Comics 101

vinchick

Hello all!

I am a bit stuck.

Back in the day I used to read the odd thing here and there I especially liked stuff with female main characters and/or a victorian era type feel.

But between exams and work I stopped and now that I have some free time I would like to get back into reading some stuff.

However I am lost!

Any recommendations or tips would be most appreciated!

Fysh

From the charter:

Recommended reading requests: If you are looking for new reading material, you should either look at the "What comic are you reading?" thread or the "Ultimate Comic Bookshelf" thread. If, after rooting through both threads, you're still looking for suggestions, then post up a new thread including at least 5 titles that you have read and which will give a good indication of your tastes.

Hello vinchick, and welcome to the forum As you can see from the above quote there are a couple of established threads that you can look through for reading suggestions. A good combination of Victorian era and a female lead character can be found in Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which has the added benefit of also being an excellent comic. Also from Moore you could check out Moore's From Hell.

vinchick

Fysh wrote: »

From the charter:


Hello vinchick, and welcome to the forum As you can see from the above quote there are a couple of established threads that you can look through for reading suggestions. A good combination of Victorian era and a female lead character can be found in Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which has the added benefit of also being an excellent comic. Also from Moore you could check out Moore's From Hell.

Great, thanks very much!

TheIrishGrover

Fysh wrote: »

From the charter:


Hello vinchick, and welcome to the forum As you can see from the above quote there are a couple of established threads that you can look through for reading suggestions. A good combination of Victorian era and a female lead character can be found in Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which has the added benefit of also being an excellent comic. Also from Moore you could check out Moore's From Hell.

Plus Moore's Halo Jones. (Not Victorian but a fantastic female lead. Early Moore but IMHO one of his best)

yahoo_moe

I'm thinking of pitching myself in and reading a couple of graphic novels for the first time... just wanted to ask a general question before I check the recommended reading list though - is it better or worse to start with Frank Miller/Batman stuff, etc. that I've already seen film versions of and would be familiar with?

Or does it matter whether I'm already familiar with the content or not?

EDIT: Oh and also, should I read according to release date or continuous storyline (say for Batman stories or the like)?

Fysh

To be honest it doesn't make a difference whether you're familiar with a character or not. A good comic will give you everything you need to enjoy the story within its pages. So whether it's Dark Knight Returns or From Hell you start with, the book itself should contain all you need.

I would suggest steering clear from any of the ongoing series to start with if you're completely new to the format; you might be better served reading self-contained stories to start off with while you figure out what your tastes are. There's no reason you can't jump into one of the ongoing series later on if you decide you like the characters; most of the ongoing series on the shelves these days will get some sort of trade paperback program to keep the older content on the shelves for new readers to catch up.

yahoo_moe

Cool, cheers for that.

Fysh wrote: »

I would suggest steering clear from any of the ongoing series to start with if you're completely new to the format; you might be better served reading self-contained stories to start

Sorry just to clarify - do you mean to steer clear of, say, The Dark Knight Returns because Batman is a character with loads of different storylines or to steer clear of trying to pick up a comic that's in the middle of an ongoing storyline at the moment?

Basically I was tentatively thinking of diving into any or all of V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Batman Year One, Dark Knight Returns, Batman RIP, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and possibly one of the Sin City collected sets... but most of those would depend on what you mean above...

Fysh

Ah, don't get me wrong - anything that's reasonably self-contained like Dark Knight Returns, V for Vendetta or even any of the Sin City books should be fine.

What I was getting at was that deciding to try out comics by just picking up the next issue of Batman may not be the most satisfactory reading experience, since you'll probably land right in the middle of a storyline that doesn't make too much sense to a newcomer. Batman RIP, for example, is the last book of Grant Morrison's run on the Batman ongoing title so it's probably not a great place to start (Morrison's run started with Batman & Son).

yahoo_moe

Right, no excuses anymore... better just do it! Cheers

BlaasForRafa

vinchick wrote: »

Hello all!

I am a bit stuck.

Back in the day I used to read the odd thing here and there I especially liked stuff with female main characters and/or a victorian era type feel.

But between exams and work I stopped and now that I have some free time I would like to get back into reading some stuff.

However I am lost!

Any recommendations or tips would be most appreciated!

From what you describe I'd say Sebastian O could be a good bet, its set in the Victorian era and while the lead is male, if I recall correctly he's gay...or at least a bit fey anyway.

magwea

Victorian era setting with female main characters sounds like Kaoru Mori's Emma is what you really should want to be reading, not Moore or Batman. Short descent review here.

Yeah, honestly, screw batman. Although, semi related is the Victorian London Elsewhere Batman short Gotham by Gaslight. Same Moore From Hell protaganist, but instead of a scratchy Eddie Campbell slog here as a fun early Mignola comic.