“Cerebus” by Dave Sim, with later background art by Gerhard

Maybe he got a little bit preachy (and possibly crazy) by the end, but he stuck to his word and stayed indie for his whole career, and I can’t think of anyone who’s managed to succeed doing that. The Mother’s & Daughters storyline is some of the best philosophy I’ve ever read. It totally changed my outlook.

If you’ve never heard of it, here’s some Wiki: (full of story spoilers)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebus_the_Aardvark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Sim

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_(comics_artist)

Interesting guy, at any rate.

He keeps everything in print, in affordable phone-book sized editions, available at better comic shops and from various websites.