Comics for 11-15 year olds

[Let Them Read Comics]

Thanks guys. I've just read Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow and loved it. Never thought I'd say that about superman. However I just flipped through my copy of The Killing Joke and realised it really isn't appropriate for my potential audience. I'm thinking Dark Knight Returns as a Batman comic, but I'm open to suggestions.
I've got the above plus Year One, Arkham Asylum, Hush and RIP. Out of those I'd go with DKR or maybe Hush. Any others that I should consider? Remember they need to be quite short self contained stories and not something that will require more than one paperback to cover the story.
Thanks so much guys, appreciate all the help.

[victorxd1999]

Thanks guys. I've just read Whatever happened to the man of tomorrow and loved it. Never thought I'd say that about superman. However I just flipped through my copy of The Killing Joke and realised it really isn't appropriate for my potential audience. I'm thinking Dark Knight Returns as a Batman comic, but I'm open to suggestions.
I've got the above plus Year One, Arkham Asylum, Hush and RIP. Out of those I'd go with DKR or maybe Hush. Any others that I should consider? Remember they need to be quite short self contained stories and not something that will require more than one paperback to cover the story.
Thanks so much guys, appreciate all the help.

What's not appropiate for 13 year olds of Killing Joke? I read it as a 14 year old and I never had a moment where I thought that it was too much or something like that. The Long Halloween might be a good Batman comic. It's pretty affordable ($20 and it's about 3 times as long as Year One for example) and it's pretty easy to read while still being compelling. The art's easy on the eye too. You also don't need any knowledge before hand.

[Let Them Read Comics]

What's not appropiate for 13 year olds of Killing Joke? I read it as a 14 year old and I never had a moment where I thought that it was too much or something like that. The Long Halloween might be a good Batman comic. It's pretty affordable ($20 and it's about 3 times as long as Year One for example) and it's pretty easy to read while still being compelling. The art's easy on the eye too. You also don't need any knowledge before hand.

Should have been clearer, it's more the parents. The school I work at, we have very involved parents. This is largely a good thing, but when it comes to The scene with Barbara and Jim, it's the violence mixed with the humiliation that both Barbara and Jim go through that would upset parents; there will still be some with negative views of comics as it is.

The Long Halloween had always been on my radar, but for some reason never bought. I'll check it out. I think the art will always play a big part in them enjoying a story, so I'm glad that's it's appealing.

On a side note I just finished God Loves, man Kills. I think it's the best Xmen story I've ever read. I don't know how I've gone so long without reading it! It's got to be one of the first reads I think.

[Mighty Roman]

I'd recommend:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Thor: Reborn (by JMS)
Superman: Earth One
Spider-Man: Big Time
Civil War
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
I'd definitely recommend Big Time as a great book to start on. It's a perfect jumping-on point, and features some great stories and new villains.

[Wildfire2099]

11 to 15 is a hard range... there are very different things I'd recommend to an 11 year old as compared to a 15 year old.

If you're looking for thought provoking, but with familiar characters, Kingdom Come is a great bet. You could certainly also do Watchmen, or V for Vendetta...not familiar characters, but certainly famous enough I'd say.

For Marvel, I'd second the vote for Big Time... or even Superior Spiderman... the latter is more familar, but Superior could be very discussable.

On the older end of the scale, you can't go wrong with Fables, but some of the content might be too much for 11 year olds... I'd suggest reading it yourself first to see if it fits your needs. Books of Magic could also be really good... it's not current, but to 11-15 year olds it could well feel like 'mature Harry Potter', and the early stories especially have good discussion fodder.