(Part 2) Best graphic novels according to redditors
We found 45,328 Reddit comments discussing the best graphic novels. We ranked the 7,350 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
The old Joe Kelly Deadpool stuff is fantastic. You could definitely start there.
It’s not for children. It’s a tongue in cheek book like the book “Go the Fuck to Sleep” It is real bible stories though. Here’s the amazon link from Canada; it’s got a decent-sized description. https://www.amazon.ca/Awkward-Moments-Found-Average-Childrens/dp/149217744X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=61491124739&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgIyb2amB5AIVj_5kCh2I6QTsEAAYASAAEgK2r_D_BwE&hvadid=310045490054&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9001437&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=9070493728104206002&hvtargid=kwd-299479425298&hydadcr=8740_9621873&keywords=awkward+moments+children%27s+bible&qid=1565750114&s=gateway&sr=8-1
Circumcised that url for you:
https://www.amazon.ca/Awkward-Moments-Found-Average-Childrens/dp/149217744X
Start with Warren Ellis' run and then when you're done with that you go Jeff Lemire.
Batman: Year One is a fantastic way to begin. It introduces the major elements, tells a solid story, and the art work is fantastic.
The Long Halloween and Dark Victory are my next two suggestions. They're also my personal favorites (and Christian Bales!).
Others of note:
The Killing Joke
Arkham Asylum
Batman: Absolution
Batman: The Cult
A Death in the Family
Batman: Hush
I've got a few more but they're a bit scattered in terms of story line or canon. I'm also an outlier but I didn't care for "The Dark Knight Returns."
Try this one. It's one of my favorite Cap comics and probably one of the best Captain America stories Marvel has ever done.
Had I seen the show beforehand?
No, nor had I previously seen or read any of the other associated works.
What did I think of the episode?
I thought the first episode felt incomplete. In an effort to give the show a fair chance, I therefore watched the first two episodes. I'm still ruminating on what I think of Death Note on the limited basis of these two episodes alone, but here are some thoughts. (Oh: and to the extent it matters, I watched a subtitled version of these episodes rather than a dubbed version.)
The idea of a human having literally godlike powers can be a source of comedy or of [creepy drama](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734580/ "Huh: TIL Cloris Leachman was on this episode of 'The Twilight Zone'..."), though it's clear Death Note is aiming more towards the latter. There's certainly something seductive about the idea of you having nearly unlimited power, though it's a cause for panic that anyone else might have such power.
There are a number of themes such a premise could fruitfully explore, too: the corruption of absolute power, the social isolation inherent to having the power to pass judgment upon others, and the toll of keeping a dangerous secret.
On the basis of "Shinsei"/"Rebirth" alone, here's where I speculated Death Note might have going with its premise: a young man acquires godlike powers, and the show explores how seductive such power is, as well as the morality of his inevitable abuse of them. Ryuk, the death god who dropped this death note into the human world in the first place, would be looking over his shoulder, simultaneously a devil on Light's shoulder encouraging him to do more and possibly the only entity that could understand and enjoy Light's inevitable crash as he begins to make mistakes.
Based on the second episode, "Taiketsu"/"Confrontation", the series is set to proceed in a very different direction. For all I know, the series will still explore some of what I anticipated on the basis of "Rebirth" alone. In trying to avoid possible spoilers, I'll just say that Death Note reminds me as much of past Weekly Watch Hannibal as of, say, past Weekly Watch Legion.
Not only are the death gods sharp, angular, and enormous, but the incongruity of Light being the only one able to see or hear Ryuk results in some interesting visual juxtapositions of Ryuk with very mundane settings. (Ryuk is the funniest character so far, too.) For that matter, more of the artwork for the show is in black-and-white than I'd have expected, but this makes sense as a choice for depicting the Realm of the Death Gods. The fact that Ryuk is so imposing but hasn't—yet—been overtly threatening is also an interesting choice.
There are some other visual touches I appreciated, too. For example, when Light realizes that the Death Note actually works, the background in his bedroom fades to black. The montage where Light kills off a number of criminals is wonderfully kinetic, especially given that all he's really doing is writing.
Consider some other characters motivated to rid the world of crime in comparably dramatic ways. Batman, Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, and Rorschach from Watchmen, among others, come to mind. Each has a discernible personality and motivation for doing so: revenge, family legacy, disgust, a traumatic childhood, etc. Someone who wants to pursue this, especially outside the law, typically has some character-based explanation for why he—and it is nearly always a "he"—would seek to mete out justice unilaterally. With that in mind, what do we actually learn about who Light Yagami is as a character?
In "Rebirth" alone, I'd argue we don't learn much at all. Light's allegedly incredibly smart, but we see minimal evidence of Light being smart in "Rebirth". He's a stereotypically sullen, jaded teenage boy, like some Japanese Holden Caulfield, but with nothing that distinguishes Light's personality or psychology from that of any other smart, gloomy adolescent. (Unless you exclude Light's boundless arrogance and megalomania, I suppose.)
"Rebirth" tells us how smart Light is rather than showing us, which is doubly frustrating. First, "show, don't tell" is basic to good storytelling. Second, the very next episode demonstrates that the show is capable of showing rather than telling, so not having done so in "Rebirth" feels like a missed opportunity. In "Confrontation", the false-bottom drawer and mechanism to burn up the Death Note are creative solutions for Light's security issues (though Light seems disproportionately self-satisfied with his own cleverness).
Exacerbating this is that Light is the series' protagonist, and giving your single most important character such thin characterization is a baffling choice. Maybe the show's point is that every teenage boy has these impulses, that Light just happens to be the one who discovered the Death Note, and he also happens to be particularly smart for his age.
Of course, with the introduction of the otherwise unnamed character "L" in "Confrontation", some of the characterization of Light gets undermined. However smart Light is, it's clear that L can readily outsmart him. Much like Light, though, L indulges in self-congratulation (and publicly, too!) that seems dangerously counterproductive to his desire to identify and apprehend an international mass murderer.
I get why the writers of Death Note would want this, since it sets up a mutual cat-and-mouse pursuit between Light and L. But at this point in the story, I have a minimal understanding of who Light Yagami is as a character, and I have virtually no understanding of who L is as a character. As a result, I can't see how their decision follow from a character-based explanation—at least not based on what's provided in the first two episodes. I expect (or at least hope) that future episodes help us understand these characters' motivations beyond "teenage boy acquires godlike powers, becomes supernatural fascist". At this point, though, the storytelling feels far too much like "and then..." rather than "therefore/but/meanwhile".
I say this, in full disclosure, as someone who has minimal knowledge of Japanese culture or history. The following, though, struck me as story elements that seemed out of place, at least relative to what little I do know about Japan:
None of this is a complaint, to be clear. But I found it interesting that much of the story would make just as much sense if it were set in New York or Rome or many other western cities, especially at their most crime-ridden.
Will you keep watching? Why/why not?
I don't know. I'd be more inclined to do so if I had a more reliable access to future episodes, but for now such access is intermittent.
[W]hich episode would you recommend to those unsure if they will continue?
Watching "Taiketsu"/"Confrontation" (season 1, episode 2) is, I expect, necessary to understanding Death Note enough to decide whether one would want to continue. This isn't to say that "Confrontation" will be sufficient to convert everyone, but I'd definitely recommend continuing with episode 2 before jumping ahead to any other episodes.
I haven’t bought it yet, but plan to tonight, looks like it will go nice with my other bible-esque books my family isn’t happy about.
It's all one run, it wasn't part of the regular Superman title. It was only 12 issues, so really the best way to read it is to just buy the trade. It's not divided up or anything, just one big graphic novel.
Here's a link to it on Amazon for anyone interested. I seriously can't recommend it enough.
> It’s so confusing, why shouldn’t I just be able to follow his story from beginning to present?
> (I’m using Batman as an example but really I’d like help understanding how to follow comics in general as they’re all laid out this way, with overlapping arcs and timelines and such)
This isn't entirely how comics work. In general, it's not the only way other mediums work either. The REQUIREMENT that everything follows a strict, traditional/conventional 3-act structure (beginning, middle, end) is self-imposed and not necessary for good story-telling. The "beginning" of comics happened decades ago and the "end" is nowhere in sight; comics are perpetually stuck in the "middle".
You're already used to non-traditional narrative structure; it's used very often in other mediums. Why does Star Wars get a pass but not superhero comics? Did you see how Darth Vader "became" Darth Vader before he was introduced for the first time? Do you refuse to watch/read/play anything that will potentially have a prequel and ruin your "sense" of chronology? Did Memento or even Pulp Fiction melt your mind? When you go watch Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay, there aren't going to be in-depth introductions for every character.
It's OK to embrace your preferences. Most people like following stories from beginning to end. Now that there is 70+ years of comic history to explore, third parties have attempted ordering it all in some subjective, complicated chronology. It's not really possible, though. How do you handle flashbacks, especially when they're embedded in another story? Do you have to change the chronology to per-panel precision? What about simultaneous story releases? Alternate universes/timelines that are fully/partially "canon" and/or merged/retconned later? Varieties of characterization by multiple writers/artists?
Most of what made these superheroes "cool" in the first place was very topical. What powers do they have? What does their costume look like? Their backstories and character growth/development were fleshed out over the coming decades, more specifically in the "modern" age of comics when the demographic started transitioning to include adults.
There's no "perfect" or "definitive" sequence of events that Batman's story occurred in. That severely limits creators from writing new stories for the character without requiring hard continuity reboots. If you start solidifying that Batman grew up in X, met character Y, fought character Z, in a strict order that can't be changed, then you can't write stories that occur in between those moments. If you plan out Batman's entire chronology to fit a realistic calendar where Bane broke his back on Wednesday and the Court of Owls revealed themselves on Friday, then you (1) will find it won't make sense (because that's not how comics are made) and (2) are stripping all of the "magic" of comics away. Keep in mind: 70+ year old shared universes are an unprecedented achievement of storytelling. No other medium has accomplished something of this scale for this long. You should expect to think of something unique like that a little differently than you might be used to.
