I'm a lifelong manga reader and the only exposure I have to western comics are Sandman and The Watchmen. Always wanted to try getting into comics. Are there any worth following right now? Any old storylines with solid beginnings and endings?
I'm a lifelong manga reader and the only exposure I have to western comics are Sandman and The Watchmen.
Just dodge the big 2 and go read European comics my man.
Any personal faves?
I'll check out Moon Knight to dip my toes into a Big 2 experience then. Will check out Image too, I appreciate storylines with clear boundaries.
I'll go check out a local store for anthologies.
For euro-comics, there's the classics:
Asterix (the writer died after Asterix in Belgium so avoid the later albums)
Tintin (you can avoid the albums before the Blue Lotus at first)
Lucky Luke
Valerian and Laureline
The Smurfs (the themes are surprisingly adult, see king Smurf for example)
Spirou and Fantasio (Franquin's albums in particular)
I'd say stick with older stuff, and avoid superhero runs. While Sandman is a series that has a lot of callbacks to earlier cape comics, it does a good job, I think, in not making you feel lost. Most runs don't have that luxury, though it's really not that bad. I'd avoid them unless they're good ones like Moore's Swamp Thing, which actually informs The Sandman.
I'd argue that some of the best comics require some prior familiarity. Even Watchmen reads better if you know more about comics from the Golden/Silver Age and whatnot.
Check some of these out:
>The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
>The Spirit by Will Eisner (Warren/Kitchen Sink Press)
>Top 10 by Alan Moore and Gene Ha
>Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
>Cerebus by Dave Sim
If you have a preferred genre or genres, it'll make it easier to recommend.
Don't become a Euro-only gay, but definitely check them out:
>Siegfried by Alex Alice
>Blast by Manu Larcenet
>The Incal by Moebius and Alejandro Jodorowsky
>The Obscure Cities by Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters
I've read way more manga, but I prefer comics if I had to choose.
This board is full of lifelong anime and manga fans who scour this place for ways to shit on comics and superheroes especially. I take it that you yourself are not specifically interested in Superhero/DC/Marvel stuff so I'll give you some non superhero stuff first just in case.
Not Superhero:
The Eternaut (1969)
Blast (2015)
Preacher (1995)
Fables (2002)
This is probably bait but you should definitely check out anything drawn by Moebius.
Here are some Superhero stuff I'd recommend to you so you could see if you're even into caped crusaders at all:
All Star Superman is a great introduction to the character
Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One are the most well known and well regarded stories with Batman and defined who his character is since they were written.
Watchmen is a popular deconstruction of the genre you might get a kick out of, definitely well drawn and written.
Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt is one of the best Spider-Man stories and might get you to try and explore more arcs from the character
Moon Knight's 2014 run by Warren Ellis is a great introduction to the character, short and sweet with great moments and good art. The 2016 run by Jeff Lemire is also good.
I'd also recommend Tom King's Mister Miracle (2017) and Vision (2016) stories that focus on much less regarded and popular characters.
>The Eternaut (1969)
The Eternaut from 1957 is a must read. First 1957, then read 1969.
>Watchmen
OP stated having already read Watchmen and Sandman.
>Tom King's Mister Miracle (2017) and Vision (2016)
OP, I recommend you NEVER touch anything written by Tom King.
A recent but completed run was Immortal Hulk, might be a good one to try
>Are there any worth following right now?
Moon Knight is one of the best right now, but a lot of it is dependent on you knowing the lore. However, Moon Knight: Black White and Blood is an anthology series with a butch of short stories that need little to no context.
Since you mostly dabble in manga, I suggest looking at Image comics since their books are mostly all self contained with the same writer from start to finish (Farm Hand is so fricking good and still ongoing).
If you want something that will give you the capeshit experience without having to deal with 80+ years of lore, I also recommend Valiant comics. It'll still make you jump around a few books, but it's not as daunting as Marvel of DC. You can find reading orders that are simple to follow (I was able to use my local library to read ALL of it last year). "THE LIFE AND DEATH OF TOYO HARADA" is considered to be the end of the universe since at that post almost all of the storylines are wrapped up, but you can keep go if you want to.
never been a manga or comics consumer but the few times I read some of them,I liked comics better. I can't put my finger on why. I just find comics way better at reading than manga
It's a subjective thing.
The main differences between manga and comics are:
>comics can change writers
>manga storytelling is much more decompressed than most comics
>color
There are subjective pros and cons to all of these things, and some comics/manga that break these rules, but I think it's the simplest way to break things down.
I think it's different from everyone. I've read way more comics than manga, but the few manga I've read were more impactful and memorable.
I have comic book friends who find the right-to-left, black and white, and text density qualities of manga hard to get used to. Maybe any of those?
yeah,that's probably why
Pick up books and read find out for yourself, dig around put pieces together, it's not hard unless you're moron but also stick to older stuff cuz it tends to just be better, late 80's is kinda peak US comics.
Bone and Tintin are must reads, and Cerebus is worth looking out for.
>Sandman and The Watchmen
You don't need anything else.
There's still Saga of the Swamp Thing
The first six issues of Fantastic Four
You get their origin, Mole Man, Skrulls, Doom and Namor
What you are looking for is Invincible.
It’s all comics, gays.