Recommend me some Comix

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I have been meaning to try out various comics for years and finally got around to buying some the past couple of months. I have read and liked in descending order:

Watchmen
Ghostworld
Maus
Swamp thing volume 2
Palestine
The Killing Joke
V for Vendetta
Collected Alan Moore DC comics stories (esp. the superman End one and the green lanterns)
Sandman (very hit and miss but i don't mind reading the stuff i don't think is very good so still enjoyable)
Tales of the vampires/slayers
Buffy: the origin
X-Men - the Joss Whedon ones (Astonishing?)

Recommend me up or spout some sort of random list of goodness or anything along those lines.

― jeffrey (johnson), Tuesday, 13 June 2006 22:34 (nineteen years ago)

Cerebus, up through volume 6. Start with Vol. 2, High Society
If you liked Maus, try Persepolis.
Grant Morrison's X-Men, beginning with the E For Extinction volume

― electro-acoustic lycanthrope (orion), Tuesday, 13 June 2006 22:42 (nineteen years ago)

If you like Dan Clowes (he's the Ghostworld and Eightball dude) try Chris Ware (he's the Acme Novelty Library and Jimmy Corrigan dude.)

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 13 June 2006 22:44 (nineteen years ago)

Cerebus up to vol 10, I'd say (but skip the text parts in vol 9). Also, Vol 1 is underrated. Few people agree with me on either of these things.

Most of Moore's ABC stuff, particularly Tom Strong and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Tuesday, 13 June 2006 22:52 (nineteen years ago)

Though it's still very readable and infused with goodness, Persepolis isn't the next Maus. Not to diss Iang's rec -- just that you might be unreasonably disappointed with the much breezier Persepolis.

Have you read Sandman: Dream Hunters? It's an illustrated novella -- Gman wrote it, Yoshitaka Amano drew it (GORjuss!), a lot less posed than the regular Sman stuff.

And for anyone who seems to be discovering Alan Moore: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (both volumes), then Top 10 (both volumes), in THAT ORDER.

― c(''c) (Leee), Tuesday, 13 June 2006 22:56 (nineteen years ago)

If by "Swamp Thing Volume 2" you're referring to "Swamp Thing: Love And Death," I really can't recommend "Swamp Thing: The Curse", i.e. "Swamp Thing volume 3". I found it to be full of ham-handed attempts by Moore to be "serious" and "address the pressing issues of the day" - really quite unreadable at times (very disappointing to me, because volume 2 is almost certainly on my Desert Island List).

The only other volume I've read, the final arc in Moore's run, I enjoyed immensely.

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Tuesday, 13 June 2006 23:09 (nineteen years ago)

Swamp Thing 2 = Love and Death, i just cldn't remember the name of it. I have the 'dark knight returns' batman by frank miller queued up from amazon, also the first volume of swamp thing, but they just send me an e-mail every week or two saying my delivery will be delayed for approximately 4-6 weeks. I hate them. I also ordered the first volume of the collected works of peanuts on some form of impulse.

I am going to blow my wages on yr recommendations tomorrow, at the very least Cerebrus and another Moore or two. I love you all very much.

― jeffrey (johnson), Tuesday, 13 June 2006 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

As far as Moore is concerned, you might be really pleased with From Hell. Definitely one of his most solid works. If you've seen the movie, pretend that it was an adaptation of something completely different.

I'll play devil's advocate and suggest that you skip Moore's Swamp Thing run and jump ahead to the Veitch trades (I think Regenesis is the first?). The Moore Swampy is fine and dandy but it doesn't rock me as hard as Veitch's run. I realize that I'm in a significant minority.

― Deric W. Haircare (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, 13 June 2006 23:38 (nineteen years ago)

i wish i could buy from hell

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 00:25 (nineteen years ago)

Based on my wife, who has read very few comics, but liked some on your list, I'd also recommend 'Persepolis' (especially book 1) and also the little-known 'Monkey Food' by Ellen Forney (put out by Fantagraphics, ISBN 1560973625 if that helps).

