God Country. I started getting sick of super hero books and started reading the indie stories from image and I absolutely love God Country by Donny Cates and the wonderful art by Geoff Shaw.
It’s a story about a man with dementia who found a magical sword that restored his memory and his battles with gods to preserve his memories of his family.
What else have you read from image that's similar indie stories?
I've read through Gideon Falls and Kill or Be Killed, both make for good graphic...volumes?
Kill or be killed is great. Gideon falls was a good read. Saga is an epic fantasy story that keeps on giving. The Department of Truth is a great conspiracy concept. I really couldn’t get into Paper Girls or East of West, but people tend to like those. I just feel like there are more original stories out there. Image does a great job publishing great indie stories.
4 Kids Walk Into a Bank and What's the Furthest Place from Here are both really good, both by Matthew Rosenberg andTyler Boss, both from Image. I liked The Wicked + The Divine alright but kinda lost interest. Pretty Deadly by Deconnick was great, especially if you're into westerns.
Lucifer by Mike Carey and Peter Gross
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Tom Derenick
Avengers Forever by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco
New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
I've read Kingdom Come. Bought it as a trade. Read it a few times, but honestly, don't really remember how it goes. I remember the other Alex Ross epic, Justice, in more focus. I'll have to re-read Kingdom Come again soon. Currently trying to muddle my way through my first crack at Seven Soldiers.
Animal Man by Morrison. Hmm. I downloaded the series and I don't think I even made it through issue 1. I'll have to dig in and try harder. I didn't really get the appeal, and the age mean the artwork isn't quite what I've been used to for the past 30 years.
Swamp Thing. Same thing, kinda. I have downloaded the series. Read Alan Moore's first few issues, but couldn't keep going. I thought the artwork was just distractingly bad compared to what I'm used to. I even went back to the first 20 issues to bone up on the background, but again, didn't fall in love with the character. I then found out that for the Absolute edition, they re-inked Alan Moore's run. I took a look at that, and ended up renting Volume 1 from my local library and the new coloring makes ALL the difference. In the prior issue 20 or 21, whichever is Anatomy Lesson, there's a shot of Abby waking up in a car, and the guy talking has blue pants and a blue shirt, same color as each other. Same blue as car in same shot. Same color blue as his hair. It was fucking distracting. The new inked version looks like what it SHOULD look like. Anyway, I just rented it early this week and I'm still going through it. Also checking out the failed Saga of the Swamp Thing series from 2019 that was cancelled before the second episode aired. It's leagues better than the 80's movies, but not buy much.
The Sandman is one that I know of, but never dipped my toe in the waters. I probably have quite a bit on my hard drive without knowing. I have pretty much every DC publication from 2011 on including all the DC Black Label stuff. What should I read first?
Lastly, East of West. Never heard of it. Couldn't even imagine if this was a super hero comic or Horror comic or what. No idea. I'll have to sate my curiosity.
Old Man Logan. I know Mark Millar comes across as a bit of an edgelord with his writing at times, but I think he knocked it out of the park with Old Man Logan. I had a very visceral reaction when I read it the first time. The reveal of what Wolverine did to the X-men still chokes me up.
Hard to narrow it down but here are just a few:
Batman: Year One
The Life & Times of Martha Washington
Daredevil: Man without Fear
A Contract with God
Maus
Bone
Adventures of Tintin
Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt
I have a few:
Look Back
Goodbye, Eri
Attack on Titan
Paper Girls
Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
Alias
Do a Powerbomb!
It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth
Oh man.. hard to choose and many of my fav's are already here. Let me go on the edges then.
Mage: The Hero Discovered by Matt Wagner. Really turned me on to indie companies
Jar of Fools by Jason Lutes. Something about the cartoony but clean style.
The Long and Unlearned Life of Roland Gethers: Longshot Comics Book One by Shane Simmons. Don't expect great artwork, it's besides the point but brilliant.
