American Comics with Manga Influences

[Thief]

Does anybody know of any American Comics that are influenced by Manga that would be a good read? I know of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which has obvious manga influences, but nothing else really.

My biggest problems with trying to get into American comics are that they usually don't have a clear place as a starting point. Most of the time I'm expected to jump into and experience a story arc of a previously established character and just roll with it. Also, what makes reading American Comics frustrating is the constant and excessive use of cross-overs. It's as if they expect me to be familiar with all the characters in the universe (if we're talking about DC or Marvel I guess) and read all the trades.... et cetera. I just want want to read about the characters that have been introduced in the trades I'm reading.. not some other random comic that I'm now expected to read.

I'd love to read an American comic that is detached from the whole super-hero scene, something stand alone.

Does anybody have any recommendations or thoughts in general about American comics vs. Manga and the pros and cons of each?

[silent killer]

I think American comics greatest strengths is also it's greatest weakness. Like you said, many comics have these incredible backstories that you could spend literal weeks going over before you even get to the current story. Assuming you have the time. Which is a good thing if you like to read a lot, but is rather unreasonable for most everyone else. to go along with decades worth of material you may or may not have to read, there's also the matter of the writers and the artists that work on the series. The longest running series' may have had dozens if not hundreds of writer/artist teams over their long careers, which you will rarely, if ever get in a manga series. So if you want to get into an older series, you're going to have to take the bad with the good, and either start from the beginning, which I don't think is necessary, or you can start from some position like a major story arc. As an example, I didn't start reading The Avengers until The House of M crossover. Sure I had some prior knowledge of it but it's not like I had been following it. I basically skipped forty years right there and it's okay.

As for recommendations:
I Kill Giants
The Sandman - from Vertigo Comics if there's any confusion.
The Unwritten
House of Mystery
Saga
Powers
The Boys
Crossed - the first series by Garth Ennis in particular. It's very gruesome. I do not use that word lightly for this series.
Rapture
Fables
Madame Xanadu - though I can only attest for the most recent series
Y: The Last Man - without a doubt the best thing I have read since Nausicaa.
The Walking Dead - ever since the end of the first season of the tv show, it's gotten much harder to find copies at the comic shop. So yes the hype is real, and it's a great comic.
Guncady and it's indirect sequel The Ride: Die Valkyrie. You can read the first chapter here
Rising Stars
North 40
28 Days Later - which takes place shortly before 28 Weeks Later and features Selena in a proper starring role.
If you like movie adaptations there's aliens vs predator and Starship Troopers. Although if you're a big fan of Heinlien you might want to stay away from starship troopers.
Archer and Armstrong
Bone
DMZ
The Sword - fucking epic
Higher Earth
Hotwire
Mystery Society
Runaways
Coraline - yes, it's for kids. Doesn't stop it from being properly captivating
Valerian and Laureline - not American but French I believe. can't understand half of the scans I do have of it, but it's good stuff all the same.

I know you said no super hero stuff, but well, give these atleast a once over.
all of the Ultimate Marvel comics up until Ultimatum atleast, where the majority of the line goes to pot. reboots done right imo
Journey into Mystery - this series doesn't permanently follow one character or group over it's long off again on again history. the name is fairly apt as it focuses on mysterious incidences within the Marvel Universe rather than an actual character. It's ranged from whodunit type mysteries to how does the universe work
Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest - One of the best things Marvel has put out in a very, very long time. They actually managed to make Nova relevant. Until this point, he was just some lame space cop
Alongside Planet Hulk, ofcourse.
House of M - this is what really got me back into superhero comics. Up until this I didn't really care what happened
Joss Whedon's, and Garth Ennis' runs on Astonishing X-Men
Secret Warriors
the Spider Island crossover- it had some seriously funny moments.
The Incredible Hercules - again really funny
Grant Morrison's run on New X-Men - best place as any to start with X-men
Guardians of the Galaxy - post annihilation
as well as the War of Kings and Thanos Imperative crossovers - for some reason marvel crossovers that take place in space are better than the huge ones that get all the hype.


That's it for me. Not much mainstream DC because I can only keep up with one continuity


/exhales dramatically

[Thief]

Holy wow dude! What an amazing response. Excuse me while I spend hours looking through everything you've just recommended.