Khonshu guide me... to some comic books
October 6, 2016 10:29 AM Subscribe
I take my second grader to the comic shop twice a month for Adventure Time, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur, etc. I've got an itch to get some stuff for myself, but it's been years since I was much of a regular comic reader. What ongoing titles are worth a shot?
I read The Walking Dead. As a kid, I read Batman, X-Men, and the usual. In the past decade or so, I've read Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Sandman, Preacher, and I did read and enjoy a few limited-run superhero things like All-Star Superman and Batman: Earth One.
I think I might like to go for more traditional superhero stuff this time around. I'm enjoying the hell out of the Netflix Marvel shows and I have a grudging fondness for the CW DC shows. Given that, I think I might be primarily in a mood for superhero stuff done well, as opposed to the kinda artsy, postmodern, or cheerfully transgressive stuff I often read in the recent past.
I've read a bit of the new Moon Knight, and through two issues at least, I like it at least some. That's a good barometer for the starting level I'm looking at, not in terms of its content, but in how, even though it doesn't reset its history, it's set up to allow me to come in cold. I tried the Ta-Nehisi Coates Black Panther, but the first issue felt turgid and left me a little cold, though I'm open to revisiting.
"Ongoing" is the key word though. I'm looking for stuff I can pick up fresh for myself while my kid chooses stuff for himself. Ideally, I'm looking for things that have a start of logical jumping in point within the last six months. I don't want to buy collections or hunt down too many back issues. I want to share the "getting this month's stuff off the rack" experience with my kid.
I read The Walking Dead. As a kid, I read Batman, X-Men, and the usual. In the past decade or so, I've read Planetary, Transmetropolitan, Sandman, Preacher, and I did read and enjoy a few limited-run superhero things like All-Star Superman and Batman: Earth One.
I think I might like to go for more traditional superhero stuff this time around. I'm enjoying the hell out of the Netflix Marvel shows and I have a grudging fondness for the CW DC shows. Given that, I think I might be primarily in a mood for superhero stuff done well, as opposed to the kinda artsy, postmodern, or cheerfully transgressive stuff I often read in the recent past.
I've read a bit of the new Moon Knight, and through two issues at least, I like it at least some. That's a good barometer for the starting level I'm looking at, not in terms of its content, but in how, even though it doesn't reset its history, it's set up to allow me to come in cold. I tried the Ta-Nehisi Coates Black Panther, but the first issue felt turgid and left me a little cold, though I'm open to revisiting.
"Ongoing" is the key word though. I'm looking for stuff I can pick up fresh for myself while my kid chooses stuff for himself. Ideally, I'm looking for things that have a start of logical jumping in point within the last six months. I don't want to buy collections or hunt down too many back issues. I want to share the "getting this month's stuff off the rack" experience with my kid.
Best answer: Doom Patrol just started back up fresh with a new #1 - the intro is promising, and tracking down Grant Morrison's run of the series from back in the day would likely also be very edifying. It's ostensibly a superhero series, but with a very left-field bizarre sensibility and humor.
posted by FatherDagon at 10:43 AM on October 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 10:43 AM on October 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I LOVE the new Daredevil with the heat of a thousand suns. They've moved him to Chinatown, given him a sidekick, a new costume, and made him a prosecuting attorney for the state. The art is wonderful, very reminiscent of Frank Miller, but without the crazy.
Oh, and they're only about ten issues in, with the first 5 already collected.
Granted, I've been a reader since the 70's so I may be a bit prejudice.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 10:55 AM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh, and they're only about ten issues in, with the first 5 already collected.
Granted, I've been a reader since the 70's so I may be a bit prejudice.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 10:55 AM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
A friend highly recommended Red Hood and the Outlaws as well as the current Lucifer series as both being a bit offbeat, but good.
posted by mattamatic at 10:58 AM on October 6, 2016
posted by mattamatic at 10:58 AM on October 6, 2016
Best answer: Astro City is a monthly superhero anthology. Most story arcs last 1-3 issues, with the occasional 6-issue multi-part story. It is self-contained and does not crossover into any other books. Really great writing by Kurt Busiek.
