If you are still looking for some more Brian K Vaughn in your life, Paper Girls (which has been mentioned already) and Y: The Last Man (which is currently being turned into an FX show) are definitely worth a read
I’ve been reading Monstress lately. The art is gorgeous, the story riveting. I think it’s up for a few Eisner awards this year:
If you liked the Image comics you’ve read so far, I’d also check out:
Chew
Descender
East of West
Deadly Class
Lazarus
Morning Glories
Nailbiter
Outcast
Paper Girls
The Fuse
Revival
Wayward
I’ll second (or third, or fourth) Paper Girls, and if you liked Shade back in the day, Shade the Changing Girl (now Shade the Changing Woman) is good. And it doesn’t fall into the dark category, but Lumberjanes is a really fun read.
Recent fave, Copperhead – sci-fi with western genre flavor and a minimalist graphics style. Would make a good tv show, let the gal who plays Wynonna Earp on Netflix play the lead.
I’m not really into horror comics but there are a few that I love: Moonshine, Harrow County, Beasts of Burden and if you want to go darker, Goon. They all have beautiful art and great stories. Two comics that are so good I recommend them even to people that don’t read comics: Blankets and Kampung Boy. An interesting one that’s in a current run is Low, it’s kind of like a space opera that’s underwater.
My explanation for keeping things away from children is sourced in pure laziness. I don’t mind if they learn about things, but sometimes it takes so darn long to explain adult things to them!
I bought a couple of issues of Concrete after a friend loaned me a few (about 30[!?] years ago). I dug it but never read any more until “The Human Dilemma” storyline.
I started reading Love and Rockets in 1987, after finding out where the band had gotten their name. I have just about everything that was published – either single issues, or collected volumes for the early stuff – but to this day I still feel like a latecomer.
Besides L&R, I read Eightball when that was still being published, plus anything Jim Woodring was publishing. Also Acme Novelty Library although I don’t have the last 1 or 2 things he did.
I was a real latecomer to American Splendor; I started working my way back after I finally saw the film in '05. But I got there in time for the “Another Day, Another Dollar” storyline.
My other comics reading of late has been collections of Lumber Janes and Squirrel Girl which I need to hunt down more of from the library.
The not so recent has been really old school with collections of Terry And The Pirates and Steve Canyon which are quite an adventure strip. Great characters, great development of them and just enough two fisted action.
George Takei has captured hearts and minds worldwide with his magnetic performances, sharp wit, and outspoken commitment to equal rights. But long before he braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a four-year-old boy to find his own birth country at war with his father’s — and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future.
In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten “relocation centers,” hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard.
They Called Us Enemy is Takei’s firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the terrors and small joys of childhood in the shadow of legalized racism, his mother’s hard choices, his father’s tested faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.
What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide? When the world is against you, what can one person do? To answer these questions, George Takei joins co-writers Justin Eisinger & Steven Scott and artist Harmony Becker for the journey of a lifetime.
You should try Young Avengers (2005) and (2013), if you’re looking for some teenage comics. It has a lot of LGBTQ+ characters, so if you’re homophobic, don’t read it. Also try Loki: Agent of Asgard.
