Thread for Comic/Graphic novel geeks

Discussion
1

Cool, after reading the celeb encounter thread I realized at least one other person on here is into comics/graphic novels. Here are some of my favorite artists/writers/titles:

Batman - Batman is my favorite superhero, although he is technically not a “super” hero because he has no super powers, which makes him all that more bad ass. I think Batman is by far the most complex of the DC heroes and has had the best writing done for him. My favorite Batman writers include Dennis O’Neil, Frank Miller, Jeff Loeb and Paul Dini. Shite, we could have a whole thread on Batman alone.

Alan Moore - certainly one of the best writers the medium has ever seen! Watchmen, Promethea, Top Ten, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Swamp Thing… This guy has brought intellectual depth to the medium that was previously unheard of! Fascinating individual!

Frank Miller - Don’t care for everything the man has done, but the man is responsible for “Sin City” as well as taking exploration of the Batman character to new heights. Even the most casual Bat-fan should read “The Dark Knight Returns.”

Warren Ellis - “Transmetropolitan” is a classic and his new series “Fell” is extremely powerful. Avoid his superhero stuff though, as he admits he just writes superhero stories for money.

R. Crumb - Probably just about all of you know about Crumb. If not go out and rent the documentary “Crumb” which was produced by David Lynch. Excellent documentary.

Harvey Pekar - Writer of “American Splendor”. Bitter old curmudgeon with a sardonic wit. “Splendor” is a great comic that has been drawn by Crumb at times. The docu-drama of the same name is worth checking out too.

Ivan Brunetti - Hilarious, underrated writer/artist from Chicago. The man pours his soul and all his demons out for all to see with a result that is mixed hilarity and hopelessness. Check out his “Schizo” series individually or collected under the title “Misery Loves Comedy”

Neil Gaiman - I don’t like all his work, but when Sandman hit it’s target it hit HARD. The man has lots of great ideas flowing around his skull, sometimes the artistic translation works, sometimes it doesn’t. Works especially well with his longtime collaborator:

Dave McKean - Most of you will know his work from the Download albums (Stanley Pain, III, etc) and the covers he did for Sandman. Brilliant graphic artist.

Michael Kupperman - You might know him from “Snake and Bacon” Check out his “Tales Designed to Thrizzle” as they will surely thrizzle your ass.

Peter Bagge - Author of the “Hate” comics series that ended up being a historical (and hysterical) account of living in Seattle during the grunge years.

Evan Dworkin - Author of “Milk and Cheese” and DORK comics. Funny, bitter shit that pokes fun at counterculture etc.

Ok, thats all I got for now…

Geeks, discuss!

2

You read any Johnny Ryan? His work is along the lines of Brunetti, he’s very funny when you’re in the mood for really evil humor drawn in the style of Nancy comics. Of course Sam Henderson’s Magic Whistle used to be some brilliant humor too, but he’s sort of lost it these days.

In much softer territories, I’m a huge fan of Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge comics, those are great great stuff. Lately I’m also enjoying those black and white Showcase volumes reprinting Jimmy Olson stories from the 50s. All Curt Swan art, lots of “WTF” moments and they’ll all 8 page stories, which I like.

3

really disappointed when the Dodson’s stopped drawinig for the Harley Quinn Book. Even more disapointed when they stopped the book altogether! [:(]
Late,
grmpysmrf

4

Holy shit, it’s all three of us!?

You read any Johnny Ryan? His work is along the lines of Brunetti, he’s very funny when you’re in the mood for really evil humor drawn in the style of Nancy comics. Of course Sam Henderson’s Magic Whistle used to be some brilliant humor too, but he’s sort of lost it these days.

Gotta check out Johnny Ryan, sounds like lots of fun!

[reply]In much softer territories, I’m a huge fan of Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge comics, those are great great stuff. Lately I’m also enjoying those black and white Showcase volumes reprinting Jimmy Olson stories from the 50s. All Curt Swan art, lots of “WTF” moments and they’ll all 8 page stories, which I like.

It’s nice to have individual comics that finish their story within the issue, it’s way too much of a pain in the ass to collect the individual comics when the collected trade paperback will be on sale soon///

It’s truly amazing how powerful the “comic strip” is these days. Remember the group in Denmark a couple years ago who are still getting death threats for insults to the prophet Mohamed!

Or consider the stink over the “New Yorker” Obama cover…

comics/caricatures/drawerings are powerful…

Think back to the caveman days… some of those cave drawings are all we know of our distant folks!!

5

Eric Powell. The Goon is really good.

6

i dotn’t really collect comics anymore, i will pick up the occasional graphic novel though, like the civil war for example. tony stark is a douche. heh.

