Spinning this off from this thread , I'm someone who grew up with comics, but somewhere along the way the superhero comics that dominated my youth started appealing to me less and less. I was, and still, have a great love for the genre on the whole, but in practicality, as I matured I became increasingly and unavoidably aware of the low literary quality of the majority of superhero comics. This is likely partially the nature of the "once-a-month serial" form of publishing, but I think there are other factors such as the industry increasingly being populated by fans; editorial influence, especially during the Collector's Craze; and artists writing for themselves. I'm not going to dismiss it as a problem based on "comics are meant for children", as anyone with a familiarity with the industry knows that has not been true since the 80s.

However, not only are there some superhero comics that are excellent pieces of literature, there are also a wide range of comics that are not of that genre, and probably don't get the exposure they deserve because of that.

So I started this thread to point people towards the diamonds in the rough. The comics that are definitely worth your time and money to seek aout and read. That rise above the 90% of sub-par pulp that the big two churn out on a monthly basis.

I'm not going to bother with the big names: Watchmen, Sandman, etc. You'd have to have been living under a rock not to have heard of these even if you don't read comics. It would be like recommending someone watch Casablanca. Rather, I'm going to try to point out the really good stuff that should appeal to people who normally wouldn't go near any superhero comics.

So, let me start with STARMAN written by James Robinson. Starman is a 90s DC series spanning roughy 70+ issues based on a Golden Age b-list superhero. It was in every way a reaction to the dark age of superhero comics in the 90s, when the aptly-named Image spurred on a time of gloss over substance, unironic grimdark anti-heroes, and a rejection of the "four-colour" superheros of the past. Enter the youngest son of the original Starman, Jack Knight, an antique shop dealer who wore henleys and leather jackets, looked down on his father for his superhero past, and didnt take his elder brother's attempt to continue the legacy with any seriousness. Jack just saw grown up man-children in tights. That is until Jack was forced to take up the mantel after his brother is shot to death by a supervillian who decided to not play by the old "rules". Jack refuses to put on a costume, but uses the supertech gadgets of his father to track down his brother's killer.

In this manner, the series is deceptive. Beyond the quality of the art and the dialogue, that could describe the basic plot of any 90s antihero (except with more mucles and guns, and "blood" somewhere in the name). But the series plays on that perception. In many ways what it ultimately is is a tribute, a love letter, to the Golden Age of comics. It deals with the history of superheroes in a way no series has ever really attempted. And it humanizes them, but at the same time really shows what it means to be a superhero. The values and motivations that drive people to put on silly costumes and try to make the world a better place. It poses as a deconstruction of the genre, but it ended up being a reconstruction.

Its also a self-contained story. This is the period Jack Knight bore the mantle of Starman. The end is the end of his story, or at least that part of his life. In this way it avoids many of the pitfals of continuous serials that never end, and allows character arcs and meaningful literary devices, and provides a deeply satisfying sense of closure.

Craig Thompson has some excellent stuff. His autobiographical "Blankets" really made me understand better what it might be like to grow up in a deeply religious family (I didn't). His "Habibi" is incredible as far as artwork goes (all the Islamic looking scrolls and borders are hand drawn, it really is a masterpiece), and the story is also good.

Blankets was profoundly effective. That scene of him painting his bedroom wall was heartbreaking. I read that a long time ago, but its stayed with me. Should really seek out more of Thompson's work.

I highly recommend METABARONS if you are a fan of science fantasy like Dune and the wilder, weirder side 40k. Metabarons is dynastic scifi via Greek tragedy created by Alejandro Jodorowsky who is a madman and visionary.

I watched the documentary on Alejandro Jodorowsky's Dune and it is electrifying. Listening to him makes you want to get up and create something, anything!, with your life. The guy is a walking muse.

To learn that he has been a prolific creator of graphic novels since then was like a revelation. I remember reading comics in South America and noticed some differences. But it wasn't until I went back as an adult and scrounged out such counter cultural bookstores to discover how much has been missing in my comic/graphic novel life.

