Comic book appreciation thread

Other Games, Books, TV and Films
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So, following [url=http://rpgvienna.com/t/anglo-austrian-hybrid-says-hello/108/1 suggestion[/url], here is a thread dedicated to discussing comic books/graphic novels and the like.

A few American style comics I enjoyed recently:

  • Both the Avengers and the New Avengers have been pretty good…
  • Wolverine’s X-Men, has been better, though.
  • The children crusade has been good, I am a big fan of the young avengers…
  • The new Ultimate Spider-Man is great…

And, talking of the young Avengers reminded me of “The Runaways”, it’s no longer very recent, but if you can grab some past issues, it’s a really great read.

-From Image, “Invincible”, from Kirkman, the “Walking dead” guy, has also been a great read.
Also worth checking out, the “Astro city” books…

That’s for the recent (and some less recent) super-hero stuff…

French graphic novels, I highly recommand:

  • Black Order Brigade (from Enki Bilal)
  • Aquablue
  • “The Quest of the Time Bird”, it’s really cool, and available in English and German… And, just about everything by “Loisel” you can get your hands on…

Meh, that’s everything I can think of from the top of my head, it’s a start, right…

2

I (unfortunately) can only talk about some graphic novels.

  • V for Vendetta
    a comic everybody should have read once in his lifetime. Awesome style and story, even better than the movie.

  • Watchmen
    basically the same. Awesome graphic novel, definite recommendation.

  • Scott Pilgrim
    If you like Video games, comics or the movie you will love it. Unfortunately it’s very short (6 books - 20- 30 minutes each) but they are really worth the money!

  • Sandman
    love it. Neil Gaiman created a masterpiece with those comics. Very dark and sinister, but still sometimes very funny. Awesome piece of art.

I actually think that’s all I know. I’ll read the Goon comics as soon as I can borrow it from a colleague so maybe I’ll have to say more in a few days.

3

V for Vendetta and Watchmenm he?

And Gaimann, too…

So, the heavy weaponmery is already out, then…
Then, I also would like to mention the Golden Age of Frank Miller (before he got crazy): The Dark Knight return and Batman year one. And the first few of “Sin City”.

Also, while mentioning Alan Moore, I want to plug some of his later stuff, in particular “the 49” from his Top 10 line and the “Tom Strong” series…

Ps- I totally second the “Scott Pilgrim” recommendation. I loved the movie, but the comics are still a thousand times better…

4

Well, if anything goes…

I like/liked the Marvel series to the Dark Tower.

5

Cool.

Embarassingly enough, I have not yet read any Avengers - and will have to catch up.
I could say I love Watchman and Sandman, but I’m guessing that pretty redundant…

Is no one going to mention Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis? Cause that one is pure gold.

I’m also working my way (slowly) through The Swamp Thing - still on the fence about it though.

Kirkman’s new thing would interest me - I faithfully read the Walking Dead until now, and its starting to wear on me a bit, but I like his narrative style.

6

[quote=“JKirsteen”]Cool.

Embarassingly enough, I have not yet read any Avengers - and will have to catch up.
I could say I love Watchman and Sandman, but I’m guessing that pretty redundant…

Is no one going to mention Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis? Cause that one is pure gold.

I’m also working my way (slowly) through The Swamp Thing - still on the fence about it though.

Kirkman’s new thing would interest me - I faithfully read the Walking Dead until now, and its starting to wear on me a bit, but I like his narrative style.[/quote]

Oh yeah… How could I forget Transmetropolitain!

Ellis has done other since since, but nothing I found nearly as good as TM. Although “Desolation Jones” was good too. And Planetary was great (the concept of the century babies really appeals to me…).
By the way: Spider Jerusalem; Desolation Jones; Doctor Sleepless; Elijah Snow… if anything, Ellis is the world heavy weight champion at naming characters… (albeit maybe in a slightly formulaic way…)

As for “Invulnerable”, it is not really Kirkman’s new thing. It is actually a bit older than the “Walking dead”, it just has a bit overshadowed by the mainstream success of thew WD (due for a large part to the TV adaptation).

And you should give the Advengers a try, I think. It is not mind blowingly amazing, I feel, but Bendis’ run has been pretty solid and quite entertaining so far… Plus, it is where beats the heart of the Marvel U. these days…

Speaking of Ellis AND the Avengers, Ellis did a few sporadic issues of the “Secret Avengers” and these are the best of the series. Apart from these, the secret are, to my opinion, the weakest of the Avenger series…

Also, because we have metioned some of the comic book “classics”, the name of “Preacher” is bound to come up. I am actually not a huge fan, personally, but it was an “influential” books, whatever that may mean…
I am feeling about the same about “The boys”. It’s an ok read, with some highlights but well… Not in my top ten…

And, I just remember: Hellraiser. A long series that, I believe, Alan Moore initially created as part of his Swanp thing run… Since then, both Gayman and Ellis did write it. It’s… Pretty good too, if you ever stumble upon it…

7

[quote=“Frazzlerunning”]Well, if anything goes…

I like/liked the Marvel series to the Dark Tower.[/quote]

To my great shame, I have not yet read those, but the few novels of the series I read were pretty cool, so I’ll need to give it a try…

8

Ok, i just saw the publication date on “Invincible” - whoops. Still might give it a look. and thanks - I will certainly check out Ellis “Avengers”.