BUT, when i was into them , i loved barry windsor smith. he wrote/drew the weapon x series, which told the origin of wolverines claws, etc. great writing, artwork, wtc.

i also really got into jim lee’s art, i loved his style, and when he was doing batman a few years ago i picked up some of those issues.

and of course alan moore and the watchmen. wondering if this movie adaption they are working on will pan out.

7

they never seem to get alan moore’s work right in the movies… from hell came close… and it was a great movie, but the book was just a million times better…

Bone was a fine piece of work…

I agree with the waiting for the trade thing. I used to have the patience to read issues when i was a pre-teen… but now i just wait to get a whole story going… i mean I can’t imagine having to have had to wait for the sandman to finish, going from issue to issue…

8

Crumb is a crazy motherfucker. A weird, neurotic, outright racist bastard, but one of my favorite artists nonetheless.

9

Bill Watterson - I’d rather be kicked in the balls than read Calvin + Hobbes. Hippie bullshit that never charmed the pants off me. Another wee lil guy filled with wee lil folk wisdom about the universe, adults, politics, and on and on and… the stuff tiger jackassery was just there to sell the god damn strip to the syndicates.

Nigga say whaaaa?!
how many strips have you read? what you mention would seem to be strips that are few and far between. At the very least I figured ANYONE could love his fucked up snowmen! These two characters are based on john calvin and thomas hobbes the philosophers, but they don’t go around spouting little nuggets of wisdom!

Gary Trudeu (or however you spell it) is definitely hippyish but still some of it is pretty funny, though!
Late,
grmpysmrf

10

Watterson - at least he ended his run when he felt it was ‘done’ and didn’t hand it to some twat to fuck with for another 30 years.

Jim Lee’s art was always good, but his plotting was so-so.

I understood the Image idea, but nearly all the books that came out were pretty weak. Spawn was the exception at first, til he just quit giving a shit.

Frank Miller / Alan Moore / Neil Gaiman all great - esp when they aren’t stuck working on more ‘trad’ books. When stuck in ‘hero’ mode they’ve all had a clunker or two.

speaking of ‘hero’ books the last one I picked up that blew me away was the first 12 issues/graphic novel of the Authority. I didn’t follow it after that, but man, that shit was bad-ass out the gate.

11

The Goon - Fun, well drawn comic. Good call!

Preacher! - I totally forgot about this series! Great stuff.

Alex Ross - I would have to agree with you there Jizzwad for the most part. While I don’t necessarily loathe his art I just don’t see why so many nerds jerk off so hard to it either.

Neal Adams - Classic shit. I wish someone would still draw Batman in this style, but I guess DC would probably think it would look dated, I don’t know… comics got too flashy in the 90’s.

Jim Lee is obviously an exceptional artist but for some reason I just don’t dig his style… too stereotypical superhero for me.

Bill Watterson - I rather liked Calvin and Hobbes myself. He turned down lots of money to continue the series ad infinitum but turned it down because he felt he had expressed what he wanted.

Gary Larson - Genius. The Far Side strip came so far out of left field in it’s day, nothing was like it before or since despite all the one-panel imitators that followed when Larson retired. On a side note I spoke to Larson on the phone a few years ago when I took his pizza order :slight_smile:

Charles Schultz - N’uff said. Now before any haterz chime in and try to diss Peanuts, read this first:
http://www.comicbookgalaxy.com/images/ShermyRawScan.jpg
Nobody could have expressed it better.

I’ll have to check out some of those other guys you posted Jizzy… thanks for the heads up.

12

I don’t think anyone’s mentioned -

Hellblazer: I’m particularly fond of the runs of Warren Ellis, Brian Azzarello, and Mike Carey. I thought Garth Ennis’ run was overrated.

Invisibles: I’ve just started reading this. I read the first two issues when they came out, but lost interest. Works better in trade.

Charles Burns’ Black Hole: Very cool, creepy book.

Peter Bagge’s Buddy Bradley stuff: Awesome look at white young adult life in the mid-90s. Actually, somebody already did mention this, but I’m mentioning it again.

13

Gary Larson - Genius. The Far Side strip came so far out of left field in it’s day, nothing was like it before or since despite all the one-panel imitators that followed when Larson retired. On a side note I spoke to Larson on the phone a few years ago when I took his pizza order :slight_smile:
.

Where did this guy get his inspiration? Drugs? I would dare see as crazy as his humor was it certainly had clarity to it. So I would guess the guy was stone cold sober. ANybody know any bio on him?
Late,
grmpysmrf

14

From Wikipedia:

"Gary Larson was born and raised in University Place, Washington. His parents were Vern, a car salesman, and Doris, a secretary.[1] He attended Curtis Senior High School before attending Washington State University and graduated in 1972 with a degree in communications. In 1987, Larson married Toni Carmichael, an archaeologist.

