I've just discovered Watchmen which I'm enjoying a lot. not a genre I've explored much but I think I'll go further. I used to like DC and Marvel comics as a binlid.

I have a soft spot for this. Seems a grown-up draws whatever his 6-year-old brother tells him to.

http://axecop.com/

I'm a big comics nut and especially French ones so thanks for the tip off. Would love to get to Angouleme one year to see the big comic fest there.

If you need any recommendations these are some of my favourites, all of which should be supported by the local library (if you still have one):

Love and Rockets: Initially started by 3 mexican brothers but continued by 2 of them. Although the stories have morphed over the years by and large Jaime Hernandez draws an ongoing saga of numerous characters in present day San Fernando. Gilbert Hernandez draws in a more comicy style (think Archie comics) but his stories contain more adult material and covers a kind of mondo universe of hundreds of characters whose stories overlap. His greatest creation is Luba. They have produce a great deal and recently collected into smaller paperbacks. Both their universes are peopled by wonderfully fleshed out and complicated characters. And Jaime in particualr is a master at drawing the female form.

Gemma Bovary by Posy Simmonds: Beutiful drawings and literate story.

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuchelli: Recently completed but a classic nonetheless. Brilliant use of the comic style to express the nature of the characters.

but if you want to find some quality comics, you could do a lot worse than browse Page 45's website www.page45.com. They're passionate* about great comics and have introduced me to all kinds of brilliant stuff across all sorts of genres. Nottingham based but will ship anywhere.

And I trust I don't have to explain to wickerman where my username comes from...

*a great word that has been horribly misappropiated by marketing wazzocks who use it these days to describe their approach to selling yoghurt.

was a really good strip, by the way.

The iPad has rekindled my love for comics and I too would be grateful for some pointers to online stuff.

The iPad has rekindled my love for comics and I too would be grateful for some pointers to online stuff.

http://www.godhatesastronauts.com/2010/05/14/issue-1-2/
a seriously twisted mental superhero type thing.

http://loafdish.blogspot.com/2011/11/pages-1-10.html
very difficult to describe - if you like Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Charles Burns you'll probably like this.

http://www.oglaf.com/
NSFW very funny very rude fantasy stuff - ice queens, trolls etc.

http://www.menagea3.net/strips-ma3/that_is_a_cool_eyepatch
poss NSFW as well - menage a 3 - a rom com, I guess

Warren Ellis's post apocalyptic mutant saga, Freakangels has been hugely successful:
http://www.freakangels.com/

and I love love love Jess Fink's Chester 5000 - humorous steampunk porn, definitely NSFW:
http://jessfink.com/Chester5000XYV/?p=417

hope you find something you like.

just found this today:
http://verabee.com/wolf/
as comicsalliance.com write:
Raised by wolves is wordless, but the story is clear as a punch to the face. A feral girl has spent her life among ferocious wolves, and after an act of wolf-on-human violence, realizes that she can no longer live among the canids. So she takes up with a human family, but she never quite fits in. She has nothing in the way of table manners, but her greatest sin is that she responds to the school bullies with bite marks.

The feral girl never fully grows out of being feral, but it's the world around her that proves ill-mannered and violent. What Brosgol does so skillfully is to make us identify with her feral child rather than treat her as the alien other. In the face of cruel children, domestic violence and rampant misogyny, the feral girl's wolfish responses seem far saner than politely ignoring the problems or melting down in tears. By the time you reach the comic's melancholy conclusion, you'll wonder just what's so wrong with a girl who uses her teeth instead of her words.

and only five pages long (albeit quite long pages). An elderly couple find they are about to become parents...
http://www.ryan-a.com/comics/sarahandtheseed05.htm