Getting Into Comics

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Until very recently, I had completely ignored comics as a medium for storytelling. Then I read Understanding Comics, by Scott McLoud. It was a fascinating book that really sparked my interest. I checked out a few different comics.

The ones I liked include ...

• Conan.
• The Sandman.
• Alabaster: Wolves.
• Hellboy.
• Arkham Asylum: a Serious House on Serious Earth.

Some comics I did not enjoy include ...

• Everything anime-related that I have seen thus far. The art style irks me for some reason, and I often find the stories to be rather convoluted.
• The Punisher. Gritty for the sake of gritty bores me.
• D&D Tie-In Comics.

Based on that, are there any comics you can recommend me? I would love to see more.

[Defiant]

I recommend Order of the Stick.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

I recommend Order of the Stick.

Ah. Of course. I forgot to mention that one.

[JoshL]

Anything else by Gaiman is great, but I'd particularly recommend Mr. Punch. It delves a lot into the nature of storytelling (using Punch and Judy as a parallel for talking about the past) and if you've read Understanding Comics, you'll get a lot out of it. Alan Moore is as good of a writer as you've heard (and as obnoxious of a person)...Watchmen might not live up to the hype (it works best if you were reading comics when it came out), but V for Vendetta is still pretty solid. From Hell is great too, but really weird. Moonshadow is amazing, but a sort of departure from standard comic stuff. I'm a big fan of Warren Ellis as a writer as well...Transmetropolitan is astounding, but Orbiter is one of my favorite comics ever.

Oh, and if you like Conan, there have been some excellent Solomon Kane comics over the years. The Marvel limited series in the 80s in particular I love.

And if you want to get really, really far out there (but still using the medium to its fullest), Stray Toasters is a book not enough people talk about. Fantastic stuff.

[Friv]

Until very recently, I had completely ignored comics as a medium for storytelling. Then I read Understanding Comics, by Scott McLoud. It was a fascinating book that really sparked my interest. I checked out a few different comics.

The ones I liked include ...

• Conan.
• The Sandman.
• Alabaster: Wolves.
• Hellboy.

Based on that, are there any comics you can recommend me? I would love to see more.

What are some that you didn't like? Might narrow things down a bit. ;)

Seriously, though, I have three recommendations:

• If you liked Sandman, the first eleven or so volumes of Fables might be up your alley. The quality slowly drops over time, but it's a really neat series about fairy tale characters exiled into the modern world by a rampaging evil empire in their homelands.
• If you liked Hellboy, some reviewers have said that Atomic Robo is a lot like Hellboy. That said, the creator of Atomic Robo has clarified his opinion that his comic is more like the Muppet Show. I would say that his comic is quite a lot like Hellboy meets the Muppet Show.
• Try out Chew. It's weird, funny, occasionally tragic, and often touching.

[Aotrs Commander]

If you can locate it, I can heartily recommend the Technus Imperative. It is a big crossover event (between the Teen Titans the the Justice League) from DC, and yet one that is very accessible to newcomers, unlike most. It comes on that recommendation from no higher authority of Linkara, of Atop the 4th Wall fame (it was what got him started). He did a review of it, as a rare segment on GOOD comics and I immediately went out and tracked down a copy on amazon. It's superheroes comics how they SHOULD be.



I can also recommend the current run of My Little Pony if that's not an athama to you, as the comic holds the same sort of humour, character and cleverness of the show with it's own unique spin.



Finally, though I doubt you can track it all down, the Generation 1 UK Marvel comic Transformers run is still excellent after twenty (plus) years. For me, it's the definitive Transformers continuity.



Actually, it just occurred to that this also probably means you have not been exposed to Asterix the Gaul. If you haven't, forget everything I just said, and go out, like right now, and start reading that, because it is simply awesome. (And, notably, the gold standard for language translation.)



So, there's a few wide-ranging suggestions for you.

[JoshL]

Actually, it just occurred to that this also probably means you have not been exposed to Asterix the Gaul. If you haven't, forget everything I just said, and go out, like right now, and start reading that, because it is simply awesome. (And, notably, the gold standard for language translation.)

I can't second this recommendation hard enough. Asterix is awesome.

[Yora]

So I read that list that you are not referring to superhero comics. Very good.

