Curse_7781

My interest in comics has just returned and I'm interested in buying some trade paperbacks.

I already own the Dark Knight Returns, the Long Halloween, and Dark Victory.

I just bought the Batman Hush Tradepaper backs vol.1 and vol.2, Batman Year One and The Dark Knight Strikes Back.

Is there any other great trade paper backs anyone recommends?

exharrison

Kingdom Come

Curse_7781

One related note, the recommendations don't have to be from DC...I love Marvel Comics as well.

Edit: I have "The Watchmen" Trade Paperback and "Infinity Gauntlet".

MovieExchange

DC Vertigo - The Preacher series of TPB's, the Transmetropolitan series of TPB's.

Marvel - Earth X. As usual when Marvel has a good thing, they beat this into the ground with sequals that weren't as good (Universe X and Paradise X), but the first Earth X series was spectacular. Paradise X was particularly bad, as outside interference from editors (due to poor sales) castrated much of the story.

DataZak

V for Vendetta

DC: The New Frontier vols 1 & 2 (or get the ABSOLUTE edition)

BONE

Are you looking for completed collections or would you not mind trades of still-running series? If it's the latter, I would also recommend:

Fables (up to book 11 so far)

Y: The Last Man (Kimono Dragons which is vol. 8, I think, just came out)

100 Bullets (vol 1 - 10 so far)

Walking Dead (vol. 2 coming soon)

Invincible (the Ultimate collection is up to book 2. The third's coming in May, I think)

Take note that most of my recommendations aren't books featuring the "spandex brigade" (superheroes) except for New Frontier and Invincible. If you prefer to read supehero comics then I apologize for wasting your time.

Curse_7781

I'm surprised nobody's said the "Preacher" and SANDMAN (Neil Gailmans' books). Does anybody recommend these books?

DataZak

MovieExchange recommended Preacher. His post is above my first one.

Oops, forgot about Sandman . Yes, I recommend it. It's also available in ABSOLUTE goodness.

dadaluholla

Yeah, Preacher is a MUST BUY. Four of my favorite TPBs, which I find myself reading over and over:

The Authority Vol. 1: Relentless
The Authority Vol. 2: Under New Management
The Authority Vol. 3: Earth Inferno and Other Stories
The Authority Vol. 4: Transfer of Power

You obviously like Batman, and the Authority's Midnighter character is pretty much a Batman type character...aside from a few small differences of course.

madcougar

Love Planentary, Fables, the recent Daredevil collections, Bizzaro Comics. I also recently picked up The Freshman from Image. Loved the Milligan/Allred X-Force and X-Static books.

davidh777

If you like the Miller Batman, you might try Daredevil Born Again or the Miller Visionaries volumes (there's also an omnibus coming soon). X-Men Dark Phoenix is a classic.

Barbarian King

World's Greatest Superheroes - Alex Ross and Paul Dini
Superman For All Seasons - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
Superman: Birthright - Mark Waid and Leinil Francais Yu
Arkham Asylum - Grant Morrison and Dave Mckean
Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank - Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
Punisher MAX Volumes 1-6 - Garth Ennis (Perhaps the best and most consistent book on the market)
Punisher MAX: Born - Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
Green Arrow: Quiver - Kevin Smith
JLA: Tower of Babel
Crisis on Infinite Earths - Marv Wolfman and George Perez
Superman: Secret Identity - Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
Superman: Exile
Identity Crisis - Brad Meltzer and Morales
Justice Vol. 1 - Alex Ross and Jim Krueger
Infinite Crisis (Might need to read up on some storylines before jumping into this one)
Daredevil: Visionaries Frank Miller Vol. 1-3
Daredevil: Guardian Devil - Kevin Smith and John Queseda

Curse_7781

Thanks guys, you gave me recommendations that could last me a year!

bishop2knight

I recommend that you take it slow. It sounds like you're a huge Batman fan. With that in mind, maybe branch out to GOTHAM CENTRAL (there are 4 trades total). It's dark with good crime grit. If that works, expand to other Ed Brubaker books or Greg Rucka stuff.

