Comic Book Recommendations

This thread wins the Internet! Comixology now owns me.

I just snagged the entire GIJoe Classics collection at half off on Comixology. I had previously bought the Special Missions on sale as well six months ago. As a kid I had the difficult choice, being of limited means, and went with Transformers as my complete series collection… I can finally read the other side. Larry Hama is an excellent military fiction comic writer, and I think I appreciated his Special Missions more now than I would have at twelve years old. Yo Joe!

As a recommendation, the last twenty issues (VOl 5 + 6) of classic TF were the high point of the series for me, when they hunt across the galaxy for the Matrix in dead prime’s chest. Andy Wildman and Geoff Senor were easily the best artists for the series and it’s too bad the toy popularity sagged when it did. But it’s as easy buy if you want some nostalgia!

I wish Comixology had a way to organize everything better.

I would like to be able to place comics I own into categories. Have a wish list and a way to prioritize future purchases.

Does the application have some type of pull list?

Is there an advantage to purchasing DC or Marvel from their own apps (which I think licenses Comixology)?

You can flag a particular title(s) to give you a pop-up when a new issue comes in, but it seems to be fairly rudimentary. A place you could go to see your “pull list” would be far superior to what they offer.

A place you could go to see your “pull list” would be far superior to what they offer.

Like, say, an app called Pull List?

NB: As far as I know you have to use the subscribe button on the website to get titles to be automatically added to your pull list in the app. I haven’t found an in-app way to do it.

I find it interesting that Pull List is by the Comixology folks. Why not add some organization to their digital app? I just have to scratch my head at that one.

Thanks, Ginger!

I don’t know either. They’re not very well integrated, either, except via their website. I can only imagine its something coming from the publishers, so that Comixology doesn’t totally eat the bricks and mortar stores’ lunch. Pull List on its own is very geared toward getting you to go to the physical store, which is otherwise inexplicable.

Then again, Comixology still hasn’t got around to implementing folders in its app, which is absurd. So maybe they just suck at design.

Holy shit, read the new Hawkeye series by Matt Fraction and David Aja. Even if you don’t understand why anyone would care about a solo book about Hawkeye, like I didn’t. Even if you didn’t particularly get much out of Fraction’s Casanova, like I didn’t. I never, ever expected to see storytelling this bold, creative, funny and magical in a mainstream superhero title, especially not from Marvel, of all people.

Holy shit, read the new Hawkeye series by Matt Fraction and David Aja. Even if you don’t understand why anyone would care about a solo book about Hawkeye, like I didn’t.

Have to agree. Not a superhero guy, usually. Definitely not a Hawkeye guy. But having heard so much praise for the Fraction series I picked up the first volume and, well, it instantly went on my pull list.

I might have to stop reading my own thread because every time I come back I have to add another book to try!

FYI – the Humble Bundle has an Image collections sale.

Pay what you want for East of West Vol. 1, Lazarus Vol. 1, Morning Glories Vol. 1, and Fatale Vol. 1.

Pay more than the average for Saga Vol. 1, Revival Vol. 1 and Chew Vol. 1.

Pay more than $15 for The Walking Dead Vol 1 & Vol 20. (I guess they figure they’ll make the money back on Vol’s 2-19.)

Anyway, cheap good comics!

Anyone else here read Boxers & Saints? It’s a magical-realism historical-fictional account of the Boxer rebellion in two books. One books is from the perspective of a Boxer who learns to summon the power of the ancient Chinese gods/ancestors to help him fight the Westerners, collaborators, and Christian converts. The other is about one of those Christian converts. The storytelling is an interesting mix of closely researched and what I would call “naive” writing style (not a bad thing, necessarily, but it’s simple and a touch childlike on the surface). The drawings similarly sometimes feel very rigid (especially in battle) but often also display some great timing. Using these tools, the books lead you into some dark territory. This is a story about religious and cultural conflict, after all. But by explicitly telling both sides of the story, you end up with a nuanced view of it all for a comic book. Best of all, though, for me, was the way the second book was constructed. The story it tells is full of very complex ironies. By itself, it’s a very accomplished story. Highly recommended.

FYI for comics fans, there’s a BOOM Studios Humble Bundle for the next 4 days or so. Lots of good stuff for the $15 max tier.

I recommend Imagine Agents and Protocol: Orphans, which I’d read before, but BOOM does a lot of interesting stuff. Almost none of what’s being offered is traditional superhero stuff.

Downloads can be direct or via torrent, formats are pdf, mobi, epub, and cbz. The cbz’s for everything were about 1.2 gig.

One more comics Humble Bundle: the rebooted Valiant bundle. This is a big chunk of their early output.

I ignored the 90’s valiant comics, but the rebooted publisher has been using top-notch creators and putting out quality books. I think Harbinger and X-O Manowar are particularly good.

Been out of comics for years, but here I a few things from my era I would suggest:

Dark Knight Returns: Batman written and drawn by Frank Miller

Miracleman: Some of Alan Moore’s and Niel Gaiman’s best stuff. Hands down my favorite superhero story. I can’t explain why without spoiling it all. If you read Miracleman the less you know, the better.

Watchmen: If you don’t know why please feel free to climb out from under that rock anytime.

Bone: Amazingly touching yet humorous story. Don’t be fooled by the “childish” artwork, this is one of the greats.

Sandman: A Season of Mists
: Fantastic arc from Sandman about Satan closing up hell and giving Orpheus the key. As you can imagine a number of folk come calling in bids to claim it.

Silver Surfer: Parable: Great story by Stan Lee and Moebius. (Super expensive to get a physical copy but there is a Kindle edition for 9 bucks. Can’t vouch for it’s quality though since I still have the original issues)

Sin City: Probably some of Frank Miller’s best stuff (which is silly in a way, since pretty much everything FM has done is some of his best stuff)

Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser: Great swashbuckling swords and sorcery stuff by Howard Chaykin and Mike Mignola.

I read all the Fafhrd & Grey Mouser books I cannot remember if I read the comic version.

The best book comic version I remember reading was the Myth Adventures series.

Hey guys, I’ve uploaded and made available for free all three of my indie graphic novels and comics on my site, SpiffyComics. (They’re getting buried in Comixology’s ever-expanding library, so I thought it’s just better to have people read them than get lost in the proverbial digital basement.) Enjoy!

Neat stuff, Spiffy. Liked the count.

Free comics from Comixology, use the code “COMICS” at checkout and get 26 books for free. TODAY ONLY.

The books are #1’s from Valiant, Oni Press, Dynamite, IDW, and Boom, with one each from DC, Image, and Archaia. Sure, they want you to buy the rest, but it’s $55 worth of comics to sample for no cost.

Four days left in the latest Image Humble Bundle.

$18 gets all of it, I highly recommend Saga Book One [first 18 issues], The Wicked + The Divine, Sex Criminals, and Velvet. The others don’t necessarily stink, I just haven’t read them yet.