Larson credits his older brother Dan for his “paranoid” sense of humor.[1] Dan would pull countless pranks on Gary, taking advantage of his phobia of monsters under the bed by, for example, waiting in the closet for the right moment to pounce out at Gary. Dan is also credited with giving Gary his love of science. They caught animals in Puget Sound and placed them in terrariums in the basement; even making a small desert ecosystem, which their parents apparently did not mind.[1] His adept use of snakes in his cartoons stems from his long-standing interest in herpetology."

That sort of explains the themes of paranoia, science, animals, academia and pranks that were so often used in his panels. I doubt he did too many drugs, I’d be surprised if he went any further than trying pot in college.

15

Here’s my list of favorites…

Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’ Malley
Series of graphic novels in which some Canadian guy meets the American girl who invaded his dreams. When it’s decided that they should be a couple, she says, in so many words, “Sure. But first you have to defeat my seven evil ex-boyfriends!” And yeah, I’ll admit that the premise sounds really insipid, but you gotta believe me when I say it’s some of the sweetest, adventurous, laugh-out-loud funny stuff I’ve read in a long-ass time. WARNING: Non-gamers will not get some of the humor.

Hate by Peter Bagge
Buddy Bradley is a misanthrope. These are his stories of living in Seattle and New Jersey. Okay, chances are you’ve heard of this book. Thing is, a comic book shop near where I live went out of business mere weeks ago, and I got to pick up like ten issues of this series at like 50 cents each. So I’m not really gonna go any further into it.

Kick Ass written by Mark Millar, drawn by John Romita Jr.
This book is about what happens to a teenager that decides to become a superhero (but in real life, as in a world where real superheroes don’t exist). Very well written with very creative use of genre.

Others:
Scud The Disposable Assassin
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Dork!
Amazing Spider-Man (The new stuff is really starting to suck big-time dick, though)
The Tick
Slacker Comics

To be continued. Maybe…

16

Scott Pilgrim is so fucking good but I am getting way to impatiant waiting for these books to come out.

17

This week some comic called “comic book tattoo” comes out and it’s supposedly a bunch of stories based on tori amos songs

I was in borders a few days ago and method man has a comic book out…
seems people are crossing over

I remember in the early 90’s they had a comic that told the stories of various metal and rock bands in it… I still have the metallica issues laying around someplace… like a good story writer would do, the metallica story ended with jason joining the band… leaving the idea of the band continueing the legacy and good music for years to come in the readers head… reality sucks cause it doesn’t know when to stop telling the damn story.

but now i’m rambling.

18

I’m a huge Alan Moore fan. The old Swamp Thing run is my favorite run ever.

I also enjoy some bleak, depressing indy comics. Ghost World was good. Optic Nerve, especially the first few issues of the actual comic are nice and disturbing.

Hard Looks is another all-time favorite of mine. Graphic adaptations of Andrew Vachss short stories. Not for the feint-hearted, but not in a stupid Garth Ennis “my aren’t I shocking” kind of way.

I’ve found Walking Dead to be quite addictive. Zombie stuff is always fun, but it’s better written than most.

Cerebus requires some investment, as it doesn’t really get good for 20 issues or so and must be read in its entirety to be appreciated. By 30 issues in or so, it’s well worth it. Just stop at page 335 of Jaka’s story. Make up your own ending if you like, but That’s where it all starts to go bad. I’ve never hated a writer for a plot turn like that before, but after that it’s all biographies of obscure celebrities and woman-hating, so you’re really not missing anything worthwhile after that anyway.

I’ve been reading the original run of Nexus lately. Mike Baron’s slowly becoming a favorite writer of mine.

19

This week some comic called “comic book tattoo” comes out and it’s supposedly a bunch of stories based on tori amos songs.

i actually pre-ordered the limited edition of that signed/numbered by tori for $70. which was actually half of what she was selling it for on her website. my girlfriend is a HUGE tori fan from back in the day. hopefully she’ll appreciate it.

20

I fell out of the Cerebus loop sometime in the mid '80’s, but I am interested in getting the whole series collected (ie phone books). Sad to hear that is goes bad towards the end.

Alan Moore I have always enjoyed, the Swamp Thing run all the way up to his various series with All American. Kevin O’neil (Marshal Law, Nemesis the Warlock, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) is one of favorite artists there is always a wealth of detail in his art to go back and discover. Marshal Law is without a doubt one of the funniest satires of the Marvel/DC type superheroes I’ve run across even if it is ultraviolent.

I love both ends of the spectrum as far as comic art goes, from the near minimalist approaches of later Frank Miller, and Alex Toth to the ultra detailed work of Bernie Wrightson, Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Tim Vigil. If it gets the ideas of the writer across, and tells a good story than sometimes it does not matter if the art is not all that.

What I cannot stand is the Image mentality, every panel has to be a pinup page by artists who wished they could have been born in Japan. McFarlene was alright, his initial run on Spider-Man I enjoyed, but he is partially responsible for that whole era of bad art.