Comic Books

[indjaseemun]

How many of you are comic book nerds? I know I am! I sho' love my comics!

I really enjoying The Invisibles now. I like Hellblazer, and have read many others in my lifetime including many japanese ones. Comics are a cultural thing and I enjoy many brazilian ones also, nothing like identifying more with the stories and seeing a bit of modern mythology by competent artists.

There is a fantasy RPG brazilian comic that was published in the USA by Image called Victory.

I plan to read Hellboy in the future and the series Incal by Moebius.

[crow]

I was never a comic-fan, but I did find Silver Surfer engaging, for a short while.

[hell]

Conan is my fave..and now (thx torrent for this) HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE.

[lord.aspie]

Transmetropolitan is cool.

Most comics are pureshitforgays though.

[Nightspirit]

Hell yeah.

The Conan comic incarnations take the cake. The latest one in the 2000's era started by Dark Horse and continuing into the Queen of The Black Coast arc in more recent times is by far the best rendition. Heart-wrenching tales of savagery and woe. The Marvel Savage Sword "magazines" that are published into compendiums by Dark Horse from the 70's are also very cool and antiquated too.

The Sandman is something I've avoided for years because of skepticism of the hysteria seen in typical english undergrad programs over it. After giving it a chance, it's definitely entertaining, and reaches for things that I suppose comic books at the time were not known for (literary value); however, in this quest I think Neil Gaiman loses an aspect of what is important in comic rendering- which is poise and excellence. It turns into a clownish pageantry of global mythologies and religions at some points. Regardless, I like the series, and I don't know why.

Swamp Thing, fucking Swamp Thing. The sundry gnostic turns it takes, especially later in the series is awesome.

For Manga, I like "Bio-Booster Armor Guyver" and "Blade of the Immortal."

[Umbrage]

Surrealistic comics:
Little Nemo (available online because very old)
http://www.comicstriplibrary.org/browse/results?character=33

Philémon (French comic from the sixties. No idea if they've ever been translated to English)
http://www.comicvine.com/philemon/49-33755/

Sci-Fi:
The Trigan Empire

Barbarian:
Conan the Barbarian (released by Marvel, I've never read the Dark Horse versions)
Sláine (The Horned God was cool, never read the other series, Simon Bisley also did some of the best Lobo comics)
Rahan (French comic about a prehistoric man)

Cowboy:
Blueberry (French comic, carries the vibe of "Once Upon A Time In The West")

Comedy:
All the dark stuff by French artist Serre.
Lobo (some are hilarious, others are so-so, the Unamerican Gladiators series is one of the funniest)



Manga:
NOTHING.

[E]

Hermann Huppen made some very good comics in the European tradition. Movie-style story telling with an a-moral or misantropic outlook.
The series Jeremiah and Towers of Bois-Maury are highly recommended. Both have only a couple albums available in English.

[indjaseemun]

I'm surprised at the mature way stories are handled on Hellblazer - Specially the story "The Fear Machine" -  it's the comic that got me to like comics again.

[Humanicide]

I loved reading Spawn when I was younger, haven't kept up with it though. The imagery and aesthetic really drew me in as a youngin.

Lobo is the fucking shit. Total chaotic neutral. He even killed Santa Claus.

[aquarius]

Manga:
NOTHING.

Really? I don't know much about comics but I read the four books of Nausicaä a few years ago and it was pretty good as I remember, certainly it had its oddball moments of profundity.

[Umbrage]

Manga:
NOTHING.

Really? I don't know much about comics but I read the four books of Nausicaä a few years ago and it was pretty good as I remember, certainly it had its oddball moments of profundity.

I don't like the aesthetics of manga (huge eyes, hair that blows in the wind even when the character is inside, schoolgirls with huge breasts, all those clichés) The drawing style strikes me as rather childish.

[Humanicide]

I don't like the aesthetics of manga (huge eyes, hair that blows in the wind even when the character is inside, schoolgirls with huge breasts, all those clichés) The drawing style strikes me as rather childish.

I thought that was a particular style exclusive to anime, or Japanese animation. Does manga from other countries in other parts of the world adopt this aesthetic too?

[Jim Necroslaughter]

I have read The Invisibles, Transmetropolitan, Swamp Thing, Conan - I can second all of those.  Swamp Thing under the direction of writer Alan Moore and his re-working of Swamp Thing's origin is phenomenal.  As for Conan, it is said by some that the high point was when it was drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith.

For European style comics I would recommend The Metabarons.  Sophisticated "science fantasy on an epic scale...heavily influenced by Dune."  Violent and completely mad.

For Japanese comics, nothing more definitive than Lone Wolf & Cub.  No goofy manga drawing.  Violent samurai saga - strikes the same chord as a Spaghetti Western.

#1 American creator/writer/artist is Frank Miller.  Original Sin City and Dark Knight Returns are classics.

[Examiner]

I don't like the aesthetics of manga (huge eyes, hair that blows in the wind even when the character is inside, schoolgirls with huge breasts, all those clichés) The drawing style strikes me as rather childish.

I thought that was a particular style exclusive to anime, or Japanese animation. Does manga from other countries in other parts of the world adopt this aesthetic too?

Most anime is just an animated adaption of manga, so the aesthetically it is pretty much the same. As much as I have seen there is a lot more aesthetic variation between different genres.

[§Transcix]

How many of you are comic book nerds?

Query: If you self-describe with this label, do you mean to admit any sort of derogatory connotation?