shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 2, 2017 23:16:37 GMT -5
Pssst...Make sure to check out the Advance Warning Thread before jumping in with your selection!8. Corto Maltese: The Ballad of the Salty Sea (1967-1969) By: Hugo Pratt Originally published in: Sergeant Kirk Magazine #1-20 Hugo Pratt was really just getting started when he first produced this serial feature as a backup in his Sgt. Kirk magazine, but it became the work for which he is best known. While later Corto Maltese adventures show tremendous growth in terms of visuals, there's a magic, depth, and level of artistry to be found in this initial saga that is far more fleeting in the ensuing adventures (at least in the ones that have been published in the United States thus far). The magic of this volume lies primarily in its sense of understatement. The most important elements of this story, in terms of characterization, motives, and (most importantly) symbolism, are muted and rarely paraded on panel for the convenience of the reader. Even key plot points and the passage of time itself become obscured and dream-like at times. Much as with the sea for which the story is named, Ballad is reluctant to spell out its secrets for the sake of the reader. The same burning frustration Corto feels when looking out at the ocean and wondering if he doesn't have it all wrong pervades the telling of this story and challenges us to look deep. And, of course, as this is Pratt's first outing, the story matures as it goes, the early chapters trying far too hard to introduce action sequences that aren't warranted once every twenty pages. Once those subside, the flight of those damn gulls and the heavy silences that accompany them are far more striking than the fists that swing and the guns that fire. This series fires on all engines like no other, providing simple guilty pleasure escapism while hiding complexity and depth like Easter eggs in nearly every page, there only if you're open to receiving it. I've never read anything else quite like this, and while five re-readings have exposed some of the work's flaws that I otherwise might never have noticed, it still remains one of my absolute favorite sagas of all time and likely the greatest adventure epic ever committed to the comic book page.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2017 23:21:13 GMT -5
8. The Spectre by John Ostrander, Tom Mandrake and others (1992-1998)Includes issues 1-62, 0 and Annual 1  Ostrander crafted a tale of redemption as Jim Corrigan struggles to find his identity, his place in the scheme of things, his purpose, and his destiny as the Spectre and as a man. Tom Mandrake deftly provides the visual narrative of this spiritual quest, ably assisted by others form time to time and featuring a gallery of artistic interpretations of the Spectre on the series cover. There are several smaller stories comprising the larger saga, woven together with aplomb by Ostrander so each has its own identity and purpose, able to stand alone, but come together seamlessly to tell a larger story with epic scope and personal consequences. This is a story with a beginning, middle and definitive end, and as much about the man Jim Corrigan as about the supernatural spirit of vengeance that is the Spectre. In a time when it was image over substance as the norm in the comics industry, this is a substantive a story standing out as excellent in any era. -M
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on Aug 3, 2017 1:35:59 GMT -5
8.Watchmen 1-12
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons  Popular adaptation of the smash hit movie...  ...and ratings bonanza animated show of the decade...  ...well on Earth-PPP it was. I know it has its detractors, especially those lovely millenials who never lived in the great-lack-of-good-comic-ness in the mid 80s. But I was there, desperately trying to find something to go with my Kickers Inc Collectors Item Classic, something to save us fans, something worth those years of substandard wording and arting we were getting. Well thanks to 2000AD being too stingy we got a couple of pommie comic rejects, re-using some 60s reject characters, only to have their idea rejected, to go on to use their own versions of b-grade stars. Its cool, I like it, a lot. I read it often(which should be a clear enough reason to nominate a book) and care less about the critics. They're all jealous wannabes anyway. I aint smart enough to give you 'fullsa a nice critical essay on its academic value, or lackof, like Shax might, alls I can say is thanks Alan and Dave, and bless you 2000AD. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 3, 2017 4:51:24 GMT -5
#8 Teen Titans the Judas contract
New Teen Titans 39-44/ Annual #2.
