Recommend an intelligent series with good quality dialogue

Pickpocket

As the title suggests, I'm looking for a mature and intelligent series with good quality dialogue.

I've just read the first volumes of Saga and Transmetropolitan and while both are brimming with ideas, I found them fairly crude with a noticeably adolescent tone.

In fact that 'adolescent problem' is an issue I have with plenty of comics. I read all of Y: The Last Man because ultimately I was sold on the concept and the characters, but I had to wade through a lot of dull, teenage humour in order to make it to the end. I'm also currently experiencing the the same thing with Preacher, although I'll probably push through with that one as well.

Over the years I've been a fan of some of the DC superhero stuff, but the general feeling of immaturity (along with the unwieldy universe) now means I don't go near them. I can't name specific volumes or arcs, but I regularly thumb through stuff in Hodges Figgis and am just very unimpressed with their overall execution, the dialogue in particular.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a bit of silliness. I'm currently making my way through, and very much enjoying, Chew and Invincible. They're providing me with my superhero fix but they know what they are and their goofiness seems deliberate. The same with Hellboy and some of the other B.P.R.D. stuff.

Some of my (fairly obvious) favourites, both old and new, are Locke & Key, Sweet Tooth, Sandman, Daytripper, and much of Alan Moore and Paul Pope's work. Outcast also impressed me in its first volume, along with Jason Aaron's Southern Bastards.

Aaron's Scalped is a series that I consistenty recommend for the high quality of its dialogue, although it has problems elsewhere, not least its racial politics.

I'm not a hardcore comics fan, but as you can see I'm not exactly a newbie either. So I have a fair idea of where to look, what publishers to check out, etc. But I still need advice because sometimes I feel like it's just me that's hung-up on dialogue and wanting to avoid that whole teenage vibe. The overwhelmingly positive response to Saga has me absolutely baffled, although having only read the first volume I'll partially reserve judgment on the project.

Finally, I specifically asked for series recommendations. I realise that a lot of the more mature graphic work is to be found in single volume, one-off 'graphic novels', along with celebrated collections like Maus. I've read plenty of those and have a long list of recommendations to get through, so I'm sorted on that end. I consider those almost like movies, whereas a multi-volume collection performs like a TV series. I need both types.

Anyway, sorry for the long-winded text.

Thanks.

CastorTroy

Only one I can think of that may be along the lines of what you're looking for is DMZ. It's finished at 72 issues. I read it because I had read the PS3 game Infamous had been partially inspired by it.

Or maybe try Fables?

MarkHall

DMZ is a good read. I love the issue where he's chasing after his press pass.

Top 10 is very enjoyable. Gives the superhero fix with all the drama of coplife. Some great art. Amazing nods to the comics worlds in general. It's a great read.
Only 2 trades. 4 if you count the spin offs.

Fysh

One of the tougher "recommend me something to read" requests I've seen.

On the science-fiction front, I'd say maybe have a look at Orbital or Aldebaran. Cinebook are publishing both series in English, though they're censoring the art on Aldebaran so you may want to seek out the original editions instead (I think they're in Portuguese).

On a general comics front, I absolutely adore Blacksad which, though published in the BD model so not exactly high-frequency, is an ongoing series and has some of the most stunningly beautiful artwork I've seen in a comic. The dialogue and storytelling is well-handled - Dark Horse are handling the English-language versions and there are 3 volumes so far (Blacksad, Blacksad: A Silent Hell, and Blacksad: Amarillo).

Carla Speed McNeill's Finder also qualifies, I think, as a series and has, IME, some strong writing and dialogue. There are two great big omnibus collections and some trades of subsequent material, IIRC.

I haven't read all of it, but David Mack's Kabuki might suit you as well. Seven volumes in total, I think, with some very interesting approaches to storytelling and some gorgeous artwork along the way.

Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys (including the final two volumes under the title 21st Century Boys) is a great slab of longform comics sci-fi thriller, with a cast of dozens and a storyline spanning the globe over a period of half a century. Honestly brilliant stuff in my opinion.

Pickpocket

CastorTroy wrote: »

Or maybe try Fables?

I just read the first issue of Fables. It was already on my radar because I've just purchased The Wolf Among Us for the Playstation 4, which apparently is an adaptation of one of the opening arcs of the series.

It seems to be an utterly fantastical and bizarre premise, which is great, but the character introductions in that first issue are dealt with very poorly, in what I would consider typical comic book fashion. You can almost hear the gears grinding into place.

In saying that, during one scene Bigby Wolf is speaking to Snow White and he says something about "your sister, Red Rose." Snow White replies that she knows her own sister's name! :P That was very clever and I'm glad that the writer wryly acknowledged just how awkward and clunky the (necessary) exposition was.

Pickpocket

MarkHall wrote: »

Top 10 is very enjoyable. Gives the superhero fix with all the drama of coplife. Some great art. Amazing nods to the comics worlds in general. It's a great read.
Only 2 trades. 4 if you count the spin offs.

The first episode was quite good, and only 89 cent on Comixology! Yeah I think I'll pick up the trades, so thanks for the tip. I love Watchmen and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen so I'm quite interested in another unconventional superhero universe.

