This is a wee list of comics which I have and would recommend you all partake in. This list is not conclusive or nowt like that, but they all come recommended highly by me for what that's worth.

Watchmen: It's become almost a bit of a cliche to like Watchmen these days and it's only going to get worse in coming months with the film release. Ignore all the hype and the bullshit and simply accept that Moore's parable for the frailty of society is as good as comic writing gets. I've never cared particularly much for the artwork but the when the story is so gripping and intrinsic a human allegory, you can't help but bow down to what the book achieves. Everyone should own this, comic fan or not.

Preacher: Watchmen may be the greatest comic ever written but Preacher will always be my favorite. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon combine what initially appears to be a mishmash of traditional stories. From the Biblical end of the world to the spaghetti Western, the Irish vampire to a simple, unbreakable love, Preacher should, by all rights, be a complete car crash. What we end up with is the ultimate tale of love and friendship which always feels real and true no matter how fantastical. Utterly genius and life-affirming.

Transmetropolitan: If Hunter S. Thompson and Patrick Stewart got together and made babies, Spider Jerusalem would be the offspring. In a simultaneously horrifying and alluring near-future, Spider plies the pen of journalist who knows he must paint the picture of the mega-city he detests. Ellis has our heroes on one page shooting up and pissing on cats to taking down presidents in the next. Funny, depressing, challenging and essential.

Fables: The question Bill Willingham poses is a simple one - if the characters we remember from fairy tales were forced to co-exist with us in this world and deal with the problems we all have to face, how would they cope? From the Big Bad Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood to Beauty, the Beast and Snow White, few of the stories we remember as children are left unmined. Willingham gives his characters purpose and emotion demonstrated by few other writers while the artwork (particularly the covers) continually dazzles and draws you deeper in.

We3: I've mentioned this one in one of our early podcasts but to recap - a cat, a dog and a rabbit are caught and manipulated by the military into machines with the addition of sophisticated biometrics. Unfortunately these awesome weapons reach their sell-by date and are due to be terminated. Spurred by a sense of survival and the wish to find the one place where they can be happy - 'home' - they escape. As a one of trade, there is a much smaller barrier of entry financially so I highly recommend grabbing this.

100 Bullets: What if you had had one unlucky turn which had destroyed your life? What if you were presented with evidence pinning this to one person? What if, in the case beside the evidence, was a gun with 100 bullets which you have been told are completely untraceable - any crimes committed with this weapon would not be followed up or investigated by any lawful authority? With this simple premise, we are lead through a dark world of film noir which for my money surpasses anything else in the crime comic genre, including the mighty Sin City.

Powers: In a world full of superheroes and supervillians, who takes charge when it all goes wrong? Who are the lawful administrators of justice? Powers follows two cops from a superpowers department in a US city police station. They are the ones left to tidy up when things go wrong, to make sure the public are safe and to keep the villians and the heroes in check. Of course, things are not all as they seem as the back stories of our two main cast unravel and intertwine. Beautiful, distinctive artwork makes this well worth your time.

Walking Dead: You have heard me wax lyrical enough about the Walking Dead by now. The ultimate zombie apocalypse comic book.

30 Days of Night: Yes, the film was more than a little bit 'meh'. The comic book is far superior. The series has dipped a bit in later trades but Templesmith draws the world Niles scripts so dynamically that the first four should be in everyone's collection. The original, which the film was based on, is still far and away the best.

Y: The Last Man: To finish off the list, is Yorick's recently finished tale. After the entire male half of the human race is wiped out by a mysterious plague or disease, he finds himself as literally, the last man on Earth. What follows is a tale where Yorick must reconcile his responsibilities to himself, the woman he loves and the human race. I was terrified there would be no way he could pay everything off towards the end of Y's magnificent run but Vaughan does so in a way that makes you look at comics and life in a forever-changed way