Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

[red snow]

If you're looking for something in the 100 Bullets vein, I'd recommend checking out some of the Vertigo Crime graphic novels. Azzarello himself wrote one called Filthy Rich, though so far my favourite has been The Executor by Jon Evans and Andrea Mutti.

Jason Aaron's Scalped is also a must read if you like gritty crime comics.

Millar I can't help you with. I tend to lump him in with the drudge of superhero stuff that doesn't appeal to me. Jonathan Hickman maybe?

With regards to Ellis, perhaps something out of Alan Moore's ABC Comics line like Top10 or Promethea would appeal to you. I'm not as familiar with Ellis as I wish I was, but I sort of associate Ellis with whimsy and the ABC stuff has that in abundance.

My only other recommendation would be to make sure to check out Ellis' Avatar stuff such as FreakAngels if you haven't already.

Don't forget Ed Brubaker's "Criminal" series which is in a similar vein to that of "100 bullets" without the gimmick. Brubaker's "sleeper" series is excellent too - it's a bit like a superhero equivalent of "the departed" or "donnie Brasco" and is probably my favourite work by him. I've heard nothing but good things about the "Gotham Central" series that followed the police side of Batman's world.

[Curethan]

I just bought 1st TP of Morning Glories today. I gotta say, it's pretty good.

[Ouroboros]

I just bought 1st TP of Morning Glories today. I gotta say, it's pretty good.

It starts out strong but starts to lose its momentum as it goes along.

[Curethan]

Hmm. How far along are the floppies, numberingwise?

[Ouroboros]

Only two volumes out that I'm aware of. Give the second one a go, see if you like it. Nick Spencer hasn't been great releasing new singles on time ever since he started working for Marvel. Might explain the lack of 'oomph' in later issues.

If you like his stuff though, you might want to check out the Ultimate X-Men relaunch he's writing once it drops.

[Curethan]

Cheers Ouroboros.

[haLobEnder]

Don't forget Ed Brubaker's "Criminal" series which is in a similar vein to that of "100 bullets" without the gimmick. Brubaker's "sleeper" series is excellent too - it's a bit like a superhero equivalent of "the departed" or "donnie Brasco" and is probably my favourite work by him. I've heard nothing but good things about the "Gotham Central" series that followed the police side of Batman's world.

I actually had 'Criminal' written down, but I've yet to read it myself so it felt a little disingenuous.

It starts out strong but starts to lose its momentum as it goes along.

Personally I haven't noticed a dip in quality at all. The current arch is primarily focused on individual character set-up, but once that wraps I think we'll see a return to the pacing of the first volume.

Hmm. How far along are the floppies, numberingwise?

That's a good question. As someone who collects the series in floppy I'm a little confused by that myself. As far as I know issue 11 has yet to be released despite an original June solicitation.

I can understand delays in art and all that, but it's sucky timing given the fact issue 11 wraps up the current arch (I think).

ETA: Also, I just checked and confirmed my suspicion that volume 2 hasn't come out yet. That makes sense given the current storyline has yet to wrap up.

Amazon.ca says it will be out October 11th, but they've been known to lie.

[Ran]

I'll ditto Criminal. Brubaker's awesome. And Freakangels, which just wrapped up yesterday. A story such as only Ellis can tell.

[haLobEnder]

Just got back from the bookstore where I picked up several series for nice and cheap:

Volume 2 of The Compleat John Byrne's Next Men - I'll probably pick up the first volume on Amazon now.

Chew vol. 2 - I didn't really enjoy the first trade, but I figured I'd give it another shot

Powers: Z (vol. 13) - Another one that I haven't read a single issue of, but for $4 I couldn't pass it up.

The thing I'm happiest about though was picking up volumes 1,2 and 4 of Criminal. As I understand it these are all self-contained stories, so if shouldn't matter that I'm missing volume 3, right?

I'll ditto Criminal. Brubaker's awesome. And Freakangels, which just wrapped up yesterday. A story such as only Ellis can tell.

