Do you read comics? Anime discussion now included! - Page 2

*VampireNaomi* · 10-17-2005, 03:30 AM

Well, you know more than me then. I've never read the manga, though I'd love to.

I'd ask you how it's going in Japan, but I think there is already a thread about it. I better look for it.

El Virus · 10-17-2005, 07:59 PM

Okay, not only am I not a fan of Anime, but I do not watch television anymore. However, as I mentioned on another thread (only minutes ago), I am a big fan of an old series called Cowboy Bebop.
It dealt with a group of bounty hunters in the future. However, it has got a lot of "Film Noir" content, and goes through many deep themes. It is a rather pessimist show, specially considering the end, but together with GF, it was one of the things that had an amazing impact on my life.
Oh, and I have seen an episode of 'Get Backers', though I can't recall what it was about. The last anime show I caught a glimpse of was called 'Wolf's rain', and it was a pretty decent series.

As for comics, I adore MAD mag (if you consider it a comic); but I have also got hold of many of those vintage 'Pulp' magazines, and am starting to like them as well.

*VampireNaomi* · 10-18-2005, 04:58 AM

Do you know a series called Samurai Champloo or something like that? It's by the same people as Cowboy Bebop, and apparently it's almost as good. I don't know a thing about it, but the first eps just came out here so I may give it a try.

As for Cowboy Bebop, it's completely unfamiliar to me as well. However, what you just said about it makes it sound a lot more interesting than I thought.

I wish I could say something about MAD, but I think it was cancelled in my country. Sucks.

Rubacava · 10-18-2005, 07:30 PM

I absolutely love Cowboy Bebop, it's one of my favorite animes ever, but I'm not as fond of Samurai Champloo.

Velasco · 10-18-2005, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by El Virus

but I have also got hold of many of those vintage 'Pulp' magazines, and am starting to like them as well.

Oh man, I'd love to flick through one of those one day. Where did you get them from? Plus, they've surely got to be kinda pricey?

As for comics, I used to get alot of graphic novels out at the library, stuff like 2000AD, DC and Marvel comics, as well as a view others I can't remember. I preferred the graphic novels from the library, you had the whole series in one book, and because I didn't tend to read comics over and over, they didn't clutter up my room.

When I was alot younger, I used to read The Real Ghostbusters comics, as well as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. Those were awesome, but sadly, long thrown away.

As for anime, I picked up Akira in the library, however, I can't remember if this was the whole series, one book, or an abridged version, or something weird. It was a long time ago!

Finally, with manga, I'm not a great fan, but a friend of mine loves the stuff and I borrowed a couple of movies off him. The first I watched was, funnily enough, Akira, followed by Kai Doh Maru (sp?) and Laputa. I found Kai Doh Maru to be a bit boring though. However, it was awesome to look at.

El Virus · 10-18-2005, 09:27 PM

I haven't seen 'Samurai Champloon', but I've read about it in the internet.
If you ever get the chance to watch 'Cowboy Bebop', I suggest you to watch it. It is an incredible show which has gathered a big amount of fans all over the world; due to its great plot which deals with the characters rather than with the situations, and the subject of death. The music is absolutely fantastic, and some of the tracks are remarkably similar to GFs. I'm still trying to get the DVDs of the program...

@ Velasco, I cannot afford to buy the original ones, but there is a local comic book shop which has got some of them. They are worth the while.

Velasco · 10-19-2005, 12:16 PM

Along with the pulp fiction stuff, old satirical magazines like 'Punch' would also be awesome to check out. I've seen loads of cartoons from Punch (they often appear as sources for history lessons), but I've never seen what a whole magazine looks like.

90 SK · 10-19-2005, 06:57 PM

I love Bebop, with FLCL close in second. Shamploo I haven't seen much of (I recognised Spike's "voice", though). I can see how Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Shamploo would be brothers, though.

I don't read that many comics. Sure, I may go over some old DC batman comics once and a while, but for the most part I tend to avoid that genre all together. Not to say it's bad, it's just not my cup of tea at the moment.

Shuz · 10-20-2005, 04:44 AM

OT but Captain Skye you always have such cool avatars and signature pics.

El Virus · 10-20-2005, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Velasco

Along with the pulp fiction stuff, old satirical magazines like 'Punch' would also be awesome to check out. I've seen loads of cartoons from Punch (they often appear as sources for history lessons), but I've never seen what a whole magazine looks like.

Same here, we use those cartoons at school as well.
You can find their archive here.

