They keep costing me money! I agree with the recommendations for Sandman and Astro City. Very different examples of good story telling. You might also want to check out Hitman. The hero is a hitman with super powers. He exists in the same universe as Batman and Superman and he has encounters with both of them. The TP containing the first issues is titled Hitman and gets you into the story very quickly.
I hate the fact that I came late to this thread. I’m gonna mainly concentrate on super-hero titles since that’s what you asked for (but I’m gonna back up Maus as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, comics ever).
Toss me in the “The Watchmen rules, but save it for later” group. Ditto for Astro City, Marvels and The Dark Knight Returns. All of those comics are incredible, but since they build so much upon existing super-hero conventions they probably aren’t the best series to start with even though you could read any of them and enjoy them off the bat. I’d wait until you can get the biggest hit offa them.
Personally I’d back up the recommendations for anything coming out of Marvel’s Ultimate line, with a special emphasis on Ultimate Spider-Man. The Ultimate line actually does depend on the various characters’ past histories to some extent, but it tells it all fresh so you don’t have to have any foreknowledge to get into them.
And just to make things sweeter and easier for you, you can read the first three issues of Ultimate Spider-Man online for free at Marvel Comic’s website (click on “Free Section”, then scroll down to get to them). Actually there’s a rack of comics to read on Marvel’s website, although you have to sign up as a member to get access to all of them, but, hey, it’s free, so why not? Also be sure to check out The Ultmates while you’re there (and drool over Brian Hitch’s art).
I’d also like to back up the Hellboy: Seed of Destruction recommendation. God, that series kicks ass. Happy that the Hellboy movie has been getting great reviews so far.
And a couple of recommendations of my own:
Peter David and Chriscross’s run of Captain Marvel. A good series about a super-hero learning to be a hero, guided by the archetype of super-hero sidekicks. It’s also funny as shit, pushing up against slapstick without ever truly crossing the line. Highly underrated and overlooked in my view. There is some backstory to it (the main character is the son of the original Marvel Comics Captain Marvel, and the sidekick has kicked around since the sixties), but overall it just pushes forward and doesn’t look back too much. Just make sure you start with his first run; they relaunched the series awhile ago with the main character going insane and I’m still waiting for it to get good again.
To add to your list of future readings, along with The Watchmen, etc., is The Authority. Under it’s originators, Warren Ellis and Brian Hitch (The Ultimates guy), it started off as the ultimate super-hero series, big stories and even bigger fights. Under the following artistic team it became more of a power fantasy, as in “If you were one of the most powerful people on the planet what would you do?” Answer: Throw huge parties and have impersonal sex (an oversimplification and it reads better than it sounds). Personally I like Ellis and Hitch’s run better than their successors, but it’s a good read all around. Try and get the hardbacked oversized edition so you can better drool over Hitch’s artwork.
Oh, and as to how to read comics, just read them. You’ll pick up the knack in no time.
I love The Authority (particularly the first twelve issues by Ellis and Hitch), but it has a lot of exploding heads that jsgoddess doesn’t seem to be a fan of. It’s a great book that takes superheroes to the next logical level, but it may have too much of the old ultraviolence for her.
What VooDoo Lou said. Authority, Hitman, and Preacher are all heavy on the ultraviolence, especially Preacher, which would normally be one of the first books I’d recommend. It is, in fact, quite deep, but not because any of the God stuff. It’s a great bait & switch: about half-way through the series, you realize the high concept it started with was just window dressing for a surprisingly nuanced story about friendship and what it means to be a man. Not recommended for anyone who can’t enjoy John Wayne un-ironically.
The Dark Knight returns is a perfect book for a library, because when you’ve read the book, you’re finished with it.
Preacher is initially entertaining, but ultimately entirely disposable.
I’d second Maus, Sandman, Watchmen, and American Splendor. They’re all moderately to heavily depressing though. I enjoy Transmetropolitan, but the violence, swearing, and nudity may turn you off.
Akira’s good too. Read Akira.
Ugh. When exactly does it become deep? I got through to when he’s taken by his family and his girlfriend meets god. I’d say that was pretty far in the series yet I hadn’t read a single line that was anything other then a set up for more brains against the wall. The closest it came was the eye rollingly bad part where the kids kill themselves to be like Kurt Cobain. I thought it was a rip on stereotypes to begin with but it turned out not to be.
The John Wayne thing was pretty cute I’ll grant you.
Heck, that’s only the second TPB, out of nine total (10 if you count Ancient History, which was just backstory for some of the supporting characters). If you stopped when he got kidnapped by his family, then you haven’t even been introduced to the main villain yet! Still, even though it’s one of my all time favorites, it wasn’t until I got about half way through the series that it stopped being a guilty pleasure and became something I could earnestly support as a great comic. The heart Preacher, to me, is in the relationships between Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy, and by the end of the series, the focus has shifted almost entirely away from the rather juvenile “I’m gonna make God pay for what he done” story line into a much more adult examination of friendship, addiction, and forgiveness. I know it pissed off a lot of fans, but I thought the ending to the series was perfect, because there really wasn’t a way to write a wholly satsifying conclusion to the God storyline. The way they finish Cassidy’s story still brings a lump to my throat, though.
