Reccomended Comics

Spun off from the Dinner Party thread in the coffee house forum. A quick list for anyone who's interested. The comics listed here are a mix of American, Japanese, English, and French. Every single one is available in English, though.Love & Rockets - 15 volumes - by Los. Bros. Hernandez
Magical realism and Punk... together at last.
Special Reccomendations: Chester Square, Death of Speedy Ortiz, Poison RiverHate - 6 volumes - by Peter Bagge
The adventures of the greatest detestable slacker in history.
Special Reccomendation: Buddy the DreamerBone - 8 volumes so far - by Jeff Smith
Fantasy with a semi-Disney cuteness to it.Cerebus - read up to volume 6 and stop because it gets awful - by Dave Sim and Gerhard
26 years in the life of an aardvark. No, really.
Special Reccomendation: Jaka's StoryUsagi Yojimbo - 16 volumes so far - by Stan Sakai
A samurai tale set in feudal japan, in which all characters are anthropomorphic animals.
Special Reccomendation: Grasscutter, Space UsagiDragonball/DBZ - 22 volumes translated so far - by Akira Toriyama
BoomboomkickpunchYEAH!Adolf - 6 volumes translated - by Osamu Tezuka
Historical fiction (more emphasis on the fiction than the historical) set in WWII.Ranma 1/2 - 22 volumes translated so far - by Rumiko Takahashi
Gender bending comedy. Wonderfully, unapolagetically stupid.Blackjack - 2 volumes - by Osamu Tezuka
The world's most talented surgeon. OUTLAW SURGEON, THAT IS!Phoenix: A Tale of the Future
Phoenix: Dawn
by Osamu Tezuka
Tezuka's grand life work, covering the entire fictional history of the universe.The Complete Hutch Owen - by Tom Hart
The collected ravings of an anti-establishment homeless character.X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga - by Chris Claremont and John Byrne
Silly superhero melodrama at its finest.Essential Fantastic Four volume 3 - by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
The best superhero comics have ever gotten. (At least in my opinion.)Ethel & Ernest - by Raymond Briggs
Briggs' biography of his parents. Charming, but fairly dark as well.Champs
Don't Call Me Stupid
White Flower Day
by Steven Weismann
The various adventures of the... I guess the best way to describe it would be "the little rascals from Hell..."From Hell - by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
Jack the Ripper as midwife of the 20th century. Possibly the best comic ever released in America, if not the world. Pay no attention to the awful Johnny Depp/Heather Graham movie based on it.Watchmen - by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Superhero deconstruction meets 80s right-wing facism.Maus - by Art Spiegleman
Spiegleman's autobiography/biography of his father, revolving mainly around his father's experiences as a holocaust survivor.Akira - 6 volumes - by Katsuhiro Otomo
Normal manga apocalypse culture, but without the usual My Little Pony aesthetic.Domu: A Child's Dream - by Katsuhiro Otomo
Much like Akira, but shorter and cheaper.Signal to Noise - by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
A dying screenwriter works on his last film.Violent Cases - by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
A child witnesses extreme violence, but doesn't really understand what he's seeing.Sandman - 10 volumes - by Neil Gaiman and various
Special Reccomendations: Season of Mists, Kindly Ones
The life and death of Morpheus, the personification of the act of dreaming.Scary Godmother: Ghoul's Out For Summer - by Jill Thompson
Fairy tales for grown-ups? Best description I can muster at least...Epileptic - 1 volume translated, one to come - by David B.
The author recounts his brother's struggle with epilepsy.Cowboy Wally Show
Why I Hate Saturn
by Kyle Baker
Dialogue-driven comedy. Hysterically funny.Peanuts - pick up any of a number of collections - by Charles Schulz
Damn straight.David Boring
Ghost World
by Dan Clowes
Horribly depressing, but wonderful.Three Piece Suit
How to Be an Artist
After the Snooter
by Eddie Campbell
Autobiographical comics, told via the thinly-veiled protagonist "Alec MacGarry".Jar of Fools - by Jason Lutes
An escape artist who wants to commit suicide.Berlin - by Jason Lutes
Historical fiction of Berlin between world wars.Paul Auster's City of Glass - by David Mazzuchelli
An adaption of the novel.Safe Area Gorazde - by Joe Sacco
Journalism comic about Bosnia shortly after the fact.Heavy Liquid - by Paul Pope
Drugged up bounty-hunter pounding through streets under foglit neon lights.Hicksville - by Dylan Horrocks
Part history of comics, part mystic nature of art.Cages - by Dave McKean
A story in which all artist, from a corner saxaphone player up through God, are portrayed as equal participants in the ongoing creation of the universe.Jimmy Corrigan - by Chris Ware
Beyond depressing. If you have a history of depression, do not allow yourself contact with sharp objects while reading this comic.More to come as they occur to me. If anyone else has reccomendations, throw 'em down!

