We all get disenfranchised with comics at one point or another. Your favorite character is being written poorly, a writer is taking things in a direction you disagree with, or plain, flat out: the books just suck. It happens....and you think "Maybe I'm outgrowing comics? Maybe I just don't have the interest I did before?" Am I right?
So, I find myself in that now. I've been really unhappy with books lately. And I have thought maybe I'm just losing interest in comics in general.....until I'm introduced to that book. That book that for the past 5 days, I have driven the 25 minutes to buy the next trade for, the book that's like crack on paper. I cannot WAIT to read the next line, the next issue. I've spent at least $80 on the book alone at this point....more if oyu count the gas...If you guys have been in chat, you know how frikken crazy I am about it...and you KNOW how much I love it...
So, basically, I decided to start this thread for us to share our favorite books. But I'm not talking about just "favs". I'm talking about the book you read that is SO good, it's elevated itself out of the comic realm, almost pure art. The book that you scrounged every last penny you had, even didnt eat so you could buy the next issue. The book that had you dying to read the next trade. THATS what I'm talking about. Here's my list:
1. Exiles (up to issue 41)
Of course I'm gonna include this! This is the book that got me reading! And brought me my fav character. But, this is the only superhero book I've found that, during it's run with Winick, was consistantly BRILLIANT. More than once the book made me cry. And that's a good thing.
2. X23 miniseries
I didn't expect to love this as much as I did. I remembered the character from Evo, and to be honest, I wasn't crazy about her (sorry Yost!
). But I picked up the first issue, and my god. MY GOD. The whole thing, from first issue to last, was absolutely incredible. 3. Runaways (first series)
Perfection. The first 18 issues of this book. We all know I'm a BKV fan, and this is why. A story of a group of kids who find out their parents of super villians....there are so many opportunities for it to become total camp and cheese. But it's handeld so gracefully and with such a wonderful balance between the humor and the more serious that it works out b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l-l-y.
4. Y: The Last Man
Yeah, I am a BKV fan! An old story really, last man on Earth. But told in a way that is completely unpredictable from issue to issue, and so, so god damned satisfying. Seriously, if oyu haven't started reading this yet, I don't know what the hells stopping you....
5. Transmetropolitan (yeah, you knwo I was gonna mention it!)
This is the book that inspired me to start this thread. I have seriously not been able to stop reading since I picked it up. It has got to be one of the best things I have read in a LONG ass time, and the first book in a while (if ever) that has really made me laugh oput loud on more than one ocassion..to the point where i have to put it down and take a break before I continue. The lead character is on the surface, so one note, and yet beneath has so much depth, and is handled so perfectly that you don't even question any action the writer puts him through. God dammit this book is ridiculously good. RIDICULOUSLY. Read it. Now.
Honorable mentions: Fables, Young Avengers, and the Chamber icon miniseries....yeah, that last one was not the best thing in the world, but for an icon mini it was damn good. And I loves me some Jono :jono
So, basically, lets all share, so we all have a reference for when we're going through that "omg comics suck!" period and need to be reminded what good writing is.
*yeah.....this is why I don't crit things I love. Cause i get fan girly and suck at it
), and I guess the campiness of it all.