Does anyone else here collect and or read comics? I started collecting them a few years ago. I mostly collect horror comics, but do also collect superhero comics villain comics. Some of the ones I am currently reading.

Coffin Bound - Hard to describe, but the basic gist is a woman is running from a killer. In the process she enounters stippers who peel off their skin and a drug addicted boxer.

Decorum - Set in a space/sci fi theme. A woman is a delivery person and ends up training to be a killer.

Killadelphia - A gory zombie apocalypse set in Philadelphia. Besides the gore, a fight for power over the government is taking place on the part of the zombies.

Blade Runner 2029 - If you have seen the movies, it is the same story just different characters.

I "collect" them, but not in the "collector" sense, I won't go out of my way to get special issues or alternate covers. I also mostly buy either European comics or trades of American comics. Right now I'm reading:

Ice cream man - Weird title and premise, it has an anthology feel. Basically an evil ice cream man/devil spirit who haunts a town and causes all sorts of misery. Really good, really twisted, my only grip it's that it's a really quick read

Weatherman - Another weird title, the idea is in the future, a weatherman on Mars is targeted by multiple groups as they conclude he is in fact the perpetrator of an act of terrorism that killed billions of people on Earth

Elves - French comic about, you guessed it, Elves. It spawned many spin-offs (Dwarves, Orcs & Goblins, and Mages), it has no around 30 volumes, and it started as separate stories depicting different elvish peoples, but then started having a narrative, and where I'm at they pulled a sort of Avengers: Endgame kind of thing as characters from multiple storylines (from Dwarves, Orcs, Elves) ganged together to face a villain

Kill or Be Killed - Some guy is visited by a Demon who saved his life, but now he is forced to kill one person every month or die

I get a little crazy, with all of the alternate covers. I have a huge list of pulls I do at the comic book store I go to. I put on my list all covers for Blade Runner. I know they put out like 10 covers for each issue, but didn't realize the store I go to gets every cover of Blade Runner. The last time I picked up my box and it had all the Blade Runners from that month. I was surprised, but I really like the art so I kept it on my list.

I love Ice Cream Man, such an amazing horror series. I was thrown off by it from the name and didn't initially read it. I don't remember how, but I read about it and was surprised it was horror. I went and bought all of the back issues and was completely blown away by the series.

A Star Wars series that I am very into is Doctor Aphra. The premise is she is she is an archeologist of sorts. Getting into all kind of fights with the empire and other individuals over precious artifacts.

I don't collect them but I've read the most well known stuff (Vertigo, Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, etc). I re-read Transmetropolitan recently and enjoyed it as much as the first time.

I used to collect them but they're far, far too expensive and I'd rather spend my money on music.

I've grown tired of every superhero with the notable exception of Daredevil, which I still love, so the bulk of the comics that I still own are non-Marvel or DC related, unless you count Vertigo as part of DC.

My favorites are Northlanders, which is an anthology series about vikings, and also Berserk (which is technically a manga but it still counts).

I'm usually bored with superheroes too but I've recently read two comics that were great: Vision and Mister Miracle. I'm also a great fan suff like Watchmen, Doom Patrol (by Morrison), Punisher Max, etc but I'm assuming you're already familiar with those.

Batman is my personal Daredevil, although I'm getting tired of every new comic Batman being in an alternate reality: "Bruce parents are actually alive", "Batman is dead and he was replaced by a robot", "Batman is a midle aged woman from Conneticut"...

This is more or less where I'm at. I know that collecting each issue of a series is a large part of the appeal for many comics readers, but I've always much preferred collected editions.

I'm an indescribably big Alan Moore fan and have read and re-read all of his big series as well as most everything else he's ever published (From Hell will probably always be my favourite comics series), and other than Moore I also like Mike Mignola, Brian K. Vaughn, Gaimen (well, just Sandman, and even then I've only read some of it), Garth Ennis, Scott McCloud, and also some higher-brow, artsy-fartsy stuff like Chris Ware, Allison Bechdel, Marjane Satrapi, Art Spiegelman, and David Mazzucchelli.

Oh, and Junji Ito. Always Junji Ito.

I buy graphic novels/comics/whatever and stuff, but I am not a collector I guess. Love reading 'em tho. Finished the first volume of Southern Bastards today. Crime by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour, which after one issue is fantastic. Looking forward to read more. Dark, gritty and awesome. It's different than Scalped, but can easily be compared to Scalped anyway. Got much of the same feeling, dialogue and art. Lovely stuff.

Jason Aaron, for those unaware, was the man behind Scalped, which is by far the best graphic novel I've read. Dark, gritty and deep crime western set to an indian reservation which struggles with organized crime, poverty, drug addiction, cultural identity etc. It's truly something else, and a must-read for fans of crime and neo-western.

