A Katser Special Christmas Present redo

!comicshitters reading material !cuteandvalid !lgbt look femboy !effortposters this ended up taking all day so I am counting it as an effort post!

Merry Christmas! Here are some self contained and ordered comics for an easy reading experience. There is a mix of DC, Marvel, and Indie stuff across multiple genres like superhero, fantasy, drama ect across multiple eras. Click around and see what catches your fancy these should all be self contained and again I've pre sorted all the issues you can just download the CBZs and CBRs and have a solid reading experience.

How to read these

0. some of these uploads are in the IA page preloaded and ready to read in browser but this option isnt the best quality and breaks down with 2 page spreads so I dont recommend unless you just wanna skim.

1. Download all original issues: all of the uploads have a button you can click to grab all of the files I uploaded in one zip (IA likes to add a lot of meta data garbage on comic uploads) only issue is some of these pages have like 50 issues + which is too long to download all at once

2. For large uploads you wanna click the show all button

And then download each issue one at a time you can tell its an actual comic file i uploaded if it ends in a .cbz or .cbr do not download the epubs or jzips or what ever crap IA generated. You just click the cbz or cbr and it starts a download

3. Read the CBZs/CBRs in a dedicated comics reader app. I recommend CDisplayEX it is free, lightweight, portable, and has many nice features like an auto color feature to counter newsprint fading in old scans: https://www.cdisplayex.com

Just set your computer to read in CBRs/CBZs to the comics reader you choose to download.

Spirit Magazine by Will Eisner

https://archive.org/details/the-spirit-magazine

The Spirit is a long running noir news paper strip by Will Eisner starting in the 1940s. The Spirit Magazine is a 70s era black and white reprint of many classic Spirit stories with some new material by Eisner. Why read this stuff specifically then when its mostly reprints and the originals are in color? Well for one I think Eisner's art pops alot more in stark black and white on nice magazine stock then it does on newsprint scans. This is also a greatest hits collection so you are getting the best of Eisner right out of the gate and since these stories are episodic there is little reason to read it all in order, and third, there is lots of fun interviews and historical context provided to help you understand the importance of Eisner to comics

The Complete Ultimate Marvel Universe (2000 - 2015)

https://archive.org/details/the-complete-ultimate-marvel-universe-2000-2015

In the late 90s the comic's industry was in decline and Marvel was facing the brunt of this failure due to some very complicated business stuff which would make a nice effortpost and in general low quality comics which prioritized bloated events, and shocking convoluted reveals over good stories. They also identified two other issues with their comics: 1. characters had too much history which off put new or lasped readers and 2. the characters had grown into adults so the sweet lucrative teenage demographic could no longer relate. The idea of a full Crisis styled reboot was floated but dismissed, so a second Marvel Universe was created. Marvel had previously floated other self contained universes along side their main one (the New Universe and Marvel 2099. but this one served as a full scaled reboot of Marvel featuring all your favorite characters in a sleak, modern, and young world. Starting with Ultimate Spider-Man the Ultimate Universe carved its own path along side the main universe creating a universe which offered a darker and more political take on classic marvel heroes. Unlike the Marvel Universe the Ultimate Universe definitively ended in 2015 (Marvel is starting a new Ultimate Comics universe but its a new thing just reusing the name) so its a nice read if you want a definitive ending. So whether you are an old fan looking for a new twist on the classics or someone looking for a more modern and complete marvel universe give this a shot.

"Omaha" the Cat Dancer

https://archive.org/details/the-collected-omaha-vol.-01-06

This one is for !furries. Originally starting as an Underground Comix in the late 70s Omaha transitioned to an 80s erotic furry alternative comic with its own series at Kitchen Sink Press. Created by artist Reed Waller and writer Kate Worley is a drama comic following stripper Susan Jensen and her BF Chuck Katt as they navigate love, sexuality, and the law in the underground scene. This is more of a slow paced drama with a progressive bent, but its a key erotic comic and one of the early furry comics as the genre transformed away from funny animals.

