Recommend your favorite TPBs

[Klaus]

I'll echo Tauric's recommendation of The Books of Magic. The adventures of Tim Hunter (the boy) and the Trenchcoat Brigade (his mentors) are very good.

 

[John Crichton]

Since folks are posting about softcovers and hardcovers: I prefer to buy HCs despite the price. They age better and look better on a shelf. Maybe not worth it for some (I know there was actually a thread on it here a while back) but if the books recommended here come in both forms, let me know as I'd rather get the HC.

 

[haiiro]

Maybe not worth it for some (I know there was actually a thread on it here a while back) but if the books recommended here come in both forms, let me know as I'd rather get the HC.

I like HCs as well, when I feel like spending the extra cash.

Many major trades come out in HC first, like other books. From the stuff I've mentioned, the following are the ones that I know had HC versions -- which may now be hard to find, YMMV:

Sin City
Sandman
Ultimates
Batman: Long Halloween and Dark Victory

I've never seen HC versions of Akira, Lone Wolf and Cub, Preacher, Batman: No Man's Land, Uzumaki, Domu, Hellboy or any of the others I recommended.

 

[blindrage]

All the JSA ones. All good stories
Ult. X-Men and Spiderman
Sandman (pulp super hero one)
Books of Magic
Batman: Year One
Crisis on Inf. Earths

 

[Endur]

I'm not a fan of the current glut of tradebacks, where every comic is bundled into a tradeback. But ... here are my favorites.

Watchmen
Batman The Dark Knight Returns
Batman Year One
Kingdom Come
Sin City (Any)
Green Lantern/Green Arrow (Anything with art by Neal Adams)
Anything with art from Alex Ross
Jack Kirby's Fourth World (Mr. Miracle, New Gods, Forever People)
Silver Age Marvel Comics (Fantastic Four, Spiderman, Captain America, Avengers, Iron Man, Thor)
Golden Age DC Comics

 

[Andre La Roche]

I'm going to have to add my voice to the Sandman chorus that's already come. Add onto that, Mike Carey's Lucifer which is something of a spin-off to Sandman (though you wouldn't be lost at all story-wise if you didn't read the former series) which is a really well-written and wonderfully imaginative series.

 

[WayneLigon]

Since folks are posting about softcovers and hardcovers: I prefer to buy HCs despite the price. They age better and look better on a shelf. Maybe not worth it for some (I know there was actually a thread on it here a while back) but if the books recommended here come in both forms, let me know as I'd rather get the HC.

'Hush', an excellent collected series, will have a combined hardcover coming out within a couple months if it's not already out. The previous volumes were also in hardcover first, but you can't get at least the first one for love or money.

Other non-self-contained TPB's:
The various Usagil Yojimbo volumes.
The all-in-one (as in, then entire series) Bone volume
The Invincible trades. There will be a hardcover Invincible covering issues 1-13 out soon
Firebreather (collects the entire mini series)

 

[TheBadElf]

And now, for something completely different, I recommend Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise. It's about two young women in a (rocky) relationship together. One's gay (or at least bi) and the other isn't, but kinda wants to be. The series is about them trying to find a way to express their love for each other in a way that both are comfortable with. The series often jumps around in time, and there are several subplots that are quite shocking, but it is nonetheless a great read. You might want to start with the first volume, but I didn't and it only took me a little while to get what was going on.

I can't believe I missed mentioning this earlier; SiP is truly wonderful. If I had to pick a single favorite TPB ever it would be Batman Year One, but the "I Dream of You" volume of SiP would be a very close second. The rest of 'em rock too.

 

[John Crichton]

Someone want to list the Sandman trades that I should get, by exact title and in the order I need to read them. I've found a few decent sites but they seem to either contradict each other or are confusing.

I found some GREAT prices on TPBs at overstock.com and am about to pull the trigger on buying a small pile of them.

 

[Richards]

Here's the entire Sandman series of TPBs, in order:

1. Preludes & Nocturnes
2. The Doll's House
3. Dream Country
4. Season of Mists
5. A Game of You
6. Fables & Reflections
7. Brief Lives
8. Worlds' End
9. The Kindly Ones
10. The Wake

There's also The Dream Hunters (Sandman prose with Japaense artwork) and Endless Nights (a tale of each of the seven Endless), but these weren't part of the original comic book series.

Johnathan