Manga/Comics.

[Casey]

What is your favorite manga/comics- or what is worth reading?

Well I'll say I never have been interested in reading manga after watching all 25 episodes of Berserk. The ending left me really disappointed but then I found out that it was actually based off the manga. So I read all the current 32 volumes of Berserk and am still waiting tell episode 293 comes out... (who knows when that will happen). Both versions were pretty interesting but I would have to say the manga is better in some retrospects because the anime left out a bunch of stuff from the manga:
like there was an elf that wasn't even in the anime, but in the manga it brought alittle comedy/life to the story- there was also some battles that were left out in the anime. Other then that it was pretty gory and dark at times, still a good manga to read if just have nothing better to do.

What about you guys?

[edczxcvbnm]

Fullmetal Alchemist. I watched the anime and then eventually got into the comic it was based off of sometime later. A lot of the story is the same up until around the half way point of the anime and then the anime goes off in its own direction.

They are currently on issue 79 or something. Things look like they could be wrapping up soon and it is far better than the anime. It just has a more interesting story as things progress.

[DK]

Hajime no Ippo is always my first answer in any thread involving anime/manga, because it is god damn awesome.

Black Cat was a pretty suave manga that I read, characters were pretty cool and it was funny at times.

Gantz was pretty cool but I stopped reading it because certain elements of the story pissed me off. But that is a pretty good one if you like more serious mangas I suppose.

[Roto13]

Watchmen and Sandman, plz. (Those are western comics.)

[Academic]

I'm a manga dork, but my favorite 'genre' has gotta be BL.

But to fit in with the crowd, I'm gonna say Death Note, Bleach, NGE, FMA, GitS...I'd say they're all rather well written stories with interesting characters and exhilarating plots. Check 'em out if you haven't already.

[Dreddz]

While people may argue whether the film is good or not, the manga to Akira is without a doubt, brilliant.

[Vermachtnis]

My favorite genres is slice-of-life/harem/comedy stuff. But, past the Tenchi and Azumanga Daioh and School Rumble and ect. you'll find YuYu Hakusho and Fullmetal Alchemist manga. I agree with ed 130+% in that the manga is better than the anime (and that's saying alot considering how good the anime was). Starting about VOL08 is when the differences start. And YuYu Hakusho, what can I say? Cartoon Network decided to stop airing it at the end of the Sensui arc. I mean come on it was two episodes away from finishing and you just stop!?

[JKTrix]

I'm not really a comic/manga person at all. I've tried to get into comics a few times but I never cared enough to keep up with it. I tend not to watch anime of a certain genre if it's based off a manga of a certain genre, especially if the manga isn't already finished.

That said, based upon several reccomendations from a source I trust, I started reading this manga called 'Mirai Nikki' (Future Diary. Don't go to Wiki cuz it spoilz). And I like it. The core story is pretty decent, but what takes it over the top is this crazy psycho stalker girl (http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/6036/miranikki03082fl9.jpg). I suppose the mere fact that it's holding my interest even after 15 chapters (in 2 days) of reading-on-the-DS means it's pretty good. I tend to drop stuff I become bored with.

[I Don't Need A Name]

For western comics
i would go for the likes of V For Vendetta, Amazing Spiderman (the early stuff) and X-men (the early stuff)
all great with good storylines xD
The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a great graphic novel as well

[Roto13]

Early Spider-Man and X-Men are cheesy and lame. :P

[Spatvark]

Manga:
Monster, by Urasawa Naoki. This is the one I recommend to anyone who wants to try out manga. It's sort of a cross between The Fugitive and The Boys From Brazil, a tense psychological thriller set in Germany before and after the Berlin Wall falls. So many awesome plot twists and character development, and I just love Urasawa's way of drawing faces, infusing them with so much character and emotion. I'm half looking forward with dread to the US movies being made of this.

Fullmetal Alchemist, by Arakawa Hiromu. I admit, I haven't actually read this in a while, leaving me quite a ways behind, but damn if it isn't utterly awesome anyway. Like others have said, I really like the anime (I even prefer some aspects of it), but the manga is so much better it's ridiculous.

Hajime no Ippo, by Morikawa Jyoji. The anime is fairly good, but it stops about halfway through where the manga's at (83 volumes so far bitch!). Awesome fights, great friendships, and some seriously dirty jokes make this one of the (if not THE) best sports manga around

Great Teacher Onizuka, by Fujisawa Tohru. The third in a series of manga featuring Onizuka Eikichi (the first two had him as main character alongside Danma Ryuji, who's relegated to side character this time around). A gross-out comedy in the hideous way only the Japanese can achieve, with plenty of arse-kicking and attitude to accompany it, it's just a great read. It's just a shame that Fujisawa can't write for :skull::skull::skull::skull: if it doesn't have Onizuka in it.

Yotsubato! by Azuma Kiyohiko. This is just too damn adorable to not be loved. It's about a five-year-old girl and her everyday life in Japan, and the very strange way she sees the world and interacts with it. ...Yeah, I'm not explaining this all too well. Just read it, for god's sake, it's brilliant.