Starman by James Robinson

https://archive.org/details/starman-reading-order

Starman was originally created in the 1940s during the Golden Age of DC comics as astronomer named Ted Knight who wielded a cosmic rod which let him fly. Ted was a founding member of the first ever super hero crossover team, The Justice Society of America. In the 50s as superheroes waned in popularity DC cancelled every superhero but Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. In the 60s many classic heroes were rebooted with a new sci fi origin - Hal Jordan Green lantern, Barry Allan The Flash, Katar Hol Hawkman ect - but Starman was ignored. Later on when the DC multiverse was created in Flash 123 it was stated all the golden age JSA stories took place in a separate universe called Earth 2. In the 70s and 80s 3 separate characters would appear under the name Starman all unrelated to Ted Knight and each other. When DC rebooted its multiverse into a single universe the JSA was moved to simply being older heroes in the timeline compared to the JLA and in the crossover event, Zero Hour, the JSA including Ted Knight get their asses whooped so they all decide to pass on the mantle. Ted Knight has two son's David Knight, the favorite son who loves his dad and had previously showed up as a starman in one of the 80s series for an issue and Jack Knight, an insufferable hipster who is obessed with old tech but looks down upon his father his superhero world, with David getting the right to be the new Starman.

This is where James Robinson's 81 issue epic starts off with David getting ready to fly in the air as the new Starman only to be shot down by a sniper in on page 1 with Starman duties being thrusted on the unlikely David. Across 80 issues and some spin offs David not only learns what it means to he a hero but also reconnects with his Father and learns what it means to be a Knight. This storyline not only covers Ted Knight and the JSA but also manages to tie together all of the past Starman into a new lore with interesting characterization. Its a story about growing up, its a story about family and what it means to be part if a legacy, its a story about the history of the DCU, its a story about Opal City (the city starman defends), and its just a good, self contained story with interesting characters. It draws a lot from DC history but being the reintroduction of many golden age characters and concepts into the modern DCU it explains most of it well as it updates these concepts from the 90s.

Suicide Squad by John Ostrander

https://archive.org/details/suicide-squad-by-john-ostrander

Did you know that before Suicide Squad was some soy butt hot topic Harley Quinn and goofy friends goofy edge lord James Gunn show it was actually a really good comic by John Ostrander. The Suicide Squad started off in the 50s as some military crew which fought dinosaurs and shit, and in the 80s the concept was rebooted as a super villain dirty dozen out of the Legends event. Unlike the new joker Suicide Squad which is the Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark this first version of the squad had actual D list villains who were unpopular so they could actually die and there was high turnover in the team with some genuine surprises in who ended up being a member. There was a complex black and grey morality and some actual political intrigue mixed in with some superhero craziness. Its a fun book with a smart plot and I don't want to spoil much more.

Jack Staff by Paul Grist

https://archive.org/details/jack-staff-v-2-002-2003-c-2c-starhome

Great Britain's number 1 superhero. Created by Paul Grist Jack Staff is a fun and quirky superhero story about a bunch of weird heroes who defend great Britain. A good mix of episodic stories with slow world building and a mix of comedy, adventure, and dramatic story telling. Paul Grist has a simplified and clean style which is really pleasing to look at. Not much to really say beyond that it reminds me of a less edgy Venture Bros mixed with a less nerdy Scott Pilgrim mixed with a more provincial Invincible. Just a good genuine quirky indie mini superhero universe. The only issue is the series is sadly unfinished and has been for over a decade with the last Jack Staff material being an 8 page story in 2022 for an anthology comic which doesn't advance the story in anyway.

Marvel 2099

https://archive.org/details/marvel_2099

In 1992 Stan Lee wanted to make a new cyberpunk superhero named Ravager so Marvel decided to make a whole universe out of it which launched with Spider-Man 2099. Spider-Man is really the star of the line as Peter David balances the dark and gritty 90s vampire edgelore kino with some comedy and self awareness. The rest of the line ranges in quality but there is some interesting stuff. I think it strikes a nice balance between the books standing alone but also providing further context and effecting each other in subtle ways. The line pretty much died in 1996 when editor Joey Cavalieri was ousted and the top line creatives involved like Peter David and Warren Ellis left and the line limped ahead to its death in 1998.

