fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2031 ]

[ SECRET POST #2031 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2031 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 043 secrets from Secret Submission Post #290.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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I've never read American comics, but after the recent spate of superhero movies, I've decided that I should give them a try. The problem is, there's just so much that I have absolutely no idea where to start.

I'm used to manga.
I like women.
I like gay stuff.
I like dark stuff.
I like smart stuff.

Knowing that, can anyone give me recommendations about comics to start with?

I'm not into comics myself, but from what I've heard you might want to try comics from other continents; they vary more in range of genre.

My problem is, I don't really trust translators. I've seen way too many instances of accidentally or deliberately butchered translations. With comics/graphic novels especially, I tend to only read things if I can read them in the original language. x.x That limits me to Japanese, English, and French.

Thanks for the idea, though. I'll scrounge around and see if I can find anything interesting within that range.

That's okay! (Frankly, I'm sort of relieved your reason makes sense; after seeing so much American stuff vs the rest of the world stuff debates all over the internet, you sort of start bracing for anything.)

Batwoman. (start with Batwoman: Elegy, then you can go onto Batwoman #1 and pick up from there)
Birds of Prey
Batgirl (Cassandra Cain's run, and Stephanie Brown's, which is less dark. Published in 2000-2006, 2009-2011).
The Huntress mini might interest you as well (2011-2012).

I've heard good things about Justice League Dark (2012 onwards) also.

By the way, there are no superheroes in it, but if you have some time to spare, you might like Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi!

I just started reading Batwoman myself and I agree that it's really great. It's dark, surreal and pretty awesome.

Batwoman: Elegy is now on hold for me at my library. <3 I'll read that first and then try the others out. Thanks for the recs!

You could try Young Avengers (check on gay -guys-, check on women -Kate and Cassie are awesome-). My sister loves it.

Thanks, I'll check it out!

Seconding the Batwoman, Birds of Prey, and Young Avengers recommendations.

I'd recommend Runaways too. Most of the main characters are female (and one of them is gay).

You might also like Watchmen. It's smart, dark, and it heavily influenced a lot of the superhero comics that came after it.

I've put Watchmen on hold at my library, and I'm planning on calling tomorrow about Young Avengers (you have to call for books with multiple volumes, pooh). Thanks for the recs!

You should try Alan Moore's Promethea. It's a series of five volumes about a recurring female superhero, but it's also basically 'Esotericism For Dummies: Illustrated Edition' and has like two entire volumes that are mostly about western qabalism. Almost all the characters are women, at least three of them are gay, and one of them is dealing with the difficulties of being an ageing female superhero, issue #30 makes almost everyone cry, and JH Williams III's page layouts and colour schemes are about the most creative and interesting in any comic ever.

Edited 2012-07-26 02:49 (UTC)

I'd never heard of it before, but it sounds interesting! Plus, it's mostly checked out at my library, which is always a good sign. ^^; I'll definitely be looking into it, thanks!

"Finder" by Carla Speed McNeil. The first two massive ombibuses can be found at the major bookstores. The world building is amazing, the stories are intelligent, and I found the main character rather likable--even if he can get a little Gary Stu-ish.

I checked out volume 1 from the library on a whim, and went out and bought my own copy. Vol 2 is different in tone from 1, and is definitely on my to-buy-list the next time I have a nice coupon. ^^

Thanks for the rec! From the blurb I read, the world-building seems pretty awesome. I'll definitely be checking it out. <3

People have given you a bunch of good superhero recs, But there's a lot to American comics besides superheroes, so in case you're into that...

Sandman is a (modern) classic. It was written by Neil Gaiman, so it's got a lot of neat mythological and literary background.

Y: The Last Man is about what would happen if all the men on earth dropped dead all of a sudden, and it does a lot of interesting and nuanced stuff with that premise. (I haven't finished all of it though.)

Love and Rockets is an indie series that has covered a ton of ground in the last thirty years and has a ton of great female characters and a fair amount of gayness. It's mostly real world stuff, but one of its main arcs played around with sci-fi at the beginning and the other has a bunch of magical realism elements in it.

Finder is a really neat fantasy series with some fascinating world-building. It gets pretty dark in places, and it's the kind of comic with honest to goodness footnotes, so it might be up your alley.

