Comic books

Walpknut said:
I feel like I have to be the weaboo of the thread and recomend you good manga:

One PiePFFFT hahahaha Nah
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There is some very good manga out there, like Shigeru Mizuki and Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Drawn & Quarterly offers an interesting selection of these guys. 'A Drifting Life' by Tatsumi is just epic.
 
Based on you guys' recommendations, I recently finished Kingdom Come, Superman: Secret Identity and also wanted. On wanted: Well, gee, it's not everyday that you finish reading the edgiest thing you've ever read. It was kinda short, but if it wasn't I wouldn't have finished it, not really my thing. The other two were, good I guess. Having them literally follow Watchmen, Hellboy, and V for Vendetta in the first batch of comics I ever read, they kind of pale in comparison. But I generally was underwhelmed by the stories, especially in Secret Identity. Downloading the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, want to follow that up with Hellblazer.
 
Akratus said:
Or do you prefer "Graphic Novel"?

Either way, I'd like to discuss them. Because I'm not very familiar with comic book territory.
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I prefer "graphic novel", myself, simply because it's so universal. Whether it's a comic book or a manga, it's easier to wash away preconceived notions when you call them "novels".

On the Eastern end of things, I have a weakness for a couple titles that are very, very lengthy, and always adult. Berserk comes to mind immediately, but its author, Miura Kentaro, has a penchant for taking breaks from it for months- if not years -at a time! The fastest he ever churns out chapters is once a month, so while it may keep you busy for a long time (each chapter is pretty lengthy, and packed with detail) once you DO catch up, as I have, you'll be waiting around a loooooong time to read anything new. XD But I can't stress enough that it's a GREAT series. It's essentially the Game of Thrones of manga; lots of blood, lots of boobs, and plot armor is nigh non-existent! =D

I've just been exploring a bunch of other titles, recently, and while most of the ones I end up following do entertain me, few I'd recommend. For instance, what "some" users fail to understand is, just cause I love and follow One Piece does NOT mean I'll recommend it. You gotta be a particular breed to be able to handle it. One necessity is the maturity to get over the fact that the art is very unique, and get past the fact that it's probably good and give it a chance. Other necessities are being able to read an ongoing story that has no end in sight (I know plenty of friends who can't stand series that are "ongoing" and they want to watch something that ends with closure after 1 or 2 seasons), having a stomach for graphic depictions of violence and gruesome mutilation, maturity to handle some very dark themes, and so on. Just the size alone is enough for me to say "I shouldn't recommend this to anyone unless they say they are all of these things on their own, AND already interested in OP". But there's other titles that, in my searches, I WOULD recommend, because I feel like their list of "necessities" is relatively smaller.

Nozoki Ana, for instance, requires that you can handle seeing boobs every chapter without stopping to reach for the lube. You also gotta be able to handle crying, and if you suffer from deep depression, you might wanna skip it. Besides those things, it's a great series, one of the only romance manga I've read that I considered ENTHRALLING, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a story that has a nice length to it with an ending, nice art, slice of life story that has some unexpected turns (though no "mind blowing twists") that will keep you engaged and wanting more up until the final chapter. Great story, it's penultimate chapter pushed me into a really dark place, emotionally, because of how a story like that can fuck with depression, but I'm real glad I read it, in the end. =)
 
On the subject of Japanese comics, I might revisit the Buddha series by Osamu Tezuka. I remember reading the first volume when I was still in high school and liking it, but can't recall a thing about the plot or premise. I wouldn't mind taking a deeper look into Concrete by Paul Chadwick and the Usagi Yojimbo series by Stan Sakai, either.
 
I'll be honest, my taste in comics is rather immature.

I'm a Spider-Man and Avenger's fan.

Recently, after the movie, I've been reading some of the older Abnett and Lanning Guardians of the Galaxy.

it's pretty great, I'm not going to read the newer stuff from the last two years as I noticed it was written by Bendis and anything that man touches that isn't Ultimate Spider-Man turns to complete shit.

I am planning to make a jump into some more "mature" comics (Though I've always personally found that statement to be an oxymoron.) and I've got a growing feeling that I'm going to be receiving a copy of Watchmen for Christmas from my SO.


Is Watchmen highly recommended then?

