Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

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Thad
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Thu Mar 31, 2016 1:39 am

IDW's been publishing some Dirk Gently comics, apparently to tie in with the upcoming TV series (which IDW is helping to produce).

I only read one issue of the first miniseries, The Interconnectedness of All Kings; it didn't do much for me. But it was also issue #2 so it's possible that missing the setup hurt my enjoyment.

The second mini, though, A Spoon Too Short, feels a lot stronger to me. Issue #2's got a pretty good poaching plot going on, which I think Adams would have approved of, and contains a brutal and memorable scene with a rhino that is definitely an homage to the whale scene from Hitchhiker's Guide.

I quite liked the last Dirk TV series. While I'm baffled that BBC killed it only to launch a completely different Dirk TV series just a few years later, I'm cautiously optimistic that the new series will be good too. If the current comic is a good indication of what the show's going to be like, then I'm more optimistic yet.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mothra » Tue Apr 05, 2016 6:35 pm

So, my brother's birthday's coming up, and he's pretty big into comics. Thinking of getting him another graphic novel.

He's enjoyed stuff like Red Son, Dark Knight Returns, Saga, Rat Queens, and (to a lesser extent) All-Star Superman. Any ideas?

Thad wrote:(Tagging Thad)

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Wed Apr 06, 2016 12:25 am

Kingdom Come is good for a dystopian future superhero comic that's also a critique of dystopian future superhero comics.

New Frontier is good for a more grounded retelling of Silver Age DC that ties everything together into a single coherent story.

Bone is like Lord of the Rings with a more cartoony bent.

Usagi Yojimbo is a long-running series set in feudal Japan with talking animals.

Maus is a pretty big departure from any of that stuff and is about the Holocaust. It's heavy stuff but one of the all-time greats.

Heartbreak Soup is probably my favorite comics story of all time; it's another pretty big departure from the kind of stuff you've been listing. Central American magical realism.

Morrison, Truog, and Grummett's run on Animal Man is a quirky deconstruction of a C-list superhero that leads to some truly memorable postmodernism.

Christopher Priest's Black Panther is being collected in trades now; it's one of my favorite superhero series, mixes comedy with intricate nonsequential plotting, and is at least partially being adapted into upcoming Marvel movies.

Astro City is probably my all-time favorite superhero series; Confession is my favorite storyline from it. (I consider it to be the best Batman story ever, despite not technically being a Batman story.) I'm not sure how much of the series is currently in print, though.

Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Sandman are all standards that go pretty high on the "comics for people who don't read comics" list.

Those are a few favorites just from peeking over at my bookshelves. I'm sure you can find plenty of other suggestions throughout the thread, and also the Fossilized thread.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mothra » Wed Apr 06, 2016 2:10 am

Much appreciated.

Gave Kingdom Come a read today, but it's very bleak in that it is one enormous tragedy you want to see ended. It's excellent and I'll be finishing it, but I'm gonna try to find something a little less heavy.

Moving down the list - will update soon.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:19 am

Yeah, I figured it fit the bleakness of Red Son/DKR, though. While simultaneously being a repudiation of the 1990's antihero trend.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Büge » Wed Apr 06, 2016 2:33 pm

Kingdom Come is also filled to the brim with references to other comics, to history, to real people and to spiritual and secular literature. Fun time if you like poring over pages.
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mothra » Wed Apr 06, 2016 2:42 pm

Changed my mind after finishing Kingdom Come earlier today. That was a fantastic ending. Going to go with that.

Been putting off Morrison/Truog/Grummett's run of Animal Man for too long, so that's next. Then Priest's Black Panther, which sounds interesting (particularly since I know nothing about the character).

Huge thanks for the suggestions.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Mongrel » Wed Apr 06, 2016 2:52 pm

In a different vein, here's a fun Superman short story: On The Times Villains Attempted To Kill Baby Superman

It's fun, and also a brilliant take on how two midwestern randoms wound up raising a son so perfectly well.
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Thu Apr 07, 2016 12:35 am

If you like Alex Ross's art, Marvels is worth checking out; it's the book that launched him and writer Kurt Busiek to prominence. It's a retrospective of both the twentieth century and the Marvel Universe, taking four major events (the arrival of the first superheroes, the appearance of mutants, the near-destruction of the world at the hands of Galactus, and the death of Gwen Stacy) and viewing them through the eyes of a man on the street, a Daily Bugle photographer named Phil Sheldon.

And if you like Ross's art and Busiek's writing, then I'll go ahead and recommend Astro City again. Busiek's the writer and Brent Anderson is the main artist, but Ross does the covers (and is involved in a lot of the behind-the-scenes conceptual stuff along with both Busiek and Anderson).

And if you like Priest et al's Black Panther, I heartily recommend Priest and Bright's Quantum and Woody.

Büge wrote:Kingdom Come is also filled to the brim with references to other comics, to history, to real people and to spiritual and secular literature. Fun time if you like poring over pages.


