Glen please help this thread deliver.
Discuss and recommend comics itt - here are some of my favorites:
The Punisher MAX by Garth Ennis/Greg Hurwitz
Now, the basis for the Punisher is pretty simple - he is a vigilante who believes in "an eye for an eye". He just goes around killing all kinds of criminals. Now, Garth Ennis transformed what we knew as the Punisher into something extreme. Starting in 2004, The Punisher was launched under the 'Marvel MAX' imprint, which means it contains mature content. What Ennis did was take the original Punisher, put him in a completely different universe (he's in the same 'universe' as all the Marvel characters, they simply don't appear in this book (with the sole exception of Nick Fury)) and took the basic formula to new levels. He turned the Punisher believable and more realistic, to a certain extent. The writing is gritty, dark, and absolutely delicious. The art varies a bit, but there's only one single issue where I found I can complain about it - it's mostly spectacular. The characters are well-structured, and you'll be seeing familiar faces along the main run. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy this kind of stuff, unless the gore bothers you too much (this book is full of it). Garth Ennis left the book by issue #60 (which was very recent, it is at like #62 now), I'm hoping Hurwitz will be as good as him. Have a snippet of one of my favorite moments from the first arc:
Out of Punisher there was a particular character who was so popular he was given a mini-series...
Punisher presents: Barracuda MAX by Garth Ennis
Barracuda is a mercenary which first appeared in a Punisher arc, but was such a likeable character he got his own mini-series consisting of 5 issues. Barracuda himself was based on the song Stagger Lee, particularly the Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds version, which in turn was based on a REAL man, worth checking out wikipedia and listening to the song if you enjoy this character. Which you will. This guy is a fucking BEAST. There's no way I can describe him accurately, so I will just shamelessly steal from wikipedia. "He is a mercenary gangster of great physical strength, endurance and fighting ability. He shows an incredible sense of optimism and "glass half full" thinking (even maintaining a cheerful attitude as the Punisher cut off all the fingers on his right hand), profane humor, and a tendency to betray anyone if he can benefit from it. He also has a liking for pancakes."
You can pretty much expect a book full of this:
By now you have probably noticed my huge mancrush on Garth Ennis. I won't get too far on it, since it's pretty well-known, but Preacher is the pinnacle of his work and is a must read for everyone. Now with that out of the way...
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan
This is a 60-issues series regarding the last man on Earth. Simple as that. Something, presumed to be a plague, kills off all the men in the world, and young Yorick Brown is possibly the last hope for menkind. I'm sorry, that was a bad pun. This book is fantastic in the sense that you can pretty much accurately see how a world without men would turn out, and also because it chains you in a very strong way to the characters. This was the only comic book so far that has made me genuinely sad. I won't spoil anything, let's just say some scenes are heart-breaking. This is fairly recent, but I would have no problems at all in depicting it as a classic already. a must-read as well.
(Here is a snippet - too big for this page, but a funny moment taken from the second issue).
Uhhh so there are a lot of classics but I didn't mention any of those because pretty much everyone has read them. Sin City, Return of the Dark Knight, both by Frank Miller, Watchmen of course, and I have also heard great, great things about Sandman but I haven't read that yet. There are also quite a handful of excellent Batman comics that will appease any Dark Knight fan but I will leave those for later.
Discuss and recommend comics itt - here are some of my favorites:
The Punisher MAX by Garth Ennis/Greg Hurwitz
Now, the basis for the Punisher is pretty simple - he is a vigilante who believes in "an eye for an eye". He just goes around killing all kinds of criminals. Now, Garth Ennis transformed what we knew as the Punisher into something extreme. Starting in 2004, The Punisher was launched under the 'Marvel MAX' imprint, which means it contains mature content. What Ennis did was take the original Punisher, put him in a completely different universe (he's in the same 'universe' as all the Marvel characters, they simply don't appear in this book (with the sole exception of Nick Fury)) and took the basic formula to new levels. He turned the Punisher believable and more realistic, to a certain extent. The writing is gritty, dark, and absolutely delicious. The art varies a bit, but there's only one single issue where I found I can complain about it - it's mostly spectacular. The characters are well-structured, and you'll be seeing familiar faces along the main run. Definitely worth reading if you enjoy this kind of stuff, unless the gore bothers you too much (this book is full of it). Garth Ennis left the book by issue #60 (which was very recent, it is at like #62 now), I'm hoping Hurwitz will be as good as him. Have a snippet of one of my favorite moments from the first arc:
Out of Punisher there was a particular character who was so popular he was given a mini-series...
Punisher presents: Barracuda MAX by Garth Ennis
Barracuda is a mercenary which first appeared in a Punisher arc, but was such a likeable character he got his own mini-series consisting of 5 issues. Barracuda himself was based on the song Stagger Lee, particularly the Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds version, which in turn was based on a REAL man, worth checking out wikipedia and listening to the song if you enjoy this character. Which you will. This guy is a fucking BEAST. There's no way I can describe him accurately, so I will just shamelessly steal from wikipedia. "He is a mercenary gangster of great physical strength, endurance and fighting ability. He shows an incredible sense of optimism and "glass half full" thinking (even maintaining a cheerful attitude as the Punisher cut off all the fingers on his right hand), profane humor, and a tendency to betray anyone if he can benefit from it. He also has a liking for pancakes."
You can pretty much expect a book full of this:
By now you have probably noticed my huge mancrush on Garth Ennis. I won't get too far on it, since it's pretty well-known, but Preacher is the pinnacle of his work and is a must read for everyone. Now with that out of the way...
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan
This is a 60-issues series regarding the last man on Earth. Simple as that. Something, presumed to be a plague, kills off all the men in the world, and young Yorick Brown is possibly the last hope for menkind. I'm sorry, that was a bad pun. This book is fantastic in the sense that you can pretty much accurately see how a world without men would turn out, and also because it chains you in a very strong way to the characters. This was the only comic book so far that has made me genuinely sad. I won't spoil anything, let's just say some scenes are heart-breaking. This is fairly recent, but I would have no problems at all in depicting it as a classic already. a must-read as well.
(Here is a snippet - too big for this page, but a funny moment taken from the second issue).
Uhhh so there are a lot of classics but I didn't mention any of those because pretty much everyone has read them. Sin City, Return of the Dark Knight, both by Frank Miller, Watchmen of course, and I have also heard great, great things about Sandman but I haven't read that yet. There are also quite a handful of excellent Batman comics that will appease any Dark Knight fan but I will leave those for later.
