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Roydrowsy
May 6, 2007

I’m pretty sure that I don’t have to tell most of you anything about Vertigo Comics. For those who aren’t in the know, Vertigo Comics is essentially an imprint of DC Comics that focuses on more mature themes. There tend to be less ‘superhero books’ and tend to focus more on fantasy, adventure and crime stories. The projects tend to be more ‘creator owned’ than their superhero counterparts, and a number of talented individuals have gotten their starts and made names for themselves with their Vertigo books.

If you were to direct yourself over to the Comic Recommendation Mega-Thread, nearly every single one of those lists of recommended books includes at least one Vertigo title. These books are consistently fantastic, always groundbreaking, and instant fan favorites. They are also books that turn people into fans of comics. It would be save to say that VERTIGO and the books that they publish, are among the most influential books in comics today.

Have you read PREACHER? Vertigo.
Have you read Y The Last Man? Vertigo.
Have you read Sandman? Vertigo.
Have you read 100 Bullets? Vertigo.
Have you read Transmetropolitan? Vertigo.

If you’ve not read any of these books, what is wrong with you?

Most Vertigo books tend to be limited series with planned endings, though this is not always the case. Recently, Vertigo has also started releasing some smaller; digest sized crime graphic novels, which have been getting a lot of attention (and are quite excellent!)


A Brief Introduction to some Current Vertigo Titles:
(Please note that I’ve not read all these books; so if you have a better summary, feel free to provide it. Also, sorry if I missed your favorite title.)

American Vampire
This series just started this month. Scott Snyder’s attempt to recreate the vampire mythos with an American feel to it. The book has been getting a lot of attention because Stephen King will be writing a back-up story for the first few issues. It has the potential to be a very interesting horror comic, but time shall tell.

Day Tripper (thanks Amemit)
An obituary writer in his later years looks back on his life and is killed by a stranger in a bar. In his twenties, he falls off his boat and drowns. His father dies, and he has a heart attack.

An examination of a single man's life through his possible deaths. With an unconventional story structure and no easy explanations as to what's going on, it's an exercise in putting the pieces together to understand the whole.

DMZ
In an alternative America, the city of New York has become a battleground as two factions duke it out. The city itself has been shut off from the rest of the world and declared a demilitarized zone. Matty Roth just happens to be the only journalist in the city, covering the stories of the lives of the people in there. Recently celebrated it’s 50th issue.


Fables/Jack of Fables
A fun and imaginative pair of books about the fables, the people and characters from some of the greatest stories and tales of all time, who have been exiled from their homeland and forced to live in our world. Stories tell us about how the fables cope with life in the real world, how they struggle to fight against ‘the adversary’ the nefarious person who kicked them from their homeland. Perhaps not the book for everybody, but a wonderful book to get introduced to comics.

Greek Street
A series that started this year. There hasn’t been much talk about it in the forums. But my understanding is that Greek Street is a book that takes classic tales of Greek mythology and moves them to the mean streets.

Joe The Barbarian
Grant Morrison’s new mini-series that has a lot of Goons drooling. One day after school, Joe starts out on the biggest adventure of his life. His toys and pets have changed into living and breathing entities and heroes, and they’re all counting on Joe to save them. The question is, is the adventure real, or is it all some strange side effect of Joe’s diabetic condition?

Northlanders
All I know is that this book is about Vikings.

Sweet Tooth (thanks again Amemit)
(The world has been decimated by a mysterious plague that has also turned a generation of children into animal-human hybrids. One of these hybrids is found by a survivor, who takes the chocolate loving "Sweet Tooth" under his wing. But is his new companion a friend, or a foe?

The Unwritten
This series is been going strong for a year! The story is this. Young slacker Tom Taylor has been making a living for years off of his father’s books, the adventures of Tommy Taylor, Boy Wizard. After a series of strange events, it becomes more and more evident that Tom Taylor actually is the boy from his father’s books. The question is, how is that possible, and what was Tommy Taylor brought to the real world to do? And what does all this have to do with the rich literary of the western world?

I realize it’s not much of a thread intro… but I’m sure everybody has plenty to say about these books with our without my introduction.

Roydrowsy fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Mar 19, 2010

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Roydrowsy
May 6, 2007

IF anybody has anything they want to add, just let me know.

