[stone monkey]

I think so.

Okay then.
What comics are you reading at the moment? Which ones have you read in the past that you'd recommend? Do you buy them as floppies or as collections and why? Do you go for original Graphic Novels or do you prefer something that's already been published as floppies? Which writers and artists do you like?
The world wants to know.

What am I reading?

Powers
The Ultimates
Planetary - (although that's due to finish with the next issue)
Ultimate Power - an Ultimate Universe and Squadron Supreme Universe crossover (I'm something of a sucker for big stupid crossovers)
Mouse Guard
The Nightly News - the only comic book I know of that includes graphs
New Universal - reboot of the Marvel New Universe, that older fans may remember.
The Authority

What would I recommend?

Global Frequency - adventure comics how they should be.
The Metabarons - absolute sci-fi lunacy
From Hell - everyone should read this
Top Ten - if you love spandex read this
Rocketo - from completely out of left field, a science fantasy classic in the making
Lone Wolf and Cub - just read it, you'll love it.

Do I prefer floppies?

Absolutely, I'm a traditionalist. There are advantages to the longer form but I still love going to a comics shop each week on New Comics Day (usually a Thursday in the UK) to see what's in.

Fave Writers:

Warren Ellis
Grant Morrison
Alan Moore

Fave Artists:

John Cassaday
Bill Sienkewicz
Brian Hitch

[councilor]

I can't believe you didn't mention 'The Sandman'....
there is another good one by a jeff smith called bone - not exactly world shattering, but still quite fun to read...

[Falco]

Call me cheesy, but the only decent one I've liked reading in recent times is Y: The Last Man, or whatever its called. Yes, the concept is cliched and terrible, but its very nicely dealt with and written (not to mention the artwork).

[councilor]

yes, i think i forgot to mention that one too. in terms of comics, i tend to steer away from the piles of x-men/spiderman/batman etc. i try to look out for something that's slightly different.

[Abyss]

@Falco - i'm surprised you'd call Y:TLM clichéd and terrible. Outside of some bad porn and a Kirk Douglas movie or two back in the 70s, i didn't think this type of setting had really been developed nor as thought out in the past. I hear it will be done around issue 100 or so and will probably get the collections.

The last floppie/monthly i bought was the 12-month run of Warren Ellis' Global Frequency, and that because i wanted to support his notion of self-contaned mad brilliant sf spy stories and i dig most things he does.

I did my time on x-men, JLA and Batpeeps way back when. Gradually evolved away from those - especially when it became clear to me that no matter who was writing them, those types of series were basically in a 3-5 year repeat, rinse, repeat cycle (how many times have the X-men faced an enemy who is 'the next level in evolution!', how many times has the JLA disbanded and reformed, how many times has Batman had a crisis of faith in his mission and/or banged Catwoman, how many other-wordly/dimensional invasions have The Authority beaten off before having a celebratory orgy...) - to a point where now, i only buy comics in collected or OGN form, and then only when it seems like something genuinely novel, different, or brilliant. It's a value for dollar thing. A floppy is about $3-4 for maybe 15-20 minutes reading and usually a month's wait. Assuming all the parts work in tandem on that basis - never a guarantee. A collection or OGN is a longer read, more story in one place, no wait, and i know in advance whether the same art team actually finished the job or buggered off at the last minute and left the last two parts to be done by six other dudes with apropos levels of crapititude.

By examples of goodness...,

WE3 - not as brill' as it could have been, but still a mad crazy animal story where things 'splode and dudes get their heads ripped off by pissed off cyber-pets.

Pride of Baghdad - i cannot say enough good about this book. The story is genius and wrenching and more genius. The art is stunning.

Kingdom Come - You grew up reading DC comics superhero stories and you want to see your heroes (and their kids) throw down one last apocalyptic time. I'll probably get DC/Alex Ross' 'Justice' when it's done and collected on the same basis.

The collected Sandmans - I had no patience for these in floppy form, but collected it is a thing of beauty. Gaiman has a way with dialogue that amazes me. By halfway thru, no line is ever wasted.

The collected League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - again, a work that just reads SO much better in the alltogether. The third one 'The Black Dossier' is being released only as an OGN, no floppies.


- Abyss, as opposed to all that 'good' porn featuring Kirk Douglas...

