What Comic Should I Read Next?

[Johnny Unusual]

Man, I knew I loved Slaughterhouse Five but it's been so long. In comic form is remains a powerful book and this was an excellent adaptation. I don't have much to say that it was realized fantastically by the writer and the artist. I always think of Ryan North books as fun and optimistic but he really gets the dark humanism of Vonnegut, which is both bleak and empathetic.

OK, probably something a little lighter next.

Paper Girls - I know about the first issue but don't know where it goes beyond that. I haven't read a Brian K Vaughn book in a long time and I have the whole series.
Ashita no Joe - I have the first three huge volumes of 8. Maybe I should wait until I get more but man, reading these will put some space on my book shelf. Plus it's one of the most culturally important comics of the era, particularly for people who felt disenfranchised.
Justice League International - It's not the whole run but it's the first 20 some issues. I read the first 6 issues back in the day but never continued beyond that.

 

[lincolnic]

Paper Girls is really great, easy recommendation from me.

 

[Kirin]

For something labeled “International” that JL squad sure is a lotta white people (and a Martian).

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Paper Girls was a great popcorn comic. Did anyone watch the show? I know Jason Mantzoukas was in it. Anyway, a weird, wild little series and minute to minute is a very engaging read. I wasn't quite sure what to expect and it wasn't quite that. But in a good way.

What should I read next?

Howard the Duck (Zdarsky run) - I feel like I haven't read much Zdarsky yet but I've heard nothing but good things.
Astro City Metro Book 1 - One of my all time favourite books. Maybe my favourite superhero book? I've read them before but probably not in 2 decades. I don't collect #1's but I do have the original #1 of this kicking around somewhere.
Superman Golden Age Vol. 3 + 4 - I love reading really old school comics and when I was reading classic Superman, I was delighted how fun and weird it was. It's a series where one issue could be "Superman plays football" and then the next is not only the first appearance of Lex Luthor, he is WAY more science fictiony than I was expecting for a plainclothes villain (even if he is THE plainclothes villain)

 

[lincolnic]

Paper Girls was a great popcorn comic. Did anyone watch the show?

Huh, I forgot that was a thing they did. Having read the book, I don't think I'd be interested in the show, since part of the perpetual appeal of a comic is its visuals.

Howard the Duck (Zdarsky run) - I feel like I haven't read much Zdarsky yet but I've heard nothing but good things.

Zdarsky is very good and I didn't know he wrote Howard the Duck! I vote for this because I'm extremely curious.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Not finished reading Howard (it's very good) but I'm about to go on a trip and suspect I'll be done Howard midway through. What else should I bring with me.

Danger Street - A Tom King mini-series that takes all the characters introduced/re-introduced in the short lived DC First Issue Special (a short of show case for potential new series) and puts them into one story. I'm low key kind of obsessed with it for some reason and I like King a lot more than others (I don't think I've read any of his Clunkers) so I'm interested in this.
My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies - Shortest book on my list. Big fan of the Brubaker/Phillips collabs.
Kamandi Vol. 1 - Never read this one. I think this is the longest running DC book Kirby did? Probably a good beach read.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

The first 20 issues of Kamandi done! Great Kirby stuff. I think his 70s era is his best work.

OK, I've gained a little collection of B-Tier books so I'll be going back to them! I barely know anything about any of these.

Doc Savage - Marvel did a Savage series in the 70s... but it didn't get reprinted till the rights landed with DC!
Banana Sunday - Teen comedy with chimps!
Dancer - Seems like it might be a John Wick kinda thing?

 

[lincolnic]

Banana Sunday - Teen comedy with chimps!

This has the most fun art, so it gets my vote.

Also, my library randomly had that same Chip Zdarsky Howard the Duck collection on the shelf when I was in there the other day, so I'll be reading it soon as well!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Banana Sunday is an OK comic from Tobin and Coover. It's a comic mostly aimed at teens and has somewhat of an Archie feel but also, as mentioned in the introduction, was also influenced by the work of Rumiko Takahashi. But like some elements of her work and a lot of comics in the aughts, it hasn't all aged well. The big one is one of the three wacky monkeys' whole deal is he's a constant womanizer. He doesn't have the pervert act, thankfully, but it's a pretty tiresome element. (There's also a "I took off your clothes when getting you to the school nurse" gag, which is a JK but it makes the male love interest seem like a jerk. Frankly, the real star is Gogo, who is just a huggable ball of muscle. Overall, though, it's kind of an also-ran humor book. The art is pretty decent, though.