‘Course, I’m not above giggling when someone gets the roof of his head blown off, either, and Preacher had plenty o’ that, right up to the final issue.
Second? I must have gotten the order confused (it’s been awhile)
Let’s see…Gone to Texas, Ancient History, Proud Americans, and End of the World are the ones I read.
The proper order for the Preacher books is:
*Gone to Texas
Until the End of the World
Proud Americans
Dixie Fried
War in the Sun
Salvation
All Hell’s a-Coming
Alamo
Ancient History* would technically be the fourth book, but everything in it happens several years to a century before the main storyline starts, and isn’t really essential to the plot, although the backstory to the Saint of Killers is relevent to later events. Also, it’s the only book not drawn by Steve Dillon, probably because of its second tier status. Overall, it’s pretty weak. And there are only nine books, not ten like I said earlier.
Until the End of the World starts with Jesse getting kidnapped by his family, although that plot is resolved halfway through the TPB. Proud Americans is the one where Jesse goes to France to rescue Cassidy from the Grail Brotherhood. Dixie Fried is where the Jesse-Tulip-Cassidy triangle starts to get really interesting, although if you actively hated the first four books, the last five probably aren’t going to do anything to change your opinion.
Got the Daredevil book this afternoon. It came in early! I’ve already had one “Um, someone translate this panel for me because I don’t understand what the picture means” moment, but otherwise it’s been easier than I expected to “get” the whole frame at once.
Panel, frame, I don’t know that I’m using these terms in anything approaching an orthodox way. No flails, please. I’m new!
Actively hated may be too strong a word but it comes close. I was turned off by the violence and confused that it was compared to Sandman in the reviews I read (these two series could not be more dissimilar in my opinion). The books seemed to be trying to say something but being inept while doing so. It also had a ‘oh look how daring we’re being by calling god old and tired’ vibe that is of course silly considering it hasn’t been rebellious to call god inept for years now.
There were interesting moments. I liked it when Satan got capped and the vamp trying to drain people after a bar fight was funny and creepy at the same time.
Well, it sure as heck doesn’t get any less violent, although like I said, the “God sucks” storyline gets pushed into the background somewhat towards the end of the series in favor of more funny/creepy stuff from the vampire. With more and more emphasis on “creepy,” and a lot less on “funny.” Guy turns out to be a right bastard by the end.
Comparing it to Sandman is really wierd, though. I can definitely see being turned off by Preacher you were expecting something like Sandman. Some similar story material, I suppose, but wildly different approaches to it.
One of Us! One of Us! One of Us!
(sorry, couldn’t resist)
The important question: are you enjoying it so far?
Relax, you’re doing fine. A page is just called a page. Each little boxed scene is a panel, and the (usually blank) borders around them are gutters.
I was going to chastise you all for not mentioning the “How to Read Comics” feature that someone put up, which was intended as a guide to help new people understand the basic syntax of comics. As it turns out, I can’t for the life of me remember where I saw it. I could have sworn that it was at Jessica Abel’s web site.
Anyone remember/know about this? As I recall, it was a nice little piece.
What you’re referring to is Essential X-Men, which is the volume you list in a post later on. This is a good place to begin for the X-men. The Uncanny X-Men was one of a bunch of comics created by Stan Lee (writer) and Jack Kirby (artist) in 1961 and 62. It was the least successful of their creations, didn’t sell especially well, and eventually they stopped publishing new stories and reprinted early issues just so they’d have something to print without going to the expense of actually creating something new for a failing book.
Then in 1975, the powers that be decided to give thier least valuable property to a couple of relatively new guys, Chris Claremont (co-plotter and writer) and John Byrne (co-plotter and writer). Because the Uncanny X-Men wasn’t considered an important property at the time, they were pretty much given free rein to what ever they liked with it. They created the “New” X-men, and over the next five years created the core of the X-Men mythos as it exists today (The Essential X-Men books cover this time period). Byrne left for a now legendary run writing and drawing Fantastic Four, but Claremont continued to write Uncanny X-Men for 17 years. Through the 80’s, the Uncanny X-Men was the 800 lb. gorilla of superhero comics.
Marvel added a second X-book in the late 80’s or early 90’s, The New Mutants, and it sold quite well, despite being a step down in quality from the Uncanny X-men. Then they added X-Factor, and Excaliber. When the powers that be realized that anything with an X in the title would sell well, the kept expanding, until X-Men related books occupied half the Marvel roster. This turned a lot of people off, me included.
I’d suggest getting the Essential volumes to establish your basic knowledge of the X-Universe. If you’re interested in getting into the current storylines, what you need to do is pick a “jumping on point” and start reading. A “Jumping on point” is the start of a new long-term storyline, or a point at which a book is handed off to a new creative team.