And, Captain Skye, I've heard that the actor that made Spike is the same who acts as the main character in 'Samurai Champloo'.

*VampireNaomi* · 10-20-2005, 01:46 PM

If we're talking about the English version, he also voiced Ludger Brink in The Dig.

90 SK · 10-20-2005, 06:22 PM

^^^
Really? Wow, I hadn't heard that. Interesting. Thanks for the tidbit.

@ El Virus
Yeah, it is. He also is in s-CRY-ed, which is a little more generic but still pretty good.
Really, though, he's been in just about everything. His signature role is spike, though. Here's a listing of his other works. It's a pretty hefty list.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shuz

OT but Captain Skye you always have such cool avatars and signature pics.

thank you. most of my avatars are from FLCL or Bebop.

making an exception for my previous and current ones, being from the animatrix and now Killer 7 [/OT]

Velasco · 10-21-2005, 11:53 AM

Wow, I had no idea Punch went on until 2002.

El Virus · 10-23-2005, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myself

Okay, not only am I not a fan of Anime

Now that I come to think of it, I used to love anime, I spent all my younger days watching it; I don't know why I don't do so any more.
Another great show was Samurai X (that was the name in Spnaish), it's been a while since I last saw it.

*VampireNaomi* · 11-08-2005, 02:05 AM

I bought the first four episodes of Samurai Champloo yesterday. What a great series, it got me hooked the first minute. I thought I'd hate the music because I have nothing good to say about hiphop, but surprisingly there wasn't a single moment when the music was annoying.

The characters were interesting and I got great enjoyment out of the little sexual jokes here and there. The violence was your usual stuff, but it kind of surprised me because it has been really long since I watched anything that wasn't a children's anime.

I watched it in Japanese but checked out the English dub to hear what Steven Blum sounded like. I wouldn't have recognised him if I hadn't known it was him. He sounded like he was 20 or something, and was completely different from what he was like in The Dig. What a great voice actor.

El Virus · 12-09-2005, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yours truly

Spnaish

My spelling of 'Spanish' doesn't cease to amaze me...

SlipGun · 12-22-2005, 01:51 AM

A few years back I discovered a great series of comics called "War Picture Library." Very well-written stories, beautiful uncolored pen-and-ink drawings. They're a UK-based series and ran for a few decades. I've never seen them for sale around here. Pity.

trOmme · 12-30-2005, 02:04 AM

i'm reading DANIEL CLOWES' comics, those are amaizing.

Ghost World.

Pussey!

Caricatures

ELSE !

such particular stuff...

Julie Doucet kicks asses also... as Chris Ware and Leif Tande does.

Don't forget Thomas Ott

*VampireNaomi* · 12-30-2005, 08:20 AM

I really like the look on that last page. Beautiful!

DeadYorick · 04-06-2006, 09:04 PM

Of corse I read comics. Mostly spiderman and superman though. But they are my FAVORITES

Shuz · 04-06-2006, 10:42 PM

I read a few online comics as well.

www.pennyarcade.com - nerdy gamer humour
www.whiteninjacomics.com - wacky humour
www.alessonislearned.com - very arty, really creative stuff
www.qwantz.com - a funny comic about dinosaurs, they use the same panel everytime and just change the dialogue, it's hilarious
www.dieselsweeties.com - pixelated smutty romance involving robots
www.patheticinc.com - made entirely with pics taken from google image search

DeadYorick · 04-07-2006, 01:13 AM

Dont forget one of the most famous of them all

www.bobandgeorge.com it is megaman humor. It is one of the best comics since it has been on since 2000 and it is still one of the best voted

elbiolin · 04-16-2006, 03:22 PM

Well, I would like to mention some of my favourite comics too.
Some of them have been mentioned before but most of them not.

For starting I have to talk about some oldies. Comics like Herriman's Krazy Kat and McCay's Little Nemo following with Segar's Popeye and Schulz's Peanuts.
They have a mixture between humor and poetry that sometimes I miss it.
In this fashion I would like to mention the most recent Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Waterson and The Far side by Gary Larson. Chris Ware needs a category of its own - maybe blue and poetic - and among the funnier ones Mark O'hare's Citizen Dog.

I've never been a Heroes fan but certainly Will Eisner with his Spirit and Mike Mignola's Hellboy deserve to be in any list. The former showing what it can be done with a hero in seven pages - and that heroes can be funny too - and the latter demonstrating that there's another way for illustrating heroes, with plane colors, bolder lines and less details giving a really dark and less fancy atmosphere to them, revitalizing the horror gender.

