Showing posts with label best of. Show all posts
Showing posts with label best of. Show all posts
11 January 2019
08 January 2013
11 comics I liked in 2011: Parts 6 through 11
Hi friends. Real talk time. As you may have noticed, it is now the year 2013. In the way back time of late 2011 and early 2012 I decided to post a series of eleven comics I liked from 2011. I failed. Now, I know you did not come here to read my excuses so I'll just be brief and say that 2012 was an awful year for me. Some major life disrupting things happened which easily could have made me walk away from file under other and comics in general. But, so far, I have stuck it out and clung to comics by my pinkie nails. But I just could never get my 2011 series of posts together. Largely because those awful things that happened have physically put me in a different location from where many of those 2011 comics are. Not way far or anything. I could go dig them up. But my available time to reflect on those books just never matched up with my physical proximity to them. Excuses, excuses.
All that said, in the way back time of late 2011 and early 2012 I did pick out 11 comics that I liked and wanted to talk about. But at this point, in the year 2013, I admit defeat and give up on my idea of long focused individual posts and now give you a list. And I kinda hate lists. But here we are.
These comics are presented in no particular order. I don't really think the idea of "best" has a lot of place in art. It's not a sport. We don't have points or a playoff system. It's all relative to the individual's tastes. And also relative to the fact that comics are very expensive and there are certainly a lot of works out there that won't be on this list just because I never got to read them.
First off, let's start with links to the five comics I did manage to talk about:
And now, comics 6 through 11:
By Robert Ullman and Jeffrey Brown.
I picked this up from Ullman at SPX in 2011 and I've kept it close at hand since then and re-read it several times. First of all it is a WAP book and therefore looks great and is perfectly produced. Great design. Quality cover and paper stock. Quality colors on the cover and end papers. Exactly what I want and enjoy in a minicomic. I've read minicomics long enough that I am no longer impressed by crazy screen print, crazy cut, silk screen wacky covers. I like them to be tight and solid. I like them to be exactly like this.
I also like for my minicomics to have guys like Rob Ullman and Jeffrey Brown in them. Two very different creators. Very different in the way they draw and tell stories but it works well together creating nice tone shifts that break up the book in a positive way. I'm only a casual hockey fan but each story works as its own thing and had me hungry for more.
Back in 2009 ish Rich Tommaso started what he called a "one-man publishing house". Basically, he started posting a lot of comics online and they were/are great. In 2010 (I think) he started what would become the 2012 Sam Hill book. That comic continued into 2011 which was when I actually read most of it. In 2011 he also started Dry Country. (And a bunch of other things if I remember correctly. Vikings End etc.) The point is, Rich was really killing it with the webcomics in 2011. More than I could keep up with and all of it exceptional. Unfortunately, the nature of webcomics today is that they move around and get collected in different ways. Well, unfortunate only in that it makes it harder for me to find old links. Rich's website has changed from Web of Comics to Recoil. Dry Country is currently over at Study Group. Sam Hill can be purchased as a real hold it in your hands paper book over at Fantagraphics.
I talked about the 1st issue 2011's New 52 Animal Man at length here. I liked it well enough but Travel Foreman really blew me away in the following issues. Easily some of the most exciting art I saw in 2011. But sadly, Foreman did not keep up the pace and fill in artists came in during 2012. The art remained strong but was inconsistent and lacked that magic of those first few Foreman issues. Now the comic is mired in a crossover. But for a few months, it was really something.
Not My Small Diary #16 edited by Delaine Green and featuring dozens of indie comics and zine wonders.
Not My Small Diary is an ongoing themed diary anthology. This sixteenth volume is made up of two thick minicomics filled with transportation themed stories. Comics and stuff by Donna Barr, Robyn Jordan, Dave Kiersh, John Porcellino, Liz Prince, Noah Van Sciver, Julia Wertz and many more. I like diary comics but I think I like them best in Not My Small Diary. All those little bits from all those different voices. Seeing the world through so many different eyes, pens and brushes all in one place. More than worth the cover price.
Chester Brown is one of my favorite cartoonists and his previous full length book, Louis Riel, is my favorite book so I had a lot of anticipation built up for Paying For It. A lot of people did. There was a lot of controversy about Paying For Its subject matter and how Chester Brown handled it (and how he had a clear and heavy handed agenda) but it never bothered me. To me, the book is a comedy about a man who has Blake Edwards movie awkwardness every time he tries to interact with living humans. It's a drawn anthropology journal about having sex presented by a cartoon version of a man that does not seem like he'd be all that good at shaking hands. (He rides a bicycle to go find prostitutes! That is funny people.) I thought it was riveting, fascinating and all those other words critics use for "I liked it lots". I particularly liked Brown's interactions with Seth, Joe Matt and Sook-Yin Lee. At the 2011 SPX I had the pleasure of meeting Chester Brown and he was one of the nicest people I've ever met. And totally capable of shaking hands.
