Comments | fashion_piranha: Lists: 10 Comic Book Series You Need to Read (even if you don't like comics) Part I

fashion_piranha

Lists: 10 Comic Book Series You Need to Read (even if you don't like comics) Part I

Oct 20, 2009 18:41

10 Comic Book Series You Need to Check Out (Part One)

I read comic books. I read a lot of comic books. But you'll notice that I don't really review them that often. It's not that I consider comic books to be less of an art than "book" books, or that graphic novels are so different from novels that they can't be featured in a book blog. Most ( Read more... )

chie shinohara, ai yazawa, j. h. williams iii, books, hitoshi iwaaki, lists, graphic novel, alan moore, mick gray, matsuri akino, you higuri

Comments 24

pith October 21 2009, 03:33:31 UTC

I've been trying to find a copy of Pet Shop of Horrors v.10 for years now. It seems to be OOP, sadly.

fashion_piranha October 21 2009, 03:45:11 UTC

I was really surprised to notice that it was only available from third-party sellers when I was poking around Amazon.com. There's a copy there right now for $3.33 + S&H - all the others are $18+ so if you have the cash and don't mind Amazon it might be the best chance you get to grab it for a while. :-/

pith October 21 2009, 05:02:55 UTC

I'm in Canada, though, so shipping would be more like $12 or something. Maybe I can convince someone to get it for me for Christmas.

With the Tokyo series, I thought Tokyopop would reprint the original, but they've really been cutting down their catalogue, it seems.

kiri_l October 21 2009, 04:38:00 UTC

Sanctuary (quite graphic and violent but quite a good story and amazing art)
A' A'
A chinese manga that I don't know the English translation of.
and.. I'll be back later with the other one.. =)

saru_kage October 21 2009, 04:52:21 UTC

Maybe review them by story arc? I mean, most comics seem to run in manageable segments of self-contained story--like five to ten issues or something--before they jump off into a distinctly new plot/story. Maybe that might be the best way to go.

My list of favorite comics is probably pretty typical, and most of them are probably considered ancient by now:
Watchmen, by Alan Moore
Sin City, by Frank Miller
Kabuki, by David Mack
V for Vendetta, by Alan Moore
Sandman, by Neil Gaiman
Maus, by Art Spiegelman
Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller

I like Kabuki especially, because that was the comic that got me into comics. It doesn't hurt that it contains some of the best comic book art of all time.

kai_nimura October 21 2009, 05:42:38 UTC

Sandman is amazing, Vertigo has come out with so many good series.

fashion_piranha October 21 2009, 14:36:45 UTC

I left off V and Watchmen because I decided to talk about Promethea instead, but I agree that they're right up there. Alan Moore's a fantastic writer.
Maus and Sandman were meant to go on the list, but then I got tired so they'll probably show up in Part II.

I've never read Kabuki, although I keep meaning to. The art is stunning!

saru_kage October 21 2009, 20:59:23 UTC

If you ever do read Kabuki, make sure to read Circle of Blood first, otherwise you'll miss a lot of important stuff in the story arcs that follow it. Of course, Circle of Blood is the first Kabuki series, so it kinda makes sense to do that anyway.

kai_nimura October 21 2009, 05:41:29 UTC

most of these are all manga, which do tend to follow the same general plotlines. YOu left out a LOT of very good series, that are NOT manga *which I have quickly grown to love far more then any manga series that exists, other the MPD Psycho*

The Walking Dead
Sandman
Fables
Chew
Sweet Tooth
Transmetropolitan
Trick'r'Treat
Dead@17
Popgun
Watchmen
The Goon

actually ask the comic experts over at http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42710 They've been reviewing comics for years, and give very honest very good reviews, those folks know what their talking about.

The only reason I know that these guys are good, is I'm engaged to HumphreyLee. and he has started me on a huge comic list to read. lol.

fashion_piranha October 21 2009, 14:15:06 UTC

Ha ha, Fables and Sandman were both on the list to be included, but I was getting so tired that they'll be in Part II. I just finished the Fables novel, though, so I'm itching to post about that after I finish up this comics list :D

fashion_piranha October 23 2009, 16:18:19 UTC

most of these are all manga, which do tend to follow the same general plotlines.

American comics suffer this problem just as much as manga or manhwa :-p It's just a problem of entertainment, whether it comes in the form of comic books, television or literature!

kai_nimura October 24 2009, 04:43:37 UTC

lol true true, but there are some originial comics out there, Sweet Tooth ad Chew being two of them, and Fables is another great one.

American comics tend to be all super heros, Japanese tend to be mostly boy-girl love drama drama drama drama or teh gay sexs.

GOOD true horror comics are hard as hell to find, however; I Sell The Dead, The Walking Dead, Alan Moore's Swamp Thing, 30 Days of Night, From Hell,
MPD-Psycho and all of the work done by Jinto? *spelled very wrong, but they made Gyo*

Thread 5

juushika October 21 2009, 09:44:46 UTC

I picked up Papakiss on whim many years ago, drawn in by the beautiful artand it became one of my favorite comics then and remains so now. Because it is so much more than beautifulas you say, it's about character growth, and Caroline/Yukari has it in droves. The combination of bittersweet storylines, realistic characters, but with all the beauty of fashion and great loves really works for me. I adore it ( ... )

fashion_piranha October 21 2009, 14:52:19 UTC

Kimi wa Pet/Tramps Like Us - I went back and forth about including this one. I really like it, but I already had ParaKiss up and I was trying to get a variety of genres up there. Plus, my lists were completely dominated by shoujo titles as it was. :-p My boyfriend was teasing me because all I was recommending was 'girly' books.

I completely forgot about Alita, though. I *love* that series! Have you been reading the new series - Last Order I think it's called?

CLAMP is really hit-or-miss with me. Their art is always beautiful, but the stories really vary in quality. I really liked Tokyo Babylon and Chobits. Oh, and even though it's totally for kids Card Captor Sakura was a lot of fun.

It's funny, I don't think that I necessarily like manga better than "normal" comic books, but in terms of memorable series it definitely dominates my reading. I think that's mostly because it's so much cheaper - I can buy an American graphic novel for $19.95 or a manga for $9.95, so naturally I go for that which will give me more bang for my

juushika October 21 2009, 16:19:57 UTC

Hey, I'm just glad you read Kimi wa Pet. ^_^ I just finished it this month (when I first started reading it it hadn't all been translated yet, so the first time around I got stuck, er, a third of the way through?) and was just so touched that it's become a bit of a hobbyhorse nowI think everyone should read it. And even if I think varying up the genres isn't necessary, it does have so many similarities to ParaKiss thematically that I can see why you'd pick just one ( ... )