Comics

[Grislygus]

I hate comic books. my friends in Oregon would always get me to read "the really good ones"
, though.

Every "critically acclaimed" series they loaned me that wasn't named Watchmen or Kingdom Come was rancid balls

Now, they were united in their opinion that I should avoid Garth Ennis at all costs. What I saw of Preacher seemed good, but I trusted that they knew more than I did. They were fucking wrong, I've just finished reading the first five issues of The Boys, it's fantastic and the first comic I've ever really liked, let alone was (now) an actual devoted FAN of. Now I want to buy and read a complete collection type thing of Preacher, and I can't fucking find one. I'd actually like to buy and have it in my hands as opposed to just downloading it, but I can't! Am I literally supposed to buy this volume by volume?! Is this what you comic book fans are used to?! Further, what the hell am I supposed to do with The Boys, buy a yearly subscription or something?

[Grislygus]

Because I refuse to pay money for Preacher unless I can buy it in bulk and at a sane price. Only time I ever paid for a comic book was when Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer: Shadows of Mirahan came out in hardcover with the full page prints of the original paintings, and I was so pissed off that I'd spent that much money on such a worthless pile of comic book shit after I'd read it that I was spitting blood and poison. Never again.

[Fathom Zero]

I like the Goon and Tank Girl. Maybe a few things featured in Heavy Metal, but other than that, I'm not particularly into a lot of comics.

Marvel 1602 holds a special place in my heart, though.

[Grislygus]

I HAVE to admit that The Goon always looked fun, but could never be bothered to download it... I DID download COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS just to see what a "bad" comic series was like. It was exactly like almost every other superhero comic ever, as far as I could tell. I figure it just pissed comic fans off because they were getting completely ripped off (more than usual).

EDIT:
except for Kingdom Come, yeah yeah

[King Hadas]

I've sometimes wondered if comic books might be inherently inferior to all other mediums. They're a medium of pictures and written words but according to Drawing on The Right Side of The Brain you use your right hemisphere to process visual information and your left hemisphere to process language. Is it possible to give a comic book your undivided attention?

I'm not a huge comic fan but anything by Grant Morrison is most likely worth reading.

I could also recommend some Japanese comic books, or Manga if you're not in the know how. Ichi the Killer by Hideo Yamamoto, way better than the movie in my opinion. Don't know if it has been officially translated. Then there's Battle Angel Alita, which does have an official English edition which has had the images reversed so you don't have to read it right to left. Don't judge Alita by it's first chapter, the way Japanese comic serializations works is the first chapter is like a pilot and so it isn't always a good indicator of the overall quality.

[Sam]

READ CHEW

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

I really liked X-men age of apocalypse. You can get it now in paperback or some shit.

[captain516]

Have they suggested The Invisibles to you?

[Grislygus]

I've actually never heard of the Invisibles, I'll check it out.

I could also recommend some Japanese comic books, or Manga . . . Ichi the Killer by Hideo Yamamoto, way better than the movie in my opinion. Don't know if it has been officially translated. Then there's Battle Angel Alita, which does have an official English edition which has had the images reversed so . . .

Since you can get them free without having to download them, and it looks like webcomics may actually be a half-decent starting platform for artists atm, I've actually read a lot of manga, since they're primarily black and white and I like to see how they resolve visual problems.




HATE HATE HATE manga ten times more than western comics. Fucking hate them with a vengeance, fucking hate their stories with a fury, fucking hate them more than Frank Miller's worthless ass ("TRY SIN CITY RHYS, IT'S AWESOME. TRUST US, YOU'RE GUARANTEED TO LIKE IT CAUSE YOU LIKE VIOLENT STUFF. WELL? WAIT, WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU THINK IT'S STUPID EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE MARV STORY, MILLER'S THE GREATEST THING EVER, SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH YOUR BRAIN AND WE CAN'T HELP YOU").