I loved Scalped so I'll have to check that one, thanks.

Collect and collect...well, when I found "Les 4 as et la vache sacrée" (I guess the English title is "The 4 Aces and the Sacred Cow") in a second hand shop in a good condition and at a very fair price, I bought it without blinking. (It's the only comic book with an official, Hergé-drawn Tintin-cameo in it).

And I'm collecting a re-issue of Asterix as it's being published. Mostly because the old comics from my father are falling apart, and it's nice to have books you dare to read without the fear of the pages crumbling between your fingers. Plus the bonus material is interesting.
And I may or may not own 5 different versions of The Blue Lotus (in Japanese, in the old Danish translation, in the new Danish translation/coloured version, the new Danish translation/black and white version and as a double album with Cigars of the Pharaoh and lots of bonus material). Ahem.

But I don't collect comics in the sense that I'm on a constant look-out for the first issue of Anders And & co. (1/1949) in mint condition or anything. As I wrote on a comics message board: I first and foremost buy comic books in order to read them.
That doesn't mean I'll be careless with them, but I'm okay with the knowledge that they won't stay in mint condition forever, just like my records won't (from regular wear and tear).
But a fine example of this is that the majority of my Nofret-collection* is actually library-copies that have been discarded, so they've taking quite a beating. I spoke to the author about that last year, and she completely understood my sentiment that a) these were the versions I've grown up with and b) you're not "afraid" to read them because they're already worn. And yet I might at one point get the re-issues as well, I guess. Because Sussi Bech is such a nice woman, and Nofret is a criminally underrated comic.

I'm mostly into European comics, but apart from Tintin, Nofret and Asterix I can't see myself getting the collected works of other series. Perhaps Blake and Mortimer when/if they'll get a re-issue in my country (I've heard rumours).
But some of the others series are very long, and don't always interest me that much. For instance I've enjoyed some of the "Le Spirou de..." one-shots more than the actual Spirou series.

*Sorry that the link is in Danish, but as I said, the series, and its creator, are both underrated...Sussi Bech doesn't even have an entry on English Wikipedia despite her body of work being bigger than her husband's.

Wow, blast from the past, I remember Les 4 As. I read that a lot. I didn't know about the Tintin cameo, even though I'm pretty sure I read that one. I liked the one with the haunted house, reminded me of Scooby Doo a lot.

My old Asterix albums also used to fall apart. That may be due to me reading them dozens of time, especially La Grande Traversée. I think my parents had to buy me this one three times.

I re-read Blake and Mortimer recently. It's good, but boy did the writer love to have his characters talk A LOT! Sometimes a single box contains more text than multiple whoe pages in other comic books!

One of my favorite artists is Heather Moore. I read everything she is involved in. A favorite of mine was the New World and more recently Lost Soldiers. The art in the New World was incredible. I wish it would of been more than just a few issues.

Two other series that I read and also great are Blackbird and Paper Girls. It's been a while, even before the pandemic since new issues came out. I guess they are both done, but I really like the art and the stories.

Paper Girls is definitely over. It was a really good (but strange) series. I expected more Stranger Things, but I got weird iPod-using, dinosaur-riding time travelers and giant tardigrades.

Blake and Mortimer are great fun ! I picked up my first one of those in France years ago, along with a good pile from a series called The Marquis of Anaon - sort of gothic-novel-pirate-adventure stuff. Not modern grimdark, but old fashioned gothic dark & fun.

https://www.cinebook.co.uk/the-marquis-of-anaon-1-the-isle-of-brac-p-4207.html

How strange it was is what appealed to me. I read the last issue and I guess I was hoping they would find a way to continue. Like a lot of comics they do a whole new series, with a new story for the same characters.

I really enjoyed Paper Girls. I'm glad it ended though, better leave it with a great ending than drag the series too much.

Has any of you read The Wicked + The Divine?

Oh yes, I liked the series because of that too, it's just not what I expected when I started. I should have expected it, I read Saga after all and that was weird too.



I am reading it, I'm a bit behind. It definitely has a unique mythology and I'll get back to it when I finish what else is on my reading table.

Yea, I am also not a fan of all this crap. It's already virtually impossible to keep up with any kind of comic book series, what the fuck kind of sense am I supposed to make of, "The Batman Who Laughs"?? I tried to read, "Dark Knights: Metal", on the DC app with the comics in the order which they were supposed to be read in and still gave up, because I couldn't make sense of a single fucking thing going on.

Completely unrelated, but I still haven't finished it (I'm a slob), but the new X-Men comics where they started their own society on an island called Krakoa is real good so far.

