To go straight to Geoff's recommendations on movies and television click here.

How to Read Superhero Comics and Why has chapters devoted to the major comics work I would recommend, as well as an annotated bibliography. More recent comics work worth checking out include the following:

All Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

This is sure to be for Superman what Dark Knight Returns was for Batman: the definitive story. 12 issues beginning in November. For a story with Superman in it, from the same creative team, check out the graphic novel JLA: Earth 2.

The Filth by Grant Morrison and Chris Weston

A weird and disturbing scatological story, very influenced by William S. Burroughs, about a secret organization that cleans up every-day reality. 13 issues, collected into a graphic novel.

JLA Classified 1-3 by Grant Morrison and Ed McGuinness

My favorite comics of all time, this story introduces one of the main villains of Seven Soldiers in a fight with Gorilla Grodd and a host of mind controlled superheroes against Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter. It condenses into three issues everything that is good about superhero comics — the insanity, a hundred thousand crazy ideas, a new location every page, big action — and none of the bad stuff. Uncollected.

Seaguy by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart

A surreal and fun story about a goofy has-been superhero who gets loose for a moment from the shinny, happy, sinister corporate conspiracy keeping a world of wonder away from a desensitized humanity. 3 issues collected into a graphic novel.

Seven Soldiers of Victory by Grant Morrison

Seven Soldiers is an intricate thirty-part superhero story, playing out every two weeks for fifteen months. It is based on the idea of a superhero team where none of the members meet, where their actions are harmonized without their knowing about it. It starts with Seven Soldiers #0 (art by J.H. Williams III), a kind of prologue. Then it continues in seven four-issue miniseries, each one of which has subterranean links with the others. Shining Knight (art by Simone Bianchi) is about an Arthurian Knight trapped in present day LA, The Manhattan Guardian (art by Cameron Stewart) follows a superhero who is the living icon of a newspaper, Zatanna (art by Ryan Sook) is a magician's assistant and sorceress, and Klarion The Witch-Boy (art by Frazer Irving) is a weird child from a twisted underground Puritan colony. Mister Miracle (art by Pascal Ferry) is a cosmic escape artist, the Bulleteer (art by Yanick Paquette and Michael Bair) is a scientist who has survived a horrific accident and Frankenstein! (art by Doug Mahnke) is the DC universe version of the monster from Mary Shelley's novel. Each hero is a kind of third-string quasi-superhero who grows into a major figure. The story concludes in Seven Soldiers #1 (art by J.H. Williams III) April 2006.

Steampunk by Chris Bachalo and Joe Kelley

A tragically underrated story by my favorite comics artist, about a steam-powered cyborg in an alternate-universe science-fiction version of nineteenth-century England. 12 issues.

The Ultimates by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch

The Ultimates is a hard-core, streamlined, action-movie-style version of the Avengers, the superhero team composed of Captain America, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, the Wasp, Giant Man, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. It does a stunning job making the reader care about and take seriously the central characters and concept by slowly parsing out a story that would normally be told badly in four issues. 13 issues (collected into a large-format hardcover graphic novel or two soft-cover graphic novels) followed by a 12-issue sequel.

Wanted by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones

This is a Fight-Club style story about a twenty-something office worker with a dead-end cubicle job who gets promoted into a secret fraternity of supervillains who control the world.

WE3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

An action packed and heartbreaking fusion of Terminator and Homeward Bound. 3 issues collected into a graphic novel.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

George Clooney's directorial debut, Confessions of A Dangerous Mind is based off of the autobiography of Chuck Barris, who claimed he was working as a hit-man for the CIA while creating and hosting The Dating Game and the Gong Show. Sam Rockwell and Drew Barrymore star.

Dark City

Kiefer Sutherland, Rufus Sewell and Jennifer Connelly star in this stylish film that deftly combines noir, science fiction and Gnosticism. One of my five favorite films.

Dead Man

Johnny Depp plays William Blake, an accountant in 1851 who travels to the American West for a job where he meets an Indian (played by Garry Farmer) who was educated in England and who thinks Depp is the reincarnation of his poet and prophet namesake. Neil Young provides the haunting soundtrack for Jim Jarmusch's best movie. Ghost Dog, about a hit-man in Chicago trying to live by the samurai code, is also worth watching.

Full Frontal

A weird, but romantic ensemble movie by Soderbergh, in which his characters flicker between being characters and being the actors playing those characters.

Grosse Point Blank

John Cusack stars in this Romantic comedy as a hit-man who returns home for his ten-year high school reunion. The dialogue and plotting is flawless throughout.

Ocean's Twelve

A totally misunderstood masterpiece, in which Soderbergh craftily subverts the flawless genre hi-jinks of Ocean's Eleven by taking all the frighteningly charismatic protagonists halfway to the realm of his more effective experimental work like Full Frontal, while remaining thoroughly enjoyable to watch. One of my five favorite films.

Solaris

Steven Soderbergh improved on both the 1972 film and the book, streamlining what is essentially a ghost story in space to its essence. Staring George Clooney.

Spartan

David Mamet's best movie since The Spanish Prisoner, with flawless weird dialogue and a smart political edge, Spartan is about a lone military man, played by Val Kilmer, who rescues the President's daughter when no one really wants her back. One of my five favorite films.

Firefly and Serenity

Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, combined science fiction and the western in Firefly, a television show cancelled halfway through its first season. The 14 episodes that were made are fantastic, full of Whedon's trademark witty dialogue, smart plotting, and heart. Whedon is the master at renovating cliché, and this is no exception, as he simultaneously deflates science-fiction pretensions while lovingly participating in them; Firefly should make those fans who continue to study the nostalgias of Star Trek and Star Wars ashamed of themselves. The television show concludes in the film Serenity.

K Street

The smartest show ever put on television, K Street was created by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh. It follows a Washington PR firm made up of James Carville and Mary Matalin (playing themselves) and two fictional characters. The fusion of journalistic-documentary reality TV-style (each episode was written, shot, and televised in one week) with carefully crafted fictional narratives gives it blood like no other show. It moves fast and expects a lot of its audience; it is to West Wing what West Wing is to other shows.

Samurai Jack

A cartoon from the creator of the Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack tells the story of a Samurai warrior in a battle with the demon Aku who flings him into the a confusing future, a science fiction landscape where Aku rules. Like Ghost Dog and Kill Bill (one of my five favorite films), Samurai Jack is a review of the entire action genre; almost every episode, a stylish set-piece for a largely dialogue-free action sequence, references some already existing creation which has served as an influence (Predator, Lone Wolf and Cub, Star Wars, Norse Mythology, Gangsters, Zombies, Westerns).

Sports Night

The doomed but wonderful half-hour comedy-drama that detailed the relationships behind the scenes of an ESPN-style cable sports show from Aaron Sorkin, creator of The West Wing, The American President (a very underrated romantic comedy), and A Few Good Men (one of my five favorite films). Two seasons.