Fortunately for people interested in getting into the X-Men, it’s going through a “reload” right now, with many of the books starting new story lines in May. The best place to start would be Astonishing X-Men, #1 which is a new title that’s being written by Joss Whedon. If the sheer number of titles seems intimidating, the three core titles are going to be Astonishing X-Men, Uncanny X-men (written by Chris Claremont), and X-Men (written by Chuck Austen, who isn’t nearly as highly regarded a writer as Claremont or Whedon) . Fortunately, each title will have separate storylines, so you’d do fine with any one of them.
Essential and Uncanny both reprint classic Uncanny X-Men stories, mostly from the Chris Claremont run. Uncanny collections are printed in color on better paper with better covers, but Essential collections have more issues collected in each volume. Ultimate is a modern retelling that started in the late 90’s, and that would also be a good place to start for X-Men stories. If you want the trade paperbacks of those stories, start with The Tomorrow People, then follow up with Return to Weapon X and World Tour. If you want to keep following the storyline on through, you’d need to also get the Ultimate War TPB, which occurs between the fourth and fifth trade paperbacks.
I’d like to add a suggestion that you check out the trade paperback Supreme Powers: The Hyperion Project for some really good superhero storytelling that is easy to get into, and has some top-notch storytelling and artwork. It’s a brand new series, and doesn’t share it’s universe with any other comics, so all of the stories are self-contained.
I’d also add a piece of general advice. Just like with prose writing, who the author is is a pretty good indicator of the quality of the book. For traditional-style superhero stories, look for Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Greg Rucka, Geoff Johns, Ed Brubaker. I’m sure there are names I’m missing and others will be happy to supply them, but anyone on that list is going to give you some decent superhero stories.
Right artist, wrong website. It’s at http://www.artbomb.net/
What’s funny is I heard that chant in the voice of the bunnies on the Toys R Us commercial. One of us is sick, indeed.
I did enjoy it. Read about half of it immediately upon getting it, then finished up late last night. I particularly enjoyed that there was a style of storytelling being used that would be awkward at best in any other format. That was something I didn’t really hope for. The way the linearity of the story could be interrupted, and not in an intrusive way (unlike most novels and films). I enjoyed learning the language of the art especially, though I still do have that series of panels that leave me confused. I felt I was picking up on the artist’s intentions, though there were a few moments when the art devolved suddenly and, if I’d chosen to sit there a puzzle over it, I don’t think I would have deciphered the change.
Which made me wonder if reading comics is exactly as complicated as the reader wants to make it. Does a face that had been drawn with sharp detail that is now thick-edged and blurry, with a crooked line for a mouth, mean a lot of something, a little of something, or nothing really? That’s the sort of thing that I’ll have to learn eventually.
I did find my eyeballs longing for some brighter colors as I neared the end. I was having grey fatigue. 
Bone by Jeff Smith.
It’s not about superheroes or spandex or evil madmen with nuclear toilets or super villains who say HA HA HA HA HA a lot. It’s… um… read it. (Jeez, I need to get caught up on it some day, too.)
I second Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come as well-written graphic novels. Even a passing familiarity with the DC superhero universe is sufficient to really get both of those titles.
Glad to hear you enjoyed your first foray into comics!
You owe me a new keyboard! Thanks for that mental image.
We’ll gloss over how many comics I had to read before I reached a similar realization, and move right along 
…
If you liked these aspects, then I think you’ll be in for a special treat when reading Black Panther: The Client For another masterful example of how comics can be used to tell stories in ways that other media can’t, or can’t do as well, I highly recommend Kyle Baker’s I Die At Midnight, a wonderful Y2k comedy. No secret identities, but it’s fun, interesting, and, oh yes - colorful. No risk of grey fatigue, but it won’t blast your eyes out either.
FWIW, that still happens to all of us at some point or another. Sometimes it’s in the reader, but often it’s in the artist(s) involved not quite communicating the way they intended.
I think you’ll find that that varies from artist to artist, book to book, situation to situation. There’s a fairly famous case of the art in the book Transmetropolitan becoming sketchier and less polished as the lead character’s mental condition deteriorates. Some people argue that it was a deliberate choice on the part of the artist Darick Robertson, others point to the fact that he was sometimes faced with penciling an entire issue in three days (normally a 22-day task). From some of the artist’s public comments, I suspect that the “real” cause is in the latter, but even if that’s the case, the rather frenetic, loose artwork enhances the mood of the piece.
I’d like the third the Sandman suggestions. Gaiman creates a layered alternate mythology that fully works with and among the gods and demons that the human race has already written tales of (and built religions around). Thankfully it doesn’t take itself as seriously as I made it sound, and weaves in personal, intimate studies of human nature as well as sly wit, some bang-up twists and turns, and references so thick you sometimes need a handbook to sort them all out.
If that isn’t enough for you, the artwork alone is amazing. My favorite was the one-off story line titled Ramadan, although every contributing artist brought beautiful work to the pages.
Oh, and check out the other comics mentioned too. I sure will.
/Sandman fangirl