 This story which ran from New Teen Titans # 39-44 and Annual #2 was probably the best saga involving this book. Deathstroke the Terminator ( introduced in #2 of this title) Plants a young girl with powers in the group to infiltrate and destroy them from within. Along the way Dick Grayson abandons his Robin Persona to become Nightwing for the first time and Jericho, who happened to be Wade Wilson's son, is introduced. Terra, who is the girl in question , was conceived as a bad guy from the beginning as a riff off of the Kitty Pryde character of X-men fame but one made to betray them. It all concludes in a double sized annual which shows the true villainy of Deathstroke and the extent of of Terra's sociopathic personality. This event shapes the team from that day forward and makes them a little less trusting as a result. Kudos to Marv Wolfman and George Perez for crafting the tale of the new young member with a twist.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2017 7:49:37 GMT -5
#8 The Golden Age #1-4 (1993). Written by James Robinson. Art by Paul Smith.A cynical yet hopeful story of the JSA. Pseudo realistic in it's approach as an Elseworlds story. McCarthyism forces the JSA into retirement. And dark forces are acting behind the scenes as America enters a new era in it's history. Normally I like my heroes noble, etc. That is why I usually prefer DC over Marvel. The flawed hero concept was taken to an extreme with this series. And has been copied many times since. But for me it worked. Because despite their shortcomings the heroes acted heroic & defeated evil. The series should have really been called the Atomic Age because it took place between the Golden & Silver Ages. Smith's beautiful art complemented Robinson's well written script. As with most of my top 10 list this was the perfect mix of characters, concepts, writer & artist.
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Post by brutalis on Aug 3, 2017 8:12:47 GMT -5
Elfquest: 1st arc; issues 1-21. Wendy and Richard Pini. 1978 Siege at Blue Mountain 1-8, Kings of the Broken Wheel 1-9, Hidden Years 1-29, Shards 1-16.
The little comic that could and would become host to a legion of fans. Self published in magazine size and black and white with a strong animation/anime styling with full luscious detailed elegant artwork style Elfquest burst upon the world quietly unheralded as an alternative to the usual barbarian/damsel saving steroidal fantasy of the time. An independently published comic which along with some others helped to start the alternative and independent comic explosion of the 80's. Innovative and highly personal drawn and written with love and admiration the Pini's had created a true and real fantasy world filled with elves, troll, pixies, humans and wolves in the world of two moons that continues to captivate audiences with reprints and continuing stories and characters through today.
The 1st series of issues was a breath of fresh air and once you began reading you couldn't help but become enchanted with the Wolf Riders adventures as they are forced to leave their forest home and go forth into the larger world and find another tribe of desert dwelling elves. Suddenly they (and us) realize they are not alone and that there is more to them and their beliefs and lives than they had ever experienced. Cutter the leader of the Wolfriders and Skywise his lifelong friend decide to embark upon an (elf)quest to finding and unite elves of this world.
Whether you began with the 1st run of stories or found Elfquest in any of the many continuing series since (4 decades now!) you will not be disappointed with the honest and human adventures of these amazing elves. A true Saga if ever there was one to be experienced and shared time and time again...
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Aug 3, 2017 8:45:10 GMT -5
#8: Avengers: Mansion Siege
Avengers #271, 273-277  Roger Stern's great Avengers run climaxes with this truly epic story where the new Baron Zemo recruits a horde of supervillains to become the new Masters of Evil. His intricate plan goes off like clockwork as they take the Avengers off guard, infiltrating and taking over the mansion, capturing and torturing the Avengers inside, as well as Jarvis. Only the Wasp remains at large, outside the mansion. Calling in the reserves, she puts together a makeshift team of heroes to truly live up to the team's name - and Avenge their fallen friends, leading to a crazy battle that ends the only way it could: with a one on one battle between Cap and Zemo amidst the rubble and the bodies of their comrades. Add in some great art by the legendary team of Buscema and Palmer, and for me, this is the top Avengers story of all time.  
