Adult Comics

[quantumsoul]

If you don't mind manga there's "Eden: It's an Endless World". I highly recommend it. It doesn't shy away from sex, nudity and gore where appropriate. Don't expect fan service, it's not like typical manga. It's got some cyber punk themes too without going really overboard with it.

 

[synobal]

sorry Im new to the comic book scene..I had no Idea that batgirl and batwomen were different (I think there have been different charachters who have assumed the Identity as with alot of comics)

No need to apologize just figured I'd point it out in case you got something like this 'Who was DC comics first openly gay superhero?' and then you could totally rock it by saying Batwoman.

 

[Vault101]

sorry Im new to the comic book scene..I had no Idea that batgirl and batwomen were different (I think there have been different charachters who have assumed the Identity as with alot of comics)

No need to apologize just figured I'd point it out in case you got something like this 'Who was DC comics first openly gay superhero?' and then you could totally rock it by saying Batwoman.

Batwomans gay??!! is this a recent thing? or has it been around before? is that the reason for the nudity? (I sound too excited over this dont I?)

 

[synobal]

sorry Im new to the comic book scene..I had no Idea that batgirl and batwomen were different (I think there have been different charachters who have assumed the Identity as with alot of comics)

No need to apologize just figured I'd point it out in case you got something like this 'Who was DC comics first openly gay superhero?' and then you could totally rock it by saying Batwoman.

I think she's just recently 'openly gay' but was always gay it was just never spelled out. In the latest comic Kate Kane is dating a female detective of the GPD.

 

[WarpZone]

sorry Im new to the comic book scene..I had no Idea that batgirl and batwomen were different (I think there have been different charachters who have assumed the Identity as with alot of comics)

No need to apologize just figured I'd point it out in case you got something like this 'Who was DC comics first openly gay superhero?' and then you could totally rock it by saying Batwoman.

I think she's just recently 'openly gay' but was always gay it was just never spelled out. In the latest comic Kate Kane is dating a female detective of the GPD.

I've always wondered, does it still count as the correct answer to a trivia question if a later author retcons it?

(BTW, https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Extra%C3%B1o says it was Extraño.)

 

[SckizoBoy]

xxxHolic (not pornographic no matter what it sounds like) could be one, I haven't read it myself, but it's a horror manga. It's been receiving generally good reviews.

Not really... it's more psychological fantasy that questions existence and issues of existentialism (to a greater or lesser extent).

Anyway, most have already been mentioned as far as I can see, so I'll just mention my favourites:

- Ghost in the Shell (quite different from the anime)
- Priest (manwha, a tad more visceral than I'd like, but it's got an interesting progression)
- Appleseed

 

[Inosaku]

Not really a comic but it may possess the type of maturity you may be grasping at.

In the 1970's Japanese Spiderman t.v. series, Spidey tries to track down a woman who causes natural disasters by accident (as some sort of super power she has) and when he finally catches her she's standing on a bridge about to leap off to her death. Turns out she's horrified by her power's and that because of them she's killed so many people so she wants to die.

Japanese Spidey raises his arms in an attempt to web her and keep her from killing herself but upon realizing how fucked up hr life is and how badly she wants to die lowers his arms. She leaps off to her death.

That the kind of mature themes you might be looking for OP?

 

[toxicninja]

Los Bros Hernandez Love and rocket series is a very adult and well written, well drawn series of comics. It mostly deals with human relationships and social problems in a very mature thoughtful way.Alan moore has happily praised jaime hernandez's art especially. Other good ones i'd reccomend would be:

Jeffrey browns comics, usually about his relationships or making fun of superhero cliches and doing his own excellent spoof of transformers.

My brain is hanging upside down by David Heatly, Another excelent autobiographical comic looking at the bizzare moments in his life he splits it into catagorys like: his sexual experiences and experience with race relations.

Summer blonde by Adrian Tomine, Really poetic and short, dark comics. Short stories about people who find themselfs in messed up situations.

Most thing by Daniel clowes. the man has a gift for making fun of humanities great failings while empathising with underdogs of society.

Tekkon Kinkreet by Taiyō Matsumoto: Awesome art and moving story about two street kids coming to grips with their home town being changed by the mafia and the extremes of light and dark inside them.

Yoshihiro Tatsumi's awesome short stories: dark and depressing as hell but acurate and moving short tales of people at their worst.

Ode to kirihito by Osamu Tezuka: A very adult philisophical epic about a doctor subjected to a diesese that transforms him completely into a dog like creature. Deals with morals in medicine and prejudice. (think david lynch's Elephant man)

From hell by Alan Moore: Awesome epic 'what if?' story about jack the ripper. goes well in depth into psychology of murderers and conspiracy theorists while retaining a some great characters with a lot of heart. (A terrible film was made out of this)

Most things by charles burns especially Black hole as already mentioned: Guy does great surreal comics.