And I think Xenozoic Tales is entirely out of print, but you can get the collected version online, and it is post-apocalyptic dinosaur scientist adventures. I just started reading it, and I'm really enjoying it.

I also read a lot of autobiographical comics, and if you want any recs there, I can keep going indefinitely. :)

Superheroes were what inspired the whole "I should try American comics!" thing, but I'm definitely interested in stuff beyond superheroes.

My library has about a zillion copies of Sandman, so I'll be checking that out. ^^ And someone before you mentioned Finder, which looks really interesting. And you're totally right, I LOVE footnotes, like actually adore them, so now I'm really looking forward to it.

I'll also look into the others once I've made a dent in the recs I've already gotten. Thanks!

Seconding Finder and Love and Rockets. The tough part with those, I think, is that they've been running for a while for indie comics (ESPECIALLY L&R, which just celebrated its 30th anniversary), and they do change tone/skill/focus over time as well as building up a lot of backstory. What works for people in one volume of stuff might not work for them in another, and then there are readers who want to start in the beginning for the sake of knowing characters, but I'd argue for both series, the stronger work happens later on... Though Finder did recently have a one-volume work, Voice, that functions pretty well as both a standalone and an intro to the world.

L&R is probably a bit tougher -- it had an initial 15-year run, then a break as its creators did more standalone works, and is now 10 years into its 2nd run (subtitled "New Stories"). It's also done by 3 brothers (one of them very on and off) who each have more or less their own "universe" and style. If it's at all helpful: the 1st-run stories that hooked me in were "100 Rooms", "The Lost Women", and "The Death of Speedy", by Jaime Hernandez; and "Heartbreak Soup", "Blood of Palomar", and "Love and Rockets X", by Gilbert. Jaime's work also has the occasional homage/play on superheroes since they exist on the very fringes of his universe, and there's a miniseries in the first 2 issues of the 2nd run that's pretty much a love letter to them.

Also reccing Alison Bechdel's work, especially Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, which I think encapsulates all your bullet points. It's a one-volume memoir, largely about Bechdel's relationship with her father, especially as she comes out as lesbian in her college years and also realizes that her dad is gay and closeted. Growing up in a funeral home business, OCD, and a great deal of literature also come up. Bechdel has also done a follow-up memoir, Are You My Mother?, and the alt-newspaper comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For.

Maybe also Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol, which has been fairly recently collected in 6 volumes. DP has had several incarnations, but its through-line is being about superheroes who are regarded as strange or freakish to the rest of the world. Morrison ups the surrealism of the main cast and the villains they fight (sometimes literally, as one of the villain groups is the Brotherhood of Dada), and it's pretty much a dark comedy all-round.

Finally, maybe Alan Moore and Gene Ha/Zander Cannon's run on Top Ten, which is the first 2 collected volumes, which is basically if a crime procedural took place in a city where everyone has some sort of power . Although there's imo some clunky handling of one character's sexuality -- I remember thinking that it came up a bit more than would actually happen irl -- but it's also definitely not all there is to her. The main cast is split about 50-50 between men and women, and there's all sorts of body types in these first volumes (the issues after them kind of drop off in terms of writing and really drop off in art, I think -- lots of samebody and prettifying). It's fun.

Someone already mentioned Sandman, that's an awesome choice :) I'd recommend that to absolutely anyone. For a good standalone story in that universe, look up Death: The High Cost of Living.
My brother really loves V for Vendetta. I find it a little too batshit at times, but it's pretty interesting and worth a read.
(...I actually preferred the movie. There goes my nerd cred.)
Batwoman's been mentioned before; I'm told 52 (where she's introduced) is a pretty good read as well. That one also features Renee Montoya, who is awesome. :D

If you're up for some more lighthearted Franco-Belgians, I'd go for Asterix or Tintin. No clue if the English versions are any good, though; I read those in Dutch.

op reads french

op should read asterix and tintin in french

french is their original language anyways

but their dessins and not american comics

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[ SECRET POST #2031 ]

Introduce me to American comics?

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OP

Re: Introduce me to American comics?

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Re: Introduce me to American comics?

OP

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OP

Re: Introduce me to American comics?

OP

Re: Introduce me to American comics?

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