Gryzemuis on 12/11/2013 at 17:55

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I know very little about comics. I read them when I was a kid, like all kids (boys) did, before there were computers, or daytime tv. After I was 18, I have hardly read anything.

I was an exception, because I got a few old marvel comics from the boy living across the street. The Avengers, the X-Men. I loved those. And cherished those old comic books. The publisher in the benelux even stopped publishing superhero comics for a decade or so, because of the lack of interest. Only in the nineties superheroes came back. Maybe because of the movies.

Most comics that were popular, were french or belgian. Some dutch comics (local). Lots of "big noses" comics. Those were mostly for kids. Although for nostalgia, I guess they will be more popular with adults now. Asterix, the Smurfs, Lucky Luke, Spirou, Gaston Lagaffe, etc. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_and_Suzy) Spike and Suzy was probably the most popular comic in my country.

I don't recommend that you read them. I'm not sure they'll still be interesting after all these years. Or if they are interesting for adults.

But there have always been comics that were different. For adults. More fantasy-oriented. Weird. The french, the italians, I guess those were made all over Europe. Unfortunately I haven't been interested in comics since I was a kid. So I can't really help you find the best ones. But maybe I can remember a few.

Ravian.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val%C3%A9rian_and_Laureline)
Ravian was a comic that I saw when I was a kid. I never read a whole book, only small episodes. The drawings were completely different from anything I've seen before. The stories were a bit mysterious for me (I didn't understand them at all). Maybe I'll go back and finally read those some day.

The Trigan Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trigan_Empire)
This might be interesting. Or not. Slightly more adult oriented. Nice drawings. Long running series. The author also made the (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_%28Don_Lawrence%29) Storm series.

The later work of (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotlib) Gotlib might be interesting. I was always amazed by the madness of his Rhâ-Gnagna comics.

Mœbius ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Giraud) Jean Giraud) has done lots of interesting stuff. He had a comics magazine called (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9tal_Hurlant) Métal Hurlant, which published lots of interesting artists and stories.

(https://www.google.nl/images?complete=0&q=Phil%C3%A9mon%20by%20fred) Philémon is a comic whom name I still remember. No idea if it's any good still.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enki_Bilal) Enki Bilal and (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Tardi) Jacques Tardi are two very famous names.

As I said, I don't know much about comics. But I do know there has been lots and lots of interesting and diverse stuff over the last half century. I know it's there, but I can't tell you exactly what is the best or what is must read. Maybe someone else on this forum can enlighten us ?

N'Al on 12/11/2013 at 18:22

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Hey, if you'd started with your second post rather than the drive-by threadshit of your first this could've been so very different...

zacharias on 13/11/2013 at 05:22

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What I was on about with 'From Hell' (if anyone cares - doubtful) is that it's fascinating from a conspiracy theory and social history pov but the actual drama therein is not that riveting (compared to Watchmen and some of the others on this list which work for me on every level). And he shows his hand way too early for mine, surely one of the laws of suspense writing 101 is keep your reader guessing a bit(?) So i still think it's a reasonable criticism.

Yeah, i read Asterix as a kid and loved it. I took it as read that most western kids did (??) and would thus have some appreciation of the euro comics ;) I definitely agree that the Uderzo written stuff is lacking something in comparison with the Goscinny stuff.

Moebius is someone I would really like to check out more, if I can find any of his stuff here. Beautiful style. Saw a cool doco about him a year or so ago. Found that Silver Surfer Stan Lee/Moebius collaboration in the library and it's pretty good.

We haven't really mentioned the Japanese comics either. Another huge area that I'm totally ignorant about.

Anyway, thanks for the recommendations guys.

Thirith on 13/11/2013 at 05:54

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The thing is, though, that From Hell is not suspense writing. It's not about the "what", it's about the "how" and "why", about the context. You're looking for something that the book never aimed to deliver on. It's fair enough to think you'd rather have had a thriller than the metaphysical historical drama Moore wrote, but criticising From Hell because it doesn't do what a thriller does is roughly like criticising E.T. because there aren't enough firefights against aliens in narrow, dimly lit corridors.

Thirith on 13/11/2013 at 06:42

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Perhaps there should be a comma there; From Hell definitely has both of these elements, the metaphysical and the historical, and I would argue that it brings them together - what is historically specific, what goes beyond history and into the metaphysical. Anyway, I don't want to make this thread about From Hell.

If you've even a passing interest in weird horror, I can very much recommend Uzumaki (which you can read at (http://read.mangashare.com/Uzumaki)). I've found it immensely disturbing and at times quite funny, which makes it even more freaky. It may not be your cup of tea, but since you can check it out for free online, it may be worth five minutes or so.

Otherwise, I've just read Joe Sacco's Gorazde. A tough read at times, but Sacco is great at journalistic/documentary comics. Before that, I (re-)read Craig Thompson's Habibi. Storywise it's okay - there's a bit too much of a reliance on stereotypes for my liking - but the art is absolutely gorgeous.