Best comic or graphic novel you've read lately

I'm currently absorbed into The Umbrella Academy: Dallas. The first story was really great and I'm liking this one so far.

that's by that my chemical romance guy, isn't it?

I've recently been getting into D M Z. It's ongoing and I've only read up to the sixth book, but so far its been pretty badass. Has some nice critiques on the war and our current political state.

However, I think that as far as graphic novels go - Watchmen.

Also Preacher is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Yeah, Gerard Way.

finished the watchmen today while waiting for my uverse internet to come back up. i started it monday and read a little. it blew my mind. being that we were at a cabin with friends, i didnt have much time for reading. but i blew through it today. surprised me in that i thought i could blur through it in two hours, like franny and zooey. but alas, it is 416 pages and so many of those pages are dense as fuck journal and letter entries. that book is badass. fucking unreal. of high recommend, graphic novel or otherwise !!

TRANSMETROPOLITAN! I am reading it right now! Am currently at issue 31 out of the 60 published! Its awesome! Hunter S. Thompson in a cyberpunk dystopia!

I've really enjoyed the last three graphic novels I've read immensely:

Charles Burns' Black Hole
Taiyo Matsumoto's Tekkonkinkreet
Ashley Wood's PopBot

I also love anything by Seth Fisher. He does the most amazingly clean and intricate line work.

I want to get my hands on the latest Scott Pilgrim so bad. and you should too if you haven't already.

Marvel is about to wrap up Wizard of Oz...it's really good...more like the book than the movie as far as story goes. And the artwork kicks ass.

I highly recommend.

Irredeemable is a great new series from Mark Waid. Finding issue 2 was almost impossible and I maded it even tougher on myself by looking for the 1:10 variant.

It is the whole 'What if Superman went bad.' story done with knock-off characters.

Almost as good as No Hero. No Hero #6 was a mindfuck. Hurts so good.

-P.D.

i can't ever find transmetropolitan volume 1 and i tried to order it from amazon once but they fucked up on my order so i gave up. i want to read that next. otherwise i'm up to volume 6 of preacher and volume 4 of bone. both are fantastic.

Some of the darker batman stuff you might like is Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison. The art is really creepy. It was done by Dave McKean. Also check out The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, he wrote Sin City and 300. A pretty cool non-superhero comic is The Nightly News by Jonathan Hickmam. A lie told in six parts. A group of people called The First Church of the Brotherhood of the Voice wages an all out guerilla-style war on the corrupted news media system. Taking out reporters and journalists who conform to broadcasting and reporting news that benifits corrupted government officials. Good story and good art work.

really? I got mine at Barnes & Noble. It was a few years ago now, but they had it. Preacher is amazing.

I just recently read Maus, it was great.

most of the preachers i have are from the borders near my house. they have all 9 volumes and nobody really knows about preacher (especially where i live) so i don't have trouble getting the next volume. still no luck with transmetropolitan though. maybe i should try ordering it again.

i really wanna find ennis' crossed. that shit seems hella dark and crooked. i just cant find them in a collection. maybe the future will hold a graphic novel for avatar press--though, i know that's less than likely. i will collect the nine issue series someday. heard too much cool shit about that horror story !!

$4 on Half.com

not anymore! thanks!

The best comic I've read lately has to be The Walking Dead. It's so awesome. It's not like any other zombie story I've seen or read. I highly recommend it.

Speaking of Preacher, I have a Zippo that says "FUCK COMMUNISM". It's like my prized possession. I haven't actually read Preacher but I know it originated there and they reference it in Y: The Last Man, which I have read.

Ultimate Spider-Man recently got the reboot treatment (or volume 2, if you will) in the wake of the events of Ultimatum where a bunch of people died. It takes place six months later: Peter is with Gwen Stacy, the Human Torch is on the outs with the Fantastic 4, and Mysterio has (seemingly) killed the Kingpin. As long as Bendis is writing it, I'll keep buying it...unless Disney steps in to fuck this up. It's only into its second issue, so get the variants while they're still relatively cheap.

Also, my man Mark Bagley (of Trinity and Ultimate Spider-Man most recently) is now penciling Batman. Not only is this fucker well drawn, but Batman is no longer Bruce Wayne. Hence, Batman Reborn. It's very good so far.

