Xiorell said:
somedarnguy said:
These are both absolute must reads.
Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits is also an excellent read.
Planetary (Both Absolute Editions are recommended because of the art.)
Ex Machina
Superman: Red Son
Batman: Thrillkiller
Batman: Gotham by Gaslight (If you're a fan of Mike Mignola's art this is an absolute must read.)
Kingdom Come (it's worth it for the art alone, but the writing is top notch as well.)
Fables
Ex Machina (If you have any fondness for New York or politics)
Hitman (The trades can be a ***** to find though, sorry. This is hands down one of the best main continuity DC books I'm aware of.)
Hush (This one's only worth it if you can find the Absolute Edition cheaply. The art is absolutely fantastic, but the standard printing is on pulp, so you don't really get to appreciate it as much as with the Absolute format.)
Trinity (despite appearances, this is not part of the main continuity) (There's also a batman run from Matt Wagner that's excellent stuff if a little strange.)
Batman: Long Halloween, and Dark Victory (also not main continuity, along with Trinity they break off from Year One and start to form their own setting.)
100 Bullets (full stop)
Global Frequency
Ocean
Sleeper (A kind of superpowered spy book that's a remarkably good read. It's structured like a TV series (mostly self contained episodes with an overarching plot).)
Okay, a pair of recommendations that aren't really my cup of tea:
JSA under Geoff Jones is a really special kind of Silver Age magic you just don't see these days, and the art is subtly fantastic.
The Kevin Smith run on Green Lantern. I'm not a Lantern fan, and never got into the characters at all, but, this one has been recommended to me so many times I've lost count.
Note: with the exception of Hellblazer, Hush, Hitman, JSA, and Green Lantern none of these are standard DC continuity.
Note 2: Anything labeled Vertigo on the spine is a mature readers label. As a general rule it's also going to be excellent. Expect to see profanity, nudity, and internal organs (especially internal organs if Garth Ennis is writing it). Also, with a handful of exceptions (Sandman, Death, Hellblazer, Lucifer, ect.) Vertigo books all take place in separate continuities.
Note 3: Wildstorm is a part of DC comics, but it is its own self contained continuity with some standalone books, that includes Planetary, Authority, Stormwatch, and Sleeper. To the best of my knowledge Ocean and Ex Machina are both stand alone books. As a general theme, Wildstorm tends to have a more sci-fi theme than DC, though some of this shows up in Vertigo. Because they're a part of DC, there have been a handful of crossovers between DC and Wildstorm books.
