Try Belgian comic books. A whole new world will open up for you.
Belgian comics are a distinct subgroup in the comics history, and played a major role in the development of European comics, alongside France with whom they share a long common history. While the comics in the two major language groups and regions of Belgium (Flanders with the Dutch language and Wallonia with French) each have clearly distinct characteristics, they are constantly influencing one another, and meeting each other in Brussels and in the bilingual publication tradition of the majo Th...
That would include Dutch and French comics, among other nationalities. One of my favorite: the Incal Series by Moebius:
The Incal (/ˈɪŋkəl/; French: L'Incal) is a French graphic novel series written by Alejandro Jodorowsky and originally illustrated by Jean Giraud. The Incal, with first pages originally released as Une aventure de John Difool ("A John Difool Adventure") in Métal hurlant and published by Les Humanoïdes Associés, introduced Jodorowsky's "Jodoverse" (or "Metabarons Universe"), a fictional universe in which his science fiction comics take place. It is an epic space opera blending fantastical Original...
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That’s a horrible thing to do to a comic book. I have tried to use those few times like reading Barks, Rosa, Tezuka, Moore, Grant etc and stuff where there are no official translations. It’s wrong to me. I’m snob…
I think some of this might be availble in digital copies.
America's Best Comics (ABC) was a comic book publishing brand. It was set up by Alan Moore in 1999 as an imprint of WildStorm, an idea proposed to Moore by WildStorm founder Jim Lee when it was still under Image Comics.
America's Best Comics was a prominent Standard/Better/Nedor title during the 1940s Golden Age of comic books, starring such heroes as the Black Terror and the Fighting Yank. Those characters were integrated into the Moore version under the ABC imprint, where Moore wrote series in...
Providence is a twelve-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Jacen Burrows, published by American company Avatar Press from 2015 to 2017. The story is both a prequel and sequel to Moore's previous stories Neonomicon and The Courtyard, and continues exploring H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
The series is set in 1919 and centres on Robert Black, a homosexual Jewish writer, initially working in New York as a reporter for the New York Herald. Black takes a leave...
Ministry of Space is a three-part alternate history mini-series written by Warren Ellis, published by American company Image Comics in 2001-2004. The book's art is by Chris Weston, and depicts retro technology in "British" style.
The story is set in an alternate history where soldiers and operatives of the United Kingdom reached the German rocket installations at Peenemünde ahead of the Americans and the Soviets, and brought all the key personnel and technology to Britain, in a mirror of the r...
Planetary is an American comic book series created by writer Warren Ellis and artist John Cassaday, and published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics. After an initial preview issue in September 1998, the series ran for 27 issues from April 1999 to October 2009.
Planetary was previewed in issue #33 of Gen¹³ and issue #6 of C-23, both dated September 1998. The first issue of the series was cover-dated April 1999. Originally intended to be a 24-issue bi-monthly series, the series was on hold fro...
All-Star Superman is a twelve-issue American comic book series featuring Superman that was published by DC Comics. The series ran from November 2005 to October 2008. The series was written by Grant Morrison, drawn by Frank Quitely, and digitally inked by Jamie Grant. The series revolves around Superman, who is dying due to overexposure to the Sun, as he accomplishes many heroic feats (The Twelve Labors of Superman) and attempts to make peace with the world before his imminent death.
The origin ...
Happy! is an American live-action/adult animated black comedy/action-drama television series based on the four-issue comic book series of the same name created by writer Grant Morrison and artist Darick Robertson, with Brian Taylor serving as director for a majority of the episodes (seven of the first eleven).
The series premiered on Syfy on December 6, 2017, receiving mostly positive reviews. On January 29, 2018, it was announced that Syfy had renewed the series for a second season, which pre...
The Boys is an adult superhero comic book series, written by Garth Ennis and co-created, designed, and illustrated by Darick Robertson. The first volume was published by WildStorm, which canceled it after six issues; the series was picked up by Dynamite Entertainment, which published the following eight volumes. Debuting in October 2006, the series concluded in November 2012 after 72 issues were published. In the fourth volume, the series is revealed to be set in the same fictional universe as
20th Century Boys (Japanese: 20世紀少年, Hepburn: Nijusseiki Shōnen) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was originally serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1999 to 2006, with the 249 chapters published into 22 tankōbon volumes. A 16 chapter continuation, titled 21st Century Boys (21世紀少年, Nijūisseiki Shōnen), ran in the same magazine from 2006 to 2007 and was gathered into two tankōbon volumes. It tells the story of Kenji Endo ...
