Tell me about the great new comics you are reading!

[The Disgruntled Poet]

I'd like to hear about whatever new comics people are reading. And why. I buy lots. I'll highlight some lesser known ones:

The Atom- Gail Simone is writing a very weird superhero comic that still sometimes reads like a Silver Age DC title. The hero is a scientist and has science-y adventurs (uh, sort of.) Ivytown is much weirder than ever before.

The Irredeemable Ant-Man- I don't know if anyone has ever done a superhero this scummy. Kirkman delightedly (and delightfully) has created a hero-- well, no a character with superpowers, who is far worse than what Spidey would have been if Uncle Ben wouldn't have gotten killed.

Shadowpact-- Bill Willingham (Fables, Elementals) is writing a team superhero book that's unique-- tragic, silly, dark, funny, all at the same time, comprised of oddball mystical heroes that never quite made it on their own.

G0DLAND-- this weird sendup of Kirby FF-New Gods-and other stuff by Joe Casey is a favorite. Pastiche done with real joy and wit and attitude. If you wish someone did an updated version of fun Kirbyesque comics from the 60s /early 70s, this is for you.

SheHulk-- Dan Slott is my favorite Marvel writer. This comic has lots of twists and turns with Jen working at a lawfirm specializing in superhuman law. Supporting cast is the Mad Thinker's Awesome Android, Two-Gun Kid, Man-Wolf, S.H.I.E.L.D and even cosmic types. A great example of what fun a well imagined comic can be if cut loose.

[ShannonA]

I haven't found anything in the last couple of years that has been as exciting as the last batch of great books like Lucifer, Fables, and Queen & Country, gone several years ago now.

But here's the better of what I'm reading that's new:

Checkmate. My favorite of the new superhero comics coming out of DC's Crisis. A neat mix of superheroes and espionage that is the closest I can come to a Queen & Country fix while Rucka is instead writing other stuff. I'd actually rate this among my favorites of new stuff, but I don't have any faith it's going to be around for long.

Ex Machina. Vaughan's political superhero comic set in the wake of 9/11. It's got some good characters and some good plotting and has grown on me from book to book, though I'm still waiting for the storyline that'll entirely wow me.

Jack of Fables. Hardly a new comic, since it's a Fables spin-off. I loved the first trade, and if you could actually count this as a new series, I'd say this is the one great one in the mix.

Legion of Super-Heroes. The new Legion is actually pretty good. I've enjoyed the first two volumes, and need to pick up #3 sometime when I have the cash. It's pretty standard super heroes with a pretty good science-fiction twist. It hasn't risen that high above its constituent genres, but it's well written and well plotted.

[Brad Ellison]

Jonah Hex. Straight-up badass spaghetti western awesomeness. I love that fact that nearly every issue is a self-contained short story.

[Quasar]

A few new ones that haven't been mentioned.

52 - I simply loved that book. I was really suprised how well it went, both from the point of view of getting a weekly book out on time for a whole year as well as it keeping my enthusiasm to go to the local comic store every week.

DMZ - The best new regular book I've read in a long time. About a photojournalist in a civilwar torn NYC. I imagine it brings home various current world events to many people who may not really think about it. Great writing and art that really suits. I was actually disappointed that it missed out on nominations for various comic awards over the past year.

All Star Superman - A really cool silverage-y Superman with a creative team I simply love. About my only gripe is the schedule

And though a bit older, I'll also pimp Age of Bronze. Its a simply brilliant retelling of the Trojan War. A masterpiece in the making in my opinion. The schedule is really erratic though so I've had to move to get that book in trades.

[Turbo]

I'll ditto the love of 52 and DMZ.

These three have been going for a while, but there's still new-ish.

Y: The Last Man -- What if all male mammals died in an instant, save for one street magician and his pet Capuchin monkey? Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra provide a fully-realized world with lots of sociological/psychological fallout from the big death, and obviously includes and almost-exclusively female cast.

Invincible -- By Robert Kirkman and now drawn by Ryan Ottley, this is pure superhero goodness. Mark Grayson is the son of the world's Superman equivalent, and gains superpowers during high school. Invincible provides a superhero world that has come to grips with the deconstruction of the late 80s and risen from the ashes of the Extreeeme 90s to show us what a 21st century superhero comic looks like.

