finder by carla speed mcneil - sort of post-apocalyptic SF/fantasy, really dense, brilliant stuff.

promethea by alan moore, ironically this was of the last of his books from recent years that i picked up and then probably enjoyed the most. a history of magic/the occult told through the manifestation of a fictional character in a futuristic world of science heroes.

kabuki by david mack, kabuki the daughter of a comfort woman and japanese general has a tough upbringing, abused and trained to kill, she becomes a corporate assassin, one of a group of women, but everything falls apart and she has to fight for her survival, ends up in a mental hospital, before breaking free and trying to rebuild her life as a normal person. the early stuff is black and white pencil stuff, and is more of the assassins and drama, while the more recent is stuff is all fully painted, experimental, and its all more emotional and human and trippy. its brilliant stuff.

i echo transmet, 100 bullets, channel zero/dmz, and y the last man.

From those examples, I think you'll love BONE. I picked up the bible sized black and white version and it is a hilarious and epic work of genius.

Also, CAGES by Dave McKean. As good as anything he's done with other writers.

yeah bone is good fun.

Third vote for Bone.

Did anyone say 1602 yet?

wow! i just found a gold mine!
thanks!

As far as I can tell from the first collection, Kabuki is a good read. Moonshadow is interesting as well. As is Concrete.

quote:

kabuki by david mack, kabuki the daughter of a comfort woman and japanese general has a tough upbringing, abused and trained to kill, she becomes a corporate assassin, one of a group of women, but everything falls apart and she has to fight for her survival, ends up in a mental hospital, before breaking free and trying to rebuild her life as a normal person. the early stuff is black and white pencil stuff, and is more of the assassins and drama, while the more recent is stuff is all fully painted, experimental, and its all more emotional and human and trippy. its brilliant stuff.

Opps, I didn't see your post. Sorry about that. Totally agree. I'll have to borrow the rest from my friend.

Oh, how could I have forgotten this one... Miracleman!

Moore and Gaiman. You don't get much more than that.

very enthusiastic seconding for kabuki and cages, they are pretty much perfect. and

quote:

Originally posted by Albene:
Moonshadow is interesting as well.

is about as well as i could put it, possibly an aquired taste but i found it addictive. Also if you like fables and sandman etc. maybe try the Books of Magic? its a bitch to try and collect but has some really great moments, the most recent incarnation of that Life During War Time is good too, though much darker, more like Hellblazer in feel.

quote:

Originally posted by unlikely:
the most recent incarnation of that Life During War Time is good too, though much darker, more like Hellblazer in feel.

i particularly enjoyed "life during war time", though a lot of that was the art, big fan of dean ormiston's art.

I'll have to find the trade, but, for me "Life During Wartime" started out GREAT! and then quickly diminished as the nature of the two realities and exactly what could and could not be done became even more vague. After around #6 (I think) I realized I was in it more for the art (great) than the story.

It remained imaginative, but lost focus.

Wasteland by Antony Johnston. I stumbled across this one last month and immediately bought the current graphic novels. There's a slight learning curve with it (much like reading Finder), but it's well worth it.

Preacher by Garth Ennis.

Totally off-it's face weird, perverse, and laugh out loud (when you know you shouldn't) funny.

Pride of Baghdad. also by Brian K. Vaughan. one of my favourite graphic novels (once again, many thanks mythos for my very own copy)

I'd second anything by Brian K. Vaughan, especially Y: The Last Man and Pride of Baghdad. I also enjoyed Runaways a lot, although I must say that it took a while for the art to grow on me - and it is a hundred times more effective in hardback size. Getting the hardbacks made me re-evaluate the style and come to love it.

I'd also very much recommend Craig Thompson's Blankets. Beautiful stuff. And while I can't recommend it without reservations due to the odd intrusions of his religion (I don't mind religion, but I'm not sure how well it gels with the worlds he creates), Doug TenNapel's done some wonderfully weird comics. Great art style and highly silly.

Preacher and Sandman can do no wrong. But if you want something really urban and hip, try DMZ. I heard Scalped's good too.

All right ...

I would recommend Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The series starts off in the late Victorian period -- where Alan Quartermain, Mina Murray, the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Captain Nemo are assembled into a group to defend the British Empire against all manner of dangers. What I liked about it is that our literature is that world's actual physical history. The Black Dossier is that same principle, only taking place in the 1950s after the fall of the IngSoc Government in England. *does not say more*

I ... what ... third or fourth or really just support everyone's decision to recommend the entire Sandman run.

Osamu Tezuka's Buddha is an awesome series as well. Eight books in the series I believe. It's ludicrous at times, and really tragic at other times. The drawing style is very reminiscent of the old Disney cells, but there something really transcendent about it. I'm reading Phoenix now, and I think what Tezuka tried to do in that series was all the more sharpened and honed -- made all the more effective in Buddha. It also makes pacifism look really fucking cool. Um ... I don't know how much my rambling is helping my point here, so let me just say, "It's cool."

quote:

I'd also very much recommend Craig Thompson's Blankets. Beautiful stuff. And while I can't recommend it without reservations due to the odd intrusions of his religion (I don't mind religion, but I'm not sure how well it gels with the worlds he creates)

And Thirith, while I know this was posted a while ago, I feel like I have to say that I can see how the religious intrusion functions very effectively -- in Blankets at least. I can't really speak for the rest of Thompson's works though. I liked this one too. It reminded me of an even more relatable Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man story.

Also, Silk Underground -- Fables is awesome. I just finished reading Volume 10. Holy. Shite.

ETA: You might like Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind, and Akira. Post-apocalyptic awesomeness all around.

quote:

Originally posted by Mythos:


Also, Silk Underground -- Fables is awesome. I just finished reading Volume 10. Holy. Shite.

what what!

damn! i've not read past comic 51...and now i neeeed to!

Walking Dead, The Goon, Drafted, Witchblade, Darkness, Hellboy, Supernatural: Rising son, Fallen Angel, Green Lantern, GLC,

I just tapped into the discretionary spending account and bought these trades:

X-men: Messiah Complex

Silver Surfer: Requiem

Silver Surfer: In thy Name

Has anybody else here read them? Good, bad, meh?

I don't think anyone mentioned it yet, but The Invisibles by Grant Morrison is pretty good.