I'm a
Warren Ellis fan, he's a writer that generally combines some real-life aspect/science/news into his stories...
Many say his magnum opus is "
Transmetropolitan" - most compare this series to Hunter S. Thompson. It's cyberpunk-ish. I've not read this. I will in time, i prefer his shorter series.
1) Global Frequency - sort of like a X-Files - GF is a private org that governments hire to solve crises which consists of 1,001 regular people who serve the GF. Each has a specialty: police detective, scientist, parkour enthusiast, etc. and depending on their physical location and the crisis that needs resolution, the leader Miranda Zero and Aleph (the computer hacker/dispatcher) will summon/call on various GF members to help. 2 tpb's. A tv series pilot was leaked on net and word is Ellis was pi$$ed, so he canceled the series.
2) Fell - about a police detective who is a good profiler/detective. only 7 issues or so has been published. Ellis' computer crashed and he lost the scripts to the rest of the series
3) Gravel - Ellis and co-creator/artists Mike Wolfer created William Gravel, a SAS sergeant who is also a 'combat magician' ... he uses magic to aid his soldier skills. often tasked by SAS to face supernatural threats. a bunch of mini's starting with "Strange Kiss" and then "Stranger Kiss" and then "Strange Killings" and maybe 4 more minis before Gravel got a 22 issue series in which he is a one of the Minor Seven and tasked by one of the Major Seven to find out who killed one of the Major Seven. Gravel in his investigations looks to be the King of Magicians of the UK. Will he succeed? This series is followed by Mike Wolfer's 4 or 5 issue mini called "Gravel: Combat Magician". Ellis didn't write this one.
4) Moon Knight with artist Declan Shalvey - lots of buzz around this 6 issues published circa 2014. These 6 issues is representative for me of Ellis' writing - compact scripts which allow artist to really get into drawing/storytelling. For me, it's hard to describe the magic and goose pimples i got from reading this.
5) Red = nothing like the Bruce Willis/Morgan Freeman movie which it inspired. CIA assassin wants to retire and live out rest of life in peace, but the CIA sends a hit team after him instead to retire him permanently.
6) Planetary - homage to the pulp and superheroes - this is a candidate for many fans for GOAT series .... John Cassaday's
random others:
Geoff Darrow's Shaolin Cowboy - minimal dialogue but loads of gore and Darrow's super-detailed artwork is a beauty!
Swamp Thing - Alan Moore's run - classic, another GOAT candidate
Sandman by Neil Gaiman - a candidate for GOAT series - about Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams
Animal Man - Grant Morrison's run
Doom Patrol - Grant Morrison's run
Invisibles - many call this series Grant Morrison's GOAT
New X-Men - Grant Morrison's run - some of the Fox X-Men movies used concepts from this series
Grant Morrison's JLA run (Justice League of America)
Brian Azzarello/Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets - crime series - should be an HBO series soon
Astonishing X-Men - Joss Whedon/John Cassaday's run
Suicide Squad - John Ostrander's run, upcoming Will Smith based on this concept, like a 'Dirty Dozen' - supervillains working for the gov't on suicide jobs in order to reduce their sentences
Sin City - Frank Miller - crime/noir - i love noir, this series is beautiful in black/white, Miller is masterful in his art/storytelling
Scalped - crime series about an Amerindian police detective investigating crime on reservations by Jason Aaron
DMX - Brian Wood writing about near future and how NYC is a DMZ
Couriers - quick anime-type Brian Wood read - about NYC couriers who deliver non-traditional - rumored to be a movie sooner or later
Smoke and Guns - homage to cult film The Warriors .... 'cigarette girls' sell cigarettes in zones, and one of them gets caught selling cigs not in her zone and it's a night in her life as she tries to travel through various zones to get back to her zone to safety - would be great as an action movie IMO
Annihilation and
Annihilation Conquest - Marvel's epic cosmic/space events ... Annihilus, leader of the Negative Zone leads his forces to try to take over our dimension... Silver Surfer, Nova and a few others protects our universe... this reads like an epic movie summer blockbuster!
Criminal - more crime/noir stories - Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are excellent in this if you like crime
Parker series adapted by Darwyn Cooke - nice graphics/adaptations , Parker is a professional thief...
Rick Remender's Fear Agent - intergalactic agent;
Uncanny X-Force;
Deadly Class - set in 1980's, where do the Mafia/Yakuza/Triads send their children for training?
Walt Simonson's Thor run
Peter David's Hulk run
Mike Grell's Jon Sable, Freelance - about mercenary who moonlights as a children's books author and makes more money than his mercenary work
Mike Grell's The Longbow Hunters - parts of tv series Arrow is based on this
Mike Mignola's Hellboy
Loaded Bible - clone of Jesus Christ in future fighting vampires
Fables - what if Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf were real unbeknownst to the rest of humanity?
Mark Waid a longtime DC Comics writer on Superman always wanted to write a what if story about Superman turning evil... his
Irredeemable is that story with a Superman-like character and obviously NOT published by DC
Sandman Mystery Theater - a 1940's detective series ... not related to Neil Gaiman's Sandman, DC had a golden age superhero called Sandman who had a gas that puts people to sleep, Wesley Dodd is the Sandman and he goes solving mysteries/crime ... great 1940's retro feel.
Luther Strode - 3 minis so far, 3rd is unfinished iirc - what if a weakling sent away for a Charles Atlas' become a strongman from a 99 pounds weakling type course?
Wolverine: Enemy of the State - what if HYDRA controlled Wolverine? they use him to hunt and kill the rest of the superheroes of the Marvel Universe but of course! Mark Millar's writing combined with John Romita Jr's art is full of epic action!
Wolverine: Weapon X - Barry Windsor-Smith's was the first to flesh out Wolverine's origin
Invincible - many say this is the GOAT superhero series - Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead fame writes this ... this and TWD is consistently in the Top 10 monthly sales
Brian K Vaughan's Y the Last Man - what do you do if you are the last man on earth in a world populated with females?
Brian K Vaughan's Ex-Machina - what if a superhero is the mayor of a city?
Brian M Bendis' Ultimate X-Men;
Ultimate Spider-Man = the Ultimate Universe is a modern retelling of the classic superhero stories that made the Marvel Universe; his
Alias series - Netflix's Jessica Jones is based on this
Frank Miller and artists John Romita Jr's Man Without Fear - retelling of Daredevil's origin - netflix's tv series partly based on this
Hawkeye - Ed Brubaker/Matt Fraction's run, what does the non-super powered hero who is part of the Avengers which is full of aliens, a god, and super-powered heroes do in his spare time?
Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four run
Spent 2 hours typing this up between workflow - i have more reco's -- all off the top of my head/brainstorming ... ran the spectrum of superheroes to non-superheroes for you, enjoy!
@Kneeblock can you mention some titles from Yoshihiro Tatsumi? This place is sorted by series.
@Stickgrappler
@Leigh
S
@Super Dave
@Darqnezz or
@pattitude
