Good Comics for People Who Don't Like Comics?

[Zz]

Seconding a few mentions here:

• Monstress - gloriously eerie and dark and one of the best illustrated things on the market. Marjorie Liu is insane. The subject matter is dark and sharply uncomfortable in places.

• Saga! Beautiful and smart and occasionally quite funny. Unique and different sci-fi meets adventure meets romance? You will want a lying cat.

• Bitch Planet - Just yes. Written by the indomitable Kelly sue deconnick this book questions society and sometimes flips it the bird. Very tightly written.

Additionally:
Wicked + the Divine
Motor Crush
The Dark Tower comic series (largely follows book four on)
Lazarus
I have a soft spot for Sin City.
Black Magic

[Coin]

Rat Queens is amazing too.

[Quinn]

I couldn't find a better thread than this old one to post this--I am not a huge webcomic (or regular comic) person, but Lore Olympus was recommended to me via this article and I basically read through the whole thing (it's still a work in progress being updated) in two days.

It's a retelling of the Persephone/Hades story (I am a sucker for Greek mythology but especially Persephone/Hades and Psyche/Eros stories) and I love it. It deals with trauma of all kinds, how manipulative abusive relationships can be, how consent and boundaries can work in healthy relationships--it just approaches things in a way you don't often see and warnings are offered at the start of strips that might be triggering for some people. The art is really good, I was annoyed at the scrolling, but the storylines and the depth of the characters, even the side characters, is really worth it. Several of the strips had me in tears.

Anyway, it seemed like something other MUSH people would enjoy so here you go, Lore Olympus!

[BloodAngel]

Die that is all. Comic about getting to live in your fantasy PnP world.

[BetterNow]

If you want to turn superhero comics upside down, try Invincible. Also currently just finished it's first season as a cartoon series on Amazon Prime Video and was AMAZING.

[Runescryer]

Didn't see this at all mentioned in the thread, so I have to make my pitch for Astro City, by Kurt Busiek. It's a superhero comic, but as I'm fond of saying, Busiek is one of, if not the best, writers that knows how to emphasize the 'human' in 'superhuman' storytelling. Best of all, the series is done in story arcs that focus on individual character stories, so there's usually no overwhelming continuity that you have to research in order to understand what's going on. Also, the majority of the characters in Astro City are pastiche/homages of other characters, so you get an idea of who's who and what fairly quickly. Astro City is collected in trade paperbacks by story arcs, so it's easy to get into.

[BloodAngel]

@runescryer I love astro city!

[Arkandel]

I haven't read Astro City in years and I am still haunted by that one issue where a guy's wife was ret-conned out of existence by a crossover event, so he spent his life longing for her although he didn't even know what it was that was missing from it.

[BloodAngel]

@arkandel that story gave me chills.

[Runescryer]

@arkandel 'The Nearness of You'. Love that story as well. Plus 'In Dreams' and 'In Dreams, 2015'

Another great thing about Astro City: the characters are allowed to grow older and change. Seeing Astra (basically Franklin Richards) go from 9 years old when first introduced to a college graduate in 2015 and dealing with growing up in an intense media spotlight was great. And 'Lover's Quarrel' has a whole different feel when you read it as you're pushing 50...

My absolute favorite arc is 'The Tarnished Angel'. It's an ode to the pulp fiction origins of Superheroes, it's a fantastic noir story, and it's a prime example of how much a great character design contributes to and enhances the storytelling.