Seeking Comic Book Recommendations

[andraste]

First of all, I want to apologise for being more awful than usual at answering comments. CRAZY WORK IS CRAZY. I hope it will be less busy this coming week, now that we have done the impossible thing the boss needed us to do.

Anyway, I am seeking recreation. Once upon a time, the only superhero comics I read starred mutants or were set outside the shared universes of the major comic companies. I had a solid reason for this - the continuity of Marvel's X-Men comics was brain-breaking enough without trying to jam anything else into my head.

However, that was in the days before Justice League and Wikipedia. The Animated Timmverse has given me a fair grounding in many DC characters, and these days it is MUCH easier to look things up online if something in a comic confuses you. (Ten years ago, I had to get my X-Men knowledge from newsgroups. Which I got to by walking uphill in the snow.)

Anyway, in the last couple of years I have been widening my superhero reading, and I'm endeavouring to expand it further. While I've written a fairly extensive shopping list, there are gaps. To whit:

Captain America
The Hulk
The Flash
Green Arrow
Green Lantern
Punisher
Captain Marvel
Ghost Rider
Firestorm

I am looking for great stories about these characters so I can get to know them. Some of them I'm familiar with from adaptations, others I know next to nothing about, so accessibility is good. I will only read things that are readily available in TPB, but feel free to rec stories that haven't been reprinted in case the company releases them later.

Before anyone asks the obvious questsions: being a 'toon fan, I think of Wally West as the 'real' Flash. This does not help to answer the 'which Green Lantern?' question, as my subconscious is always somewhat confused when comics!Green Lantern is a white guy. I think there is more than one of Ghost Rider and Firestorm, as well, but I am very vague on the details.

If there are other superhero stories you think I should read that don't star these guys, feel free to throw them on the pile as well *g*.

Comments

[wal-lace.livejournal.com]

For the Punisher, anything by Garth Ennis. If it says "Max" on the cover, it will be incredibly grim and depressing, and very well-written. If it says "Marvel Knights" on the cover, it'll be pitch-black absurd humour and comedic ultra-violence, and very well-written.

(If you're going to try the Max version - whatever you do, don't start with The Slavers. Actually, it's best to start at the very start of that run, which if I remember correctly is called In The Beginning)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Captain America: I recommend Ed Brubaker's The Winter Soldier. In which Cap finds out his cheerful and long lamented late WWII sidekick, Bucky, is not so late and alive as a Soviet spy and assassin. Great emotional shades of grey story, lays ground for future storylines while being pretty self contained, and is made for an Alias fan.

[marag.livejournal.com]

You must buy the trades of the new Blue Beetle. It is well-written, adorable, not too laden with continuity, features awesome characters of color and awesome female characters, and actually has a character with a functional family.

Blue Beetle contains 300% of your recommended daily allowance of awesome. Do you get the feeling I really really really like this comic?

On Green Arrow...hmm. Some people absolutely love the trade Quiver, some don't. My best guess is that you'll like it, since the people who hate it tend to be old-timers.

I think you'd also like the buddy/slashy vibe of all the Green Lantern/Green Arrow stuff. If you want the older versions, I think there are a few collected trades of those guys working together.

I happen to be very fond of the trade where the new GL/GA go on a trip together. I'm sure someone reading this LJ will remember the name, since I can't actually drag myself downstairs to find it :D

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

Flash: BORN TO RUN and THE RETURN OF BARRY ALLEN. Some of Mark Waid's earliest and best work on the book; also good introductory material for a newbie. I recommend any trades that say Mark Waid and FLASH on the cover, actually, but those two to start with, definitely. BLOOD WILL RUN is the official start to Geoff Johns' subsequent run, which I liked a lot (except for the parts where it made me tear my hair, but on balance). There's a list of Flash trades here (http://www.hyperborea.org/flash/books.html), incidentally.

Hulk: That would be Peter David. There've been six Visionaries so far, which is about the first third of his run; my personal favorite is the stuff in #6, but it's all good, really.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Yeah, you should definitely take a look at the '70s Hard-Traveling Heroes stories (in trade they're GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW COLLECTION)--very '70s unsubtle, but it does have two guys arguing a lot. :) Also the first appearance of comics John Stewart, but he's, ah, really not the guy from toonverse. The trade where the new GL/GA team up is EMERALD ALLIES; it has pretty art and the boys are cute together; as for the story...did I mention the boys are cute together?

Green Arrow: Definitely I want to recommend THE LONGBOW HUNTERS, the mini that introduced Green Arrow's darker '80s run. There are feminism issues, but it's still a good story and you can't beat Mike Grell art. I have mixed feelings about Kevin Smith's QUIVER and Brad Meltzer's THE ARCHER'S QUEST, but they do have their moments.

[johnnash.livejournal.com]

For Captain America, Ghost Rider, and The Hulk they sell these nifty DVD-Roms with the complete comic book history of the characters. I know they have them individually for all three characters, and then one for the Avengers (which I can recommend since I own it.) 400-500 digital issues per.