Comic Books/Graphic Novels

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DebianJoe
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Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by DebianJoe » Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:42 am

Ok, we've got some TV and Movies and 'real' books, but what about graphic novels and comic series?

If you're into this kind of thing, then please share good finds with some of the rest of us. Manga is fine too, but I don't know jack about them. I'll defer to the experts. So, author and style, a scan of some of the art....include cool stuff. Tell us why you like it or hate it or whatever. etc, etc, ad infinum. I'll start off with some that I'd recently ran across.

"I feel sick": Jhonen Vasquez

As soon as I read the first page, I knew I'd love this doubleshot all of the way through. I loved JTHM and Invader Zim, the former more than the latter, and this one kicked off instantly on a humorously dark note as the entire page is nothing but our protagonist screaming obscenities.

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I'll give credit where it's due. J. Vasquez has an uncanny ability to write a character that is entirely unbelievable, who's entire life is WELL outside of the natural, but still cause you to regularly identify with them in a very "I know exactly how that feels," kind of way. That's particularly impressive when you consider that some of his previous characters include a genocidal maniac who has to regularly paint the wall in his house with fresh blood because it won't stay red otherwise.
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by GekkoP » Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:56 am

Well, I know little here, but I got my favorite ones:

Judge Dredd - America
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Judge Dredd is my favorite comic hero. Ever.

Complete Maus
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I remember crying good tears on this one.

Watchmen
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A classic.

The Dark Knight Returns
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Forget the movies: this one (and Year One as well) is the real Batman.

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DebianJoe
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by DebianJoe » Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:42 pm

I loved 'Year One.' It made Batman a bit more real, and sometimes you don't want to have to suspend disbelief even in a fictional world.
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by GekkoP » Thu Apr 02, 2015 2:26 pm

^ Yes, it is really good.

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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by bones » Thu Apr 02, 2015 4:06 pm

One of my all time favorites were the Grendel comics by Matt Wagner, first published by Comico, and then later by Dark Horse Comics.
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by wuxmedia » Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:37 pm

I was a 2000AD guy for a lot of years.

Button Man : was one of my favs
buttonmanaxe.jpg
I liked all of them actually :)
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by DebianJoe » Thu Apr 02, 2015 10:22 pm

Nice, I may actually find some new stuff to read here. While familiar with everything that GekkoP posted, and 2000AD, I've never checked into Grendel before. Is that one based on the Beowulf monster?

One of the few that I've gotten into religiously following is Terry Moore's "Rachel Rising." Along with iZombie (I'll cover this one a bit later), it's some of the very little non-Mignola undead that doesn't get on my nerves. Moore has written some really amazing stuff, and I actually ran across 'Echo' from him before starting into Rachel's story. I'd expected a story about either a first-person zombie story or a revenge for wrongful death story. I don't know when I fell totally in love with this story, but I can say that having read the first 29 issues, that it is as far removed from what I'd expected as is possible. As of the last issue I've read, it's such a bigger story than simply Rachel herself, and is more about great evil that is always on the horizon similar to Hellblazer.
rachel_rising.png
Moore's particular use of ink and paper with simply one to two colors actually lends itself well to his ability to flesh out personalities beyond what I tend to see in mainstream comics. The characters are very 3 dimensional, well developed, and have personality flaws that don't necessarily have anything to do with plot expansion. (Her aunt is an overweight lesbian...why? Because she just is. Why does everything have to be a plot point?)

I can't really speak highly enough about the way that the story is still expanding, but that each issue creates more depth within the bounds of the established story. Well worth the read.
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by bones » Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:48 pm

DebianJoe wrote:I've never checked into Grendel before. Is that one based on the Beowulf monster?
No. Here's the rundown:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grendel_%28comics%29

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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by wuxmedia » Fri Apr 03, 2015 10:40 am

I like that monochrome Rachel - back to the old school. :)
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by doubledutch » Sat Apr 04, 2015 3:50 am

Transmetropolitan and Sandman are both epic.

