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comic n00b just read The Watchmen. Now what?
- Cranberries
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So I'm looking for something cool with a long story arc, but I don't have the 38 different multiverses memorized or anything. Suggestions?
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Animal Man by Grant Morrison - This is probably one of my favorite runs of all time.
Swamp Thing by Alan Moore - It's not as good as Watchmen, but I'll be damned if it's not a ton of fun.
Akira by Katsuhiro Otomo - One of the best Mangas around.
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- engineer Al
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There's a lot of Great Moore stuff, I like Swamp Thing best but people are definitely divided. Swamp Thing is great especially if you intend to read Sandman... which feels like the spiritual child of Swamp Thing.
I say get Cerebus - High Society by Dave Sim though. It's a great starting point for when comics started to really change and it represents not only a weird time in comics history, an amazing unprecedented even in self-publishing, but also a long run comic of immense experimentation (mostly successful) and some really smart writing. His panel layouts are still among the best the medium has ever seen and he does some cool little things... like a series of pages where each on is increasingly off centered and as you change the orientation of the book to keep following the story you realize slowly you're turning the whole book around in a complete 360 and you are sort of representing a clock moving as you do watching the time go by. That's just one little experiment, he's an incredibly imaginative comics artist.
I know people don't like to talk about Frank Miller anymore but I could care less about how un-cool he's become. His last book (Holy Terror, don't buy it) was garbage as far as writing is concerned but it stil has some of the best art I've seen in years and one series of pages in particular, depicting the events of 911, are just mind blowingly successful experiments showing why he's a master and not a hack. Just pick up Dark Knight Returns, it's his most popular and is certainly a great book. It used to be considered the companion piece to Watchman as far as the Zeitgeist in modern comics is concerned but people talk about it less because Frank made a shitty movie and became a big star. His Daredevil stuff is great and accessible too.
other favorites of mine:
Conan (old Marvel or the new Dark Horse)
Astro City - Confession (Kurt Busiek)
Jimmy Corrigan Smartest the Kid On Earth (Chris Ware) - his new one Building Stories is amazing but it's more expensive and a pretty big commitment.
Hellboy (Mike Mignola)
Demon (Jack Kirby)
The Original Hulk run
The Invisibles (Grant Morrison)
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- Michael Barnes
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More Alan Moore is an easy recommendation- V For Vendetta, From Hell, Swamp Thing, and Miracleman (if you can find it) are the absolute top picks, along The Killing Joke. I think I would actually recommend The Killing Joke to you over the others. It's a very accessible Batman/Joker story that doesn't rely on any outside continuity, and it's one of the most important Batman stories because it really marked a change in how Joker was portrayed. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow is Moore' Superman story,and it's a great one too.
Dark Knight Returns is pretty much a gimmie too. You should read it. As the years have gone by, I've realized that I'm not nearly as much of a Frank Miller fan as I thought I was. But The Dark Knight Returns is one of the best. It came out in '86 along with Watchmen, and I was reading both as they were published. It was kind of like being around for the Beatles and Elvis.
I would HIGHLY suggest Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman. It's a great example of modern superhero storytelling, and in contrast to the darker post-1986 stuff, it's very lyrical, beautiful, and melancholy without being grim. It's also a nice all-in-one primer of everything that encapsulates Superman. Even if you don't think you like Superman, I think this book will impress you.
I would also HIGHLY suggest Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier. In fact, I think it is probably about as close to feeling like Watchmen as anything else I've ever read. It's a DC Universe story that brings in the Big 7 of the Justice League during the Cold War. The art is outstanding, the story is emotionally resonant and hopeful- it's a homage to the spirit of the Silver Age.
The Brian Michael Bendis/Alex Maleev run on Daredevil may interest you. It's as well-written as any television crime drama. It's bleak, emotional, and simmering...also getting more into the "private lives" of costumed crime fighters and the questionable psychology of it all.
Ed Brubaker's Captain America run is phenomenonal. The most amazing thing about it is that Cap isn't in a lot of it. But he's such an incredible, inspiring presence in the story and for the characters involved that it sells him as a superhero far better than a hundred panels of him punching Nazis. It's sophisticated writing, very grounded but not afraid to go full on robot spider when necessary.
Mark Waid has a couple of books you might like, he's one of the better mainstream superhero writers IMO. Kingdom Come was a big one years ago although its luster has faded somewhat, but it's still a strong superhero pageant. His new take on Daredevil is the exact opposite of Bendis', it's fresh, funny, light, and cavalier in the best possible ways. But Irredeemable is the one I was thinking of for you, a story about what happens when a Superman-class hero suddenly goes rogue and turns on the world. It's really compelling, horrifying, and tragic. Ozymandias is nothing compared to the Plutonian.
Sandman is a hard call for me...having read about half of it just recently, I have to say that I don't think parts of it have held up well at all. Some of it has, but there are segments where I'm baffled as to why I didn't see how pretentious and self-indulgent too much of it is. And jesus, the art. All of that early Vertigo stuff had ass art.
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- metalface13
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If you're really getting into comics, I'd say read Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. Gives a good rundown on how the medium works, what's effective, etc.
As for other series/graphic novels I recommend:
Bone
Mouse Guard
Y the Last Man
Fables
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I'm not big on recommending the Killing Joke; "it marked a change in how the Joker was portrayed"??? So WHAT??? Talk about a footnote to a footnote. I guess that matters to Joker scholars.
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- Michael Barnes
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Plus the art is just kick ass, it's still one of my favorites in terms of the drawing. It's some of the best work Brian Bolland has ever done. There's panels in it that just stick with you forever, like Joker at the door in his "vacation" gear, with the camera. And Jim Gordon naked.
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- Matt Thrower
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It's overrated IMO, but since everyone raves about it that still leaves it as being pretty good. And it's exactly what the OP asked for: a long, involving story without the need for any external continuity.
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- SuperflyPete
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The Incal
I much prefer Ronin to Millers Dark Knight.
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Seven Soldiers
Planetary
Grimjack
Hellboy
Conan the Barbarian (get the first few volumes of the Dark Horse reprints)
From Hell
Rex Mundi
Fables (just the first 75 issues)
Scalped
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- engineer Al
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Shellhead wrote: Grimjack
Man, this is one of my all time favorites. It was Grimjack that turned me from a casual comic reader into an all out fanboy. Nobody ever talks about it though, and I can't understand why. The first couple of years of this book completely shattered my conception of what a comic book was.
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- metalface13
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You can skip Preacher though, Craniac.
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