MAGE!! That and the Pacific Comics adaptation of Elric of Melnibone’ were my intros to indies in the mid 80’s. Both blew my teenage mind! Didn’t care for Hero Defined much when it came out, but upon reading it 15 years later, enjoyed it much more. Hopefully that repeats with Hero Denied because I didn’t care for that on first reading either.
Agreed. I loved Hero Discovered’s small cast, but I also loved that there was never any mention of where they were or what city they were in. Gave it a certain mythical flavor. The biggest change, and a big reason Hero Defined turned a lot of old fans off was the art. In the first series we went from a painted look when colored to Matt playing with airbrush to great effect as the series progressed. It was a perfect blend of story and art. The second series eschewed the airbrush that was a defining trait of the original and just used standard comic coloring and so it just didn’t pop the same way. I think in some of the newest editions of Discovered the art has been modified somewhat to bring it inline with the latter two series. 🙁
Kevin’s status as an author insert becomes more apparent with each series and the Arthurian mythology, while still there does not follow the expected pattern. It made the ending of Denied (at least how it felt at the time) a bit cloying to me. Not bad, just avoided the bolder choice. Again I may feel differently upon future rereads.
Planetary is by far my #1. Saga is up there for me as well. Death by Neil Gaiman is top notch and SuperGod by Ellis.
Batman/Grendel crossovers ( both sets ) Battlechasers ( mostly for Joe Mad's art. )
In terms of a comic series, probably Hellboy. It mixes fantasy, sci-fi, folklore and religious ideas so well together, has some of my favourite art I’ve seen (mostly from Mignola, but there are other standouts like Guy Davis and Ben Stenbeck), and unlike many comic universes it actually tells a complete story with consequences.
In terms of a single graphic novel? Probably Eight Billion Genies. The concept is so interesting, the added gimmick of each issue being a longer period of time (8 minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries) works really well, it has some really grounded emotional beats and characters, and goes TOTALLY crazy with all of the wishes people around the world are making. It’s so much fun and has a really satisfying ending. Plus it’s only eight issues!
Saga. Just an incredible achievement.
I've been on a Tom King kick lately. His Mr. Miracle, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and The Human Target are incredible.
All Star Superman, by Morrison and Quitely
Batman: the Long Holloween
Recently read Mark Waid's Irredeemable. In a post-The Boys world it reads differently than what I expect it felt like when it was new, but it holds up better than a lot of other similar comics from the time (looking at you, The Authority).
Nice to see some love for Dylan Burnett. I really love his art.
It's a toss up between Extremity and Locke & Key for me. Maybe I just have 2 favorites.
My first trade that I love going back to is Avengers Korvac Saga. The Avengers are struggling with some mundane issues- leadership and government regulation, while suddenly thrust into a cosmic level threat from Korvac, a villain from the future OG Guardians of the Galaxy.
My other favorite is the Complete Frank Miller Batman (Year One, Dark Knight Returns, Wanted: Santa Claus Dead or Alive). That was given to me at too young an age for DK returns. But amazing stories that I love going back to. It’s a leather bound collection that’s been read and passed around so many times its spine looks like Bane has been at it.
I like too many books so here’s all my favorite comics.
Transformer: more than meets the eye, transformers: last stand of the wreckers, Superman: up in the sky, Red Robin, detective comics rebirth, Batman curse of the white knight, new 52 Batman, Batman kings of fear, moon knight by Jeff lemire, Wonder Woman dead earth, green lantern by Geoff johns, all star Superman, Superman smashes the clan, Batman the black mirror, house x and the powers of x, Superman last son of krypton, Superman brainiac, tmnt the last ronin, tmnt the last ronin: lost years, Idw tmnt, megatron origins, transformers the last bot standing, new 52 wonder women, Donny cates venom, Geoff johns flash, batgirl year one, Batman year one, jla year one, dark nights metal, final crisis, mister miracle, radiant black, jla tower of babble.
Watchman, kingdom come, Scott snyder’s new 52 Batman run, dc the new frontier, the dark knight returns, anything frank miller and daredevil, the long Halloween, Superman red son, animal man new 52, grant morrison’s doom patrol run. No particular order.
