I've wanted to start this thread for a while on here. It seems we've got plenty of fans of the format, so hopefully we'll get some good discussion going.

What are you reading and loving lately? I'd love to hear some recommendations.

I'll start, although I'm a little behind on my reading, so I'm naming some things that have been out a while.

I just got this trade paper. I'm loving it, especially the art. I'm not up on all the different Avengers books that are out right now, but this is solid.

This is a webcomic, but I only got introduced to it when it was published in book form. It's about an 11-year-old girl living in an Orthodox Jewish community who dreams of getting a sword so she can fight dragons. It's a great adventure/fantasy story. I LOVED it.

I used to think Radical's books were beyond awful; just pretty computer-enhanced images wrapped around stories aimed at 12-year-old boys. But they've actually stepped up their game a lot recently, and this is a perfect example. I thought this story was great.

What have you guys been reading lately that you love and recommend? Feel free to throw in any other comic-related topics you want to talk about too.

American Vampire (Vertigo/DC)

It's a few years old, but it's the best X-Men story I've read in decades:

Astonishing X-Men (Marvel)

sextonseven said:

It's a few years old, but it's the best X-Men story I've read in decades:

Astonishing X-Men (Marvel)

I'll have to give this another chance. Something about Cyclops and the White Queen being lovers really, really bothers me. I know none of the X-Men really get to live happily ever after, but I just like to see Scott and Jean together. Period.

World War Hulk was good, but in typical Marvel fashion, they screwed up the ending(like in Civil Wars).

Paul Cornell writes Marvel's British characters very, very well.

Wisdom TPB (Marvel)

Captain Britain and MI13 Vols. 1-3 (Marvel) - British team featuring Pete Wisdom, Spitfire, The Black Knight and Blade.

I haven't read much recently. last few years I read and re read and re read Alan Moore

I'll hit this up in more detail tomorrow. For right now...

I'm not liking American Vampire as much as I thought I was going to like it. I think I'm just really burned out on vampires right now. Plus, I've really enjoyed King's Dark Tower and Stand series. American Vampire just hasn't really moved me yet (either part). Not even sure I'm going to keep buying it.

comics, I work at Holland's largest comics distributor. So I get to see all comics, manga and Graphic novels that are released every week. It's a great job, and I've been at for 20 years. I liked the Civil War storyline, but as pointed out earlier the ending was meh. Loved the World war Hulk storyline. Didn't care much for Secret Invasion, and liked the Siege storyline.

Used to like the Witchblade comic but the stories were too slow...

Always had a soft spot for the Punisher comics...

I don't read any superhero books other than Batman and I never have. So my contributions to this thread will always be on the "other side" of things.

paintsprayer said:

I haven't read much recently. last few years I read and re read and re read Alan Moore

I love Alan Moore. He's done some of the best stuff in comics in the last 25 years. But he's also done some crap, and I'm still pissed off that I paid $75 for Lost Girls. Oh well, at least it looks good on the shelf. I LOVED Promethea. And I've slowly become a pretty big LOEG fan, as well (took me a while to really get into those books, though)

Cerebus said:

I don't read any superhero books other than Batman and I never have. So my contributions to this thread will always be on the "other side" of things.

Nice. I'm more into the other side now too, so I look forward to talking about it.

starbuck said:

comics, I work at Holland's largest comics distributor. So I get to see all comics, manga and Graphic novels that are released every week. It's a great job, and I've been at for 20 years. I liked the Civil War storyline, but as pointed out earlier the ending was meh. Loved the World war Hulk storyline. Didn't care much for Secret Invasion, and liked the Siege storyline.

Used to like the Witchblade comic but the stories were too slow...

Always had a soft spot for the Punisher comics...

That would be a great job. (I take it you're more of a Marvel guy?)

Yeah, I'm more of a marvel guy, ha ha.

Used to read some DC Comics (like Batman or Lobo) but quit after a while.

There's some independants I like to read, but being exposed to so many comics all the time, it's just not as exciting as it used to be...

