Need Help with buying direction!

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I would like some suggestions about what to buy and discover next, I'm not a total expert and am easily overwhelmed by sheer volume of choice, that is when I'm not suffering from option paralysis.
I will list what stuff I dig here and would very much appreciate anyones suggestions/tips.

Older stuff.

Essential Spider-Man (don't like the B&W aspect tho')
Essential Iron-Man
DC Vintage Batman
DC Vintage Spectre
DC Vintage Challengers Of The Unknown (love this!)
Iron Man

Crumb
Peanuts

Newer.

Watchmen
Bone
V For Vendetta
Eightball
Hate

Thanks in advance!

― mzui, Wednesday, 4 August 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

PLANETARY PLANETARY PLANETARY PLANETARY! Stop whatever you're doing, go to a bookstore, & buy a PLANETARY! trade paperback (preferable the 1st one - forget the title, but I think it collects the first 6-8 issues of the series, & says so somewhere on the book).

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 19:12 (twenty-one years ago)

If you like Batman at all, and like the real-worldism of Watchmen, you must read Gotham Central. It is hot stuff.

― Huck, Wednesday, 4 August 2004 19:15 (twenty-one years ago)

My PLANETARY! exclamation was based on you digging the Challengers of the Unknown, BTW.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 19:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Presumably the Challengers are Kirby reprints, so I would highly recommend any Kirby Essentials, especially FF 2 and 3. (see nearby Kirby thread, and there is a thread on the Essentials somewhere too)

I would recommend Calvin & Hobbes very highly to anyone who likes Peanuts. It might be the only post-WWII comic strip that surpasses Peanuts.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 19:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Also, WELCOME mzui, and don't forget to:

Welcome and introduce your geeky self, you nerd!

― Huck, Wednesday, 4 August 2004 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Planetary is indeed pretty good. Probably the best stuff that Warren Ellis has written. Hope you're patient...

Seconded on Gotham Central. Great stuff. Character driven cops versus Batman's rogues gallery. Ed Brubaker's earlier issues of Catwoman (from about 1-25 or so) are great as well (particularly the choice of artists, which has always been stellar.) Sleeper, by Brubaker and Sean Phillips is also really great (2 trades collect the first 'season', and there's two issues of the current season now.)

If you want something multilayered but deceptively simple (kinda like Bone visually and Watchmen layer-wise), check out Seaguy by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart. Three issues and they should all still be in stores (guessing there will be a trade, but not sure when.)

There's precious little in comics today that channels the fun factor of the old 60s comics. Okay, almost nothing. Grant Morrison's run on JLA (paging Martin Skidmore!) is great, if you like big superhero action with tasty bits of weird science thrown in.

Uh, not much else coming to mind right now...

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 19:38 (twenty-one years ago)

"Blankets" by Craig Thompson. It's just one of the most impressive graphic novels I've seen. Even my girlfriend liked it. Even my cousin who hates everything liked it. You'll like it.

If you like Peanuts (the Fantagraphics reprint series is terrific) and Bone, I would suggest checking out Lewis Trondheim's work, particularly "La Mouche" (a wordless story about a fly) and "The Nimrod"/ "Oddballz" (American reprints of McConey + autobiographical stories).

― ng, Wednesday, 4 August 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

There's precious little in comics today that channels the fun factor of the old 60s comics.

Some arcs/issues of Astro City come close, especially the first TPB (I don't remember what else has been collected, or even if it's still coming out; it slowed down so much when Busiek got sick).

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

You think so, Tep? I'm not so sure. I like Astro City, but, hmmm, I'd never thought about it like that. I'm going to mull it over for a while.
Was the first TPB the one with Samaritan on the cover?

― Huck, Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Aside re: Planetary: are The Four supposed to be, like, evil Fantastic Four analogues? The last issue made me realize that they have identical origin stories. Am I just dense for not thinking of this sooner? Maybe I did and then forgot, what with the five months between issues and all that.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:07 (twenty-one years ago)

SHADDAP WITH THE SPOILAGE, YOU!

