comic books, graphic novels, any suggestions? favorites?

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I've been kind of in the mood to read some good comics. I've picked a few of the popular ones over the last few years, Sandman and Watchmen, but looking for something else along those lines.

Anything else good along those lines, I read some of the Sin City stuff when the movie was out and enjoyed them and looking for something along these lines. Good dark/distopic/noir-esque stuff.

Do you like cyberpunk? You can check out Transmetropolitan. It's about a gonzo journalist living in a 23rd century dystopia. Very Hunter S. Thompson.

I dunno whether manga's your style, but if I had to pick one that would be anywhere near on a par with Watchmen, I'd choose Monster, by Naoki Urasawa. Brilliant, labyrinthean plot. Think The Fugitive meets Silence of the Lambs. And because the story and style is stylised, but in a very real setting (it is set in Germany before and after the end of the Cold War), it feels very real, even when the plot does get mildly outlandish.

I recently started reading comics again, and I'm really enjoying Geoff Johns Green Lantern/Green Lantern Corps reboot... but it might be a little too mainstream for you.

Kurt Busiek's Astro City is an excellent, Watchmen-like series.

Fables is incredible. Read Fables. If you liked Sandman, you will like Fables. I promise. The first volume is okay and very stand-alone, but after volume 3 things really start to pick up. I also recommend on picking up a copy of DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore which contains a collection of Alan Moore superhero stories for DC. It includes Batman: the Killing Joke and Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow. Both are amazing pieces in comic history and just all around great reads.

Batman. Because he's a man, but he's also a bat. Or something.

I think the comic books use some form of paper as well.

First thing's first: going EXACTLY down the line of what you're looking for: 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100_bullets

Very much in the noir style of story like what you're asking for. The story is split over 12 TPB's and takes a couple books to really get rolling and get through introducing characters but it's well worth reading the entire thing. Just a hugely well crafted story and straight up noir grit.


Now to deviate a bit...


All of the latest series with Grant Morrison doing Batman (ie: Batman RIP, Batman and Robin, Return of Bruce Wayne).


Alan Moore's Neonomicon (a current series so there's TPB yet). Cthulhu done dark like only Alan Moore can do it.

Doktor Sleepless was good but I'm not entirely confident that Warren Ellis will actually finish the series (but Warren Ellis is always late so this is nothing new). If you pick that up and like it, I'd also recommend Captain Swing since it's essentially a companion story while being standalone.

Transmetropolitan is also good, as someone else mentioned earlier (and if you get into Warren Ellis' writing, you might as well also check out Planetary).

Extracted from the 100 bullets greatness:

I used to be completely obsessed with the manga Hellsing. It's very dark and has some philosophical stuff about the nature of human beings in it, but mostly it's a no-holds-barred beat-down between a vampire hunting organization that uses an all-powerful vampire as its best weapon, the Catholic Church, and Neo-Nazis.

The artwork in the first volume is kind of wonky and even cringe-worthy, but the quality enormously improves as the story progresses and the mangaka develops a style he's comfortable with.

Fables and 100 Bullets both look great!
Neonomicon sounds great too, Alan Moore doing Lovecraft material sounds like a great combo.
Transmetropolitan I've heard of before, I know i've read/heard speak of that series before, all good.


I'm not against the 'mainstream' stuff. I'm still an x-men geek at heart. I just havnt read anything of that beyond junior high, so that's 15 years of material to catch up on. The graphic novels are more suited to my taste these days, good long reads but not decades of back story to catch up on. I tend to want to get super involved so if I pick up and read a new issue of batman or x-men, even little stand alone story arcs, i'll still get obsessed and have to read it it all, figure out where which new characters came from and those storys always reference back issues. Too much hassle =P

Maus, dude. Maus.