Good comics to read?

[Gi-go]

I want to get into a modern comic with a colored pages but I don't really know much about them so I'd really appreciate some help.

I'm going about making one of my own in the style below. I made that with a regular xacom, but I'm about to buy a cintiq tablet to make my workflow run faster. I'd love to hear some comics you guys are reading with awesome art (Preferably action packed or violent :

[Jester]

Are you talking about like webcomics or comic books? Also, what exactly are you trying to learn? Your style seems solid already, so are you just looking into learning good panel placement and such or what?

[Gi-go]

Just aiming at a web comic I could set up a site for.

Yeah, I'm just looking to learn a little of everything, improve my style and such.

[Jester]

At 8/14/11 12:32 AM, Gi-go wrote: Just aiming at a web comic I could set up a site for.

Yeah, I'm just looking to learn a little of everything, improve my style and such.

Honestly your style might be more complicated then you wanna go for a webcomic, because you'll have to draw all the characters a ton of times, which would take a really long time with your fairly realistic style.

I guess comic publishers like Dark Horse would be your best bet if you're looking to see styles similar to yours to help yourself improve. You can buy and read comics digitally on their site, and I think they give you some for free. If you're looking for comics to help teach you a solid way to tell a story, I recommend Lackadaisy , Boxer Hockey, and The Meek.

Lackadaisy isn't in color and the characters aren't even human so it probably won't help your art style, but it's the best comic I've ever read and has a fluency to it that I think is ideal for a webcomic The creator is incredible at drawing expressive characters, so you actually might pick up a thing or two. Boxer Hockey is also an example of great and interesting storytelling, though not quite as fluent as Lackadaisy. It's also pretty funny, but I get the impression that's not what you're going for. The Meek is set in a huge world with lots of fantasy elements like entirely new races and such without really being much of a elves and wizard type fantasy. It can get pretty confusing which sort of breaks the fluency, mostly in the 2nd chapter , but if you can get straight whats going on it'll be pretty amazing.

If none of those are working out, most webcomics have links to others somewhere on their site. Good luck to you.

[Gi-go]

Awesome! Thanks very much for the info, I will check all that out!

[J-qb]

I really enjoyed reading ratfist (which was finished a week ago) by Doug Tennapel, creator of earthworm jim. It's a bit more cartoony than your example, but still somewhat more realistic than a lot of webcomics. It has a lot of nice actionposes though. What I noticed in quite some webcomics is that the lineart and the coloring are done by two separate artists; that way you can lighten the burden a bit, making it easier to actually make one (or x) a week.

[Morthagg]

Well, the first comic I think of that's rather serious and has for instance a good 'real comicbook' layout instead of a different, wider layout that webcomics often have is FreakAngels. The comic recently came to an end, but I suggest you read it. It isn't exactly action packed, but it has its share. If you want good, consistent, serious an clear, FreakAngels can be a good example.

[Aigis]

For webcomics with traditional comic page layouts I'd recommend Gunnerkrigg Court and Templar, Arizona. Neither of which are particularly action packed (though Gunnerkrigg Court does have SOME intermittent action) and they're definitely not violent, but they're both great webcomics.

[test-object]

Personally, I really enjoy Subnormality. It looks like a very complex and tiring comic at first and you must be willing to sit through lots of text, but has some of the cutest dialogs ever.

[Gi-go]

Thanks very much guys, I've been looking through all of these! Dark Horse has some pretty sweet free comics on their site.

I wouldn't use it, but I really like the style in Freakangels, I'll have to check that out. The Gunnerkrigg stuff is pretty entertaining so far, I'll have to keep reading that along with the others.

Keep em coming, I'll read them all :)

[easydoom]

Although the new Deadpool comics kind of ruined the character.. I love the covers/art of the comic.
I feel like Dave Johnson would be a good artist to look at.
The writing style of it is pretty random and you can pick up the comic without having to read the previous ones.

Also you can download a lot of different books/videos on some approaches to coming up with your comic.

As far as writing is concerned, I really enjoy Grant Morrison.. he wrote The Invisibles which I highly recommend and The Return of Bruce Wayne(where Batman is sent back in time). I enjoyed the art of it a lot more than I did the comic itself. Andy Kupert did the covers for that series and I love his style.

[DrunkenMonkey123]

At 8/13/11 11:23 PM, Gi-go wrote: I'm going about making one of my own in the style below. I made that with a regular xacom, but I'm about to buy a cintiq tablet to make my workflow run faster. I'd love to hear some comics you guys are reading with awesome art (Preferably action packed or violent :

Modern day Marvel is pretty action packed. If you want violent, go for 2000AD.

[Gi-go]

Awesome, you're right Andy Kupert's style is right up my alley.

I'm familiar with most marvel and DC books, but I'd like to see a few books with more modern or unconventional styles to them if you guys know of any

[GoddaM]

At 8/15/11 06:09 PM, Gi-go wrote:

I'd like to see a few books with more modern or unconventional styles to them if you guys know of any

unconventional, you say? I like the hard to find stuff of Geoff Darrow, especially in Shaolin Cowboy

[Gi-go]

At 8/15/11 09:42 PM, GoddaM wrote:

At 8/15/11 06:09 PM, Gi-go wrote:

I'd like to see a few books with more modern or unconventional styles to them if you guys know of any

unconventional, you say? I like the hard to find stuff of Geoff Darrow, especially in Shaolin Cowboy

Lol this is extremely insane

[DrunkenMonkey123]

Like I say, 2000 AD is pretty good. These comics are some of the best:
Nemesis the warlock
Zombo
I suggest you buy and read a couple of these. They have very unique ideas, and the art isn't bad either.

[Morthagg]

Oh yeah, if you want a comic with a complicated layout, an intriguing atmosphere, intelligent (though sometimes confusing) themes and beautiful but extremely time-consuming graphics which makes for a comic that only updates once every few months..
Dresden Codak for you, my friend.

[TurkeyOnAStick]

At 8/17/11 03:41 AM, DrunkenMonkey123 wrote: Like I say, 2000 AD is pretty good. These comics are some of the best:
Nemesis the warlock

Oh hey, that's a pleasant surprise. Yeah, I'm a fan of Nemesis, too. Kevin O'Neill's b&w linework is impeccable.

[rendibsivad]

I have only ONE thing to say.. Jack Kirby.

[OoIndycisive]

I don't know how Modern it is but it's not too old. I enjoyed the artwork in the Battle Pope comic Illustrated by Tony Moore and colored by Val Staples. I'm not really sure if it's the style your looking for though it's a pretty goofy comic. Here's a panel with some action happening though.

[Gi-go]

Nice Dresden Codak is pretty entertaining.
Of course Kirby is a great inspiration for many inkers, always cool to see his stuff. I will be checking out the other artists :)