Fables 1001 Nights of Snowfall is made of win and awesome. Self contained as well. Its about old fable characters (snow white, etc) and is a set of random stories about characters in the main series. You do not need to read the main story to understand it.
Superman Red Son. Probably the best Superman story you can read as its an Elseworlds story that allows writers to be unique and creative with him.
JLA Earth 2 is another great one shot elseworlds (I assume its elseworlds, but could be wrong. Dont think its ever been mentioned in continuity and too lazy to check if its marked as such). Its basically a one off story of the meeting between the JLA and Crime Syndicate of Amerika (evil earth 2 counterparts of JLA). Really well done story that requires only the most basic understanding of DC (ie Superman is super, Batman is the god damn Batman, etc).
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is another must have. Theres 2 volumes, but each could be considered self contained. Do not confuse with the groan inducing LXG movie.
Ghost in the Shell is an incredible read, even after all these years. If you liked Akira, you'll like GitS.
The Golden Age is another DC must read Elseworlds tale. Deals with the golden age characters after the war dealing with McCarthyism.
If you decide on Sandman, Lucifer will be an excellent companion piece as well as the Death minis/tpbs. Get the Sandman Absolutes if you decide. Worth every penny (although only one out as far as i know with 2 more on the way).
Rising Stars rocked for the first 2 trades then floundered to a mediocre ending in the third, but I think id still recommend it.
More contemporary pieces from Marvel like Runaways or Annihilation (i didnt know anything about half the characters and only knew the rest of them by name/image when I first read it and it was awesome, 3 hardcovers for the set).
Im sure there are a million others people will get around to recommending that I missed.
Some great recommendations so far! Especially Sanctuary if you can find it. Here are some more of my own. These are all "done in 1" trades that the OP seems to be looking for:
Pride of Baghdad
Mouseguard
Wanted
Orbiter
Batman: Year One
Blankets
Soulwind
Midnight Nation
Inhumans
Rose (especially if you liked Bone)
Stardust
Murder Mysteries
Superman Birthright
Superman For All Seasons
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
Long Halloween
Almost anything by Andi Watson or Scott Morse
Domu (especially if you liked Akira)
That's all I can think off off the top of my head. Hope that helps, and enjoy!
My major recommendation is, and always will be, Grant Morrison's run on "Animal Man". It's mostly self-contained (there is some crossover with the larger DCU), awesome as hell, and available in a three trade set.
Watchmen is pretty high on the list, of course, though you've already read it. I can't recommend New Frontier enough; it's perhaps one of the best things to come out of superhero comics ever. Runaways Vol. 1 is self-contained and pretty amazing.
I enjoyed Ultimate Adventures a lot, and it's completely self contained - as far as I know none of the characters are used elsewhere. (Except for the cameo from the Ultimates).
On that note, does anyone know if they're going to make more comics about Hawk-Owl and co. ?
In terms of self-contained single issues, I've really liked Fell so far.
Detective Comics usually achieves the same short story style.
They're good alternatives to graphic novels if you just want a relatively cheap self-contained reads.
But then again, I'm just a sucker for short detective stories.
EMPOWERED by Adam Warren.
It was funnier then it has any right to be, a good comic to get into if you are going into withdrawal from a lack of Nextwave. Available in a TPB that just came out.
actually "The Matrix" was inspired by a screenplay called Third Eye that the Wachowski brothers stole.
That's an urban legend (or the ravings of a paranoid who claims every successful movie EVER stole from her screenplays, even if they had to time travel in order to do it). You make the call.:roll:
Posts
Superman Red Son. Probably the best Superman story you can read as its an Elseworlds story that allows writers to be unique and creative with him.
JLA Earth 2 is another great one shot elseworlds (I assume its elseworlds, but could be wrong. Dont think its ever been mentioned in continuity and too lazy to check if its marked as such). Its basically a one off story of the meeting between the JLA and Crime Syndicate of Amerika (evil earth 2 counterparts of JLA). Really well done story that requires only the most basic understanding of DC (ie Superman is super, Batman is the god damn Batman, etc).
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is another must have. Theres 2 volumes, but each could be considered self contained. Do not confuse with the groan inducing LXG movie.
Ghost in the Shell is an incredible read, even after all these years. If you liked Akira, you'll like GitS.
The Golden Age is another DC must read Elseworlds tale. Deals with the golden age characters after the war dealing with McCarthyism.
If you decide on Sandman, Lucifer will be an excellent companion piece as well as the Death minis/tpbs. Get the Sandman Absolutes if you decide. Worth every penny (although only one out as far as i know with 2 more on the way).
Rising Stars rocked for the first 2 trades then floundered to a mediocre ending in the third, but I think id still recommend it.
More contemporary pieces from Marvel like Runaways or Annihilation (i didnt know anything about half the characters and only knew the rest of them by name/image when I first read it and it was awesome, 3 hardcovers for the set).
Im sure there are a million others people will get around to recommending that I missed.
Pride of Baghdad
Mouseguard
Wanted
Orbiter
Batman: Year One
Blankets
Soulwind
Midnight Nation
Inhumans
Rose (especially if you liked Bone)
Stardust
Murder Mysteries
Superman Birthright
Superman For All Seasons
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
Long Halloween
Almost anything by Andi Watson or Scott Morse
Domu (especially if you liked Akira)
That's all I can think off off the top of my head. Hope that helps, and enjoy!
Lawl, I had the chance to read it a while ago but we sold all the issues before I could
Maus
Hey, wait.
Pride of Baghdad
AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Watchmen is pretty high on the list, of course, though you've already read it. I can't recommend New Frontier enough; it's perhaps one of the best things to come out of superhero comics ever. Runaways Vol. 1 is self-contained and pretty amazing.
On that note, does anyone know if they're going to make more comics about Hawk-Owl and co. ?
Detective Comics usually achieves the same short story style.
They're good alternatives to graphic novels if you just want a relatively cheap self-contained reads.
But then again, I'm just a sucker for short detective stories.
It was funnier then it has any right to be, a good comic to get into if you are going into withdrawal from a lack of Nextwave. Available in a TPB that just came out.
Weird, they're like under $15.00 on amazon.
That's an urban legend (or the ravings of a paranoid who claims every successful movie EVER stole from her screenplays, even if they had to time travel in order to do it). You make the call.:roll:
Other stuff I've enjoyed a lot, in no particular order:
Finder
Hellboy
Xenozoic Tales
Creature Tech
Concrete
Grimjack
Planetary
John Byrne's Next Men