I was disappointed by Batman Metal, because it ultimately makes no sense, Batman is both somehow a background character yet also central to the fucking multiverse, the only good thing was all the twisted Batmen, they were awesome villains in an otherwise senseless plot that didn't make use of Batman's qualities.

Which is an issue with recent Batman comics. He's supposed to be a detective/vigilante, but most of the time he's fighting outerdimensional beings, or his seluthing is so supeficial, it's basically a kid comics (except for all the violence, the mature themes, etc.). His intelligence is just becoming freakish, and so on. The last one I enjoyed was White Knight, where he becomes more unhinged and the Joker gets cured. Mostly ebcause he didn't spend time calculating on the fly the trajectory of flying planes or fighting superdimensional beings. It's also a good read if you want a Batman story, but haven't kept up to date with Nightwing, Robin, Red Robin, Wonder Woman, Super Man, Super Boy, Green Lantern and Watchmen, because most of the side characters make sense in the story if you have a passing knowledge of Batman lore.

What are your favourite Batman comics? I'll check White Knight but here's everything I've read so far that I really enjoyed (in no particular order):

- The Court of Owls + The City of Owls + Death of the Family (the rest of the Snyder stories make no sense imho)
- Gothic
- Hush (my favourite one)
- The Black Mirror
- Under the Red Hood
- The Long Halloween + Dark Victory
- Batman Year One
- Arkham Asylum
- The Dark Knight
- The Killing Joke
- Gotham After Midnight

Hush was great! I tried Batman Rebirth and a few others whose names I don't remember. I think I prefer the classics over the ongoing series and some of the newer events like Metal. Heard good things about Court of Owls, so I may check that out.

You'll love The Long Halloween + Dark Victory if you haven't read those too, they are classic stories with a bit more modern approach. The same goes for Court of Owls.

Yea, I really liked Court of Owls, too.

My only problem with it, was one I have with trying to read comics in general.

I heard good things about Court of Owls, so I decided to buy the Graphic Novel versions in order. After reading them in order I found out there were still chunks of the story I missed that were parts of other comic books, or some bullshit. I don't know. I don't understand how the Court of Owls Graphic Novels don't have the full story.

I've been collecting them since the 80's. With comics I go by 'runs,' like a good run would be John Byrne's Fantastic Four or Chris Claremont's X-Men. My favorites are the DC Vertigo stuff (Alan Moore's Swamp Thing in particular) and the Fantagraphics stuff like Peter Bagge's Hate (my all time favorite, fucking amazing shit).

I prefer collecting tabletop RPGs and CCGs these days though, but feel like DC always gets a bad rap; they've had much, much better writers than Marvel has ever had.

I do love a good comic, though mostly I buy graphic novels and compendiums - so not really a collector, but like others I will buy a series or run. I'm a HUGE Gaiman fan so i'm aiming to get all of his work. Sandman is just excellent of course, as is pretty much anything of his I've ever read.

While I have great love for Batman, I don't read 'superhero' stuff generally. As with Gravetemplar's above list I agree with pretty much everything there that I've also read as very much worth the read. The classics are super stories however, agree with many here that the reimagining simply doesn't appeal for me and I give a miss.

I really love Saga, got to GN 7 but haven't bought the rest yet, that was unputdownable for a good chunk. It's really well written and beautifully drawn.
Alan Moore is an excellent storyteller - e.g. V for Vendetta sticks with you long after you've put it down.
I remain a big Buffy fan, so I got the Library Editions of season 8 - it was sometimes a confusing read but enjoyable.

As a genre I really like adventure, and gothic themes, so really enjoy things like The October Faction, and 30 Days of Night (both by Steve Niles) and often like things published by Vertigo, Image, and IDW.
The French GN Adele Blanc Sec series is great fun too. Admittedly its been a good while since I've invested in GNs as they're expensive but I'll always have the love and hopefully fork out in future to at least complete my Gaiman collection!!

I vastly prefer manga. Currently reading Ippo, Berserk, Shingeki no Kyojin, Seint Seiya: Next Dimension.

I used to be really into comics during my 20s. I was a big fan of The Walking Dead and that was my main comic for years. I also loved Chew and anything by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. I mainly read Image titles though I dipped in and out of Marvel and DC stuff like Batman and Spider-Man. I went to a few comic conventions during this period which were usually great fun.

As time went on, I gradually lost interest in comics and once The Walking Dead finished, I stopped buying them altogether. I have an almost complete set of The Walking Dead (first 90 or so issues in hardback reprints) and I also have trades of many classic DC and Marvel comics. I also have a small collection of Silver and Bronze Age comics with the centrepiece of my collection being a well-read copy of the first X-Men comic from 1963. I've also got a few signed comics by legends like Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson and Stan Lee (the one time I've ever paid to meet someone and it was worth every penny).