Monster (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was published by Shogakukan in its seinen manga magazine Big Comic Original between December 1994 and December 2001, with its chapters collected in 18 tankōbon volumes. The story revolves around Kenzo Tenma, a Japanese surgeon living in Düsseldorf, Germany whose life enters turmoil after he gets himself involved with Johan Liebert, one of his former patients, who is revealed to be a psychopath...
One-Punch Man (Japanese: ワンパンマン, Hepburn: Wanpanman) is a Japanese superhero manga series created by One. It tells the story of Saitama, a superhero who, because he can defeat any opponent with a single punch, grows bored from a lack of challenge. One wrote the original webcomic manga version in early 2009.
A digital manga remake, illustrated by Yusuke Murata, began publication on Shueisha's Tonari no Young Jump website in June 2012. Its chapters are periodically compiled and published into i...
Etc
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Grandville is the first of a planned five-part British graphic novel series written and drawn by Bryan Talbot. Published on 15 October 2009, it is a mixture of the steampunk, alternative history and thriller genres. It is set in a world in which France won the Napoleonic Wars and invaded Britain, and in which the world is populated mostly by anthropomorphic animals. The book follows a British anthropomorphic badger, Detective Inspector Archie LeBrock of Scotland Yard, investigating a murder which...
I Am a Hero (Japanese: アイアムアヒーロー, Hepburn: Ai Amu A Hīrō) is a Japanese zombie manga by Kengo Hanazawa.
A live action film adaptation directed by Shinsuke Sato and starring Yo Oizumi, Kasumi Arimura and Masami Nagasawa, premiered at the Sitges Film Festival on October 13, 2015, was released commercially on April 23, 2016.
There are three spinoff manga written by the same author and set in the same universe called, I Am a Hero in Osaka (Japanese: アイアムアヒーロー in Osaka, Hepburn: Ai Amu A Hīrō in Osa...
Alice in Sunderland: An Entertainment is a graphic novel by comics writer and artist Bryan Talbot. It explores the links between Lewis Carroll and the Sunderland area, with wider themes of history, myth and storytelling.
The artwork for the main cover was drawn and made by graphic artist Jordan Smith. His daughter, Kaya Anna Lawson (Smith) is the model for Alice. She is featured on the front cover as Tenniel's Alice, as well as inside the book as her normal self.
The work relates local history....
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Blacksad is a comic album series created by Spanish authors Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and Juanjo Guarnido (artist), and published by French publisher Dargaud. Though both authors are Spanish, their main target audience for Blacksad is the French market and thus they publish all Blacksad volumes in French first; the Spanish edition usually follows about one month later. The first volume, Quelque part entre les ombres (literally Somewhere between the Shadows, but simply called Blacksad in th The...
Supergod is a 5-issue comic book limited series created by Warren Ellis, published by Avatar Press, with art by Garrie Gastonny. Issue 1 was released in November 2009.
In an essay written at the time of publication, Warren Ellis said:
Supergod is the story of what an actual superhuman arms race might be like. It’s a simple thing to imagine. Humans have been fashioning their own gods with their own hands since the dawn of our time on Earth. We can’t help ourselves. Fertility figures brazen idols...
Neonomicon is a four-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Jacen Burrows, published by American company Avatar Press in 2010. The story is a sequel to Moore's previous story Alan Moore's The Courtyard and part of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Moore later continued the sequence with his comic Providence.
On March 2012 it became the first recipient of the newly created "Graphic Novel" category at the Bram Stoker Awards.
FBI agents Lamper and Brears visit ...