Cerebus the Aardvark by Dave Sim

https://archive.org/details/cerebus-complete

I could talk alot about Cerebus and probably will later, so I'll just keep it simple here. Cerebus the Aardvark is simply the greatest western comic ever written. It is a self published comic which had no corporate oversight and was entirely the brain child of one man, Dave Sim, who published it for 300 issues monthly from 1997- 2004, with only his co-artist Gerhard also touching the book via his hyper realistic and detail backgrounds. Cerebus is simply just pure creativity and singular vision, many may not fully like the vision but its a piece of outsider art which is also actually genius and well done. For the first 25 issues it isn't anything that special, yeah its a solid fantasy Conan parody with some good art and funny jokes and some clever ideas but isn't master piece tier, but then you get to the first extended arc High Society from issues 26-50 and everything changes. All of a sudden the shit hits the fan and the stories only get bigger, better, more complex, and more intelligent. Dave Sim only improves as an artist and leaving the backgrounds to Gehard starting in 65 allowed for Dave Sim to put more effort into his half of the art and his writing while allowing the backgrounds to be detailed and realistic and the book to release on a monthly schedule. Really I think its the ambition that makes Cerebus, unlike a lot of long running manga by one guy who cheat and let filler arcs bloat the story Cerebus is all killer no filler. Even that arcs that should be filler like the time Cerebus spent like 30 issues in one bar manage to be as well written and drawn as everything else. Dave Sim can make a game of cards between friends as tense as a fight over the throne of a kingdom, he can make a character sitting alone and drunk at a bar as creative and impressionistic as a flight throw space to meet God. There is real intelligent stuff here too. Dave Sim did meticulous research on subjects as diverse as religion, democracy, patriarchy, feminism, historical matriarchies, political correctness (again this was when "the woke" was being dreamt up by academics in journals and books it wasn't mainstream yet), bible historicity, and the life of Ernest Hemmingway. You may not agree with all of his conclusions and his schizophrenia may blind his judgement sometimes but Dave is a smart guy and Cerebus is an interesting look at these issues. Yeah there is an infinite can of controversy I could open up, but I just wanted to gush.

1963, In Pictopia, and X-Amount of Comics by Alan Moore and Don Simpson

Part 1 In Pictopia: https://archive.org/details/in-pictopia

Part 2 1963: https://archive.org/details/alan-moores-1963

Part 3 X-Amount of Comics: https://archive.org/details/x-amount-of-comics

This is sort of a weird trilogy. In Pictopia is a 13 page short story by Alan Moore and Don Simpson which is sort of like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? before that movie was a think where all comic strip characters live together in a city. The main guy is a magician based on the old strip character Mandrake the Magician who likes all the funny animals and this funny stretchy super guy based on Plastic Man (Alan Moore likes those old funny heroes like Jack Cole Plastic Man, CC Beck Captain Marvel, and Herbie the Fat Fury). Well "the new guys" (90s comic superheroes) start gentrifying good ol' pictopia and I can't say more without spoiling since its such a short story. If Watchmen deconstructed the moral effects of Superheroes then In Pictopia deconstructed the creative effects of superheroes on comics. Its so short you have no reason not to read it!

1963 is a later image series which is sort of an acid flashback to the haylcon days of early marvel. It is a totally unironic pastiche of classic 60s Marvel with everything from the writing to the art being a perfect recreation of classic comics (Rick Veitch is the unsung hero of comic art). Beyond the nostalgia the big point of 1963 was that it was going to end in an annual drawn by Jim Lee where the 1963 heroes would meet the modern Image heroes with Moore presumably using the comparison between them to show the flaws of the classic and modern heroes. This was never actually made due to drama (future effort post). Well in 2023 Don Simpson did his own take on the annual called X-Amount of Comics featuring his own comedic bizarre heroes and the pictopia characters along with the 1963 characters. Its not really the annual we were promised but since the Moore version will likely never see the light of day outside of concept material its nice to see someone cared.

32 Page Series by Steve Ditko

https://archive.org/details/32-page-series

You know Steve Ditko, the creator of Spider-Man and Dr. Strange, right? Well this is some of his last work spanning 2008 - 2018 a series of 26 32 page comics which feature a wide variety of new comic characters, political cartoons, and essays on art, comics politics, and Ditko's time at Marvel. You can certainly see a decline in detail as Ditko gets older and you can see it in the art (the last issue was finished right before his death), but his sense of posing and panel layout is always on point. These are very retro comics with absolute perfect heroes and vile villains who exist in a perma-golden age 1940s type city setting, but its fun seeing a classic comics pro just having fun drawing what he wants and a lot of the ideas here are cool like the cape which traps criminals in an alternate dimension which ironically mirrors their crimes as a sort of throwback to his old horror work. This isn't Ditko's best independent solo work but it does show him off well in all his idiosyncrasies. (Fun fact an issue of this comic was the only thing I have ever kickstarted and they threw in a lot more bonus comics then I actually paid for lol).