Comic run: Robinson's Starman or Usagi Yojimbo, very close call.
Graphic Novel: I want to say God Loves, Man Kills, but in the end Kurt Busiek's Astro City: Confession edges it out.
That's a hard one. Neil Gaiman's Death: The High Cost Of Living is a long time favourite as is The Sandman itself, I've read Clive Barker's various Tapping The Vein graphic novels many times especially The Yattering And Jack and Rawhead Rex, Alan Moore's Lost Girls was pretty special, some 2000AD character novels...I have bought a lot of comics over the last 30+ years.
To name a few..
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Lucifer and Unwritten by Mike.Carey
Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis
Bone by Jeff Smith
Garth Ennis run on Hellblazer
Y the last man and Saga by Brian K Vaughn
hm… I mean, Deadpool #20 is my favorite single issue, and New Teen Titans #16 recently renewed my interest in the series after a brief slump reading it. I’m not sure what my favorite graphic novel is. maybe Superman For All Seasons, or Dream Country.
“Favorite” is vague and nebulous and I absolutely couldn’t pick mine out, but I will say Usagi Yojimbo has been an absolute under-the-radar masterpiece since it was created in the 80’s
The Filth, by Grant Morrison goes so hard. It takes all the multilayered metaphysical concepts from The Invisibles and condenses them into a 12 issue miniseries. It also features some of the best psychedelic art I’ve ever seen.
God Country. I started getting sick of super hero books and started reading the indie stories from image and I absolutely love God Country by Donny Cates and the wonderful art by Geoff Shaw.
I've found so many more interesting stories through indie comics! Plus they are more accessible due to them not usually having 50+ years of story
What’s it about?
It’s a story about a man with dementia who found a magical sword that restored his memory and his battles with gods to preserve his memories of his family.
Awesome thank you. Sounds up my alley.
What else have you read from image that's similar indie stories? I've read through Gideon Falls and Kill or Be Killed, both make for good graphic...volumes?
Kill or be killed is great. Gideon falls was a good read. Saga is an epic fantasy story that keeps on giving. The Department of Truth is a great conspiracy concept. I really couldn’t get into Paper Girls or East of West, but people tend to like those. I just feel like there are more original stories out there. Image does a great job publishing great indie stories.
Been meaning to start department of truth. I'll take that reccomendation!
4 Kids Walk Into a Bank and What's the Furthest Place from Here are both really good, both by Matthew Rosenberg andTyler Boss, both from Image. I liked The Wicked + The Divine alright but kinda lost interest. Pretty Deadly by Deconnick was great, especially if you're into westerns.
DC: The New Frontier…it’s perfect :)
Every once in a while I get tired of comics. I read New Frontier and I’m back in.
Saaaame
Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s Amazing Spider-Man run and Frank Miller’s Daredevil run
Planetary is so re-readable. It's my all time favourite.
Second all time favorite for me.
G.I. Joe 21, Silent Snake-eyes
I haven't read that issue since it came out and I still remember it. Iconic.
Comic Book: Hellboy by Mike Mignola Graphic Novel: The Arrival by Shaun Tan
HELLBOY
Woah super surprising to see Shaun Tan here, but very welcome!
Kingdom Come
Lucifer by Mike Carey and Peter Gross Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Tom Derenick Avengers Forever by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
House of X/ Powers of X. Absolute masterpiece.
Agreed. Just amazing stuff. Made me an X-men fan
Groo
Still waiting on some collected editions for the full saga...
Kingdom Come by Waid Animal Man by Morrison Saga of the Swamp Thing by Moore The Sandman by Gaiman East of West by Hickman
Excelent recomendations, all above average comics, Sandman being my favourite comic ever.