Maybe one day, I'll get back into it again. I'm curious to know what Brubaker and Phillips are working on at least.

White Knight was great, thanks! It was rooted enough on classic Batman stories for me ton enjoy the little "changes" in the lore.

What did you read it on?

On a tablet. I can give you more information by PM if you want.

Isn't Death Metal Batman tied into the Batman Who Laughs? I looked at the Death Metal Batman and it didn't look like something would interest me. I really liked the Batman Who Laughs quite a bit, but Death Metal Batman seemed like other superheros were involved. I am into superhero lines, but only where the villain wins.

Been a long time since I read or collected comics, but I used to have thousands. Some very old ones from the 30s-50s, but mostly 60s-80s stuff. I was a huge X-Men fan back in the day but came in at #183, the classic Juggernaut/Colossus bar fight, which was like 90 issues into Claremont's run. So began my collecting. Sold them all for a lot of money when I moved to Texas years ago.

Can anyone recommend seedy 80s shit? I’m looking for something like Frank Miller The Dark Knight Returns, anything that’s like Akira with gangs, drugs, rape, general vile and evil

Have you read Punisher MAX? It's pretty hardcore for a "superhero" comic. Really grim and brutal (although not sure I would call it 80s).

I was a huge dc comics guy back in the day. By back in the day I mean 1993. Batman Knightfall was a huge interest for me. I loved looking forward every week for the new issue. Also was a big Superman guy. But then the new 52 happened and I stopped in disgust. What happened to the S man was terrible. Luckily the bat books were still decently put together so I still read them from time to time.

^Whats your favorite Superman comic?

I've never managed to understand the appeal of superhero comics. But I've always been a big fan of comics by Francisco Ibáñez (first and foremost the Tom Tiger stories, as dumb as they are) and the Asterix comics (It's a European thing I guess).

This thread actually made me place a few orders - including for Coffin Bound, thanks for the rec OP - been ages since I've read any new comics. I don't collect in any structured wary and I don't like Superheroes or really long running shit, and I first and foremost go for great art (or story obviously). Love classic stuff like Watchmen, The Invisibles or the old Judge Dredd comics. And gotta read that From Hell someday too...

Some of my favorites, art in spoilers

Alan Moore/Jacen Burrows - Providence. Probably the best Cthulhu Mythos stuff I've read that isn't from HPL himself. It's doesn't do exactly what Watchmen did to superheroes, but it's a goddamn Moore-inversion of the Mythos. Just amazing if you're a Lovecraft fan. Read his Neonomicon first, as it's the prequel to Providence, but sensitive readers beware.



Jodorowsky/Gimenez - The Metabarons. Weird Jodorowsky sci fi epic with amazing art. Haven't read them in ages, but just found a bunch of them secondhand for a great price.



Matt Fraction/Christian Ward - ODY-C. The Odyssey in space, but in a gender bender, psychedelic, colour explosiony-way. Amazing artwork.



Alain Ayroles/Jean-Luc Masbou - De cape et de crocs. Not sure if this is even in English, I've got some Danish translations from the french originals. Amazingly inventive and well developed world, and quite poetic writing, with anthropomorphic, swashbuckling animal rogues on the high seas on the hunt for treasure.



Andrew MacLean - Head Lopper. A new comic for me but I just read the first collected issue. The artwork is simple and expressive, and the story is even simpler (conanesque dude chops heads off of monsters, so far - though it builds up to something), but the style is refreshing and the actions scenes, of which there are many, are just goddamn great.


Fabian Rangel/Alexis Ziritt - Space Riders. If you like both metal and comics, this is basically for you. The art is face punchingly awesome, and it's robots and warrior monkeys and space captains that flies through the cosmos in a giant skull spaceship. Yeah.



I got some stuff in the mail that I look forward to checking out, and I've started to build a wish list again of interesting stuff. This thread really made me think about comics again and it's been a great thing to kinda dive into while I'm stuck at home because of covid (and my newborn baby).

Oh and I just preordered this which looks awesome https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/se ... ger-dagger

EDIT: And it's interesting to read people's recs. Decorum and The New World looks like shit I would like.

Glad you are checking out Coffin Bound. I really enjoy the series quite a bit. My only complaint is they don't put it out every month. Star Wars has something on the shelves every week, but Coffin Bound hasn't had a new issue out in a while. Very frustrating.

I like collected editions myself. Much easier to navigate when comics is a kinda peripheral hobby for me.