I think it's easier to get into comics when you drop the "need" to read EVERYTHING, IN ORDER. You should just read self-contained stories and treat them like separate stories. Think of it like a jigsaw picture puzzle that you're solving one piece at a time. You won't see the big picture (continuity) until you manually piece random pieces of it together over time. You even start to develop your own "methodology" (head-canon, community discussion, etc.) of putting those pieces together (reading comics) in a way that makes sense to you personally. Comics should feel more like self-discovery/exploration than procedure/work.
This is (roughly) how I got into Batman and what I suggest to new readers:
In the Luke/Danny relationship Danny is the funny man, Luke is the straight man. As to how Danny is supposed to act, well, he's light hearted, funny and frequently in over his head. He's courageous, well mannered and generally the everyman. He's closer to Paul Rudd's Ant Man than Netflix's Danny. My problems with Danny on the show is he was petulant, WAY too serious, way to whiny and just a pompous dick (also the martial arts was terrible). I'd highly recommend picking up this: https://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Iron-Fist-Complete-Collection/dp/0785185429/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=8JKZ1FGGBJ3BN77B60RD You'll love it!
https://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/1401245250
> What can I watch or read that will give me a solid background on Watchmen?
Watchmen.
absolutely. (though my recommendations will probably be pretty cliche/entry level in the world of comics)
If you want to stick to recent marvel, but want an "everyman" story, check out Matt Fraction's run on Hawkeye, where it basically just explores his everyday life. it's comedic and fun and Aja's art is wonderfully simple.
Another current series that is great (and will be constantly recommended) is Saga. Brian K. Vaughan's writing is great and Fiona Staples is one of the best digital artists in comics. The story is like star wars on acid, but with a wholesome focus, at it's core, on family. it's weird, funny, progressive, and quite graphic. interesting, sympathetic characters. Highly recommend it.
Another classic Brian K Vaughan series is Y: The Last Man. All men on earth simultaneously die, barring the protagonist, Yorick. Vaughan's writing is great in this as well.
One of my favorite series from all time is Neil Gaiman's famous Sandman. the series is basically stories about storytelling, with the (occasional) main character being Morpheus, "god" of dreams (though he has many other names/titles/definitions). it is often surreal and appropriately dreamlike. Gaimain loves his deities and mythologies and the world of Sandman simultaneously creates its own mythology while including/alluding to all those that humans have created IRL. Sandman's depiction of "reality" changes as drastically and frequently as the constantly shifting roster of illustrators involved.
Around that same time was Grant Morrison's Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth. while this was just a one-shot novel, it was very dark and directly focused on the psychological aspects of batman as a character. the idea that batman is as crazy as his enemies is nothing new, but this book epitomized it. like Sandman, very late 80's/early 90's feel.
another trippy comic i love is Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing. Moore reworked swamp thing as a sympathetic monster with themes focusing on identity and memory, while still being within the horror genre. Alan Moore is probably a literal genius and he's known for his many other famous classics, like Watchmen (probably the most classic/important comic, which is also about comics), V for Vendetta, and From Hell. Anything by Moore is a safe bet and he sets the bar for writing in the comic medium.
If you are more interested in art than story, my biggest reccomendation would be literally anything drawn by Jean Giraud, aka "Mœbius." He is probably a national hero in france and he was one of the most celebrated comic artists of all time. he made masterful linework look easy and he has a genius understanding of simple composition and color.
there are tons of smaller, fun books/series, many of which i have yet to read, but the ones i listed are all pretty standard, accessible recommendations. definitely check out a few! Edit: typos
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson.
Available from Vertigo.
The best way to start, imo, is with graphic novels/collections.
Going into a store and buying individual issues is going to be overwhelming, as you experienced.
As a DC reader I can recommend some books for you:
Batman - Batman Vol.1: Court of Owls has the first few issues of New 52 Batman and it's fantastic.
Superman - All-Star Superman is a great book, and widely considered THE best Superman book.
You can get the original 12-issue comic series in a collection here, it is all you'll need to understand the Watchmen world, every other work is just supplementary. The graphic novel is very highly-regarded and popular in the comicbook community so DC obviously wants the world to keep on going in one way or the other.
But it's honestly one of my favorite books, and very thought-provoking too. Would highly recommend.
Frank Millers Dark Knight Returns
Fight fire with fire: https://www.amazon.com/Awkward-Moments-Childrens-Bible-Vol/dp/149217744X
The one set between 4 and 5 is by Kieron Gillen. This link is for Vol. 1 of 4.
Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 1 (Star Wars (Marvel)) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785192557/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_JubMAbTD07K2J
The one set between 3 and 4 is written by Charles Soule has one volume and is currently ongoing.
Star Wars: Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith Vol. 1: Imperial Machine https://www.amazon.com/dp/1302907441/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_4xbMAbV59P8H8
The volume 1 omnibus collects all of brubaker and fractions comics. Volume 2 is by someone else and not as good. Just to be clear its this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Immortal-Iron-Fist-Complete-Collection/dp/0785185429
I would definitely recommend Cable and Deadpool. It's essentially a buddy cop series, and it has all of the mouthing off that makes Deadpool easy to love.
Edit: also Deadpool Classic Vol. 1: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0785131248/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/192-2822585-4071148
I'll be that guy, do it anyway. Start with Green Lantern Rebirth (not the current run), then keep collecting them cheap. Find them used if you can. The build up, then the actual story arc for Sinestro Corp War is still one of the coolest things I've ever read.
Or just fork over the cash for https://www.amazon.com/Green-Lantern-Geoff-Johns-Omnibus/dp/140125134X/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1495727443&sr=8-2-fkmr2&keywords=green+lander+omnibus
I used to not give two shits about Green Lantern. Then I kept hearing about this Blackest Knight Event and what it represented. After that, I now know too much and GL, and that part of the DC universe is always in my mind for DC related stuff. You can't have a JL movie without Hal or John. I'm sorry, DC/WB, you just can't....but, we'll see.
I don't read a lot of action-y graphic novels, so I can't really help you with finding more stuff like Watchmen, Wanted, etc. (However, you have to promise me you'll read Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.)
But I can recommend more laid-back graphic novels if you're ever in the mood for something different! Give American Born Chinese, Anya's Ghost, or Daytripper a shot sometime.
Persepolis and Maus are also graphic novel must reads, no matter what genre you usually favor. And Scott Pilgrim was super popular recently, with great cause.
And, if you're willing to settle down for a long haul and read your comics backwards, I really can't recommend Fullmetal Alchemist enough. 27 volumes, but it's the best action series I've ever read and one of my all-time favorites of any sort of media. Check out a stack of it from the library and you'll fly right through it. That's what I did one afternoon, and my time has never been better spent.
Edit: More suggestions, typos.
I like well-drawn comics, but that doesn't mean they have to be intricate and detailed - just that they match the content very well. For example, I think John Campbell (Pictures for Sad Children) is great because he can get the emotion of scenes across really well with his simple drawings. (Though I equally love artists like David Hellman.)
I like funny comics as well as serious comics. I dislike comics that aren't even remotely funny (but are trying to be). I dislike comics that could have been funny, but they ruined themselves by either going on too long (Ctrl Alt Delete) or by explaining their punchline ((Ctrl Alt Delete) again).
I love comics that are consistently good, or at least only foul occasionally.
I dislike comics that are nothing but essays with pictures added. (I'm looking at you, 50% of Subnormality.) I think the comic form is a unique medium in itself and should not be treated in such a manner.
I like comics that are self-contained to a certain extent, in that either each comic is a unique situation (SMBC) or they only have particular story arcs (Dr. McNinja) and don't just go on forever with no resolution (Megatokyo). This is why, when I go to comics stores, I buy comic books (like Blankets) rather than serials (like X-Men). (There are exceptions to this rule, when a comic book is finished and the entire collection is sold as one, like Watchmen or Marvel 1602.)
I'm sure there's more, these are just my thoughts for now.
With Brian Azzarello's version of Lex:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/401200.Lex_Luthor
Also his version of Joker is Phenomenal:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Joker-Brian-Azzarello/dp/1401215815
And I've been reading/collecting since the 80s. Trust me, it's an addiction worth feeding.
By now you've had millions of "read the graphic novel" responses... but please let me explain why.
Don't get me wrong, I honestly despise this response when I'm trying to have a discussion about a movie. Be it Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or even Twilight, people often start with "OMG the book is sooo much better." This is often true, but their movies are still good representations of the stories and usually capture the essence of the books well.
I honestly don't feel like this is the case with The Watchmen. The movie is fun, and I almost never read, but the original graphic novel is such an incredibly deep story that the movie doesn't even hold a candle to it. If you feel strongly enough about how brilliant the movie is, just wait until you read the source material. I think that's the reason why you aren't getting much actual discussion about the story, everybody that wants to talk about The Watchmen wants to talk about the sheer brilliance of the graphic novel, which in almost every aspect, the movie falls short. Here are some examples:
I'll stop there. The ridiculous thing is that I could go on. This is why you aren't getting much discussion about the movie, because compared to the novel there isn't much to talk about. Again, I despise people telling me to read the story when I just want to talk about it. However, this story is truly an exception, and at a price of less than $20, you seriously need to read it. Just think about this: My reasoning for why you should read the graphic novel is longer than your original post. I tried to be as concise as possible, but the differences between the novel and the movie go deeper than "oh it was this character that actually said that in the books blah blah blah." The entire narrative is different and brilliantly executed, while the movie feels like the product of a director that didn't truly understand the story and wanted to make a movie that sold tickets. Maybe you won't find the novel as stunning now because it's been over-hyped to you and you'll naturally want to defend your love of the movie, but I implore you to let go of those inhibitions and truly enjoy the novel.
In summation, and I truly feel like a jerk for saying this, read the graphic novel.
This essay explains the foreskin dowry incident in a lot more detail: What the Bible Reveals About Circumcision and Sexual Violence.
^ This image is from a book called Awkward Moments Children's Bible*, a book of weird incidents in the Bible presented as if for children as a joke.
Watchmen and that's it. The additional stuff is completely optional and nowhere near as good.
My favorite (mock) children's bible stories book by far. Gets pretty good reviews, too.