In the meantime, writing this I was curious about a few things.

#1) has anybody been reading Greek Street, and if so, how is it? It looks like it could be an interesting book, but at the same time, turing Greek Mythology into Sin City might not be all that interesting at all. I was just curious to see what people had to say.

#2) What did everybody think about American Vampire? For the most part, i think it's a bit too early to tell how this series will be long term, but it got to a pretty interesting start. I'm actually kind of pleased to say that King's half of the book wasn't all that great, so hopefully people will stick with it once King is done

El Gallinero Gros
Mar 17, 2010
Scalped. It's so fuckin' good.

Roydrowsy
May 6, 2007

El Gallinero Gros posted:

Scalped. It's so fuckin' good.

write something up about it, and i'll add it in.

Shameless
Dec 22, 2004

We're all so ugly and stupid and doomed.
Madame Xanadu! Excellent series.

edit: From the Amazon product descrition of the first trade

quote:

She has known many identities: a Celtic enchantress, oracle in the court of Kublai Kahn, advisor to Marie Antoinette and fortune-teller in present day New York. Her name is Madame Xanadu - and magic is her business! This haunting gothic romance interweaves elements of history and mythology, revisiting famous legends and stories through Madame Xanadu's personal history - and her odd connection to the mysterious Phantom Stranger. Who is she? How did she get her name? Why is she connected to so many of history's most important figures? Find out within! Award-winning writer Matt Wagner ("Mage", "Grendel") is joined by young artist Amy Reeder Hadley ("Fool's Gold") for this unforgettable tale! Warning: Adults Only!

I can't recommend this series highly enough. The first trade jumps around in history and contains three (or four - I can't recall) stories that act as an introduction to the character. It's also nicely tied in to the history of the magical characters of the DCU proper.

Shameless fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Mar 19, 2010

MelvinTheJerk
Jun 4, 2001

I'm still here.
How dare you leave Lucifer off of that list!

Lucifer is at least as good if not better than the big five you first mentioned.

Whorehey
Jun 3, 2006
You saw it here first folks...
Unfortunately, I can't comment on either Greek Street or American Vampire, but I've come to talk up Unwritten a little bit.

Out of the numerous comics one buys every month there are bound to be several that rise above the rest into the vague category of "I look forward to these titles more than the rest of the floppies I buy." For me, Unwritten has steadily soared to the top of that list, only to be topped by B&R and Chew. I have other interests outside of comics, like literature and history among many others, and these interests are fleshed out in Unwritten quite a bit. One of the main backbones of the story, for example, is that Tommy Taylor's father drilled into his head with answers to literary riddles and endless factoids of literature. The latest two issues have dealt exclusively with Joseph Goebbels. The subject matter for the span of the series so far has been rather wide, yet Mike Carey has done a fairly remarkable job of mentioning all of this and staying on point.

There are two other small things concerning the Unwritten and why I like it so much and it is these two things that drew me to it immediately. First, I love the cover art for this comic so drat much. Unwritten #1 is one of the few comics I've bought without any knowledge of the insides and it was due strictly to the cover. The other thing that drew me to this comic, after picking it up and reading it due to the cover, is the obvious Harry Potter analogue. It's not that I like or dislike Harry Potter, it's that Carey skirts the lines of this analogue without ever crossing into the strange world of Harry Potter's legions of devoted followers. What I mean to say is, instead of getting caught up in any debate that could spawn out of the utterance of the name Harry Potter alone, Carey simply uses the atmosphere and hype surrounding Harry Potter and his fandom to create the background and story for the protagonist, Tommy Taylor. There's obviously more to Tommy than the Harry Potter analogue but it's something I found very intriguing. Don't worry, the metaphor stops there as there are very few similarities between Harry and Tommy other than the fact they were in a similar series of books with a similar fan base.

Unwritten really is a fun little book and I can't wait to see what's going to happen with it over the course of the next year. The ongoing has really picked up steam in the last few issues and is now hurdling its way towards the meat of the story. Exciting stuff.

Fuck Your Website
Nov 29, 2003
FUCK YOU, AND FUCK YOUR WEBSITE

Roydrowsy posted:

Have you read Sandman? Vertigo.
Worth noting two-thirds of Sandman's run was finished by the time Vertigo was branded on the book, for most of its run it was DC proper.

