TaylorSwiftFan
Member
The screenshots posted here don’t make me want to go back to traditional western comics.
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Comics Are Dead, Long Live Manga!
- Thread starter strange headache
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sol_bad
Member
Talk about hyperbole.
Someone asked my opinion and I gave it with images of the art style for each book. In saying that, do you read comics?
O-N-E
Member
It's funny seeing them being brought as an example of something on par or better than manga.
Laughable, really.
Yes. Forgive me if I don’t list a bibliography and trenchant observations.
sol_bad
Member
And your favorite books over the last 5-10 years?
A purity test, then? Ok. I haven’t been particularly enamored with current comics. I like Azzarello quite a bit - he’s a great writer. I liked his work on “Batman : Master Race.,”
The “Future’s End” series was also very well written. Ending was a bit meh though.
Tried reading through DCeased - some good writing but it got boring with the pronoun superheroes.
In terms of visuals, I find it all boilerplate these days. You don’t have anything as interesting as Miller or Mignola or Russo. I wouldn’t doubt the technical skill of current artists - it’s just my preference.
I think there was a post here describing the differences between manga and comics, and mostly agree. As much as I do like the written word having enormous text bubbles defeats the purpose of the medium.
sol_bad
Member
Purity test? I am just trying to spark a conversation about a hobby I love but you basically said it yourself, it's not a hobby for you.
Miller and Mignola certainly have a unique style. For Miller, Sin City and 300 IMO are his best books, although I haven't read his Daredevil yet. His art is an absolute disaster in Holy Terror though and it's also bad in Xerxes, that might be the colourists fault though. Mignola I've only read a few TPB's for Hellboy so I don't have much to say. I want to buy the hardcovers now but there is a lot to get. I don't know who Russo is.
I recently added Faithless to my Comixology wishlist which is written by Azarello so I'll get around to that some time.
I know art is subjective but apart from Sin City which uses white space in a very unique way, majority of art from Miller and Mignola feels simplistic compared to the art in the Image books I suggested in my post that you mocked. Matteo Scalera, Wes Craig and Dustin Nguyen are far better. I'm currently reading Low from Rick Remender in the oversized hardcover format and Greg Tocchino's are is absolutely phenomenal, I remember reading the first 3 issues years ago and the standard comic size didn't do the art justice at all.
Also, the person that that mentioned comics has too much text compared to manga doesn't read much manga either. Some manga is stacked with text. I'm currently reading Rosario + Vampire and some pages are bogged with text, some aren't.
Have you tried actively reading anything outside of DC? Are there any genres or themes that interest you when it comics to comics? Or any particular manga that you like?
It’s quite presumptive of you to determine the weight of my opinion, as with anyone else on this thread. If you enjoy current comics by all means. I was merely commenting on the form of argument. But you knew that, right?
As I said before I am not interested in the current comic scene and I don’t feel obliged to find exceptions. I am happy to read older fare that I missed.
sol_bad
Member
No idea what you mean by presumptive. Your opinion is yours and my opinion is mine. Neither is right or wrong.
Cool conversation!
#EDIT*
Are you reading any older books that you enjoy?
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I am re-reading “The Long Halloween.”
O-N-E
Member
I tried to look into this fairly thoroughly a little while ago, and by my estimate, the best offerings purely based on art in western comics are -
In manga, there's just a plethora of interesting, eye-catching choices. They make better use of the basics.
- Miller
- Mignola
- Moebius
- Buscema
- Wrightson
In manga, there's just a plethora of interesting, eye-catching choices. They make better use of the basics.
What are the biggest Western comics in Japan, if any?
CAPSOL
Member
There's a lot of variety in western comics if you look passed the Big 2. It's the same with anything, you have to look past the popular trends to find the real gems.
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NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt
Biggest Trails Stan
I still read comics but prefer manga.
They tend to not focus on politics and just try to tell a great story
They tend to not focus on politics and just try to tell a great story
NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt
Biggest Trails Stan
Always wanted to read Descender.Amiga
Image Comics.
Black Science - Written by Rick Remender and drawn by Matteo Scalera, quite frankly one of the best teams I've seen in comicdom. The basic premise is about Grant Mackay creating a device that opens the doorway to other realities. He, 5 of his co-workers and his 2 children are taken to a new reality and the device is sabotaged so they have no way home. The device randomly teleports them to new realities, sometimes they are in a reality for 5 minutes, sometimes for days or weeks. So it is about them trying to get back home to their reality.
Deadly Class - Also written by Rick Remender, drawn by Wes Craig and coloured by Lee Loughridge, I'm mentioning the colourist as he adds a real unique identity to the series. The story revolves around Marcus Lopez who is an orphan living on the streets, set in the 1980's. He ends up being enrolled into a school of assassins so it's about him, his life, his past, why he is an orphan and him getting to know his classmates, learning about love and dealing with the struggles within the school.
Decender - Writen by Jeff Lemire and drawn by Dustin Nguyen. Sci-fi setting in the far future where the universe basically hates robots and destroys almost all of them. Enter TIM-21, one of the last remaining robots who is wanted by the United Galactic Council. You'll need to read the book to find out why robots are hated. It has a sequel series called Ascender which I haven't read yet, it's final issue comes out within the net month or two.