I read through the entirety of Freakangels in one fell swoop yesterday for that very reason. I'd previously read the equivalent of the first volume a year or so back, liked it a lot, but held off on reading more as I thought it would be easier to catch up on in trade format (er, is it weird that I'd rather pick up expensive trades than read a free webcomic?).

Anyway, that never occurred: I caved into temptation, parked my ass down for the entire day and don't regret a moment of it; Amazing series, it might in fact be one of my all time favourites once I've had time to process it all. As I said before, my experience with Ellis is minimal --perhaps I'm still a little bitter about him killing of my favourite GenXer, Synch :P-- but this series may have made a convert out of me.

Anyone else read through the series and have some thoughts?

[polishgenius]

I thought the first half of FreakAngels was great, but the second was rather eh and it trailed out rather miserably. Perhaps reading it in one go gives a better impression:

what's going to happen has been obvious for a very long stretch, amounting in real life to months- so there's been no real tension since they caught Mark and no surprises since some time before that. The building up of the helicopter was rather disappointing either way though.

That said, I still love Ellis' work. Now that you're a convert, get some Transmetropolitan in you asap. Then Stormwatch/The Authority, then Planetary...

[red snow]

The thing I'm happiest about though was picking up volumes 1,2 and 4 of Criminal. As I understand it these are all self-contained stories, so if shouldn't matter that I'm missing volume 3, right?

from what I remember, the stories are self contained but characters overlap. I think volume 3 is a short collection of 3 stand-alones so reading vol 4 first shouldn't spoil anything. Everything does tie in together though but it's still going to work if read slighlty out of order. Don't read volume 5 before volume 2 though as those two are strongly linked. Of course if you enjoy them and find volume 4 read them in the correct order just to be safe.

[haLobEnder]

I thought the first half of FreakAngels was great, but the second was rather eh and it trailed out rather miserably. Perhaps reading it in one go gives a better impression:

what's going to happen has been obvious for a very long stretch, amounting in real life to months- so there's been no real tension since they caught Mark and no surprises since some time before that. The building up of the helicopter was rather disappointing either way though.

That said, I still love Ellis' work. Now that you're a convert, get some Transmetropolitan in you asap. Then Stormwatch/The Authority, then Planetary...

Yeah, I can see how having to wait weeks for the full ending could lessen the impact a little. Reading everything all at once though, it was actually quite cathartic

I saw the ending coming, but in the same way I saw the ending of Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Return of the Jedi coming.

What I really liked about the series though were the characters. Arkady takes the prize as my favourite --Delerium/Delight clone that she is-- but I couldn't really name you one that I profoundly disliked.

Before the reveal that they couldn't die, I was more than a little worried the series would end in a slaghterfest given Ellis' reputation for violence -- glad he managed to subvert that expectation.

I actually read the first trade of Transmetropolitan years ago. In fact, I think that's what tainted my perception of Warren Ellis as a little too out there for my tastes. Who knows though, maybe I'll give it another shot.

The Authority's playing around with Superhero tropes is something I can appreciate from afar, but has no real appeal to me, probably because people like Mark Millar took it and made it the norm. Planetary on the other hand is a series I've been meaning to get around to reading for awhile now... I think I'll probably tackle that one next.

from what I remember, the stories are self contained but characters overlap. I think volume 3 is a short collection of 3 stand-alones so reading vol 4 first shouldn't spoil anything. Everything does tie in together though but it's still going to work if read slighlty out of order. Don't read volume 5 before volume 2 though as those two are strongly linked. Of course if you enjoy them and find volume 4 read them in the correct order just to be safe.

Damn. The completest in me probably won't let me read 4 before 3 then; I like having the full story no matter how minute the details.

[LordBloodravenI]

Don't forget Ed Brubaker's "Criminal" series which is in a similar vein to that of "100 bullets" without the gimmick. Brubaker's "sleeper" series is excellent too - it's a bit like a superhero equivalent of "the departed" or "donnie Brasco" and is probably my favourite work by him. I've heard nothing but good things about the "Gotham Central" series that followed the police side of Batman's world.

Just started out on the Criminal series, and holy shit is it good. I was immediately hooked. Thanks for the reccomendation!