Roydrowsy
May 6, 2007

on Unwritten

Before Unwritten started, the creators talked quite a bit about the whole Harry Potter thing, and that while a lot of people would make that connection it isn't exclusively Harry Potter, as the whole 'boy wizard' concept has been around for awhile (they specifically referenced the Books of Magic).

But, that whole fan aspect is marvelous. The pages of blog postings and news stories of people debating "is he/isn't he?". Those two issues about the little girls who are totally devoted to the wizard world of Tom Taylor were easily two of the best books in the series so far.

But I agree, The Unwritten is one of those books that you always find yourself looking forward to. You can tell that so much thought and energy has gone into putting together the underlying mythos of this story it's crazy. They give you major clues (like the Kipling issue) but we still don't know quite what it means.

It really is a wonderful comic for book/literature nerds.



As far as the OP goes, I just threw something together to start a Vertigo thread. I've not read a lot of these books, and really the OP isn't all that important, it's just the springboard.

mango sentinel
Jan 5, 2001

by sebmojo

BetterTasteThnU posted:

Worth noting two-thirds of Sandman's run was finished by the time Vertigo was branded on the book, for most of its run it was DC proper.
The imprint basically was created to house the work of a lot of the British invasion writers (Gaiman, Morrison, Milligan, Moore.) Their respective books all made the switchover to the Vertigo imprint. New comics didn't appear under the imprint until a little later.

El Gallinero Gros
Mar 17, 2010
Scalped is great because it captures a lot of what made The Sopranos great early on (giving you a socoiopath you find yourself rooting for in spite of yourself, having intriguing supporting characters all around, and having shades of grey in a way that makes you question morality), but it also has spiffy art (some of the nicest covers I ever did see). It also provides an indian protagonist that isn't a walking stereotype (that Apache guy didn't do anybody any favors), and it reads equally well in single and trade format. Plus, it's written by Jason Aaron, and that guy is ON FIRE right now.

Was Taters
Jul 30, 2004

Here comes a regular
Unwritten is consistently the most 'Wow!' book in my pull every month. I'm always learning something literary from it, as well as loving the overall story. There was a moment when I thought it was going to turn into nothing but a horror story, but it directed away from that. It seems to not HAVE a particular genre to it.

In other Vertigo thoughts, I cannot loving WAIT for I, Zombie.

McNutty
Feb 25, 2007

Forum cheer squad sez: "Cheer the fuck up your avatar is depressing you left-wing commie ass-smoker. For fuck's sake. Jessus."

El Gallinero Gros posted:

Scalped is great because it captures a lot of what made The Sopranos great early on (giving you a socoiopath you find yourself rooting for in spite of yourself, having intriguing supporting characters all around, and having shades of grey in a way that makes you question morality), but it also has spiffy art (some of the nicest covers I ever did see). It also provides an indian protagonist that isn't a walking stereotype (that Apache guy didn't do anybody any favors), and it reads equally well in single and trade format. Plus, it's written by Jason Aaron, and that guy is ON FIRE right now.

This is all true. I was sad to lose 100 Bullets, but Scalped made for a very suitable replacement.

Reinbach
Jan 28, 2009
I've been poor this year but luckily I can comment on this thread as I've read a great deal of the topical titles. I'm not even going to include spoilers unless specifically requested to as I feel that the tales really all merit reading for the value of the story within.

The Unwritten: I have to trade wait this and its been excellent so far. Brilliantly written with art that reflects the spirit of the work. I predict that this will become a treasured work among my collection.

Preacher: This is the Benchmark work of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. The artwork features the Steve Dillon face, but as with most of the works of Vertigo the writing steals the show. If you like it consider checking out The Punisher Max run by Ennis.

Doom Patrol: I only have Morrison's run, but it was very well done. A refreshing alternative to the JLA JSA archetype I feel that it is a good midway point to the likes of Secret Six. At times Morrison is dry, and preachy but if you like our comics with half a bottle of bizzare then this may be a flavor you'll enjoy.

Transmetropolitan: Stunning. One of the best of the line it really is a fantastic example of the brilliance that can come out of Warren Ellis when he finishes a line. (I'm never going to forgive him for his pacing on Fell) If you have the money to buy an entire run of something this year get this. Political, Allegorical, I really don't want to risk giving preconceptions to people about it, but I'm not in danger of overhyping it.

