Just ordered Superman/Batman vol. 1 I've also had Batman: Hush recommended to me, as well as The Ultimates. So anyway, any other super good comics out there?
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Batman: Year One Batman: The Long Halloween Batman: The Killing Joke Watchmen Kingdom Come Sin City: The Hard Goodbye
No, no, wait, wait, if you bother with this one, get "DC Universe: The Stories Of Alan Moore". It comes with "Killing Joke", and you get a bunch of other goodies, especially "for the man who has everything", and "whatever happened to the man of tomorrow?", two of the best Superman stories ever. And, it's a good bargain.
And then, at some point, you'll read Gaiman's Sandman. But before you do, make sure you haven't got anything else planned for a month or so.
Batman has probably the best collection of graphic novels and trade paper backs. You can't really go wrong with any of them. Off the top of my head... Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: The Man Who Laughs Batman: Arkham Asylum Batman: A Death In The Family Batman: Blind Justice Batman: A Lonely Place Of Dying Batman: Hush Batman: Year One Batman: The Long Halloween Batman: Dark Victory Batman: Tales Of The Demon Batman: Son Of The Demon Batman: The Resurrection Of Ra's Al Ghul Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Batman: Knightfall Batman: Battle For The Cowl Batman: Cataclysm Batman: No Man's Land Batman: War Games Batman: Under The Hood Batman: Whatever Happened To The Caped Crusader? Batman: The Court Of Owls Batman: R.I.P. All-Star Batman And Robin Batman: Gotham By Gaslight Batman: Strange Apparitions Batman: Prodigal Enjoy!
No, really. You should check out the DVD. Best Superman movie since, well, Superman II. I actually had a lump in my throat at the end.
I hate to disappoint the Superman fans, but he's just an egotistical dumbass who jumps in to punch things because he can take a hit. I much prefer Batman.
You don't "get" Superman, then. Supes is the ultimate boy scout. He helps people just because he can. There's no ego to the character at all. He's in a position to help, so he does.
That's more like Captain America. I guess I just don't like having a "perfect" hero. Superman is just too good. I don't care how nice he is, he's too perfect for my liking.
"Superman: Grounded", might change your mind. It really gets into his head, and it's written by J. Michael Saczynski.
Marvels. And for non super hero, The Sandman. Most of my comic reading back a couple of decades ago consisted of mostly indies. Like "Strangers in Paradise" and "Bone"(a fun book) Today it's webcomics. But I did read Marvels and Kingdom Come when they first came out. I recommend them. The last mainstream super hero books I read was "The Reign Of The Supermen" books set after the death of Superman.
I understand where you're coming from. The problem with a character like Superman is that, in the wrong hands, he can become extremely boring. And to Lanzman's point, I would say that 90% of the stuff that's been published just doesn't "get" Superman... hence it's been mediocre at best. All-Star Superman is excellent. Superman: Grounded is also excellent (although volume 2 isn't as strong as the first volume). I like Batman but he can also get repetitive and boring very easily. Ooooh! He's dark and brooding and violent and has "issues". I think Superman has more possibilities, and it's only in recent years that some writers have really stepped up to the plate and done something with him. The Bryan Singer film kinda got close with the Jesus metaphors, but it just didn't quite hit the mark.
Absolutely. "The Killing Joke" is just about the best Batman story ever told. It is just incredible how Moore has the Joker commit several absolutely horrific crimes and, yet, in the end, you feel sorry for him. "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" is also a terrific Superman story, sorta the last hurrah of the Silver Age Man of Steel before the subsequent John Byrne reboot. Moore really hits all the right buttons in this tale of Superman trying to survive an onslaught of attacks from his entire rogues' gallery. I still get misty-eyed when a younger Supergirl (time-travelling from the past) shows up and remarks that she'd like to see how she turned out in Superman's present and Supes, choking back tears (and not wanting to reveal her future), tells her that she turned out beautiful (Supergirl died heroically in Crisis on Infinite Earths, shortly before). And when Krypto (the Super Dog) takes out the Kryptonite Man? Forget about it; I bawl like a baby. (btw, that Moore collection has several other good stories, a Green Lantern corps story ["In Blackest Night"] about inducting a new Lantern from a species that understands neither the concept of "green" nor "lantern" (they don't have sight); and a Vigilante tale ["Father's Day"] wherein justice and revenge are shown to be very, very far apart.) "Hush" is also good, though I think it pays to be more familiar with DC's characters before diving in. I'd also recommend the Geoff Johns/Gary Frank "Superman: Secret Origin" and/or Straczynski's "Superman: Earth One" as great takes on Superman's origin, and Miller's "Batman: Year One" and/or the Johns/Frank "Batman: Earth One" for Batman's origin.
And once you get a handle on DC's characters? Kingdom Come and Identity Crisis. Kingdom Come is about a future when super-powered people are so numerous, they become a threat to the entire planet. Superman leads a posse to round up the bad guys and imprison them, but Lex Luthor has a secret weapon to let them loose: Captain Marvel! Identity Crisis starts as a murder mystery--the wife of one of the Justice League's members is brutally slain--becomes a manhunt, and eventually turns into a subversion of the Justice League itself.
Sleeper was just awesome, Empire was very good and, although I've only read the first 10 issues or so and am due a binge on graphic novels, Irredeemable is a fantastic read - especially if you're none too fond of Supes. Nextwave is wonderfully anarchic and pokes fun at Marvel characters.
