Comic Books

[jump]

7 minutes ago, WS_Jack_III said:

haha well Alan Moore is great from what i've read, though i felt the Joker origin to be weak.

Really want to read Watchmen, we have it in the Library at the college I work at but it's always out.

Might just buy it.

 

I'll look into getting some Grant Morrison stuff then.

If you're a Bat-fan (which I'm assuming you are since you read Killing Joke) and want to read Morrison's Batman work be prepared to buy alot as his run lasted for years and is split between 10+ collected edition books which are all connected unless you want to start small with Gothic and Arkham Asylum which are self contained stories.

[Wooderson]

Watchmen is still probably the greatest comic I've read. Only thing that rivals it for my personal enjoyment is Planetary, actually.

But Morrison has the greatest track record, the greatest "best of" of any comic book writer in history. When Quitely is onboard he's simply the GOAT. But, as a new reader of comics, Morrison can flummox you. Some of it is incomprehensible - particularly the heavy DC stuff like 52 and Final Crisis... loads of that went right over my head.

However lots of his best work inhabits its own world. I'm sure others would have a different list, and I risk being hugely ridiculed as fanboy, but my Morrison picks for someone not that familiar with any of his stuff would be:

1. New X-Men (Changed my whole perspective on comics. "E is for Extinction" is the most fun ever.)

2. All Star Superman (Utterly flawless IMO)

3. We3 (to his credit this is mostly a Quitely piece, but I was so moved by the thing it has to make the list)

4. Invisibles (not an easy read, one of those books that makes you wonder if Morrison is from the same planet as the rest of us)

5. Batman & Robin (really slick)

 

[JamesT977]

I got Batman Earth One Vol 1 yesterday and very much enjoyed it. I've seen it about the place for a while with people saying it was a pretty good read and I wasn't disappointed. 

[WS_Jack_III]

5 hours ago, jump said:

If you're a Bat-fan (which I'm assuming you are since you read Killing Joke) and want to read Morrison's Batman work be prepared to buy alot as his run lasted for years and is split between 10+ collected edition books which are all connected unless you want to start small with Gothic and Arkham Asylum which are self contained stories.

I think Batman is certainly up there for me as one of my favorites but that is coming from the film and video game world. Though I was mainly interested in Killing Joke because it was Alan Moore and I had enjoyed V.

I've always thought of Superman as Superdull as a hero to be honest, he's always seemed too squeaky clean, but i'd be willing to have that opinion changed by comics. 

 

This is cool though guys, great to start digging into something and having knowledgeable people on hand to guide you.

 

2 hours ago, Wooderson said:

Watchmen is still probably the greatest comic I've read. Only thing that rivals it for my personal enjoyment is Planetary, actually.

But Morrison has the greatest track record, the greatest "best of" of any comic book writer in history. When Quitely is onboard he's simply the GOAT. But, as a new reader of comics, Morrison can flummox you. Some of it is incomprehensible - particularly the heavy DC stuff like 52 and Final Crisis... loads of that went right over my head.

However lots of his best work inhabits its own world. I'm sure others would have a different list, and I risk being hugely ridiculed as fanboy, but my Morrison picks for someone not that familiar with any of his stuff would be:

1. New X-Men (Changed my whole perspective on comics. "E is for Extinction" is the most fun ever.)

2. All Star Superman (Utterly flawless IMO)

3. We3 (to his credit this is mostly a Quitely piece, but I was so moved by the thing it has to make the list)

4. Invisibles (not an easy read, one of those books that makes you wonder if Morrison is from the same planet as the rest of us)

5. Batman & Robin (really slick)

 

I really liked the film, couldn't understand why it had such mixed reactions, think Jump said in the film thread about it being too like the source material. 

It's very much high up on my reading list, probably just buy it soon.

 

Most of those Morrison you said were on a "greatest" list I just looked up. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, WS_Jack_III said:

I've always thought of Superman as Superdull as a hero to be honest, he's always seemed too squeaky clean, but i'd be willing to have that opinion changed by comics. 

Secret Identity, All Star Superman, A Superman For All Seasons and Superman: Red Son are good places to start

[WS_Jack_III]

10 minutes ago, GETOFFAMYLAWN said:

Secret Identity, All Star Superman, A Superman For All Seasons and Superman: Red Son are good places to start

I'm gonna need to make a list on my laptop here haha

[jump]

^You may want to try Preacher, AMC who do Walking Dead, Breaking Bad etc have a show based on it coming soon which will probably be big.

