* The Comic Book and Graphic Novel thread *

nails666 said:
Apologies if it's been asked before but it's a big thread to go through :)

What would people recommend as some good compilation books for getting started with. I've only read a couple of graphic novels (League of Extrodinary Gentlemen and Watchmen) and want to get into some different series but it can be confusing as a new reader to work out which books are complete stories, which are only parts, which order to go in etc.
I wouldn't mind trying some Batman and possibly X-Men but in general I'm not so interested in the classic superhero type stuff. I've heard good things about the Sandman series so any other suggestions in that kind of area?

Many Thanks,

Ross
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There's some good Batman recommendations on this page ;)

You can't go wrong with the New 52 Scott Snyder run on Batman - starts with Court of Owls.

X-Men I'm not so hot on - there's been so many series over the years it's hard to keep up with :eek:. However, Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run (he did the first 4 books) is very good and requires very little prior knowledge.

Grant Morrison's New X-Men run (the 3 Ultimate Collection books are the easiest way to get this) is absolutely superb, but might need a little wiki'ing to get up to speed on what has happened before.

Ultimate X-Men is actually a separate universe, but because of that is really easy to pick up. It also doesn't suffer from the mainstream runs issue of too many damned mutants :D

Some other superhero stuff (I know you said you weren't fussed, but trust me - I'll make it up to you in a bit too ;))
Kingdom Come - brilliant self-contained story, beautiful art from Alex Ross
Marvels - same as above
All-Star Superman - limited series from Grant Morrison, where Superman has been overdosed with solar radiation and only has a year to live

I said I'd make it up to you...
Marshall Law (Deluxe Edition) - he's a superhero that hunts superheroes. The story quality varies wildly, but it's always an entertaining read - the writer Pat Mills really hates a lot of superheroes and makes it damn clear :D. Brilliant (insane) artwork from Kev O'Neill
The Boys - Basically a black ops team of superhero police. Hugely violent. Personally I'd avoid Herogasm (book 5) and Highland Laddie (book 8) - both are technically side series to the main story, I didn't enjoy either of them. It's probably a couple of books too long, but there's some great moments in there.

As for other stuff - you nailed it right off the bat - Sandman is up there as one of the best comic runs ever. I think it's 10 books for the whole series, but if you can afford them, the Absolute editions are magnificent.
Also worth a look:
100 Bullets
Y the Last Man
Fables
Sin City
Swamp Thing and Animal Man (new 52) - basically companion books - set in the main DC universe, but not superhero-y at all

Should keep you going for a bit...
 
nails666 said:
Apologies if it's been asked before but it's a big thread to go through :)

What would people recommend as some good compilation books for getting started with. I've only read a couple of graphic novels (League of Extrodinary Gentlemen and Watchmen) and want to get into some different series but it can be confusing as a new reader to work out which books are complete stories, which are only parts, which order to go in etc.
I wouldn't mind trying some Batman and possibly X-Men but in general I'm not so interested in the classic superhero type stuff. I've heard good things about the Sandman series so any other suggestions in that kind of area?

Many Thanks,

Ross
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Been some good recommendations, here's my personal current list. None of these are your classic superhero tales, by any means. I've noted which series have ended.

Manhattan Projects - a fantastic "alternate history", featuring some of the world's most famous scientists (and US presidents) pushing science to the limits.

DMZ - A wannabe journalist gets stranded in Manhattan, which is the DMZ between the two sides in a new American Civil War. One of my personal favourites. Think the whole run is 12 books.

Fables - A modern, adult take on the fables of Hans Christian Andersen et al. The Fables are living amongst us, having been expelled from their realms by an unknown antagonist. Long-running series which hardly drops a beat.

The Walking Dead - Easy to recommend, especially if you're a fan of the series. Has varied enough from the TV to make it well worth a read.

Preacher - An absolute classic. Violent, sacrilegious, funny, touching and brutal. A must read series, 11 books IIRC.
 
Few more I forgot - definitely not your usual superhero type stuff

Transmetropolitan (completed - 10 books I think?)
The Authority (completed - I forget how many books, but they're being collected in nice deluxe editions) - looks like a superhero book...really isn't :D. Midnighter (think Batman with no moral code at all) is almost worth the entrance fee alone
Planetary (completed - 4 books or one very nice Omnibus) - crossover with Batman is an absolute highlight - not what you expect at all
 
shorttricky said:
Few more I forgot - definitely not your usual superhero type stuff

Transmetropolitan - just got 6,7 and 8 off the bay :)
The Authority - on my list
Planetary - have the omnibus, so good
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Second these. As nails666 is already an Alan Moore fan then Warren Ellis is a great suggestion:)
V for Vendetta is another Moore story contained within one book. It has more depth than the film.
He also wrote for 2000AD back in the day. The Ballad of Halo Jones is a space opera with plenty of subtext. Future Shocks is a series of short stories which usually have a sting in the tail.

EDIT: Moore also wrote the classic Batman/Joker story The Killing Joke.
 
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Wow, thanks guys, lots to get me going there.

I think I'll definitely go for Sandman as that seems pretty universally well regarded and sounds very interesting. From looking on Amazon there are quite a few different versions. Those Absolute editions look nice but very pricey, am I right in thinking the basic versions are are the TP Vol1/2/.. that are about £10 each? This one would be the first for example Sandman TP Vol 01 Preludes & Nocturnes (I know we aren't allowed to put competitor links on here but as OCUK don't sell books is this ok, if not I'll remove the link?)

I don't want to overload myself right away so will probably only try 1 other out first, looking through all those suggestions the Fables series sounds like a nice idea so I think again I'll grab the Fables TP Vol 01 to try it out.