Wanted to buy everything, didn't know where to start and bought music instead, kicking myself that I didn't know of Jodorowsky while I was there. If they are anything like his passion for cinema, it would be like touching fire. Obviously Metabarons is heartily endorsed by me sight unseen.

Here's a strange recommendation: Bone. Offered as a children's comic it is surprisingly mature in its writing, as in dealing with complex emotions and empathy for others. It's really well done; don't let the simple look of the main characters on the covers let you dismiss it.

Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson was, for a little while, my favorite comic. It involves several interconnected plot threads, centering on a failed writer and his failing relationship, an up and coming comic artist who is trying to get a Jack Kirby-esque artist his due, and a whole mess of other peripheral characters with their own jacked up issues. Not a great description, I admit.

I also enjoyed Adrian Tomine's Optic Nerve stories, because they are short, poignant, and usually bizarre but real. They never seem to have an actual point, but often mirrored things that were going on in my life when I read them.

Lastly, Arsenic Lullaby. It's about a regular guy who is cursed by a witch doctor and given magical powers. The only way to remove the curse is to do good deeds. The problem is that the guy is not a good person at all. It's hilarious.

my childhood had bongo comics rather then superhero comics all i know of superheroe comics is some spiderman stuff i read last week

that said i have to recomened bongos simpsons and futrama comics just as funny as there source material

I haven't been reading comics much for a while. So these are either tinted rose or classics that have stood the test of time.

Anything by Jack Jackson (Jaxxon)
Love and Rockets (particularly the first couple dozen issues or so; unfortunately it got less fun and less interesting later on)
Nexus (only the first couple dozen issues or so; around when Steve Rude started taking breaks from doing the artwork, the storyline also began to go off the rails)
Maus
American Splendor, passim
If you can find copies or collections of Weirdo magazine, I would recommend it. Very eclectic, somewhat avant-garde, often pornographic, usually hilarious.
Tank Girl (again, I can only vouch for the early stuff that appeared in Deadline magazine).

There's a pattern here--many serial comics tend to start rough, solidify into a strong vision, and then jump the shark. That is not the case with Jaxxon's stuff, or with Maus.

I used to read the Elfquest comics, Sláine,  2000 AD, Judge Dredd, Groo the Wanderer, Various Marvel and DC comics.
Probably lots of other stuff.

OMG, GROO! Oh that brings back memories... It volleyed from light to dark, sometimes almost between pages, and ended up being a surprisingly well written comic over the seasons. Or maybe that's the glorious rosy nostalgia glasses I am now wearing.


Sergio Argones brings back memories of MAD magazine and its various artists. Who was the one that did mock ups of cinema and sitcoms? Had a rather realistic style compared to the cartoon one prominent through 1970s MAD magazine.

Maybe Mort Drucker? Going by the credit for one satire that I remember.

http://www.the007dossier.com/007dossier/post/2014/11/10/The-Spy-Who-Glubbed-Me

Or maybe Jack Davis, who I think has more of a "name".

Here's a list of a few things that I'm enjoying right now - in no particular order except that SAGA automatically goes to the top of my current monthly reading list. (I'll pull some links and summary descriptions from websites.)

Image is a publisher with a really good and varied line of comics right now, especially when compared to their superhero output of the early '90s, so there are quite a few Image comics on my list.

SAGA
Saga is an epic space opera/fantasy comic book series created by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples, published monthly by Image Comics. The series is heavily influenced by Star Wars, and based on ideas Vaughan conceived both as a child and as a parent. It depicts two lovers from long-warring extraterrestrial races, Alana and Marko, fleeing authorities from both sides of a galactic war as they struggle to care for their newborn daughter, Hazel, who occasionally narrates the series.

