THE comic book list.

upon my fierce recommendation, my pal Bob recently picked up Watchmen, and was blown away. soon, he was asking for OTHER good comic reading.

naturally, in true Raman form, i obsessed over the razor-sharp list that i would provide back to him (of my semi-recent comic greats from the past ~15 years). i now share that list to the rest you, my non-comic-book reading fans (everything below links to Amazon for more info/purchase, but you can probably just as easily get this literary greats from your local library, or if you live in NY, from the storage unit that houses the bulk of my material belongings).

and a-WAY we go...

Watchmen - this one is THE great. soon to be made into a movie (sure to disappoint =(. but i stand firmly by my belief that this should be required reading for all (high) school children.

Scott Pilgrim – this is currently my favorite comic (being made into a movie w/ Michael Cera leading). Very real-life/manga-influenced. About a normal guy in Canada.
Marvels – a tale of the beginnings of the Marvel Universe (Spidey, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four, etc), from a reporters POV
Kingdom Come – a tale of the END of the DC Universe (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc), from a minisiter’s POV
...these last 2 are excellently painted by a guy named Alex Ross, so it all looks very hyper-realistic (and as with everything recommended here, they are excellently written)

Pretty grown-up stuff (in a vein similar to Watchmen)
Y: the Last Man - one of the writers for “Lost” scribes this gem of a series. imagine that every man on earth, save one, survived. get your head out of the gutter and think about the consequences of 1/2 of the world population being obliterated. this book examines this in serious detail, thru the journey of one man, and his monkey (literally).
Preacher – this was pretty revolutionary when it came out ~10 years ago. story of a Preacher, his best girl, and his Scottish Vampire buddy on their quest to find God).
Walking Dead – pretend if they had a TV series that starts as a zombie movie, but keeps going. ie, you keep following the survivors.
Powers – follows a couple superhero homicide detectives in the big, bad city. explores the dark side of super-heroics and it's effect on the society that looks up in the sky.
Ex Machina - same writer as “Y”. what if the mayor of NY was an ex-superhero? West Wing meets…Greatest American Superhero).
Sin City – you can’t go wrong here. Read them in order tho. the movie vignettes are almost identical to this in script/look/feel.

your more traditional super hero fare:
Ultimate Spider-Man – probably the BEST super hero comic on the market. Reads like a WB TV series. Lots of teen angst. Basically rebooting Spider-Man as a modern teen
Invincible – a STRONG runner up. Better than spidey bc it’s new and fresh. but still only gets 2nd bc Spidey is one of my favorites
the Ultimates – the Avengers, Marvels premiere super-team (Capt America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, etc) if Jerry Bruckheimer were to make it a movie)
the Flash: Terminal Velocity – this is THE story arc that got me BACK into comics after I briefly quit in junior high
Superman: For All Seasons – a refreshing tale of Superman’s first year, told in themes based on the 4 seasons (by one of the now-writers of Heroes).
Superman: Secret Identity – what if Superman existed in our world? By the guy who wrote Marvels (Kurt Busiek)
Batman: Year One - Batman Begins was loosely based on this, by the guy who did Sin City, and 300 (Frank Miller)
Batman: the Long Halloween – a year one tale of Batman, told by the guys who did Superman: For All Seasons (Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale)
Batman: the Dark Knight Returns - Batman comes out of retirement in a dystopic future to kick some ass) - also by Frank Miller
Daredevil: Out/Underboss – forget about the (bad) movie. Brian Bendis (the crime author who writes Powers and Ult Spider-Man) took this b-list hero to the next level
Astonishing X-men – a refreshing new take on our favorite mutants. by the TV writer behind “Buffy”, “Firefly”, and Serenity (Joss Whedon)
New X-men – the bizarre art/story of Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely here will blow you away

Bone - one of the cutest (+ probably smartest) series around (if you dig Lord of the Rings & the stories of Pixar films). the modern (moral) fairy tale of a young traveller and his brothers, and what they find along the way.

so pick up one of these, start reading, and thank me later.