Kent Williams and Darren Aoronofsky's The fountain: So-so story of mortality but some of the greatest comic book art ever done.

 

[toxicninja]

grrr double post sorry!

 

[jakobhl]

Sin City has it's share of nudity.

 

[ExileNZ]

Anything French. Anything at all. The human body isn't so taboo in France and neither is sex.
(God help you if you bring up abortion tho)

There's a great fun comic called Luuna , which seems to be about 90% for kids, then in the same volume (SPOILER WARNING) she goes topless, gets possessed, rips out her best friend's heart, returns home to find everybody murdered and sells her sole to the God of Darkness for revenge.

I'm fairly certain you can find that under "jeunesse" (youth).

Caste of the Metabarons is another one, it's matter-of-factly blithe not only about sex, but about sexual taboos (such as incest).

La Campagnie des Glaces (The Ice Company, but sorry, no English release) is far more restrained than the books, and it still deals with all kinds of stuff, from sex to incest to cannibalism and it doesn't hide anything.

 

[Tsukuyomi]

Most things produced by Vertigo are pretty good and tend to be in the 'adult' genre, as people here have noted. One thing I'd like to point out though is the definition of 'adult' can be kinda...broad. An 'adult' comic can be just about anything. Hell, DC's Kingdom Come is pretty damn adult in that I don't think most kids would get some of the points of it. V for Vendetta is adult. While at the same time on the Manga front, one of my favorites, Bartender, I consider to be enormously adult in a lighthearted sense. It's not gritty grimdark, but it doesn't have people flying and shooting energy-beams out of the bodily-opening of their choice.

It really depends on what you're looking for. How your definition of 'adult' works. The New 52 is...well, new. They may not exactly have the best talent on it so they may not want to risk showing too much skin or doing too many bad things just yet. The whole 'GD' issue is an example of that. (one that I'd imagine is blown entirely out of proportion.)

On a random note: you may also want to try 100 Bullets if you're just looking for general grit. Good series, and now that it's done I may actually be able to follow the thing.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics? In the first collection you have evil supervillain Doctor Destiny doing...terrible things in a diner. The second collection (Dollhouse) features a serial killer convention where the guest of honour is a living nightmare with fanged mouths instead of eyes. Need I go on?

 

[Vortigar]

How can so many people mention The Invisibles and forget The Filth? That's just wonky.

But yeah, there's a fair bit around.

Batwomans gay??!! is this a recent thing? or has it been around before? is that the reason for the nudity? (I sound too excited over this dont I?)

Came with her redesign about a year or two ago or something.

 

[Chrono212]

Y: The Last Man
It's premise[footnote]"The series is about the only man to survive the apparent simultaneous death of every male mammal (barring the same man's pet monkey) on Earth."[/footnote] sounds pretty fetish like but it never descends into childishness for the sake of it.

The four compilation graphic novels should be out by now.

 

[s0p0g]

good old V for Vendetta comes to mind

 

[drummond13]

I'd say try Warren Ellis' Preacher, or Desolation Jones. They don't really pull any punches. Another bet would be Brain K Vaughan's Y the last man, and Ex Machina.

I work at a library and really trying to pull the best graphic novels/comics into our collection. Hardest part is trying to make an actual section for the more adult ones because there aren't many that don't cross the border of pornography to fill up a shelf. Can't put it in regular fiction because they'll get overlooked, and can't put it into the teens because I don't want that conversation with an upset parent.

Gonna pay close attention to this thread because I could use suggestions as well.

I'm sure you meant to say Garth Ennis' Preacher.

And almost anything by Ennis isn't afraid to pull punches. Read The Boys or Hitman but start with Preacher.

100 Bullets is a good one too.

 

[SmilesX-23]

If your including Manga then i would say Berserk, that isnt afraid to show anything and is only adult oriented. Very violent, good comedy mixed in, shows sex when sex happens and an awesome plot. Also not that manga-ish.

However if you mean purely comics i would say X-Force although it still censors nudity and swearing even in the one called Sex & Violence.

 

[Norks]

http://www.menagea3.net/?module=articles&func=display&ptid=17

Its a webcomic that is about sex, not a comic for sex, difference: genuine character development and storylines with only the occasional nudity, and even then nothing below the belt.

 

[88chaz88]

Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics? In the first collection you have evil supervillain Doctor Destiny doing...terrible things in a diner. The second collection (Dollhouse) features a serial killer convention where the guest of honour is a living nightmare with fanged mouths instead of eyes. Need I go on?

If I had my way you would be the only user in this thread not being instantly banned right now. It's absolutely shameful that in a topic such as this I have to sift through more than two pages before someone finally mentions Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

Props to those mentioning Y: The Last Man but you should still be shot if The Sandman isn't muttered in the same breath.