I'll add Doom Patrol to the best of Morrison list, after Batman it's my favourite work of his. His Justice League run was great too.

As good as Red Son is it isn't the best sell of Superman as a character however Luthor is pure scene stealer in it imo. 

I thought Batman Earth One was alright but with so many elseworld Batman titles having been done I've become jaded by them all, Year 100 is the only one I can go back to and read again and again.

[kaosmark2]

Fucking phone losing my writes...

9 hours ago, jump said:

Yeah, Grant Morrison. It's normally between Grant Morrison and Alan Moore who comic fans like to bitch and moan about how's the best ever in an empty ongoing circle.

Personally, I find both to be self-indulgent and preachy a lot of the time. Excellent writers on their day, but fuck they can be annoying. I've argued a lot about it with Wooderson before, but Morrison definitely annoys me more. I do find it weird how Moore is incapable of writing a series that doesn't contain rape though.

That point aside, there's loads of great stuff to get into. I generally find the DC/Marvel big characters have huge amounts of back-history that makes it a massive investment to get through to reach the seriously good stuff with full payoff. All Star Superman that's already been mentioned stands out to me as one of the best series that needs limited awareness of recent events. Loeb + Sale are also excellent at doing that sort of work, Batman: The Long Halloween being the pinnacle of their work IMO.

I'm a huge fan of Garth Ennis. Preacher is an absolute must, but his runs on Punisher and Hellblazer are excellent. I also like the original Delano run of Hellblazer, but I know a number of people who didn't enjoy it that much, particularly the political bits.

Brian K Vaughan has written 2 of my favourite series, Y: The Last Man and Saga (still running) are both brilliant stories.

[Guest]

Good call on Ennis and BKV there, Mark, I prefer both of them over Morrison and Moore.

Ennis' recent Fury Max series for Marvel was as close as you can get to a perfect comic for me, I highly recommend that. Anyone looking to get into Y: The Last Man or Saga shouldn't let the length daunt them, Y hit a streak without any real lull in quality at all, Saga is very much continuing that trend. BKV's done some amazing Marvel work as well, Runaways, Ultimate X-Men and Doctor Strange: The Oath are some of the most memorable things I've read from Marvel. He's recently done a pay-what-you-want digital comic called The Private Eye which is also well worth everybody's time.

[WS_Jack_III]

13 hours ago, jump said:

^You may want to try Preacher, AMC who do Walking Dead, Breaking Bad etc have a show based on it coming soon which will probably be big.

I'll add Doom Patrol to the best of Morrison list, after Batman it's my favourite work of his. His Justice League run was great too.

As good as Red Son is it isn't the best sell of Superman as a character however Luthor is pure scene stealer in it imo. 

I thought Batman Earth One was alright but with so many elseworld Batman titles having been done I've become jaded by them all, Year 100 is the only one I can go back to and read again and again.

I've got Preacher gone to Texas actually, somebody gave me it a little while back.

[Wooderson]

Y and Saga are good comics.

[Guest]

Very very shit news; Darwyn Cooke has died today. A short and unexpected battle with an especially nasty case of cancer has just robbed the comics world of one of its best artists. He was a truly unique standout talent and a brilliant person. It's really devastating to see this happen to him at the top of his game.

[jump]

^Ah shit, I really enjoyed his Catwoman and New Frontier work.

[Guest]

55 minutes ago, jump said:

^Ah shit, I really enjoyed his Catwoman and New Frontier work.

His work was sparse, but it seemed that every single pen stroke we ever saw from him was perfect. Official DC press release http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2016/05/14/darwyn-cooke

This has really hit home with me, it feels like he had so much unfinished business. He'd spent years and years building up his name and it looked like he'd just geared up to start working more in the indie world, with his Vertigo series (released in trade this week) and an upcoming Image series. This really could have been the beginning of him getting widespread recognition, it's pretty devastating that he never got to see this through, he really deserved it.

[Wooderson]

Darwyn Cooke a stunning artist, in every sense of the word. Great guy aswell.

Adore his Parker books. Not the biggest DC guy, but he made it so easy to absorb.

53 is no age.