Well, I'm not certain that I could recommend other novels outside of the Batman mythos, but there are a couple of Batman graphic novels that explore the same concepts and thoughts of being Batman as does The Dark Knight Rises. Most of these are either graphic novels or trade paperbacks. Trade paperbacks (TPBs) are collections of a series of comics that would come out weekly all bundled into one nice thick book. Graphic novels were not published as comics, but as books themselves.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns -
This series has Batman returning to Gotham after 10 years of absence. It's critically acclaimed and generally hailed as one of, if not the, best Batman TPB/graphic-novel.
Knightfall (Part One | Part Two | Part Three) This TPB is all about Bane and Batman. It details Bane's origins, his rise, the moment where he breaks Batman's back, Bruce's recovery, and all the chaos that ensues. Three massive volumes of about 600 pages each, this will take you a while to pour through, but it is one hell of a ride.
No Man's Land - (Volume One | Volume Two | Volume Three | Volume Four - not released yet | Volume Five - not released yet) - This massive Batman event has Gotham going through a cataclysmic earthquake which labels it as a federal disaster area. With no law and total anarchy, the rules of Gotham change and the role of Batman transforms. The second half of TDKR is pretty much this, except this comic series explores the concept much further. Seriously, all in all, this is about 1500 pages of pure Batman. And I'll be damned if these aren't just about the best 1500 pages of Batman out there.
These are all the comics I can think of that are related to TDKR. If you're interested in the books that inspired TDK or Batman Begins, I recommend The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, The Killing Joke, Birth of the Demon, and Batman: Year One.
Hope I helped!
Anything by Alan Moore. Promethea is a personal fave, but might not be the best place to start. Top Ten is also very good if cop drama overlaid with some super-hero stuff sounds appealing. Watchman is a cornerstone of the form, but you will definitely appreciate it more if/when you have a fair bit of 'capes & tights' superhero work under your belt.
Blankets is just stunning. I've bought it 3 times already and have the new hardcover edition on perorder.
Stardust is another great one by Neil Gaiman. It's also unique in that if you enjoy the story you can experience it in 3 different, but all very good, forms. The original comic, the prose novel, and the film all work quite well and give a nice window into what bits a pieces work better in each form.
Of course no comic list is complete without Maus and Understanding Comics.
The run that starts with the Warren Ellis arc seen here is really good both in quality and for bringing in new readers (the trade for that starts with "From the Dead").
I was introduced to the character from a the slightly older Charlie Huston/David Finch run that happened around the time of Civil War. Sadly, it looks like the physical trades are out of print, but I'm sure they'll reprint a collection for it in anticipation for the series.
I've been reading comics for a while but haven't read any Moon Knight yet and plan on doing so before the show comes out.
The main runs for beginners are:
Charlie Huston/David Finch's Run (Moon Knight #1-13) (this revitalized the character for the modern day)
Warren Ellis/Declan Shalvey's Run (Moon Knight #1-6) (critically acclaimed run)
Jeff Lemire/Greg Smallwood (Moon Knight #1-14) (another critically acclaimed run)
It would probably be easier by using Marvel Unlimited (Marvel's Netflix style subscription to comics)
Or if you want the physical copies your local comic book store. You can try Amazon but it could hard since certain books are out of print.
Huston/Finch's Run Vol. 1 + Vol. 2 - on Amazon
Ellis/Shalvey's Run - on Amazon
Lemire/Smallwood's Run - on Amazon
NOTE: You don't strictly have to read the runs in order. It's like watching Age of Ultron then going back and watching Thor 2. As long as you understand the basic chronology (Huston->Ellis->Lemire) you can read them in any order you want. I've been told the runs are pretty compartmentalized/modular.
Also if you plan on getting Marvel Unlimited it works best with using the app (like on a tablet or a big phone). You can try the browser but I always found it too clunky.
That picture is from Moon Knight: The Bottom, the first volume of the 2006 series by Charlie Huston and David Finch. I highly recommend reading that series.
I also recommend the 2014-2015 series starting with Moon Knight: From the Dead by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, and Jordie Bellaire. After reading that series, hop onto the current series starting with Moon Knight: Lunatic by Jeff Lemire, Greg Smallwood, and Jordie Bellaire.
You don't need much context to read these series; they'll explain Moon Knight's backstory to you. I recommend using my Marvel Universe 616/Prime Earth Moon Knight Comic Book Chronology Project to keep track of how these series are ordered and also to see what else is available. Check out the Trade Paperback Collections tab for a list of trades.
All Star Superman by Morrison and Quietly is a great arc that captures a lot of what makes Superman well, Superman.
Red Son looks at how things might have gone if instead of ending up in Kansas, he landed in Soviet Russia.
/r/comicbooks can help too!
A lot of 'I'm not a fan of Superman but it was good' folks here.
Might I suggest some really good Superman comics?
Superman - Action Comics Vol. 1 - Part of DC's New 52 reboot, these comics are by Grant Morrison (who is a great writer and something of an expert on comics, especially Superman) and shows a young Superman at the very beginnings of his superheroics.
All-Star Superman - Another Grant Morrison work, All-Star Superman is an Elseworlds (set outside main canon) that is by and large considered one of the definitive works of Superman stories. A little camp with lots of love given to the Golden and Silver Ages but played straight and fantastic story.
Kingdom Come - Another Elseworlds set in a dark, alternate future, where Clark has given up being Superman and the world pretty much standing on the edge. Amazing art by Alex Ross.
Superman: Red Son - An Elseworlds in which Superman landed in Communist Russia as an infant and raised by the state. The concept is silly but it's honestly a great read.
Superman: Birthright - A retelling and modernization of Superman's origin, it's a pretty good read and probably what Man of Steel is drawing a lot of inspiration from.
Superman Annual #11: "For the Man Who Has Everything" - It's a Superman story written by Alan Moore. I don't want to say anymore due to potential spoilers.
Rubix89 also said "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?" which is pretty much a response to the question of 'What's so great about the big blue boyscout in this day and age?'
Or maybe you would think differently about the character because most of the time it's not about how badly Superman is going to fuck shit up, it's about himself and what it means to be take up that role. That's what this did great at accomplishing.
Do graphic novels count? If so: Watchmen
Start with Winter Soldier by Ed Brubaker then continue through all of Captain America by Brubaker.
This is a solid starting ground. The whole run is solid.
It can sometimes kinda work that way with American comics...
For Deadpool, you can start with the Deadpool Classic books. There are four volumes, with a fifth one coming out soon. It does get a little confusing after that, though. I don't think the Classic books have collected the entirety of the first Deadpool series, which led into Agent X, which I'm not sure has been collected in trade paperbacks either. That then lead into Cable & Deadpool, of which there are three volumes. And then after that you have the current Deadpool series. There are trade paperbacks of those, but the numbering starts at volume 1... which can be really confusing if you want to start at the "real" beginning. Then there's the various mini-series titles which I won't even go into for fear of rage.
TL;DR: Start with the Deadpool Classic books, not plain ol' Deadpool.
Now, with Spider-Man, you have a few options:
You can just get into Ultimate Spider-Man, which is the "updated" or "modernized" version of Spider-Man that started in 2000. Very good stories, and reading them is relatively straightforward as far as Marvel goes. Start at volume 1 and move forward rationally from there for 22 volumes. Then the stupid starts with Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man volume 1, which is basically Ultimate Spider-Man volume 23.
The other options are the Essentials books, which collect the "old school" Spider-Man titles, dating back to the 60s, in big, black-and-white volumes. There are a few titles: Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, and Web of Spider-Man which I think will have an Essentials volume coming out later this year. There's also an adjective-less Spider-Man title from 1990 (91?) but I don't know if it's been given the Essentials treatment at all.
Or you could buy this thing and read until you fall over.
How about Asterios Polyp?
It could be described as a serious work: an architect's apartment burns down, and he leaves on a journey to find meaning and examine his life. Some really clever art to compliment the themes and characters of the story as well.
Jason is kind of unique. He tells fiction with often long passages of no words. He has a really subtle sense of humor. You would have to look to alt comix for similar comics, stuff like;
Daniel Clowes - He's got a dry sense of humor and often writes satirically about life and culture. You can check out the movies he made with Terry Zwigoff, Ghost World and Art School Confidential.
Charles Burns' work is often surreal and some what disturbing though fascinating at the same time. he is most famous for his massive Black Hole about teen age STD's gone wild. He just finished a trilogy which is part auto bio and part surreal dream sequences, X'ed Out, The Hive, and Sugar Scull
I guess you could include David Mazzucchelli's Asterios Polyp in this group of similar works though it's really original. It's about an architect that goes through a midlife crisis though it's one of the most inventive graphic novels to ever have been made. He uses every aspect of the comic to communicate to the reader, from the drawings, to the type face, to the color and even the very design of the book. It's a must read experience, thought completely unique.
Robert Crumb often has a dry, satirical sense of humor to his work. He is most famous for his 60's underground comics as shown in the Complete Crumb #4. He's done some really beautiful biographical work like his Patton about country blues musician Charley Patton. His newest work is the illustrated Book of Genesis a massive strait comic adaption of the Bible.
For Marvel Comics
How to Get Into Comic Books (13:40) | Patrick Willems
Consider your intent/commitment. Think about your favorite stories/characters from TV, movies, games, books, etc. Do you seek quality storytelling or encyclopedic Marvel knowledge? Plan to collect? What time/resources are available i.e. how many comics could/should be read before burning out?
Don’t try to read everything—there’s too much. Forget about “catching up”, continuity, universes, and timelines; it's all very confusing, even to creators/fans. Older comics can be an acquired taste for modern audiences, so first appearances/early origins may not be the best starting points. Creative teams change often, characters get re-worked, and origins are re-told (e.g. I never cared for Hawkeye until Matt Fractions’ run).
Pick an interesting character/team and seek their “greatest hits”. Don’t get stuck “preparing”, just start reading. Focus on well-received, relatively self-contained, and complete stories. You may encounter the occasional unexplained reference/character/event—just ride along (Wiki if necessary). Remember, there are so many other great characters and publishers to explore, and not all comics are about superheroes.
Where to buy (US):
Modern Marvel characters/teams:
/r/Marvel sidebar for more info.
Events/crossovers can be fun and/or tedious. They are most appreciated by readers well-versed in relevant continuity. Generally, the best non-event comics integrate these seamlessly or avoid them entirely (notwithstanding editorial/executive mandates). Regardless, you may want to familiarize with major plot points.
