I've wanted to do this for a while so I'm gonna list comics/manga that I really like so more I can just geek out about some and also introduce the lesser-known ones to twitterverse. Just gonna give basic synopses and reasons I find them enjoyable. It's gonna be a long one.

Disclaimer: If you feel like checking any of these out please go and support the original authors by buying their work in-store or online, and by visiting their webpages if you can! I just have these pages saved for study and reference, but it's no substitute for a proper book.

Kicking it off with GOAT Piece, or One Piece from Eiichiro Oda. Phenomenal art, a world literally decades in the making, and an impossibly large cast of memorable characters are just a few reasons you should give this series a proper shot!

Oda's, like any mangaka in the game as long as this, has drastically improved artistically over time, but it's still astounding that he pumps out work of this calibre on a weekly schedule. Even his early work is solid, but it's worlds apart now.

The series is just a week and a half away from hitting 1000 chapters, which can certainly be daunting, but I implore anyone who wants to pick up another series to give One Piece a chance. It's got tears, it's got laughs, it's the entire package and then some.

#2: SAGA by dynamic duo Bryan K Vaughan and Fiona Staples has been in the top of my list for years now and for good reason. The Star Wars + LotR universe leaves literal worlds to be explored by our main characters who fight to keep their family alive amidst a generational war.

Vaughan makes another appearance down the line on the list, but Staples' art grabbed me from the start and never let go. The two work together in tandem to make you care for an ever-expanding cast of characters in an ever-expanding story that leaves you on the edge of your seat.

SAGA is a treat for the eyes and heart, as you feel yourself get invested in this small story of a family in the middle of a war waged on a galactic scale. And with such a story you feel every moment of happiness as heavily as every death that plagues the journey.

#3: A newer discovery for me, Blue Period by Tsubasa Yamaguchi is a quiet but powerful read following a student stepping into the world of art. The series is beautifully tender and cuts to my heart as I'm sure it will many other artists who read it.

The series delves into the many aspects of art as well as the struggles that come with it. The main character gets a crash course of those very struggles, all the while having to keep up in a field that he is a novice in while surrounded by peers with many years of experience.

But it's not all doom and gloom, and Blue Period also focuses on the joy of creating, the strength it takes to be confident in your work, and peppers in legitimate artistic instruction along the way! The manga captures a nostalgia I can't quite explain, tinged with melancholy.

#4: Golden Kamuy by Satoru Noda is a blast, simple as that. It's funny, it's violent, it's beautiful, it's grotesque. The story is filled with information about Ainu culture, and the overarching story trucks along thanks to the strength of the character's introduced over time.

With a premise that inherently brings us into contact with a wacky cast of misfits, Noda flexes his muscles in being able to make so many characters stand out. When called for, Noda's art carries a punch with it that makes you invested in what happens next.

Golden Kamuy is also one of the best manga I've read in recent years with how it flips between being deadly serious and stupidly funny on a dime. The humor is a big part of the series from characters being silly to absurd situations, interwoven with brutal violence.

#5: Dungeon Meshi by Ryōko Kui is a wicked fun take on the concept of dungeon-crawling, following a party that literally eats the monsters to sustain their journey. More than just humorous concept, the world has a ton of thought and consideration put into it to make it feel real.

Most of the series explores the namesake dungeon, and with each chapter, we learn more about the world from the ecosystem within the dungeon to how people make mundane livings essentially MMO grinding. The world feels alive and organic, carried by the simple but effective art.

Dungeon Meshi also is as funny as the best of them with amazing gags that build off the inherently ridiculous yet completely sensible concept of eating monsters while dungeon crawling for sustenance. For a lighter, sillier read that could even be for children, look no further.

#6: Southern Bastards by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour is a grind of a story. A relatively small story by design, a tiny southern town with some secrets and a love of football is the stage. A cast almost entirely made up of unloveable bastards somehow kept me hooked my first read.

Latour's art and Aaron's dialogue mesh seamlessly, adding to the rough edges of the world. The characters all seem like caricatures with new life breathed into them, as the Jason's are able to utilize them effectively to tell the story they are pitching to us.

The use of red throughout the series is a staple, it tinges every inch of the town save for a few spots. Red becomes both familiar and dangerous, violent and unexpected at times. Soon, you don't even question who's who when you see scarlet.

#7: Ajin: Demi-Human by Gamon Sakurai is also a recent discovery for me, and takes the concept of immortality to new lengths with a cast of characters unlike what I've seen in most other series. The mechanics of the world are well-conceived and utilized effectively in the action.

I'm a big fan of series with this sort of in-between realistic look to the world and characters, and the rendering applied to the black ghosts only serves to make them more menacing. It also helps some moments land with more gravity when the art goes into overdrive.

A big selling point of this series is the antagonist, who is inexplicably charismatic in his approach and on-screen presence. Every chapter he appears in makes him seem more and more like a one-man army until you stop thinking he can be beaten.

#8: Eyeshield 21 Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata is, to this day, my favorite sports anime. The art is so charming and fun and intense, and I've ranted before about how much I love theme teams in sports and E21 has that in spades.

This was also the first work of Murata's I read, and it's amazing to see how much he grew over the course of the series. His expressiveness and ability to render when necessary became tools that would make his rendition of OPM so impactful.

Eyeshield does better than almost any other sports anime (imo) in making every team that appears memorable right off the bat. There are so many characters that pop up throughout the series but each one has a unique playstyle than matches their teams theme, which I'm a sucker for.

#9: Blue Lock by Muneyuki Kanshiro and illustrated by Yuusuke Nomura keeps the sports anime train running but with a protagonist unlike what people are likely to expect from a genre chock full of upbeat, do-gooder protags. This series turns soccer on its head in a very novel way.

With a premise that is bonkers enough to make you suspend your disbelief just long enough to get hooked, Blue Lock makes you invested in the life a soccer camp comprised of ONLY egotistical strikers and letting their personalities clash and rebound off one another.

Nomura is also good at making "unrealistic" interpretations of character's which I am always a fan of in sports anime, and often does so in order to heighten the intensity of the scene as well as to imply emotion. A very easy but effective way to make sure readers can keep up.

#10: Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama might be my favorite series I've found in the past few years. Everything from the world to the art to the story is on another level, and the magic system is as tight and considered as any I've ever seen on par with FMA imo.

Shirahama is another artist with that beautiful blend of realistic textures with more cartoony characters that look like they can inhabit the same world, and that skill carries over to the environments and magic.

The art is also extremely experimental at times, with Shirahama taking liberties with the panelling and structure of the pages. This makes the world feel even more magical when called for and serves to heighten emotion when needed.

#11: Silver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa is a fantastic, moving story about a student with no goals learning about life while attending an agricultural school. As he interacts with his peers he learns more about this world that he has stepped in to, and in doing so what HE wants.

Arakawa is in peak form with Silver Spoon, hot off the tail of FMA and her art is just as good this time around. An arguably more personal and heartfelt coming-of-age type story than FMA, Silver Spoon's narrative melds perfectly with her masterful visual storytelling.

Arakawa's humor is just as strong as ever as well, managing to keep the tone light when necessary as the series delves into heavier topics such as self-doubt, failure, and hopelessness. Arakawa grew up on a dairy farm and her personal touch can be felt throughout the series.

#12: Otoyomegatari by Kaoru Mori is historical manga set in Central Asia and follows the stories of the people who live there, primarily a newlywed couple and their relationship. It beautifully captures aspects of the culture from years ago alongside deeply personal stories.

There is so much detail in the art that lends to depicting things from the food to the textiles to the people themselves that have such specificity to them that just by reading you can feel yourself learning about aspects of life for the people in the story. Absolutely gorgeous.

This manga is also one of the quietest I've ever read, often letting the visuals speak for themselves and carry the weight of emotional beats when possible. However, when called for Mori is more than capable of making things feel intense and kinetic.

#13: Barbarous by Ananth Hirsh and illustrated by Yuko Ota is such a wonderful webcomic in so many ways from the depth the characters have to the powerful visuals Ota brings to the table to complement the story. Please check it out, you won't be sorry.

http://johnnywander.com/comic/barbarous-chapter-1

#14: Jigokuraku by Yuji Kaku has a fantastically dark premise that hooks you from the start, throwing you into a battle-royale for the Elixir of Immortality populated by ninjas, hardened criminals and flora-inspired eldritch monsters.

In similar fashion to Golden Kamuy, Jigokuraku chucks character after character at the reader and the overall cast is quite memorable, an impressive feat considering how many get killed over the course of the adventure.

The "magic" system of the world is also one I have become a big fan of, an interesting blend of martial arts principles with fantastical weaponry and ninjutsu that is interwoven into the story and design of the villains which are some of the most interesting I've seen in years.

#15: Deadly Class by Rick Remender and illustrated by Wes Craig is a visual TREAT. The style is deceptively simple but delves into experimental often enough to become a part of the visual langauge. Plus who doesn't want to read about assassins dealing with high school drama?

Remender's writing so weirdly fits the frantic energy of the series that every twist feel equally unexpected and appropriate as it happens. The cast is a mish-mash of mean girls level pettiness turned to 11 mixed with murderous intent, making for some amazing humor and action.

Craig's art pops off the page from panel to panel, in no small part thanks to the colorists that have changed throughout the series. The character designs are wonderfully simple yet memorable and his constantly changing panels keeps the series fresh many issues into its life.

#16: Bokurano: Ours by Mohiro Kitoh would be a fantastic follow up/alternative for fans of NGE who may want a series that perhaps has more "heart" for lack of a better term. Similarly taking on subverting the mecha genre, Bokurano is a weird but touching ride the whole way.

The design of the "mechas" is super interesting, varying wildly from one chapter to the next and leaving you guessing how many of them function as the characters themselves work to figure it out.

Bokurano has a daunting task of making you care for a whole cast of characters right from the get-go, but over time is able to make you care for each and every one of them over the course of the story. It gets very heavy and personal at times, keeping you invested the whole way.

#17: Cross Game by Mitsuru Adachi is the only "slow burn" romance series I would ever recommend to people, partly due to my love of sports anime, but also for telling a delicate and beautiful story with a simultaneously dynamic and charming art style.

The story spans years, and as we see the characters grow up Adachi's art keeps you invested in their lives as much as the story itself. His ability to make moments ranging from action-packed to dead silent all hit home with his masterful panelwork and control of expressions.

But the biggest strength Cross Game has is Adachi's usage of silence and panels showing "nothing". Pages of just empty space implying the passage of time are plentiful throughout. And when he leverages these moments for emotion, it hits home harder than ever.