Wow. I had never read a comic book in my life until Joss Whedon started writing Astonishing X-men, which as a Whedonite I just had to read. The first volume proceeded to tell me the story of those mutants in a style I had never seen before and I was amazed by the collective artistry of the text and the visuals. I heard news that Whedon was taking over the writing of another comic series by "Runaways" by Brian K. Vaughan, who I had never heard of, and so on a lark I decided read the first issue available for free on the Marvel website. After finishing, I immediately went out to buy the hardcover volume set in order to continue the amazing story of the runaway children of supervillains. After going through them in a day, I needed something else to prolong my comic book awakening. I read more about Vaughan and found he had a couple other series going, one of them called "Y: The Last Man." I read the premise which looked promising but then hopped on Wikipedia and read the synopsis for all of the issues, but was slightly dissapointed as they didn't seem all that entertaining. Well, yesterday and without anything to do at work, I decided to give "Y" a shot. So I managed to get a hold of the series. Wow. I finished all 53 issues in about 6 hours, and I couldn't wait for more. I picked another Vaughan book, "Ex Machina" this morning before work and am dying to get to that. Anyone have any recommendations or favorites? I prefer they be original stories, not the usual Avengers/Superhero fair.
Never a big fan of comic books but sounds like those 2 you talked about sound pretty good. (Comic book guy reference coming soon?)
I used to read Flaming Carrot, and Zippy the Pinhead. Those were the only series I read. But there was a series called Gold Key that did comic book versions of classic novels like Robinson Crusoe. I read a ton of those as a kid. But I haven't really read that many other series.
Y is excellent. I have heard that they are going to do a movie. Comics are one of the most underappreciated mediums out there right now. I don't really read them anymore, save for the occasional trade (like Y); but people still have a certain notion of what comics are about that just isn't really true anymore. There are some great, great writers doing very imaginative stuff right now.
I'm a big fan of Y:The Last Man - good stuff my only problem with comics is the price, 14.99 for a trade that I can finish in 30 mins is pretty steep, my wife gets on to me all the time for blowing money on comics I just started Sea of Red, it is about pirate-vampires!
I quit reading X-Men about 8yrs ago. Never looked back. Until I heard about Whedon. I didnt know who he was but people were going nuts over the guy. I still havent picked up an issue but it is on my to do list.
He's the guy behind Buffy (TV), Angel, and Firefly/Serenity. Does great sci-fi. Watchmen is really good. Evan
Try the following comic book/series: Invincible 100 Bullets Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Spiderman Watchmen Exiles
Since you are a Whedon guy, you might enjoy Frey, Tales of the Vampires, and Tales of the Slayers. Though the Tales of the _____ books are part Whedon and part other Buffyverse contributors like Doug Petrie and Jane Espenson.
You opened a can here, son. My picks: Watchmen Preacher Anything Frank Miller (Sin City, 300) Anything Niel Gaiman Currently: Exiles Hulk Any Xmen Anything Clive Barker Ok, I'm going to wax fanboy here. The absolute, hands-down best writer in comics right now is Robert Kirkman. His stuff is incredibly good. I feel like he could pump out awesome novels, but for some reason he stays in comics. He has said in his letters section that he doesn't know how to write books, but I hope that he learns some day. He is great at writing character, something that 99% of writers don't get, be it comics, books, movies, etc. He just gets people. I haven't read his Ultimates stuff, but two of his books top my comics jones: The Walking Dead: A post-zombie-apocolypse story of regular people dealing with...post-zombie-apocolypse. Awesome, awesome writing. VERY, very adult. I cite isse#33. Invincible: A young kid gets his powers. The source? The most powerful hero in the world, his dad. But there is a huge twist to this cliche that keeps me coming back. Hope this helps!
Watchmen is a classic I recommend Ultimate X-men and the Ultimate Galactus saga. Something about that ultimate universe makes reading about your fav characters in a whole new light (or as in the Galactus saga, a different approach) interesting. I guess you can consider it "mainstream", but I think the ultimate series is way crazier than the norm universe. It's definitely way better than the "2099" stuff back from a decade ago.
Whelp... I read the Astonishing X-Men paperbacks that include issues 1-18 (or something). WOW. Really good stuff, best X-Men stuff I have read since the early 90's. The characters are just written so well. Its beautiful. Anyways, I am including this crazy trailer of the new cartoon. Seems pretty random. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8-H38AgfdIs&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8-H38AgfdIs&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> EDIT: could someone help me figure out what Civil War TPBs to buy and in what order to read them? Is that story worth reading? Any other good recent X-stories? Umm, this thread is in the unsorted section at the moment. Which sucks....
Stay away. It was editorial-driven tripe, and they couldn't even be bothered to keep it consistent within its own continuity (the fanboy equivalent of the reach-around courtesy). Stick with the sure things mentioned above: Kirkman, Y, etc.
That series looks pretty good. I'm not a comic guy, i used to read some X-men stuff when i was younger though. I just really like the X-men series and the parallels it draws to black civil rights. The ongoing battles within the mutant community is great. I don't know about their grim future...i hope that's not how they think it ends for us.
They are pooling real deep from the character list, something the 90s series didn't really do too well. They even have the Hulk fighting Wolverine in that trailer. The trailer is random, but looks interesting at least.
Civil War is crap. Planet Hulk and Annihilation was better. It's sequel arcs, World War Hulk and Annihilation Conquest were very disappointing. Messiah Complex from X-men was action packed. The current arc that follows it is much more interesting than the crossover comics that tie in the Secret Invasion.
I think Astonishing X-men runs in a different continuity. Messiah Complex focuses upon the aftermath of M-Day where Scarlett Witch wishes away all mutants and only ~200 (the ones that matter...) remain. So when a newborn mutant arises all factions go in to take the baby for their own.