Copperhead
Welcome to Copperhead, a grimy mining town on the edge of a backwater planet. Single mom Clara Bronson is the new sheriff, and on her first day she'll have to contend with a resentful deputy, a shady mining tycoon, and a family of alien hillbillies. And did we mention the massacre?

Birthright (this has heavy fantasy elements in it, despite what you might think from the description below)
For the Rhodes family, losing their son was the most devastating thing that could have occurred...but it couldn’t prepare them for what happened when he returned.

Afterlife with Archie (the art is amazing in this, and it's much darker and realistic than you might imagine)
When Jughead's beloved pet Hot Dog is killed in a hit and run, Jughead turns to the only person he knows who can help bring back his furry best friend—Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Using dark, forbidden magic, Sabrina is successful and Hot Dog returns to the land of the living. But he's not the same... and soon, the darkness he brings back with him from beyond the grave begins to spread, forcing Archie, Betty, Veronica and the gang to try to escape from Riverdale!

Sabrina (spin-off from the Afterlife with Archie series)
The new series is much darker than Afterlife, and the "scary stuff" is more spiritual and psychological, Aguirre-Sacasa promises. "It's a story about witches and witchcraft, demonology and occultism, so yes, the 'monsters' are going to be more diabolical.''

Thor: God of Thunder (plus the current female Thor series which got a new #1 but is otherwise continues the story from God of Thunder)
Throughout the ages, gods have been vanishing, their mortal worshippers left in chaos. Thor follows a trail of blood that threatens to consume his past, present and future. The only hope for these ravaged worlds is for Thor to unravel the gruesome mystery of the God Butcher! In the distant past, Thor follows the bloody wake of murdered gods across the depths of space. In the present, the Thunder God discovers a forgotten cave that echoes with teh cries of tortured gods...and is shocked to find himself among them! And thousands of years from now, the last god-king of a ruined Asgard makes his final stand against the God Butcher's beserker legions. As three Thors from three eras race to stop the God Butcher, the full extent of his vicious scheme takes terrifying shape!

Guardians of the Galaxy
Probably not much description needed here since the movie permeated this odd little series into the public consciousness.

The Walking Dead
Again, not much explanation needed here, since you've probably heard of this one unless you've been living under a rock.

Chrononauts
Corbin Quinn and Danny Reilly are two buddies who love to have fun. They're also scientific geniuses. When their research leads them to a time-traveling adventure, will they use their knowledge for the good of all mankind? Or use the space-time continuum for their own ends? This is the story of man's first, televised steps through the time-stream and everything going wrong in the process.

I'm also reading the various TV spin-offs of: Angel (& Faith), Buffy, Millennium, Star Wars (as well as both the Darth Vader and Princess Leia series; all three are pretty good) and X-Files. Of all the spin-offs, I'm enjoying the Star Wars series(s) the most.

I would like to make a strange recommendation: "Oriental Heroes" by 'Jademan'. It was a Hong Kong produced martial arts comic book from the 80s, named there "Dragon Tiger Gate", and marketed in it's middle (with no lead up, and no ending to the series) for a short time in the 80s in the west as "Oriental Heroes". Hong Kong comics themselves - not quite western superhero comics, not quite manga - only existed for a very short period of time, making this something of a cultural oddity.

If you are interested in kung fu fighting and kind of a wuxia tradition applied to 1980s corvettes and headbands and a cocaine-exporting Thailand, I recommend this.

//Panjumanju

Do yourself a solid and pick up a copy of Rat Queens, which is probably the best D&D inspired comic I have ever read.

Quote from: jeff37923;832330Do yourself a solid and pick up a copy of Rat Queens, which is probably the best D&D inspired comic I have ever read.

I prefer the Clandestnauts. It is free, too!
http://www.timsievert.com/#/the-clandestinauts-volume-1/


Honestly, I could suggest a thousand and thousand things, but if you google co reccomendations it will take you to a blog with recs indexed by interest, author, company and character and such.