For those of you who came in late...
It's time for one of these listy things again. This time, inspired by some really excellent reading lately, I decided to open this one up to ten comic books series or indivudual works that would be good jumping on points for people who don't normally read comics but who are interested enough to give them a try after hearing various bits of hype over the years.
Ok, so to make it clear- this is a list of ten comics properties that I think would be of interest to people who don't normally read comics
Comments, as always, welcome.
1) The Walking Dead:
Utterly compelling series, now hitting it's 50th issue with the least amount of wear and tear ever in a conceptual ongoing series. TWD is Robert Kirkman writing with honesty, passion, integrity, humanity and big huge balls. Accompanied by the beautiful covers and the remarkable black and white illustrations, this is the closest thing to excellent tv you'll get in comics. These are characters one cares about, situations that could easily happen given the scenario of a plague followed up by zombies and scattered pockets of survivors. Just don't get too attached to any character because this is hardcore; anyone can and usually does die.
2) Ex Machina:
God, it's so rare that comics gets something as 'real-world' as politics right. Warren Ellis showed it could be done and done well with 'Transmetropolitan'. Brian Vaughan cleverly combines the superheroic (albeit realistic to a certain degree) shenanigans with the comic's main meat and potatoes of the central character being Mayor of New York City. It's a brave and bold conceit, exploring the murky waters of politics and throwing in some very intriguing ideas about 'The Great Machine' superheroic identity. What's most gripping initially is that in this world, the existence of one vaguely crappy superhero who managed to intervene in 9/11 left us with only one of the twin towers collapsing.
3) Y-The Last Man:
Like 'The Walking Dead' above, so Y takes another long hard look at an old story idea, that of one gender being wiped out mostly, and interrogates it thoroughly for every last plot device or character nuance possible. Displaying Vaughan's undeniable talent and Pia Guerrera's deceptively straightforward art which masks the incredible subtleties and level of accomplishment, Y takes us places few comics before have gone and asks questions about every level of society, exploding a few ripe chestnuts of conventional wisdom in the process of doing so.
4) Top Ten: The Forty Niners:
An odd choice for newbies to comics, perhaps, but one that I put in here because it captures the essential timeless charm and appeal of the old-school superheroic malarky that we all know of through culture surrounding us but under the masterful lens of Alan Moore's writing and Gene Ha's gorgeous lush visuals, this original graphic novel which acts as a prequel to the Top Ten series gives us both a wonderful self-contained tale and a springboard to go on to read the series itself with. Operating both as nostalgic with the historical 1940's setting and incisive with the romance between two of the male leads, TFN is something anyone can pick up and dive straight into, enjoying the character interaction, the drama and the fantastic action scenes.
5: Nova:
Throwing in a monthly comic from Marvel ended up being a difficult choice as so many of Marvel's books are either unappealing to newcomers or too convoluted in their own and in company continuity as to offer any non-regular reader a chance to follow. But Dan Abnet and Andy Lanning's 'Nova' is probably the best book Marvel puts out right now on a regular basis. Having let their cosmic and stellar characters languish in guest-starring roles and be written lazily and sloppily since the 1970's, Marvel finally dusted them off and handed them to capable people like Dan & Andy, Keith Giffen and a few other notables and the result is the last few years of galactic wars, invasions, battles, heroic deaths, bizarre alliance and the complete rejuvenation of a once lacklustre 1980's vanilla teen hero called Nova. Every issue of the current series has been suspense filled, funny, action-packed and full of marvellous drama.
That's the first five- the next lot I will do later on- hope you've enjoyed these brief summaries and hope that at least one of you reading will find this of some use.
From Hell
Zenith
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
Bendis Daredevil
Seaguy
Ok, so to make it clear- this is a list of ten comics properties that I think would be of interest to people who don't normally read comics
Comments, as always, welcome.
1) The Walking Dead:
Utterly compelling series, now hitting it's 50th issue with the least amount of wear and tear ever in a conceptual ongoing series. TWD is Robert Kirkman writing with honesty, passion, integrity, humanity and big huge balls. Accompanied by the beautiful covers and the remarkable black and white illustrations, this is the closest thing to excellent tv you'll get in comics. These are characters one cares about, situations that could easily happen given the scenario of a plague followed up by zombies and scattered pockets of survivors. Just don't get too attached to any character because this is hardcore; anyone can and usually does die.
2) Ex Machina:
God, it's so rare that comics gets something as 'real-world' as politics right. Warren Ellis showed it could be done and done well with 'Transmetropolitan'. Brian Vaughan cleverly combines the superheroic (albeit realistic to a certain degree) shenanigans with the comic's main meat and potatoes of the central character being Mayor of New York City. It's a brave and bold conceit, exploring the murky waters of politics and throwing in some very intriguing ideas about 'The Great Machine' superheroic identity. What's most gripping initially is that in this world, the existence of one vaguely crappy superhero who managed to intervene in 9/11 left us with only one of the twin towers collapsing.
3) Y-The Last Man:
Like 'The Walking Dead' above, so Y takes another long hard look at an old story idea, that of one gender being wiped out mostly, and interrogates it thoroughly for every last plot device or character nuance possible. Displaying Vaughan's undeniable talent and Pia Guerrera's deceptively straightforward art which masks the incredible subtleties and level of accomplishment, Y takes us places few comics before have gone and asks questions about every level of society, exploding a few ripe chestnuts of conventional wisdom in the process of doing so.
4) Top Ten: The Forty Niners:
An odd choice for newbies to comics, perhaps, but one that I put in here because it captures the essential timeless charm and appeal of the old-school superheroic malarky that we all know of through culture surrounding us but under the masterful lens of Alan Moore's writing and Gene Ha's gorgeous lush visuals, this original graphic novel which acts as a prequel to the Top Ten series gives us both a wonderful self-contained tale and a springboard to go on to read the series itself with. Operating both as nostalgic with the historical 1940's setting and incisive with the romance between two of the male leads, TFN is something anyone can pick up and dive straight into, enjoying the character interaction, the drama and the fantastic action scenes.
5: Nova:
Throwing in a monthly comic from Marvel ended up being a difficult choice as so many of Marvel's books are either unappealing to newcomers or too convoluted in their own and in company continuity as to offer any non-regular reader a chance to follow. But Dan Abnet and Andy Lanning's 'Nova' is probably the best book Marvel puts out right now on a regular basis. Having let their cosmic and stellar characters languish in guest-starring roles and be written lazily and sloppily since the 1970's, Marvel finally dusted them off and handed them to capable people like Dan & Andy, Keith Giffen and a few other notables and the result is the last few years of galactic wars, invasions, battles, heroic deaths, bizarre alliance and the complete rejuvenation of a once lacklustre 1980's vanilla teen hero called Nova. Every issue of the current series has been suspense filled, funny, action-packed and full of marvellous drama.
That's the first five- the next lot I will do later on- hope you've enjoyed these brief summaries and hope that at least one of you reading will find this of some use.
From Hell
Zenith
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright
Bendis Daredevil
Seaguy