I'm one of those people who likes to wait until a comic, novel, or television series are finished before I start buying them. I want to see where the story ends before I decide that it needs to be on my shelf, but certain comics are so good I can't wait. Although I love reading super hero comics, they make up a pretty small part of my overall collection.

Here are my top five currently published comic series that I'm snapping up as they come out (in graphic novel format).

5. The Dark Tower
Okay, this is the one I actually buy issue by issue but the reasons are pretty simple. The Dark Tower series of novels by Stephen King is possibly my favourite genre series of all time (Sorry LOTR, but you come a very close second). The series is written by Peter David and illustrated by Jae Lee. It works to fill in the gaps between the novel series and although I've had a problem with Lee's art in the past - it fits this series so well I am consistently blown away by it. If your a fan of the novels, check out the comics, they are simply that good.

4. Fables
You have to read this series. Bill Willingham is simply an amazing storyteller. Take all of your common knowledge of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, fantasy books and myths, then turn it into a series that is by turns violent, wonderful, epic, sensual, urban, hilarious, and a war story and you begin to get the idea of how good this series is. In addition, the spin-off series Jack of Fables, is also incredible. I'm not even sure why you are still reading my recommendation, go and read this now.

3. The Walking Dead
Last week I talked about how the protagonist of this series is one of my favourites in horror fiction. The series does exactly what I want to know after every zombie film - What next? Where does this go? What happens six months later. This series is pretty grim, what with all the zombies, but there is also a lot of hope in it, and for me hope is a pretty big part of what I like in any story. I just read that the series is being made into a TV show for AMC next year, and as I'm a fan of both of their other big shows (Mad Men and Breaking Bad), I am really jazzed about how they will adapt this amazing series.

2. Hellboy / BPRD
In a way, part of why I like these series is the same as why I'm a fan of Fables - they take classic folklore and give it a modern twist. Hellboy is simply an incredible character. I think I decided on loving this series when I read the two-page story, Pancakes, which shows a defining moment in the characters life, when he chose good over evil. The stories are incredible, the artwork is amazing (although BPRD's takes a little getting used to), and the graphic novels are actually decently priced (thanks Dark Horse!). The movie adaptations are great, but the original material is fan-freaking-tastic.

1. Scott Pilgrim
All right, I'll admit it, a huge part of why I love this series is because I'm Canadian. It takes a basic story (young man growing into adulthood and finding his first love) and then adds in the fact that in this world, if you date a girl you must battle each of her evil ex-boyfriends - in seriously awesome, martial arts battles. The series owes a lot to manga for its style and is incredibly funny. Scott's world is so well developed you end up caring for all of his friends and their stories too. Simply put, this is my current favourite comic book.

I don't read many comics although I do read lots of manga. The problem with that is frequently series kind of just stop in the middle with no certain plans to continue. It gets very frustrating. There are a couple series I try my darndest to keep up on when the opportunity and finances allow.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle - This just ended it's run in Japan and I actually read the epilogue online over the weekend. Despite having read it completely online I'm still collecting it as it comes out here because I love the story.

Vassalord - Dark, gory and very violent, this is not really the typical manga I read, but I enjoy the main characters.

There are other series I'm interested in picking up either through the library, or from where the library left off, but these are my top two at the moment.

Although as I mentioned, I don't read a lot of comics per se, Fables sounds pretty good, I'll have to check and see if they have them at the library.

The two manga (mangas?) I'm currently reading are called Rosario + Vampire and Naruto. The first one because I like the stories where the girl rescues the boy and the second because my teenaged daughter is a huge fan and I like having something to chat with her about. I have been meaning to check out Death Note, as I've heard lots of good things about it, but I'll make sure to give your recommendations a try too.

Ooh, I love Death Note. Death Note and Dramacon are the only manga I really like, although I do like some of the older stuff... Osamu Tezuka and Keiko Takemiya.

Right now the only comics I'm keeping up with are Blackest Night comics from DC... It gets expensive to try to keep up with all the series I'm interested in.