East of West -Written by Jonathan Hickman, another God tier writer and drawn by Nick Dragotta. Another perfect paring in bring this future dystopian alternate reality world to life. A world where the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are real and instead of USA having 52 states it has 7 nations of America who all agreed to a truce due to a comet hitting Earth. Will the Horsemen accomplish their prophecies or is there more at play here?
Kill or be Killed - Written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Sean Phillips, this duo has actually done a lot of books together including Criminal, Fatale and The Fade Out. This book explores vigilantism and is about Dylan who is saved from suicide by a demon, the demon tells him that if he wants to continue living he needs to provide a soul at least once a month. This requires him to murder someone so he goes about his duty trying to work out who is deserving of dying.
Lazerus - Writen by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark. This book is unfortunately not completed 100% but it's really good. There are 28 standard issues, then there are 6 X+66 issues that focus on supporting characters, and finally there are the Lazerus Risen issues which is up to #6, I personally haven't caught up on the Risen issues yet. It's another dystopian future of soughts where there world is controlled by families instead of governments. Each government has a Lazerus which is like a protector of the family, some of them have cybernetic enhancements, some have enhanced abilities, some aren't enhanced at all. The narrative focuses on Forever Carlyle and her family secret.
Saga - Written by Brian K Vaugn and drawn by Fiona Staples, easily one of my favourite comics. I must warn you that this story is still not finished and has a cliffhanger that will drive you insane. The last issue released in February 2018 and it's unknown when Brian and Fiona will release more issues. Sci-fi setting with a Romeo and Juliet inspired narrative where we follow Marko and Alana as they try to survive and hide from bounty hunters who are after them. There are LGBTQ characters in the story so the sensitive people in the thread may want to stay away.
Sex Criminals - Written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Chip Zdarsky. Nice little comedic story about Jon and Suzie who end up sleeping together after a party and finding out that they share a special ability/power. They use this power to do all sorts of things and it gets them in all sorts of trouble. The less said about this story the better.
It's honestly hard to find images that don't spoil anything so I'm not going to post any except for some covers.
Tokyo Ghost - Writen by Rick Remender and drawn by Sean Phillips. Set in 2089, humanity is absolutely addicted to technology and the internet and are hooked directly into everything. Detectives Debbie Decay and Led Dent are given a case that leads them to the last technology free city on the planet, Tokyo. Great story and beautiful fucking art.
Velvet - Written by Ed Brubaker and drawn by Steve Epting. Spy thriller set in the 70's, follow Velvet Templeton as she tries to clear her name for a murder she didn't commit. Nothing new or groundbreaking here if you have seen/read other spy thriller stories but it's still damn good.
Not a fan of Saga but the artstyle is good
Been reading Monstress. Great comic so far
sol_bad
Member
I've heard a lot of good things about Monstress and I'm tempted to get the hardcover. It's still ongoing from what I understand and just came out of hiatus.
Saga resumes in January which I'm very happy about as well as the last issue had a huge fucking cliffhanger.
Descender is a great sci-fi story, not entirely original but the art makes it feel unique. Keep in mind that it has a second series called Ascender as well.
NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt
Biggest Trails Stan
I'm all caught up on Monstress. The art is up there with Muira art for Berserk. The world building is phonemonal, the plot is complex and the characters are interesting.
Right now been reading ISOLA and next up after that is Gideon Falls.
I added Descender and Ascender to my read list
sol_bad
Member
How the hell did I miss ISOLA? That art is beautiful. Added to my Comixology list.
Amiga
Member
Tokyo Ghost - Writen by Rick Remender and drawn by Sean Phillips. Set in 2089, humanity is absolutely addicted to technology and the internet and are hooked directly into everything. Detectives Debbie Decay and Led Dent are given a case that leads them to the last technology free city on the planet, Tokyo. Great story and beautiful fucking art.
Rick Remender is trending with me right now. Got to Tokyo Ghost and find it amazing in all aspects, story, art and concept. stacks up well with the best in Manga. well paced and "to the point" chapters (a big issue with Manga is the drown out slow pacing).
sol_bad
Member
sol_bad
Member
Speaking of Rick Remender, I just per-ordered the deluxe HC of Seven To Eternity.
Super hyped to read it, especially in oversized format so i can drool over Jerome Opena's art!
And it's not just oversized, it's oversized oversized. I can't wait either.
sol_bad
Member
I read some of the single issues back when they came out, Opena gets better and better.
NecrosaroIII
Ultimate DQ Fan
I'm in the mood for a new manga. I like fantasy adventure. Sci fi and adventure. Not too serious but not too goofy.
sol_bad
Member
There are the classics Magic Knight Rayearth, Inuyasha, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell, Akira and Battle Angel Alita if you haven't read any of them.
I enjoyed another older manga called Astra Lost in Space.
Space Brothers is also cool.
I haven't read it myself but I've heard That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is a good manga.
I've also heard that Claymore, Spice and Wolf, Overlord and Mashle are good manga but haven't read them yet. Overlord and Claymore might be darker than what you want though.
Amiga
Member
Another vote for Claymore, great and complete, but dark. Fullmetal Alchemist is GOAT.
20th century boys is a great genre bender thriller.
sol_bad
Member
Manga has always been more accessible than comics since the 90's. The manga market thrived on collected editions.
GeorgioCostanzaX
Member
RIP Lenny Bruce, John Belushi and Chris Farley in particular.
CAPSOL
Member
LOL At this point I just call it Remender-sized
