Sandman - where do I go from there?

[sevenarts]

X-Statix is definitely amazing, too, one of my favorite superhero series. When I did my list of the best comics of the 2000s, it was in the top 10. It fits in the general area of superhero deconstructions -- it's practically a parody of the genre -- but it's all done with such wit and artistry that it's really compelling. And it helps that the characters are great, even if they have a tendency of dying and being replaced every few issues.

Speaking of parodies of the genre, I'm probably alone in thinking that Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Strikes Again is kind of hilarious and almost insanely brilliant at skewering the whole costumed hero thing.

[orangettecoleman]

Fuck all those recommendations.

What you want is the original Alan Moore run on Swamp Thing, which is *the* point of departure for that whole sub-genre. Sandman, Hellblazer, et al, are not just stylistically derivative of Moore's Swamp Thing run, they're narratively derivative as well; for example, the protagonist of Hellblazer, "John Constantine", was a regular supporting character of Swamp Thing.

You want to start with the first volume, Saga of the Swamp Thing: http://www.amazon.com/Swamp-Thing-Vol-S ... 908&sr=1-2

But things *really* start to get going around the third volume or so, but you can't make sense of it without the continuity. It's fun watching Moore take a third-rate DC Universe character and turn it into one of the most influential mainstream comics of the 1980s.

Absolute metaphysical certitude.
I bought the first 20 or 30 Alan Moore issues of Swamp Thing as they originally came out, which is kind of messed up in retrospect because those comics are INCREDIBLY dark and I was all of 7 or 8 years old at the time... I gotta go order the first 2 trade paperbacks soon

[orangettecoleman]

again on the topic of Alan Moore, I'm rereading Miracleman/Marvelman again. I read the first dozen or so issues when it was initially put out by Eclipse here in the States in the late 80s or early 90s - but legalities have tied it up since then and you can't get it physically anywhere. Fortunately there's the internet for such things. It's a shame that one can't get the trade paperbacks because I think it's Alan Moore's best work - IMO better than Watchmen and V for Vendetta and just as good as his run on Swamp Thing (which was amazing for about 20 issues and then turned to shit). Also Neil Gaiman took over the writing after Moore left - I haven't read the Gaiman issues yet though. The Kid Miracleman story arc is seriously one of the darkest things I've ever read. I guess this was all before his run on Swamp Thing as well? In retrospect, it's pretty crazy that these stories were being put out in 1982... So far ahead of everything else in comics.

[cleanzero]

The comic book obsession has just started biting me again after almost 10 years. Among the good stuff I've recently read or re-read

-A small killing by Alan Moore and Oscar Zarate. Unusual thematics for Moore and wonderful art by Zarate. As Moore recently said, maybe his most underrated work.
-Planetary by Warren Ellis. Pulp, pop, sci-fi, and the secret story of the world.
-Bulletproof Coffin by Hine and Kane. As someone wrote on a forum "the golden age of comics as seen by David Lynch"
-Y The Last Man, a survival comic by Brian K. Vaughan under the Vertigo imprint, where the Y chromosome has been wiped from the planet.
-Top Ten by Alan Moore. What kind of police would there be in a place where EVERYONE has superpowers ?
-Animal Man by Grant Morrison. I love the Deus Ex Machina trade paperback

[Wombatz]

Tried a quick top ten to see how it would look, some all time faves, some current pondering:

Krazy Kat (the pinnacle)

Grant Morrison’s Animal Man (this really has amazing scope)

Trondheim’s McConey (reminds me exactly of my student days)

Miller’s The Dark Knight Strikes Again

Asterix (well I grew up with that and today it’s still the best for reading out loud to the kid)

Martin Vaughn-James (haven’t got my fingers on The Cage yet, until then the small stuff that’s on ubu)

Brubaker/Phillips: Sleeper/Icognito (while I've not been able to get into their “genre exercises” like now Fatale, or before that Criminal at all)

Alexander Ross (no, not that one, the artist), a couple of pages in Chemical Imbalance, Spring 1988

Feininger’s Kin-der-Kids

Peter Milligan’s current Hellblazer run (three months ago it would have been Lemire/Foreman’s Animal Man, but now this is my favorite series of the moment. What’s strange is that (not to speak of utter dreck like Red Lantern he writes on the side) I like none of the Milligan I’ve read before, not Animal Man, not Shade, not X-Statix, all that always seemed a little too cheaply surrealist, arbitrarily pomo to me (Enigma’s kind of good though), and this for me is the first time he really created a character that resonates. Also: the way he handles the two very different art teams.)

[cleanzero]

Peter Milligan’s current Hellblazer run (three months ago it would have been Lemire/Foreman’s Animal Man, but now this is my favorite series of the moment. What’s strange is that (not to speak of utter dreck like Red Lantern he writes on the side) I like none of the Milligan I’ve read before, not Animal Man, not Shade, not X-Statix, all that always seemed a little too cheaply surrealist, arbitrarily pomo to me (Enigma’s kind of good though), and this for me is the first time he really created a character that resonates. Also: the way he handles the two very different art teams.)

Animal Man by Lemire is the one of the few DC new 52 I'm interested in. The others are Swamp Thing by Snyder and Demon Knights by Cornell. I haven't read Milligan on Hellblazer but I really liked Shade and Enigma. Looking forward for Milligan on Stormwatch.