Have you considered looking into French and Japanese comics? French-Belgian comics have been popular for their graphic-novel style classics for decades, going back to Tintin, but there are lots more. It seems the 50s to 70s where the actual Golden Age for these comics and they were pretty much the primary literature I grew up on. (Because our library had lots of them in the kids section. Even though there's some pretty grim James Bond level action going on at times. But that didn't hurt us kids but instead introduced us to serious storytelling instead of kid-sanitized stuff.)

Recommendations:
Clifton: Damn, I always loved those. Really great stuff. A brittish world war 2 veteran working for the counter-espionage branch of the brittish intelligence service.
Gil Jourdan: This one I also remember quite well. Well, good as in quality. Not a great collection on the actual stories though. But back in the day, I like them.
Tif and Tondu: Of this one I remember even less, except that we've read most of them as well, once we ran out of the other comics the library had.
Tintin: Of course. The later ones are of a much better quality, but looking back and comparing to other French comics, I think they are rather two-dimensional. But they are classics, so worth giving a shot. But don't start with the really old ones. Those are pre-world war propaganda material. Interesting for historic value, but not so much as entertainment.
Spirou and Fantasio: My father has all of them, so I remember these especially well. Again, the older ones are really old and go back to the early 50s I think, which makes the storylines and characters rather strange at times. Quality varies widely, but I like those of the Tome and Janry era the most.
The Bluecoats: Strangely, these have started to get an english translation only recently and there seem to be only 5 of them by now. (The german translation had about 25 almost 10 years ago.) It takes place in the american civil war and is about two normal guys who get gang pressed into the army by a group of recruiters and end up in the cavalry unit with the worst casualty rates in the entire army. One of them actually likes the job and serving his country much better than being a butchers apprentice, but the other one hates it and constantly tries to run away and hide until the war is over. It starts out rather flimsy, but soon gets more serious. And I think you even learn a bit about american history.


The Japanese comic industry is so huge, there is pretty much any convievable genre represented. Based on the comics you listed, you'd probably be most interested in the "Seinen" segment, which is primarily targeted at grown up men (though that doesn't mean violent or naughty stuff at all). These tend to be quite similar to the more mature French comics.

Recommendations:
Akira: A classic. Apparently there is a lot of social criticism about Japanese society in the late 80s, which of couse is completely lost to western readers, but it's still a great story regardless. It takes place in a run down future where two stupid rebellious kids make trouble with their motorcycle gang since society and especially the educational system gave up on them. One of them has a run in with a weird psychic kid that is hunted by the government and starts to develop supernatural powers himself. And somehow his best friend has to be the one who has to stop him before he turns into a monster that will destroy the city.
Monster: I was warned that when you start reading this comic, you will read the whole thing in one go. It turned out to be the case and I've heard similar things from many other people. It's just that damn good! It's the story of a Japanese Neuro-Surgoen who has a promising career in Germany, until he saves the life of a boy who was shot in the head under mysterious circumstances connected to the East German Intelligence Service. Ten years later East Germany does no longer exist and the boy returns to "thank" his savior by making him see the truth of life and the world. Which he does by trying to force his savior to become evil. And this is certainly no normal kid. Not only is it a great story, I like it for being one of the most realistic portrayals of Germany in foreign fiction, and it also deals with the issues many patriotic East German hads when their country suddenly ceased to exist.
Ghost in the Shell: A personal favorite of mine. In the 2030s, Japan has succumbed to corruption and cultural decay after World War 3. The government is completely corrupt and more of a puppet for the really powerful people, and there are lots of political factions who control different parts of the military and police. The story centers on one counter-terrorism unit of the Ministery of the Interior, Section 9, and in particular its group leader, the Major. Like almost every member of the team, the Major is a cyborg who is becomming more machine than human. They don't play nice by any means, but compared to all the other people with guns around, they have fairly high moral standards. The comic is mostly losely connected stories with a major plotline showing up in the later chapters when things get a bit more complicated.
I LOVE this one to death, as it gets quite philosophical at times, but the writer is also a HUGE nerd when it comes to futuristic but realistic military hardware (he's a proffessional engineer). And it's very fascinating that for a comic written in the late 80s, his idea how the world might look in 2030 still seems not too far off the mark. Most of the technologies shown could quite plausibly be around by that time. Usually such sci-fi works are hilariously outdated after 10 years or less.
Appleseed: An earlier comic by the same writer, that doesn't really go into philosophy much, but instead is all about completely unapologetic over the top action.
Uzumaki: Can you make a horror comic? Turns out you can!
Uzumaki takes place in a little town in Japan that has always been a bit odd, but one day things start to get seriously messed up. A couple of horrible accidents and cases of insanity start to pile up and all of them have some connection to spiral pattern. And as the town starts to think into madness over the couple of several months, things get more and more terrifying and defy the nature of reality.
Elfen Lied: Handle with care! This one is known as "that gore and nudity manga", and that assesment is not exactly wrong. But this is not a splatter or fanservice manga, even though many readers seem to mistake it for one. There is actually a really good story behind it and it does get rather graphic a lot of times to visually represent the horrible state of things and how low people can go to do what they think they have to do. Basically it's about a guy who happens to find an amnesic and nude girl on the beach near his home. But when police starts asking for an escaped serial killer and show the picture of that completely harmless girl, he thinks something is fishy and instead choses to hide her. But the truth is that this girl has another personalty that remembers her full past, and that one is not harmless at all. I think this one really deservs a chance, but if it doesn't work for you then just leave it be. If the style of storytelling does not work for a person, then it simply doesn't, and in that case it really would seem unneccessarily graphic and kinda dumb. There has been a TV show based on it, but that one sucks. It stops at a point where the real plot is just starting to become get off the ground and instead slaps on a simple ending that doesn't match at all with the themes of the complete story.