[red snow]

Just started out on the Criminal series, and holy shit is it good. I was immediately hooked. Thanks for the reccomendation!

No worries. Glad you're enjoying it. I'm looking forward to the new mini-series out soon. It's one of those comics that would probably do a whole lot better without the "marvel" connection as I think a lot of people think Marvel can't do non-superheroes. In fairness, I think all Marvel does with the Icon imprint is publish the titles, as pretty much everything else seems to be left in the hands of the creators.

[The Missing Link]

I'm new and didn't feel like reading all 14 pages but here is what I am reading and have read with some small thoughts.

Completed Series

Y: The Last Man: I loved it all of it. It's so tragic, and but so fantastic.

Transmetropolitan: Probably my favourite series. I love Spider.

Ongoing

The Walking Dead: Started off amazing, but is begining to get repetitive. But it can still shock me more than other series.

Invincible (Robert Kirkmans Superhero): Getting repetitive but still decent. A nice take on teenage superheroes.

Powers: I'm not a big Bendis fan with his Marvel work, but Powers is great. The latest twist at the end of Z was fantastic.

Locke & Key: Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez are gods amongst mortals. It is my favourite ongoing series.

Northlanders: I've really liked it. It's done more in short story form and that was something I had to wrap my head around but once I did I found it entertaining.

Fables: Right there with L&K. I still miss Blue

Mice Templar: A tough read with hard to distinguish art. A mature Brian Jacques story.

House of Mystery: Very entertaining. So much so that my wife enjoys it.

Stuff I have read but I'm not deeply invested in

Irredeemable: What happens when the most powerful superhero goes evil. Entertainment.

Morning Glories: I read the first TPB and enjoyed it.

Fell: By Warren Ellis who wrote Transmetropolitan so I dived in. I enjoyed it but I am patiently waiting for the rest of the series.

Mystery Society: I've only read one volume and found it intersting.

I am reading the new Dungeons and Dragons series and have found it entertaining. It's far from profound, but for a quick entertaining read it works.

[EamonnTargaryen]

Although Pluto was mentioned earlier in the thread I feel the need to shill this lesser-known title in bullet-point form:

-The story is a murder mystery with robots but it tends to ignore most of the fighting in favour of suspense and drama.

-The art stands out compared to most manga. Some characters have big noses, sure, but nothing cookie-cutter or generic.

-There's little explicit sex, violence or language but the tone is serious and psychological with some horror on the side.

-This story is well paced. It takes its time in places but there are seldom walls of text.

-This manga has some of the hardest hitting deaths outside of grrm.

-At eight volumes (or 1597 pages) with no filler this manga doesn't overstay its welcome.

[Snowy89]

The Killer is great as well, read the first comic like ages ago and only recently found out there'd been published another 5 or so, Imagine my happiness :)

[Jojen]

I have a hardcover, illustrated edition of Ellison's "Repent, Harlequin!" that I take out and reread every now and then.

As for series, I love Fables, but haven't kept up with them since The Dark Ages. Of those earlier ones, I'd say the Good Prince was my favorite.

I've also enjoyed the the Hellboy spinoff series, BPRD, except for the sloppy artwork. I appreciate Mignola's clean lines, and the crispness of his light and shadows. I really liked Baltimore, and the Lobster Johnson one-off is pretty good, but it can't compete with Screw-On Head.

[Dumas]

Anyone else read Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga? It's a gorgeous alternate history manga about a Japan that lost most of its male population to a plague in the mid-1600s. The Shogun is a woman and the series is mostly set in her harem.

Fair warning, the translators at Viz decided to translate the series into faux-archaic English and do so pretty badly. It's like they kinda knew what it looks like but never read more than three pages of Shakespeare or other works from around that time.

[red snow]

I don't know about anybody else but MArvel has done a great job of getting me intrigued by the new x-men lineups. I haven't read the x-men in years but am almost interested in checking out the post schism titles. I'm slightly confused at how Wolverine (the avenger) is not the side that is going to be more "out in the public superheroes" side.