And two more occur to me:Abe: Wrong for All the Right Reasons - by Glenn Dakin
A collection of short meanderingsEagle: The Making of an Asian-American President - by Kaiji Kawaguchi
5 big volumes or 22 small volumes, depending on which edition you buy.The story of a third-generation Japanese-American running for president. Political intrigue alongside a concurrent murder mystery.I'll shut up for a while now.

Preacher... eh, Preacher's okay. I would stop after the fourth volume. After that it goes through a long, repetitve, overly melodramatic stretch, then starts building the plot again way too fast, and builds and builds toward a really unsatisfying ending. I'm also not crazy about Ennis' implications that engaging in anything kinkier than a heterosexual blowjob will result in utter perversion and at times outright evil. And personally, I don't like the art.However, if you like the first couple volumes, I would highly reccomend both the Preacher one shot "Cassidy: Blood and Whiskey" and the Hellblazer volume "Dangerous Habits". They're probably the two best things Ennis ever wrote.I keep meaning to try "Y: The Last Man" but haven't gotten around to it. I hear it's really fun, though.Transmet is really, REALLY fun, even if it is kind of "Hunter S. Thompson 2099." [This message has been edited by Dan Carroll, 07-23-2003]

Fair point.

From Hell... can't say enough good things about it. It's the same killer as in the movie, but it's not done up as a whodunit. We know who Jack is by chapter two, and the next thirteen chapters are about his motivations, and why a person would possibly want to mutilate five women. The whole things wrapped up in mystic Freemason rituals, lectures on occult architecture, and general themes of gender persecution and all sorts of fun stuff. It's also meticulously annotated at the end, pointing out panel by panel what is historical fact, what's taken from conspiracy books, and what Moore made up himself.Jimmy Corrigan... hoo boy. Pick up a copy if you want Sob-Fest 2003. The worst part is that every time you're about to cut your throat in a display of solidarity with Jimmy, the plot shifts back to Jimmy's great-grandfather when he was a boy, and shows us someone with waaaay worse problems with Jimmy. So you feel awful about yourself for feeling awful for Jimmy when this kid in the past really has it rough, and... oh, Jebus, I'm getting sad thinking about it.

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You might like the Bone "prequel", Rose. Less of the cutesy stuff and Charles Vess art.

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Been meaning to read Rose for ages, but haven't for one reason or another. One of those books I always forget when I'm in the store, you know? Same deal with Stardust.Although I don't mean to slam Smith with the disneyish description. He's a great artist, it's just shows through that he used to work in animation.

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On a quieter note Strangehaven by Gary Spencer Millidge is worth a look. I'm not sure how to describe it. An English Twin Peaks perhaps ? The mix of strangeness and soap is about right - but it is less violent and without the sleazier elements.

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Hunh. Haven't even heard of this. Have to check it out, thanks!And yes, Hellboy is always fun. Did you read "Amazing Screw-on Head?"

Baker's genius. I've never laughed so hard as at Cowboy Wally, except maybe at Saturn.

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No props for Chick Publications' ongoing series of cartoon pamphlets for born-again folks?

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Hey, I love Chick, in an "Ed Wood of Comics" kind of way. [This message has been edited by Dan Carroll, 07-23-2003]

One for the Creationists... (because there are several on the forum, and a lot of these comics work from the assumption that Christianity is bunk. Might as well provide something for everybody!)Creature Tech - by Doug TenNapelA very fun comic that works from the assumption of intelligent design as a necessity to the plot. Don't believe it myself, but don't have any problem with it being used in fiction.

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I Don't recognise the "Amazing Screw-on Head" title.

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Mike Mignola one-shot published by Dark Horse. Nothing to do with Hellboy, but very, very fun.

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Did you go see the touring exhibit of his work? I saw it in Philly.

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I didn't get to, no. I manage to get to a lecture by Scott McCloud at the Chicago Humanities Festival last year, where I found out (too late) that the lecture series included others by Art Spiegelman, Will Eisner, Neil Gaiman, and Chris Ware.So I missed 'em all except McCloud.Sigh.You can't win for losin'...

One more...Kill Your Boyfriend - By Grant Morrison and D'IsraeliMurderers portrayed as pop stars. A bit of a cliche since Quentin Tarantino started doing the idea to death, but at the time it came out the idea was fairly fresh.

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Kingdom Come - can't remember who did it, but it's definitely DC.

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Mark Waid and Alex Ross.

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I hope we're including webcomics here.

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Well Hell, if that's the case, check outhttp://www.moderntales.com
Bob the Angry Flower
diesel sweeties webcomics by @rstevensAnd more as they occur to me.It also couldn't hurt anyone to buy access to the web-anthology that my girlfriend and I published last year. http://www.evolution-comics.com

On the off chance anyone will be there, my girlfriend and I are headed to the Chicago comic book convention today, and hitting the party in the hotel bar tonight. Look for a guy in olive cords and a short-sleeved black button-down.