Sandman: While not entirely released under Vertigo it is entirely worth reading. Several of the issues has the distinction of being one of my favorite issues in comics ever. Excellent writing and artwork that brings images that will stay in your mind's eye for hours when paired so well with Gaiman's storytelling.

Swamp Thing: Its early works feature everything that you'd expect from a Vertigo run. Excellent writing that tends to overwhelm the artwork, but this really seems to trail off at the end after Moore's departure at least in my own opinion (happy to discuss this with anyone who likes).

Fables: An interesting take on fiction and collective memory. It at times suffers from pacing issues but recently it has taken on a new direction. I advise caution but I will ask a greater expert on it than myself to post on the topic. Of exceptional quality was 1001 Nights of Snowfall. A collection of tales that gave me everything I wanted from a comic.

Y: The Last Man: A powerful tale that I feel encapsulates a modern twist on the hero's journey. heh Very emotional, but the emotion does not distract or detract from the writing in the least.

Greek Street: I only have read the first one and it was every bit as excellent as I was told it would be, but my comic book shop was sold when I was reserving my copy of this. It was an error on my part and I will endeavor to correct it and should not reflect negatively on the title, though I encourage you to trust the opinions of others who have gotten to read it in its entirety over mine.

^burtle
Jul 17, 2001

God of Boomin'



Daytripper is a book you need to absolutely be reading. Written and drawn by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, who were the pencils behind Casanova. Daytripper is the story of Bras, and his journey through life, the ups and the downs, visiting moments in no particular order. At four issues in, we've seen some previous events referenced, but really the power from these books comes not from the overall narrative, but in the delicate and insightful way these slice of life episodes encourage you to take a moment and truly examine not only your existence, but also the world around you.

If you don't read this book, we are blood enemies.

^burtle fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Mar 19, 2010

UncleMonkey
Jan 11, 2005

We watched our friends grow up together
And we saw them as they fell
Some of them fell into Heaven
Some of them fell into Hell

Roydrowsy posted:

#2) What did everybody think about American Vampire? For the most part, i think it's a bit too early to tell how this series will be long term, but it got to a pretty interesting start. I'm actually kind of pleased to say that King's half of the book wasn't all that great, so hopefully people will stick with it once King is done
I think American Vampire shows a lot of promise. Snyder needs to drop the habit of caption boxes for stuff like "That night...". It's just goofy and unnecessary.

As far as other titles, Daytripper is fantastic. Gorgeous, engaging, touching... it's great stuff.

Joe the Barbarian is fantastic. Part of me is sad that it's only eight issues, but due to the nature of the story, there's no getting around that.

I've heard great things about Sweet Tooth. I ordered all the back issues and I'm looking forward to catching up. I also plan on catching up on Greek Street, and Northlanders sounds great as well.

Oh, and I definitely want to catch up on The Unwritten. I've heard nothing but praise for that one.

Also, Hellblazer should be added to the list. I've primarily read that though trades, but I'm going to jump back into it with the single issues now as well.

Fuck Your Website
Nov 29, 2003
FUCK YOU, AND FUCK YOUR WEBSITE

mango sentinel posted:

The imprint basically was created to house the work of a lot of the British invasion writers (Gaiman, Morrison, Milligan, Moore.) Their respective books all made the switchover to the Vertigo imprint. New comics didn't appear under the imprint until a little later.

Moore was long, long gone by the time Vertigo started.

Amemit
Jun 17, 2008
Daytripper

An obituary writer in his later years looks back on his life and is killed by a stranger in a bar. In his twenties, he falls off his boat and drowns. His father dies, and he has a heart attack.

An examination of a single man's life through his possible deaths. With an unconventional story structure and no easy explanations as to what's going on, it's an exercise in putting the pieces together to understand the whole.

Sweet Tooth

The world has been decimated by a mysterious plague that has also turned a generation of children into animal-human hybrids. One of these hybrids is found by a survivor, who takes the chocolate loving "Sweet Tooth" under his wing. But is his new companion a friend, or a foe?


Greek Street seems like it could be good. I just can't get into a book where the main character has sex with his mother and then kills her in the first issue. Couldn't you choose a more sympathetic protagonist? It doesn't help that a lot of the book is really predictable if you know anything about the original Greek stories. I did read the first 5 issues, but gave up after that.