[kpenguin]

I'd recommend reading through Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. It's a comic about comics with some crucial insights into the medium presented in an approachable and fun way.

[Friv]

I'd recommend reading through Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. It's a comic about comics with some crucial insights into the medium presented in an approachable and fun way.

I'm just going to leave this here...

Until very recently, I had completely ignored comics as a medium for storytelling. Then I read Understanding Comics, by Scott McLoud. It was a fascinating book that really sparked my interest.

[Kindablue]

Scott McLoud is a hack.

[Man on Fire]

Until very recently, I had completely ignored comics as a medium for storytelling. Then I read Understanding Comics, by Scott McLoud. It was a fascinating book that really sparked my interest. I checked out a few different comics.

The ones I liked include ...

• Conan.
• The Sandman.
• Alabaster: Wolves.
• Hellboy.
• Arkham Asylum: a Serious House on Serious Earth.

Some comics I did not enjoy include ...

• Everything anime-related that I have seen thus far. The art style irks me for some reason, and I often find the stories to be rather convoluted.
• The Punisher. Gritty for the sake of gritty bores me.
• D&D Tie-In Comics.

Based on that, are there any comics you can recommend me? I would love to see more.

DC/Vertigo/Wildstorm:

Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (30 issues) - It's a strange world. Lets keep it that way. Elliah Snow, Jakita Wagner and Drummer are archeologists of strange and bizarre, who, backed by myssterious Fourth Man, travel the world, looking for lost and forgotten secrets that can benefit mankind. Full of allusions to popculture and history of comics, Planetry is all the genres that make superhero genre without being a superhero story itself. Planetary ongoing series has 27 issues, Ellis also wrote 3 one shots cnencted to the series: Planetary/Authority: Rulling the World (in which Planetary meet superhero team Ellis was working on at that moment), Planetary/batman: Night on Earth (in which Planetary jump aroudn universes and meet dfferent versions of Batman, from Adam West to Frank Miller's) and Planetary/JLA (out of countiuity)

Animal Man by Grant Morrison (26 issues) - Buddy Baker is a superhero who can copy abilities of animals. His life and lives of his wife and children change when strange things starts happening about him. Kinda old by today standards, but still very touching - Morrison used Animal Man as one of first vessels for comics to talk about serious topics, mostly animal abuse, but also resbonsibilities of writers for their stories.

Lucifer by Mike Carey (75 issues) - Spin-off from andman. As you know from Sandman, Luficer had quit as ruler of Hell. This series tells what happened to him next. Out of all Sandman spin-offs this is probably the best one.

Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison (44 issues) - Even in standards of DC Univere Doom patrol are outcasts and freaks. And their ecounters are equally freeky. From living city that never was, through painting that ate Paris to horrors of Candlemaker, when other superheroes don't even know what they're looking at, Doom Patrol walks takes it head on. It's a wierd trip and pretty good when you are looking for inspiration for your rpg games. Funny thing: They did a Punisher parody once, it was funny like hell.
Also worth noticing: Flex Mentallo, another series that sprung from Doom Patrol, it's a limited 5 (or was it 6) issues long series about Flex Mentallo, Man of Muscle Mystery, who trained his body so much it gave him telekinetic abilities, trying to stop end of the world. Extremely creative and meta, through endig was a bit of cop out.

