'Lo, Sunshine.

[constance]

I haven't mentioned yet that it looks like the drought has ended here. (Or at least, I have, but not in any entry I could actually post.) Well, kind of, anyway -- there was a big rain over the weekend, and the air since has been humid, and it was lovely to have rain, because all the silvery things are green again, and that's all good.

Another nice thing about rainy weather is that it provides you with the perfect excuse to stay in and read the complete Hellblazer on your computer, the Hellblazer for which you waited very patiently for far too long, but which arrived just in time for a rainy weekend when there hasn't been a rainy weekend for months, and you feel as though it has been planned maybe and you start questioning your whole stance as a nonbeliever because let's be honest here, it's not as though your lapsed-Catholic history has really prepared you well to hold that stance in the face of Eerie Coincidence.

(I am going to stop talking in the second person, now, because it's starting to give me a little bit of a headache. I hope you don't mind.)

In reading Hellblazer, I've found that reading literary comics and comics where the whole series is planned from the start to have a proper narrative arc with a proper conclusion is not good preparation for jumping into a series that's housed several creative teams and spanned twenty years. There's a pretty huge difference between reading one of these tightly-plotted comics series -- I'm thinking of things like Sandman or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen -- and reading something more mutable, and it's disconcerting for me to be reading, to become invested in plotlines and characters, only to find them unceremoniously abandoned (or tied up with an absolute minimum of effort) when the next creative team takes over.

I'm enjoying reading about the trials and tribulations of John Constantine (and God knows I should look around for some Hellblazer slash, because yummy, and I don't even like blonds), but I have to admit to a greater love of comics that are plotted, nurtured by a single entity, and given a conclusion that's more than just a wrapping-up of somebody else's business.

Given that, does anyone have any comics recommendations they'd like to share?

(ETA: OH MY GOD I THINK I CAN POST AGAIN.)

Comments

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

Dude, I hear ya - I got into comics with "The Sandman" and then started reading the mid-70's "X-Men" - where at least 50% of the narrative threads just went nowhere. That writer was notorious for that, actually - he just made shit up and then forgot about it.

Have you read "Preacher"? That's a really long series that's one writer and one artist from beginning to end and has a fair amount of narrative coherence. It's also incredibly, over-the-top-edly violent, if that makes a difference. But it's Garth Ennis - is he the writer on the "Hellblazer" issues you're reading?

[tofty.livejournal.com]

I have not read Preacher! I've got past the Garth Ennis issues of Hellblazer -- I'm reading the Paul Jenkins ones now, at right around the 125-issue mark -- but I liked his tenure, and I'll definitely look for this series. Thanks for the rec!

Incredible violence doesn't bother me so much, really. I had a conversation the other day with a friend saying this very thing -- in real life, violence of any sort completely wigs me out, but in fictional form, I have an extremely high tolerance. So much the better! :D

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

The violence in "Preacher" is so over the top that it doesn't seem real. And it's all in the context of black comedy. Ennis's initial story arc on "The Punisher" (normally a character I could give a shit about) is also great - very similar in tone to "Preacher". I like most of what that guy does, actually - even his low points are better than most folks' high points.

I guess you're already familiar with Alan Moore, so I don't need to recommend any of his stuff to you.

I'm also quite fond of the Ellis/Hitch run on "The Authority". They're followed up by Millar and Quitely, whose issues are also good but totally different - it's like two different series. Also, the publisher sabotaged the series in the middle of their run so it's only good at the beginning.

Strazcynski's first couple "Amazing Spider-Man" story arcs are quite good and have a nice narrative coherence to them. Joss Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men" is also fun, although he's a fanboy of the old series and it shows. One of my favorite series ever is "Hellboy", which is all written and drawn by the same guy - I'm not sure if I'd call it narratively coherent because it's so all over the place, but it's coherent in its vision. It also includes a number of self-contained short stories that are brilliant.

That's all I got for now. :)

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Yep, already know and love Alan Moore.

I agree with you about Ennis. I've read some letters to the effect that lots of readers were glad when Ennis took his axes elsewhere to grind, but I really liked his tenure. His run has been the point at which I most felt as though John Constantine was at work on The Big Things. Which I thought was the point, though I might be wrong considering the parochial quality of a lot of his storylines.

*makes list of all recs*

[dunkle-feuer.livejournal.com]

Personally, I really love Hellblazer, but there're huge differences in quality and style. Some of the writers don't really seem to know the character and that shows, of course. And some of the art is rather dreadful, too. I still love it, though :)

Sadly, there isn't much slash for the series. You can find a lot more for the movie-verse, but even there (and ignoring how much they butchered the characters in the movie) it's mostly just Constantine/Chase.

