I’ve read some Fables because I like The Wolf Among Us, although it was a bit eh. I heard a lot of good things about Sandman so I might look into that. I also came across one called “100 Bullets” which seem cheesy but interesting nonetheless.
I’m looking for something like crime, mystery, or horror (haven’t really seen anything truly horrifying from the west outside of alt comix stuff), but anything works as long as it’s good. Also, preferably no “saving the world” stuff.
Transmetropolitan is a great short series. It definitely leans left .
:Spider-Jerusalem: says you should read it.
The Goon is fucking awesome, it's a comedy horror set it a 1920s Lovecraftian universe. Only comic I've ever actually paid for all the issues of
I also like the old Hellblazer comics with John Constantine, technically they're in the DC universe but there is very little cape shit in them mostly just cosmic/occult horror.
My all time favorite mainstream comic run is Planet Hulk, you don't really need any background in the marvel universe to understand them and I remember the story being super well written. The follow up run World War Hulk sucks balls though.
I actually did a high project using Constantine panels lol. I really like the “occult detective” angle of it. I’ll check out the others
Where would you start with Constantine, always wanted to check that out? Also where can I read comics lmao
East of West is an awesome series because you get to watch Maoist California and a Wakanda-esque Native American Endless Nation eradicate slavers. The writing is top notch and the art is great, too.
great site for comics they seem to have everything just make sure you have an add blocker.
I detailed it in another post but you should check out the Tachiyomi app, it gives you access to sites like this without worrying about ads or download limits.
You may enjoy Hellboy, it's kind of a Lovecraftian detective sort of thing.
And it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea but I really enjoyed (though may not have fully understood) The Invisibles
I saw the trailer for the Paper girls show. It reminded me of Stranger Things on a superficial level lol. Never heard of Saga though, but if it’s true that it’s comparable to GOT them I might check it out
Saga is great, it's like Star Wars if Star Wars was well written
Came to say Paper Girls, I don't read comics really but loved the first few
It's short (15 floppies/3 trades) but Home Sick Pilots kicks ass.
Set in the 90s, it's the story of two rival highschool aged punk bands, who go into a haunted house. The ghosts in the house animate it, creating essentially a Mecha made of rotten wood and powered by ectoplasm. Very cool visuals. Fair amount of gore if that's an issue.
I'm only like 12 issues in, but Monstress is also super cool visually, it's a fantasy adventure, and includes cat necromancers called nekomancers. It's super dark though, content warnings abound honestly (the primary human civilization in the setting has dehumanized the Arcanics who are basically magical people who may or may not have animal characteristics, because psychic humans can develop magical powers by consuming materials found in Arcanic bodies. It's portrayed as very bad, but I could easily see some people not even wanting to see some of it in the first place).
Gargoyles is about to come back as a comic! I'm pretty excited about that. No backlog to read yet though.
The Wicked and the Divine is super cool, basically once every century or so for the last several thousand years, 12 people, always artists, become incarnations of various gods, sometimes the same as the previous generation of gods, sometimes new ones (but real ones always, Lucifer, Athena, Baal, etc). They use their magic to create art and do performances for people but are the epitome of burning bright and fast, as for some reason, the whole group is always dead within two years. The characters are all (most? I think maybe all) designed to mimic the visual of big real world musicians.
I also have to second Kill Six Billion Demons and Saga. K6BD is a super high flying fantasy kung Fu action adventure and Saga is a story about two soldiers from opposing sides in a galactic conflicts who fall in love. They have a kid and both of their governments want the whole family dead because they don't want a symbol of peace. It's such a good story.
EDIT: forgot to say, first issues of the Wicked and the Divine, Saga, Home Sick Pilots and Monstress are all free on the Image comics site. K6BD is a free webcomic.
2000 AD, the comic with Judge Dredd in it. It's always been a leftist comic book, and it comes through in many of the strips within. Highlights include:
The Ballad of Halo Jones
Fiends of The Eastern Front
Absolom
Brink
Nikolai Dante
On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden. Not your preferred genres but gorgeous and wonderful.
If you like D&D, Rat Queens and Skullkickers are both fun romps. The former, in particular, has some fun takes on traditional classc concepts like Cleric and Druid. Also, they do the female dwarf right by giving her a beard.
For a quick hit Lovecraftian Horror, try Alan Moore's The Courtyard. Its a 1920s murder mystery they goes sideways in a freaky fun way.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a classic for a reason. Lots of cool takes on historic characters. Still problematic at points, but worth it for the action and intrigue Moore delivers.
The Black Moon Chronicles has amazing art. A French fantasy epic from the 1990s, with all the imperial intrigues of a GRRM novel, it sets the standard for Grimdark Fantasy as a genre.
Definitely recommend Sandman. Check out Persepolis and Blankets as well, they're actual graphic novels that aren't fantasy.
I like Persepolis. I've had Sandman on my hardrive for years now and never got around to reading it.
This is good timing as I'm trying to branch into western comics more myself, so I don't have many recommendations that haven't already been mentioned (Sandman, Persopolis, Transmetropolitan). I just finished Fire Punch which was a "fun" nihilistic and existential romp, but it's a manga in case you're strictly looking for western titles.
What I can recommend is the Tachiyomi app if you want to read on your phone for free. You'll need to install the apk from outside of the stores. From there you choose extensions for it to have access to, ReadComicsOnline is the most reliable I've found for western titles but it's always good to find backups. Bato.to and MangaDex for manga. It circumvents a lot of navigation problems with the websites it pulls from like page fills and download limits and intrusive ads/pop-ups. It's really customizable, like choosing which way to swipe per series for east and west titles, or how it handles double page spreads.
Miracleman.
Fucking incredible comic. One of Alan Moore's first big superhero deconstructions.