OK, what is next:

Doc Savage - Marvel did a Savage series in the 70s... but it didn't get reprinted till the rights landed with DC!
Dancer - Seems like it might be a John Wick kinda thing?
Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters Vol. 2 - The first volume was good and a very quick read. Sort of Kamandi meets Dragonball.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Doc Savage - Marvel did a Savage series in the 70s... but it didn't get reprinted till the rights landed with DC!

I feel like there are elements of this that maybe haven't aged well but there is something compelling about it.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I feel like there are elements of this that maybe haven't aged well but there is something compelling about it.

Certainly the first arc didn't. The rest of the book fell in the realm of perfectly fine. It feels like Marvel was trying to do another pulp series in the wake of Conan's success but it doesn't quite have the same juice. The weird thing is despite the gunplay and armies of henchmen, every story has a Scooby-Doo ending where the villain is unmasked as a character we met earlier in the story. There's a formula to it. Also, the cast is too big. Which is an issue from the pulps so much that eventually the Fabulous Five is pared down to the two most popular members; the ever bickering Monk and Ham.

Interestingly Marvel had another short run a few years later with Doug Moench and Tony DeZuniga (the guy who co-created Jonah Hex). I don't know if they ever reprinted it.

OK, my b-team of comics is down to two!

Dancer - Seems like it might be a John Wick kinda thing?
Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters Vol. 2 - The first volume was good and a very quick read. Sort of Kamandi meets Dragonball.

 

[Kirin]

Creepy/cute monster times seems like a good palette cleanser.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Just like the first one, Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters is a very fun read but very brisk. It goes so fast, it's probably a series to get in a bundle and on sale. Then I read Dancer, which is an OK spy thriller about a guy fighting his clone. Despite putting her front and center, the female co-lead seems relagated to The Girlfriend. I think the writer was trying to do more but mostly she gets one scene where she complains to the main character about his BS and one scene where she gets to turn the tables on the baddie. I almost wish it was about her. Still, if you see it on sale, it's a decent enough thriller with good art and technical scripting.

OK, back to my A-List!

Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise - Stylish looking Doctor Strange comic.
Scene of the Crime - Love Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips neo-noir books.
Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue McConnick - This is the run where Ms. Marvel becomes Captain Marvel but the real draw for me is Kelly Sue McConnick. I haven't read many of her books but I loved Bitch Planet and am kind of disappointed she never returned to do more of that series.

 

[lincolnic]

Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue McConnick

Kelly Sue rarely misses, let us know how this one is.

(Fun fact, both her and Matt Fraction were regulars at another forum where I used to hang out way back in the much earlier days of the internet. I don't remember ever really interacting with either of them but it's always nice to see how far they've come.)

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Technically a chapter a way from finishing Fall Sunrise and will have THOUGHTS but until then Im already ready to pick the next reading

Uncle Scrooge by Barks - Not the whole run but 5 volumes. I know I have the first but I think the rest are somewhat random, which is fine.
Jimmy Olsen - Bwucee hungee
Mister Miracle by King - I know there are people who dont care for King but frankly I haven't read one I dislike yet, minor issues with Vision aside.

 

[lincolnic]

Jimmy Olsen - Bwucee hungee

I have voted for this before and I am voting for it again.

 

[Kirin]

Technically a chapter a way from finishing Fall Sunrise and will have THOUGHTS

I was late to the party but was gonna say I’m still curious to know what Strange is getting up to in Castlevania land.

In the next batch I’m probably most curious about how the old Barks Scrooge holds up.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I was late to the party but was gonna say I’m still curious to know what Strange is getting up to in Castlevania land.

I wish I got the treasury sized version. I think that's how it is really meant to be experienced.

It's a very surreal, trippy and DENSE work where Strange wakes up in a weird world. We find out later the challenge is to basically help a cosmic mother give birth to her cosmic offspring, a task many have tried before and none have survived. It's a wild-ass journey connected to a war between ancient and powerful entities and it's eye-poppingly gorgeous.

Definitely worth checking out but I will warn you that it's not the easiest story to parse. A lot is happening in this one.