I loved Blankets. The black and white artwork is quite similar to Bone and SiP too - very simple yet expressive.

Adrian Tomine's "Optic Nerve" is one that I just started getting into...The good news is that it's mostly a bunch of 1 issue stories that are really really good, with it's last 3 being the first multi-issue storyline of the series. On top of that is that it's only on issue #11 so there is a lot more to come...

The bad news is that this series gets printed almost once a year. Any of the the issues 1-8 are good jump on points because they are all 1 issue stories that are really good. I recommend finding some of the trades because you get four of the stories in a book.

This is my first post!

When asked for a recommendation, one is often compelled to justify the choice by saying something like, "even if you don't read comics, I think that you will enjoy...". It's a fair assumption that anyone reading this post likely reads at least one title and probably not exclusively. I'm proud to say that I do read comics, lots of them. This is a sample of some of the titles I think might appeal to fellow SiP enthusiasts.
There is no particular hierarchy to this list.

Blankets
Bone - Also check out Rose, the prequel to Bone
Ex Machina
Tintin
Liberty Meadows
The Spirit
Will Eisner's the Contract With God Trilogy
Local
Wasteland
Mythography (Bardic Press) - A great anthology title from the 90's
Stardust
Books of Magic (Original mini-series)
The Sandman
Understanding Comics - By Scott McCloud - Every comic reader should read this.
Nausicaä
Fables
Groo - Self-contained stories makes this an easy title to pick up - Terry is not the only one who has used prose effectively in comics.
Death the High Cost of Living
Castle Waiting
Mage (the original 15 issue series)
Astèrix
Pride of Baghdad
Mouse Guard
Cerebus (it's not for everyone, but the first 2/3 is worth reading)
Elfquest (especially the original Wendy and Richard Pini material) In the 80's, my sister and I devoured the trades often squabbling over who got to read the latest release.
She Hulk (Dan Slott's run)
Moonshadow
Kingdom Come
Maus
Box Office Poison
Tricked

There are many more titles that deserve to be on this list but I decided to compile it without going through my collection. If I had gone through my collection, this list would never have come to fruition. Few things are more distracting than unread comics. Now before you complain that I didn't include <insert your favorite title here> please note that I certainly haven't read everything, I'm sure I left out bunch that I have read, and our tastes will inevitably vary. For example, I didn't include Love and Rockets since I haven't read it yet; it's one of many series that I own but haven't gotten around to reading. Whether comics or television, I tend to devour a series in one sitting. As a result, I have a lot of comics that are just waiting to be read. There are exceptions to this rule SiP and Heroes come to mind.

I don't want to go into too much detail as to why I liked a particular title; I think that would ultimately lead to comparisons, which I want to avoid.

I hope my list provides an incentive to try at least one of these titles.
Feedback is welcome and encouraged.

I look forward to future contributions to this forum.




Fade2Black

Edit: Removed some odd characters that were inserted when the board was upgraded,

Thank you for your input Fade2Black, and welcome to the forum!

hey Fade2Black! welcome

Yes, Fade2Black, how did you make your avatar? I love that the eyes move.

The avatar was created using Adobe Photoshop CS. I'll try to simplify the explanation as much as possible. I used layers. The top layer had the eyes cut out and the underlying layer was the same image. I moved the underlying layer but not the top layer. This gave the appearance that the eyes were moving. After each movement, I saved the file as a GIF image, giving a unique name to each movement. I then used Adobe ImageReady (discontinued with Adobe Photoshop CS3) to convert the files in the folder to an animated GIF. The hardest part was scaling it down to meet the imposed file size restrictions.

I have been tinkering with Photoshop a lot lately. Check out Terry's Blog for my Statue of Liberty (May archives). Terry also posted a SiP collage that I made, though not with Photoshop, (March archives).

Oh well, so much for anonymity.

Oops, that last post should have read "Katchoo of Liberty".

I strongly agree with Fade2Black on:

Bone
The Spirit (the original, anyway)
Will Eisner’s the Contract With God Trilogy... and other Eisner GNs
Stardust
Books of Magic (Original mini-series)
The Sandman
Understanding Comics - By Scott McCloud... I'd add his Reinventing Comics and Making Comics to the list.
Fables
Death the High Cost of Living
Mage both series
Cerebus (I liked a lot of the last 1/3 as well)
Elfquest (especially the original Wendy and Richard Pini material) In the 80’s, my sister and I devoured the trades often squabbling over who got to read the latest release.
Moonshadow
Kingdom Come
Maus


Fade2Black[/quote]

That takes me back! When I was in high school in the 80s, everyone in our circle was hooked of Elfquest. One friend had a subscription, and got his issue before the CBS did. So there was quite the pecking order in terms of who got to borrow and read his copy before the rest of us could get ours!

The original Elfquest (along with Camelot 3000, which does not hold up over time) was the first book I can recall where one both anticipated and dreaded the ending of a run. Since then, there's been Sandman, Preacher, Cerebus, Starman and a slew of others.

I finally got around to reading Preacher and it's, like, totally awesome. (I could do without all the What It Means to Be a Man posturing, but still.)

I love "Blade of the Immortal"

I realize this is a year old but I figured I'd chime in. For comics SIP fans will most likely also like:

As somebody else mentioned, "Ghost World" This graphic novel by Daniel Clowes is excellent with it's blue, white & black art. It's both funny and poignant. A sort of slice of life type of comic. It's about two girls who are good friends who share a hobby of observing the weird ppl in their small town. However, when they graduate high school they start to drift apart as each tries to figure out what to do next with their lives.