Except for Vagabond. Vagabond is amazing. And as far as X-men goes, I've actually read every storyline ever on wikipedia :lol Wasn't particularly interested in anything other than Omega Red and the Hellfire Club, though :(

[Sam]

READ CHEW YOU DUMB FUCKER

[Zomboid]

The Boys is entertaining, for sure, but it's kinda scattered--I still don't know what the point of it is, and I've read every issue except for this Wednesday's release. Hellboy is always great, and I loved 100 Bullets.

I've kinda fucked off from all of the Marvel and DC stuff because it's just so convoluted and not worth whatever payoff you get from keeping up with the big storylines. Blackest Night sucked. While we're on the topic of comics that suck: The Walking Dead. It was off to a great start and there were some really good arcs (the Prison, the Governor, to name a couple), but it gets stagnant reeeeally quickly, and it takes a while to recover. Right now, I'm reading in the hopes that it'll get good again, but it's just a bunch of existential crisis bullshit--which can be good, if done well, but Kurtzman isn't a good enough writer for that sort of thing. I loved his Ant-Man stuff, but that had a lot more comedy and a lot fewer characters looking somber and being hopeless.

[King Hadas]

HATE HATE HATE manga ten times more than western comics. Fucking hate them with a vengeance, fucking hate their stories with a fury, fucking hate them more than Frank Miller's worthless ass ("TRY SIN CITY RHYS, IT'S AWESOME. TRUST US, YOU'RE GUARANTEED TO LIKE IT CAUSE YOU LIKE VIOLENT STUFF. WELL? WAIT, WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU THINK IT'S STUPID EXCEPT FOR THAT ONE MARV STORY, MILLER'S THE GREATEST THING EVER, SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH YOUR BRAIN AND WE CAN'T HELP YOU"). You can trust me man http://www.mangafox.com/manga/ichi_the_killer/c096/3.html

[Grislygus]

I thiiiiink Ennis is planning to go over sixty issues with The Boys, right? He may be taking his sweet time just because he's confident he'll get to finish it

SAM I JUST LOOKED UP CHEW IT IS AWESOME

[Grislygus]

Hadas what the fuck am I looking at


This is like a concentrated dose of everything manga. Weird ineffective comedy meets violence meets naked people meets bad drawings meets single sentence conversation

[King Hadas]

This is the big climax of the series, I was hoping it'd make you want to read the whole thing, I guess that plan backfired. Ichi the Killer is a pretty complicated psychological series with lots of sadistic titillation that I would think someone who likes Preacher would appreciate. I don't know if I agree with "bad drawings" but your the artist so I'll have to take your word on that.

[Grislygus]

As far as I saw, Preacher had moments like:
"ONE WORD! SAY ONE FUCKING WORD, AND YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Miss."
"*bang* GODDAMNIT!"


By comparison, that, uh... seemed like a standard, if weirdly presented Japanese character moment where Our Violent Protagonist must reach an epiphany about himself as a person under an eccentric mentor in order to improve his skills in general/learn the next most powerful move so he can defeat his latest nemesis/obstacle


'CAUSE HE'S SPECIAL.

[King Hadas]

WTF Gris, where'd you get that garbage from what I posted?

I've read alot of manga too man, I know all the tropes. So believe me when I say if I recommend a manga, you may dislike it, but you won't dislike because it's manga.

EDIT: You might hate them for being too Japanese though, I CAN"T HELP THAT.

[Grislygus]

Awright, I'll give this a shot when I have the time

[Fathom Zero]

I love the things Otto posts about, those Japanese horror artists. Fucking fantastic.

[Grislygus]

Some of that shit's flat-out freakish

we ain't got shit on the japs as far as repressed twisted fuckery goes

[Fathom Zero]

That shit ain't repressed. It's fuckin' out there.

[ItalianStereotype]

gus, you have shitty friends. Preacher was magnificent. Watchmen, however, is probably the most overrated book I have ever read. I've been reading comics since I was five, and in the past 22 years, I haven't found anything that comes close to trumping it.

[Nick]

I picked up the first tpb of Preacher after reading the Weekly review about it here. I enjoyed it so much I had to go out and track down the rest of the series. It was a pretty fun series. I wish I could find another series that was as fun as that one.