Walking Dead -- Kirkman again, with Charlie Adlard on pencils. Kirkman and Adlard provide a serial zombie story that actually gets stronger as it goes on. The series follows a police officer, his son and wife on the road with a shifting cast of survivors, and gives rich psychological examination of characters, opens up moral/ethical issues. Black and white but I think all coloring could really do is make it easier to tell some of the characters apart. It's also easier to get away with gore without coloring.

I'd also suggest people check out the new Blue Beetle series. I stopped getting it in single issues due to economic constraints, but it's great new teen supers, following a Hispanic-American Blue Beetle in a new version of the character. Good dialogue, cool characters, and not as ethnically white-washed as most of the rest of the supers genre.

[Anaka]

If we include web comics, then Girl Genius and Ctrl-Alt-Delete are my two stand-bys.

[ShannonA]

I have yet to get excited about DMZ. I bought the first two trades, and I generally agree that the art is great, but the story just doesn't seem to have gone anywhere. I'm on the fence as to #3.

As for 52, I believe the first trade is out this week. It's at the top of my buy list.

[vitus979]

I picked up the first hardcover trade of Runaways a couple weeks ago. Good story all around, plus Molly is adorable. Go Priness Powerful. :)

[Old Scratch]

Well, I was reading Artesia, but there hasn't been one in ages.

The only other thing I've been picking up is Wasteland.

I might pick up the Sworn Sword when it comes out...

But I'm not into superhero comics.

[Jack]

Invincible is always good.

Noble Cause as well.

Black Panther isn't quite as great as it has been but I basically blame Civil War. Then again, nothing has made me hate the characters in the book. Unlike say, what reading New Avengers and the like did for Iron Man.

Jonah Hex has been pretty much spot on the whole run.

American Way was awesome, and now is in tpb.

[Firelight]

I definitely second All-Star Superman and Y: The Last Man, and mention 3 from Marvel that I really like right now:

Nova, which picks up with the eponymous title character in the aftermath of the Annihilation Wave, running himself ragged trying to respond to every major threat in the galaxy. Very well written.

Iron Fist, which is currently being filled with tons of Pulpy Kung-fu and Chi-powered pistols against armies of demon-ninjas goodness.

and last, Agents of Atlas, a 6-issue series now available as a hardcover (possibly also as a trade, not sure on that), following the return of a group of characters from the days before Marvel was Marvel, when it was still Atlas Comics. Again, much pulpy goodness.

[Joebot]

Anybody else reading Marvel's adaptation of Stephen King's "Dark Tower?" I haven't picked up #5, which came out last week, but the first four issues were pretty good. Peter David does a solid job with the script. He nicely mimics the dialect that SK invented for the novels. The production values for the book are absolutely top-notch, including some "extras" at the back of each issue, like maps and some short stories.

My complaints are two-fold. First, for fans of the novels, there's nothing new in here yet. The story so far has been a straightforward retelling of Roland's flasback story from "Wizard and Glass." Marvel has said that upcoming issues will start to feature more new materials and new stories that aren't in the novels, so that's good.

And second, the art. Jae Lee's art is certainly very pretty. But I never would have described Mid-World as pretty. The style just doesn't match the content. Mid-World should be old and lived-in and run-down, and Lee's art doesn't capture that. He is very good with the horror elements though. His depiction of the Crimson King was terrific.

Despite those minor complaints, it's a good read, and a well-done adaptation.

[Jon F. Zeigler]

I've been thoroughly enjoying Fables.

Also, of all things, a Dark Horse Star Wars series. The Knights of the Old Republic book is really quite well done, with superb art and writing both.

[Fritzef]

I recently purchased the collected hardback of Mouseguard from Archaia press. The story is nothing special, but the drawing is really lovely--and the author relies on panels without text to tell a good deal of the story, which is interesting.

[Eric E.]

The new Blue Beetle series from DC is most excellent. It is one of the comics that actually got me back into them. I'm also enjoying Walking Dead, Heroes for Hire, Detective Comics, Batman, and the Green Lantern comics. This coming from a previous Marvel fanboy (back when the X-men fought the Brood-days) who didn't like DC comics. Now I'm almost the opposite. I cannot get into many Marvel titles, but I'm reading quite a few DC titles. I just wish Manhunter would come out again. :(