This is week two since I was asked to come up with a list of my favorite comics. It’s a tough list to make since I’ve read a lot of great comics over the decades. I broke it down categories. This week is long running series that are still going. Except a couple of them have stopped. It’s tough to categorize things.
Long running series to check out:
All of these series are good and I’ve been buying them for a long time. You can find many trade paperback collections of them and start with any of them. Sure it’s fun to start with volume one but if you get volume three of anything then give it a read.
“Savage Dragon” by Erik Larsen. Ongoing.
271 issues and counting. This is a superhero story so expect superhero stuff to go on. Except that it’s a story that takes place in real time so everybody ages just like we do. The original Dragon isn’t even the star of the book anymore and for the last five years or so it’s his son who the book is about. This one ran for 144 issues, It can be found in 12 oversized hardcovers or 24 trade paperbacks. Read whatever you can find. “Invincible” is the name and story of a teenage superhero. But that is too simple an explanation. A lot of characters are introduced and a lot of plot happens. Plus bloody and violent fights. It’s a series that keeps evolving and stays entertaining. It’s also another fast paced read. They made this into an Amazon animated series that people really like. From what I read the violence of the cartoon takes many people by surprise. “Usagi Yojimbo” by Stan Sakai. Ongoing. I cannot praise Sakai and Usagi enough. I’ve been reading this comic since 1986 or so and it’s closing in on 300 issues across various publishers. Usage Yojimbo takes place in feudal Japan and Usagi is a rabbit and all the other characters are also animals. Other than that it’s a super well done straight forward action/adventure samurai story. Sakai is a master of his craft and a cartoonist of the highest order. I’m fond of saying that all Usage Yojimbo stories are “A’s” there is only whether they are A-, A, or A+. There is never a stinker. Or even a B. There are a ton of Usagi collected editions and you can start with any one of them. Someone recommended stating with “The Dragon Bellows Conspiracy” and I can’t see why not so start there. “Love and Rockets” by Jaime Hernandez and Gilbert Hernandez. Ongoing. This one you’ll find on a lot of people’s “Best Of” lists. “Love and Rockets” has been published since the early 1980s and there are tons of collected editions to choose from. Pick any one of them. The brothers each have their own stories and don’t collaborate. Each tells the story of a group of people over time. Jaime has his cast of Los Angeles and are Mexican American characters who have all grow up over time. Gilbert tells a lot of stories set in the fictional small Mexican town of Palomar. “Stray Bullets” by David Lapham Ongoing. Maybe. Another long time favorite this one has three volumes with about 90 issues in total. You can find it in various collections including the “Uber Alles Edition” that collects all 41 issues of volume one. “Stray Bullets” is a crime comic that I usually describe a, “A regular person gets involved with something or someone criminal and then things go wrong.” Very wrong. Lapham is an excellent storyteller and he uses an eight panel grid for most of the comic and it works well. The story has a lot of regular characters in it but also a lot of people who come and go. I think volume two has the most regular characters in it but it also takes place before volume one. That’s a little weird but I really didn’t notice it after a while. “Uber” and “Uber: Invasion” by Kieren Gillen, Canaan White, and David Getes. Almost finished but in limbo. Two volumes of 27 and 17 issues but the story is unfinished. This comic is an alternate history story in which super powered people are invented near the end of World War Two. First the Germans get a head start and then the British and Americans get in the game. How can you realistically use super heroes in a war and how would they change the outcome? They are not easy or cheap to create nor is their outcome guaranteed. This series is a lot of fun. It’s about war so it’s pretty violent and bloody but the characters and strategies are interesting. I could read this one again right now. “Birthright” by Joshua Williamson and Andrei Bressan. Finished. Fifty issues. This one is a fantasy series set in our world and another. It starts with a young teenager who goes missing and is missing for years. It wrecks his mother, father, and brother but then a full grown man who looks like Conan shows up claiming to be him. A couple of years have gone by for the family but more years have passed for the missing brother. It turns out he stumbled into a magical world where time moved faster. Now a villain from that world of magic wants to take over ours. It’s a fun ride full of twists and good visuals. One thing I really liked about this series was the ending. Not only did they end the big war story but then they had an epilogue that was a few issues long that wrapped up all the characters’ individual stories. I thought that second ending was well done and something we rarely get. Good stuff. “Strangers in Paradise” by Terry Moore. Finished. Maybe. 110 issues. This was the first series by Terry Moore and it comes in four volumes with volume three being the big one of ninety issues. It’s a story that’s about relationships with a little bit of fantasy thrown in. Francine and Katchoo are best friends and Katchoo is madly in love with Francine but Francine likes men. It’s about their lives, loves, and friendships with a good cast of characters. Katchoo also has a past as a secret agent. That’s where the fantasy creeps in. This series isn’t really about plots but is about characters and what happens between them. Lots of love and heartache. Terry Moore’s art is terrific and he is excellent at drawing emotions and expressions. I’d say his art is in the tradition of Milton Caniff cartoon realism. I really like it. Moore has a lot of other stuff to check out too like “Rachel Rising,” Five Years,” “Echo,” “Paradise Too,” and there might be more Strangers in Paradise in his future too. You can find it all collected into trade paperbacks and hardcovers. “The Walking Dead” by Robert Kirkman and Charles Adlard. Finished. One hundred and ninety three issues. I thought this one would just keep going forever but it ended suddenly in 2019. Everyone knows the TV show since it was such a big hit but I’m a fan of the comic. It kept me guessing for sixteen years. For those who don’t know this comic takes place after the zombie apocalypse but it’s not really about the zombies. We never find out the story behind the apocalypse. This comic is about the survivors and the zombies are really there to represent sudden death. What is it like to live in a world where sudden death is all around? Tony Moore is the co-creator of The Walking Dead but he only drew the first six issues. Charles Adlard drew the next 187 issues and he doesn’t get nearly the praise that he should. He got better and better as the series went on and his storytelling is excellent. It’s a lot of work to draw that many issues of a comic and not a lot of people have done it. He did it and he did it well. Of course all of “The Waking Dead” is available in collected editions. And even though the series was originally in black and white they are in the process of coloring it now. I think they’re up to issue 110 in the coloring process. “Astro City” by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson. Ongoing. This is a long running series that’s been published since the mid-1990s in at least four volumes. I think it’s around a hundred issues. It’s a series of stories, set in Astro City, about super heroes and it tries to make them as believable as possible. It does that by trying to make them as human as possible. Sometimes the stories are even told from the POV of a normal human. The art and writing in this one really come together to make the reader feel things. We can feel the awe of seeing superheroes, the sometimes sad motivations that drive some people to crime, the exhaustion of trying to save as many people as possible, and lots of other feelings. I must admit that I’ve lost track of this series over the last ten years. I started buying it in collected editions but I have to do an inventory of what I have and what I need. So pick up some of the TPBs and catch up with me.
If you really want to jump in the deep end pick up the giant volume called “Luba” by Gilbert and the other giant volume called “Locas” by Jaime (pronounced High-Me and not Jame-Me).