My new hobby: using the Internet to explore the wide world of comics, a perfectly legitimate genre that I've prettymuch neglected. Thanks to comic readers like CDisplay and torrent sites like Z-Cult FM and Torrenz, in the past three or four months I've looked at dozens of different comics.

"Perfectly legitimate" genre; whatever that means. Next week: the "perfectly legitimate" word!

Last night I overheard Graham — whose taste in comics is different and thus inferior to my own — trying to recommend Transmetropolitan. And butt in I did.

Now, Transmetropolitan is better than most comics, but it's essentially a slightly raunchy Phillip K. Dick story in comic form, with a gonzo journalist at the center, and for me the weaknesses of what's being combined outweigh the end product.

What weaknesses, you say? Phillip K. Dick's books are good (I've read about seven) but they're good because of their great concepts, not their generally loose plots. I'd rather discuss one than read one, honestly. And gonzo journalism is essentially (and triumphantly) self-indulgent. It can be fantastic, but if you don't cotton to the journalist then the whole exercise is wasted. Don't see any problems here? Then read Transmetropolitan. I say no thanks.

Anyways, I interrupted our resident blowhard not to bash Transmetropolitan, but because I think there are many comics more worthy of recommendation. Here are my picks.

1. Sandman

If you haven't at least tried to read Sandman, you really have no business discussing comics-as-literature. It's the ultimate English-major comic, full of allusions and clever metaphors. Neil Gaiman has built an incredible universe here, out of old legends from all over the world. The first book, still somewhat in the world of superheroes, is the worst, the collection Brief Lives is the best, but you really can't skip ahead.

It's better than The Watchmen. (So is V for Vendetta, for the record.)

2. Lucifer

There are numerous spinoffs and separate series set in the same world as Sandman, the best of which is easily Lucifer, a 75-issue series. Read Sandman and Sandman Presents: The Morningstar Option before you start reading Lucifer.

Lucifer appeals to me because it's both more religious and more philosophical than Sandman. The characters, including Lucifer, tend to end up in conflict with each other not because they're good or evil, but because they have very different perspectives. Or are just ignorant and/or greedy. It's a very believable spiritual world.

3. Gotham Central

I'll admit that I'm a sucker for comics set in the supernatural or magical world, but Gotham Central appeals to a different part of me: the part that just wants a decent procedural drama. The world is realistic but dark, and the more-or-less one-sided tension between Batman and the police is handled with just the right amount of restraint.

4. Fables

Recommended to me years and years ago by Noble Joshua, this series is considerably less "angsty" than what I usually read, but still engaging. The concept alone, a group of refugee fairy tale characters living in New York, makes the series worth a look, and the storytelling is so breezy that after one look it's hard not to keep reading.

5. Ex Machina

It was hard to pick a comic for this last spot. I like Hellblazer a lot, but I would only (albeit emphatically) recommend the first 80-odd issues, I like Preacher but I get tired of broad-humor subplots involving Arseface or the Preacher's family. Hellboy and B.P.R.D. are a poor man's Hellblazer, so what's the point, and a lot of other comics I like had really limited runs and similarly limited appeal.

Ex Machina is still alive and kicking. It's written by the same guy behind Y: The Last Man, but this series is less about gender politics than actual, real-world politics (the alternate-world setting is very close to our own). The concept — a guy who can communicate with machines — is interesting, as is the mixed present-day/flashback approach. There aren't a lot of other superbeings cluttering things up, and the hero is still learning, all the time.

Developing in odd ways, too. I'm not sure if I'm going to like where the series ends up, but it's nice to find a good superhero comic and climb along for the ride.

So read some comics. They're not just for kids, kids.