Demon Knights by Paul Conrnell (16 issues) - After fall of Camelot, band of unlikely allies - sorcerres Madame Xanadu, demon Etrigan, Shinning Knight, exiled Amazon Exoristos, mysteriosu Horsewoman, Arabian sciencist Al-Jabr and immortal caveman Vandal Savage are forced to band together in quest for Holy Grail, before it will fall in hands of evil Questing Queen. It's a heroic fantasy series set in the past of DC Universe. Paul Cornell sadly left after 16 issues, andthe series was continued by another writer, don't know if it's good because I left with Cornell.

Marvel:

Journey Into Mystery by Kieron Gillen (31 issues) - Loki, god of mischief, the same you could meet in Avengers movie ,died and was reborn as an innocent but powerless kid, who loves his brother Thor and wants to undo his reputation as evil person by being good. Usually lighteahrthed yet with serious tones, it's a story of change - is change good? Is it possible in universe like Marvel's? Can somebody like Loki really change?
Loki's adventures on the title are in issues #623-645, series had two crossovers along the line. From issue #646 kathryn Immoen takes over with adventures of Thor's lover, Lady Sif, it's still very good read.

Runaways by Brian K. Vaughn (43 issues) - Kids always say they parents are evil but...what if they really are? Lives of six teenagers, Alex, Nico, Karolina, Gret, Chase and Molly, change when they discover their parents are really The Pride - secret society of supervillains, who control entire West Coast. Being the only ones who know about this and armed with their stolen gear, they escape and try to find a way to defeat their evil family. Very innovative, even by today standards, series about finding your place and creating your own family. Series was cancelled after 18 issues, then brought back for next 24 (and one-shot in which they meet X-Men). Later Joss Whedon himself took the series for six issues, but his run has been...poralizing.

Incredible Hercules by Greg Pak and Fred Van lente (40 issues) - adventures of another god, Hercules and his sidekick, 7th smartest man on Earth, Amadeus Cho. Team of brains and brawl that deals with every problem with a smile. Really nice series.
Hercules took over Hulk's numeration (he was pushed as a hero after hulk-centered event) so it's numbered from issue #112 to #141, later the series contnuet in few minis (Hercules: Fall of an Avengers, Heroic Age: Prince of Power and Chaos War).
Also worth noticing: Hercules antagonist and brother, Ares, has two very good mini-series. First one, Ares by Michael Avon Oeming is self-contained story that happenes before Incredible Hercules and tells of Ares as he tried to abbandon his duties and live on Earth with his son, until Amatsu Mikaboshi, Japanesse god of Evil, attacked Olympus. Second, Dark Avengers: Ares by Kieron Gillen, is more of an spin-off of Incredible Hercules, it tells of Ares, now working for evil government, as he's hired to train elite squad of soldiers. Both are well-written and worth giving a try.

I may drop some more later.

[Manga Shoggoth]

I can recommend the Scott Pilgrim series by Brian Lee O'Malley (and if you like it, the film isn't bad either).


Since you have already expressed a dislike of Manga I won't mention any, but I will re-iterate the earlier comments that Manga is a vast field, and there is a huge variation in styles.

[BWR]

For some classics
Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing. Before it was kind of silly. After it was kind of silly.
Hellblazer, my personal favorite, featuring a supporting character from Swamp Thing. John Constantine is a jerk, backstabber, conman, danger to his friends and a thoroughly engaging bloke.

David Mack's Kabuki. What starts off as a rather unusual story of loyalty, betrayal and revenge turns into some of the best and most engrossing art and journey of self-discovery ever written. I've spent 15 minutes on a single page, just drinking in the detail.

Transmetroplitan. Warren Ellis' best work, and one of the truest cases of graphic storytelling. The art is so vital to the story you couldn't tell it without.

[Chainsaw Hobbit]

Scott McLoud is a hack.

Since you stated your opinion objectively, and didn't back it up, that could possibly be considered trolling. What don't you like about Scott McLoud?

[Ylorch]

You might enjoy Mind MGMT by Matt Kindt (published by Dark Horse comics). It's a noir themed story about an investigative reporter getting caught up in a secret all-psychic government agencies internal politics.

