Long post sorry! Newbie Recommendations/Advice

[Catsonheat]

Hi all,

I'm still pretty new not only to the forums but comics and graphic novels in general but just wanted to post about what I have read so far and what I've found from them. I'd really like to get some of your opinions and insight on what I've written below as nobody I know reads comics so I don't have anyone to discuss with about what I've read or currently reading!

Apologies for the long post and also if this is in the wrong section of the forum, as I'm new to forums I mostly stuck to some classics to begin with before branching out. I guess I should also possibly warn of spoilers below just in case!

Batman: Year One - This was my first introduction to comics and I really enjoyed it. I loved the artwork and the story was great, interesting to see Batman as a more vulnerable beginner to the vigilante scene and make mistakes, underestimate his opponents ability and develop himself to build upon it.

V for Vendetta - Loved this from start to finish, at first I really wanted to know who V was but by the end I was totally sold on the writing and principal that the idea of a symbol was more important than who he was.

Watchmen - Probably my favourite so far, I enjoyed everything about this, the characters, the story, the art, just all round insanity! I can't wait to read it again to be honest.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns & Hush - So I have banded these two together because I have a similar opinion on both, I know that DKR is highly regarded as maybe the most important comic of all time but I just couldn't get into it, the artwork didn't hook me, although the story was good at the beginning I felt it dwindled quickly towards the end which I know may be blasphemy to some out there! Hush had great artwork but it's story I found predictable and not really interesting, I guessed who Hush was fairly early and wasn't shocked by the reveal or even remotely interested in the ending. Ultimately I could leave them both and not return to them. Seeing how classic they are considered, am I missing something?

Batman: The Long Halloween - Really enjoyed this, love the noir setting, reminded me of BioShock a little but in it's art style, couldn't put this one down although I felt the ending was a bit anticlimactic, I still really enjoyed it, although I've heard it's not as good, I'm still looking forward to picking up The Dark Victory.

Currently reading: Saga, Paper Girls, Sex Criminals, Tokyo Ghost and The Wicked + The Divine - So Saga may be the best thing I've read in a long long time, addicted, I find myself 're reading the series from start every now and again, fantastic series in every format! Enjoying Paper Girls too (seems I like Brian K Vaughan so just bought Y: The Last Man), Sex Criminals and TW+TD is still a bit too early to tell but they are enjoyable. Tokyo Ghost has cool art which reminds me a bit of Mad Max but I'm not sold on the characters, Led seems like a bit of an idiot.

Phew sorry everyone just needed to talk to someone, anyone a out the above! let me know any input or recommendations! I would really appreciate it and like to know what more experienced comic readers think!

Cats

[babington]

When I started reading graphic novels my list was similar to yours. Here are some other goodies:

Preacher (Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon)
Swamp Thing (Alan Moore)
Bone (Jeff Smith)
Age of Reptiles (Ricardo Delgado)
Akira (K. Otomo)
Hulk: Planet Hulk (Greg Pak)
Kick Ass (Mark Millar)
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vols. 1 and 2 (Alan Moore)
Nikolai Dante (Morrison et al)
Promethea (Alan Moore)
Maximortal (Rick Veitch)
We 3 (Grant Morrison)

[Catsonheat]

Yeah Preacher is on the wish list! I have heard a lot of good things about it so will probably be picking that up at some point!

I really enjoyed Watchmen and V for Vendetta so I Alan Moore is up there with my favourites so far so I will definitely be checking out his other works you mentioned below.

I haven't read any Mark Millar but I think he is doing Huck which I like the look of so I might look into a few others of his you mentioned.

Is We3 worth picking up? I read a summary of the plot on the back and I heard in a lot of places online that it kicks you right in the feelings, I'm a sucker for animals so I think I would probably cry if anything happened to any of the characters haha.

[koollectablz]

I really liked we3, I read somewhere its been picked up as a movie too.

and yeah, it does 'get' you...

[paw broon]

Hi, like you, I thoroughly enjoyed Batman Year One. It's a good piece of work and I much prefer it to DKR. In fact, when DKR came out, I was really enthusiastic and got a bit caught up in the hype. Now, however, and I read it, or tried to read it again recently, I don't think it has stood the test of time. i found it rather unappealing. So never mind heresy, you're not alone.
Babington has made some good suggestions. I wont comment on the Morrison and Miller titles as I'm not a fan of their work.
You might want to try some of these:-
Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday. Excellent stuff. Well written and beautifully drawn.
If you fancy some Sherlock horror, Victorian Undead by Edgington and Fabbri is good zombie/vampire fun, and both books go like the clappers.
I enjoyed the 2 comic versions of Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch and Lee Sullivan, based on the successful prose versions.
The Authority by Ellis and Bryan Hitch (the early material) is seriously good superheroing, with major city destruction, space and all sorts thrown in. This was a great comic series till Mark Miller corrupted it - that's only my opinion. I felt it became more brutal and derivative.
Birds of Prey, when written by Gail Simone, was a good series and all issue are available in tpb format. Try your local library if you don't fancy shelling out without a good look at it.
Also, have a look at Bryan Talbot's Heart of Empire, with Luther Arkwright. Very well done and much easier to understand than the first Arkwright series.
For sheer delight The Rocketeer. The Dave Stevens material which is simply gorgeous and great fun.
Just to finish this list, I'm a big fan of a series called, The Sixth Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt. This is a western but with horror, monsters, mystery, action and a great character in Drake Sinclair, a gunfighter with a shadowy past. Once you've read the first part, you're bound to be desperate to track down the rest of the story.
Good luck and good reading.