I definitely enjoyed the first installment of American Vampire. King's story was pretty good, by Snyder's was better. There is a lot of vampire fiction out there, but it looks like Snyder has a couple new cool ideas to keep things fresh.

Was Taters
Jul 30, 2004

Here comes a regular

Amemit posted:



Greek Street seems like it could be good. I just can't get into a book where the main character has sex with his mother and then kills her in the first issue. Couldn't you choose a more sympathetic protagonist? It doesn't help that a lot of the book is really predictable if you know anything about the original Greek stories. I did read the first 5 issues, but gave up after that.


I had the same problem, only I checked out after the first issue.

Roydrowsy
May 6, 2007

Was Taters posted:

I had the same problem, only I checked out after the first issue.

see, that was what I was afraid of. Perhaps I'll thumb through a trade and see what I think.

Whorehey
Jun 3, 2006
You saw it here first folks...

Roydrowsy posted:

As far as the OP goes, I just threw something together to start a Vertigo thread. I've not read a lot of these books, and really the OP isn't all that important, it's just the springboard.

Oh I wasn't harassing you into adding anything to the OP, I'm just glad someone started a Vertigo thread. I've been waiting to talk about it a little bit and haven't had the outlet I need. I didn't mean anything condescending if it came off that way.

Also, I've only managed to read the first 20 issues of Fables. I don't have the resources or the time to plow through another 60 or so to get to be able to read the ongoings...but is it worth it? I really liked the first 10 issues but I'm not sure if it was from the overall quality of the story or the novelty of watching the author create this world and the many personas for the fables and storybook characters. I found Pinocchio and Beauty/Beast's re-imagining to be both humorous and clever. Does this, arguably, clever humor continue through the rest of the series or does it dissolve into mainly story? Is the story one worth reading?

Roydrowsy
May 6, 2007

Whorehey posted:

Oh I wasn't harassing you into adding anything to the OP, I'm just glad someone started a Vertigo thread. I've been waiting to talk about it a little bit and haven't had the outlet I need. I didn't mean anything condescending if it came off that way.

Also, I've only managed to read the first 20 issues of Fables. I don't have the resources or the time to plow through another 60 or so to get to be able to read the ongoings...but is it worth it? I really liked the first 10 issues but I'm not sure if it was from the overall quality of the story or the novelty of watching the author create this world and the many personas for the fables and storybook characters. I found Pinocchio and Beauty/Beast's re-imagining to be both humorous and clever. Does this, arguably, clever humor continue through the rest of the series or does it dissolve into mainly story? Is the story one worth reading?

No problem! I didn't really think much about it or take offense, but I wanted to address it before everybody started shouting out their favorites and then getting bummed when I didn't add them. After I sorta volunteered to start the thread I kind of wish I hadn't just because I didn't want a lack-luster op to start things off, but I figured I'd do the best I could and the rest would take care of itself.



Anyhow, a few months ago I was in the Half Priced Books in town and managed to get the first 8 volumes in trade (excluding #6). I only picked it up because it was so cheap, but you totally need to keep reading. The first 10 issues only start to scratch the surface of what the book and these stories is about.

If my budget was a little more robust, i'd just run and pick up the rest of the trades right away.

That being said, I think the book is a lot of fun. Very imaginative and playful. new and interesting things keep popping up each issue, and I really do love the art work, especially the covers.

From what i've seen, a lot of people's biggest complaint is that the book reads like it was written for trade publication, especially lately. But I'd say, at least pick up a trade at a time and work your way though it, but right around #3 or #4 you'll find yourself hooked.