[Falco]

Abyss;145126 said:

@Falco - i'm surprised you'd call Y:TLM clichéd and terrible. Outside of some bad porn and a Kirk Douglas movie or two back in the 70s, i didn't think this type of setting had really been developed nor as thought out in the past. I hear it will be done around issue 100 or so and will probably get the collections.

Correction, I called the premise cliched and terrible, I found the execution quite brilliant. In fact I read the first issue expecting the worst, and devoured the other 3 that I bought sitting at the train station in Boston, without even getting back home.

[Abyss]

Correction - i realize you were commenting on the premise and was responding to that, perhaps unclearly. Your post was clear that you otherwise liked it.

- Abyss, liked Vaughn's discussion of religion in a world without men.

[Falco]

Ah well, in that case I apologise for the obtuseness of my praise. Its a great comic, I love it.

The only other comic I currently own is the Serenity filler between the TV series and the movie. Its good, but it feels like a filler rather than it being planned, so it comes across as forced.

[Illuyankas]

V for Vendetta was pretty damn cool. Y: The Last Man finishes on issue 60, incidentally. Of course, Transmetropilitan goes without saying. But of the two big guy's big events happening at the moment (52 and Civil War), is anyone keeping track of them, what's 52 like, and why does Civil War suck so?

[Abyss]

Ah, Y runs 60 - right, noted.
Didn't love Transmet - I thought Ellis tried too hard to be clever sometimes.
V is on my list to eventually check out.

I'm told FABLES is brilliant, too.

I've only glanced at the recent 'events' - 52 is the follow-up to the CRISIS event, not really an event in itself. Crisis seemed relatively successful.
CW likely sucks because Marvel barely knows how to make a crossover work and the second sales go up their story brains drizzle out of their ears.

- Abyss, lost patience with crossovers shortly before giving up on floppies.

[mxlm]

Quote

Pride of Baghdad - i cannot say enough good about this book. The story is genius and wrenching and more genius.

Really? I only saw the bit that's available on BKV's website, but it felt to me like BKV was hitting me over the head with his point. Seemed really heavy handed--and I'm a fan of his other work (Y, Ex Machina, UXM). Hell, I even, broadly speaking, agree with the message of PoB.

Ongoing:

100 Bullets - Quite good noir-ish stuff. Issue 80-something, ends at 100.
Queen and Country - Some of the best spy fiction around, in any medium. If you liked the TV shows Sandbaggers and MI5/Spooks, you'll like this.
Girls - Yes, the title & covers make it look like porn. It isn't. It's...scifi, I guess, but reeaaallly weird. In a good way. The art's distinctive and very good. On issue 18, will end with 24
Punisher MAX - Not for everyone, but I get a kick out it.

Complete:
Rising Stars - Very solid 24-issue series. Essentially, 'if one day there were superheroes, what would the government do?' Art is iffy towards the end of the first TPB (there're three), but good throughout the second and very good in the third. Writing consistently superior.
Ultra - Eight issue mini, 'superhero as superstar celebrity'. Both amusing and engrossing. Haven't read anything else quite like it.
Authority - The first twelve issues, anyway. Essentially, 'what would the damage look like if superheroes went at in a big way?'
War Stories - Ennis at his best, on his favorite subject.

And of course the obvious ones (Sandman, Watchmen, et al).

[Morgoth]

Can't believe no one has mentioned Watchmen. It's truly one of the best graphich novels (comics for the sophisticated:p) out there I think.

my last read was Preacher, which was cool though sometimes lacking in structure.. some of the parts were kinda anoying I thought, but as a whole it was still great fun.

Haven't decided whether to go for Y or Fables as my next buy yet.

[edit] ah, sorry mxlm

[caladanbrood]

So, with the upcoming film, has anyone ever actually read "300"?

[mxlm]

Quote

my last read was Preacher, which was cool though sometimes lacking in structure.. some of the parts were kinda anoying I thought, but as a whole it was still great fun.

If you liked Preacher, it's worth giving Transmetropolitan a shot (assuming you haven't already, anyway); similar sort of humor.

[Illuyankas]

Lokivorous;145241 said:

So, with the upcoming film, has anyone ever actually read "300"?

I have. It is pretty good.

[polishgenius]

mxlm;145252 said:

If you liked Preacher, it's worth giving Transmetropolitan a shot (assuming you haven't already, anyway); similar sort of humor.