[Man on Fire]

Everything anime-related that I have seen thus far. The art style irks me for some reason, and I often find the stories to be rather convoluted.

What you tried to read? As Manga Shoggoth said, it's a very wide field.

[Metahuman1]

I'm not terribly familiar with the comic myself, but you might like Red Sonja. I say this cause I see you liked the Conan comics and she's set in the same universe as a sort of Foil for him at the start, so I just though it might be similar enough to be enjoyed.

I'm told Marvel Now is a significant step up form what we'd been getting form Marvel for some time, that might be worth a look.

Animal Man, Super Girl, Earth 2 and Aquaman are all rather good from DC's New 52. Powergirl and Huntress are getting mixed reveiws, i've not read enough to be able to recommend them on that, but a lot of the negative seems centered around the fact that there next to nothing like there pre new 52 selves. Which might not matter too you.

Personally, form the old 52, I'd advise reading the Powergirl solo run, just cause it's rather refreshing to have a super hero who goes, "Ok, I'm loaded, I can bench press sky scrapers with out even working up a sweat, my eyes can tell me how many granules of sugar are in a packed at a Starbucks form across town and melt a sidewalk, I can fly, I can move fast enough that I literally can't be seen by the naked human eye, and an IBC with a nuclear warhead could hit me full in the face and be lucky if it made my hair get moved out of place.

That is freaking awesome, I love it, and my life freaking ROCKS!!!" As opposed to the uber Emo stuff were sadly getting use to at this point.

Other old 52 lines/stand alone's that are good

Superman: Red Son

All Star Superman

Superman Vs. The Elite

For the man who has everything

Kingdom Come

Justice League: The New Frontier

What Ever Happened To the Man Of Tomorrow?

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. (It's perhaps not as amazing as everyone makes it out to be but well worth a read anyway.)

Batman: Year One.

Batman: Death In the Family

Batman: The Killing Joke

Batman: Knightfall.

Batman: No Man's Land.

The Tim Drake run on the Robin Comic line, as well as the Red Robin Comic Line.

The Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown runs on Batgirl.

And the run for Batman And Robin they did with Damian as Robin and **** Grayson as Batman.

Blackest Night get's an honorary mention here, since it did do a couple of interesting scenes and interactions, and I personally liked the idea of the emotional color spectrum. Plus, Blue Lanterns, Star Sapphires and Indigo Tribe were cool.

[SlayerScott]

DMZ, Y:The Last Man, Mouse Guard, The Authority, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, Maus. I'd definitely agree with Fables, Planetary and Runaways.

[Man on Fire]

I'm told Marvel Now is a significant step up form what we'd been getting form Marvel for some time, that might be worth a look.

Marvel Now isn't some event, it's a label comcis got to sell better. And it's, as always hit and miss.
Wolverine, Indestructible Hulk and two Avengers series by Jonathan Hickman are good. Young Avengers are good, except heavy spoilerific about the end of Journey Into Mystery. On the other hand Uncanny Avengers is full of unfortunate implication and boderline racism, Captain America is horrible piece of turd and Avengers Arena is even worse.

Personally, form the old 52, I'd advise reading the Powergirl solo run, just cause it's rather refreshing to have a super hero who goes, "Ok, I'm loaded, I can bench press sky scrapers with out even working up a sweat, my eyes can tell me how many granules of sugar are in a packed at a Starbucks form across town and melt a sidewalk, I can fly, I can move fast enough that I literally can't be seen by the naked human eye, and an IBC with a nuclear warhead could hit me full in the face and be lucky if it made my hair get moved out of place.

That is freaking awesome, I love it, and my life freaking ROCKS!!!" As opposed to the uber Emo stuff were sadly getting use to at this point.

Never got the appeal of that. It's nothing new really, other comics before had characters beign happy with their powers. I mean, look at Runaways - they have their share of angst, but because their parents are evil, but none of them ever angsted about superpowers. The closest was Karolina who had a problem with beign an alien and even with her it went liek this "I'm not human...I'm some monster...freak..I...I can fly? WHOOOOOOOOOOO! I CAN FLY!".

Superman Vs. The Elite

There is no such comics. You're talking about "What's so funny about truth, jsutice and american way" (which Ireally hate, I have to say).