Unmistakeable Fire
Oct 1, 2006
Scalped is one of the most interesting series being put out right now and you all should read it. It gets compared to Preacher a lot but doesn't share all that much with it other than the same sort of gritty Neo-Western feel. It feels a lot like an HBO or FX show and reading it it feels like it could be the storyboards for a show like that. I would probably compare it to Sons of Anarchy over the Sopranos though. There are no capes and no magic beyond the occasional hallucination or vague enigmatic Native American mumbo jumbo. The feel of it is a bit like the Departed since the character very beleivably gets his mind nearly destroyed by the stuff that he needs to go through. One of the great things about it is the setting, which pulls no punches and hasn't really been depicted in the utterly gritty and barren way that is seen here. In stuff like Thunderheart you get a bit of a sentimentalized portrayal of a crummy reservation with bad bad guys and good good guys, but here the place is just hosed. Extremely bleak but if you read about actualy Native Americans it is realistically so. The protaganist is very interesting in that they don't go the usual way of having him be half white or something in order to make you identify with him. His characterization is also pretty cool in that they don't hesitate to make him unlikeable or unsympathetic. It is also very strongly rooted in political history as the author makes a lot of references to the 70s Native movements, as well as being inspired by the Leonard Peltier. Not just the covers are interesting, but the art style throughout all the series is very unique. It gets changed up a lot but always stays pretty consistently cool. All in all I have nothing bad to say about this series other than that it can't come out fast enough.

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

UncleMonkey posted:



Also, Hellblazer should be added to the list. I've primarily read that though trades, but I'm going to jump back into it with the single issues now as well.

Hellblazer should definitly be added to the list since it is the longest running Vertigo title and it also gave exposure to such writers as Jamie Delano, Garth Ennis, Mike Carey, Paul Jenkins, Warren Ellis, Darko Macan, Brian Azzarello, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Eddie Campbell, John Smith, Denise Mina, Andy Diggle, Jason Aaron and currently Peter Milligan. It also has very few awful run and the good ones are really good.

MelvinTheJerk
Jun 4, 2001

I'm still here.
Hellblazer should be on that list for sure, but really Lucifer should be as well. It ran for 75 issues and was an excellent series.

enigmahfc
Oct 10, 2003

EFF TEE DUB!!
EFF TEE DUB!!
One Vertigo series that seems to get a bit of critical praise but very little fan discussion is Air. My wife started picking this up because the main character is a flight attendant, and so is she, so of course I read it. It's pretty good.

The story centers around Blythe, an acrophobic flight attendant who is drawn into a plot against a terrorist organization called the for the "Etesian Front". It's the sort of story that kind of hard to nail down in a few sentences. It features a man name Zayn, someone who is sort of a chameleon when it comes to his nationality, a nation named Narimar, a place that ostensibly disappeared from maps during the 1947 Partition of India, and Amelia Earhart. It has the same felling of the TV show Lost did during the first two seasons, before that show left the rails. It's a good fantasy series that works equally well for people who are not even into comics (like my wife).

Whereas most of the notable Vertigo titles are very, how you say, testosterone driven or dark and violent (this is not me being critical, I love most of those series), Air is the complete opposite of that. It feels very female driven and aimed. Violence is rare, and it is not dark in the least. Honestly, the whole thing is refreshing to me.

It is written by G. Willow Wilson, and has art by M. K. Perker.

About American Vampire, I think it shows promise. It has that feeling that everything is being planned in detail well in advance, and that it could come together in some truly great moments, assuming the crew can hold the book together.

enigmahfc fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Mar 20, 2010

Awesome Andy
Feb 18, 2007

All the spoils of a wasted life
HOUSE OF SECRETS was a really good horror/ 90s grunge comic that balanced character study with supernatural and some pretty crazy concepts of language and morality.
I bought the whole 20 or so issue run for ten dollars and it was so worth it.

racecardriver
Apr 27, 2009
Sweet Tooth is loving outstanding. Easily one of the top five ongoings right now. Jeff Lemire is a really great comic writer/artist. If you haven't picked it up, make an effort to do so. Also, his Essex County Trilogy is incredible, and I hear great things about The Nobody, which is currently on my shelf, waiting to be read.

Anyway, read these.

Also, Brubaker did a limited series called Deadenders with Warren Pleece and Richard Case years (over five) ago. Only the first arc has been collected, but I managed to find it at a Half Price Books for under $5 and snagged it. I really enjoyed that.

Wazzu
Feb 28, 2008

Are you sure I'm winning the Rumble? That does'nt seem right.....
Books of Magic started out as a 4 comic run by Neil Gaiman, and that was a fantastic tale that was in many ways, a Christmas Carol about Magic rather than how tim is evil. Even if you don't like the rest of it, read these 4 issues, simply amazing stuff.