From Europe, first I have to talk about Spain. Ibánez and his Mortadelo y Filemón comic, and the new guys like Manel Fontdevilla, Gallardo, Max and the not-so-news Carlos giménez, Daniel Torres - and his postmodern hero Roco Vargas - and Pellejero/Zentner's Dieter Lumpen adventures.

In France I have to mention Jacques Tardi's comics - mostly Adèle Blanc-Sec series. In Belgium, besides Hergé, I like the works of Ives Chaland - with his Freddy Lombard - and Franquin.
He's not really a comics ilustrator but I really love Ever Meulen illustrations - with his Escher style - and if anyone knows about a book with his work I would like to know about it. By the way he's dutch.

From the Underground verge I like The Fritz Cat by Robert Crumb and being on a Lucasarts forums I must recall Sam & Max by Steve Purcell.

Among Manga comics I would like to mention Dr. Slump by Akira Toriyama.

Finally being born over the River Plate I must to talk about people that have been working on argentinian magazines and papers on the last decades.
Argentinians like Quino and his Mafalda, Fontanarrosa and his gaucho Inodoro Pereyra, Carlos Trillo and Cacho Mandrafina, the uruguayans Tabaré and Alberto Breccia - with his argentinian son Enrique -, the italian Hugo Pratt - with Corto Maltese - and mostly all the people that used to work on Humor magazine - a kind of Mad magazine - against the militar dictatorship.

That's pretty much a very accurate list of my favourites.

*VampireNaomi* · 06-17-2006, 05:52 PM

I just finished reading Batman: The Long Halloween and it completely blew me away. At first glance I thought I'd hate the slightly caricatured art style, but now I find myself sad because all Batman comics aren't drawn like that.

The plot was very film noirish (loved the Godfather references in the first chaper) and intriguing. I don't want to spoil it to anyone, but someone starts killing members of the Falcone crime family once a month, every time on some special holiday. The mystery is built very well, I took several guesses at the murderer's identity, only to realise that I was wrong, then to realise that I was right and then wrong after all. The regular Rogue's Gallery was used well and I especially liked the appearances by The Joker and The Riddler.

To make a long story short, I recommend this to everyone, even those who don't normally like superhero comics. This one is more about the murder mystery and character development than action.

Necroman · 06-28-2006, 10:07 PM

Right, I'm really into comics, I started out with the first series of Metal Hurlant and advanced to Slow Death and other Last Gasp comics of the time.
My alltime favorite comic artist is Richard Corben, he really reinvented the use of the airpen (or whatever that thing is called). After reading almost all of his works a new stile distracted my attention, that of Mike Mignola, the creator of Hellboy and other strange characters in his paranormal/horror stories.
Then I saw the Tank Girl movie and I really wanted to see the comics of which the movie was partially based on.
Then there was the Warhammer series that didn't really impress me and simmilar comic type ABC Warriors.
After some more french comics as Lanfeust des Etoiles (the early series was called Lanfeust de Troy) Magazine, I finally discovered my (now) favorite comic series: Hellblazer.
Now I'm looking forward to reading the Army Of Darkness comics

urluckyday · 06-29-2006, 12:49 AM

I read a lot of the 90's Batman or Superman comics...I love the art style no matter how simplistic it was...
I also read a little bit of anime. I like One Piece in particular.

*VampireNaomi* · 03-04-2007, 11:25 AM

Anyone here like Fullmetal Alchemist? It recently started in my country (both anime and manga), and I've now watched some five eps and read the first volume. It's not going to become my ultimate favourite or anything, but I think it's a refreshing change from the mediocre stuff that most of everything is.

I've also been introduced to a manga series called Emma, which is about a maid and and a man from an upper class falling in love. It takes place in Victorian England, so the two of them obviously face problems because of this. It's well drawn, the plot and characters are captivating and -- thank Heavens -- there are no chibis or hyperactive characters.

coat check girl · 04-28-2007, 01:23 PM

I love manga. My fav.s are: DNAngel, Ultra Cute, and Mew Mew power. Once peace is good.

