Comic books are just a media, dominated by super hero (often pulp like) genre.
So it depends on the genre you like.
Horror? Walking Dead, early Hellblazer (drop it past Garth Ennis), Crossed will either offend you so badly, or open your eyes a lot.
Fantasy. Sandman. I think too much credit is given to it sometime, it had a few ok story arcs, and some outstanding single issues, but I found it barely worth it past issue 35 and it’s very self regarding at a number of points. There are loads more but I don’t have time to list them out. Bone is a lord of the rings level fantasy and is very good.
Even inside the superhero genre, there are alternative versions. The Boys, a recent series by Garth Ennis for instance, actively parodies the genre. Top Ten by Alan Moore is one of my favourites around that area too.
Contemporary: Love and Rocket (not completely contemporary, its inside a superhero world, but normal people). Young Liars were cool too by David Lapham. Neat Stuff and Hate by Pete Bagge too.
Crime. Stray Bullets is a classic, tales of bad times and lowlifes. Sin City can fit into that genre too. Recent ones include Scarlet.
War. Not a big genre, but the war stories by Garth Ennis in recent years have been horrible and sad at the same time.
This far and no recommendation of Nausicaa of the Valley Of Wind. It has plenty of steam-punk elements (at least the aesthetic to qualify) and an epic tale worthy of Tolkien.
I thought that was the point though- to draw a non-comic fan into the genre. I honestly can’t imagine anyone just getting into comics “getting” Watchmen. So instead, the recommendations are softball lobs, hoping to lure the new guy into wanting to read more, and seeking out more comics with depth. Though I have no idea what the OP’s intent is. Does he want to read comics to be educated or does he want to read comics to be entertained? Is one ambition more respected than the other? Your post seems to indicate one over the other, but there’s often nothing wrong with middle-of-the-road material.
I’ll go in a completely different direction, and mention Fun Home. It’s really worthy of the name Graphic Novel - there are almost no comic-book element at all. It’s a memoir - the choice of medium is spot on, the art really ads to the text - and if you are a literature fan, you should love it.
The main character is trying to piece together her past and the life of her father after his death - which is equally likely to have been a suicide or an accident. We get to see how different elements of her childhood and her parents life and marriage just don’t ad up. And she used literature as a way to make sense of it all, exploring the parallels between her family history, and The Great Gatsby, In Remeberance of Things Past, The Importance of Being Ernest, and many other works.
JLA: Age of Wonder is a favorite of mine. It’s a steampunk version of DC’s Justice League (Superman, Batman, etc.), starting with Superman’s introduction to the world at the 1876 Centennial Exposition, and his career as a superpowered…scientist. Nikola Tesla’s in it. It’s awesome.
I’ve never read any comic books, but at a friend’s house I plowed through Kick-Ass and enjoyed it very much. I’m pretty sure I read the one in the link - I didn’t know that this book collected issues 1-8. (Indeed, I didn’t know that Kick-Ass was a comic book series at all; I thought it was just a graphic novel. I told you I was a newbie that didn’t read comic books! )
And now with a little more research, it seems that there only were 8 issues of Kick-Ass anyway, and this book collects them all together. Anyway, it was very readable, and a great introduction to the genre without starting a huge series. So, maybe it’d be a good start.
I’m pretty open as I’m not really sure what’ll grab me. When I was younger I read ElfQuest and really enjoyed it, but that was my one and only foray into comic books until Knights of the Dinner Table (and I like that more just for the D&D nostalgia, Order of the Stick is a weak alternative).
The super hero theme doesn’t particularly draw me, but I didn’t want to rule it out because I have no doubt there’s some intriguing stuff for new people out there.
In short, I’m 33 with really no comic book background looking for something fun to read that doesn’t insult my intelligence and maturity.
If you want to look at how a mere comic book can be serious art, and seriously good art, I’d suggest the master himself, Will Eisner - particularly A Contract with God.
This is widely considered the father of the graphic novel. What makes it stand out is the quality of the storytelling and the artwork … check out this page:
Not to mention Sandman (Wesley Dodd, a kind of a Batman knock-off with a gas mask and sleep gas as his schtick). I think this stuff was pretty much all in the first volume.
Wes shows up in the last volume to say a few words, as do Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne. (And don’t forget that superstrong Lyta Hall was just as much a costumed do-gooder back in the day as her husband Hector, who memorably sports a cape and mask and tights in the second volume.)
Pride of Baghdad, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (nothing like the film - I can’t comment on how similar it is to the original source material) and The Walking Dead should be your first choices.
So how about a couple of out of left field Graphic Novels … they don’t really qualify as Comic Books at all:
Persepolis: An autobiographical book of a young woman (Marjane Satrapi) coming of age during the Iranian revolution. Made into a fabulous (and very true to the graphic novel) film.
And for a glimpse into Rural Ontario, try Essex County by Jeff Lemire. This trilogy was one of the contestants for the 2011 “Canada Reads” contest. This is a very popular contest run on Canada’s national radio station that showcases the best in Canadian Literature every year. This was the first Graphic Novel to ever be nominated.
Suprised to see that no one’s mentioned The Unwrittenyet. Very “meta,” quite “literary” (in the sense of exploring, twisting and interacting with well-known works of literature such as Moby Dick, not in the English professor sense). Suppose that a) the Harry Potter books–even more of a phenomenon in the comic’s world–were written by a man, b) he disappeared before releasing the last book and c) his son’s name was Harry Potter, and Harry was making a living doing the convention circuit while at the same time hating the fact that everyone conflated him with the fictional character. Oh, also d) his father pounded all sorts of fictional geography into Harry’s head in his youth. That’s where it starts. From there, have Harry get attacked by whoever the big bad is from the books (hey, I’ve never read them myself, and no doubt miss much in the comic for it) and discover that he can actually wave a magic wand around and get results…
I’m a bit behind, having yet to figure out a satisfactory solution to my desire to avoid cluttering up my tiny apartment with comic books or even graphic novels, but it’s been unfailingly excellent in my experience.
If you like Watership Down, the Redwall books, or simlar animal stories, you might enjoy Mouse Guard, which is very much in that vein–closer on the anthropmorphization scale to Redwall than WD, as the mice carry swords and live in cities/towns, but their enemies remain predators… and other mice. If nothing else, the art is pick-your-jaw-up-off-the-floor gorgeous. The lettering–all caps typeset serif font–is a bit offputting for me as a comic reader, but might not bother you, and it’s only a very minor irritation in any event.
Also love Blacksad, an anthropomorphic hard-boiled detective comic. You’ll have to get the Dark Horse volumes in order to get all three books in English.
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