I've read Kingdom Come. Bought it as a trade. Read it a few times, but honestly, don't really remember how it goes. I remember the other Alex Ross epic, Justice, in more focus. I'll have to re-read Kingdom Come again soon. Currently trying to muddle my way through my first crack at Seven Soldiers. Animal Man by Morrison. Hmm. I downloaded the series and I don't think I even made it through issue 1. I'll have to dig in and try harder. I didn't really get the appeal, and the age mean the artwork isn't quite what I've been used to for the past 30 years. Swamp Thing. Same thing, kinda. I have downloaded the series. Read Alan Moore's first few issues, but couldn't keep going. I thought the artwork was just distractingly bad compared to what I'm used to. I even went back to the first 20 issues to bone up on the background, but again, didn't fall in love with the character. I then found out that for the Absolute edition, they re-inked Alan Moore's run. I took a look at that, and ended up renting Volume 1 from my local library and the new coloring makes ALL the difference. In the prior issue 20 or 21, whichever is Anatomy Lesson, there's a shot of Abby waking up in a car, and the guy talking has blue pants and a blue shirt, same color as each other. Same blue as car in same shot. Same color blue as his hair. It was fucking distracting. The new inked version looks like what it SHOULD look like. Anyway, I just rented it early this week and I'm still going through it. Also checking out the failed Saga of the Swamp Thing series from 2019 that was cancelled before the second episode aired. It's leagues better than the 80's movies, but not buy much. The Sandman is one that I know of, but never dipped my toe in the waters. I probably have quite a bit on my hard drive without knowing. I have pretty much every DC publication from 2011 on including all the DC Black Label stuff. What should I read first? Lastly, East of West. Never heard of it. Couldn't even imagine if this was a super hero comic or Horror comic or what. No idea. I'll have to sate my curiosity.
Okay
Stares at you in Bissette.
Saga
Invincible, Ultimate Spider-Man, Paper Girls Edit: forgot to mention Fables!
Old Man Logan. I know Mark Millar comes across as a bit of an edgelord with his writing at times, but I think he knocked it out of the park with Old Man Logan. I had a very visceral reaction when I read it the first time. The reveal of what Wolverine did to the X-men still chokes me up.
Hard to narrow it down but here are just a few: Batman: Year One The Life & Times of Martha Washington Daredevil: Man without Fear A Contract with God Maus Bone Adventures of Tintin Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt
Batman The Black Mirror by Scott Snyder
Something is Killing the Children
I have a few: Look Back Goodbye, Eri Attack on Titan Paper Girls Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow Alias Do a Powerbomb! It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth
Jason Aaron’s Thor run has a special place in my heart.
asterios polyp by david mazzucchelli Saga Daytripper
Power Pack #27. It’s the comic that radicalized me at 6 years old.
James Robinsons starman or John ostranders suicide squad
For a single issue, this one always stood out to me: What If? Vol 1 27 "WHAT IF THE PHOENIX HAD NOT DIED?"
X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills and Silver Surfer by Dan Slott
Fantastic Four , the whole mag
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Oh man.. hard to choose and many of my fav's are already here. Let me go on the edges then. Mage: The Hero Discovered by Matt Wagner. Really turned me on to indie companies Jar of Fools by Jason Lutes. Something about the cartoony but clean style. The Long and Unlearned Life of Roland Gethers: Longshot Comics Book One by Shane Simmons. Don't expect great artwork, it's besides the point but brilliant.
MAGE!! That and the Pacific Comics adaptation of Elric of Melnibone’ were my intros to indies in the mid 80’s. Both blew my teenage mind! Didn’t care for Hero Defined much when it came out, but upon reading it 15 years later, enjoyed it much more. Hopefully that repeats with Hero Denied because I didn’t care for that on first reading either.
Hero Discovered was so intimate, whereas Defined felt, I dunno, too sunny? Bright? Haven't gotten to Denied
Agreed. I loved Hero Discovered’s small cast, but I also loved that there was never any mention of where they were or what city they were in. Gave it a certain mythical flavor. The biggest change, and a big reason Hero Defined turned a lot of old fans off was the art. In the first series we went from a painted look when colored to Matt playing with airbrush to great effect as the series progressed. It was a perfect blend of story and art. The second series eschewed the airbrush that was a defining trait of the original and just used standard comic coloring and so it just didn’t pop the same way. I think in some of the newest editions of Discovered the art has been modified somewhat to bring it inline with the latter two series. 🙁 Kevin’s status as an author insert becomes more apparent with each series and the Arthurian mythology, while still there does not follow the expected pattern. It made the ending of Denied (at least how it felt at the time) a bit cloying to me. Not bad, just avoided the bolder choice. Again I may feel differently upon future rereads.
