These 3 comics should make your reading list, book panel says

From Dilbert to The Dark Knight and everything in between, comic books have a lot to offer in your next reading list, according to some local comic book fans.

Lightning Bolt Comics owner Dylan Miller, local cartoonist Jess Anne Noonan as well as high school student Gabe Carter-Caseley made up Tuesday's panel on CBC's Island Morning talking about comic books and why you should make time for more colourful reading.

• 10 Canadian comic books and graphic novels you should be reading right now
• P.E.I. comic artist's biggest project yet ready to hit newsstands

"The beauty of the medium is that there's really comic books for everyone," Miller says.

"There's simple stuff that's fun for younger audiences and then there's very sophisticated and mature stories being told."

Here are some of the recommended readings from the book panel.

The Walking Dead

If you've already seen The Walking Dead TV show and never gave the comic books a shot, here's a good segue into the world of graphic novels, Carter-Caseley says.​

The post-apocalyptic horror comic revolves around survivors trying to carve out space for themselves in a world full of zombies.

"It's a really easy series to get into," he said.

"They're really beautifully drawn and as someone who was kind of on the outside of the comic-book world for a long time, I can tell that it's really daunting to get into because there's so much out there."

Of course, The Walking Dead comic series came before the show and Carter-Caseley said he's reading the books first.

Black Hammer: Secret Origins

Miller's recommendation is a different type of trip into the realm of super heroes.

His pick, titled Black Hammer: Secret Origins, is by Canadian writer and artist Jeff Lemire, famous for Essex County, as well as several others.

"This one is sort of his take on super heroes he never thought he'd get a chance to play around with," he said.

"So he's created his own little pocket universe and tells their origin stories and puts them into a sort of Twilight Zone situation where they're trapped in a small town with no way to escape."

And the big draw for this series, Miller said, is trying to figure out "how the heck they're going to get out" of the situation the heroes are in.

​Delicious in Dungeon

Noonan​'s pick is the English version of the Japanese manga Delicious in Dungeon.

This fantasy comedy story follows a party of adventurers going into dungeons and slaying monsters, and is sort of what you'd expect playing Dungeons and Dragons. 

However, this story is a bit of a twist on tradition as the tale revolves around food as the characters eat monsters, she said, study anatomy and break down the nutritional value of the creatures they're chowing down on.

"The whole concept of it is they had to go into the dungeon without having any provisions with them … so they start killing and eating the monsters," she said.

"It looks like a typical dungeon crawler, but it's actually way more about food."

More P.E.I. news