No other comic in 2011 was affective to me as Gabby Schulz's Sick. The thing is brutal. Almost every panel is a body blow and some of them rattled my jaw. The story is about the horrors being sick without insurance in the good ol' US of A. I actually have health insurance but my family has experienced a lot of illness over the past 5 or so years and I've spent way too many awful nights in hospitals. Even with insurance, it is terrible. Sick captures all of the worst thoughts and fears of sitting in the hospital or lying in bed thinking that death would be better than what the next few minutes will hold. And as brutal as the comic is, it is also enjoyable. I know that sounds odd. But Schulz is a very funny cartoonist. He is attacking these horrors with scorn and cynicism but there is a layer of humor on most of it. He is pointing out the absurdity of it. Routine matter of fact things we have to go through in the US just to
I would tell you to check it out for yourself but Sick is not currently online. (It kinda is but not officially.) The comic was successful enough that Schulz ended up with bandwidth issues and had to take it down. But the good news is, at least as I understand it from reading one of his blog comments, that he is working on a print version. Whenever that happens, it will be essential reading.
Well, that's 2011 for ya. Sorry it took so long. I'll try to get to 2012 sometime before we all die.
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
31 December 2012
The BEST NEW SINGLE PRINT COMICS I READ in 2012
Hi pals. This is NOT a "best of" list for 2012 or anything like that. I may do that later. This is just a collection of all the comics that I named as my "BEST SINGLE NEW PRINT COMIC I READ THIS WEEK" in my Other Comics News Parade-O-Links columns during 2012. I did not start the Parade-O-Links until May and did not start with the BEST NEW PRINT reviews until sometime later. Also, I did not necessarily post them every week because maybe I forgot. The only criteria taken into account for eligibility in my weekly post was that I had read it in that week. For, the most part they were new or new-ish. For the most part the were single issue pamphlet print comics bought in a direct market comic book shop. Sometimes they were not. I think they were always comics. Here are the links to each review:
Marceline and the Scream Queens #6
Patrick Dean's Big Deal Comics & Stories Issue #12 "A Weekend at the Atwood"
The Amazing Spider-Man #700
Patrick Dean's Big Deal Comics & Stories Issue #12 "A Weekend at the Atwood"
The Amazing Spider-Man #700
Hmm. So yeah. Pretty random but that has more to do with my reading habits than it does the quality of the books that came out in 2012. Not a lot of Marvel in there. I did read plenty of new Marvel comics but I'll just say that, in general, the colors in any average 2012 Marvel comic were just so awful, terrible, horrific and bad that it is hard for me to put any of them beside the word "best". I only managed 12 this year because the Parade-O-Links has been a work in progress. Maybe I'll get closer to a "best" review in 2013. Hope to see you there.
Your best pal ever,
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook.
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
26 November 2012
11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 5: The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold
(Image stolen from DC database.)
The All-New Batman:The Brave and the Bold
Published by DC comics.
Featuring work by Sholly Fisch, Rick Burchett, Dan Davis, Gabe Eltaeb and others.
The Batman: The Brave and the Bold TV show is one of my favorite things of all things of all time. Love it. My kids and I watched it religiously and played the video game on both the Wii and the DS. And the comic book spin off was not half bad either. Some of my favorite comics from 2011 (and 2012) came out of that series. At times Sholly Fisch's stories and scripts are better than the TV show. For one thing, Batman married Wonder Woman! (Sort of.) Issue 4 (pictured above) of the series was full of Silver Age wackiness with an all-star cast that even included Sugar and Spike! Rich Burchett's art was pretty close the the TV show model but he gets to cut loose and have some fun with some crazy lay outs. Gabe Eltaeb's colors were perfect. Like, the TV show, this was a comic where anything could happen and it did. No rules and no "Dark Knight" or "Spirit of Vengeance" crap. Bright bold heroes and psychedelic crazy mad villains. Fun!
The Batman: The Brave and the Bold TV show is one of my favorite things of all things of all time. Love it. My kids and I watched it religiously and played the video game on both the Wii and the DS. And the comic book spin off was not half bad either. Some of my favorite comics from 2011 (and 2012) came out of that series. At times Sholly Fisch's stories and scripts are better than the TV show. For one thing, Batman married Wonder Woman! (Sort of.) Issue 4 (pictured above) of the series was full of Silver Age wackiness with an all-star cast that even included Sugar and Spike! Rich Burchett's art was pretty close the the TV show model but he gets to cut loose and have some fun with some crazy lay outs. Gabe Eltaeb's colors were perfect. Like, the TV show, this was a comic where anything could happen and it did. No rules and no "Dark Knight" or "Spirit of Vengeance" crap. Bright bold heroes and psychedelic crazy mad villains. Fun!
(Image stolen form DC database.)
Another stand out issue of the series was number 13 where every Robin ever had to team up to save Batman. (Including Stephanie Brown!) My daughter loved this comic. Kids love to see all those costumes in one book. I loved it to. Sholly Fisch is great at this kind of thing with a big cast. Every character has their own moments and their own voice. Top notch stuff.
The series was canceled and the final issue came out in 2012. (Which, was totally not in the year 2011 but we'll talk about it anyway.) It too was a winner. Bat-Mite falls in love with Batgirl and tries to impress her by beating the crap out of Batman for 20 or so pages. I'm telling you people, Shakespeare never thought of a story as good as that.
It really broke my hear to see the TV show and this comic come to an end. Broke my kid's heart too. And speaking of breaking my kid's heart, Tiny Titans was also canceled in 2012. This made my kid furious. And yeah, Tiny Titans was replaced with another kid friendly book but it is no comparison. