The Best Comic You've Ever Read.

[thesilentman]

Are we going comic as in 'American/Western', or just any old piece of paper with pictures and text bubbles regardless of nationality?

Let's keep it Western I think. Manga is a whole other bag of kitten girls.

Nope. There are some really nice manga which doesn't fit that stereotype you've said. Blame, Akira, and Berserk all come to mind.

OT- Watchmen. Not even a contest for me, I'm afraid. It's a classic that will always stick in my mind due to, well, everything.

 

[Vausch]

"Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" and its sequel "Squee" are some of my favourites. The dark humour is just the pinnacle of what makes you feel bad for laughing at it (in comics, that goes to Mary and Max for everything else) and Jhonen Vasquez's art is as always very stylised and does amazing for just black and white.

Though as an unconventional example, I love Scott McCloud's "Making Comics". It may sound like another generic how to draw book but McCloud goes into fantastic detail not about how to draw the comics, but how to PRESENT them. Things like using efficient space, balance between dialogue and images, how to break the 4th wall effectively, atmosphere, all that is presented in comic form as he teaches. Seriously, give it a read at some point, it's really a great book.

 

[Breakdown]

I'd guess my favourite character is Judge Dredd, and the Day of Chaos story arc is a fine example of Mega City One's greatest judge in action.

Another classic 2000AD series, Grant Morrison's Zenith, just got a very long overdue collection release.

 

[Bocaj2000]

The System by Peter Kuper. This is fucking expert execution of the comic medium. I can't describe it; just read it.

Spoiler

 

[RealRT]

No love for Daredevil? And no, I'm not talking Frank Miller's stuff, no, I'm talking about the Mark Waid run which is excellent.

 

[oddball250]

the Girl Genius webcomic is one of the best comics or stories that ive ever read! its nearly always fun and its very good if you like steampunk and magic

 

[Starbird]

Ah, Scalped! Thanks, I've been meaning to pick that one up for ages now. Yay, something new to read!

Rockin'. Please let me know what you think of it! I also enjoyed some of Hellboy and the related series, because Mignola's art tells the story with no need for words most of the time, but then I realized that none of the main characters were ever in any real danger or faced with lasting consequences, and I stopped. It's a fine line, that sense of danger or excitement with an action hero, sometimes.

Almost through Scalped now. Very good, reminds me a lot of 100 Bullets. Speaking of series that I never finished, may end up giving that one a look again (I remember that the plot lost me completely at some point).

 

[Mister Eff]

Either Watchmen or Daytripper. Although I probably prefer Daytripper as it is more uplifting.

I really enjoyed The Punisher: Max series. It's as brutal as it should be.

Oooh! I completely forgot about Daytripper! That was incredible! Left me feeling a bit weepy quite often too.

Also, I forgot to mention 100 Bullets. Reading this for the first time currently. Wow! I tried reading it when I first got into comics about 10 years and didn't get it. Now I'm older and wiser and love it!

 

[HerbertWard]

Well, ain't that a thread right on time for Christmas ?

And here I was, agonising over what comics to buy for my sister. Thanks for the help folks.

I'm going to throw in some of mine :

Miracleman, by Moore then Gaiman. I would definitely put it somewhere alongside Watchmen and Sandman.
Gaiman didn't get to finish his run due to legal shenanigans in the 90's, but we might get a proper ending thanks to Marvel recent reprinting of the title.
The Moore part I recommend to everyone, the Gaiman one only if you like Gaiman : lots of focus on "ordinary" people and side characters that would only get a brief mention by any other writer.
( I do like Gaiman but the transition - or lack of thereof - between Moore and him is a bit of a brutal change of pace )

Now, my all time favorite seems to not be avaible in english , which is kind of sad considering how good it is, and understandable considering how french it is, in all the way possible.

It involves among other things : a fox, a wolf, a cute little rabbit, pirates inclined to poetry, a scrooge and a journey to the moon. And quite a lot of swashbuckling.

It's well drawn, with a plot worthy of the most wacky plays of Molière ( which probably is one of its biggest influence ) , the characters are awesome, the dialogues are fantastically well written. And on top of that it manages to be funny at the same time.

 

[Cowabungaa]

So far DMZ is the coolest series I've ever read, with The Massive and Sandman trailing in very closely behind.

As far as one-shot go (or at least with just one trade), Punk Rock Jesus and Joe the Barbarian are my favourites. Fantastic stories and absolutely drop-dead gorgeous art. I'm such a Sean Murphy fanboy.

