Comics for non-comics fans

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I know we have I-Love-Comics, but I am curious as to what comics (if any) the good folk of I-Love-Books enjoy. Perhaps you will tell me?

― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 27 March 2005 09:48 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I am the kind of contributor to this that you have in mind! I know The Pinefox loves St Swithin's Day by Grant Morrison & Paul Grist, which I was thrilled to hear as I edited it.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 27 March 2005 14:15 (twenty years ago)

Daniel Clowes is the literary comic book artist par excellence for people who don't like comics. Try Eightball, his semi-regular series, from which (I think) Ghost World and David Boring derive. Either of those wouldn't be bad to start with, either. He is as careful and accomplished a narrative artist as any fiction writers currently touted as geniuses, and then there's all those pictures and what he does with them. Very very refreshing stuff.

― Mayor Maynot, Sunday, 27 March 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

I am expecting the following to feature highly here (if anyone else bothers to post): Watchmen, Hate, Optic Nerve, Eightball, Persepolis, random manga, etc. I like all of the previous that I've read, apart from random manga.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Sunday, 27 March 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

You know what, I misread your first post. I thought the Watchmen was pretty boring, and I haven't read those other titles besides Eightball. I like a little Silver Surfer, X-Men (the Mutant Massacre blew my mind), New Teen Titans (George Perez era), Walt Simonson's run on Thor, particularly the Ragnarok stuff, even though I thought Beta Ray Bill was kind of stupid. Can't say I've bought many super hero comics in a while though. I'm open to suggestions (and about non-super hero titles too) if you have any to share.

― Mayor Maynot, Sunday, 27 March 2005 23:28 (twenty years ago)

I can recommend Joe Sacco, who has a quite a brilliant line in comic book reporting - Palestine, Safe Area Gorazde, the Fixer are all worth reading.

― oblomov, Monday, 28 March 2005 11:37 (twenty years ago)

"New Teen Titans (George Perez era)"

George Perez drew me a nice picture of Nightcrawler for ten bucks at the grand opening of Forbidden Planet in NYC. He was very nice. That's my George Perez story.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 March 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

I am completely envious. I have the DC-Marvel crossover issue where the X-Men team up with the Teen Titans to save the universe from Darkseid, but Simonson drew it, not Perez.

The first two stories in the relaunch, when the Teen Titans saved the world from an extra-dimensional demon, and then the Olympians from the titans let loose from tartarus, is like one of my favorite consecutive comic book runs ever. That one and when the Fantastic Four trick Galactus into not eating the earth, but the Silver Surfer gets trapped here in the bargain. And the mutant massacre, too!

― Mayor Maynot, Monday, 28 March 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

I follow ILC and thought I was a comics fan although I'm not into the superheros and can't really afford to spend moneys on the indie comics (or I don't prioritize it) and, even then, I have somewhat specific tastes, really, that come out of comic strips rather than comic books. So Ware, Kochalka, Vasquez, etc.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 28 March 2005 23:45 (twenty years ago)

It's mostly Alan Moore stuff that I've read as a grown-up
2 reasons I don't read comics much
1) They're way more expensive than books
2) I'm never sure what speed you're supposed to read a comic. You can obviously read one fantastically quickly to get the story, but then I feel guilty that I'm not paying enough attention to all the detail the artist has gone to all the trouble of putting in. Or you can carefully look at each panel, but than the story sags, and you tend to skip down to the bottom of the opposite page anyway. I have a natural book reading speed. i don't have a natural comic reading speed.

― Joe Kay (feethurt), Tuesday, 29 March 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

I'm not a huge comic book fan, but I do enjoy a good graphic novel...my first was The Preacher (Garth Ennis). Waayyyyy coool. That sucked me right in. Plus it made my day because I finally had a reason to walk into all those cool comic book stores I was too afraid to enter. (Can be intimidating to the uninitiated, ya know)

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 03:46 (twenty years ago)

Adrien Tomine. Reads like good intimate fiction almost. And Chris Ware.

― Mo Baht, Wednesday, 30 March 2005 04:03 (twenty years ago)

Bear really is *insanely* funny, it's like the Vasquez you're not ashamed to like, plus funnier & even more violent.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 05:11 (twenty years ago)

I wouldn't say I'm a comics person, but I love Watchmen and Promethea and ...Extraordinary Gentlemen. And I like Daniel Clowes and Craig Thompson. I just got that McSweeneys comics thing from the library too, so you never know, I might get some more favourites soon (though I doubt it).

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 09:31 (twenty years ago)

the hernandez brothers' love and rockets has to be one of the kings of this category. they're impressive enough read issue to issue but when you have the luxury of looking through the collected volumes (at least 12 i think?), then the creativity, technical skill, and literary vision becomes truly staggering. seriously fantastic stuff.

see also: phoebe gloeckner (at least one ilx thread on her) and debbie dressler (i've mentioned her before but not sure on what board).

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

There are two enormous Love & Rockets anthologies collecting each of the brothers' stuff separately--Jaime Hernandez's "Locas" is UNBELIEVABLY great starting about a quarter of the way through (once he finds his voice), and Gilbert Hernandez's "Palomar" is wonderful too in a very different way.

In a wholly other sort of category: I've lent both Moore & Lloyd's "V for Vendetta" and Grant Morrison et al.'s "The Invisibles" series to a number of non-comics fans. Each has yielded a few "I got bored and stopped partway through" responses, as well as at least two "OH MY GOD THIS CHANGED MY LIFE" responses. Your mileage may vary.

I used to think that "Watchmen" wouldn't make much sense to anyone who hadn't read a few thousand terrible superhero comics to understand what the cliches it was systematically smashing into tiny pieces were. But then my wife, who's not at all a comics person, read it and adored it.

― Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

I never really was into comics, mostly because I don't care anything at all about superheroes, until I read Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Loved it.

― SJ Lefty, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Douglas: Certainly when I read Watchmen it was not with any particular grounding in superheros (and I felt a bit of superhero dread when starting it) and I thought it was pretty spectacular. (I don't know if I'd feel the same now; it's been many years since I read it.)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:09 (twenty years ago)

Chester Brown
Hernandez Broz
Clowes

and i've gotta take another opportunity to recommend chris onstad's Achewood. don't be fooled just cuz it's on-line! sad, hilarious, and absurd.

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 15:15 (twenty years ago)

that's good to know about watchmen: i've felt similar trepidations about it.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 16:43 (twenty years ago)

Perspolisis
Pheonix/ Adolf
Barefoot Gen
epeleptic (was okay)

― A Nairn (moretap), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 21:32 (twenty years ago)

Promethea

― Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 22:39 (twenty years ago)

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