I think a lot of people come back to comics or are introduced to them too quickly and jump right into these "good" books without learning what they like and then reading stories that are similar and slowly branching out.

MartinBlank

Another nod for Preacher.

davidh777

Birds of Prey is worth a look too

Curse_7781

I appreciate the recommendations everyone is giving me. Here are my selections:

Preacher TPB
SANDMAN TPB
100 Bullets TPB
Kingdom Come TPB
Batman: Arkham Aslyum
Batman: Blind Justice
Batman: Knightfall
Batman: No Mans Land
Batman: The Killing Joke
Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told
Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told
Daredevil - Born Again
Daredevil - Fall of the Kingpin
Punisher - Welcome Back, Frank
Punisher MAX: volumes 1-6
Punsher MAX: BORN
Daredevil: The Devil Inside and Out vol. 1
Daredevil: Decalogue
Daredevil: King of Hell's Kitchen
Daredevil: Yellow
Spiderman Maximum Carnage TPB
Spiderman: BLUE
GOTHAM CENTRAL TPB

It's gonna take some time to get all of these but I feel they're great stories worth reading. Thanks everyone.

stingermck

For all you DC Earth-2 fans, I cant recommend enough, Huntress: Darknight Daughter, that was just released. I had read her solo stuff in Batman family years ago, and this collection features that, as well as about half of her Wonder Woman back ups. Levitz makes these stories run at a breakneck pace, slowing down only for scenes of Helena in her civilian identity. Each issue builds on the previous, as one case will lead into another or multiple, making a great 200+ page storyline from start to finish.

And come on, a sweet Bolland cover to boot!

bishop2knight

You better damn believe it. Heck, you'll even find a quote from me on the back of Gail Simone's second trade for this title.

davidh777

On "Sensei & Student"? Which one?

bishop2knight

Hmmm, I think so, yeah. I'd have to check to be sure, but the image on Amazon doesn't seem right. Argh! My memory is terrible.

The quote doesn't have my name, just the site I was writing for: Paperback Reader.

vududaddi

I just started the fifth volume of Preacher (bought all 9 during the buy.com/google deal), and I'm loving every minute of it. I'm actually finding myself purposely slowing down or reading something different between each volume so that I can make the experience last longer. Good stuff (in a heretical sort of way).

Everything else I'd recommend seems to have been shouted out already:

The Sandman (my favorite series of all... go for the Absolute edition if you can)
Fables
Y: The Last Man
Walking Dead
Invincible (I haven't been much of a superheroes-in-tights fan since the early 90's X-Men days, but I've been digging this series because it feels so fresh)

But I think anything this forum recommends should be good... it's because of a thread like this that I'm now waist deep in the adventures of Jesse Custer.

davidh777

While their art is often wrong, in this case it matches my book. And this must be your quote:

"Saying that Birds of Prey is the best Batman-related comic book on the stands today would be a huge disservice to the book's creators..."

http://www.amazon.com/Birds-Prey-Sen.../dp/1401204341

Last BoP TPB I picked up, though, Between Dark & Dawn, was a bit of a disappointment.

bishop2knight

I agree that the title has dropped off a little. For awhile it was one of my favorite reads each month.

The Bus

I'll add my recommendation to Y: The Last Man. Probably one of the great series of all time (up there with Sandman, etc).

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Ex Machina: the mayor of New York City is a superhero, with powers given to him by some unknown/alien force that lets him talk to machines. Like a mix between a regular superhero comic and an episode of Spin City.

Oh, Sin City of course.

And let's not forget The Losers, a political/military thriller. Not as highly recommended as the others but a pretty good read.

And although this might be the only "for kids" comic book I read, it's still very good: Runaways. Has a lot of Buffy/Gilmore Girls type dialogue with clever social commentary/wit.

bishop2knight

I'm actually planning on putting Volumes 1-3 of The Losers in the exchange thread if anyone's interested. Solid read.