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Have you read anything by Jeff Lemire? All his work is terrific, but you will probably most enjoy his recent series Black Hammer and Descender
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My favorite book is The Question. It was a remake of a Chart on comics character. Dennis O’Neal took Steve Ditko’s rather two dimensional libertarian leaning character and created something really amazing. Each issue asked an philosophical question and didn’t give the reader a pat answer. Bad guys were kicked in the head, yes, but the main point was an examination of the meaning of what we call evil, for instance. The reprints are hard to find, but you can pick up the whole 36 issue run for a buck or two an issue. This is a truly underrated comic.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a comic book series co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The series spans two six-issue limited series, Volume I, Volume II, and an original graphic novel Black Dossier from the America's Best Comics imprint of DC Comics, as well as a third volume and spin-off trilogy Nemo published by Top Shelf and Knockabout Comics. According to Moore, the concept behind the series was initially a "Justice League of Victorian Engl...
Lost Girls is a graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Melinda Gebbie, depicting the sexually explicit adventures of three female fictional characters of the late 19th and early 20th century: Alice from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, Dorothy Gale from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Wendy Darling from J. M. Barrie's Peter and Wendy. They meet as adults in 1913 and describe and share some of their erotic adventures ...
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I read these comics and liked
The Arab of the Future (French: L'Arabe du futur) is a graphic memoir by award-winning French-Syrian cartoonist Riad Sattouf. The work recounts Sattouf's childhood growing up in France, Libya and Syria in the 1970s and 80s. The first volume of L'Arabe du futur won the 2015 Fauve d’Or prize for best graphic novel at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.
Sattouf’s father influenced the name of the book through his ideal of raising his son as an Arab of the future. Early in the story, the e...
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Things NOT to read:
Holy Terror is 2011 a graphic novel by Frank Miller which follows a superhero named The Fixer as he battles Islamic terrorists after an attack on Empire City.
The novel was originally proposed as Holy Terror, Batman! in 2006 but is no longer a project associated with the Batman character or DC Comics. Miller explained in 2010 "It's no longer a DC book. I decided partway through it that it was not a Batman story."
As originally announced the plot revolved around Batman defending Gotham City fr...
All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder is an American comic book series written by Frank Miller and penciled by Jim Lee. It was published by DC Comics, with a sporadic schedule, between 2005 and 2008. The series was to be rebooted under the title Dark Knight: Boy Wonder in 2011, when both Miller and Lee were to finish the last six issues. The series retells the origin story of Dick Grayson, who became Batman's sidekick Robin.
This was the first series to be launched in 2005 under DC's All Star ...
"One More Day" is a four-part 2007 comic book crossover storyline, connecting the three main Spider-Man series concurrently published by Marvel Comics at the time. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada, with art by Quesada, this story arc concludes the fallout of Spider-Man's actions during the 2007 Civil War crossover. "One More Day" starts in The Amazing Spider-Man #544, continues in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #24 and The Sensational Spider-Man (vol. 2) #41, and concludes in A...
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Akira is a masterpiece, check it out if you haven’t before.
Not dark and gritty at all, but one of my favourites: Bone
Somewhat gritty, great art: collaborations of Grzegorz Rosiński and Jean van Hamme,
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Bill Watterson just turned 60 years old. His comic strip Calvin and Hobbes is still a great choice for anyone who enjoys comics.
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That reminds me of
Domu (童夢, Dōmu) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Katsuhiro Otomo. Similar to his work Akira, the story centers on an old man and a child possessing extrasensory powers. It was serialized between 1980 and 1981, with the chapters collected and published as a tankōbon in 1983. The main inspiration for Domu came partly from an apartment complex Otomo lived in when he first moved to Tokyo, and partly from a news report he heard about a rash of suicides that occurred at a separate ...
Scarlet Traces is a Steampunk comic series written by Ian Edginton and illustrated by D'Israeli. It was originally published online before being serialised in 2002, in the British anthology Judge Dredd Megazine. A sequel, Scarlet Traces: The Great Game, followed in 2006.
Edginton and D'Israeli's 2006 adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is effectively a prequel to Scarlet Traces, as key characters of Scarlet Traces can be glimpsed therein and the same designs for the Martians and thei...
Goodnight Punpun (Japanese: おやすみプンプン, Hepburn: Oyasumi Punpun) is a manga written and illustrated by Inio Asano, published between March 2007 and November 2013.
