When I go into my local comic store I usually just look around to find something that'll peak my interests. I hardly ever go in with thoughts of getting a certain type of story; I just like to look around and see what the store has.
Here is the first set of my absolute favorites. These are the comics that I would recommend to anyone who asks, and even those who don't ask. All of these have passed the criteria that I have set, and I believe that these are strong in storyline, characters, and art/color.
As a "plague" sweeps across Europe, a group of vampires use its wake as a cloak to hide their hunting and feeding. Everyone lives in fear and denial except for Lord Baltimore who has a personal vendetta with the vampire that has caused all the destruction in his personal life and across Europe, so he and his companion are chasing after the plague ships to seek revenge and kill the vampires. One of the best qualities of this comic is the way the story is sometimes told with just images; flashes of a scene in silence, its amazing.
Tony Chew is a psychic, but only when he eats something. When he eats something like a apple he can "see" what pesticides were used, the tree it grew on, and when and who picked it. That applies to the eating of human and animal flesh too. The government has outlawed all poultry products because of the bird flu epidemic. Chew is drafted by the F.D.A. because of his special ability, and he and his partner begin chasing after criminals who violate the anti-poultry laws. Three of the things great about Chew is the humor, the comical suspense, and the creativity of the story.
X-Men is one of those stories that I can't really read because it is so far established, so this off shoot is great because it's a new story involving my favorite characters. Dracula is overthrown by one of his greedy, power hungry sons who unites the different vampire clans with a war against humanity. As a tactical maneuver, they go after the X-Men, who in turn use their different abilities to fight back. I love this comic because it has a great imaginative story, and it involves two of my favorite things; X-Men and Vampires!
Gwen is a zombie, her best friends are Ellie, a hip chick ghost who died in the 60's, and Scott, a wereterrier...yes, that's right a wereterrier! Gwen works and lives in a cemetery; she's a gravedigger. What makes her different from normal zombies is the fact that she still retains her human traits, and she has to eat a brain once a month or she'll become like the zombies we know and love (then she'll want brains all the time). The catch is when Gwen eats the brains she take the memories of the original owner, and their voice is in her head so she tries to help out with any unfinished business. There is a lot to this comic, it is never overwhelming, but there are several subplots involving monster hunters, vampires, her friends, and a mysterious man.
This is a new story and issue one hasn't been released yet (December 2010), but it has quickly become one of my favorites. In this prequel, a monster is running rampant through the streets of the city. It has been described to be part machine, like Lady Mechanika, so she sets out to trap the monster to get information of who their creator might be before vigilantes get to it first. I am anticipating a great story, the prequel is amazing itself with the characters and the art, so I am very excited.
This story has it all, action, adventure, mystery, psychic powerful children, a robot man, a woman dressed in an outfit of death, and a really hot guy! The mystery society is basically that, a group of people who go into government facilities and find the proof that the government lies to its people, discover secret projects, and find clues and solve mysteries that appear in the news. When Nick Mystery breaks into a top secret facility the government begins to persue him and the group. While that is happening, another part of the group is hunting down the culprit who stole Edgar Allen Poe's skull. I am eager to find out what happens next in this story. Every issue is packed full of action, and twists and turns.
Do I really need to sing the praises I have for this comic?!?!?!? Sherlock Holmes vs. Zombies is amazing in every aspect! Whats great about this comic is it takes the typical zombie story with the space object flying over and somehow infecting the populace in an area and creates an army of undead, injects a mad scientist, sets it in London, throw in a government cover-up and Sherlock Holmes, and it becomes a grand mystery. The one-shot after the zombie series was great too (Sherlock Holmes vs. Jekyll/Hyde), and I am super excited about the next Victorian Undead series...Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula!!!!!!
There are several things that I look for in a comic before I decide to buy it, and I look at these deciding factors in a certain order.
1.) The cover. If the cover isn't interesting I wont even bother picking it up.
2.) The subject matter. I am usually attracted to stories that involve zombies, vampires, a lot of gore, mystery, hot guys, and anything horror.
3.) The story itself. I sometimes have to ask the store owners what the story involves and get an overview the comic.
4.) Art/color. The final factor to decide if I will buy the comic is the way the images are composed and colored. Thy cannot be to murky, or painterly for one. There is one new story of X-Men that's out now (I can't remember the name of it) and the images are beautiful, I'd love to look at them on their own, but all of them put together in an issue is bothersome because each image looks like a beautifully crafted oil painting. I dont know why, it just bothers me. What I am trying to get at is I like more standard drawing/coloring styles, and it can be contemporary but not over the top.
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Re: art: What say you regarding watercolors? Beasts of Burden is watercolor, but also very cartoony.
ReplyDeleteWatercolors are fine in my opinion, they aren't as heavy handed as what appears in that certain X-Men comic (which appears to be hyper-realistic while at the same time smudged - very painterly and busy)that I mentioned above.
ReplyDeleteI am an escapist reader so I don't like anything too intense for the eyes/mind to concentrate on.
Watercolor fits that really well. It can be heavy but not look over worked, or on the same hand they could be very light and soft but look finished.
In the case of Beasts of Burden I liked the watercolor, it adds an extra touch of whimsy to an already whimsical story.