― Huck, Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I think _Astro City_ nails the MORALITY and AWE/WONDER aspects of 60s comics (the impact of these spandex shenanigans occurring around Actual People), but I'm not sure what you mean, Tep, by FUN, unless you mean "the awkward friction between superhero and regular joe" (cf. Spidey chatting with New Yawkers after stopping a purse-snatcher).

x-post JORDAN REPORT FOR CLEANSING

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey, it's not spoilage, I'm just idly theorizing here. They haven't revealed anything concrete yet.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

*whistles*

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Some of us have only read the first trade, but are very eagerly anticipating reading more as it is very, very good and cool.

― Huck, Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I think _Astro City_ nails the MORALITY and AWE/WONDER aspects of 60s comics (the impact of these spandex shenanigans occurring around Actual People), but I'm not sure what you mean, Tep, by FUN

That's the fun I mean! And mind you, I only said it came close, and by the time of Tarnished Angel it'd gotten further away. The early days of Astro City always seemed like they were set in a 60s/70s DC-ish place with Marvel overtones, while telling slightly different stories (or telling them from different points of view) than would have been done in the actual 60s/70s DC or Marvel.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

This is all great stuff, I'm getting a list together right now, keep it coming!

Also greatky digging Mutts, it's very zenny though, love the parodies.

― mzui, Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

tsk *greatly*

― mzui, Wednesday, 4 August 2004 20:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Uh, the whole Planetary 4 = Fantastic 4 was blindingly obvious to me the first time I read the story (only about a couple months ago.) 1961+rocket+four intrepid explorers+cosmic rays...

Maybe it's just me, though.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 22:51 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

i have just discovered 'planetary' within the last few weeks - via a thread on ILE leading me -> 'The Authority' book 1, then back to 'Stormwatch' (all the Ellis stuff in collected/book form) - then the next few 'Authority' collections, then, wanting more, found a strange/impressive crossover with
(Authority/Planetary - parallel JLA/Planetary - Batman/Planetary) collection - so have now read the first 2 planetary collections...and am SO impressed and excited about reading whatever else is available...
i always read Marvel and not DC, and haven't read much comics over the last 25 yrs or so - so while the FF ref was pretty clear to me too, i fear there are plenty of DC and post 70's comics refs i'm not getting...

― Snowy Mann (rdmanston), Friday, 27 August 2004 23:37 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

planetary seems pretty fun... i'm like 4 issues in or so. the characters are kinda crappy though

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 22:54 (nineteen years ago)

the characters are kinda crappy though

That's the number one reason why I don't follow any of Warren Ellis's books. All of his protagonists read like thinly-veiled versions of him and they all piss me off.

― Chris F. (servoret), Thursday, 2 February 2006 05:22 (nineteen years ago)

i mean... "the drummer"??

and yeah, lots of lame-ass cool-guy author stand-ins

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 2 February 2006 06:11 (nineteen years ago)

It's not worth it, s1ocki! Ellis is v. dull pretty much across the baord, IMO, although he's sort of fun to hear speak at conventions -- as a 15-year-old I'd probably think he was "living the dream."

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 2 February 2006 11:33 (nineteen years ago)

Speaking of author stand-ins, the epitome has to be Terry, the guy who married Donna Troy. Didn't they kill him off, eventually?

― scamperingalpaca (Chris Hill), Thursday, 2 February 2006 14:11 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah but he returned as a cyborg from the future and tried to kill, um, Anima.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 2 February 2006 14:39 (nineteen years ago)

No way.

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 2 February 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

Also, avoid the JLA/Planetary x-over. It's awful. The Batman/Planetary is okay, but in general, avoid all x-company (or x-imprint) x-overs, I guess.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 2 February 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

xpost, wasn't he Extant?

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 2 February 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

he definitely can be imaginative and has some cool ideas (like the superman/green lantern/wonder woman analogues who all get nipped in the bud by planetary's baddies). but man do i not give a SHIT about any of the main characters. so flat and affectless.

(and a lot of times it plays like an even more teenage-idea-of-cool-guy version of the invisibles)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 2 February 2006 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sure I'd think he was fabulous if I was 14 -- I mean, I even loved Neil Gaiman, once. But his stuff veers into "science fiction book" territory for me, in a way someone equally nerds -- say, Geoff Johns -- never does.

― Chuck_Tatum (Chuck_Tatum), Thursday, 2 February 2006 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

i get that "coolest guy at the comic book convention" vibe from it

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 2 February 2006 17:53 (nineteen years ago)

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