Pho3nix · 04-28-2007, 01:49 PM

Yes, I read Spider-man and Spawn comics

...no Manga for me

GravyTrader · 04-30-2007, 07:56 AM

Hey, Over the last two months ive read 70 or so issues of spiderman, mainly carnage and venom etc. Very Very good , and now I sorta hate the films, check out anything by warren ellis. stuff like stormwatch, an xmenish group that is better than xmen imho.
Transmetropoliton, a futuristic scifi political journalist who is a *tad insane. warren ellis's work is very much adult-centered
Hellboy etc <-- FANTASTIC

*VampireNaomi* · 05-12-2007, 12:59 PM

Does anyone read a manga called Monster by Naoki Urasawa? I picked up the first volume yesterday and four others today. I'm simply amazed at how brilliant it is, and the only thing I regret is that I didn't get more as the fifth volume ended with a cliffhanger.

Here are examples of the art and a basic plot description. Everyone who likes thrillers and suspense should definitely give this a try. Also, huge eyes, panty shots, chibis and other annoying manga clichés often seen in teenage manga don't appear a single time in this title.

Rubacava · 05-13-2007, 12:51 AM

Ooo that looks pretty cool.. I'll definitely have to look into that one.

N3mo · 05-19-2007, 09:12 PM

Here I'm now watching a nice anime called Gankutsuou, it is based on the novel "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexander Dumas (but in a futuristic world). If you like the book, then you'll love this series.
As the design, it is a bit wierd. There is a strange use of patterns for backgrounds and characters, hard to explain in words. :/

Sallim · 05-20-2007, 04:44 PM

I loved Gankutsuou! The plot is getting weird at the end, anyway... it was very entertaining. Worth a watch.

Klia · 06-12-2007, 04:13 PM

Anybody here read Wormwood: Gentlemen Corpse?

Why do I love it? The tentacles of course!

itchythesamurai · 06-22-2007, 07:01 AM

I enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo, been meaning to read Three Musketeers. As far as anime goes, I only like Bebop, and to a lesser extent, Champloo. I'm a major comic book nerd and I could rant for hours against manga. Favorite comic book writer is a tossup between Garth Ennis and Alan Moore. Frank Miller's up there as well.

Du Man · 07-01-2007, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VampireNaomi

Anyone here like Fullmetal Alchemist?

hells yeah! I don't normally watch anime, but that was the first and only series I've watched through so far. That show constantly was one step ahead of me when guessing what would happen next. I love it, and it's very moving to.

I'm planning to get to Cowboy Pepop after hearing that it actually just takes place in Earth's solar system and has a very good soundtrack. Does it have a lot of story arches though like FMA? FMA was great and all, but all those story arches and cliffhangers just kept leaving me stressed out!

Other than that, the first serious anime I watched was Ghost in the Shell II, the movie. I also watched speed racer and some voltron and DBZ when I could find it.

As for comics, I am a devote fan of Planetary, the Watchman, and the League of Extraordinary Gentilimen. I occasionally read y-the last man when i'm waiting for the bus, and global frequencey and transmopolitan. And to support the poorer comics, I'll occasionally buy one of the comics that looked as if it was printed and stapled at kinkos. They're pretty good thought.

(....a GF comic....if only we could combine the famed fan stories of VampireNaomi and the constant stream of fan art....hmmmmm.................)

spoon_man · 07-20-2007, 01:19 AM

Anime tends to be pretty damned dope. I especially love the works of Miyazaki and Takahata. I never read comic books when I was a kid but a few months ago I picked up the first trade paperback of 'The Sandman' and was blown away. Ever since then I've been collecting. I like anything by Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore and Frank Miller. I've been collecting mainly artsy Dark Horse comics, some Batman and Hellblazer.

P.S. Daniel Clowes is the man.

*VampireNaomi* · 11-26-2007, 03:04 PM

Anyone familiar with the French comic Iznogoud? I watched the cartoon as a kid but didn't read the comics for some reason until now. The title has quickly climbed to the top of my favourite comic book titles because it's so amazingly funny and far from repetitive, even though almost every story has the same basic plot.

It's going to be published again in the UK starting next March, but it looks like they're skipping over the earlier stories and starting right from "The Wicked Wiles of Iznogoud". Doesn't matter to me since I have the earlier stories in Finnish, but I hope they continue translating right to the end because I'm missing all the new ones.

Anyway, I find it interesting to compare the albums written by Goscinny and those Tabary did alone after the former's death. The most obvious difference if of course that Goscinny wrote short stories whereas Tabary's stories last an album each, but Tabary also has less puns and satire. On the other hand, his plots can get very odd every now and then, which makes for an interesting read. Even the new albums are pretty good, and the decline definitely isn't anything like what eventually happened to poor Asterix.

squiike · 07-17-2009, 04:48 AM

Don Rosa stories
Berserk
The Watchmen