Woohoo! Noticed a DMZ shout-out. The best two comics I've come across lately were Y The Last Man and Nightly News. I've read several since then but nothing's topped those two. Read Watchmen (I know, I'm late to the game) and was entirely underwhelmed. I hadn't seen Star Wars until this year either and it had the same effect. I'm sure these artistic works were brilliant for their time but so many people have done that since then that it's old news, same formula I've seen twenty times before by the time I got around to it.

I'd love to get back into the Marvel universe but I can't find anything that's written for over a junior high level. Suggestions?

The last comic I read was One Piece. But before that, Hellblazer (First volume) So. Awesome. So much NO Keanu Reeves at all. nice.

They've already rebooted Ultimate Spiderman?? That's just stupid! What was it up to, 100 issues or so?
I can not stand it when they keep rebooting comics just so they can sell out a number 1 issue again. If you're shit ain't selling then cancel it!
What ever happened to the allure and gravitas of having that huge number of issues for a backbone?
I never read them, but a part of me died when they rebooted Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor and all those others a while back, just because there was so much heritage with all those books.
Anymore, it's like they let a book go 5 years and then just automatically reboot it.
Gah! I can't stand it.

i'm giving transmetropolitan one more volume for the story to pick up because right now the writing just isn't doing it for me. it's only volume 1 though so i might be wrong.

It was up to #133 and then they had to basically reboot the Ultimate universe so that they could cancel some Ultimate titles while continuing others. It's not actually a reboot so much as it is a continuation/second volume. It takes place 6 months after Magneato sent tidal waves over New York.

The writing it still top-notch, but I'm not too happy with the art...a little too cartoony.

As long as they never reboot Detective or Action comics, there's still hope for comics i suppose.

No one told you Tim Drake is Batman now?

I did not know that, but it's not surprising. They had Azreal as Batman for a while. No big whoop. They'll make a big to-do about it when bruce wayne comes back like he always will.
As long as they don't cancel it and reboot with a #1 issue.
What is that one up to now anyways? Gotta be pushing 800.
Also, as a side note, I just read some little blurb in an old Wizard how which ever one it is that has more issues, the other one actually started earlier. The one just went bi-weekly for a few months and shot past it in issue numbers. Can't remember which it is, Action or Detective, goes in which space though.
It also mentioned how even with how many issues they've had. That one called Dell Four Color from the 40's/50's has the record for most issues ever, with like 1,500, and how it's take Detective/Action another 40 years at their current pace to catch up.

I think Detective started first, in '37. Action Started June, 1938, and Supes was in issue #1. But Batman didn't appear in Detective till like issue #27 or close to it. That was either in '39 or '40.

I just looked all this up in my Guinness Book.

Longest Running Comic
The Dandy started December 4, 1937

Most Editions of a Comic
Pepin, a Mexican comic that ran from March, 1936 through October, 1956. There were a total of 7,561 issues.

Is The Dandy still being published? And, if so, by whom??

also:

Most Editions of a Comic
Pepin, a Mexican comic that ran from March, 1936 through October, 1956. There were a total of 7,561 issues.

Holy Moley! Were they publishing an issue everyday like a newspaper or something?
Those crazy Mexicans.

Google tells me:

20 years = 7,304.84398 days

So they were publishing even MORE than one issue per day!

Yeah. It's published by DC Thomson & Co. But now it's called Dandy Xtreme

I just checked the Wikipedia page for this comic and it says it is the second longest running comic, behind Detective Comics. But in my Guinness Book, it says Dandy is the longest. I'd have to say I trust Guinness.

Holy shitballs! Action has really got to kick it into gear if they want to be on top anytime this millennium.

Currently reading Dororo volume 3 by Osamu Tezuka. It has slowed down a bit but the plot is incredibley interesting. A man in medieval japan makes a pact with 48 demons. That they can have his unborn child if he becomes ruler. The demons each take a body part, his eyes, nose foot and so on. The baby miraculously is left alive but is sent off to die by the father. He is taken in by a Doctor and it is discovered that without the use of his of eyes or ears, he developes a type of ESP to find his way around. It is truly creepy to see a baby with no eyes in his sockets and no appendages wiggle where he wants to go.