And what happened to the X-Men, everytime I try to read one I think I'm looking at a baywatch thingee with all the beautiful women walking around in that series...

starbuck said:

Yeah, I'm more of a marvel guy, ha ha.

Used to read some DC Comics (like Batman or Lobo) but quit after a while.

There's some independants I like to read, but being exposed to so many comics all the time, it's just not as exciting as it used to be...

And what happened to the X-Men, everytime I try to read one I think I'm looking at a baywatch thingee with all the beautiful women walking around in that series...

Tonight I read X-Men: The Birth of Generation Hope and I wanted to throw it across the room. Who reads this crap?

Efan said:

Cerebus said:

I don't read any superhero books other than Batman and I never have. So my contributions to this thread will always be on the "other side" of things.

Nice. I'm more into the other side now too, so I look forward to talking about it.

Yeah, I'm interested in a couple of things that you posted up above. I haven't read Hereville, yet, but it looks like exactly my kind of thing. And there's been a few Rick Remember books that I've loved, but I need to, uhhh, remember which ones they are before I can post. Haven't read The Last Days of American Crime, yet. But if it's any kind of noir, and it looks like it might be, I'll probably like it.

Along those lines, I can't recommend Blacksad enough. Short of Cerebus, they are the best adult themed anthropomorphic talking animals book I've ever read.

oddly enough i started to get back into manga.

i am reading the following

saiyuki

[img:$uid]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1591826519.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img:$uid]

bus gamer

[img:$uid]http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/anime/8/5512.jpg[/img:$uid]

i don't know if i should be admitting this but i also i am in love with the art *smirks* of the bara genre. its a sub genre in a way of the yaoi---but more bear oriented.

oh i also like this one--in fact its my favorite anime

BANANA FISH!!

[img:$uid]http://www.nexternal.com/dreamland/images/bananaFish.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 2/3/11 19:49pm]

Cerebus said:

Efan said:

Nice. I'm more into the other side now too, so I look forward to talking about it.

Yeah, I'm interested in a couple of things that you posted up above. I haven't read Hereville, yet, but it looks like exactly my kind of thing. And there's been a few Rick Remember books that I've loved, but I need to, uhhh, remember which ones they are before I can post. Haven't read The Last Days of American Crime, yet. But if it's any kind of noir, and it looks like it might be, I'll probably like it.

Along those lines, I can't recommend Blacksad enough. Short of Cerebus, they are the best adult themed anthropomorphic talking animals book I've ever read.

Yeah, I think you'll like Last Days (based on what you've said here).

Were you a fan of Bone? I am totally jazzed about Jeff Smith's Rasl series. The only thing that sucks is that it's bimonthly, and he seems to be having difficulty keeping to that schedule. But the story is great.

baroque said:

oddly enough i started to get back into manga.

i am reading the following

saiyuki

[img:$uid]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1591826519.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img:$uid]

bus gamer

[img:$uid]http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/anime/8/5512.jpg[/img:$uid]

i don't know if i should be admitting this but i also i am in love with the art *smirks* of the bara genre. its a sub genre in a way of the yaoi---but more bear oriented.

oh i also like this one--in fact its my favorite anime

BANANA FISH!!

[img:$uid]http://www.nexternal.com/dreamland/images/bananaFish.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 2/3/11 19:49pm]

There's a bear subgenre? Okay, that's kinda interesting...and hot.

as for american comics

i enjoy

the following

The Sandman comics by gaiman

the young avengers

various batman ones no matter who writes them.

the blue beatle(jaime reyes)

JTHM

anything slightly "gothy" or fantasy driven.

Efan said:

starbuck said:

Yeah, I'm more of a marvel guy, ha ha.

Used to read some DC Comics (like Batman or Lobo) but quit after a while.

There's some independants I like to read, but being exposed to so many comics all the time, it's just not as exciting as it used to be...