There is also a movie based on the graphic novel (also called "Ghost World" which starred Scarlett Johansson, Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi) which is also excellent. It's like an alternate storyline but with the same basis as the graphic novel in terms of setting and characters. Another movie based on a comic book I would also recommend is American Splendor. Although I was never inclined to read the comics themselves.

The other comic I'd recommend is "Leave it to Chance" by James Robinson and Paul Smith which is available in trade paperback...unfortunately there were only 13 issues. Both issues 12 & 13 have storylines that are left unresolved since the comic was never financially successful and sporadically published. It's not particularly deep but it's fun, light hearted with some very nice artwork. it's a for all ages fantasy story with a young heroine who wishes to follow in her father's foot steps fighting magical, occult creatures. Of course, her father is less than encouraging in this respect not wanting his daughter to have a dangerous occupation.

The rest are others I like but may not be to the taste of SIP fans.

I do like "Stardust" which is an adult oriented fantasy although that is more a novel with pretty paintings than an actual comic book/graphic novel. They even released a novel version of it without the paintings. The movie adaption was not bad with the highlight being Robert DiNiro cast as the cross dressing pirate.

"A Touch of Silver" by Jim Valentino is a good b/w graphic novel although it's about a young boy in a dysfunctional family who seeks solace in comics.

"100 Bullets" is a crime comic by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso in which seemingly random ordinary people who've suffered injustice or been framed for crimes they didn't commit are given a chance to get revenge. In this case the chance comes in the form of a briefcase with all the evidence proving who the real culprit is and a gun with 100 untraceable bullets. The interesting part is whether the person given the briefcase does indeed avenge themselves or decides not too.

"Transmetropolitan" by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson which had a complete run over 5 years is available in trades follows a gonzo journalist named Spider Jerusalem (similar to Hunter S. Thompson) in the future who fights against the authoritarian government. It has a lot of political undertones and is quite gruesome sometimes with weird scifi technology (like a bowel disruptor gun that Spider wields with glee). The art and coloring is really great. Definitely adults only.

Even today in terms of non superhero or reality based comics there is not much out there, you may have better luck with japanese manga.

Hmm, I've never thrown my hat into the ring here. Well, here goes.....

Howard the Duck-Steve Gerber's signature comics character (Thundarr and G.I. Joe probably vie for that title amongst his animated writings), and with a reason. Viciously funny, even if the references date themselves. However, given the rough history of the character, the way to go is either the Essential Howard (which features Steve's personal canon for Howard) or the Howard the Duck Omnibus (which includes Steve's canon plus the last few issues of the original book, and the Marvel half of the notorious Savage Dragon crossover) in tandem with the 2002 miniseries.

Spider-Girl/The Amazing Spider-Girl-If you're like me and absolutely friggin' hate the current state of Spidey in the mainline Marvel U, the exploits of his daughter (you know, the one supposedly killed off in the '90s for similar reasons as those that led to the dissolution of the Peter/MJ marriage?) are much more satisfying.

Astonishing X-Men-I'm not up to date by any means, but Joss' run on this book has been superb. Kitty FTW.

New Avengers-See above, and replace Bendis for Joss, and Jessica Drew for Kitty.

Buffy Season Eight-I don't need to elaborate.

Watchmen-If you haven't read it, shame on you.

Maus-Ditto.

Walt Simonson's run on The Mighty Thor-Just plain awesome, especially for the insanity of Thor being turned into a frog. Probably as close to the original myths as the Marvel U could possibly bear.

Amazing Spider-Man-Some runs need to be avoided like the plague, but others are pure gold. Stan's great (if dated), Gerry Conway's stuff is generally pretty good, JMS' run was awesome until Queseda F'ed up the whole book, and anything illustrated by John Romita, Sr. is a must-have. Also, the second story in issue 248, "The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man," will stick with you until you die.

Hard Time-When a comic outlasts the line of books it was intended to be a part of, you know it's good. Not a superhero book, per se, but the lead character has powers. Very cynical view of the justice system (and certainly the prison system), but worth reading.

Basic rules:

Jack Kirby art=awesome.

Steranko art=friggin' amazing.

John Romita, Sr.=The Marvel artist, as far as I'm concerned (there's a reason why Marvel and Sunbow's house style in the '80s was essentially Romita's).

Denny O'Neil + Neal Adams + Batman = WIN

When Steve Gerber was on his game, the book could have had stick-figure art, and it still would have ruled.

Ditto on Maus and Watchmen... those are two comics you need to read before you die.

Throwing my hat into the arena, again...

Batman: The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, both stories by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. I'll be honest, the art had to grow on me just a little bit, but the story pretty much nails down what Batman is and how he operates (I honestly wouldn't be surprised if those two stories were used as the source material for The Dark Knight).

I also recommend James Robinson's run on Starman. It's a very good "Prodigal Son comes back and takes over father's mantle" superhero story. Yet another something Diamond in the Rough that is the 1990s.

I just read "Astonishing X-Men: Gifted", by Joss Whedon, and really liked it. That said, it's made me realise how big the gaps in my X-Men knowledge are.

So, to the much more hardcore comic fans out there - which X-Men collections do I need to read to give me a good overview of the series? I know there are frikkin' millions of the things - which ones should I be on the lookout for?

Same for Batman, if you please I've read a bit of War Games, but that's about it...