The Internet Book Database of Fiction

I've been out of touch with comics for like 10 years, and there's some good stuff out there I've been meaning to catch up on - stuff I either never got around to reading at the time I was collecting, or seminal works that have some out after I gave up on the hobby.

For instance - I've been meaning to look up and read Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman" series, which I believe won several prestigious awards.

I like the high brow stuff.

Anyway, anyone have any top recommendations for me to look for, as long as I'm at it ?

unless you really like collecting individual issues you've probably saved yourself some time and trouble by being out of the loop. most of the good/better stuff has been re-issued in collections.

warren ellis is one of the better writers of recent days although he does occasionally bomb one. better series are his work in
Superheroic - "Planetary", "Stormwatch"
Sci-Fi - "Lazarus Churchyard", "Transmetropolitan", "Ministry of Space"
Cop Murder Mystery - "Dark Blue"
'Strange Kiss' is bad.

Garth Ennis's "Preacher" received all kinds of accolades. it is not, however, a serious criticism of theology as is often claimed. it does have quite a few high points and it's a seminal presentation of his humor and the themes he often explores.
"Hitman" is more about humor, in fact you have to read the two or three issues devoted to the zombie zoo. hysterical.
'dicks' and the issues about the superhero hooker should be passed by.

Peter David isn't 'excellent' but he is consistently good. he had a long run on "The Hulk" you should read. if you like that you should look for more of his stuff (he might still be doing "Supergirl")

Dave Sim's "Cerebus" goes without saying. no, he doesn't have anything else, he's been doing "Cerebus" for the last 30 years. what more do you want?

Alan Moore's work on "The Watchmen", "Swamp Thing" and "MiracleMan" was all back in the '80s so you might have seen it already. much of his current work lacks focus or tries to get way too cute but he still puts out decent stuff once in a while. but then that's why you go to the comic book store .... you test read the stuff on the shelf. note of interest; both of the movies "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "From Hell" were based on Moore's comic books.

Neil Gaiman - almost everything he touches is worth reading, even the prose stuff. as an added bonus, he wrote the last "MiracleMan" limited series. "The Sandman" goes without saying.

Matt Wagner's first "Mage" and "Grendel" series were very good. the last Mage series was a serious step down and the Grendel limited series (i have no idea how many grendel series there are but it's a butt load) tend to be uneven as he started farming the franchise out to guest writers and artists.

Adam Warren's writing is almost always both great fun and highly intelligent while his art is heavily influenced by manga. pick up his "Gen13" work and get introduced to the wonderful world of ferret-legging.

recommended Manga coming out now in collections
Neon Genesis: Evangelion
Blade of the Immortal

Thx for the shopping list.

I already have a lot of Moore's Swampman - funny how it started out as really creepy, and then became kinda political.

i actually haven't read most of moore's run on swamp thing. i just wasn't paying attention to him until after i saw the 12 issue mini-series "The Watchmen". i do have the collection of his first 6?-8?-12? issues on 'swamp thing' and now i could just kick myself for passing it by when he was writing it.

frank miller is also releasing work on an infrequent basis. try '300', his take on the stand by the spartans against the persian army. (i suspect that he was encouraged to take on this historical subject by the success of eric shanower's 'Age of Bronze' - shanower's take on the Illiad). miller's 'Sin City' books aren't 'high intellectual' but it is some pretty good noir comics.
dark knight II didn't maintain the standard he set in dark knight.

I'm surprised the Rainbow Coalition hasn't erected a statue at Thermopoli ... ya know ... "Tomb of the Unknown Gay Soldier".

(sorry - ancient NPC humor)

so brad, how are the comics coming along? i've thought of a couple of more things to try.

David Lapham's 'Stray Bullets' stuff is really good noir. you know how rapes, murders, general mayhem and molestations always happen to other innocent(?) bystanders? this is their story. the 'Amy Racecar' stuff breaks up the general downer trend in the rest of the books in a pretty cool over the top way. all but the most recent of the stray bullets issues are available in collections.

oh hell yeah! how could i almost forget Johnny the Homicidal Maniac? wow, that was great in a stream of conciousness, psychotic kind of way.

especially good were the 'wobbly headed bob' (forced to live in a world of idiots) skits (you might have noticed i have an affinity for things called bob).
JtHM has finished it's story arc so you can pick up the entire collection in one book.