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Aug 3, 2017 9:46:49 GMT -5
Superman: King of the World by Mark Waid, Karl Kesel, Jenete Kahn, Dan Jurgens, Stewart Immomen, Published in 1999 Action Comics #750-754 Superman #141-144 Adventures of Superman #564-567 Superman Man of Steel #86-89 Supermen of America #1 Superman The Man of tomorrow #13 Superman King of the World #1 This was the first large arc I can remember reading as it first came out, so it has a lot of nostalgic for me. This was a huge epic that really benefited from DC's policy of having 4 Superman books every month. The first issue of 1999 begins the story with Superman having a nightmare about a disaster which comes true and builds from there. Over the next few months Superman becomes haunted by his dreams and gradually feels that he needs to do more and more and more, interfering in the affairs of other nations on behalf of the oppressed, altering the weather, ect. He abandons his identity as Clark Kent because he's not saving people while writing novels. Eventually he goes to far and the government and the Justice League turn on him. One of the things that I really enjoy about this story is that it doesn't make Superman evil. Unlike in stories like Injustice or the cartoon Justice Lords, this Superman never becomes a murderer and never crosses the line into villainy. The change is subtle and does not affect his core personality. It is rather an exploration of why superheroes can't save everyone of make everything better. It isn't healthy for them, and at a certain point it takes away the free will of the people. The story took up almost the entire first half of 1999, and constantly escalated. Seeing Superman doing more and more, seeing the Justice League get involved, up until he starts making Superman robots and destroys all nuclear weapons, leading to a brawl with the JLA and then another between the robots and the JLA, was thrilling. Then the reveal that Dominus - one of my favorite Superman villains, was behind it all set up the final act. It was a thrilling 5-6 months which were tightly plotted despite how many issues were involved and how many cooks there were in the kitchen. And it left consequences. The fortress was destroyed, and the comics had to deal with the aftermath of the story for the rest of the year.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 3, 2017 9:57:32 GMT -5
Superman: King of the Worldby Mark Waid, Karl Kesel, Jenete Kahn, Dan Jurgens, Stewart Immomen, Published in 1999 Action Comics #750-754 Superman #141-144 Adventures of Superman #564-567 Superman Man of Steel #86-89 Supermen of America #1 Superman The Man of tomorrow #13 Superman King of the World #1 This was the first large arc I can remember reading as it first came out, so it has a lot of nostalgic for me. This was a huge epic that really benefited from DC's policy of having 4 Superman books every month. The first issue of 1999 begins the story with Superman having a nightmare about a disaster which comes true and builds from there. Over the next few months Superman becomes haunted by his dreams and gradually feels that he needs to do more and more and more, interfering in the affairs of other nations on behalf of the oppressed, altering the weather, ect. He abandons his identity as Clark Kent because he's not saving people while writing novels. Eventually he goes to far and the government and the Justice League turn on him. One of the things that I really enjoy about this story is that it doesn't make Superman evil. Unlike in stories like Injustice or the cartoon Justice Lords, this Superman never becomes a murderer and never crosses the line into villainy. The change is subtle and does not affect his core personality. It is rather an exploration of why superheroes can't save everyone of make everything better. It isn't healthy for them, and at a certain point it takes away the free will of the people. The story took up almost the entire first half of 1999, and constantly escalated. Seeing Superman doing more and more, seeing the Justice League get involved, up until he starts making Superman robots and destroys all nuclear weapons, leading to a brawl with the JLA and then another between the robots and the JLA, was thrilling. Then the reveal that Dominus - one of my favorite Superman villains, was behind it all set up the final act. It was a thrilling 5-6 months which were tightly plotted despite how many issues were involved and how many cooks there were in the kitchen. And it left consequences. The fortress was destroyed, and the comics had to deal with the aftermath of the story for the rest of the year. First entry on this list that I've NEVER heard of before. I'm intrigued! |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 3, 2017 11:17:45 GMT -5
