I'd recommend Superman: Identity for someone who has a fondness for the character. Immonen's painting style in that might ease her past any objections to the comic format, and it's a great read.

Thanks, Matt! I'll see if my store has it.

P-C -

there is also a possibility your friend won't ever get into them.

I have a stack of Buffys that I need to read. I love the story, but it is the medium that works my nerves. I love to read. I love tv and movies. I don't really like images and text together. I suspect it has something to do with my wanting to fill in my own images when I'm reading or taking the images at face value in tv/film.

there is also a possibility your friend won't ever get into them.

Yeah, I know. Le sigh.

if she started with the first volume - it's not the best, and I don't like the artwork, or the colouring.

ahh OK. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

For what it's worth, I didn't get into Sandman until the second story arc either. Initially the art was too reminiscent of 1950s-era EC Comics for me to get into it. But "A Doll's House" and "Season of Mists" were mesmerizing.

Yeah, I think I started reading Sandman during the second story arc. But I do know that the first issue I read was "The Sound of her Wings".

So I have returned from the comic book store. Since Steph wants to know, here's what I got:

Blackest Night : I was sort of lost since it's clearly in-continuity and setting up some big new EVENT, but it was a decent issue. I had no idea there were so many different-colored Lanterns. Sheesh.

Savage Dragon : Fun, although I had no idea DC had a Daredevil before Marvel did. And, shit, Savage Dragon sure has had a crappy fucking time of it.

Love and Rockets : I was completely lost through it all and I just quit after a while. Not my thing, despite Killer's gigantic boobs.

Resurrection : This was actually really neat, and I want to pick up the old version for six bucks. And I may read the new series. Looks good so far.

Aliens/Predator : The Aliens story was nice, but the Predator story was meh.

I asked someone to recommend something for my friend, and when I said that I wanted something that would show her why you would write a story as a comic rather than as a book or movie, his eyes lit up, and he took me to the manga section and showed me Gon, which is the wordless tale of a cute little dinosaur. It was cheap, too. So I decided on that.

Blackest Night : I was sort of lost since it's clearly in-continuity and setting up some big new EVENT, but it was a decent issue. I had no idea there were so many different-colored Lanterns. Sheesh.

The multitudes of different-colored Lanterns is totally new. The gist of the Blackest Night storyline is that the Black Lanterns are apparently resurrecting dead superheroes, but in a creepy corrupted awful way.

Yes, they're going to come back wrong.

Love and Rockets : I was completely lost through it all and I just quit after a while. Not my thing, despite Killer's gigantic boobs.

I haven't read it yet, because The Boy has it.

I also got Mercy Sparx, which made the mistake of opening with 2 pages of text-backstory, narrated by Mercy. The problem is that the backstory is fucking confusing, so I started reading not really sure of what the hell was going on.

The multitudes of different-colored Lanterns is totally new.

Oh! That explains why I hadn't fucking heard about them, ever.

The gist of the Blackest Night storyline is that the Black Lanterns are apparently resurrecting dead superheroes, but in a creepy corrupted awful way.

Fun times!

Yes, they're going to come back wrong.

Because there's more wrong for Batman to go?

I recommended Scott Pilgrim to my friend.

Her: I think I'd like to read it as a nongraphic novel more.
Her: Or see it as a TV show.
Me: ERGH.
Me: You say you are interested in comic books.
Me: And yet you do not actually want to read them.
Her: I want to want to read them.
Me: Scott Pilgrim is a perfect example of a story being told using all the tools unique to the comic medium.
Her: I might be able to follow that one. It seems less likely to be visually confusing. With stories that involve creatures and superheroes and whatnot, it's often difficult for me to make out what's going on in the pictures.
Her: Foreget following the order of the boxes; I have trouble just understanding what's going on in them.
Her: I'm just not smart enough for comic books.

She has a PhD. She's not an idiot. I give up. I'm returning the manga, as it now appears to be the worst possible thing to give her, being a visually dense story involving creatures.