After this was a 75 issue run that changed the tone considerably, including teen angst, love interests and an often unlikeable main character amongst the continued horrors of magic theme. I quite enjoyed the whole run though, despite it's many flaws and occasional bad plot arcs. Why? Because of the ending, which is the greatest payoff I've read in comics. Which brings me to my second reccomendation: If you can't get the entire run (DC have only released 1-50 in trades), it's not reading too much.

As for a "newer" series, Blood + Water is a fun quick story about vampires with a few nice twists on the formula.

I really should read more vertigo, I just can't stand normal DC and Marvel most of the time...

BioTech
Feb 5, 2007
...drinking myself to sleep again...


No mention of Unknown Soldier at all?

I picked up the trade on a whim and was impressed by how it takes a very real part of our world as the setting for an action-filled adventure without diminishing the seriousness of the overall issue. Even though you basically follow one man on a murderous rampage throughout rebel forces in the Ugandan civil war it never makes you lose the feeling that the people there are very real and everything that happens is a horrible thing.

Guess my summary would be like this;
After fleeing Uganda as a child and finishing his eduction in the US, Dr. Moses Lwanga returns to Africa to aid refugees of the civil war. While he is a devoted pacifist his continuous dealings with child soldiers, rape, mutilation and murder are slowly making him lose hope. Inside him something evil is growing until one day he snaps and in a moment of anger he takes matters into his own hands by killing an armed child threatening him. With the monster inside him unleashed he decides to forfeit going back to his old life and embraces the killing.

Edit: Holy gently caress, second TPB was released just this week. Guess I'm ordering it right now.

BioTech fucked around with this message at 12:23 on Mar 20, 2010

Big Bad Voodoo Lou
Jan 1, 2006
I'd like to add The Losers, which was written by Andy Diggle and drawn by the single-named Jock. It's very much a high-octane action movie played out on paper, about a Special Forces team who was betrayed by their corrupt CIA handler, framed, and left for dead, and how they go about getting revenge. I always thought The Losers was kind of like "The A-Team for grownups," or possibly "The A-Team done right, without a limited TV budget and mid-'80s TV censors holding back the violence."

Diggle gives you a bunch of action movie archetypes that still seem fresh and fun: the square-jawed leader, the comic relief hacker, the silent, haunted sniper, and the badass-to-the-point-of-terrifying hot chick (among others). While this series was never as deep as Sandman, for example, it was extremely well-paced and a great ride throughout. The entire series was collected in five TPBs, starting with the low-priced Volume 1, Ante Up.

What makes this even more timely is that a Losers movie is due out in May, and it looks like it'll follow the first TPB's storyline very closely. The casting is pretty solid, with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Zoe Saldana, and Jason Patric. And strangely enough, a new, updated A-Team movie is ALSO coming out this summer, which will probably have a similar backstory inspired in part by the Losers comics. My money is on The Losers.

Geekboy
Aug 21, 2005

Now that's what I call a geekMAN!
I've been looking forward to American Vampire for a while now and will definitely be picking it up when I make my trip to the shop later this week. I may also have to check out Air since this thread made it sound more interesting than anything else I've managed to find out about it. I guess I'm saying I'm glad this thread is here.

JustV
Apr 23, 2008

Only Literally On Fire

Wazzu posted:

Books of Magic started out as a 4 comic run by Neil Gaiman, and that was a fantastic tale that was in many ways, a Christmas Carol about Magic rather than how tim is evil. Even if you don't like the rest of it, read these 4 issues, simply amazing stuff.

After this was a 75 issue run that changed the tone considerably, including teen angst, love interests and an often unlikeable main character amongst the continued horrors of magic theme. I quite enjoyed the whole run though, despite it's many flaws and occasional bad plot arcs. Why? Because of the ending, which is the greatest payoff I've read in comics. Which brings me to my second reccomendation: If you can't get the entire run (DC have only released 1-50 in trades), it's not reading too much.

What's really annoying is the strange order of the books:

Neil Gaiman's The Books of Magic
The Books of Fairie (second half) (yes, second half)
The Books of Magic Vol. 1
The Books of Magic Vol. 2
The Books of Fairie (first half) (which contains spoilers for BoM Vol. 2)
The Books of Magic Vol. 3
The Books of Magic Vol. 4
The Books of Magic Vol. 5
The Books of Magic Vol. 6
The Books of Magic Vol. 7
The Books of Magic Issues #51-#75
The Names of Magic Continues off of issues #51-#75 (which isn't collected anywhere)
The Books of Magick Vol. 1 (series reboot)
The Books of Magick Issues #7-12 (again, not collected anywhere)

And, of course, you need to read most of them in order to understand what's going on.