The boy grows up and finds that he can speak to others telepathically and also percieve ghosts and demons. He is outfitted by the Doctor with prosththetic inspector gadget type limbs and an artificial appearance so he doesn't freak everyone out. By happenstance he discovers that by killing the demons his father made the pact with, it will return his body parts one by one.

Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy) can also be mildly funny and sentimental which I enjoy.

The only one I ever reade. The Doofus Omnibus by Rick Altergott

It's hit or miss with Gaiman for me too. Liked the Sandman series, but anything else it's either the story or the artwork. I saw Lost Girls at the bookstore today. Was this close to buying it until i saw the price tag. So, eBay or Amazon it is.

Anyone heard of The Alcoholic by Jonathan Ames? That was a good one I remember. I also have been half reading one called Blanket..(Blankets?) at Borders but haven't purchased it yet. Might have to soon

Gotta love Daniel Clowes

Can't believe I almost forgot this one but it's called Local co written by Brian Wood And Ryan Kelly. They even list different tracks by various artistsfor each chapter to listen to while you read it

MEGA-PARKA'D!

The Walking Dead: Volume One.

If your into Grant Morrison I reccomend Doom Patrol. He really is a great writer.

Others I enjoyed at them moment or want to read are:

READ
Sandman
100 Bullets
Watchmen
Grant Morrison run of Doom Patrol
Alan Moore's The Dark Knight Returns (In which Batman hands Superman his arse atleast twice)
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing
Mister X
Preacher

WANT TO READ
Elephant Men
Flaming Carrot
Mad Man
Stray Bullets (will probably buy this later)

Forgot to write I liked Young Liars as well.

Young Liars was incredible. Dave Lapham is the man, and Stray Bullets is great. I just read issue one of his Sparta USA and it was great as well.

Anybody checked out PIXU? I thought it was fantastic.

I really dug Beg the Question by Bob Fingerman. It includes a character who is obsessed with Martin Amis and makes the author re-autograph a stack of books because he didn't dot the "i's" and cross the "t's" in his signature. Lots of cool music, literature, and film references, too. On top of that, it is hilarious.

do not offened the Chair Leg of Truth, it is wise and terrible.

Y: The Last Man
Transmetropolitan
Preacher
Fables

and the excellent adaption of Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep? adapted byy...David Gill, I believe..?

And did anybody ever watch the show Carnivale? it only went like 3 seasons then got shut down due to budget issues; the makers said theyd be finishing the story via graphic novel form, anyone know if that ever happened?

surprisingly awesome

I read the whole death note series as well. I've seen the talk about it, but I thought it was pretty damn good.

Now it's either finish Neon Genesis Evangelion or try and find something new.

Nevermind. I'm gonna go with Blood+: Adagio.

you just named three of the five graphic novels I have ever read.

Read Batman: The Long Halloween. Killer story, but it's always harder for me to love something with artwork I don't find to be that great. Nonetheless, I've got Batman: Dark Victory on hold because of all the good things I hear about that as well.

While I'm waiting for BPA to show up, I'm just kind of hustling through Narutos -- #16 right now -- to give my eyes something easy to kind of dash over.

I gave One Piece a shot, and while it's kinda alrightish, it's defo for the younger kids and I didn't go back for #2.

Also have DC: Final Crisis on my holds list so I'm gonna chop through that so I get the real story that Batman: R.I.P. didn't fill me all the way in on. After that I'll probably have to start jacking the new stuff from my local B&N on the sneak.

Watchmen is sitting right next to me but it's only here for lack of selection where I'm borrowin' from and idk if I'll be buggered to chop it down again.

Oh yeah, and King of Thorn wasn't that good.

I miss death note. I guess I could just watch the TV show, maybe. Damn, that was good.

And I'm finna go back and check out that spiral-based yarn six was ramblin' on about.

Big list. I guess with no telephone, television, or internet at home, it'll happen soon. At least I can start doing it again. I had MOLLUSCUM CONTAGIOSUM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molluscum_contagiosum all over my under region. That sucked.

We'll see what happens with all these. I'll be back to report soon.

Miss you guys,
-F