Welcome to Gaia! ::

Actually I don't care about that stuff but that should have grabbed your attention. Tomorrow is my birthday and I will be turning 23. Now as many of you know, I love comics. I go through tons of them each month and like to talk about the ones I like. I figured as a sort of birthday present, I would recommend a bunch of comics to people however there would be a catch. I would only recommend as many as the age that I'm turning and they would have to have come out in my lifetime. It would be 23 comics for 23 years.

So here are 23 comics that I have enjoyed so far in the 23 years that I've lived so far. They are in no order and I recommend that anyone who's interested in the distinct possibilities of comics check out any of these comics.

Amy and Jordan
Mark Beyer
One of the darkest comic strips I've ever read but I love how it looks and it's one of the funniest I've read.

Alec; The King Canute Crowd
Eddie Campbell
Imagine On the Road but with more wine and an actual sense of humor.

Batman: Year One
Frank Miller and David Mazzucelli
My favorite Batman story period.

Calvin and Hobbes
Bill Watterston
This one should go without saying but hey why not give it another shout out?

Paul Auster's City of Glass
David Mazzucelli and Paul Karasik
A mind warping noir comic that seems to upend everything with which it comes into contact.

David Boring
Daniel Clowes
Another noir comic, but this one with wonderful surrealist overtones. I also love Clowes use of a film structure to emphasize his story.

Domu; A Child's Dream
Katsuhiro Otomo
Scariest comic that I've ever read from start to finish.

Doom Patrol #19-62
Grant Morrison, Richard Case, and various
My favorite superhero comic of all time and yes I would take it over Watchmen any day of the week.

Ed the Happy Clown
Chester Brown
One of the funniest and certainly the most surreal comic I've ever read.

From Hell
Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
The best thing that either Moore or Campbell ever did and that's saying alot.

Hicksville
Dylan Horrocks
I don't know any comic fan that couldn't fall in love with this comic or the very idea of a town that celebrated nothing but the art of comics.

High Society
Dave Sim
One of the funniest comics I've ever read.

It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken
Seth
A haunting comic that is as beautiful as it is eerie.

Jimmy Corrigan; Smartest Boy on Earth
Chris Ware
One of the most beautiful comics I've ever read and definitely one of the saddest.

Mauretania
Chris Reynolds
A love story buried under a tale of weird philosophy and anti-corporate sentiment.

Maus
Art Spiegelman
It won the Pulitizer for crying out loud. Just give it another chance.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Hayao Miyazaki
Nausicaa has to be one of the most beautiful comics I've ever read not to mention it has possibly the most noble character in comics ever created.

The Playboy/I Never Liked You
Chester Brown
These two are my favorite autobiographical comics of all time and should be read back to back.

Queen of the Black Black
Megan Kelso
I just read this and I can't recommend it enough. Now if I only had my own copy back.

Read Yourself Raw
Edited by Art Spiegelman and Francois Mouly
I've never felt so intimidated as well as inspired to be a cartoonist as much as I have reading this thing.

Ripple; A predilection for Tina
Dave Cooper
A story about the dangers of obsession and the quest to make art with a capital "A".

The short stories of Gilbert Hernandez
Everytime I read one of his short stories, I tend to look at comics in an entirely new light.

Understanding Comics
Scott McCloud
I don't think I would have the opinions that I have today if I hadn't had read this book.

Thanks for the reccommendations, and happy birthday. 3nodding