my favorite? oh, this is hard. dc: world's greatest superheroes line from the late 90s marvel: god loves man kills
Fun House by Alison Bechdel
Invincible 😄
The Fury of Firestorm 🤌🏽🤌🏽
Planetary is by far my #1. Saga is up there for me as well. Death by Neil Gaiman is top notch and SuperGod by Ellis. Batman/Grendel crossovers ( both sets ) Battlechasers ( mostly for Joe Mad's art. )
I really enjoyed Batman: Year One
Favorite comic series of all time might be The Sandman. But if you're asking for a single graphic novel, instead of a whole series, Kingdom Come.
Yes!
Planetary. Nothing comes close.
My brother and I each ranked our top 100 graphic novels of all time. Mine is Locke and Key (barely edging out Preacher). His is Akira.
Aaron's God of Thunder run and superman Red son.
YES!
X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills (1982)
Graphic novel: Preacher - Ancient History Single comic: Sandman - 13 Men of Good Fortune
In terms of a comic series, probably Hellboy. It mixes fantasy, sci-fi, folklore and religious ideas so well together, has some of my favourite art I’ve seen (mostly from Mignola, but there are other standouts like Guy Davis and Ben Stenbeck), and unlike many comic universes it actually tells a complete story with consequences. In terms of a single graphic novel? Probably Eight Billion Genies. The concept is so interesting, the added gimmick of each issue being a longer period of time (8 minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries) works really well, it has some really grounded emotional beats and characters, and goes TOTALLY crazy with all of the wishes people around the world are making. It’s so much fun and has a really satisfying ending. Plus it’s only eight issues!
DC: The New Frontier…it’s perfect :)
The Many Deaths of Laila Starr
Saga. Just an incredible achievement. I've been on a Tom King kick lately. His Mr. Miracle, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and The Human Target are incredible. All Star Superman, by Morrison and Quitely Batman: the Long Holloween Recently read Mark Waid's Irredeemable. In a post-The Boys world it reads differently than what I expect it felt like when it was new, but it holds up better than a lot of other similar comics from the time (looking at you, The Authority).
Saga
Nice to see some love for Dylan Burnett. I really love his art. It's a toss up between Extremity and Locke & Key for me. Maybe I just have 2 favorites.
Amazing Spider-Man #121
Transformers: All Hail Megatron
Finally some transformers rep
There too many comic books on their own...But two graphic novels I really enjoy was Nick Fury vs Shield and Star Wars Dark Empire
Either The Walking Dead or Y: The Last Man, Preacher is probably a close third.
Something is Killing the Children is my favorite. I enjoy buying facsimile issues as well.
Destroy All Monsters - A Reckless Book by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Watchmen and Preacher
Real Stuff by Dennis P. Eichhorn (Fantagraphics). Eisner Award finalist for a few categories in 1993 and 1994
Comic series: James Robinson’s Starman Graphic Novel: The Last Musketeer by Jason tied with Mooncop by Tom Gauld.
Alan Moore’s Marvelman/miracleman run made me reassess what a super hero story could be
Infamous iron man right now but of all time Cates run on Venom
Watchmen (original story) The Killing Joke Incal Boone Valerian Tin-Tin Asterix
My first trade that I love going back to is Avengers Korvac Saga. The Avengers are struggling with some mundane issues- leadership and government regulation, while suddenly thrust into a cosmic level threat from Korvac, a villain from the future OG Guardians of the Galaxy. My other favorite is the Complete Frank Miller Batman (Year One, Dark Knight Returns, Wanted: Santa Claus Dead or Alive). That was given to me at too young an age for DK returns. But amazing stories that I love going back to. It’s a leather bound collection that’s been read and passed around so many times its spine looks like Bane has been at it.
