Hello, welcome back. The recommendation series continues. [Hexbear Recommends] is a way of connecting the userbase with the interests of their peers. It also a way for the creator to lengthen his ever expanding "to-read" list.

If I need to add a genre or period let me know. This series will eventually be canonized into the sidebar as a definitive recommendation list of all things C/Lit. Be sure to comment on past threads if you missed them. Input is never not needed.

Past threads:

Genres: Sci-Fi

Future threads:

Periods: Pre-1800, 1800s, 1900-50, 1951-99, 2000-20, 2021

Genres: Children's, Comedy, Coming of age, Folklore, Historical, LGBT, BIPOC Related, Philosophy, Pop Culture, Religious, Thriller, Western, Young Adult, Action, Adventure, Survival, Crime, Mystery, Fantasy, Romance, Horror, Light Novel, Biography, Travel, Historical, Propaganda, Philosophy, Political Theory, Poetry, Plays, Manga, Speculative Fiction, Sports, and Miscellaneous

  • HarryLime [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Watchmen and The Sandman are the first things that come to mind for me.

    • Ithorian [comrade/them, he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I finally got around to reading that last year, it was really good. It spent a lot more time developing both the story and characters then most comics seem to.

    • disco [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      It’s follow up, The Filth, is one of my favorites too. Meant to actually be a chaos magic spell that affects the reader.

  • notthenameiwant [he/him]M
    ·
    3 years ago

    Watchmen is still my all time favorite. The adaption of I am Legend is a close second. I never finished The Walking Dead, but damn was it entertaining when I read it.

    • RedCoat [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I finished walking dead a few months back, I think the ending was actually really well done which surprised me tbh, worth finishing up if you aren't too far off and have the time.

  • Grimacejoe [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Iunno, but users here would really enjoy Louis Riel by Chester Brown.

    Louis Riel, for those who do not know, was a Métis from what is now Manitoba in Canada. In 1869 he lead a rebellion against the crown and formed a provisional government.

  • sonartaxlaw [undecided,he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I can recommend a lot of webcomics, Gunnerkreigg Court (the art gets better) and Scary go Round (which I think is based, but I'm not sure) are both amazing in my favorite genre of British kids in a magical realist world and Nimona is a cool fantasy story by Noelle Stevenson (the runer of the new She Ra)

    • RedCoat [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      "Stand Still. Stay Silent" is a great webcomic to check out for amazing art, the story is also an interesting blending of post apocalypse body horror and Nordic mythology

  • J_Edbear_Hoover [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I've seen a lot of good recommendations that Iwant to second and third. Saga and Y: The Last Man by Brian K Vaughn, The Invisibles by Grant Morrison and Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis.

    I'd also like to add anything by Greg Rucka, but especially Lazarus; it's his take on a neo-feudalist dystopia. And also East of West by Jonathan Hickman; amazing world building based off a future North America where there is indigenous autonomy and the CPC controls the west coast. The great grand daughter of Mao has a baby with one of the four horseman of the apocalypse and everyone thinks he's the antichrist. It's wild.

  • 707R [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Scott Pilgrim, (The Compleat) Moonshadow, Vampire Knight Requiem, The Arrival by Shaun Tan, Laid Waste by Julia Gfrorer, It Never Happened Again: Two Stories by Sam Alden, The Motherless Oven.

  • Gkalaitza [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Im just gonna drop some Manga recs, editing new ones in the way

    • Pheonix/Hi no Tori from Osamu Tezuka. The father of Manga life work. People may think "ah tezuka cant be that good cause he was the first, he was just influential and doesnt hold up". Wrong. Pheonix is a series of mostly standalone volumes revolving around the immortal pheonix and kings,queens and regular people's lives being changed, ruined or being reborn spiritualy in the quest to catch her along with the worlds they inhabit. And i say worlds since the volumes settings range from ancient Japan to the far future in the far edges of the universe while the genres of the story range from historical drama to space horror and touches themes like spiritualism, religion, politics, colonialism, technological progress, automatization and much more. The first Volume is fine/good but it shoots up to an insane degree by volume 2. Insane paneling by Tezuka at times ( Look at this shot from bellow the table transitioning to the person walking away from it for example and beautiful backgrounds. His character designs are indeed simple but dont let that throw you off

    • Nausicaa Manga by Hayao Miyazaki. Yeah maybe some of you have seen the movie ,however good it is the manga is easily better and many argue Miyazaki's masterpiece above any movie he did even. Beautiful ,tho some times crowded art. 2 of the best written female characters in fiction. World building at the levels of the very best (Tolkien or whatave you think does it best). Maybe something like 1 part Dune, 1 part Lord of the Rings, 1/2 part Dostoevsky, 1/2 part Steinbeck, and 1 part Earthsea but again its meaningless to do this.Miyazaki still in his Marxist period so lots good shit to see on that front thematicaly. an examination of the nature of Nature, the place and value of man within the larger context of existence, the ethics of violence on both man and nature, and the horror of war. If nothing else, you will get a very Japanese influenced perspective on war (very visible post-atomic bomb thoughts) and the idea of empire (yes, that bit is ironic) that is very rare in modern western stories. It also has a very interesting analysis of pacifism that goes beyond the usual naivety found in stories with the theme

    1. Akira by Otomo. Yeah its a basic rec who cares, its amazing. Same thing with nausicaa regarding movie-manga quality upgrade and in this case it may be even greater. First of all some of the most amazing art you will ever see Duh . People may say blade runner , but Akira is equaly foundemental in cyberpunk. It handles the setting , world and themes even better in many aspects and for sure far better than its own movie. Endlessly engaging with layers and layers of quality sideplots and characters
  • WhatAnOddUsername [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    A few that I really like:

    The Arrival by Shaun Tan

    Big Questions by Anders Nilsen

    Bubbles & Gondola by Renaud Dillies

    Apollo's Song by Osamu Tezuka

    Blacksad and its sequels, by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido

    Megahex and its sequels, by Simon Hanselmann

    Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles and The Flinstones Vol. 1 and 2 by Mark Russell

    The Bus and The Bus 2 by Paul Kirchner