Best Comic Trade Paperbacks

Cafe Society
1

OK, I’m a fan of comics, but not enough to lay out tons of cash for a continuing series nor am I willing to deal with bagging everything and worrying about value. Because of this, I’m a big fan of the trade paperback.

So far I have (titles may not be exactly right):

Marvels
Kingdom Come
US
Watchmen
Superman for all seasons
Batman, Killing Joke
Legend of the Dark Knight
Long Halloween
Dark Victory
Collected Concrete
Sin City
Sin City Family Values
Daredevil: Man Without Fear
Maus I and II
Grendel
Grendel Tales

So, what am I missing?

2

The entire Sandman series.

The Alan Moore “Swamp Thing” books.

Grant Morrison’s take on the “Doom Patrol”

3

Oh, and Gregory!

BimBimBim! Zub ub! AAAAAAAA!

(Marc Hempel)

4

I’ll second The Sandman series.

Also get Preacher by Garth Ennis.

5

Unfortunately, this was never collected in book form except for the first four issues (Crawling from the Wreckage).

6

What about Hellboy? It looks interesting, but I don’t know much about it

7

Ultimate Spider-Man.

8

Starman: start with volume 1, “Sins of the Father” (by James Robinson and Tony Harris).

Preacher: start with volume 2, “Until the End of the World” (by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon).

These are my all-time favorite long-form comic book series, and I’d be envious of anyone who gets to read them again with fresh eyes.

Which Grendel Tales do you have? My far-and-away favorite is “Four Devils, One Hell,” by James Robinson and Teddy Kristiansen.

If we’re talking original Grendel, “Black, White, and Red” by Matt Wagner and various artists is also excellent, as is the follow-up, “Red, White, and Black.” However, a solitary single issue, “Devil By the Deed,” is the first Hunter Rose Grendel story, and the Batman/Grendel crossover is a must-read as well.

Alan Moore’s V For Vendetta. 'Nuff said. Awe-inspiring. Made my hands shake as I was reading it, it was so good.

Daredevil: Born Again (by Miller and Mazzuchelli).

Batman: Year One (by Miller and Mazzuchelli).

The Dark Knight Returns (written and drawn by Frank Miller).

Catwoman: The Dark End of the Street (by Ed Brubaker, Darwyn Cooke, and Mike Allred).

Anything Madman (written and drawn by Mike Allred).

Box Office Poison (written and drawn by Alex Robinson).

Justice League: A New Beginning (by Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire).

Why I Hate Saturn, The Cowboy Wally Show, I Die At Midnight, and You Are Here, all written and drawn by Kyle Baker.

Absolute Authority (an oversized edition), reprinting the classic run by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch.

Planetary: All Around the World (Warren Ellis and John Cassaday).

Top Ten, Books 1 and 2 (by Alan Moore and Gene Ha).

The Golden Age (by James Robinson and Paul Smith).

Hellboy is a lot of fun, but everyone has their own favorites. “Seed of Destruction” is the first TPB in the series, though (by Mike Mignola with help from John Byrne).

Sandman Mystery Theatre: The Tarantula (by Matt Wagner and Guy Davis) - brilliant crime/noir series that deserves more reprinting in TPBs.

Y: The Last Man: Unmanned (by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra).

Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? (by Brian Bendis and Michael Oeming).

9

Whiteout and Whiteout: Melt – the story of the U.S. Marshal in Antarctica. (Greg Rucka and artist Steve Lieber do the best job I’ve ever seen of conveying just how unforgiving the Ice can be.)

The Y - The Last Man series (trades 1 & 2 are out now; fantastic book about what the world is like after all the men save one mysteriously drop dead)

Lucifer (4 trades out with a fifth on the way later this year, IIRC – Sandman spin-off, though, so read that first)

Queen & Country (four trades so far; the first is kinda slow but it gets progressively better; a less romantic treatment of the James Bond genre)

Courtney Crumrin (the 2d trade is on the way – the story of a girl who takes no shit from anybody, even the monsters who live in the nearby forest)

–Cliffy

10

Really? Wow. I had just assumed that the rest of his run there had been reprinted.

No Brotherhood of Dada?

No Danny the Street?

No Cliff with eight legs?

No Beard Hunter???

“hitS!”

11

Hmmm…lemme throw in:

Avengers Forever by Busiek & Pacheo. Probably one of the best Avengers stories of all time.

Squadron Supreme by Mark Gruenwald. You can’t read Kingdom Come without reading this.

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.

Astro City by Busiek.

Cerebus by Dave Sim. (Most of the whole series to date is in TPB. Pick your poison here: the whole run could cost you $2-300.)

I’ll also throw in that if you want TPBs per se (as opposed to hardcovers), Barnes & Noble/B. Dalton is selling several Marvel Masterworks in paperback format.

12

Thanks for all the info! It’s a big help.

What about:

100 Bullets
Transmetropolitan

13

No, no–it was “THIS!”

14

I like 100 Bullets a lot; I also enjoy Transmet although I don’t think it’s as good as Sandman, Lucifer, or Y - TLM.

As for Morrison’s Doom Patrol, the primary reason most of it is yet to be reprinted has to do with the Flex Mentallo character. My understanding (I haven’t seen the issues) is that Flex’s origin is a direct copy of the Charles Atlas ads you used to see in comics and magazines. Atlas (actually, his estate) sued DC. Although the case settled and the details are apparently confidential, it seems that DC promised that it wouldn’t reprint anything with Flex. That said, in various interviews, DC’s Karen Berger has suggested that there might be some more Doom Patrol reprints on the way (but the last I heard on this was several months ago and there’s been no further developments).

–Cliffy

15

Anything by Alan Moore: “Top Ten” books 1 and 2; “Tom Strong” books 1 and 2; the “Miracleman” books… “Zenith” by Grant Morrison; “Ronin” by Frank Miller.

“The Essential Fantastic 4” by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Both “Captain Britain” collections, to see Alan Davis’s art developing.

“The Sandman”, “Watchmen”…

I read too many comics.

16

Lots of great books in here. If only Miracleman were available in TPB. Or reprintable in any form. Damn you, Todd McFarlane.

Big Bad Voodoo Lou has excellent taste, he mentioned many of my favorites :slight_smile:

If you like Silver age stories, particularly Superman-
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? I should recall who did this but don’t. Sigh.
Funny, smart SF:
Buck Godot- Zap Gun for Hire, Buck Godot- PSmith, and Buck Godot- the Gallumfry all by Phil Fogilo

Midnight Nation by J. Michael Straczynski

Give Me Liberty by Miller and Gibbons

17

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

18

Yeah for most of the choices – I don’t agree with all, but anything by Alan Moore, The DC Kingdom books, Marvels.

Also, you should be able to pick up a few issues of Forge and Edge from Crossgen to get an idea whether you like any of their books that are being compiled. Forge and Edge won’t set you back much. The first 5 or 6 are about $12 each and then they have an $8 format. I particularly like Meridian, Sojourn, and Route 666. All of these are pretty cool and available in collected TPB format.

19

Since I saw a few Batman titles in the OP, I’ll add the trilogy Red Rain, Bloodstorm, and Crimson Mist. It’s one of those self-contained “Elseworld” stories, in which an earlier era of Gotham is confronted by a vampire cult led by Dracula himself. Interesting story with some curious psychological overtones, supported by some great art work.

20

Neil Gaiman – don’t for get his stuff (like I just did).