Newbie Seeks Comic Book Advice...

[Marjie]

Hey, hello everyone. Okay, so I'm no comic book expert, and I'm not in on any of the stuff going on in the comic book world... but by chance, I got my hands on a copy of V for Vendetta, and I loved it, so I looked for more by Alan Moore and found Watchmen, which I loved even more! But now I'm kind of at a loss for what to read next, since the other comic strips I've found haven't impressed me much. Does anybody have any advice for me? I guess I'm looking for "stand-alone" graphic novel(s), to the tune of "If you liked Watchmen, you'll love..." :smile: Thanks everyone.

[Avenger08]

Okay, well, an excelllent choice would be Batman, the Dark Knight Returns. Brush up on some basic batman stuff on wikipedia for about two seconds and you ccan read this easily. Great, Great book. Also, Batman: The Long Halloween is excellent. Its much different than what you may be looking for but you, again, dont need to know much about Batman other than basics and its a great story. Theres Kingdom Come that you should definetly read later on in your comic book time. But i think you should start out with The Dark Knight Returns.

[Marjie]

Alright, thanks! I will look into those - it looks like my library has a couple of them, too.

[Ghost Shark]

Alan Moore's League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volumes 1 and 2 are quite good. I didn't much care for The Black Dossier and Century 1910, but if you're a completist you track them down too.

You should be able to find Camelot 3000 in trade paperback easily enough, it's worth a read too. King Arthur and his knights reborn in the year 3000. Good stuff!

Grant Morrison's run on Animal man has been collected as well, and it ranks very high on my list of all-time favourites. 26 issues total, not sure how many tpbs that turned into though.

[Karl O'Neill]

The Dark Knight Returns.

[Rustyautoparts]

V for Vendetta and Watchmen were my first two graphic novels as well, and I read them in that order. Needless to say I've been hooked ever since. The next few boos I read were Batman: Dark Knight Returns and Sin City. After those, I would go hog wild. Animal Man is great, it's only in 3 volumes I believe. I also personally love Fables, which has quite a few volumes out. Ex Machina is a lot of fun. Transmetropolitan is also great. If you love Alan Moore and want a deep, complex and engaging read, try From Hell. I would wait on Kingdom Come until you know a little more of the DC mythos. It's a great standalone read, but it carries much more weight if you have a better idea of the characters other that Sperman, Batman, etc.For that, I would suggest anything from Grant Morrison's JLA run. Hope that helps.

[Fatguy]

My absolute favorite comics I have ever read, were the Alan Moore Swamp Thing trades. It was the first stuff I had ever read by Moore, and since then I (like most) am in awe of most of his work. For me, even more than Watchmen, his Swamp Thing is a must read. Especially if you're into cerebral horror.

[JakeJarmel]

Do yourself a favor and read SCALPED. There are currently four trades available.

[Tony Bang]

Since you seem to like Alan Moore the already mentioned Swamp Thing and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would be right up your alley. Another book of Moore's called Promethea is stunningly good. I would also recommend From Hell by Moore and Eddie Campbell.

[funkymunk]

Sin City is good especially if you liked the movies. All the above are pretty good, I couldn't get into Promethea, it was too magic based and felt like it was a history of magic. Good if you're into that stuff, just didn't suit me. If you liked Watchmen try Astro City which is in trade form. It's kinda like Watchmen but only if the writer had anti depressants handy!.

[F1uke]

26 issues total, not sure how many tpbs that turned into though.

3 TBPs, I believe, but despite being one of my all time favorties right away, I wouldn't recommend starting with it.

All-Star Superman, however, I would.

[Marjie]

Wow, thanks for your help everyone! I'm gonna have to make a comic book run this week and read a bunch of these. Promethea and the Dark Knight Returns sound pretty interesting; I guess I'll start with those (if I can get my hands on them :confused: :smile: ).

[Hall of Doom]

Check out Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli.

[doubletake]

Would definately recommend 'From Hell' like some other people seem to be doing

Also 'Y: The last man' is a great read, not stand-alone, but it completes it's story in 10 volumes (I believe, I'm on 7 at the moment)

[dancj]

I'll second The Dark Knight Returns and Batman Year 1. After that you're probably best off looking at Vertigo stuff. Animal Man, Fables, The Filth, The Enigma, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, Scalped, DMZ