DC refused to support the series, which wouldn't piss me off so much if it they didn't keep trying to bring it back at the same time. Although I did like watching Tim get his rear end handed to him during Mike Carey's Staring at the Wall arc in Hellblazer

JustV fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Mar 21, 2010

usenet celeb 1992
Jun 1, 2000

he thought quoting borges would make him popular
Even the writer of the BoM ongoing is on record as hating Tim Hunter. The character sort of got away from him and became more whiny and self-absorbed over time.

The series itself whipsawed between quirky fun and angsty tosh, but I enjoyed it overall. Had its ups and downs for sure.

FlamingLiberal
Jan 18, 2009

Would you like to play a game?



DMZ is an awesome book, I've enjoyed reading it through trades. The Losers sounds good, but I'll probably see the film before I decide whether or not to pick it up. Normally I would, but budgets are tight right now.

timeandtide
Nov 29, 2007

This space is reserved for future considerations.

FlamingLiberal posted:

DMZ is an awesome book, I've enjoyed reading it through trades. The Losers sounds good, but I'll probably see the film before I decide whether or not to pick it up. Normally I would, but budgets are tight right now.

If it makes any difference, for $14 on Amazon you can get a trade that collects the first two trades of The Losers (out of five.) Looks like they're releasing one that collects 3+4 in early August, too.

StumblyWumbly
Sep 12, 2007

Batmanticore!
Just finished the second trade of Unknown Soldier, and holy poo poo. It gives a great feel for the situation and life in war torn Uganda, and adds in explosive action and a personal and political mystery. Imagine if Batman couldn't go back to being Bruce, and was stuck in a war zone, and that's about the size of it.

If you like DMZ (and you probably should) you'll really like Unknown Soldier.

Rhyno
Mar 22, 2003
Probation
Can't post for 10 years!

JustV posted:

DC refused to support the series, which wouldn't piss me off so much if it they didn't keep trying to bring it back at the same time. Although I did like watching Tim get his rear end handed to him during Mike Carey's Staring at the Wall arc in Hellblazer

You'd think that with the huge popularity of Harry Potter DC/Vertigo would have pushed their teen magician into the limelight right?

Nope. HP is pretty much the reason BoM got shoved aside. John Ney Reiber gave an interview about it 6 or 7 years ago and he seemed pretty bitter about the whole thing.

ParliamentOfDogs
Jan 29, 2009

My genre's thriller... What's yours?

enigmahfc posted:

One Vertigo series that seems to get a bit of critical praise but very little fan discussion is Air. My wife started picking this up because the main character is a flight attendant, and so is she, so of course I read it. It's pretty good.

The story centers around Blythe, an acrophobic flight attendant who is drawn into a plot against a terrorist organization called the for the "Etesian Front". It's the sort of story that kind of hard to nail down in a few sentences. It features a man name Zayn, someone who is sort of a chameleon when it comes to his nationality, a nation named Narimar, a place that ostensibly disappeared from maps during the 1947 Partition of India, and Amelia Earhart. It has the same felling of the TV show Lost did during the first two seasons, before that show left the rails. It's a good fantasy series that works equally well for people who are not even into comics (like my wife).

Whereas most of the notable Vertigo titles are very, how you say, testosterone driven or dark and violent (this is not me being critical, I love most of those series), Air is the complete opposite of that. It feels very female driven and aimed. Violence is rare, and it is not dark in the least. Honestly, the whole thing is refreshing to me.

It is written by G. Willow Wilson, and has art by M. K. Perker.

I really like Air. It sort of has this gee whiz wonder to it while at the same time staying weirdly grounded. Sort of like Lost like you said, but also mixed with Indiana Jones or something. MYSTERY and ADVENTURE!

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UncleMonkey
Jan 11, 2005

We watched our friends grow up together
And we saw them as they fell
Some of them fell into Heaven
Some of them fell into Hell
Holy fuckballs! Check out the Bernie Wrightson variant cover for American Vampire #2.


Click here for the full 489x681 image.


Goddamn do I want that. poo poo, I want it as a poster for my wall.

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