Slam Dunk, by Inoue Takehiko. If Hajime no Ippo is the best sports manga ever, Slam Dunk is the second best. I don't like basketball (but then, I don't like boxing either really), but Inoue makes it pretty exciting in how he plots out the matches, and while the main character, Sakuragi Hanamichi, is a total idiot and incredibly pompous, you really do grow to like him. What's most impressive about Slam Dunk is really the main character's progression as a person, not just as a basketball player. One day, I might try watching all 101 episodes of the anime version.

Others include Genshiken by Shimoku Kio, a manga about otaku (geeks obsessed with manga and anime). Mahoraba by Kojima Akira, about a girl with multiple-personality disorder (it's a romantic comedy, really!). Glass Mask by Miuchi Suzue, about a poor girl tryng to break into the world of acting. Jiraishin by Takahashi Tsutomu, about an emotionless Tokyo cop, going through the motions as he works cases. Eden by Endo Hiroki, about a world devastated by the Closure virus struggling to get back to its feet.

Comics:
Transmetropolitan, written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Steve Dillon. How do I describe this? Hunter S. Thompson running loose inside Judge Dredd's Mega City One? It's about a journalist, Spider Jerusalem, returning to The City after living in self-imposed exile out in the mountains, and writing stories to try and wake the people up from being so smurfing stupid. Heavy doses of awesomely thought out Sci-fi, some nasty humour, and a really awesome plot that picks up about a third of the way through as Spider takes on the upcoming presidential election, and the aftermath. 60 issues and two specials of sheer freaking awesomeness, I can't recommend this enough.

Hitman, written by Garth Ennis and drawn my John McCrea. Once upon a time, in the DC universe, there was a big event called Bloodlines. It featured space aliens who could eat humans, but would occasionally somehow infect them with powers instead. It smurfing sucked. But it did spawn Tommy Monaghan, an Irish-American hitman living in Hell's Kitchen. With only x-ray vision (which yes, he does use to cop a skinny of Wonder Woman naked with) and mild telepathy which always gives him a major headache so he never uses it, the comic is really just about Tommy killing people, and his friendship with the other hitmen who visit the bar, Noonan's. Seriously funny, gross humour (for which both Garth and Warren above are known for; gotta love British writers), and it has two issue zombie aquarium story, which no one should ever miss. And the ending, man, I know of no other comic ending that has made so many guys cry as the ending to Hitman does.

Powers, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Mike Oeming. OK, seriously guys, get over the fact that there was an issue all about monkeys having sex with each other. I know, I know, but it really DID have a point to it, I swear. A cop comic set in a world heavily populated with superheroes (though not the Marvel or DC universes, I should point out), Powers is seriously good.

Gotham Central, written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka. Another cop comic, but this time, set in DC's Gotham City. One of my favourite things in the DCU has always been the non-powered people getting on with their lives, and many of the characters in GC have been built up in the Bat-Family comics over the years, including Harvey Bullock, Renee Montoya, Crispus Allen, Maggie Sawyer (actually coming in from Metropolis and Superman) and Jim Gordon. With two of the best writers to come from the US in the last decade or so working together on it, Gotham Central is a great read. And yeah, there are plenty of familiar superhero faces that pop up from time to time.

Birds of Prey, written by Gail Simone. Sure, Chuck Dixon started Birds of Prey, and it's currently being written by Sean McKeever (of the actually surprisingly good "Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane"-fame), but it was Gail Simone's run (#56-#108) that made BoP one of the best comics being published right now. Featuring an all-female team of super-heroes, Oracle, Black Canary and the Huntress (and later including the likes of Big Barda, Katana, Judomaster, Manhunter, Gypsy, and even the [then] deadliest woman in the world, Lady Shiva Woosan). Sure, there's cheesecake, but there's humour, good action, some really good inter-personnel drama and plain awesomeness. Gail Simone is probably the most consistently great writer there is around at the moment.

Ultimate Spider-Man, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Mark Bagley (and recently replaced by Stuart Immomen). The mainstream Spider-Man (from the 616 universe) has like, forty-five years of backstory. Or well, had, until One More day wiped most of it, stupid frigging Joe Quesada (though Brand New Day, at least so far, has been good). Ultimate Spider-Man, on the other hand, started from scratch less than ten years ago, and beats the ever-loving :skull::skull::skull::skull: out of the 616 version. Just read it, I swear you won't regret it.

Hellblazer, written by many awesome writers, with many awesome artists. The longest running comic on DC's Vertigo line (most recent was #239), it's about John Constantine (yes, that :skull::skull::skull::skull:ty film was based VERY loosely upon this comic), a Scouse magician who's a devious :skull::skull::skull::skull:, trying to save the world from itself, using whatever method's necessary to pull it off, including sacrificing his friends (they do seem to wind up dead an awful lot), making deals with the devil, and generally being as much of a wanker as he can. It's just brilliant.

