I'm 40 and I've been collecting comic books since I was about 9. My favorite characters are Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman. I like a lot more but when it came to modern day comic books I got to the point where I only read those three, but I've reached a point where I have decided with Marvel and DC to just read back issues and luckily there are a ton of back issues that I haven't even touched yet. For instance I recently found a bunch of 70s Conan comic books in a bargain bin.
My question is does anyone have any indie/Manga recommendations? It seems like Marvel and DC for the most part want to hire people who are clueless about or hate comic books (the lady doing the She-Hulk show as well as the guy hired to do the Superman movie come to mind). I think I may start supporting Alterna Comics as well.
Thanks in advance.
For western comics:
Sandman Mystery Theatre about a guy that goes around in a gas mask and a sleeping gas gun to solve crime in the 1930s. A retelling of a non-powered DC hero from the golden age.
Fear Agent Sci-fi story about an alien exterminator.
Astro City is a series set in a city with large numbers of super heroes and villains. I've only read a few volumes, and they followed different heroes stories, so they felt more-or-less independent from one another. Can't say anything about whether any of the other, or more recent volumes are full of it
Y the Last Man was good when I read it eons ago. About the last man on earth after an apparent virus took out all the other human males. This was written back when that "the approved message" didn't considered that a good thing. Not sure what I'd feel if I read it now with the modern baggage, but probably still good.
I've given up on western comics, and haven't read any in a while, so that's unfortunately the best I have. Ironically I used to go out of my way to read comics with female leads, or comics that seemed different, but did less and less as I didn't want to risk potential radiation poisoning, until I just couldn't care anymore.