Recomendations Please

[158hoff]

Been in comics for about a year now and I'm looking for some ideas for a good graphic novel or series run
that I should pick up for myself. I don't own a lot of stuff so if you recomend something I most likely don't have it.
I read just about anything. Just give me an idea and why it was a good read for you. Thanks all!

[deadcowaroma]

I'm reading the second volume of Locke and Key right now and it's great. Get the first 2 volumes of that series!

[lugaru]

Y The Last Man: overnight every man on earth dies except for geek kid Yorick. That leaves women in charge of the world, and puts the last man on earth on a quest to reunite with his girlfriend. The series is action packed, sexy, funny and every issue ends on a cliffhanger.

Punisher Max: some books are better than others but I recommend the super dark and dirty ones like Slavers and Widowmaker. Slavers involves Frank torturing to death a group of abussive human smugglers and Widowmaker has a bunch of mob boss widows trying to get back at Franka and running into a female punisher.

Funhome One of the best autobiographical comics I've read. A young woman talks about growing up and discovering her lesbianism, but she suspects that her father may have been gay and that this led him to commit suicide. It is an amazing book, she is really high up there in Allan Moore territory when it comes to interweaving literary reference and juggling different moments of the characters life and different pacing.

[PhallicJustice]

Definitely agree with lugaru and Y The Last Man...it actually got me a little choked up at the very end.  So ya that is great.

The best comics I've read since I got into comics:

The Walking Dead (without question, even if you are just so so on zombies, this book with knock your socks off)
Invincible (just an incredible super hero story...and it is collected beautifully)
Captain America by Brubaker (being Canadian, I've always had like an unjustified hatred towards him...well now, I consider this hands down my favorite super hero book)
Preacher (super twisted, super great)
Fables (because you'll remember the characters from your childhood...and you'll laugh)

So those are series that I would recommend.

Single done in one trades I would say:
Batman: Year One and Joker (if you like Batman)
Pride of Baghdad
Lex Luthor: Man of Steel

And if you wanna embrace some mange, I have been reading Fullmetal Alchemist and been loving it big time.

[Sean M.]

Just some of my favourites-

Scalped (noir crime on the reservation)
Beanworld (it's not a story it's a process)
Invisibles (Greatest series of all time IMHO - Morrison sexed up spy-fi head masher)
100 Bullets (Brilliant secret history crime noir)
20th Century Boys/ Pluto (See my sig- amazing manga that isn't all about T&A)
Sweet Tooth (Jeff Lemire's post apocalyptic masterwork- only at issue 3- issue 4 out next week)
DMZ (Amazing "What if there were another American Civil War and the DMZ was Manhattan" story)
Transmetropolitan (Hunter S Thompson 2099)

[InspectorSpacetime]

bendis' daredevil

[Dom Sutton]

Watchmen is still the go to comic for new readers wanting to get a handle on "adult" superhero comics, I reckon.
Hellboy is really good fun, very influential and there are a stack of trades
Walking Dead is a real page turner.
If you like funny comics then Michael Kupperman's Tales Designed To Thrizzle and anything by Johnny Ryan are worth picking up
Black Hole by Charles Burns is a cracking good, weird read too.
For straight-up superhero thrills - Green Lantern is the big buzz book at the mo and you can pick up all of Geoff Johns' excellent run in trade format.
Those are some of my favourites

[Jon O]

For great superhero stories, pick up 52.
For great lighthearted superhero stories, pick up Justice League International.
For a heady read and unique use of the comic medium, pick up Kabuki.
For seminal comic strips, pick up Krazy Kat.
For philisophical diatribes and GORGEOUS art, pick up Promethea.
For romantic comedy action pick up Strangers in Paradise.

That right there is months of reading material, and if you finish all of them you might end up with the exact same taste as me...be careful.

[nilcam]

I second Y The Last Man but pace yourself. I read the whole series in one weekend and it's definitely an emotional roller coaster.

Bendis did some great work on Daredevil but I'd start with the relaunch of DD by Kevin Smith, Joe Q and Jimmy Palmiotti. The first arc, Guardian Devil, is wordy but damned good and really sets up the series. Mack follows Smith as writer and does a fantastic story which leads into the Bendis/Maleev run. Again, pace yourself as DD is a very down book. I tore through the first Bendis Omnibus in about a week and found it very depressing.

If you haven't read Starman, now's a great time to do it. The Omnibus collections are nice and that story is very good. It's definitely got a 90s alternative vibe, and I love that.

Deadenders is my favorite Brubaker book and, possibly, my favorite Vertigo series. The world after the cataclysm is screwed and Beezer, a drug dealing anarchist, may be its only chance for saving. You'll have to hunt these issues down but mycomicshop.com has most of the run for 98 cents each.

Skeleton Key by Andi Watson is a charming series about friendship between a goth girl and her fox demon best friend.

X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills is a brilliant graphic novel and probably the best use of that team to tell a socially relevant story.

[Lawrence]

Super Hero: Allstar Superman by Grant Morrisson my favorite superman story of all time. Its only two trades or hardcovers so you wont go broke trying to read the whole story.

Non Super Hero: DMZ by Brian Wood a great story with compelling characters and there are about 8 trades out there right now. This book will suck you in........... be warned.