Except that Garth Ennis would be honoured to tie Warren Ellis's laces... >_> though I haven't read Transmet yet.


Currently reading Ultimates and Planetary, waiting for the next trade of each (I don't get floppies, to short for the price, would last me about two minutes to read once). Ultimates is really, really good superhero comicking and I can't recommend it enough. And Planetary is.... Planetary. Must say thanks to QuickTidal for pointing me in it's direction. Thanks!

I'm probably different to most people here, I've only been properly reading comics for a year or so, and the first series I really got into was Sandman. Like the seeming majority of posters in this topic I prefer things slightly off the beaten superhero track (every comic I own apart from The Ultimates is either Vertigo or Wildstorm), but I do enjoy a good superhero comic (hence, Wildstorm - Stormwatch and The Authority rule). I'm thinking of getting Morrison's run on JLA, and maybe some other well thought of stuff. But I'm currently expanding my collection of Vertigo and smaller stuff so maybe not yet, since I don't have much money.

Heck, I can list my whole collection, it's only very small:
The Sandman, all of it, and Death: The High Cost of Living.
Lucifer - all 10 trades in the main series. Waiting for the wrapup. It's good, particularly for the characters, and it has nice humour, but it's not as good as its parent. Also, anyone who's a fan of Mike Carey is advised (by me) to look out for his Felix Castor novels, great stuff.
Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic prologue thing.
Ellis's run on Stormwatch and up to the end of Millar's on The Authority, then Brubakers (though I do need to buy the first and second-last trades of The Authority, those were borrowed. I'm pretending Robbie Morrison's run never happened). Also both the Authority/Kev trades and The Secret History of the Authority.
The Ultimates. All trades so far.
Captain Atom: Armaggedon (when he goes to Wildstorm), and the Majestic trade where he goes to the DCU (I told a lie, that one's officially a DC imprint comic) as a kind of counterpart and the two following that.
Planetary - all three trades so far.
Ys, The Last Man - two trades so far.
Pride of Baghdad. Great! Art is spectacular.
Fables - all trades so far, plus 1001 Nights of Snowfall (this series is immense, but I wouldn't say it deserves it's 'new Sandman' tag, and I'd probably have enjoyed it more if it didn't have that weight of pressure).
Kingdom Come (this is absolutely genius).
Watchmen.

Also my brother has V for Vendetta and my sister has Astonishing X-Men (both trades so far), Sensational Spider-Man (Straczynski's run to six, though she only knows of three as three are for Christmas), Batman: Year One, Ultimate X-men the first trade only, 1602 (by Gaiman, brilliant, and he can do mainstream superhero comics too! Albeit with a twist), and I think that's it. Oh, a few Thorgals, Asterixes, and Tintins also lying about.

[Tes'thesula]

Just got into comics recently, and working my way through the collections of (why do I feel dirty writing this?) Ultimate X-men and the Ultimates. Felt it was far to late to try and really get into the old universe, so went for the rebooted one from the beginning

[Illuyankas]

The Ultimate universe is pretty cool. Samuel L. Fury rocks.

[Whelp]

Comics...mmm...comics

Recommendations (not mentioned yet):
Switchblade Honey by Warren Ellis - a very good spoof on Star Trek, and besides, it is a wickedly badass sci-fi story.
Black Orchid by Neil Gaiman - superheroine story, Gaiman-style. Very interesting, and the dialogues are good (especially the bad guy's monologue in the beginning)
Sin City by Frank Miller - very good noir (seriously, do I need to elaborate on this?) Sometimes can be really...disturbing (Daddy's little girl, for example)

Also recommended, but not as good as the above:
Aria by Brian Holguin - good fairy tale in modern setting, beautiful illustrations by Jay Anacleto
Fallen Angel by Peter David - another good noir comic, worth reading.
Hellblazer - some of the story archs are quite good (Dangerous Habits and Rake at the Gates of Hell by Ennis, Haunted by Ellis, the Gaiman-written issue #27, to name a few)
True Faith by Garth Ennis - hmmm, maybe Ennis has issues with a certain religion?

Favourite writers:
Warren Ellis, Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Garth Ennis (Alan Moore is also good, but his concept of a dictatorship in V is kind of laughable - yet, still way better than the movie).

Favourite artists:
Tim Bradstreet, Dave McKean, Bill Sienkewicz, Frank Miller