And what happened to the X-Men, everytime I try to read one I think I'm looking at a baywatch thingee with all the beautiful women walking around in that series...

Tonight I read X-Men: The Birth of Generation Hope and I wanted to throw it across the room. Who reads this crap?

A LOT OF PEOPLE! There has been a constant glut of X titles for over twenty years now and ALL of them continue to sell well. When one of them slows down, they kill it and start a new one.... or three. Being and indie guy I've pretty much been massively against all things X since, like, 1982. Some friends who could actually articulate why they thought the books were good have gotten me to read a some archs and a couple of artist or writer runs over the years. But generally, REALLY not my thing.

Efan said:

baroque said:

oddly enough i started to get back into manga.

i am reading the following

saiyuki

[img:$uid]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1591826519.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img:$uid]

bus gamer

[img:$uid]http://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/anime/8/5512.jpg[/img:$uid]

i don't know if i should be admitting this but i also i am in love with the art *smirks* of the bara genre. its a sub genre in a way of the yaoi---but more bear oriented.

oh i also like this one--in fact its my favorite anime

BANANA FISH!!

[img:$uid]http://www.nexternal.com/dreamland/images/bananaFish.jpg[/img:$uid]

[Edited 2/3/11 19:49pm]

There's a bear subgenre? Okay, that's kinda interesting...and hot.

yeah so yaoi- which involves stories with male homosexuality-some deal with love, tragedy, acceptance..etc.. yaoi is written by women for women.

now bara(rose in japanese...taken from a yukio mishima book) is written by gay men for gay men. its a tad pornographic....and more realistic in a way. meaning in yaoi mangas the guys follow these heteronormative rules, e.g. the submissive one is a stereotypical effeminate guy, skinny guy, while the more dominant or top one is usually a super macho guy who never realizes he was gay in the first place... whilist in bara, men are either skinny, fat, muscly, etc. i mean some of it is pretty smutty but the art is darn good. i mean it all sounds like its just fucking, but i swear there is stories..some of them are good and well some of them are not entirely for reading just well aesthetic purposes.

[Edited 2/3/11 19:57pm]

Cerebus said:

Efan said:

Tonight I read X-Men: The Birth of Generation Hope and I wanted to throw it across the room. Who reads this crap?

A LOT OF PEOPLE! There has been a constant glut of X titles for over twenty years now and ALL of them continue to sell well. When one of them slows down, they kill it and start a new one.... or three. Being and indie guy I've pretty much been massively against all things X since, like, 1982. Some friends who could actually articulate why they thought the books were good have gotten me to read a some archs and a couple of artist or writer runs over the years. But generally, REALLY not my thing.

I know X-Men got pretty bad toward the end of Chris Claremont's first run on it, but I stuck with it. I even stayed on for a little while after he was ousted, but...meh. Awful. Every time I come across a new X-Men trade, I think I should give it a try, but it doesn't take. I do have all the new X-Men Forever trades, but I haven't read them yet. But I've heard bad things.

Efan said:

Cerebus said:

Yeah, I'm interested in a couple of things that you posted up above. I haven't read Hereville, yet, but it looks like exactly my kind of thing. And there's been a few Rick Remember books that I've loved, but I need to, uhhh, remember which ones they are before I can post. Haven't read The Last Days of American Crime, yet. But if it's any kind of noir, and it looks like it might be, I'll probably like it.

Along those lines, I can't recommend Blacksad enough. Short of Cerebus, they are the best adult themed anthropomorphic talking animals book I've ever read.

Yeah, I think you'll like Last Days (based on what you've said here).

Were you a fan of Bone? I am totally jazzed about Jeff Smith's Rasl series. The only thing that sucks is that it's bimonthly, and he seems to be having difficulty keeping to that schedule. But the story is great.

