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Stray Bullets by David and Maria Lapham and Casanova by Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba, and Fabio Moon have had... complicated... publishing histories, but they are amazing, world-class books.

The first leg of Stray Bullets was self-published starting in 1995 under Lapham's personal El Capitan imprint, with 41 issues out between then and the wrap-up (after much delay) in 2014. It's part-noir, part slice-of-life, inherently dark, but utterly beautiful when it wants to be. Since they wrapped up the first run (the first volume is called The Innocence of Nihilism, and Reddit seems to be preventing me from embedding a link, but it is on a huge sale on Amazon as of 09.12.18), there's been a mini-series subtitled Killers that (seems to) tie up the first 41 issues, and a new run subtitled Sunshine and Roses.

The truly amazing thing about Stray Bullets is that it's only gotten better, and only continues to get better, since its debut. It's consistent, occasionally stunning, and always compelling. If you start from the beginning (the series is very generous and well-constructed in that you can jump into most issues and just get going), you get to see Lapham grow so much as an artist and storyteller. There's nothing else like it.

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Casanova was published by Image starting in 2006, then Marvel's Icon imprint starting in 2013, and now Image again as of, I think, 2015. Explaining all of it would give us all nosebleeds.

The easiest way to pick these up is through the hardcovers of the first three volumes and the two trades of the most recent volume. If you'd rather buy a trade than a hardcover, you can jump in with volume four (which is also on a huge sale). It's mindbending sci-fi about a man becoming his own evil twin, layered with pop-culture references, weird sex, and a reverence for the poignant and the bizarre in equal measure. There are story beats that hit like a truck, and storytelling tricks that are just amazing.

Casanova asks a little more patience from its readers than the aforementioned Stray Bullets, but everything you put into each, you get back. Stray Bullets is really rewarding for different reasons that Casanova. When I read Cass for the first time, I had NO IDEA what was going on. I bought the first Image hardcover (published in 2006 or 2007) at least twice before I finally Got It. I ended up buying the Image singles for Fraction's backmatter essays: there's some great process stuff, but some incredible heart-on-your-sleeve, ass-out-in-the-open matter about his life, the cultural references, and how deep he digs to create this lovely thing.

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Anyway. Highest possible recommendation.

Y'want gritty? Get your hands on Stray Bullets: Sunshine & Roses.

You can probably read Sunshine & Roses without reading the original Stray Bullets series as it's kind of a prequel/inbetween-quel - basically, there's a timeskip a third of the way through Stray Bullets and Sunshine & Roses is the story of what happened during that timeskip, and is pretty stand-alone and gives you enough info at the start to work out what's happening - but you could also read the original series which is collected in one pretty cheap collected volume

Anyway, read it, whether you start at the beginning with Stray Bullets or jump ahead to S&R, it's the best goddamn crime comic I've ever read and a solid top 10 all-timer for me.

As much as I love InStockTrades (enough that I already made a comment praising it in this thread), it seems like some older, or slightly more obscure books can be gotten elsewhere for lower prices.

This is entirely anecdotal (so you should always check multiple sites before placing an order) but for instance, I bought this book a few weeks ago, but I ended up doing it through Amazon because it was cheaper there ($8.99 for new, I did not buy used).

So again, even though IST will normally have the lowest price, do check elsewhere on everything you order, because it's by no means a guarantee. In addition to saving a few bucks by not buying from IST I also had the freedom of ordering that book alone rather than needing to include it with a huge order to qualify for free shipping.

Nice! You may wanna check out the Dark Horse comics Conan run. It just ended and was acquired by Marvel. Kurt Busiek’s run was phenomenal and Cary Nord’s art during this run was breathtaking IMO! I highly recommend!!

https://www.amazon.com/Conan-Frost-Giants-Daughter-Stories/dp/1593073011/ref=nodl_

I'm a Brandon Graham fan, as well! Just going along the lines of Prophet, I would definitely recommend Ancestor by Malachi Ward and Matt Sheean and Habitat by Simon Roy. The creators for both of those books worked on Prophet at different times and those stories were originally published in Brandon Graham and Emma Rios' anthology magazine "Island".

Also, to go along with your taste in artists, I would check out James Stokoe and Daniel Warren Johnson.

I will second that, it was a long wait for the last volume but totally worth it and I adored it, it was a massive epic story that was insignificant when compared to the universe Graham and Roy built from the ashes of Rob Liefeld. I'd also recommend King City and Multiple Warheads: Alphabet to Infinity because Brandon Graham is one of my very favorites.

Alphabet to Infinity was all there was of this world for years and it does stand on its own but there have been new bits in Island Magazine(Edited by by Graham and featuring contributions from both he and Roy[Habitat in particular which has been collected in a trade)

For further reading of Busiek's stuff, I recommend either Superman: Secret Identity or Astro City: Life in the Big City. I have been a fan of his for a while now.

Sticking with your request for a finished series around 5 issues (max here is 8):

The Old Guard - (someone already mentioned it)

We Can Never Go Home

Four Kids Walk Into A Bank

Green Valley

The Spire

Of these, The Spire and 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank are my favorites.

Absolutely! I will admit that I need to do some research onto Books of Magic. With Lucifer, I am waiting for the omnibus version that is coming out later this year.

It looks like you can pre-order volume 2 on Amazon with a release date of February 19. That's weird it's not in the solicits though (Image is still listed as their publisher)

Pre-order link is up on Amazon. Descender: The Deluxe Edition Vol 1 . I am really tempted on selling the first 3 tpb's to pick this up.

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.

https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Spawn-Witchblade-Brian-Haberlin/dp/1534308431/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526327906&sr=8-1&keywords=spawn+witchblade+vol+1

Image is releasing four "final editions", with the last coming out around Christmas.

https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Agent-Final-Rick-Remender/dp/153430875X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1524841052&sr=8-4&keywords=fear+agent+final

The final volume keeps getting bumped back on Amazon. I haven't heard anything official though.

Plenty of used copies from $10 - $20 varying quality. You can get it new for around $20-$30

Here’s the first two, no date for the 3rd book yet.

The latest edition of the first book is “Remastered” because there were binding issues with the first edition.

Black Science Premiere Hardcover Volume 1 Remastered Edition (Black Science Omnibus)

Black Science Premiere Hardcover Volume 2: Transcendentalism

Here you go! However, it's a long wait until release :(