― James Morrison (JRSM), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 01:18 (nineteen years ago)

yes Monkey Food, no Persepolis

From Hell's coming back into print in a couple of months s1ocki

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 02:02 (nineteen years ago)

if you liked palestine you should def check out safe area gorzade

― Adrienne Begley (sparklecock), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 04:02 (nineteen years ago)

tru dat

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 05:18 (nineteen years ago)

Watchmen - THE INVISIBLES
Ghostworld - LOVE & ROCKETS
Maus - 70S GREEN ARROW/ GREEN LANTERN
Swamp thing volume 2 - N/A
Palestine - N/A
The Killing Joke - GRENDAL BATMAN
V for Vendetta - MILK & CHEEESE
Collected Alan Moore DC comics stories (esp. the superman End one and the green lanterns) - JEFFERY BROWN'S EVERY GIRL IS THE END OF THE WORLD FOR ME
Sandman (very hit and miss but i don't mind reading the stuff i don't think is very good so still enjoyable) - LUCIFER
Tales of the vampires/slayers - MARVEL ZOMBIES
Buffy: the origin - THE COMPLETE BONE VOL. 2 THE GREAT COW RACE
X-Men - the Joss Whedon ones (Astonishing?) - ANY OTHER XMEN

― ¨ˆ¨ˆ¨ˆ¨ˆ¨ˆ¨ˆ (chaki), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 06:16 (nineteen years ago)

For the more realistic stuff, I'd strongly recommend Stuff Rubber Baby - it's a novel-length story about the coming of age of a Southern gay man who gets involved in the civil rights movement of the late fifties and sixties, and it's really quite a nuanced look into the struggle against both racism and homophobia.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 08:14 (nineteen years ago)

Stuck Rubber Baby. And it's not very nuanced.

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 09:42 (nineteen years ago)

I prefer Cruse's funny stuff as well.

― Vic F (Vic Fluro), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 10:34 (nineteen years ago)

Maus - 70S GREEN ARROW/ GREEN LANTERN

Winner!

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 11:36 (nineteen years ago)

Ellen Forney's got a brand-new book from Fantagraphics (not in stores yet, I think, but they were selling it at MoCCA this weekend): "I Love Led Zeppelin," a collection of her collaborative instructional comics from The Stranger (Margaret Cho on "How To Be a Fabulous Fag Hag," a hand surgeon on "How to Sew an Amputated Finger Back On," the co-owner of Toys in Babeland on "How to Fuck a Woman With Your Hands," etc.) and various other short pieces, including a hilarious one on how she tried to do a collaboration with Camille Paglia, who turned her down but asked her on a date instead.

The author photo is an extreme close-up of her pulling back her lower lip to reveal the Led Zep tattoo on one of her back teeth (!!), which she showed people who came by the Fantagraphics table.

Also, I am once again going to wave the flag for Alison Bechdel's "Fun Home" (has anyone else read this yet? I keep showing it to people who read the first few pages and immediately rush out to buy their own copy) and for (in a very different vein) Mike Carey & somebody else's weird and charming little manga-sized paperback GN "My Faith in Frankie." And, on the superhero front, give the first volume of "Seven Soldiers of Victory" a try.

― Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 12:16 (nineteen years ago)

Action Philosophers Giant Sized Thing

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

the fuck ian telling you to avoid cerebus volume 1. start at the goddamn beginning. some of that shit is amusing/important. Bran Mac Mufin!

also, try TRANSMETROPOLITAN.

and BOX OFFICE POISON.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 13:42 (nineteen years ago)

I second SEVEN SOLDIERS VOL. 1.

ALSO - if you need a sugar rush that'll satisfy like a full meal, I HIGHLY recommend Bryan Lee O'Malley's SCOTT PILGRIM series - considering your list, I can't help but feel the need to say "good comics don't necessarily equal po-faced!"

PLUS (more in tune with your list): ANIMAL MAN ANIMAL MAN ANIMAL MAN.

Animal Man.

― Richard Baez (Johnny Logic), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 13:59 (nineteen years ago)

damnit tom, i'm not saying AVOID vol. 1, but just don't START there. i have tried to get too many people into cerebus, and it NEVER works when i have them start with vol. 1. they never get more than a quarter of the way in, even.

― electro-acoustic lycanthrope (orion), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 14:24 (nineteen years ago)

yeah but this character jeffrey already LIKES comics, I think he could get volume one and be fine. What you're suggesting sounds like telling people to listen to CAN and start with Flow Motion.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

that's nonsense and you know it!

― electro-acoustic lycanthrope (orion), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

if I knew somebody liked, say, Fugazi already, I would go ahead and tell them to check out Delay 1968.
if I know somebody liked, say, Swamp Thing v2 already, I'm inclined to believe they could dig Cerebus from the beginning.

― TOMBOT (TOMBOT), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

AW YEAH

http://www.comicsvf.com/scans/volimited/contestofchampionsltd1/1.jpg

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

I started at volume one and have made it through to the end of fifteen. Vol 1 is pure entertainment from about a third of the way through.

― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

fun home was aces although it took me a little while to get into it on accounta i sometimes wished she would ease up on the narration when the visual storytelling was so effective

― Adrienne Begley (sparklecock), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 22:00 (nineteen years ago)

I had a non-comix loving friend read the first volume of "Cerebus" and he got all the way through it, his comment was that "yeah, after a few issues it just starts to feel like straight-ahead fantasy", but I guess he digs straight-ahead fantasy so that was ok. Later on he also read "High Society", and said it was "some of the smartest stuff I've ever read"; I don't think he got all the way through "Church & State".

I had a comix loving friend read the first volume of "Cerebus" and he kept up until the last volume I bought ("Minds".) He actually said he liked the first volume better than "High Society", though he pretty much loved it all I think.

Personally, I'd say start with the first volume but keep in mind that there will be MUCH GREATER stuff to come, so don't give up on it if you feel a bit let down at first. And if you don't - I certainly didn't, when I first read it - and go on to read the rest of the stuff, don't underrate the first volume afterwards, which I think a lot of people do.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 23:10 (nineteen years ago)

i like starting at the start of things anyway.

― jeffrey (johnson), Thursday, 15 June 2006 00:24 (nineteen years ago)

Mike Carey & somebody else's weird and charming little manga-sized paperback GN "My Faith in Frankie."

The grey-toned result of scanning colour pages is pretty hideous, though. (especially since it was supposedly originally meant to be printed as straight b/w line art to begin with!)

NEVER try Box Office Poison.

― kit brash (kit brash), Thursday, 15 June 2006 00:54 (nineteen years ago)

If ILX could sticky up some threads (eeww), we could have all-purpose recommendation threads at the top of the page or sommat. Not that I mind threads asking for recommendations, but I always feel like I'm repeating the same books -- admittedly, because I have sux0r parochial taste! Still, maybe we should keep some kind of running list of ILC RECOMMENDS, compiled by ILC, for ILC, sort of like our polls but kept up-to-date.

― c(''c) (Leee), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

in the faq maybe?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

sort of like our polls but kept up-to-date.

So in other words the exact opposite of our polls.

Sarkiness aside, probably a good idea that would save everyone a lot of RSI.

― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

RSI?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:27 (nineteen years ago)

i thought RSIs weren't allowed anymore

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

Nah, you're thinking of FYI.

― chap who would dare to be a nerd, not a geek (chap), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

I think I might have agreed to do the 2005 poll at some point. Unfortunately, my new work computer doesn't allow me to be ILX-in', but my job's over and it's back to unemployment in July, so yay.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

repetitive strain injury?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

no, that's YSI.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/ligaras/Grissom%20Snakes.jpg

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 15 June 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

I wondered about using the FAQ to index some rolling rec threads, but I think that the FAQ link is so buried on the ILx pages that regular Ilxors -- much less teh n00bs! -- neither see it nor click on it.

― c(''c) (Leee), Thursday, 15 June 2006 20:24 (nineteen years ago)

So far i have ordered monkey food, the first two cerebus', the league of extraordinary gentlemen and E for Extinction volume one.

I didn't know where to start with green lanter so got this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1401202241/qid=1150562518/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_3_9/203-8766700-2052760

I am still awaiting them all from amazon. Stick up a sticky.

― jeffrey (johnson), Saturday, 17 June 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

That's pretty much the one that was reccomended to you, jeffrey. It's about Green Lantern and Green Arrow going on a ROADTRIP to rediscover America, with Green Lantern standing up for the old, conservative america (i.e. helping purple people is more important than helping black people) and Green Arrow dropping the post-hippie leftist science (i.e. a good way to mobilize minoroties is dressing up as their mystical leader.) It's early 70's stuff, DC moving their PO-FACED ABSURDITY from the science fetish and crazy plots of the Silver Age to Strong Social Relevance, and it's fucking great. It is, however a bit different from "Maus".

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Saturday, 17 June 2006 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

I assumed it would be but wanted to try it anyway.

― jeffrey (johnson), Saturday, 17 June 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

Got some classic going - but how could you miss 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns'?
An absolute classic. I also really liked 'The Dark Knight Strikes Again', which is a lot more surreal and satirically intended. But general opinion on it seems to be much more divided.

― Duncan Beard (Jobby), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 22:10 (nineteen years ago)

like a north korean atom

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 12 October 2006 03:35 (nineteen years ago)

Opinion's somewhat divded on DKR around here as well.

― chap who would dare to contain two ingredients. Tea and bags. (chap), Thursday, 12 October 2006 10:49 (nineteen years ago)

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