Modern Marvel events/crossovers:
Discover your preferences and let them guide you. Do you like: old/new comics? Specific genres? Literary/natural narratives? Cartoony/realistic art? Familiar/weird concepts? References/self-contained? Social/political commentary? Family-friendly/explicit content? Optimism/pessimism? Have you noticed that a specific artist/writer consistently makes comics you like? Follow these instincts.
Suggestions to improve this guide are welcome.
Well, my favorites are
The Moviegoer
The Road
A Confederacy of Dunces
Rendezvous with Rama
Watchmen
Snow Crash
Slaughterhouse-Five
Cat's Cradle
The Big Sleep
The Maltese Falcon
American Gods
A Clockwork Orange
Preacher
Fahrenheit 451
1984
Akira
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Lolita
Love in the Time of Cholera
Naked Lunch
Animal Farm
The Sandman
At the Mountains of Madness
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Tales
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Brave New World
We
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
EDIT: Formatting
Warren Ellis’ Moon Knight is a good intro. 6 issues that stand alone and work together.
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Knight-1-Warren-Ellis/dp/0785154086
I would start with finished non-superhero series. There are great superhero comics or story arcs, but imho it's more difficult to recommend something. So I'd start by recommending Chew and Transmetropolitan. Another favorite of mine is "I Hate Fairyland" by Skottie Young. The thing that brought me to comics was Sandman by Neil Gaiman. I also really like The Incal by Jodorowsky/Moebius. Those last two are great, but maybe not for everyone going into comics. The graphic novel with the most impact on me was probably Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá.
Well, it's not sword-and-sorcery type of story, but the futuristic Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis tells the story of an investigative journalist that works to get a corrupt politician out of office, and finds out the alternative is so much worse.
Here's a few off the top of my head!
Sooo many others, but this is good starter list. Fair warning: I have not read these with an eye as to what would be appropriate in a Christian environment. I am fairly certain that Stitches, Maus, and Locke and Key are all "safe."
Edit: Eff it here are some more.
You have already mentioned all of my other would be suggestions. :)
Joe Kelly's Run
Cable and Deadpool
If you like a wackier Deadpool then Daniel Way's Run (1of4)
Remender's Uncanny X-Force
For an Alternate Universe Deadpool but a great read check out Killology by Cullen Bunn Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Deadpool Killustrated, Deadpool Kills Deadpool.
Deadpool's Current Marvel Now
Also go check out /r/Deadpool. There's lots of reading lists on there as well.
Ed Brubaker's run.
He starts at vol. 5 #1, which is collected here.
Hellblazer is a pretty linear series. Pick up issue one and go from there. There are a few annuals and extra stories and whatnot, but Vertigo has been releasing awesome trades of every Hellblazer story in chronological order. Just buy these, and continue to buy this series until it is all collected.
If you get all of these trades, you will have:
And that's only in volumes 01-09. Vertigo has been doing a great job with this series, and I truly believe that they will collect all of it.
I also got into comics with Batman Rebirth, afterwards I found this list here on reddit and all of them are just great, few of them are even extraordinary and without any of them we wouldn't have the Batman we have right now.
If I had to pick some highlights, it were The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, No Man's Land, Black Mirror and Hush, especially Hush was fantastic.
Still love Batman Rebirth though.
If you have never read “Ultimate Spider-man” that where I would start. It’s a great entry point back into Spider-man. Alternatively you could start with Slott’s run of Amazing Spider-man which is basically the beginning to the modern Spider-Man. Slott’s run lasted for several years and is actually about to be over. Both Ultimate Spider-man and Slott’s run of Amazing Spider-man are offered as collections in TBP form. Amazing Spider-Man is starting over again at #1 in June. This will be a new creative team. If you are looking for a TV show, I’d recommend “The Spectacular Spider-man.” It’s only two season long, but does just about everything right when it comes to cartoon adaptations. Feel free to ask any questions! I can recommend more if you would like.
Edit:
Ultimate Spider-Man
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0785124926/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526663994&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=ultimate+spiderman&dpPl=1&dpID=51wxuvpEdyL&ref=plSrch
Slott’s Run of Amazing Spider-Man
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0785162178/ref=sxts_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526664063&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65
Edit II:
If you live in the USA you can watch “The Spectacular Spider-man” TV show for free right now on Crackle. It has commercials but each episode only has a total of about four minutes of commercials spread across three breaks very similar to watching it on TV.
Edit III:
Here’s to a link to a Reddit post for reading order for Slott’s run of Amazing Spider-Man. It gets updated every so often.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Spiderman/comments/77dt8b/modern_spiderman_reading_order/?st=JHC908UX&sh=c1945e22
After getting some reading under your belt, I'd also suggest checking out some of the books in the side bar.
Hope this helps :)
In your list, there're two things going on. Amazing Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man. Ultimate Spider-Man is the one where Peter died, replaced by Miles Morales. If you want, you could go all the way back to Ultimate Spider-Man #1 with Peter, or you could start with Peter's Death / Miles' origins. This list covers everything and can point you in the right direction.
Spider-Island that you mentioned is in the main 616 universe. Dan Slott's run begins with the Big Time story, continues to the Return of Anti-Venom, leading up to the Spider-Island event, which had some tie-ins. The story continues with Flying Blind, soon there's Trouble on the Horizon, all the way to the Ends of the Earth until there's No Turning Back.
Have you tried Amazon?
DC
Marvel
Here's a big list of DC recommendations I've made before. You can pick them up in trades, or as single issues. Check Amazon, or Comixology, or InStockTrades.
> For New 52 Batman and Batman-related books, I recommend the following:
 
>For other New 52, I would recommend:
 
>And here are some good pre-N52 that you should definitely check out:
On the Marvel side, I personally recommend Matt Fraction's Hawkeye, Mard Waid's Daredevil, Nathan Edmondson's Black Widow, Cullen Bunn's Magneto, and Matt Fraction's Invincible Iron Man.
With Superman, I'd say read Superman Birthright then work your way through the recommended reading in the /r/Superman sidebar. If you want something current, read Superman/Wonder Woman (from #1) or Action Comics (from #25). Make sure you read All Star Superman though, it is definitely the best Superman story I've ever read. Do NOT read the main new 52 Superman series. It's bad. Superman: Red Son is really cool too.
With Wonder Woman and Justice League, just start with the New 52 series. Both of those are great.
Honestly, if you had the money, I suggest reading the entirety of Geoff Johns' run on Green Lantern. It really made me a giant Green Lantern fan.
He first appeared in "the new muntants" issue 98 I beleive.
But that one is going to be expensive af.
I'd just start with deadpool classic volume 1 it's a pretty thick book for around 10 to 15 bucks.
Edited: nvm it's 20$
Deadpool Classic, Vol. 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0785131248/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_wRRPybV9H0ARX
Only the first two are in print and in English. I got the first one at Barnes N Noble in store, and the second one on Amazon.
Volume 1
Volume 2
this is the most self contained book of his that is really good
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Knight-1-Warren-Ellis/dp/0785154086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520438707&sr=8-1&keywords=moon+knight+ellis
I vote to start with the revamped Moon Knight series written by Warren Ellis; it stands on its own VERY well, and it's also a beautifully stylish series that's badass as all hell. After the Ellis run, if you like the character, you can keep working your way forward through the Brian Wood-written run (styled after the Ellis run aesthetic but not as tightly written IMO) into the current run written by Jeff Lemire, and/or you can go back to the classic '70s-80s runs and check those out too.
Mental illness has been a long-running theme for Moon Knight, but not a consistent one. Moon Knight has long used multiple aliases and identities, and it varies whether those are deliberate cover identities for one man or are multiple split personalities like MPD / DID. It depends largely on the writer how the mental health aspects play out. The Brian Michael Bendis series looks at Moon Knight's relationship to the Avengers and has him talking to hallucinations. The Warren Ellis series focuses on the Egyptian God connection and uses fearless nonsensical dream logic in ways that remind me a lot of Delirium from The Sandman. The Jeff Lemire series has been poking at elements from many of the previous series in a metafictional examination of how much of Moon Knight's history if any was ever real.
He got hit by Darkseid's Omega Beams, which everyone thought killed him. It turns out they sent him back through time. He spent a few issues of a limited series working his way back to present day (honestly, I don't really remember the mechanics of that -- it wasn't a great mini), until he made it back to the present and became Batman again, founding Batman, Inc.
My take is that DC told Morrison to write the story he wanted for Final Crisis, but then made the editorial call that there was no fucking way they were killing Batman permanently, so the aforementioned rigamarole was Morrison's best attempt at a solution.
The Batman & Robin series with Dick and Damian is awesome. Once Bruce comes back, the series loses steam and things get convoluted.
The reprinted paperback collections are on amazon and very likely at your FLCS (8-10 issues each and bound in an order that makes sense this time, they've tried this before). Not all of the volumes are out yet, a new one comes out every month or so, but they're almost through the whole series I think.
No worries, I lol'd. To save you from the expedition, it comes from The Watchmen. Appeared on Time Magazine's (?) list of 100 best books ever written. I may not go that far but it is definitely a must read. Fascinating on many levels.
It's called Watchmen.
Here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0930289234
Based on Heath ledger's portrayal, I thought it was great.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Joker-Brian-Azzarello/dp/1401215815
I read graphic novels/comic books pretty regularly. I'm not much for Marvel or super hero stories though. If you want a few things that are slightly different, check these out. Granted, I haven't gotten through the whole series on some of these yet. Some of these books are new enough that they are still actively being written. However, I still want to recommend the following because whatever I did read impressed me pretty well, with both writing and art.
