as I understand it - were reinvented somewhat for Agents of Atlas), but on the other felt like they had decades of history together.
Bob's a Uranian.
He comes from the gas giant known as Uranus.
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Shit. Shit.
BRB committing ritual suicide.
Uranus
1) All Star Superman
2) Y the Last Man
3) Immortal Iron-Fist
PS2
FF X replay
PS3
God of War 1&2 HD
Rachet and Clank Future
MGS 4
Prince of Persia
360
Bayonetta
Fable 3
DS
FF: 4 heroes of light
Yessssss.
just so, so good
Let's not forget the work of Duane Swierczynski to close out the book. There was no noticeable change in the quality of the writing when he took over.
Hey, wikipedia tells me that Bizarro Comics came out in 2002, so I'm gonna include that as well, I love that book. Short works by a variety of authors along with an overarching plot starring Bizarro and Mr. Mxyzptlk.
edit:: Oh crap, I forgot ULTIMATE ADVENTURES! Which I think I and like one other person like, but I'm including it anyway. It's friggin great.
The whole thing is basically a rip off of Batman from Robin's point of view, which I personally enjoyed but could see someone not liking because it's mostly lacking in originality.