Planetary 1-12 by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday.  You can pretty easily call the entirety of the series one saga...but then it doesn't fit the criteria. But the first 12 issues deal with the question of Who is the Fourth Man? So that works out well. In a lot of ways Planetary is Warren Ellis just having fun with genres. That's particularly true of the first twelve issues. He gets to play with Kaiju, Hong Kong action, pulp fiction, silver-age funnybooks...and he does so in a manner that is reverent and deconstructionist. In this he's aided by John Cassaday whose work always captures the feel of the disparate genres and is the perfect complement to Ellis' writing. This is probably the only Ellis that is going to show up on my main list. It's not as important or as personal a work as Transmetripolitan (which will at least get an honorable mention). But for me it's more "fun". Especially those early issues of Planetary that really set my mind on fire when they came out.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 3, 2017 18:27:43 GMT -5
#8: Avengers: Mansion Siege
Avengers #271, 273-277 Roger Stern's great Avengers run climaxes with this truly epic story where the new Baron Zemo recruits a horde of supervillains to become the new Masters of Evil. His intricate plan goes off like clockwork as they take the Avengers off guard, infiltrating and taking over the mansion, capturing and torturing the Avengers inside, as well as Jarvis. Only the Wasp remains at large, outside the mansion. Calling in the reserves, she puts together a makeshift team of heroes to truly live up to the team's name - and Avenge their fallen friends, leading to a crazy battle that ends the only way it could: with a one on one battle between Cap and Zemo amidst the rubble and the bodies of their comrades. Add in some great art by the legendary team of Buscema and Palmer, and for me, this is the top Avengers story of all time. Crimebuster did such a nice job on this... I'm just stealing his post... I also vote for this for #8. I LOVE Monica Rambeau... she's a very unrated and underused character, IMO... she should be getting the push they give Carol Danvers, IMO. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Aug 3, 2017 19:19:06 GMT -5
#8: Avengers: Mansion Siege
Avengers #271, 273-277 Roger Stern's great Avengers run climaxes with this truly epic story where the new Baron Zemo recruits a horde of supervillains to become the new Masters of Evil. His intricate plan goes off like clockwork as they take the Avengers off guard, infiltrating and taking over the mansion, capturing and torturing the Avengers inside, as well as Jarvis. Only the Wasp remains at large, outside the mansion. Calling in the reserves, she puts together a makeshift team of heroes to truly live up to the team's name - and Avenge their fallen friends, leading to a crazy battle that ends the only way it could: with a one on one battle between Cap and Zemo amidst the rubble and the bodies of their comrades. Add in some great art by the legendary team of Buscema and Palmer, and for me, this is the top Avengers story of all time. This story gets a little better everytime I read it. Nice write up. |
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Post by hondobrode on Aug 3, 2017 19:52:56 GMT -5
# 8 - Watchmen # 1-12 by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons. The Charlton heroes ?  Whod've thunk it ?  Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons deconstructing the Charlton characters, and taking it a step further, they would go on to be bigger than the originals.  One of the best superhero stories of all time.  As close to perfect as it gets.  A pretty good live-action film from a few years back and a perennial best selling graphic novel soon to be an HBO series |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Aug 3, 2017 20:52:22 GMT -5
Bram Stoker's Dracula  Written by Roy Thomas Art by Mike Mignola "Dracula" #1-4, Topps Comics, 1992 For the folks playing at home I think a pattern should be starting to appear with this selection, and my prior one: I love horror books, especially if they feature vampires. While Coppola's film may not be my favorite adaptation, the visual look that Mike Mignola's art brought to the film certainly makes it memorable so it was only fair that he be allowed to do the art for the film's comic adaptation and man is it awesome. His page lay outs in particular are beautiful to behold in just how masterfully they move the story along:  And as always his uses of shadow and light is just masterful. My only complaint is that after acquiring some Mignola's original black and white pages I just wish they had done the whole book like that:
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Post by hondobrode on Aug 3, 2017 21:43:25 GMT -5
The movie was stunning and this was an exceptionally fine adaptation.
IIRC my ex-wife even liked this.
Topps had some good stuff going on, esp the Kirby.
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