A drama story, it follows the life of a normal child named Onodera Punpun, from his elementary school years to his early 20s, as he copes with his dysfunctional family, love life, friends, life goals and hyperactive mind, while occasionally focusing on the lives and struggles of his schoolmates and family. Punpun and the members of his f...
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LeoD
July 19, 2018, 12:34pm
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Torpedo, or Torpedo 1936, is a Spanish comics series written by Enrique Sánchez Abulí and drawn by Jordi Bernet, which depicts the adventures of the antagonistic character Luca Torelli, a heartless hitman, and his sidekick Rascal, in context of the violent organized crime culture of New York City during the Great Depression era.
The series was originally developed by Abulí and veteran artist Alex Toth, who drew the first two stories in 1981. The collaboration ended when Toth decided he did not s...
This! Concise short stories with a real asshole of an anti-hero. I don’t think any comic has come close to matching Torpedo’s dark humour. And while its protagonist is misogynistic, racist and heartless, its clear through the stories that its writer is not
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If you like space opera:
Valérian and Laureline (French: Valérian et Laureline), also known as Valérian: Spatio-Temporal Agent (French: Valérian, agent spatio-temporel) or just Valérian, is a French science fiction comics series, created by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières. First published in Pilote magazine in 1967, the final installment was published in 2010. All of the Valérian stories have been collected in comic album format, comprising some twenty-one volumes plus a short story collection an...
If you like the Far West:
Ken Parker is a fictional character from a series of eponym Italian comics created in 1974 by Giancarlo Berardi and Ivo Milazzo. He is a widely appreciated character in Italy and all over former Yugoslavia.
First issue of the series, "Lungo fucile" ("long rifle") was published by the Italian publisher CEPIM. Ken Parker, however, had been created three years earlier on a magazine of the same publisher. The series ran for 59 numbers. New issues appeared in the following years, and are constantly ...
If you like samurais:
Lone Wolf and Cub (Japanese: 子連れ狼, Hepburn: Kozure Ōkami, "Wolf taking along his child") is a manga created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima. First published in 1970, the story was adapted into six films starring Tomisaburo Wakayama, four plays, a television series starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work.
Lone Wolf and Cub chronicles the story of Ogami Ittō, the shōgun's executioner who uses a dōtanuki battle sword. Disgraced by fa...
Usagi Yojimbo (兎用心棒, Usagi Yōjinbō, "rabbit bodyguard") is a comic book series created by Stan Sakai. It is set primarily at the beginning of the Edo period of Japanese history and features anthropomorphic animals replacing humans. The main character is a rabbit rōnin, Miyamoto Usagi, whom Sakai based partially on the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Usagi wanders the land on a musha shugyō (warrior's pilgrimage), occasionally selling his services as a bodyguard.
Usagi Yojimbo is heavily influ...
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xkot
July 19, 2018, 12:42pm
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If you want to try something a little more mainstream, check out Mark Waid’s recent (2011-2015-ish) run on Daredevil. I’ve been reading (mostly) superhero comics for 40 years, and yet Waid managed to surprise me with something almost every single issue. Then once you’ve read that, read Waid and Chris Samnee’s subsequent Black Widow run. Samnee is one of the best visual storytellers working today.
+1 to Supergod recommendation above.
Locke & Key is an American comic book series written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodríguez and published by IDW Publishing.
This plot is presented in non-chronological order. During the American Revolution, a group of Rebels, hiding beneath the future Keyhouse, discover a portal to another dimension, the plains of Leng filled with demons which can mesmerize any who see them and possess through touch. However, when the demons attempt to enter the real world, they collapse into lumps of "w...
Paper Girls is a mystery/science fiction comic book series written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, published by American company Image Comics. The colorist is Matt Wilson, the letterer and designer is Jared K. Fletcher, and the color flatter is Dee Cunniffe.
Paper Girls follows the story of four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls (Erin, MacKenzie, KJ, and Tiffany) set in Stony Stream, a fictional suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. While out delivering papers on the morning after H...
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I love The Incal. Humanoids Press has great titles! I read the Metabaron and Showman Killer recently, I thought the artwork in those was great, amazing, but the stories fell a bit short.
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