[Zomboid]

I thiiiiink Ennis is planning to go over sixty issues with The Boys, right? He may be taking his sweet time just because he's confident he'll get to finish it
Considering #57 just dropped and it's, like, the start of an arc, yeah, it should surpass sixty. Things seem to be heating up, so I guess we'll see what happens, but it's taking forever for shit in the big supe-world to get going. I loved the Wee Hughie stories, but let's get back to the main event, braw!

Edit: Didja get to the issue with the surveillance pictures of The Homelander? Graphic stuff.

[Zomboid]

Nick, fuck off.

[Grislygus]

"I read an issue of preacher after reading the Weekly review here. I enjoyed it. Then I bought more. It was fun. I wish I could find another series that was fun like Preacher. Cells are bad. My uncle lives in a cell. It's ten foot by twelve and he has to read the same old boring magazine everyday. The end."

[Guitar Woman]

Gus, you're right to stay away from cape comics, they're pure shit.

Even if you are averse to the JAPANIMES, allow me to recommend Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, the greatest comic ever.

http://images.comiccollectorlive.com/covers/5bf/5bff2174-2a2d-4d41-9ae1-3c2f40e23461.jpg

It's not just my favorite comic book, it's my all-time favorite work of fiction, period. It's an epic, masterfully written, beautifully drawn post-apocalyptic fantasy concerning giant insects and toxic jungles and warring kingdoms and all-around badassery. It is completely fantastic and everyone should read it.

It's Miyazaki, if that's worth anything to you, so it's not going to be your typical Naruto power-level "BELIEVE IN YOUR FRIENDS!" bullshit.

You probably already have heard of these, but also check out:
Transmetropolitan (especially if you like Preacher)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Y The Last Man
Akira
Dark Knight Returns if you can stand the horrible art

[Nick]

The Dark Knight Strikes Again's art was worst than DKRs. It was just terrible.

[Grislygus]

HOLY SHIT GW I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HELL COMIC I COULD'T REMEMBER WAS, IT WAS TRANSMETROPOLITAN YOU ARE OFFICIALLY ON THE GUS GOLD LIST


Really don't know about dark knight returns, since I HATEATEATEHATED sin city, which was supposed to be miller's best work by leaps and bounds. also really, really confused about LOEG. I was going to buy that "black dossier" hardcover special edition whatever-it-was (don't ask) off amazon, when a couple other students saw me about to do it and told me not to, since it was fucking terrible. I thought League was universally supposed to be good

[Nick]

Yeah I made a topic about the Blakc Dossier a long while back. It wasn't that great. (http://www.i-mockery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69698751)

[Zhukov]

HOLY SHIT GW I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HELL COMIC I COULD'T REMEMBER WAS, IT WAS TRANSMETROPOLITAN YOU ARE OFFICIALLY ON THE GUS GOLD LIST

I was talking about Transmetropolitan weeks ago >:


And 'Y The Last Man' is really not that great.

[Guitar Woman]

Eh, it's ok. Better than superhero shit.

Dark Knight Returns is miles better than anything in Sin City, I thought, but if you don't like Frank Miller, forget it.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volumes 1 and 2 are fantastic, but I haven't read that Black Dossier thing or the newest one, Century 1969. I hear it's gotten a little bit insane as of late; one of the antagonists in 1969 is Tom Riddle from Harry Potter. Bluh?

[Grislygus]

What, so Black Dossier is a sequel?

[Nick]

Black Dossier is a midquel to fill space between Vol. 2 and the current running Vol. 3. All it does is explain some more backstory to the universe. If you buy Vol. 1 and 2, you won't really be reading anything too new. All the back stories in it is way more interesting than the storyline that occurs around it all, though. It has a lot of sex, and I mean A LOT of sex, so get ready for that.

I bitched a little more in-depth about it in this thread. (http://www.i-mockery.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69698751)

[Grislygus]

yep, sure did see that thread there

[Zomboid]

Oh, that thread! Did you fellers see that i-mockery (http://i-mockery.com) feature on i-mockery (http://i-mockery.com)?