Anyone got any recommendations for decent comics not pushed out by "The big two"?


Also, SnapSlav mentioned Beserk, a manga which I've heard Dark Souls (My favourite game) took inspiration from.

Never read a manga, could anyone else provide some background on it/give me a basic rundown of what it is like?
 
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Read Watchman for sure. Pick up Walking Dead if you are into horror at all. It's a lot different than the tv show. Both are excellent.
 
I've actually picked up The Walking Dead in the past...

I had the same problem with the comic that I had with the show.

It starts off great (like season 1 of the show) then suddenly it's pacing drops like a brick and it never picks up again, I realise the series is about character interaction, but I find for the most part it is poorly written and for a series about The Living Dead it hardly has any actual action or interesting scenarios,at times it felt like I was reading an American version of Coronation Street.

As the issues went on, the writing kind of....I dunno....at times it felt too edgy and a bit preachy for my liking.

Different tastes for different people I guess, but I was never a fan really.
 
AlphaPromethean said:
I've actually picked up The Walking Dead in the past...

I had the same problem with the comic that I had with the show.

It starts off great (like season 1 of the show) then suddenly it's pacing drops like a brick and it never picks up again, I realise the series is about character interaction, but I find for the most part it is poorly written and for a series about The Living Dead it hardly has any actual action or interesting scenarios,at times it felt like I was reading an American version of Coronation Street.

As the issues went on, the writing kind of....I dunno....at times it felt too edgy and a bit preachy for my liking.

Different tastes for different people I guess, but I was never a fan really.
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How far did you get in the series?
 
Only reason anyone could have for disliking Watchmen is that they suck and are possibly inbred (?)

Currently reading Billy Bat (Fuck it takes so long for a new episode to be translated or to come out), and , not being american myself, I don't know if I can recommend it to some of you guys, let me just ask, is 9/11 still considered a "too soon" kind of event? Because Billy Bat goes there and hard, along with things like the JFK assassination, The Tokyo earthquake and such.
 
TorontRayne said:
Read Watchman for sure. Pick up Walking Dead if you are into horror at all. It's a lot different than the tv show. Both are excellent.
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I'm seeing a little bit of obscurity I just wanted cleared up. When you say "both are excellent", are you saying that both comic and tv show version of TWD are excellent, or both comics TWD and Watchmen are excellent? Small difference, but not being sure which one you meant has been bugging me. >_<
 
SnapSlav said:
TorontRayne said:
Read Watchman for sure. Pick up Walking Dead if you are into horror at all. It's a lot different than the tv show. Both are excellent.
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I'm seeing a little bit of obscurity I just wanted cleared up. When you say "both are excellent", are you saying that both comic and tv show version of TWD are excellent, or both comics TWD and Watchmen are excellent? Small difference, but not being sure which one you meant has been bugging me. >_<
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Both Watchmen and Walking Dead are good comics. The Walking Dead tv show ranges from good to mediocre depending on the episode and your tolerance of the butchering of the source material. They have already left a lot of things out of the show that could have greatly improved it. Namely the death of certain key characters, how they happened, who killed them, several key conversations between characters, character building, etc...

Carl is much more likable in the comic, so is Abraham, as well as Tyrese. After the prison things get real interesting with the differences between the show and comic. It diverges quite a bit more. Not for the better imo. The show drags on a bit more in several parts, which makes sense in some ways because they are trying not to catch up with the comic. I recommend the comic simply because of how well written it is. It may just be a matter of taste. I like zombie stories if they are interesting.
 
The more I read Fables, the more I hate Wolf among us and tell tale, they butchered almost everything so throughly it's obvious they didn't read the comic past the first story...
 
Walpknut said:
Zoo in winter, is cool too.
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I just finished A Zoo in Winter which, to my utter amazement, could be found at the local library, and I fully agree. It's not as good as Tatsumi's A Drifting Life, which deals with the same topic (becoming a manga artist), but I really liked the relationship between the protagonist and the sick girl. It's more emotional than Tatsumi's work, but it's good stuff.
 
Walpknut said:
The more I read Fables, the more I hate Wolf among us and tell tale, they butchered almost everything so throughly it's obvious they didn't read the comic past the first story...
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How so? If you don't mind me asking.
 
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