In which I learn the obvious: Classic comic book series are classic for a reason.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by Fifthfiend

BKV
Y: The Last Man
Ex Machina

MOORE
The Killing Joke
For The Man Who Has Everything
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow
From Hell
V for Vendetta

DARWYN COOKE
New Frontier
The Spirit

I'M NOT OKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
Umbrella Academy

KURT BUSIEK
Superman: Secret Identity

ROBERT KIRKMAN
Invincible

GARTH ENNIS SAYS DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS
Preacher

SICK, SHAMEFUL CONTINUITY
Immortal Iron Fist
Annihilation
Gotham Central

I love you man.

[Mr.Bookworm]

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

Just finished Freakangels. Dammit, why are you all making such excellent suggestions, you jerkfaces

Because we HATE YOU and want you to suffocate to death in a pile of excellent comic books.

Originally Posted by The Sevenshot Kid

I've never heard anyone complain about inconsistent characterization in Preacher. If anything, I heard the opposite where friends I lent the trades out to were frustrated by the characters not really learning anything or changing in meaningful ways until the very end of the series. But the art thing I get. Steve Dillon's art ain't pretty by any stretch of the imagination but it's an acquired taste that I picked up immediately.

I'm going to have to mostly agree with Meister on this one. Ellis and Ennis don't have that much in common.

I would give Preacher a hesitant recommendation to at least check it out, but Ennis is not for everyone (he is probably the best Punisher writer ever, though).

Other things for Satan Onion's HATEPILE:

Superman: Red Son is a pretty good Elsewheres one-shot. About Superman crashlanding in the Ukraine as a baby instead of in Kansas, and being raised as a loyal Communist. Also features the sexiest Bathat ever.

Gotham by Gaslight is the first Elsewheres ever, and it's steampunk Batman written by Mike Mignola. I don't know how to arrange a better combination of words than that.

IG mentioned it earlier, but Sandman is Sandman. Read it.

It also has a spin-off Lucifer, which is similarly excellent. About the devil after he gets tired of Hell and leaves, opening up a nightclub in Los Angeles.

Marvel 1602 is pretty great (really, just grab every single thing you can find that has Neil Gaiman's name on it, it's pretty much all good). It's, uh, the Marvel universe as envisioned in 1602. There's enough nerdage of both comics and history to satisfy anyone.

Originally Posted by Fifth

Gotham Central - Fuck I should know this one
Wonder Woman - Greg Rucka (I think he was the same guy who wrote Gotham Central)

Yeah, Rucka did Gotham Central too.

[Satan's Onion]

Originally Posted by Fifthfiend

...
SICK, SHAMEFUL CONTINUITY

Is not! It's just a phase that a lot of graphic narratives go through at a certain age, which is perfectly healthy and even fulfilling when indulged in moderation. It's just awfully intimidating without, say, a messageboard full o' comics nerds to steer me towards the good shit and away from the stupid/creepy/rapetastical/generally shitawful stuff. It's like you guys have tried all that horrible stuff so I don't have to! Like those things, y'know, um...animals, that have stuff done to them, um...I think they're furry? Maybe?

[Fifthfiend]

Originally Posted by Satan's Onion

Is not! It's just a phase that a lot of graphic narratives go through at a certain age, which is perfectly healthy and even fulfilling when indulged in moderation. It's just awfully intimidating without, say, a messageboard full o' comics nerds to steer me towards the good shit and away from the stupid/creepy/rapetastical/generally shitawful stuff. It's like you guys have tried all that horrible stuff so I don't have to! Like those things, y'know, um...animals, that have stuff done to them, um...I think they're furry? Maybe?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Oh, that reminds me! Animal Man is the shit. Read everything from Grant Morrison and the relaunch.

[Amake]

I'm so happy that a thread like this doesn't need me. As a comics enthusiast, there's not much more fun than seeing the struggling medium gaining popularity.

I'll just add: Powers, Jinx, Scarlet and everything else by Brian Michael Bendis. A fine ear for dialogue has Mister Bendis, and a merciless taste for realism in character psychology and the randomness of things.

And Kabuki by David Mack, an intensely personal lengthy character study of a walking stereotype; the ice cold secret government killer woman trained from birth. Also it looks like an explosion in an art school.

And Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro. I know, manga, it's crazy, you have to flip the books turn-ways and read from the right, but it's worth it if you're at all into brutal robot fights. Well, that and various philosophical explorations of themes including sympathy, love, contest, guilt, loneliness, power and responsibility. Soon to be made into a movie series by James Cameron.

Also Fables by Bill Willingham, if you like the old fables. It's centered on such public domain characters as Snow White and Prince Charming, the Big Bad Wolf, Pinocchio, Mowgli, King Cole, The Prince What Was Turned Into A Frog and Little Boy Blue, and if you've ever wondered what those guys would do when exiled into our world and struggling to reconcile their human nature and their fable nature which drives them to act as they do in their stories, it's a must read.

[A Zarkin' Frood]

Originally Posted by Mr.Bookworm

IG mentioned it earlier, but Sandman is Sandman. Read it.

It also has a spin-off Lucifer, which is similarly excellent. About the devil after he gets tired of Hell and leaves, opening up a nightclub in Los Angeles.

. and . to both of those. Sandman is pretty much material for a literature classic and Lucifer is not exactly in the same vein but absolutely excellent in a different way.
Also, I have mentioned it earlier, if you like Sandman you'll also have to read the Death spin-offs, also written by Gaiman.

Originally Posted by Amake

Also Fables by Bill Willingham, if you like the old fables. It's centered on such public domain characters as Snow White and Prince Charming, the Big Bad Wolf, Pinocchio, Mowgli, King Cole, The Prince What Was Turned Into A Frog and Little Boy Blue, and if you've ever wondered what those guys would do when exiled into our world and struggling to reconcile their human nature and their fable nature which drives them to act as they do in their stories, it's a must read.

Yes.

Originally Posted by Fifthfiend

I'M NOT OKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY
Umbrella Academy

GRANT FOOKING "I'M GRANT FOOKING MORRISON" MORRISON
Arkham Asylum
The Invisibles
The Filth

And all of those.

[tacticslion]

Originally Posted by Amake

Also Fables by Bill Willingham, if you like the old fables. It's centered on such public domain characters as Snow White and Prince Charming, the Big Bad Wolf, Pinocchio, Mowgli, King Cole, The Prince What Was Turned Into A Frog and Little Boy Blue, and if you've ever wondered what those guys would do when exiled into our world and struggling to reconcile their human nature and their fable nature which drives them to act as they do in their stories, it's a must read.

My wife and I cannot second Fables enough. Pretty much all of it.

Also, although its still coming out, I'm personally enjoying Unwritten. It's a look at what happens if stories are part of the fundamental laws of the universe and can have a real, tangible effect on the world. It's incredibly clever. One of the fascinating things is that each of the three graphic novels that I've gotten (so far) has had a different literary style. The first two are, like, super-depressing and awful, but it's good enough that I didn't care. I can't promise it'll stay great, just that it is right now.

[Odjn]

Sin City is actually decent. In fact I would rate it as A++ if there were only stories with Marv in them but sadly sometimes you get a Dwight.

[Amake]

True, Frank Miller is good in small doses, before certain repeating motifsWHORESWHORESWHORESWHORESWHORESWHORESWHORESWH become evident. I recommend his early Batman and Daredevil stories, and if you can find it an old three-part original comic called Hard Boiled just for the sheer mind-boggling amounts of sex and violence. . .wait, I already described that one once.