[Pentegarn]

Was it on i-mockery (http://www.i-mockery.com)?

[Grislygus]

I'M NOT CONVINCED IT WAS

[Pentegarn]

More research is needed

[Fathom Zero]

OMG THIS (http://www.snakebombcomix.com/)

[captain516]

Also gonna recommend Jimmy Corrigan. Good tear jerker.

[Guitar Woman]

Gus, what do you think of Hellboy? Mignola's got a fantastic art style, I started reading it just for that.

You faggots are gonna read Nausicaa, right? Here, I'll make it easy.

Torrent: http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/106071317/nausicaa?tab=summary

Full 7-volume run in glorious hi-res: http://www.mangareader.net/nausicaa-of-the-valley-of-the-wind/1/7

You now have no excuse.


Edit: ALSO CONSIDER:
Berserk: Insanely violent and awesome fantasy comic about a badass motherfucker cursed to be hunted by every demon in the universe until he dies. The TV adaptation is one of the only animes to get I-Mockery's seal of approval, and it's nowhere near as good as the comic. If you're into intricately drawn fucked-up creepy shit, you should read this comic.

Art is so-so in the beginning, starts kicking ass later.

http://www.theblackswordsman.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/berserk306_preview.png

Spoilered for size and/or weird shit

http://images.suite101.com/350767_com_berserk.jpg

[Grislygus]

I always thought Hellboy had a cool look, but never really cared enough to read it (like 90 percent of all comics). I always was more tempted to read Hitman and Hellraiser, and I didn't even read those

[Grislygus]

... and I just found out that garth ennis wrote hitman while googling it to make sure that's the comic I was thinking of. Shit is consistent

[Zomboid]

Hellboy is great. I love that blend of old myths and new stories.

[The Leader]

Gus, what do you think of Hellboy? Mignola's got a fantastic art style, I started reading it just for that.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6070/6053041941_1891db13d6_o.jpg

[k0k0]

I can't read japanese, but this japanese comic does something weird.

http://comic.naver.com/webtoon/detail.nhn?titleId=350217&no=20&weekday=tue

kinda cool

[Fathom Zero]

That's Korean. And the fifth time I've seen that.

Auto-scrolling. Pretty cool huh.

[k0k0]

Was my first time and it kinda freaked me out at first.

[Guitar Woman]

Hey, Warren Ellis does a webcomic. It's free!

http://www.freakangels.com/?p=23

:themoreyouknow

[kahljorn]

what ever happened with those rumors of new Berserk? It was either the anime or ovas ;/

[JohnnyLurg]

Also gonna recommend Jimmy Corrigan. Good tear jerker.

You know that graphic novel was the original inspiration for Stewie Griffin, right?

[King Hadas]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/foxamess/Baki01.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/foxamess/Baki02.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/foxamess/Baki03.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/foxamess/Baki04.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/foxamess/Baki05.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/foxamess/Baki06.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/foxamess/Baki07.jpg

[King Hadas]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v444/foxamess/GioGioGangStar.jpg

[Phoenix Gamma]

I've been catching up on DC's new 52. A lot of them are duds, but a lot of them are fantastic.

Batman is great, and I'm really excited to see how everything wraps up with the court of owls. Detective Comics and Dark Knight are pretty crummy, especially Dark Knight.

The Flash has fantastic art. The writing is okay. Wonder Woman is fantastic. I'm really, really liking it. Aquaman is also a homerun. It's very funny.

I'm not really liking Superman or Action Comics very much. Justice League is pretty lame too.

I'm trying to get into more Marvel stuff. Avenging Spider-man is hilarious, and Wolverine and the X-Men is pretty damn good too. I'm pretty out of the loop on the whole Schism thing though.

[captain516]

You should be reading Prophet and Orc Stain.

[Zomboid]

I really need to get the latest Hellboy TPB, as well as catching up on a few New 52 titles.