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

So several weeks ago I went on down to my local comic book shop and general nerd emporium for to buy me a trade paperback of Atomic Robo. The guy who runs the place recommended me one of his favorite series, which I'd heard a little about but never actually tried--Transmetropolitan. He included a "money-back guarantee if [I] didn't like it", which turned out to be entirely unnecessary, as Transmetropolitan (or The Adventures of Hunter S. Thompson Of The Future!) is genuinely a pretty great series (I'm up to the fifth volume or so--the new President's cracked down on Spider Jerusalem's column, oh no :ohdear: ).

The last time I was there the proprietor (same dude) threw in free a copy of the first chapter from Y: The Last Man, which I'll probably also end up getting into. Do any of you nerds have any other recommendations of good series along these lines? I'm open to a lot, although I must confess I'm a touch intimidated by what looks like the vast, ingrown continuity and storytelling of traditional superhero narratives. Even so, I can be persuaded if you make a good case!

If you'd never read Transmetropolitan before I assume you've never read any Warren Ellis, in which case you owe it to yourself to read Planetary. A cursory knowledge of mainstream superheroes will enhance that reading but is by no means mandatory.

Some books of his that touch a little on the "consequences of being a superhero" are the pretty dark Black Summer and No Hero, although that one's not so much dark as... you know what, don't read No Hero just now. Some things you can't be eased into.

Doktor Sleepless is pretty good, too, but unfinished at the moment and has a bit to go. Still, great first volume.

You have a pretty great comic store guy there.

If you like Y: The Last Man (which I'm guessing you will), you might want to check out Ex Machina by the same guy. About a superhero (the only one in the world) who becomes the Mayor of New York in the wake of 9/11. It manages to handle political issues pretty damn well (Vaughan is pretty clearly a liberal, but he's never outright insulting to anyone in the comic and manages to present it all very nicely).

Thiiiiiiis.

There's also Supergod, which is part of the same series (in theme, not plot). All of those are pretty great, but all of them are pretty dark, yeah (No Hero especially). Note that Avatar Press (the guys who print almost all of his stuff nowadays) doesn't do any sort of creative control, so it tends to be a bit, uh, unfiltered. Everything I've read by him since then is good, though.

You also might want to check out FreakAngels, which is completely free.

What have you read, Satan's? Also these gentlemen are classy and should be listened to.

Yeah, this. It's not quite as lovely as Y, but at least Vaughan gets over his embarrassing infatuation with cheap shitty cliffhangers.

Bone is a terrific comic, the effortless way it combines and weaves between charming comedic material and entirely sincere high fantasy is delightful. It's like eating a cake full of serotonin releasers and then J.R.R. Tolkien pops out and starts telling you funny jokes.

From Hell is good if you're in the mood for Alan Moore waving his dick in front of you for like 600 pages while going "HEY DO YOU WANT TO SEE HOW SMART I AM?" And I am always in the mood for that, because the answer is "very smart." It's a hugely ambitious exploration of the Jack the Ripper murders as a means of exploring the occult history of London, Victorian culture, the patriarchy, and a whole bunch of things that you wouldn't think could be examined so thoroughly without the end product becoming a big mess. Which it isn't, it's only a little bit of a mess, but it's one of those brilliant messes and you probably won't notice it behind all the glorious dick waving.

The last one isn't a series but I'm going to recommend it at you anyway because I feel like it should be required reading for anybody who's remotely interested in the capabilities of the medium. Asterios Polyp is perhaps the most effective merging of form and content that I've yet seen in comics, pretty much every page there's some fantastically innovative way Mazzucchelli manages to convey the ideas of the text through the artwork. Any writer who doesn't know how to really communicate concepts visually has no business writing comics, and that's because they can never make something this great and should quit wasting everybody's time with their bullshit.

Names not to run from:
Alan Moore (Watchmen, Swamp Thing, Promethea)
Neil Gaiman (Sandman and the Death spinoff)
Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Planetary... for the shiggles Nextwave)
Grant Morrison (Arkham Asylum, His Batman Run, The Invisibles)

Well, arguably you should run from Alan Moore and Warren Ellis (especially if you read his short bio in the back of the Planetary books which, as Meister pointed out, are pretty fantastic) and Grant Morrison is not everyone's cup of tea, but yeah, those are the authors I read the most.


Also, here's a link to Warren Ellis' FreakAngels, because the person who mentioned it first didn't
EDIT: Okay, there was a link, now you have two.

I've read a tiny bit of Transmetropolitan and I'm pretty sure if you like it, then you'll like Preacher. Seriously, if you've not read it then you need to because it's one of the greatest comics of all time.

So a couple of days ago I got more Transmetropolitan. One other great thing about this series: Spider's assistants are pretty good characters in themselves, and not a harem for the hero or props to make him look badass. They're also not Catty Btches Who Bitch At Each Other Cattily--god, how I despise that trope. They're proper characters, treated halfway decently, and I like that.

I also got myself the first volume of Bone. It's like high fantasy and the Looney Toons cartoons I loved from childhood had a baby who, in turn, had a completely happy and well-adjusted upbringing and decided get into the business of storytelling.

One of the very small number of graphic novels I've read before I started buying my own was League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volumes I and II, and Watchmen, all of which I borrowed from my library. (Their website says they have the Black Dossier, but they totally don't, the jerks.) Watching Alan Moore and the glorious undulations of his member (of intellectual might) is actually pretty high on my list of fun things to do. Although before I started shopping at my local comic book shop, those books constituted pretty much the entirety of my exposure to the genre.

Looked for Planetary but he didn't have volume 1; I'll look for the rest of these next time I'm in (note to self: make a list of titles).

You get points for mentioning Moore but how can you forget The Killing Joke, and For The Man Who Has Everything
Heck he wasn't a big name during these so it didn't have the Wave dick thing going on.

Personally, I hate The Killing Joke but that mostly comes down to my hatred of the attempt at an origin story for the Joker and my general distaste for the art. Minus the origin, there's a really interesting look at the Joker and Batman's relationship that has greatly effected their characterization since it's publication for the better.

For The Man Who Has Everything and Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow are legitimately great.