Whedon's run on Astonishing only once or twice sounds Whedon-y to me. It actually sounds more like Claremont in his terse moments, without the repetitive narration boxes. I think he makes one or two simply baffling plot choices (the gist of the Danger storyline, for example). I admit, I like it much more than I like Season Eight, which I find okay, but just not...clicking like I was hoping it would for me.

And while we're talking X-Men runs, Grant Morrison's New X-Men run is also worth a look. It runs off the rails a few places, and it has Frank Quietly (and some of his better work, honestly, but God the man is an acquired taste at best), but in its later run has Paul Jimenez and a decent Magneto storyline.... It's very much the precursor to Whedon's run and is full of Morrison's typically mad beautiful ideas and engaging characters.

Dark Knight Returns is Miller's opus, I think; I don't know that the man who wrote All-Star Batman and Robin has another great work left in him. TDKR is him really getting it. The only problem is it doesn't look as groundbreaking anymore, because I think he changed the Clark/Bruce dynamic in such a way it was hard to see it the same way after he was done....

Sandman is worth all the praised heaped upon it and I'm going to refrain from badgering you on it; it lends itself well to being consumed in bite-size chunks (though the early run's single issues stay with me the fondest, I find; Calliope's hard to swallow but Midsummer Night's Dream is just about pitch-perfect). Watchmen I can imagine would be difficult to finish, but it's one of Moore's most balanced, fully-integrated works. It's one cohesive whole, no matter how disparate those elements may appear in media res. It takes years for all of it to properly simmer in the subimagination. It will be hard to get through, I know -- it's also probably darker than everything except the darkest issue of Miracleman -- but especially with the movie upon us soon, you'll want to get through it. It's still a bit dated, but fantastic.

Y: The Last Man is quite different: read a few issues and if you're not hooked, don't keep reading. That narrative is perfectly suited to the serial format, it pulls you right along through the storyline. I was less satisfied with the resolution, but the trip was something else.

No. For some reason I'm hesitate to read Whedon in a franchise that I was once familiar with. (And in general I'm hesitating to read any story I was once familiar with).

In addition to being eighties, it would also be mostly a Frank Miller/Alan Moore praise song....

Sig, I've read some of Watchmen and Sandman, and I've read Batman: Year One, but not the Dark Knight Returns. I definitely want to read Astonishing X-Men--I didn't realize Whedon was in it. Thanks for the other recs; her list is kinda long for the absolute newbie, so I was still a bit overwhelmed!

Mark, you still should post it. Just call it a guide to late-eighties graphic novels. :) I have Fray, which is great; I STILL need to get Season Eight. Have you read the X-Men one that Whedon did?

I keep thinking about posting a guide to graphic novels. But it would just be a late-eighties nostalgia-romp. That is the main problem I have with buying comics or music or sci-fi books. I don't know what is good in this century (except for my favorite authors/singers/artists from the last one who still do good work) and so I am constantly tempted to buy stuff I liked when I was reading/listening more regularly. And that is just wrong.

Whedon's Frey and Season Eight (part 1) are good. But by now, that comes under the category of "favorites from the last century who still do good work."

I have to echo Astonishing, Dark Knight Returns and Y: The Last Man. Watchmen and Sandman should go without saying. Those are my five strongest recommendations -- many of the others are by no small mark brilliant, but...less accessible. I don't deny the power and the craft of Maus, but it's obviously not a casual Saturday afternoon read.