I'm giving you Amazon links so you can see some of the artwork on these books.
http://www.amazon.com/Rust-Volume-HC-Royden-Lepp/dp/1936393271
http://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Cars-Tim-Lane/dp/1560979186/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417910452&sr=1-4&keywords=tim+lane
http://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Girl-1-Times-Squared/dp/1632150557/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417910503&sr=1-1&keywords=rocket+girl
http://www.amazon.com/Transmetropolitan-Vol-1-Back-Street/dp/1401220843/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417910548&sr=1-1&keywords=transmetropolitan
I want to warn you about Preacher, but I don't want to say too much. I still recommend this series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preacher_(comics)
http://www.amazon.com/Saga-Vol-Brian-K-Vaughan/dp/1607066017
http://www.amazon.com/Trailers-Mark-Kneece/dp/1561634417/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417911042&sr=1-1&keywords=trailers
http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Tooth-Vol-Deep-Woods/dp/1401226965/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417911160&sr=1-2&keywords=sweet+tooth
http://www.amazon.com/Revolver-Matt-Kindt/dp/1401222412/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417911196&sr=1-11&keywords=matt+kindt
I think that's good for now... :D
OH! And lastly, if you're like: oh, these books look cool, but I'm not sure if I want to spend the money checking them out just yet, your local library might have a selection of graphic novels. I know here in NYC, our library system has a HUGE selection of comics, your library might too!
Hush is usually described as "Jim Lee draws the Rogues Gallery." It's a big mystery story with a different villain each issue and one main central foe, the titular Hush. Batman tries to figure out who Hush is and what his end goals are, with help (and hindrance) from a lot of Bat characters. It's a fun ride for most of it, but towards the end, the writing sorta falls apart. I'd still recommend it though. Snag the trade on Amazon if you're interested.
Brubaker's Captain America, which was a major inspiration for the films.
Are there particular big stories you'd like to read? Don't be afraid to just jump in and discover things as they unfold.
One good choice for Spider-Man and the Avengers that lead up to a big event is the years just before the Civil War event. Spider-Man had one of the most acclaimed runs ever leading up to that, written by J Michael Straczynski. It's collected in 5 "Ultimate Collection" trade paperbacks starting here.
Around the same time, Captain America was being written by Ed Brubaker and was having one of that characters most acclaimed runs as well. That run involved the Winter Soldier story-line, and it's a great read. That would eventually lead into Civil War as well. It's collected in an "Ultimate Collection" series as well, starting here.
So the years leading up to Civil War had some really great stuff, and come together in a big event, it might be just what you're looking for.
edit: another option is to look at the Recommended Reading sidebar over at /r/comicbooks and just browse what interest you
I'm from the UK. I just ordered the first 2 (and currently only available) light novels a couple of days ago.
Currently, the cheapest place you can buy the 1st book is on Wordery.
It's only 2p cheaper than Amazon. So if you'd prefer to buy from Amazon, go ahead. (I purchased both from Amazon).
The 2nd book is currently the cheapest on Book Depository. This is 85p cheaper than buying from Amazon.
Good luck! And enjoy reading!
The original work, in this case the Light Novel was adapted to manga.
Volume 1 for the Light Novel
Volume 1 for the Manga
That's awesome you want to get into comics for him. Good on you. For protection you should get bags and boards. Basically the bags are well, bags, and the boards and a cardboard like backer you put behind the comic inside the bag.
You can pick them up online (they usually go for around the Amazon price on any site) or your local comic shop should have them. You'll want to put the comics inside what's called a longbox. My local comic shop sells them for $5 a piece.
As far as Deadpool, I'd highly suggest reading the Deadpool Classic trades. You'll learn his origin and it has literally classic stories. They're hilarious. Here's the first volume. I believe there's six in total. Then there's the current series which I'm sure he's reading. If you like those pick up other Deadpool trades. I'm pretty sure you'll like him, he's not your average super "hero".
For "essential comic basics" check out the FAQ. Has everything you need to know including reading suggestions on all types of books. Find something you might be interested in and/or what he's into and get reading.
That depends on what you're looking for.
Classic Deadpool with Vanessa, Blind Al and Weasel is from the 90's, and wirtten by Joe Kelly. It's basically Deadpool vol.1, Issues #1-33+ 2 Annuals. There were collected as Deadpool Classic #1-5.
Afterwards there's Cable and Deadpool team up series, it had 50 issues, all worth reading.
Then there's Gerry Duggan's run from 2012. It ended very recently.
A new Deadpool series written by Skottie Young will begin next month.
Just personal opinion, but Way was one of my least favorite Deadpool writers. If you're looking to spend the same amount of money and you don't already have it, invest in Kelly's series from '97. He was the best writer that Deadpool has ever had.
Asterios Polyp
Love it. Love it. Love it.
EDIT: I just finished it. This is one of those few books that has hit me at just the perfect time in my life. This changed my life.
Used book stores usually have a great treasure trove.
If you aren't familiar, most comics come originally in single issues, but then are later collected into what's called trade paper backs, or TPBs. Collecting TPBs are much easier than hunting down original issues, and is a great way of starting a collection
For Captain America, I would start here. Also, take note, that a lot of used copies are for sell there that start about 5 bucks instead of the full price of $17. You'd have to pay for the shipping, of course, but it's still a great opportunity load up.
Edit: And while a lot of people have been disappointed with it, I've really enjoyed the current run of Captain America. You may like it, especially since you don't need to know a lot about his history to get into it.
If you want to work your way into the Avengers after getting a feel for Cap, a great starting place is Avengers Disassembled. I have been an X-Men fan most of my life, so jumping into the Avengers seemed daunting. This book was the start of the modern age for the Avengers, with writer Brian Michael Bendis tearing them apart, and then putting them back together through New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, and many other books from then on for years. I'm sure you could get a reading list of the order of which books came out when. Because since then, it has been more or less a big, interconnecting storyline where one event leads naturally to the other. The Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, etc. Great story telling that weaves a much bigger picture.
Also, any Superman fan will tell you probably the best Superman story is All Star Superman, and then maybe Red Son after that.
Ahh, but don't you mean an extra $19? :D
Here https://www.amazon.ca/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/1401245250
Well I wouldn't be an X-Men superfan, if I didn't recommend some more X-Men to you. Check out my X-Men Reading Guide and jump down to the 2012-2015 section. Those comics directly follow Avengers vs. X-Men.
---
As for the other characters:
---
If you haven't already done so, subscribe to Marvel Unlimited. You can read all those issues and more for only $10/month or $70/year.
This is what you need... about 18 issues including an annual. Its an incredible story, one of the best Marvel has put out in the past 15 years imo
http://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Iron-Fist-Complete-Collection/dp/0785185429/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=51vwq4AXhJL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR104%2C160_&refRID=1K5P4E0GC7T5F62WY71G
The Iron Fist Epic collection TPB that collects all his first appearances from the 1970s.
https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Fist-Epic-Collection-Fury/dp/078519164X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482557649&sr=1-1&keywords=iron+fist+epic+collection
That gives you all you need to know about how he got started.
Then read Brubaker and Fraction's Inmortal Iron Fist collection Vol 1.
https://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Iron-Fist-Complete-Collection/dp/0785185429/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482557712&sr=1-1&keywords=immortal+iron+fist+the+complete+collection+volume+1
That uses all the 1970s backstory stuff and builds a wonderful and rich history around the whole Iron Fist legend.
Read those two books and you're pretty much caught up on everything you need to know.
Green Lantern Omnibus #1 by Geoff Johns
And go on from there!
Those are omnibus editions. You can just search 'Geoff Johns Green Lantern Omnibus' and it should come up, or alternatively here are the links to their Amazon pages:
Geoff Johns Green Lantern Omnibus, Vol. 1
Geoff Johns Green Lantern Omnibus, Vol. 2
Geoff Johns Green Lantern Omnibus, Vol. 3
Kommt natürlich auch auf den Autor an.
Wenn du mal was gutes mit Superhelden ausprobieren willst, die Klassiker sind dies nicht umsonst:
Würd sie auf englisch empfehlen, aber grad Watchmen kann da schon schwierig werden, ist halt keine Klo-Lektüre a la Lustiges Taschenbuch :D
Edit: Formaten
I'm going to list what I think are important, or perhaps emblematic, Batman graphic novels with links to their
wikiamazon page, because the wiki pages were surprisingly unhelpful, so you can check them out. Hopefully you find something that interests you.The Dark Knight Returns: The book that revitalized the genre in the 80s. An important Batman read; however, I think there are better reads.
Year One: Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy borrows from Year One, and a lot of others I've listed, in some pretty cool ways. As the title suggests this comic tells the story of the beginning of Bruce Wayne's career as Batman.
The Killing Joke: The quintessential Joker story told by one of the most important men in comics, Alan Moore. The story is short, especially for a graphic novel, but fantastic.
The Long Halloween: One of my personal favorites. TLH highlights Batman's detective roots following him on a year long hunt for a serial killer. Much of the rouge gallery makes an appearance and the murder mystery elements are classic Batman at his best.
Hush: A good example of a newer Batman comic; it was first published serially during 2002 and 2003. Very good read, definitely take a look.
Arkham Asylum: A newer comic that I have yet to read but thought I would add it to the list because it usually comes up in conversations like this one. I'm hoping to read it soon.
Here you go:
https://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/1401245250/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1551202634&sr=8-2&keywords=watchmen+graphic+novel
It's an amazing book!
I highly suggest the Joe Kelly Omnibus for anyone who wants to read Deadpool. I really enjoyed the story and made me laugh. It is not like the Deadpool where he makes jokes and breaks the fourth wall in the omnibus. He does sometimes, but not as much as now. I also suggest the Daniel Way series of Deadpool. More funny and fourth wall humor. The third pic is one from the Omnibus, and the fifth pic is one from Daniel Way.
Omnibus : http://www.amazon.com/Deadpool-Joe-Kelly-Omnibus/dp/0785185593
Daniel Way collection: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_11?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=daniel%20way%20deadpool&sprefix=daniel+way+%2Cstripbooks%2C289&rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3Adaniel%20way%20deadpool
Or just torrent it like I did.
Edit: Woah, I did buy the Omnibus and the first two vol. of the Daniel Way Deadpool series. I just torrented it after I bought them to read on the go.
Yeah and Joe Kelly's Deadpool runs comes out in January in an omnibus.
These? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Darth-Vader-Marvel/dp/0785192557/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492601703&sr=1-1
(If so, thanks. :) )
Brian Azzarello's Joker. Batman isn't a huge focus of it but it has a similar portrayal of the joker
http://www.amazon.com/The-Joker-Brian-Azzarello/dp/1401215815
The Joker comic by Brian Azzarello barely has Batman in it. This is likely going to be a world and character building story.