Huge Bone fan. Absolutely love it. Especially that it continued to get better and had a satisfying ending. I been trying to follow Rasl, but I'm REALLY annoyed that he's not able to keep the book on schedule (which is stating it mildly). Not keeping it on a tight schedule means fewer shops will keep ordering it AND that the people who really want it are more likely to end up missing issues (which is the case for me). He kept bone mostly on schedule for YEARS, so it's not like we don't know that he can do it. My guess is that the Scholastic money has made the struggling indie comic book creator a bit more comfortable than he used to be.

baroque said:

Efan said:

There's a bear subgenre? Okay, that's kinda interesting...and hot.

yeah so yaoi- which involves stories with male homosexuality-some deal with love, tragedy, acceptance..etc.. yaoi is written by women for women.

now bara(rose in japanese...taken from a yukio mishima book) is written by gay men for gay men. its a tad pornographic....and more realistic in a way. meaning in yaoi mangas the guys follow these heteronormative rules, e.g. the submissive one is a stereotypical effeminate guy, skinny guy, while the more dominant or top one is usually a super macho guy who never realizes he was gay in the first place... whilist in bara, men are either skinny, fat, muscly, etc. i mean some of it is pretty smutty but the art is darn good. i mean it all sounds like its just fucking, but i swear there is stories..some of them are good and well some of them are not entirely for reading just well aesthetic purposes.

[Edited 2/3/11 19:57pm]

Yeah, I've read some yaoi but never really loved it. Bara sounds like it could be fun.

baroque said:

The Sandman comics by gaiman

Efan said:

baroque said:

yeah so yaoi- which involves stories with male homosexuality-some deal with love, tragedy, acceptance..etc.. yaoi is written by women for women.

now bara(rose in japanese...taken from a yukio mishima book) is written by gay men for gay men. its a tad pornographic....and more realistic in a way. meaning in yaoi mangas the guys follow these heteronormative rules, e.g. the submissive one is a stereotypical effeminate guy, skinny guy, while the more dominant or top one is usually a super macho guy who never realizes he was gay in the first place... whilist in bara, men are either skinny, fat, muscly, etc. i mean some of it is pretty smutty but the art is darn good. i mean it all sounds like its just fucking, but i swear there is stories..some of them are good and well some of them are not entirely for reading just well aesthetic purposes.

[Edited 2/3/11 19:57pm]

Yeah, I've read some yaoi but never really loved it. Bara sounds like it could be fun.

lol google it. although hard to find in the states their are great websites dedicated to it.

Cerebus said:

Efan said:

Yeah, I think you'll like Last Days (based on what you've said here).

Were you a fan of Bone? I am totally jazzed about Jeff Smith's Rasl series. The only thing that sucks is that it's bimonthly, and he seems to be having difficulty keeping to that schedule. But the story is great.

Huge Bone fan. Absolutely love it. Especially that it continued to get better and had a satisfying ending. I been trying to follow Rasl, but I'm REALLY annoyed that he's not able to keep the book on schedule (which is stating it mildly). Not keeping it on a tight schedule means fewer shops will keep ordering it AND that the people who really want it are more likely to end up missing issues (which is the case for me). He kept bone mostly on schedule for YEARS, so it's not like we don't know that he can do it. My guess is that the Scholastic money has made the struggling indie comic book creator a bit more comfortable than he used to be.

I don't know if it's the Scholastic money that's holding him back; although I kind of think it's more that he's trying to keep doing new Bone books while also working on this. I do love those Scholastic ones. I didn't think I'd be impressed by rendering those books in color, but I'm actually impressed with the job they did.

Oh, hey, I'm sure you already know about these, but just in case: Since you mentioned you love noir, are you reading the Parker books? I think they're tops.

Cerebus said:

baroque said:

The Sandman comics by gaiman

they are so awesome!! nice to meet a fellow gaiman fan

baroque said:

Cerebus said:

they are so awesome!! nice to meet a fellow gaiman fan

Massive, massive, massive Gaiman fan. I've written about it here a few times before. I admire that mans creative thought process like very few others, if any. He's also a genuinely good human being, too (intelligent in conversation, nice fellow, exudes coolness with no effort).