Invincible does have some backstory, but it's also ending it's run in the next year or so, and now is a good jumping-on point for what I expect to be a interesting and exciting conclusion. I find it to be the most enjoyable superhero book right now.
Not superhero, but Usagi Yojimbo is one of the most consistently well-written and drawn comics ever, in my opinion. There are reoccurring characters, but you can pick up any issue and start from there.
posted by Big Chief Little Pants at 11:26 AM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Invincible does have some backstory, but it's also ending it's run in the next year or so, and now is a good jumping-on point for what I expect to be a interesting and exciting conclusion. I find it to be the most enjoyable superhero book right now.
Not superhero, but Usagi Yojimbo is one of the most consistently well-written and drawn comics ever, in my opinion. There are reoccurring characters, but you can pick up any issue and start from there.
posted by Big Chief Little Pants at 11:26 AM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh weird - I appear to be the first one here to recommend Saga. I expected to be the 10th by now.
So let me recommend Saga.
Try Saga.
Saga.
posted by komara at 11:43 AM on October 6, 2016 [6 favorites]
So let me recommend Saga.
Try Saga.
Saga.
posted by komara at 11:43 AM on October 6, 2016 [6 favorites]
I'm not super into ongoing stuff (I read maybe 4 ongoing books, none of which are really super-hero-ish), but off the top of my head:
If you're okay with trades rather than new singles, the Matt Fraction run on Hawkeye was probably the best superhero thing of the last few years, despite not exactly being trad superhero stuff.
The Gillen/McKelvie run on Young Avengers was brilliant, and their current ongoing, The Wicked + The Divine, is fantastic - popstars-as-Gods is the elevator pitch. It's definitely not a kids comic and it's hyper-Millennial/Tumblr-ish in its aesthetic and worldview, but for a particular demographic it's The Most Important Thing In The World right now (in the same way as your favourite band as a teenager as TMITITW)
The first couple of volumes of the Kamala Khan Ms Marvel run are pure joy. It falls apart a bit once the series starts interacting with the wider Marvel universe/ongoing Event stuff, but that might also just be my low tolerance for continuity bullshit. I think it's still ongoing but I don't know if G Willow Wilson is still writing? I'm buying the trades, not the singles.
Everything Weird Uncle Warren is doing at the moment is great, and also bleak and super-depressing, in the best way. Injection is a sort of neo-cyber-folk-myth thing about people who accidentally let an AI construct thing loose into the real world and it's brilliant, and horrible, and the art/colouring is by Declan and Jordie so is just the best. Trees is a musing on the "What if aliens came to earth and didn't care about humanity?" idea - like, giant weird tree-like spacecraft plant themselves on earth and just... sit there.
And yes, Saga. Saga Saga Saga Saga.
posted by parm at 12:07 PM on October 6, 2016
If you're okay with trades rather than new singles, the Matt Fraction run on Hawkeye was probably the best superhero thing of the last few years, despite not exactly being trad superhero stuff.
The Gillen/McKelvie run on Young Avengers was brilliant, and their current ongoing, The Wicked + The Divine, is fantastic - popstars-as-Gods is the elevator pitch. It's definitely not a kids comic and it's hyper-Millennial/Tumblr-ish in its aesthetic and worldview, but for a particular demographic it's The Most Important Thing In The World right now (in the same way as your favourite band as a teenager as TMITITW)
The first couple of volumes of the Kamala Khan Ms Marvel run are pure joy. It falls apart a bit once the series starts interacting with the wider Marvel universe/ongoing Event stuff, but that might also just be my low tolerance for continuity bullshit. I think it's still ongoing but I don't know if G Willow Wilson is still writing? I'm buying the trades, not the singles.
Everything Weird Uncle Warren is doing at the moment is great, and also bleak and super-depressing, in the best way. Injection is a sort of neo-cyber-folk-myth thing about people who accidentally let an AI construct thing loose into the real world and it's brilliant, and horrible, and the art/colouring is by Declan and Jordie so is just the best. Trees is a musing on the "What if aliens came to earth and didn't care about humanity?" idea - like, giant weird tree-like spacecraft plant themselves on earth and just... sit there.