Pickpocket

Fysh wrote: »

One of the tougher "recommend me something to read" requests I've seen.

On the science-fiction front, I'd say maybe have a look at Orbital or Aldebaran. Cinebook are publishing both series in English, though they're censoring the art on Aldebaran so you may want to seek out the original editions instead (I think they're in Portuguese).

On a general comics front, I absolutely adore Blacksad which, though published in the BD model so not exactly high-frequency, is an ongoing series and has some of the most stunningly beautiful artwork I've seen in a comic. The dialogue and storytelling is well-handled - Dark Horse are handling the English-language versions and there are 3 volumes so far (Blacksad, Blacksad: A Silent Hell, and Blacksad: Amarillo).

Carla Speed McNeill's Finder also qualifies, I think, as a series and has, IME, some strong writing and dialogue. There are two great big omnibus collections and some trades of subsequent material, IIRC.

I haven't read all of it, but David Mack's Kabuki might suit you as well. Seven volumes in total, I think, with some very interesting approaches to storytelling and some gorgeous artwork along the way.

Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys (including the final two volumes under the title 21st Century Boys) is a great slab of longform comics sci-fi thriller, with a cast of dozens and a storyline spanning the globe over a period of half a century. Honestly brilliant stuff in my opinion.

There looks to be some very solid stuff in there so thanks for taking the time! I'm looking forward to looking into each of them.

I think you understand some of my reservations about dialogue and tone. And in fairness a lot of that is my own fault because for a long time I never appreciated that comics were a medium like any other.

For example, I wouldn't expect to press play on any film and expect quality, ditto novels or albums. But for some reason I excepted comics to deliver every time, never allowing for the variable quality I expect from every other medium.

That problem was compounded when I heard Vertigo being described as 'the HBO of comics.' I instantly thought of Vertigo as a stamp of quality but subsequently felt disillusioned when much of it didn't deliver in the way that I wanted it to.

Now I fully appreciate the sheer enormity of the art form. I have to put the same time and effort into turning up quality as I do with music and cinema.

Ridley

Pickpocket wrote: »

I just read the first issue of Fables. It was already on my radar because I've just purchased The Wolf Among Us for the Playstation 4, which apparently is an adaptation of one of the opening arcs of the series.

Wolf Among Us is a prequel.

Pickpocket

Ridley wrote: »

Wolf Among Us is a prequel.

Ah, my mistake.

Is there anything in the game that might spoil the comic, or vice versa?

Ridley

Pickpocket wrote: »

Ah, my mistake.

Is there anything in the game that might spoil the comic, or vice versa?

By and large I'd say no. Part of the game expands on an event briefly mentioned in the comic and if you've already read the first issue it renders one of the game's cliffhangers redundant but, from what I recall, it's usually just repetition of certain information.

JPMcKenna

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip's Criminal is excellent, especially if you're a fan of crime fiction or cinema. There are six stories that are all interconnected to some degree.

Fysh

JPMcKenna wrote: »

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillip's Criminal is excellent, especially if you're a fan of crime fiction or cinema. There are six stories that are all interconnected to some degree.

I was just popping back into the thread to post this as well. Very very good stuff. If you enjoy it, it's also worth taking a look at Sleeper (super-powered secret agent goes undercover in an organised crime ring - four trades or two oversized trades), Fatale (Lovecraftian horror about a woman who can't help but bend men's minds to her will - collected in five trades) and The Fade Out (noir set against the backdrop of the Red Panic and writer blacklistings in Hollywood- recently completed, three trades).

If you like science fiction, you should also check out the new Prophet series from Image. It's a great little series about a rebellion within a genetically engineered army that has conquered much of the known universe; there are some wonderful ideas and concepts for alien lifeforms and environments in there and it's very well executed. There are four trades so far and the series is being wrapped up at the moment which should be a final fifth trade out later in the year.

You might also like Manhattan Projects, though I'm not sure. It's a lot of fun and quite barmy at times, but it depends on how you find the humour in it. Maybe check out the first trade from a library if you can - if you enjoy that you'll most likely enjoy the rest of it, and you'd probably enjoy much of Hickman's other work (at least the Image stuff, I've not read any of his Marvel stuff so I have no idea what the quality's like). I'd suggest Nightly News and Pax Romana as probably the next best things after MP (both single-trade stories) but there's also East Of West which is still currently ongoing - I need to get caught up with it as I'm several trades behind but it is, if nothing else, unique. And barmy (dystopian cyberpunk version of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding out across the USA, in a nutshell).

Moving towards slice-of-life stuff - if you haven't tried any of the Hernandez brothers' comics, you should correct this by checking out some Love & Rockets. Gilbert Hernandez tends to do more grounded stories in his Palomar sequence (stories about the lives of people living in a small Central American town called Palomar) while Jamie Hernandez tends to put a bit more action and sci-fi trappings in there. Personally, I prefer Gilbert's stuff but I should try more of Jamie's. Titan Comics have been reprinting affordable collections of the original stuff, so you can start with Heartbreak Soup by Gilbert Hernandez and Maggie The Mechanic by Jamie Hernandez. There is a lot more from both since those stories came out, and they are still releasing new material every year so you won't run out any time soon.