Yeah, it's a veritable Where's Waldo. Still get a kick out of the cast of Rocky Horror showing up.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Thu Apr 07, 2016 12:56 am

And speaking of Black Panther, the first Coates/Stelfreeze issue is out today.

It reads like the rumbling of thunder, the sound of an oncoming storm. It's a story of civil unrest and revolution, the uneasy duties of those in power and the understandable anger of those on the other side.

It feels big. That's always been my favorite thing about Wakanda: the feeling of scale. Coates has a story here that's true to that scale -- at least, so far.

There's a lot going on here. It builds on the spirit of what's come before, while still being a fresh jumping-on point and feeling very much like its own unique thing.

I'm looking forward to more. And with T'Challa making his film debut next month, maybe this'll finally be the series that succeeds at taking him from cult character to the A-list. Lord knows he deserves it.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby zaratustra » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:59 am

I posted this on IRC, but as for new comics, The Wicked + The Divine is pretty good. What else... Freakangels, Planetary, Promethea...

Sandman and Watchmen are classics obv., as is the original Lucifer run.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Büge » Thu Apr 07, 2016 5:51 pm

Thad wrote:Yeah, it's a veritable Where's Waldo. Still get a kick out of the cast of Rocky Horror showing up.


I thought it was funny when The Village People show up in the bar scene.
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby zaratustra » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:47 pm

oh and locke & key

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Blossom » Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:52 pm

Thad wrote:And speaking of Black Panther, the first Coates/Stelfreeze issue is out today.

It reads like the rumbling of thunder, the sound of an oncoming storm. It's a story of civil unrest and revolution, the uneasy duties of those in power and the understandable anger of those on the other side.

It feels big. That's always been my favorite thing about Wakanda: the feeling of scale. Coates has a story here that's true to that scale -- at least, so far.

There's a lot going on here. It builds on the spirit of what's come before, while still being a fresh jumping-on point and feeling very much like its own unique thing.

I'm looking forward to more. And with T'Challa making his film debut next month, maybe this'll finally be the series that succeeds at taking him from cult character to the A-list. Lord knows he deserves it.


Is this a good jumping in point for someone who hasn't read the Priest run or really followed the Marvel Universe at all for a number of years?
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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Thu Apr 07, 2016 9:26 pm

There's a recap page. Shuri took over as BP for awhile there but now she's dead and T'Challa's back; the rest is pretty much explained in-story.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby zaratustra » Fri Apr 08, 2016 5:06 am

Gerard Way is getting his own DC imprint. Speaking of which, Umbrella Academy was great.

I also remembered: Casanova and Manhattan Projects.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Sat May 14, 2016 12:47 pm

I already said this over in the other comics thread, but just in case there are people only reading this one: if you've never read any Darwyn Cooke (RIP), you really should, and there are a couple sales on at Comixology you can go check out.

Like Silver Age Justice League? Read The New Frontier.

Like Batman: TAS? (Of course you do.) Read Batman/The Spirit.

Like hardboiled crime stories about violent revenge? Read Parker: The Hunter.

(The DC books have DRM; the IDW ones don't.)

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Thu May 26, 2016 1:06 am

Goldie Vance, by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams, is Boom's latest book for girls, and it's lovely. It's a girl detective story in the tradition (as its ads say outright) of Nancy Drew and Harriet the Spy, but without so many white people.

The first issue is a lot of fun, introduces a promising setting and an interesting cast of characters, and squares the circle between telling a self-contained story and setting up an arc.

I'm excited about this one. So far it's another great book in the same spirit of Lumberjanes and Gotham Academy. And if you don't believe me, just look at the preview pages of the Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy crossover that it's got at the end.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:05 am

Deathstroke #1 Deathstroke: Rebirth is a triumphant return for Christopher Priest. And I'm not familiar with artist Carlo Pagulayan, but he's a fantastic complement.

There's a pretty good interview and preview over at ComicsAlliance to whet your appetite. But I'll say, as somebody who's never really been a fan of Deathstroke, this is off to a great start. Priest's spinning a tale of international political intrigue that's set firmly within the DC Universe (the identity of the target he's been hired to kill is entirely unexpected), it's got all the Priest long-game touches (a couple of characters say a name that is clearly significant to the people in the story but as yet unexplained to the reader), and he doesn't soften Slade up; he's not an antihero, he's quite clearly the villain. In fact, another of Priest's favorite techniques -- flashbacks to traumatic childhoods -- spends a good chunk of the issue showing what a terrible father Slade was to his children.

Good to have Priest back. He's made me give a fuck about Deathstroke.

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Re: Comics for People who Don't Read Comics

Postby Thad » Wed Aug 31, 2016 10:42 pm

Humble Mad Magazine Bundle

I quit reading Mad around the turn of the century, but there are some issues in there from the 1990's that I remember as being pretty good. And you can't go wrong with a couple of Spy vs. Spy collections.

Not sure how well something that's designed to be read at magazine size will show up on a tablet. The Aragones drawings are gonna be even *more* tiny.

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