And yes, Saga. Saga Saga Saga Saga.
posted by parm at 12:07 PM on October 6, 2016
Best answer: I don't have any recommendations at the moment (I'm behind in my reading right now), but I do check out reviews. Here's one that might be a starting place. I like the once-a-week summary as it gives me an idea of what's out there that might interest me.
posted by sardonyx at 1:56 PM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by sardonyx at 1:56 PM on October 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Luckily for you DC has done yet another reboot so it is pretty easy to get caught up in things. And the quality of the books seems to be a bit better than what it was pre-reboot although there aren't any stand-out titles for me. My favourite DC book is the ongoing Superman title by Tomasi and Gleason. It focuses on Superman's relationship with his adopted son in much the same way their run on Batman and Robin focused on the relationship between Batman and Damian Wayne (which was also a pretty good title). The Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo Batman was a great title but its over now and Snyder's new title All-Star Batman hasn't been as good although its only been going for a couple of issues.
On the Marvel side most titles are tied up in Civil War, but not everything. Ant-Man has probably been my favourite title of the last few months. Dr. Strange has been pretty good too. I've been enjoying Old Man Logan a lot but the art may be carrying the title. Ms. Marvel is still a good title, but I agree the event tie-in issues have not been as good as the self-contained ones. Spider-Woman has been great. My 2nd favourite after Ant-Man (yet somehow it is the 5th title mentioned in this paragraph). Vision has been an extremely good title but it feels like a finite series.
The IDW Transformers comics have been pretty good too. There is a lot of backstory but at the same time the issues seem to be pretty easy to jump in to. I started re-reading again after missing a year and I'm liking it, even if I still have no idea how things got to their current state. One thing to note is that there are lots of robots that weren't present in the old cartoons.
My #1 title right now is East of West. It is kind of a superhero title but not quite. It just finished a story arc which you would think would make the next issue a good jumping on point but you really do have to read the whole thing (about 30 issues right now) so I don't think it is an appropriate answer for your question, but at the same time I have to recommend it.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:23 PM on October 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
On the Marvel side most titles are tied up in Civil War, but not everything. Ant-Man has probably been my favourite title of the last few months. Dr. Strange has been pretty good too. I've been enjoying Old Man Logan a lot but the art may be carrying the title. Ms. Marvel is still a good title, but I agree the event tie-in issues have not been as good as the self-contained ones. Spider-Woman has been great. My 2nd favourite after Ant-Man (yet somehow it is the 5th title mentioned in this paragraph). Vision has been an extremely good title but it feels like a finite series.
The IDW Transformers comics have been pretty good too. There is a lot of backstory but at the same time the issues seem to be pretty easy to jump in to. I started re-reading again after missing a year and I'm liking it, even if I still have no idea how things got to their current state. One thing to note is that there are lots of robots that weren't present in the old cartoons.
My #1 title right now is East of West. It is kind of a superhero title but not quite. It just finished a story arc which you would think would make the next issue a good jumping on point but you really do have to read the whole thing (about 30 issues right now) so I don't think it is an appropriate answer for your question, but at the same time I have to recommend it.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:23 PM on October 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
Not superhero, but I recommend Revival by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton--dead coming back to life but not zombies precisely.
Also Harrow County if you're into horror stuff.
Also Hellboy. Pow!
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:38 PM on October 6, 2016
Also Harrow County if you're into horror stuff.
Also Hellboy. Pow!
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:38 PM on October 6, 2016
1000% behind Saga, Harrow County although not starting within the last 6 months but so totally worth it.
posted by Requiax at 4:07 PM on October 6, 2016
posted by Requiax at 4:07 PM on October 6, 2016
Oh weird - I appear to be the first one here to recommend Saga. I expected to be the 10th by now.
So let me recommend Saga.
Try Saga.
Saga.
Trust me, that would have been my very first recommendation, even before ol' Hornhead, but I thought that maybe too many issues had passed for him to get into it.
Ideally, I'm looking for things that have a start of logical jumping in point within the last six months. I don't want to buy collections or hunt down too many back issues.
Saga is quite possibly (okay, very possibly) the best work being done right now in comics. It is ridiculously good.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 6:29 AM on October 7, 2016
So let me recommend Saga.
Try Saga.