Absolutely, here's a link
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Knight-1-Warren-Ellis/dp/0785154086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466468795&sr=8-1&keywords=moon+knight
14th october according to amazon
Right, basically some of these rely on pre New-52 continuity until stated otherwise. All volumes referred to below will be New 52 unless otherwise stated. That being said...
11-7 years ago: The Zero Year storyline by Scott Snyder currently running throughout the Batman title had a series of backups detailing Bruce's training (in current continuity). This is covered in Batman Vol 4.
Also see Batman and Robin Vol 1 which I believe covers Bruce's Ninja training, though only in flashbacks.
6 Years Ago: You're in luck for this one. The current, in continuity take on Batman's first year is being told in the current Batman title. It's a 12 part story called Zero Year, dealing with Bruce crafting the persona, meeting the Red Hood, Riddler etc. It's in progress at the moment and well worth a look. The volume referred to above is the first part, and the entire storyline has great art by Greg Capullo.
6 Years Ago: Batman's first encounter with the Justice League is found, naturally enough in Justice League Vol 1.
However, Superman and Batman's first encounter was detailed in, again naturally enough, Batman/Superman Vol 1
Dick Grayson's time as Robin can be found in the zero issue of Nightwing.
4 Years Ago: Batgirl's zero issue.
3 Years ago: I'm actually kind of week on this one in current continuity. Jason's death and return are here.
2 Years Ago: Read Tim Drake's new, bad origin in Teen Titans #0 or the most recent issue of Secret Origin, I think it was #3. They both tell roughly the same story. That story is bad.
1 year ago: Going to have to go out of continuity, as I'm nearly sure the founding of Batman Inc. is only covered in the pre New-52, as part of Grant Morissons Bat saga. The first volume is here, but you really need to look up everything else that preceded it, see below. This also goes for dead Batman being replaced by Dick Grayson, which is recounted in Batman and Robin, first series, Vol 1.
The origin of Damien, however, is handily recounted in Batman and Robin #0. This is in New 52 continuity.
Now: Woo! Nearly there. Breathe. So the Court of Owls story basically starts in Batman #1 pretty much, and can be found here.
Batgirl's return to superheroics can be found here, in Batgirl Vol 1. Barbara is still only just reacclimating to life as Batgirl as the series begins.
Joker removes his face in, maybe one panel or so in Detective Comics #1.. Spoiler, issue's shit. Get Snyder Batman instead.
Joker returns, sans face in Batman Vol 3, Death of The Family.. That link contains only the main story told in Batman, but it tied into several Bat-Titles as well. The HC contains these, though the quality varies a bit, IMO.
Tim forms the Teen Titans in Teen Titans Vol 1.
Again, not sure, but I think the Anti-Fear stuff was in Dark Knight.
Happy Reading!
NANANANANANANANA BAT-EDIT: I am by no means a Batman authority, I read nearly all of these, but feel free to correct or append if you are more knowledgeable. Bonus sassy batman
While it seems daunting, it's actually not that hard to read.
You'll want to find these trade collections (I've included Amazon links):
I personally love all of Chuck Dixon's run, but I recommend reading A Knight in Blüdhaven and Nightwing: Year One. I also heavily recommend The Black Mirror and Grant Morrison's run on Batman and Robin because who doesn't love Dickbats?
Here's Batman and Robin volume 1
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1401229875/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1Z7ED1CAMQB482VA3C9S
If you want an almost self contained but newer story?
Batman Eternal. It's 52 issues but collected into 2 books for your ease (I got it in the issues, it was a literal year, an issue a week. It's a thick pile). Eternal is in New52 canon but isn't as tied down as the numbered volumes, not to mention it CONSISTENTLY has the Bat family like you're wanting. It even re-expanded it with characters who had previously been taken out with the new 52 reboot.
Reading it in the collected volumes, it'll go for 12 or so pages on Batman, jump to Batgirl and Redhood, jump to Tim Drake and the randoms he ends up accidentally recruiting, back to Batman, and repeat, with the occasional and very enjoyable Alfred issue (in one he very specifically threatens to shoot an intruder between specific vertebrae, and one was an Alfred/Bane teamup. Just beautiful.)
Sadly two of the family won't be in it due to not technically "being alive" at the time (they got better), Nightwing and Damien Wayne, who is the current Robin and the son of Batman (from date rape, don't ask, just avoid assassin ladies).
While these two rock, because they're specificly what's missing, its perfect. Because if you want them, they have their own Batman and Robin run from when BRUCE was dead, and Dick retired Nightwing and became the Batman, because there always has to be a Batman, both for WB, and for Gotham. And it was great development for them both, with Dick struggling to live up to whatever ungodly level Bruce lives at, and Damien missing his dad and still fighting the urge to just kill the thugs like his mom taught him to.
TLDR: I suggest the collections for Batman Eternal, buy at your own speed, they are a little pricey, but completely worth it.
Then, you want Batman and Robin Vol 1: Batman Reborn. There's books where Dick is Batman with Damien his Robin before, but this start is convenient.
https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Eternal-Vol-New-52/dp/1401251730
https://www.amazon.com/Batman-Robin-Vol-Reborn/dp/1401229875
If you love all of that, are still willing to spend money, and just want more Batfamily, just start at the New 52 Vol 1 of Batman, Vol 1 of Batman and Robin, Vol 1 Nightwing, the two Batman Incorporated volumes when the happen, and Vol 1 Red Hood and the outlaws if you want Red Hood and some less serious and less connected stories. And just go until Scott Snyder isn't writing the Batman volumes anymore, and then form your own definitely well formed by then opinion on if to continue.
TLDR2.0: It's a good time to jump in, because a great run just ended. If nothing else, use the Amazon links.
And have a Merry Christmas!
IMO, what you really want is Constantine's original series, Hellblazer, which ran for 300 issues before ending and being replaced by the "Constantine" series.
Obviously 300 issues is pretty damn long, but all the different runs within it are pretty self contained so you can jump around following different writers without a problem if you fancy doing that.
If you want to start from the beginning, you want to look for the Jamie Delano stuff, which starts here. However, while I like that run a lot, I don't think it's aged particularly well and comes across as pretty hammy sometimes (Delano's a big fan of purple prose) so you might be better off starting with the second run, which was written by Garth Ennis (he starts at issue 41 if you're not looking at trades) and is, IMO, quite a lot better.
Other good Hellblazer writers (I don't have the volume numbers for these guys so I'm just giving you starting issues) include Warren Ellis (134), Mike Carey (175), and Peter Milligan (250).
Pick up Batman: Hush. It's a great casual accessible book like the Ultimate Spider-Man series.
I have previously made a post describing the different editions of Knightfall, and how best to collect that series, and about both of these runs of interest, I hope you don't mind me repeating that information. There are recent omnibuses and trade paper backs of both series', depending on what you prefer, and I will detail what is the most up to date versions in collecting these series.
For Knightfall:
Omnibus: 1, 2, 3
Trade paper back: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
The 3 omnibuses contain the same material as the 9 trades. As for what to read before Knightfall, people often recommend the Legends of the Dark Knight story arc Venom for introducing the chemical substance Bane uses but otherwise has little bearing on the story (it's probably cheaper to buy digital copies of the trade/individual issues, as I believe the trade is out of print), or Sword of Azrael for introducing Jean Paul Valley, as he has a lot gong on in the background with him. (Note, there are two versions, the 1993 version which is often out of print, though tells just the Sword of Azrael introduction, or the modern 2016 version, which contains both the introductory arc to be read before Knightfall, though also containing a post-Knightfall arc for JPV). In terms of what you need before hand, I read the 2012 editions, and I felt lost without Sword of Azrael and Prelude to Knightfall. It does showcase a lot of odd characters here and there, I feel like if you have a somewhat familiarity of Batman's villains (i.e. Arkham or BTAS experience) then you would be fine.
Knightfall happens early enough in the post-crisis continuity, which helps for the purpose of being a new reader. Morrison's run, on the other hand, happens at the end of the post-crisis continuity. I'm not saying reading all of post-crisis is necessary, I mean I hadn't before starting, but it does draw a bit from post-crisis knowledge (things like Hush, Under The Red Hood, etc.), though crazily enough, Morrison made everything canon. Not in a way that not reading everything is prohibitive, more so in a way that embraces even the Gold/Silver/Bronze age Batman stories. The pre-crisis stories Morrison drew influence from are collected in The Black Casebook, but really, I never found it necessary to read, it is just interesting from a history perspective. The rest of Morrison's run is fairly easy enough to follow. This infographic describes the order for reading in trade paper back format, though if I recall correctly, they have recently started putting Morrison's run in omnibus format.
Trade Paper backs: Batman and Son (New edition comes with The Black Glove arc, too), (optional Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul), Batman RIP, then, it gets a little messy, as you might consider reading the DC wide event Final Crisis, which isn't Batman specific, but has huge ramifications for Batman going forward, but admittedly, without broad DC knowledge, can be confusing, anyway, following that is (optionally Battle for the Cowl and Whatever happened to the Caped Crusader?, which are not written by Morrison, but BftC is plot relevant to Batman going forward, and Gaiman's WHttCC? is a short and extremely well made reflection on Batman) then Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn, Batman and Robin: Batman Vs Robin, Time and the Batman, The Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman and Robin: Batman and Robin Must Die!. This is followed by the post-crisis Batman: Incorporated, but DC rebooted mid-Morrison run, so that it is finally completed with the New 52 Batman Incorporated volume 1: Demon Star and Batman Incorporated volume 2: Gotham's Most Wanted.
All of this (at least the Morrison parts, not any of the optional sections) are collected in omnibus editions: 1 containig Batman and Son, The Black Glove and RIP, there is a Final Crisis Omnibus, which I have heard is more complete, and there is 2 containing Time and the Batman, the first 3 Batman and Robin volumes, as well as The Return of Bruce Wayne. Lastly, there is the Batman Incorporated Absolute Edition finishing the all the Batman Incorporated stuff.