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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by DebianJoe » Sat Apr 04, 2015 4:54 pm

^Sandman and Hellblazer are two personal favorites. I'm finishing up 'Locke and Key' right now, which has me totally entertained. I have to assemble some kind of list to cover all of the ones I actually like, which will be pretty long. I think that I am to comics as GekkoP is to movies...so it's hard to pick favorites.
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by DebianJoe » Sat Apr 04, 2015 7:48 pm

Locke & Key

Damn, this one was good. I'd strongly recommend it from start to finish, as it was certainly not designed to be read in parts. The art in it is a bit misleading, as the characters are penned in a similar style to a Sunday paper comic strip while the story itself is disturbing on many levels. Where this one really shines is the depth of developing a pretty simple concept into a story where you become attached to the people involved. The Locke family (whom the story centers around) are quickly introduced as a broken group of people just trying to manage some serious internal issues while dealing with supernatural forces at the same time. It's often hard to determine if the mother's drinking problem or the spirits that they're dealing with are a bigger threat. I'll not give out any spoilers, but more than anything else I took from this one is that the authors meant to show that our heroes are normal people that are dealing with some major internal shit, but still come together to do as close to the right thing as they can.
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Excellent read, and I'd easily put this in my top 20 for horror comics.
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by kexolino » Sun Apr 05, 2015 11:01 am

I've been reading Flowers of Evil (Aku No Hana). In short, it's about a middle schooler book nerd dude, who "accidentally" steals the gym clothes of one of his female class mates (who, coincidentally, he really likes). Another girl sees this and starts bullying the crap out of him in turn for not telling anyone. Like, tears down his clothes and makes him wear the girl's gym clothes kind of bullying.

Honestly, it's far from the best I've read; I'm not very fond of the drawing and the main character is a fucking wimp... But, it's sort of good enough to keep me reading. Main takeaway so far is that out there be some cray cray bitches, man. There is also an anime, but it looks terrible.

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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by kexolino » Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:19 am

Well, I finished it. It turned out great in the end; I guess this is why it's not good to draw early conclusions. All in all it dealt with some serious topics (let's just say that's far from only being about bullying), and the last chapter was especially hard hitting... Recommended.

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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by DebianJoe » Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:39 am

Kex, I would love it if you would make more recommendations for things of the form "_____ no _____", as I think that Dragonball and Hellsing are the only Japanese comics I've ever read. If you have a favorites list, I'd be willing to check them out and see what it's all about.
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by kexolino » Tue Apr 07, 2015 11:39 am

Truth is, I haven't read that many, simply because most of these are super long. The short list is:

Naruto
Bleach
Initial D
Aku no Hana
and some other shorter series that I've read a few years back, sadly I can't remember the titles.

I'm sure you heard about Naruto already, and I think if you liked Dragon Ball, you'll like it too, though it has less somewhat less action and more feels. Also, 700 chapters. Another one similar to these would be One Piece.
Initial D is good if you like cars... Otherwise, skip.
Bleach is a long one too, about the shinigami. Somewhat similar to this would be Death Note (more serious than the other ones here).

Most of these have anime adaptations, in fact most anime is that. So if you come across a popular anime series, there is a very good chance that there is a manga, Inuyasha or Attack on Titan, for example.

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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by Dr_Chroot » Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:31 pm

^ Please tell me you read Initial D while listening to the soundtrack :D
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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by kexolino » Tue Apr 07, 2015 6:23 pm

Hell no, I thought it was terrible xD

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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by GekkoP » Tue Apr 07, 2015 7:23 pm

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A little known gem. Don't know if it exists outside Italy, but anyway, a jazz lover should not miss this one.

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One of the best characters coming out of Italy? I don't know, but I love it.

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Re: Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Unread post by Dr_Chroot » Fri Apr 10, 2015 7:22 pm

I just finished reading Chapters 1 - 60 of Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) in two and half days. I watched through episode 25 of the anime but decided not to wait until 2016 to see what is going on next. Picked up in Chapter 1 again and read through to 60 so far, fell in love with MComix in the process. I have to say, Shingeki no Kyojin has to be the most feel-inducing manga I have read up to this point. Many of the character's personalities and actions seem so relateable (especially Levi Ackerman) that you can't but get caught up in the plot. Beats Log Horizon and Usagi Drop in my opinion, at least so far. 9/10 :D
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