Saga.
Trust me, that would have been my very first recommendation, even before ol' Hornhead, but I thought that maybe too many issues had passed for him to get into it.
Ideally, I'm looking for things that have a start of logical jumping in point within the last six months. I don't want to buy collections or hunt down too many back issues.
Saga is quite possibly (okay, very possibly) the best work being done right now in comics. It is ridiculously good.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 6:29 AM on October 7, 2016
Response by poster: I ordered the first two issues of Doom Patrol. I have to wait for them to arrive but they sound good. I picked up second printings (I only want them to read anyway) of the first issues of the relaunches of Batman and Superman. Those two have the advantage of being something that my second grader might read, too. (Not sure if he'll go for them, but I read them first and they were at a hard PG/light PG-13 level; he being a reasonably mature kid, I think he can probably swing it.) I also picked up the new Warren Ellis, Shipwreck, based on a review in the link sardonyx provided. I got the first issue of the new run of Jessica Jones and that looks good, too. Astro City and Daredevil are earmarked for next time.
I do like the sound of Saga, but that will have to wait.
Right now, more than the content of the books themselves, the great feeling is strolling the racks with my kid, hurrying home and settling in next to each other on the couch to read together. So for now, I'm more about the current stuff.
Thanks everybody! And keep 'em coming.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:55 AM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
I do like the sound of Saga, but that will have to wait.
Right now, more than the content of the books themselves, the great feeling is strolling the racks with my kid, hurrying home and settling in next to each other on the couch to read together. So for now, I'm more about the current stuff.
Thanks everybody! And keep 'em coming.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:55 AM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If you like the current Moon Knight then I highly recommend giving Warren Ellis' run a read. You can get it all in one trade paperback. His run on Secret Avengers is also worth a word, and again it's available in one volume.
Other than that, I'd say the best comic Marvel is putting out right now is The Vision. It's introspective, emotional family drama but set in the Marve Universe with Vision trying family life on for size. There's a great sense of tragedy and doom to it all.
Black Hammer by Jeff Lemire is another good superhero book that deviates from the norm slightly. This one is about a team of Golden Age superheroes who find themselves trapped on a small rural farm that may or may not be a prison in some kind of pocket universe.
The recent run on Midnighter by Steve Orlando is a good DC superhero book with some fantastic action sequences in it. Tom King, the guy who wrote The Vision, has also just started a run on Batman that's really great so far too.
If you're into horror then House of Penance is worth a look too.
Phew!
posted by Werod at 7:56 AM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
Other than that, I'd say the best comic Marvel is putting out right now is The Vision. It's introspective, emotional family drama but set in the Marve Universe with Vision trying family life on for size. There's a great sense of tragedy and doom to it all.
Black Hammer by Jeff Lemire is another good superhero book that deviates from the norm slightly. This one is about a team of Golden Age superheroes who find themselves trapped on a small rural farm that may or may not be a prison in some kind of pocket universe.
The recent run on Midnighter by Steve Orlando is a good DC superhero book with some fantastic action sequences in it. Tom King, the guy who wrote The Vision, has also just started a run on Batman that's really great so far too.
If you're into horror then House of Penance is worth a look too.
Phew!
posted by Werod at 7:56 AM on October 7, 2016 [1 favorite]
RUMBLE, by John Arcudi and James Harren, is pretty good so far. Well-drawn action/fantasy/heroics stuff. I get it as collections (two so far), but I think the pamphlets are more-or-less monthly.
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 1:30 PM on October 9, 2016
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 1:30 PM on October 9, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
I would try the Crumb Family.
Robert Crumb's Coffee Table Art Book
his WAY talented and hilarious wife
Aline Kominsky-Crumb's Need More Love
And their spawn (I say this with love)
Sophie Crumb's Evolution of a Crazy Artist
I developed an interest in R. Crumb after seeing This outstanding classic documentary. His works intrigued and repulsed me. His wife FASCINATED me. And Sophie, well... she's not as talented as either of her parents, but her (unfortunately titled) addition is well-worth reading as well, if only to see the confluence of Robert and Aline's sensibilities...
posted by Dressed to Kill at 10:36 AM on October 6, 2016