[Manga Shoggoth]

...And I really should have backed up Aotrs Commander and JoshL - the Asterix stories (TVTropes, Wikipedia) are several shades of awesome. I loved them when I was eleven, and still love them now.

The more recent ones are a little off, but for the most part they are excelent.

And, has already been stated, the English translation by Derek Hockridge and Anthea Bell is pretty much the pinacle of translation. They are also the reason that I have very high expectations of any translator.

[Aotrs Commander]

The more recent ones are a little off, but for the most part they are excelent.

And that really only applies to the last maybe five books, with most recent Asterix and the Falling Sky being the nadir, and...

...

Er, did anyone know there was a new one out this year?!

Asterix and the Picts?!

Right, next stop Amazon!

Okay, hardcover due out October (gonna have to wait for the softcover, I literally don't have space for hardcovers), and by a new pair of chaps. Hmm. Well, it's a hard act to follow, but I'm definately willing to give them a shot. As it could mean a whole slew of more Asterix books (since the rate has dropped off drastically since the eighties and Goscinny died.) I was honestly not expecting to see any more after the lukewarm reception of the last one and given Uderzo is getting on a bit.

Guess we'll see!

[Eldan]

What, really? Why haven't I heard of this? I remember when a new Astérix book was important enough to show up in the evening news and the newspaper.

[Yora]

In defense of the visual style of japanese comics:

Spoiler

Show

Stating that as a criteria is like equating all american comics with Mickey Mouse.

[Selrahc]

Alan Moore is as good of a writer as you've heard (and as obnoxious of a person).

Alan Moore is a weird person, but he isn't really obnoxious.

Finally, though I doubt you can track it all down, the Generation 1 UK Marvel comic Transformers run is still excellent after twenty (plus) years. For me, it's the definitive Transformers continuity.

The Transformers comics are decent enough, but really if you're not interested in Transformers then they aren't worth the bother. There are more interesting UK comics of that era.

Judge Dredd for example. Which also has the benefit of having trade paperbacks being easily available.


Block Mania->Apocalypse War is a good story arc, running a large part of the gamut of what the series does between weird comedic MegaCity1 antics, and grand scale action pieces with a fun sensibility.

[comicshorse]

'The Adventures of Luther Arkwright' written and drawn by Bryan Talbot ( but only the first series the second really wasn't as good).

'Mage' by Matt Wagner

'Grendel' by Matt Wagner

'Top Ten' by Alan Moore

[Brewdude]

Some late 80s early 90s stuff

Hell Blazer
Grimjack
Nexus

And yes,

Tin Tin
Asterix

Agree with the previous posters that these are must read series.

Akira

Much better as a set of comic books than as a movie.

[Manga Shoggoth]

Okay, hardcover due out October (gonna have to wait for the softcover, I literally don't have space for hardcovers), and by a new pair of chaps. Hmm. Well, it's a hard act to follow, but I'm definately willing to give them a shot. As it could mean a whole slew of more Asterix books (since the rate has dropped off drastically since the eighties and Goscinny died.) I was honestly not expecting to see any more after the lukewarm reception of the last one and given Uderzo is getting on a bit.

That's October sorted, then...

[Das Platyvark]

My introduction to more adult comics (in the sense of more complex and serious story; not porn) was Osamu Tezuka: sure, a lot of his stuff befits his being called 'the japanese Walt Disney', but then there's a little book called MW which he wrote specifically to avert this nickname. It's pretty awesome.

[jidasfire]

How did this thread get so far without anyone mentioning Watchmen? Seriously, if you like comics at all, read Watchmen. It lives up to the hype.

Other books I'd recommend include:

Moonshadow- A beautiful and bittersweet sci-fi story
Box Office Poison- An epic slice of life story, which has been described, rightly I think, as being like seeing all of your friends naked.
Grimjack- Picture Conan in a setting with science, magic, and dimension-hopping. You're welcome.
Walt Simonson's run on Thor- This is superheroics at their finest. A massive run with great characterization, amazing action, plots within plots, and tons of mythological monsters.
Astro City- The story of a superhero universe from the perspective of its inhabitants instead of the heroes. Extremely well-told stories and a virtually limitless font of tales.
The Sixth Gun- Apocalyptic western fantasy horror. Great setting and characters.
The Coffin- A really cool one-shot story about a guy who gets murdered and becomes a zombie robot to save his daughter from his own murderer.

I can probably come up with more, but that's a good start.