Read Brian K. Vaughan's Y: The Last Man series now before it blows up as a movie trilogy and pop culture milestone. It's epic in the greatest sense of the word: long, intricate, funny, philosophical, and heartbreaking. It's Lord of the Rings if it only focused on Frodo's journey and instead of Sam, Frodo had a pet monkey named Ampersand. Also, instead of Orcs, there are ninja assassins and militant feministas. The narrative is tightly focused considering the length and depth of the multiple plot lines; though some subplots seem arbitrary. they useful ways for Vaughan to explore the implications of a world without the Y chromosome. It's an achievement of imagination, and reading it has been as much of a rewarding experience as I've had reading any other "traditional" novel. It is to my 20s what Star Wars was to my early teens: a flawed masterpiece that is a lens through which I now view everything else.
When you're done reading Y, you'll want to read everything else Vaughan has written, and I would recommend Ex Machina, the series directly following Y. EM follows Mitch Hundred, a normal guy who comes across an alien (?) artifact which endows him with the ability to talk to and control machines. He becomes a super hero (like the Rocketeer, really), saves the second plane from hitting the World Trade Towers, becomes a celebrity, then decides he can make a greater difference by running for mayor of New York. The story follows his tenure as mayor, and feels like an amalgam of West Wing, Superman, and The Wire. Like Y, the dialogue is smart, fast, and full of pop-culture references. It's also fantastic, too.
The Escapists, also by Vaughan, is a shorter series that is as tightly written as either of the mentioned series. It's an homage to the comics medium itself. The art is a bit cartoon-y, but the writing is flawless.
The only writer that rivals Vaughan in my book is Grant Morrison. Morrison's run on X-Men was brilliant (do check it out), and his take on Superman is transcendent. All-Star Superman Vol. I & II concern the twilight of Supe's life, exploring the themes of power and responsibility better than anything I've ever read. The writing is simple, beautiful, poetry almost. And the end, it's just heart-wrenching to turn each page. It's almost a shame they have to continue publishing Superman comics after this series, because it would be the perfect swan song to the series' long history. Attention movie studios, drop all the terrible ideas and scripts you have now and pick up this series, but please don't change a thing. It's perfect. PERFECT.
Bill Willingham's Fables is also decent. Imagine all the fairytale creatures and characters in the modern world, forced to conceal themselves in a small community in New Jersey after being forced out of their lands. It's fun to observe and speculate what kinds of modern problems these old characters find themselves in (Snow White divorces Prince Charming, the Beast turns back into a beast every time he and Beauty fight, and who wouldn't after hundreds of years?). There's not much to invest in as a reader so far, but I'm only on vol. II.
Pt. II of the recommendation list will tackle the more alternative comic-style graphic novels.
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