A good number of comics are mainly targetted at the 15-30something male with a moderate to large amount of disposable income. Like it or not, that's the core demographic of the industry, hence all the cheesecake. You can argue about which came first, the chicken or the egg, all you want, but it is what it is.

You want to talk movies? Action movies are, again, targetted at the 18-34 male demographic. Is it any wonder that tits and ass feature in the promos? Just like how movies targetted at the 18-34 female demographic feature a different style of advertising. You wouldn't expect both types of movies to feature the same method of advertising, would you?

While women are a potential target audience for both things, if you want to stay in business, you can't risk your core audience chasing after an audience that may or may not give a shit about your product.

I may agree on the posing (but that is a symptom more along the lines of lazy artists), but I do not agree on the costuming changes.

Oh my, this thread grew a bit larger than expected! Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I'll try to check out as many as I can out of all of these (but there is a lot of comic suggestions here). Right now I feel a bit overwhelmed with choice though.

I have yet to see a comic fail strictly because they avoided copious amounts of pin-up and stripper poses (with due apologies to strippers). On the contrary there's several pretty unsuccessful versions of heroines that have done extremely badly because they just went the titillating route.

While I'm not in the 18-34 demographic, I'd be fairly insulted if that's the only level of sophistication you thought I had, as a reader. No wonder comics are such a crap shoot and so titles hear a resounding "meh" as they're released.

There's a difference between "titillating" and flat out badly written, which is the case of Starfire in current continuity.

Compare that with Steph Brown who was a fairly well written Batgirl, but still managed to have a decent amount of fanservice in her book. Like it or not, that is the primary demographic. Though it is trending a bit higher up as the readership ages from the people who went through CoIE as a kid and the younger crowd is less willing to plunk down $3-4 for 10-15 minutes of reading time when they could fire up the xbox and play Generic Shooter #24921 for the night.

Comics are such a crapshoot now because actual ideas are lacking, regardless of what a person thinks of posing or costuming. How many times do we have to go through Batman or Superman's origin story and early years? How many times do we have to sit through books that do an arc or two, the "creator" leaves, they cancel the book, and six months later relaunch the thing? Or we get super ultra massive crossover events that promise to change the entire universe (and require the reader to put down $100+ a month for a year to get the whole story), but a year or so later, the status quo is renewed?

Yeah, there's a reason I normally only collect trades of completed series (with a few exceptions for awesome stuff, like The Boys), and you just nailed just about every one of them.

I get some trades, but I rather enjoy the act of reading an actual comic. It's just something that can't be replicated with a TPB.

Besides, my bookshelves are getting rather full. I can always put bagged comics into tubs for storage, but feel bad about doing that for a TPB. :p

The stories are lacking but the main reason most people do not read comics (at least in the U.S.) is the cost. $4.00 for one 22 page book a month is insane and I am shocked that the comic companies still think this is something that can be long term. Basically we need a GOG for comic books and comic books will be relevant again.

Yeah. Digital distribution for comics seems like an obvious route to go - it would save alot on ink, and allow anyone to read any issue, since digital copies can be reproduced infinitely.

They're already doing the digital route... it's actually an okay-ish price from what I hear, as well.

I really hope that the prices stay low. For some reason, most digital distributors think that they should still sell their goods at physical price points, which is dishonest and prevents market penetration.

NEVER!

I want my mint condition, plastic bagged comics. Not some digital copies....

While a physical book (and comic book) has a certain special "feel" to it, for us who live in countries where everything but the most popular comics are hard to come by (or I might not be all that knowledgeable about where to look), digital distribution does seem like a very attractive option. It would save a lot of money that otherwise would be spent on shipping costs.

It's also pretty outstanding for keeping up on titles that you normally wouldn't shell out for. Because the current subs are "all you can eat", Netflix style, you can read all the Wonder Woman comics even if you normally wouldn't collect and read that one. It also prevents having to buy expensive backs issues (if you can even find them), you can read the digital version and if you come by the missing back issue you can pick it up, if not, at least you haven't missed that part of the story.

I recommend Prince Valiant.

It's a classic strip that was started in 1937 and needs to be read in order - it isn't a series of more or less self-contained adventures, like Asterix or Tintin. Oh, and one should focus on the Hal Foster Era. The strip should have ended in 1971, when Foster retired from drawing it. Everything that came after that date just doesn't compare at all.

Also, the stuff Carl Barks did for Disney is great, of course.

I'd say start with the classics. There's a reason to why some graphic novels always end up on "Best of " lists. That way you'll also get an overview of what's considered good in the comics circles and what titles have been important and influential.

I'd recommend starting with these:

1. Watchmen (Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons) - Yes, you should read this. The cornerstone of modern comics. Don't worry if at first glance it looks like an ordinary superhero comic, it isn't!

2. V For Vendetta (Alan Moore & David Lloyd) - The 1984 of graphic novels.

3. From Hell (Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell) - I'll let the critics speak for this one: "At once a meditation on evil, a police procedural and a commentary on Victorian England." (The Los Angeles Times) Really shows what the genre is capable of. This can be pretty heavy reading if this kind of stuff isn't your thing, but it's worth it in the end. If you don't trust me, trust the acclaimed author Warren Ellis: "My all-time favorite graphic novel ... an immense, majestic work about the Jack the Ripper murders, the dark Victorian world they happened in, and the birth of the 20th century." If that's not ambitious, I don't know what is.

4. Sandman (Neil Gaiman & various artists) - A ten-book series that blends fantasy, horror, ancient myth, contemporary fiction and an examination of storytelling and somehow pulls it off in a very original way. It starts off kinda slow, IMO the first book is the worst of the series and the latter half (books six to ten) is where the real storytelling magic happens. The art is pretty inconsistent as well, as it ranges from awful to great.

5. Maus (Art Spiegelman) - The story of how the authors father survived the horrors of the Second World War and the concentration camps. Only all humans are presented as animals: Germans are cats, Jews are mice and so on. A very powerful, touching book.

There's a truckload of titles I could recommend, but I think these five are the best for a newcomer. Yes, I know I chose three ttiles by Alan Moore, but then he's the best writer in the medium. And pretty diverse, too.

There's A LOT more to modern comics than superheros and European funnies. I wish I could discover all those wonderful graphic novels for the first time. Enjoy!

EDIT: I also consider both Dark Knight Returns and The Walking Dead to be vastly overrated. The former was revolutionary for its time, but hasn't really aged that well, and the latter is just badly written. You probably should check them out at some point (if you're interested in what's popular), but read something else first.