Today I also picked up the first volumes of Shutter and Prophet and both are extremely promising. I don't know what it is about Image Comics, but my god do they have a lot of books with brilliantly creative universes in design alone.

Also, depending on how Saga turns out, Watchmen might end up getting bumped even lower...

Wasn't that one finished already? Last thing I read seemed pretty conclusive.

 

[Mister Eff]

So far DMZ is the coolest series I've ever read, with The Massive and Sandman trailing in very closely behind.

As far as one-shot go (or at least with just one trade), Punk Rock Jesus and [/i] Joe the Barbarian[/i] are my favourites. Fantastic stories and absolutely drop-dead gorgeous art. I'm such a Sean Murphy fanboy.

Today I also picked up the first volumes of Shutter and Prophet and both are extremely promising. I don't know what it is about Image Comics, but my god do they have a lot of books with brilliantly creative universes in design alone.

Also, depending on how Saga turns out, Watchmen might end up getting bumped even lower...

Wasn't that one finished already? Last thing I read seemed pretty conclusive.

DMZ is the bomb! Not read The Massive, will have to check it out.

Saga is still going on, it just takes breaks every now and again. Still a big old story to tell! Hopefully it'll hit around 70 issues like most of these stories do.

Captcha: Too Many Cooks. Excellent.

 

[Starbird]

Saga. What is Saga? Looking for a nice new series to read.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

Preacher and Y: The Last Man tie for me.
Maybe it's because I just finished Y and I have that "just-finished" nostalgic feeling going on and it'll sort itself out later, but I've read both series to completion and I like them both equally for different reasons.

 

[Mister Eff]

Saga. What is Saga? Looking for a nice new series to read.

Saga is a an epic, intergalactic love story between two people of opposing factions and races who have a child together, go on the run from both sides through the universe (a completely fictional and extremely well realised one) and.... life happens. I don't want to say any more. It's only around 18 issues in, so definitely worth getting into. Also the artwork is GORGEOUS.

 

[PapaGreg096]

Saga. What is Saga? Looking for a nice new series to read.

Also check out
Chew
IDW TMNT
Runaways
Matt Fraction Hawkeye
Secret Six
Invincible

 

[TristanBelmont]

Watchmen was really really REALLY good,I want to read The Boys, Marvel Zombies 1 was good, but I'm gonna have to throw it to Marvel Civil War.

Why?

Because it's literally the childhood fun of taking your action figures and saying "And then Spiderman punched Jesus in the face and Superman flew through the black hole to Tatooine...." made into print.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

Secret Six.

It made me a fan of a lot of characters that hadn't been on my radar.

Scandal Savage needs to come back to DC. Bat Woman wasn't the only red head screwed out of a lesbian marriage!

There's a lot of good ones, but Secret Six is tops. We'll see where the latest incarnation goes, I guess.

 

[jademunky]

I'll go along with the folk who said Sandman. Yes Watchmen was great and all, just Sandman actually makes you feel smarter for having read it. Also, it was something completely unique for it's time too.

 

[Breakdown]

I started reading the Age of Bronze this year, a comic series about the Trojan War. The pace is quite slow, but it goes into a lot of depth, and includes the more obscure elements of the story. I'd recommend the series to anybody interested in Greek mythology.

 

[FPLOON]

One More Day...

OT: In terms of comic books, either most of the Bionicle comic run or... uh... Watchman? Granted, I read more of the formal than the latter, so there's that...

In terms of "graphic novel", it's either between the Odd Thomas series(?) or the Scott Pilgrim series prior to both of those getting a movie adaptation...

In terms of comic strips, I can't decide between Peanuts, Cathy, B.C., Pearls Before Swine, Foxtrot, The Family Circus, Zits, Hagar the Horrible, The Duplex, Pickles, Bizario, Blondie, Dilbert, Pooch Cafe, Garfield, or, I guess, Calvin and Hobbes... *catches breathe*

In terms of webcomics, I think it's between MLP 4Koma(?), Brawl in the Family, Incestia Girls (NSFW with the sequel series Rainbow Cocks "on hold" right now) for shits and giggles, or... uh... Penny Arcade? I have read others, but their either one-shot and/or are COMPLETELY NSFW, so there's that...

Other than that, there were a few other comic-related series I've read that were petty good, yet I can't remember their names right now...