As for recommendations - definitely Preacher (http://www.univie.ac.at/Anglistik/easyrider/data/preacher.htm) and Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan (http://www.transmetropolitan.com/). Both are fantastic. Then there's Carla Speed Mcneil's Finder (http://www.lightspeedpress.com/), which might just be the best comic out there, and quite a few people have recommended The Maxx (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maxx) to me. However, I just got it recently and so only had time to skip over it, but it does look very intriguing. And if you liked Sandman then you should maybe give Lucifer a try as well.

And one of my favorite comics is the City of Glass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Glass:_The_Graphic_Novel) adaptation by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli. I'm deeply in love with the art (and the writing, of course, but that's a given seeing that most of it comes straight from the novel).

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention the poor quality of some of the art -- I just hit an issue last night which I felt might be the worst-illustrated (pro) comic I've ever seen. And considering the spottiness of some of the series I've read, that's saying something.

Thanks so much for the recs! I'll look into these, definitely.

I've read Lucifer up through I think the sixth collection? What happened there was I read the then-existing graphic novels and then by the time the next one came out had moved on to other things, but I know there've been several collections published since I last read, and I really should pick them back up. I didn't like the Lucifer series as much as I liked Sandman, but I did like the character Carey drew from Gaiman enormously.

[thalia]

Did you start with the Jamie Delano issues of Hellblazer? I read those and the Garth Ennis run, but I think I dropped it after that; I'd have to go dig them up and see where they end. I wasn't crazy about Delano, but I absolutely loved Ennis.

There was a vertigo miniseries called Enigma a while back that I liked a lot; it's available as a graphic novel. Alan Moore's run on Swamp Thing was fabulous. Oh, and Sandman Mystery Theater was terrific; it wasn't a very long run, and I'm pretty sure it was all written by one person. The Books of Magic miniseries was also really good--that was Gaiman. It turned into a regular series after that which wasn't half bad, but I'd definitely recommend the miniseries. And if you've never read Watchmen, you really should; it's kind of dated now, but it's got lots of really, really good stuff.

Those are all Vertigo, except Watchmen is DC. I never got into Marvel.

Yay for posting!

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I started with the Delano issues, right back at issue #1. I agree with you that the Ennis team was better as a whole than Delano's. It's also better than the Jenkins team's output so far. I think the thing I like about the Ennis stories is the urgency and anger they capture in Constantine. Delano's Constantine often reads like an aging hippie, tired but game; and Jenkins, well, I'm having a hard time getting a handle on his version. Aging punk, older and wiser but still bashing his head against the wall, maybe. In Delano and Jenkins, the edge is less sharp, I think.

Oh, I'd forgotten about Watchmen! I've had it recced to me before and have meant for a long time to pick it up. Thanks for reminding me -- and thanks for the other recs as well.

[quartertosix.livejournal.com]

I am late, and I suspect that my tastes may be a little too plebey mainstream and light for you, but if you're looking for series that've been under a single brain from the start:

Lucifer. It's a spinoff of Sandman, so I don't know if you've caught it already, but if you haven't, its 75 issue run recently wrapped up. Mythology, religion, fantastic story-telling, crazy naked gay angels, and you know. Lucifer.

Fables. Recasting of all fairy tale figures as refugees from a magical world overrun by a seemingly all-powerful enemy, and it just mucks with the myths and the ideas and structures. I loved the first story arch, but even if it doesn't grab you, it gets so, so, so good. This (http://outswing.org/comics/fables%20-%20ambrose/Fables-1001%20Nights%20of%20Snowfall%20(2006)%20(Team-DCP)/) is a directory with a standalone short (eight pages) from a special edition.

Powers. The most recent volume that they wound up was a little underwhelming, but the dialogue is snappy, the writers fundamentally tough-minded, and I love the stylized art. Superheroes and supervillains run rampant, etc, etc, so what is life like for the police? The plots within each volume might not be perfect, but Bendis knows his backstory, and it's so, so, so, so incredibly satisfying whenever we get another piece of the story.

Plus, the female characters are kind of awesome.

[tofty.livejournal.com]

Oh! No, I've read up to a certain point on both Lucifer and Fables and have every intention of catching up on them soon! I liked them both very much, and as a matter of fact, I first cottoned onto Fables because of you! :D

And I'm going to have a look at Powers, too. Thanks so much, you!