On a side note I notice a lot of them have Kindle versions available, does anyone here use those? I can understand the idea is probably blasphemous to many but the portability and physical storage aspects are tempting. I'm guessing it would only really work on a large tablet though?

Thanks again,

Ross
 
nails666 said:
On a side note I notice a lot of them have Kindle versions available, does anyone here use those? I can understand the idea is probably blasphemous to many but the portability and physical storage aspects are tempting. I'm guessing it would only really work on a large tablet though?
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If you want to try digital might be worth picking up this weeks Humble Book Collection which includes Locke and Key which is meant to be very good. Its on my list to read soon. Think you can pay as little as a $1 if you just want the entry tier comics.

https://www.humblebundle.com/books

I mainly read Digital so this offers are great for someone like me.

Better be quick though only 4 hours left.
 
nails666 said:
On a side note I notice a lot of them have Kindle versions available, does anyone here use those? I can understand the idea is probably blasphemous to many but the portability and physical storage aspects are tempting. I'm guessing it would only really work on a large tablet though?

Thanks again,

Ross
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I read exclusively on a Hudl2. Works brilliantly. Although I don't download "kindle" versions. Seems a bit weird that they call it that since some kindles don't even have proper screens, just e-ink.I imagine you'll get the same content as you would in a paperback (images and all that). :confused:

But yeah if you cba getting physical versions of everything get yourself a tablet works great (I bought the Hudl specifically for reading comics, has a decent screen size compared to others in the same price range).
 
Ah, handily I already have a Hudl2 myself, well mainly for my daughter to watch films on but I'm sure I can sneak it away in the evenings :)
Where else do you get digital versions from? (assuming it's a legit source as I know discussion of pirated material is a big no no on here)
 
nails666 said:
Ah, handily I already have a Hudl2 myself, well mainly for my daughter to watch films on but I'm sure I can sneak it away in the evenings :)
Where else do you get digital versions from? (assuming it's a legit source as I know discussion of pirated material is a big no no on here)
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In that case you'd be best off asking others as I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to legit sites. Hopefully someone can chime in with some links.
 
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nails666 said:
am I right in thinking the basic versions are are the TP Vol1/2/.. that are about £10 each? This one would be the first for example Sandman TP Vol 01 Preludes & Nocturnes
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That's the ones - they're all numbered on Amazon, 10 in total. Endless Nights, Overture and Dream Hunters may well show up as well, but they're outside of the main run.

nails666 said:
looking through all those suggestions the Fables series sounds like a nice idea so I think again I'll grab the Fables TP Vol 01 to try it out.
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You can get the Deluxe edition hardbacks (which collect 2 books together) for about the same price as the single edition paperbacks - well worth it, for the larger artwork if nothing else.

A lot of the DC Vertigo series get collected like this, it's definitely the way to get them if you're going down the physical book route.
 
nails666 said:
Where else do you get digital versions from? (assuming it's a legit source as I know discussion of pirated material is a big no no on here)
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Good advice here.

Comixology is the big player. Also Amazon. All of the other publishers have their own digital stores but your books won't all be under one account. Marvel does an all you can read subscription. Image I think are DRM free. Swings and roundabouts.
 
The Long Halloween is great. Love the art in that book. There's a sequel called dark victory you might want to check out when you're done with it, wasn't as good as the first but it was still OK. And if you enjoy year one DC made a movie based on it a few years ago, might also want to check that out. ;)

Read Punisher MAX (Garth Ennis and the newer one from 2008) and I thought it was awesome. Was my first Punisher books and after reading preacher I had to give it a go since Ennis was involved. Brutal! Really looking forward to him in daredevil now.
 
Decided to start reading "The Sandman".
I loved book 1 & 2, but man, I was really disappointed with book 3, kind of meh, except for the play bit, and only 160 pages long, when the other 2 books are 200+. Also 30+ of those pages were a script for an earlier comic!

Took a leap of faith though and bought book 4 and started reading it on the train tonight. The good stuffs back! :D

Also bought Lucifier book 1 as well, but only had a quick glimpse at that.

Should keep me busy until the new IDW Transformer releases.
 
I've pretty much stopped reading marvel comics so saw some stuff recently which came as a surprise. What has happened and what are they actually doing?!

Black captain America, female Thor, new Iron Man. Is it all just political correctness and getting down with the kids or something?
 
Decided to get into comics/graphic novels, so I downloaded comixolgy onto my mobile. I read the whole thread and looked at what you guys were recommending. Now I have a huge wishlist that's gonna take a while to get through. Couldn't believe my luck when I saw fables going very cheap for £2.99 a volume, so I bought all 20 of them. I also bought some batman comics:
The court of owls (finished, amazing)
the city of owls (halfway, so far so good)
death of the family
zero year secret city
zero year dark city
graveyard shift

Got about 5 more batman comics on my wishlist, but I think ill get through the ones I bought already, and then make a start on the fable comics. Cant believe I just bought all 20 volumes, I guess that's gonna take a while. Hope I like it :)
 
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Pumpkinstew said:
That's a lot of Fables.
You'll be glad to hear that Issue 150/Volume 22, the last one, is out in print in the next few days.
And then there's Jack of Fables and Fairest if you're still craving more. ;)
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Just realised I missed one, just bought volume 21 happily ever after. With a title like that I thought it finished, but apparently theres a volume 22 coming out?
Don't think ill bother with the other spinoffs, ill want to move onto other things. But I got a good month or so worth of reading there, so im quite happy.
 
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