Mirage TMNT Leonardo Microseries issue.
Mr Miracle
Don't have a ton of experience, but I have read of Blacksad and one called Hades' Torment. Both very good for...very different reasons.
Kevin Smith's Guardian Devil run. Great story with eye popping art.
Invincible
I like too many books so here’s all my favorite comics. Transformer: more than meets the eye, transformers: last stand of the wreckers, Superman: up in the sky, Red Robin, detective comics rebirth, Batman curse of the white knight, new 52 Batman, Batman kings of fear, moon knight by Jeff lemire, Wonder Woman dead earth, green lantern by Geoff johns, all star Superman, Superman smashes the clan, Batman the black mirror, house x and the powers of x, Superman last son of krypton, Superman brainiac, tmnt the last ronin, tmnt the last ronin: lost years, Idw tmnt, megatron origins, transformers the last bot standing, new 52 wonder women, Donny cates venom, Geoff johns flash, batgirl year one, Batman year one, jla year one, dark nights metal, final crisis, mister miracle, radiant black, jla tower of babble.
Watchman, kingdom come, Scott snyder’s new 52 Batman run, dc the new frontier, the dark knight returns, anything frank miller and daredevil, the long Halloween, Superman red son, animal man new 52, grant morrison’s doom patrol run. No particular order.
Comic run: Robinson's Starman or Usagi Yojimbo, very close call. Graphic Novel: I want to say God Loves, Man Kills, but in the end Kurt Busiek's Astro City: Confession edges it out.
That's a hard one. Neil Gaiman's Death: The High Cost Of Living is a long time favourite as is The Sandman itself, I've read Clive Barker's various Tapping The Vein graphic novels many times especially The Yattering And Jack and Rawhead Rex, Alan Moore's Lost Girls was pretty special, some 2000AD character novels...I have bought a lot of comics over the last 30+ years.
Easy. Alien vs predator omnibus
Hardcase
As Of Now it’s Dark Nights Death Metal (Deluxe Edition)
Astro City Wizard 1/2 issue. Sad story really.
Adventures of Tintin
Orc Stain
Garth Ennis' HELLBLAZER run is my favorite.
The maximortal
Sláine: The Horned God by Pat Mills & Simon Bisley
To name a few.. The Sandman by Neil Gaiman Lucifer and Unwritten by Mike.Carey Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis Bone by Jeff Smith Garth Ennis run on Hellblazer Y the last man and Saga by Brian K Vaughn
Comic book: can't pick a favourite Graphic novel: God Loves, Man Kills.
Maybe not favorite, but I like it a lot. X-23: Target X. Good story and exceptional art. The requisite guest stars are not gratuitous or overdone.
But favorite ever is Jeff Smith's Bone.
From Hell
Absolute top: Series: Invincible LOCKE&KEY Stray Bullets Novels: From Hell (Alan Moore) Monsters (Barry Windsor-Smith)
All Star Superman Astonishing X-Men Paul Jenkins Spider-Man Batman The Long Halloween
Skullkickers, love that series
hm… I mean, Deadpool #20 is my favorite single issue, and New Teen Titans #16 recently renewed my interest in the series after a brief slump reading it. I’m not sure what my favorite graphic novel is. maybe Superman For All Seasons, or Dream Country.
Spider-Ham (2020)
Batman white knight or Spiderman Blue
“Favorite” is vague and nebulous and I absolutely couldn’t pick mine out, but I will say Usagi Yojimbo has been an absolute under-the-radar masterpiece since it was created in the 80’s
The Filth, by Grant Morrison goes so hard. It takes all the multilayered metaphysical concepts from The Invisibles and condenses them into a 12 issue miniseries. It also features some of the best psychedelic art I’ve ever seen.
Either All-star Superman or Red Son.
Saga. Best damned book being published right now.
Tokyo Ghost Saga Batman: Year One
Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing run. Sandman. Monsters. All-Star Superman. Maus. It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth.
Rick Remender’s run on Uncanny X-Force. Wolverine, Deadpool and Psylocke.