I’ve read the first Hellblazer book - which was brave, as I was almost put off Constantine altogether after the jaw-droppingly horrible movie - but I enjoyed the book immensely, and am looking forward to reading the rest. :slight_smile:

Also, apparently I should really read Scott Pilgrim :slight_smile:

9

Never, never, never, never, never assume ANYTHING about a comic book from the movie. Not even that the characters might have the same names. NEVER.

10

Because they haven’t been mentioned yet:

Fables
Unwritten
Locke & Key

I always loved Fairy Tales, so the characters in Fables are familiar, and yet very different. I love how they explained how the Big Bad Wolf could blow down the houses of the three pigs: he’s half wolf and half “North Wind”.

Unwritten felt a lot like a Harry Potter reference, it actually still reminds me of it at times, but the story is very intriguing and being able to travel into well known books of literature is always cool (well at least it is here and in the Thursday Next Books by Jasper Fforde).

I love the artwork of Locke & Key, but the story is also great. A mother and her three children move to the family estate after their father was murdered and there the kids discover various keys with odd powers; e.g. the Head Key let’s one see inside your own head and you can put stuff there, or take it out and one character took out Fear and Sadness, which of course affected her personality.

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Oooooh… I borrowed the first tome of “Locke and Key” from a public library (that’s also fro where I read “the Goon”), back in France. I remember telling myself that it must have been a comic book adaptation…

It was really good…

I believe I also read the first tome of “Fables”, aren’t the Fable creature exiled from their magical land and settled in the US?

Gladstone’s school for World Conqueror has been pretty solid so far.
Morning glories was interesting at first, but now, I am starting to wonder if the authors know what to do with their plot…

Another oldie (well, 2007) but goodie is “Welcome to Tranquility” by Gail Simone.
Also, the “Umbrella Academy” is great stuff…
Superior, from Mark Millar is good.
Skull kickers, which is not as good but will appeal to roleplayers…

Mark waid did “Ruse”, which I greatly enjoyed, and now has a very fun run of “Daredevil”.

I also recommend “Nocturnals”. The characters and story are really cool, but it is the artwork that steals the show here…

And, how comes nobody mentioned “Kick Ass” yet? Especially now that the second volume is ongoing…

Finally, I recommend “Hopeless Savage”. I stumbled upon it by accident and now am… hopelessly?.. in love with it.
It’s sometime a bit rough, especially the art, but it has a vibrancy and a tremendous sincerity to it… I think… Anyway, I really loved the books…

12

And by pure chance, I stumbled on a new (for me)webcomic today.

13

Yeah.

It’s from the same guy that does “Something Positive”, although it is not updated nearly as often.
Amusingly enough, SP is actually going through a story-arc anout “Real Life superheroes” right now…

14

lol, nope, that was the movie that taught me that ^^

15

The first post I manage in this thread, and it’s not going to be a long one, but an important one:

Tomorrow is free comic book day!

I’ll be at planet harry to get mine! Maybe I’ll se you there!

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[quote=“AmLash”]Tomorrow is free comic book day!

I’ll be at planet harry to get mine! Maybe I’ll se you there![/quote]

We have some errands to run tomorrow, but if you text when you’re around, maybe we’ll be back and can do coffee or something? I live right around the corner.

17

Thanks for reminding me, would have probably forgotten otherwise.

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Funny, I had already planned to meet -H- there tomorrow at 2h30 PM…

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Never, never, never, never, never assume ANYTHING about a comic book from the movie. Not even that the characters might have the same names. NEVER.[/quote]

I know, right?

That just reminds me of watchmen…

Why the producers should a “gritty reboot” was the way to go, I’ll never know… The original was so much more innocent…

20

[quote=“Simon”]Oooooh… I borrowed the first tome of “Locke and Key” from a public library (that’s also fro where I read “the Goon”), back in France. I remember telling myself that it must have been a comic book adaptation…

It was really good…[/quote]

Indeed it is, I can lend you the first four volumes, if you’re interested. And the writer is Joe Hill who’s background is in novels, at the one hand those that he wrote, and those his father is known for, who is none other than Stephen King.

Yes, they had to flee their homelands and found a new home in New York. There are some references towards the exodus of Jewish people and Israel which became very outspoken in issue 50: Bigby Wolf is on a mission called “Operation: Israel” and one of the chapters is called “The Israel Analogy” where he says: "Here’s what you need to know about it. Israel is a tiny country surrounded by much larger countries dedicated to its eventual and total destruction… they stay alive by being a bunch of tough little bastards who make the other guys pay dearly every time they do anything against Israel. Some in the wider world constantly wail and moan about the endless cycle of violence and reprisal. But since the alternative is non-existence, the Israelis seem determined to keep at it. They have a lot of grit and iron. I’m a big fan of them.” Shortly afterwards he blows up a nearly indestructible army.

I love Fables, there are a lot of “Whoa, I did not see that coming.”-moments throughout the series.