So Morison's may seem a little messier or harder to start, I wouldn't necessarily say it is harder, if you follow the list I have provided. I would recommend attempting it after a little more experience with comic Batman however, but it's hard to really say how much experience is needed. Some start with it, and have a great time. Another thing to consider is that with so much comics, especially omnibuses and absolute editions, it does get very expensive. I would recommend tackling it in bite sized chunks, like maybe just the first arc of Knightfall, or initially the pre-Final crisis Morrison stories, making sure you like either enough to commit to buying and reading more. I hope this has actually been helpful and informative, and hasn't made any of this seem too hard to follow!
You should read Grant Morrison's Batman run. It ran from 2006 - 2013 and everything is collected in trade.
You'll need:
Batman and Son
Batman RIP
Batman and Robin Volume 1
Batman and Robin Volume 2
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Batman and Robin Volume 3
Batman Incorporated Volume 1
Batman Incorporated Volume 1 (New 52)
Batman Incorporated Volume 2 (New 52)
Agreed on everything. But for the sake of walter7mm (who seems to be a newbie comic book reader), here is links to the amazon product page for each suggestion:
The current Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo is a good, recent and in-continuity series. You can get the TPB/HC collections.
http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Vol-Court-Owls-New/dp/1401235425/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-5&qid=1382287197
My personal favourite is Batman Incorporated, but it's not very accessible for new readers as it's part of a larger story.
As for the classics check the sidebar -------->
If you're a batman fan because of the movies, Batman: Earth One or Batman: Hush is perhaps the best story to start with.
http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Earth-One-Geoff-Johns/dp/1401232086/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382287497&sr=1-17&keywords=batman
http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Hush-Jeph-Loeb/dp/1401223176/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1382287532&sr=1-10&keywords=batman
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine is quite good (fiction, but very non-pulp).
I haven't read it yet, but Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli is on my to-read list (also fiction).
Maybe he likes Asterios Polyp. It's not superhero stuff, but it's nice and the hardcover edition looks super fancy.
Look to the side and put your mouse over the useful links tab. There you can find the fan-translated novels of SAO vol 1-14. Volume 15 is currently being translated.
Support the official version by Yen Press here:
http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Art-Online-1-Aincrad/dp/0316371246/ref=sr_1_1/185-3877991-9786410?ie=UTF8&qid=1417411541&sr=8-1&keywords=sword+art+online+1
http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/byvOsCMItFNOFx-L=E/browse/item/100169/4/0/0
They have released Vol 1 and 2 with 3 being released on December 16th. A cycle of 3 novels a year until they catch up to the Japanese.
Anything Deadpool is good, but the core of his character is probably the 1997 run of his first big series written by Joe Kelly. It was just called 'Deadpool'. He also did Uncanny X-Men.
When you start to get into comics, you'll notice from series to series there's a set of different writers and a lot of them will change how the character comes off as.
Deadpool's a really strange character, but easily my favorite.
But in the end, anything Deadpool is pretty solid a comic as any. If you want the 1997 series in an economic way, buy the trades. Issue #1 is about $50, and any other issue is around $10-$20. They're only like 2?-32 pages each. The Deadpool Classic trades collects the first snippets in Volume 1 and issue #1 from the 1997 series, and the later volumes are all the 1997 series.
Or find them digitally.
For Avengers I'd recommend Avengers Disassembled and New Avengers and you can just keep going with New Avengers if you want.
For Black Panther - Christopher Priest's work.
For Captain America/Winter Soldier - Ed Brubaker's work.
For Daredevil I'd recommend starting with Bendis' work.
For the Hulk - Planet Hulk.
Jessica Jones - Alias
Thor - start here and read everything that comes out afterwards with the name Aaron on it
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an awesome starting point. I would recommend Brubakers whole run.
Hope this helps!
This, and the other things I've seen posted, are incredible.
Is this All Star Superman a current series, or is, by chance, this?. If it's the latter, I'm buying it like, now.
EDIT A lot of people chimed in to confirm that the book I linked to was in fact where these images are from, and on the awesomeness of the book. As I stated in many of the posts, I picked up the book today. I just got home and am excited to crack in to it. As I explained, I'm not much of a Superman guy- just never got in to him, and for no good reason other than I'm honestly not a capes guy, with the exception of Batman.
That said, I'm pretty excited about what I see here, and to dig in to this book. For good measure, as well, I picked up Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo's Luthor which I presume to be somewhat a version of what they did with The Joker- getting in to the main villain of the story. The Joker was pretty unique, without question, so it will be interesting to see how Luthor is in comparison.
Thanks again for all the great comics-talk over the last couple of days. I love reading comics, but I really love talking comics too.
Also, and I'll probably make a stand-alone post about this lest the mods advise otherwise, but Barnes and Noble has a sale right now (that I was told will probably go on through the month) where Marvel and DC books are buy 2, get 1 free (and I'm pretty sure she said mix and match is OK).
A very long list that I believe is full of gems:
Preacher, Volume 1 by Ennis
Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes by Gaiman
Invincible: Family Matters by Kirkman
Southern Bastards
Kingdom Come
Marvels
Watchmen
Saga
Mind MGMT
Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
Batman: The Long Halloween
Pride of Baghdad
All Star Superman
The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye
Thor: God of Thunder
Annihilation (read it digitally on Marvel Unlimited, finding it in print is costly)
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman, Volume 1 (by far, my favorite take on the characters. Hickman writes them to perfection.)
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt
Ok, for dark and creepy in the new 52 you want to read Animal Man, Swamp Thing and I, Vampire.
Definitely read Action Comics for some great Superman. And pick up the "trade paperback" for All Star Superman (it's older, but by the same guy who's writing Action Comics right now and considered one of the best Superman stories ever told).
If you want good original horror stuff, pick up the trade paperbacks for Locke & key. I think they're up to issue #20 or so now, so it would be difficult to pick up the single issues.
For X-Men, Wolverine and the X-Men just started at #1 last week and is really good.
For thor I'd recommend Thor: The Mighty Avenger, and the newish Mighty Thor that's currently on issue #7 and the first 6 (I'm guessing) will be coming back in trade paperback in December
Something I always harp on with new readers that is otherwise unrelated: PAY ATTENTION TO THE WRITER AND THE ARTIST OF THINGS THAT YOU END UP ENJOYING. Most comic enthusiasts follow writers and artists more than they follow specific characters. The writing quality varies just as widely as the quality of films, tv, etc. You might love The Walking Dead TV show right now, but if the old writers quit and they hired the writers from Gilmore Girls and the O.C. to replace them you probably wouldn't enjoy it anymore... and the equivalent to this happens quite regularly in comics.
Enter "waiting for the trade."
Right now you can preorder Moon Knight vol 1 from Amazon for $13.67. That's probably #1-5. Assuming you don't have to pay for shipping that's $2.7 an issue. In a nice ad-free collected edition.
I think Marvel knows this. And I'd imagine thats why they get their volumes out so fast and the "must have it now" mentality is built into the price.
Geoff's entire run on GL is killer. I recommend reading the entire run and not bits of it as others have mentioned. I've read the entire run a couple of times and I couldn't imagine skipping anything or reading anything out of order.
/r/lanterncorps/ has a good reading order. It can get spendy, but it's totally worth it. I would start with Rebirth and work your way down the list. If you wanted to save some cash you could skip Blackest Night GLC, BN Tales of the Corps, and Black Lantern Corps 1 and 2. When you get to Brightest Day, they're talking about the GL Brightest Day trade. Once you're done with that list you start with the New 52 lantern books. Geoff's run goes up to #20, but there are a couple of events that go through the other lantern titles.
If you don't mind waiting for a while, the entire run is going to be collected in A couple of Omnibuses. Amazon has a release date for Omnibus volume 1 on Feb 3rd of next year and can be found HERE
I think the best thing to do for now would be to ween into comics. I'd start off with graphic novels so you don't have to follow too deeply into a series. Start off reading something like The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, or Watchmen by Alan Moore. Get a feel of it before you start off. Once you read a couple of novels, I'd look into getting some trade paperbacks of some series. The Walking Dead has been a really good series; it isn't just a plain zombie story...it's more about the human side of the standard zombie tale, such as how they survive, how they interact with each other, etc. Another good TPB to get into would be The Sandman which has some of the coolest artwork and storytelling I've seen. After you start catching up with some TPB's, THEN I'd look into single issues, starting with the first issue of an arch (it will say something like Part 1, Part 1 of 6, etc.). The comic book shop guys are usually pretty cool dudes and can help you find a good arch thats currently going on. Also, places like Half Price Books usually have TPB's for cheaper, but that depends on if you're okay with buying from a secondhand place instead of a small business (I like to go about half and half on purchases, just to save money and to help keep the small guy in the game). Hope this helps!
Batman: The Long Halloween was/is my favorite so far.
Many people suggest Batman: The Dark Knight Returns as amazing. I thought It was ok; the (dated) art style kept taking me out of the story
Thanks. Probably going with this one then.
I really liked Batman:Hush. It has a "who done it" mystery feel, and it showcases a ton of Batman characters.
Matt Fraction's Hawkeye. This one is kind of hate it or love it, but I recommend giving it a shot. It's not exactly "a complete story" like you asked, each volume is a collection of shorter stories though . It's a very different take on a hero with no powers, on a world of supermen
Green Lantern Corps : Recharge I liked this one because the famous Green Lanterns aren't the main focus, but the Corps in general through the eyes of new recruits.
If you don't mind non-superhero comics, I also recomend looking into:
I Kill Giants. Can't say too much for this without spoilers, it's a very artistic heartwarming story
Seconds. A more fairy tale style story about a girl who gets the ability to magically correct mistakes she made in the past
Solanin. A coming of age story about a girl who decides to quit her job because she's not happy with her life
Transmetropolitan: 10 parts of awesome cyberpunk by Warren Ellis
Maus: a stand alone emotional smackdown about the holocaust.
Preacher: 10 parts of religious Americana as a group of dark characters go on a literal quest to find God. (Very different to and IMO much better than the Amazon series)
The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil: 1 part, Simple but beautiful art that tells a deeply personal story of a man struggling with chaos in an ordered world.
Freakangels: Another Warren Ellis 10 parter, a slow burn story of young people with powers struggling through a devastated world.
