I've Read Watchmen, Too

A while back, I came across this story on Newsarama: http://www.newsarama.com/comics/080828-AfterWatchmen.html

This brief article posits next steps for new comic readers after reading Watchmen, those novice 'mics readers presumably dashing to better bookstores everywhere in fevered anticipation of the film coming to a theater near everyone in March.

Before I go off on my little rant here, let me first say that I love the book. It's far from my favorite comic, but any reader with half a brain will tell you what a seminal work it is for graphic storytelling. I'm also simply blown away by the fact that a teaser trailer for the film is moving so much paper. And heartening as it is to see stacks of Watchmen flying off the shelves--be it at a comic shop or at a Borders--my fear is this:

If you're starting out with Watchmen, you're never going to want to go near another comic book ever again.

No disrespect to the retailer who provided the article, but I would NEVER send a new comic reader immediately to Alan Moore (with 1 exception), or Grant Morrison for that matter. Maybe I'm wrong. True, Watchmen has few continuity obstacles, but it also belongs to a very specific time in comics history and is, in several ways, much too cumbersome a work to hurl into a new comic reader's hands and say, "Hey, newbie! This is what comics are all about! En-joy."

People need to go gently into that good night.

I know, I know. Opinions are like assholes. So let me be an asshole and give you my opinion.

The books below are, in my view, all perfectly reasonable--and reasonably perfect--jumping off points to read comics. I feel there's a solid mix of styles below, though all of the titles very clearly play to my sensibilities. The scripts possess no substantial continuity problems for the reader to tackle. The panel construction is readily decipherable (something I've given quite a bit of thought to over the past couple of years, as I've introduced or re-introduced several of my friends to comics).

And, perhaps most importantly, while Watchmen may be tossed around by the cartooning cognoscenti as comics for smart people, only the most ignorant of readers deny the intelligence to be found in a story simply told.

This is also not to say that what I've listed below are my absolute favorite books. For example, you won't find books like DC: The New Frontier or Identity Crisis on this, because they both require a working knowledge of the scope of the DC Universe. Even so...

Alright. Enough disclaimer-esque foreplay. Want to start (or restart) reading comics? These'll suit you right down to the ground:

Here we go, in no particular order...

1) Superman: For All Seasons, by Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
2) Batman: Year One, by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
3) A Contract with God, by Will Eisner
4) Queen & Country, Vol. 1: Operation Broken Ground, by Greg Rucka & Steve Rolston
5) Fell, Vol. 1: Feral City, by Warren Ellis & Ben Templesmith
6) Rising Stars, by J. Michael Straczynski et al
7) The Amazing Spider-Man, by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko
8) Marvels, by Kurt Busiek & Alex Ross
9) Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi
10) Concrete, by Paul Chadwick
11) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1, by Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill
12) The Lone Ranger, by Brett Matthews et al
13) Jack Kirby's Fourth World Saga, by Jack Kirby
14) Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon, by Steve Bryant
15) Grendel, by Matt Wagner
16) Criminal, by Ed Brubaker & Sean Philips
17) Peanuts, by Charles Schultz
18) Y: The Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra
19) Shortcomings, by Adrian Tomine
20) Exit Wounds, by Rutu Modan

Let me know what you think of this list, particularly if you read any of these for the first time. I'll try to write more on each title at a later date.

As I said, while many of them are, not all of these are my absolute favorites. However, maybe one or more of them can serve as a good first step...to you finding your own.


Read: um, any of the above, eh?
Watch: I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (dir. Mike Hodges, 2003)
Listen to: Do You Believe in Gosh?, by Mitch Hedberg (may he rest in peace)