I really need to mention some other great comics. Garth Ennis' run on The Punisher, from v3 (the Welcome Back, Frank maxi-series) to v5 (on Marvel Max) which is the ONLY Punisher worth reading. Nobody does it better than Garth. The All-New Atom by Gail Simone, which is hilarious. Blue Beetle v2 (or is it v3?) written by Keith Giffen, with Jaime Reyes as the new Blue Beetle is another excellent relatively recent series, with a hell of a lot of depth to it. Y, the Last Man written by Brian K. Vaughn and drawn by Pia Guerra, which has just one issue left to come, is a great post-(sort of)-apocalypse story. Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Stuart Immomen is a hilarious pisstake of the Marvel universe, while still actually being set in the Marvel Universe. And finally, Lucifer by Mike Carey, about the Morningstar deciding he's had enough of well, the universe, and his ongoing quest to make one of his own to contend with that of his father, Yahweh; dark and twisted, but funny at times, and how can you not love Mazikeen?

[DK]

Slam Dunk was good and stuff, but the basketball games got boring as :skull::skull::skull::skull:. It was ALL THE GOD DAMN SAME. Though, the characters were awesome.

[Rye]

Slam Dunk was good and stuff, but the basketball games got boring as :skull::skull::skull::skull:. It was ALL THE GOD DAMN SAME. Though, the characters were awesome.

GORILLA DUNKKKKKKKKK!!!!

I like xxxHOLIC.

[Tavrobel]

I like xxxHOLIC.

Watanuki's so going to die.

I on the other hand read Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles (there's no way I'm recreating those ridiculous capitalizations). It's pretty much the only thing I read. I did, however, buy Chobits the other day. It was victolious. I don't really read Western comics, either. Not my thing.

[Rye]

NO SPOILERS ;; I've only read a few of them so far.

[Shlup]

My faaaaaaaavorite manga is Mars.

[Tavrobel]

NO SPOILERS ;; I've only read a few of them so far.

He's not dead yet!

[Momiji]

The Chobits manga is every bit as awesome as the anime. I love it to death.

I really wanna read Yatsubato! though. I can't find it anywhere though! :(

[Vermachtnis]

The Chobits manga is every bit as awesome as the anime. I love it to death.

I really wanna read Yatsubato! though. I can't find it anywhere though! :(

Really, the local book store as at least one copy of the five volumes in stock.

[Avarice-ness]

FMA's manga is made of win.

Someone mentioned the V for Vendetta comic.

I like some parts better in the comic than in the movie. The comic also puts -alot- of what was in the movie into a very clear perspective, so after watching the movie, read the comic it'll make you go all "Wooow, that makes sense" or "They should have added that in the movie!" Like when he has his speech with the lady justice statue, that's one of my favorite things ever. xD

[Azure Chrysanthemum]

FMA's manga is made of win.

Someone mentioned the V for Vendetta comic.

I like some parts better in the comic than in the movie. The comic also puts -alot- of what was in the movie into a very clear perspective, so after watching the movie, read the comic it'll make you go all "Wooow, that makes sense" or "They should have added that in the movie!" Like when he has his speech with the lady justice statue, that's one of my favorite things ever. xD

Agreed on FMA and V.

They left out the God speech! That was my favorite speech!

Also, Genshiken Genshiken Genshiken. It's my favorite series of all time, and I love it to death. It's great in a slice-of-life style and you can understand and empathize with the characters, who really feel like real people. From the detail in the art to the character interactions, it's very crisp and masterfully done.

[Casey]

Thanks everyone for your input, I'll look into everyones suggestions. Somebody mentioned Gantz - I think it was DK but yeah, that's the one I'm currently reading now so far it's alright.

[I Don't Need A Name]

Early Spider-Man and X-Men are cheesy and lame. :P

thats what made it so good!!
i mean, venom just gets annoying. Sinster Six on the other hand were awsome

[Momiji]

The Chobits manga is every bit as awesome as the anime. I love it to death.

I really wanna read Yotsubato! though. I can't find it anywhere though! :(

Really, the local book store as at least one copy of the five volumes in stock.

I never saw it. I guess I'll keep looking, or get them from Amazon.

EDIT: I just noticed I spelled the title wrong! *fixes*

[qwertysaur]

Katekyo Hitman Reborn! (Reborn! in America) I am in love with this series.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

I'm a manga dork, but my favorite 'genre' has gotta be BL.

Got to agree there. BL is my favourite indulgence. Loveless is an awesome series. I also been reading Love Mode which is strangely addictive. I personally like most works that I have read of Hyouta Fujiyama and Yukine Honami.



I like xxxHOLIC.



I like xxxHOLIC.

Watanuki's so going to die.

I on the other hand read Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles
CLAMP is awesome. I have been up-to-date with HOLiC, but I need to catch up with my TRC.

Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon and Codename: Sailor V are both amazing manga. I know all of you who growl about Sailor Moon might be rolling their eyes, but you are missing something good. Codename: Sailor V is the prequel to BSSM and its raison d'être. It gives a good history of Minako (Sailor V) before she joins the scouts with cameos from BSSM (they were worked upon at the same time) as well as a bit of foreshadowing.

BSSM itself gives you so much more depth than the anime did. Especially towards the end of the series as all the big bad guys have a surprising link together.

[Sarc the Swordsman]

I've only ever read one series of manga books - Battle Royale. Pretty good, but very violent and a lot of uneeded 'stuff' thrown into it. >_>