Kingdom Come: A one part "what if" style DC comics story with eye popping art and heavy themes.
Watchmen: The first of the grim and gritty superhero stories and still one of the most relentlessly bleak. (Much better than the movie adaptation)
1997 1-33, by joe kelly are my favorite by far.
theres an omnibus of it too : http://www.amazon.ca/Deadpool-Joe-Kelly-Omnibus/dp/0785185593
This is the one you want, amigo.
http://www.amazon.ca/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/0930289234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415315608&sr=8-1&keywords=watchmen
Seriously, do. The movie was good but the comic is just amazing. It's not possible to capture it perfectly in another form and it really needs to be experienced.
and if you have extra cash and you're like me and need to have a physical book in your hands, the paperback is less than $14 on Amazon.
A favorite of mine is JOKER. It's all about the Joker, as seen through the eyes of a low level thug. It's pretty damn good. Also Batman: The Man Who Laughs is a great Joker-heavy one as well.
The comic Joker. It came out around the same time as the film and expanded a bit on what might have been the Dark Knight Joker.
http://www.amazon.com/Joker-Brian-Azzarello/dp/1401215815/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420347257&sr=1-1&keywords=joker+azzarello
Edit: Also, you might want to give manga (asian graphic novels) a try! Good ones to get started with are Death Note and Bleach. I also liked xxxHolic (though I never finished the series), and the anime film for Akira was amazing so I can only imagine that the manga would be just as good -- if not better!
I'm going to be lame and post the amazon links because I don't know any "review" sites; Some of few I've read and loved:
Y The Last Man
Transmetropolitan -never finished, but loved and plan to re-read
Chew- read/have the first 3 omnibi(omnibus'?), it's incredible
The Wicked and The Divine- have/read the first 4 volumes, the art and story are phenomenal .
Preacher-never finished but it's damn good.
[Revival](https://smile.amazon.com/Revival-Vol-Youre-Among-Friends/dp/1607066599/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1517709486&sr=1-4&keywords=revival+image%27
)
The list could go on, but I want to get beer, so...
Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee are the main creative influences on the story and art style in the DCUO MMO, and they also happened to do a really awesome Batman story called "Hush" that came out a couple years ago. That might be as good a place as any to start.
http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Hush-Jeph-Loeb/dp/1401223176
I'd link you to amazon.ca, but it seems to be sold out there, heh.
These books, probably in this order, make for a really good intro to Batman comics and also fit with the general feel of the show, either setting up origins or focusing on the city as a character:
Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One - Classic. Big influence on both Gotham and Nolanverse.
Jeph Loeb’s [Long Halloween](Batman: The Long Halloween https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401232590/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_f4FqDbZZ35GEQ) and Dark Victory which are kind of a Year Two and Year Three (don’t read the books called Y2 and Y3 though)
Chuck Dixon’s Robin: Year One - What it sounds like—Robin’s first cases, not his origin. Robin faces off against Mad Hatter, Two Face, and more. The copy I linked also has Batgirl: Year One which is pretty fun.
Jeph Loeb’s Batman: Hush - A great intro to all of the villains as Batman faces off against each one, ultimately revealing a new villain rooted in his past.
Paul Dini’s Heart of Hush and Streets of Gotham (it has 3 volumes—good to know that midway through, Bruce “dies” and is replaced by Dick Grayson as Batman, but it’s still accessible without reading all of that) - HOH is a sequel to Hush and has a lot of Bat/Cat. Streets focuses on the life of the Gotham underbelly, with characters like “the Carpenter” who builds all the booby traps for the villains and the realtor who finds their hideouts. Also acts as a sequel to Heart of Hush.
Scott Snyder’s Gates of Gotham - also has Dick as Batman but delves into cool Gotham history
Scott Snyder’s Black Mirror - again, Dick is Batman. Takes place before Gates but Streets goes into Gates more fluidly. This book is creepy AF and gets into some of the Gordon family history.
Scott Snyder’s Court of Owls - Though this can be read without any of the others as it was designed as an entry point for new readers. It’s also probably the best book on the list. REALLY good.
Peter Tomasi’s Batman and Robin - The issues collected here are a great storyline that are about Bruce and his 12-year-old biological son Damian, whose mother is Talia al Ghul (daughter of Ra’s and sister of Nyssa).
If there’s a particular character or aspect of the show you like, there may be others as well but these are a good core starting set.
(You can also check your library for these—many have graphic novels on the shelves but some also have a subscription to something called Hoopla which lets you “check out” digital versions of comics/graphic novels.)
Can someone help me, I'm not a huge comic guy but i;ve wanted to read transmetropolitan for ages (after being recommended it numerous times)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Transmetropolitan-Full-Story-/171085144214?pt=UK_Books_Comics_Magazines_US_Comics_ET&hash=item27d5782096
Is this really the "full story" or just one comic book in a series?
Or do I Start with this one?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transmetropolitan-Vol-1-Back-Street/dp/1401220843/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375125863&sr=8-1&keywords=transmetropolitan
Thanks.
If you haven't read Joe Kelly run (the original run of Deadpool) do so - it's widely regarded as the best Deadpool was ever written (up until good bad and the ugly, which was brilliant).
There's a torrent out there (Pirate bay) with all the comics from 97-2010 that covers it pretty well or if you have money to blow - http://www.amazon.com/Deadpool-Joe-Kelly-Omnibus/dp/0785185593
I read the torrent and try to buy up comics as much as I can, but they're old enough that they're hard to find in anything but a giant collection.
Daniel Way is horrible and totally butchered who Deadpool is. Everything went horrible with Daniel way's run. I recommend you get the omnibus /u/Corrinth suggested. I am talking about this one
Personally hated everything about the Daniel Way Deadpool books. Was then told to just make the leap and pick up the Kelly Omnibus. I did, and it was worth every cent. Excellent book if you are a fan of the character
This one;
http://www.amazon.com/Deadpool-Joe-Kelly-Omnibus/product-reviews/0785185593
There’s a few collected editions. Amazon link for Volume 1.
Darth Vader Vol 1 (Collecting issues: Darth Vader 1-6)
Darth Vader Vol 2 (Collecting issues: Darth Vader 7-12)
All of these comics exist in the new Disney canon
Star Wars (Takes place between episodes 4 and 5)
Darth Vader (Takes place alongside the Star Wars comic)
Star Wars: Shattered Empire (Shows a glimpse of the post-episode 6 world)
Star Wars: Kanan (Between episodes 3 and 4)
Star Wars: Princess Leia (Immediately after episode 4)
Star Wars: Lando (Sometime pre-episode 5)
If you're interested in Vader and the Sith:
Star Wars: Darth Vader Volume 1
Star Wars: Darth Vader Volume 2: Shadows and Secrets
Not strictly Darth Vader-related, but also worth reading:
Star Wars Volume 1: Skywalker Strikes
Star Wars Volume 2: Showdown on the Smuggler's Moon
Star Wars: Shattered Empire
I don't know if these are the official dates, but the first TPB's for all current Star Wars comics are already available for preorder on Amazon.
The limited Princess Leia series (5 issues, I think) seems to be available September 15 as a TPB.
Star Wars Volume 1 also has September 15 as a release date for the TPB.
Darth Vader's first TPB looks to be available October 20.
The upcoming Kanan: The Last Padawan series seems to be available November 3 as a TPB.
Also, I've just noticed that if you click on one of these comics, under "customers who bought this item also bought" there are a bunch of Journey to The Force Awakens books available for preorder, I thought "Aftermath" was the only one.
It's available for free if you have Kindle Unlimited, otherwise I'd go to my local library and see if they have it. My library even has an app I can use to download comics through them.
​
https://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/0930289234
My favorite book that I would recommend is I Am the Messenger by Mark Zusak. It's about a guy that's like down in the dumps and his life takes a crazy turn. It's one of those books that makes you think about life, or well it made me think haha.
And well I would like this book
My favorite book!
This may be what you're looking for, but just a warning it's in the point of view of one of the Joker's henchmen.
For those that don't know, The comic is Transmetropolitan
they read this once
If you want to start from the beginning, I would start with Deadpool Classic vol.1. That book includes his 1st appearance, and his 1st story arc.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0785131248/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481110879&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=deadpool+classic+vol+1&dpPl=1&dpID=51e0SB52edL&ref=plSrch
Edit: added link
Captain America
Captain America by Ed Brubaker is a great starting point, and a fantastic run (it also introduced the winter soldier). Here is the first volume of this iconic run.
Thor
Thor: God of Thunder by Jason Aaron is a currently running series at issue #24 I believe. I had never bothered to give Thor a chance because he seemed boring, but this run completely changed my opinion of him.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning is the obvious answer, however, I would recommend all of cosmic marvel as it tells the story of the formation of the Guardians. The individual members play major roles in the first 2 events, and the 2nd event is what leads to the formation of the guardians.
edit: Since you said you are open to reccomendations, let me pitch to you what I consider to be one of my all time favorite comic runs that someone new might not consider.
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman written by Brian Azzarello with art by Cliff Chiang. Never in my life would I have thought that Wonder Woman would be my favorite ongoing superhero comic, but this run has been phenomenal. It has a cast of likable characters, fantastic art, an interesting story involving plenty of Greek mythology, and, best of all, it DID NOT fall prey to cross-over events like every other DC title since the reboot. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying it is when a cross-over event forces a comic to stop telling it's story and tie into whatever thing is happening in something else (usually batman). This run is still ongoing, but Azzarello & Chiang's run is sadly ending soon.
Check out Geoff Johns' Green Lantern, pretty much everything that's come (GL wise) since then has built off the foundation he set. One of the best runs in comics of the last 2 decades imo.
As for Marvel, I highly recommend Ed Brubaker's Captain America run
Coming from a Marvel Cinematic background, I would recommend:
In addition, since you've already read Whedon's Astonishing, I have to recommend Morrison's New X-Men, the storyline that Astonishing builds heavily from. Claremont's Dark Phoenix Saga is a great classic story, if you're unfamiliar.
As for Wolverine, a recent favorite of many is Old Man Logan. This is a self-contained 'future' story, so it's not canonical, but it's good. The Claremont/Miller Wolverine is always a classic, and heavily influenced The Wolverine.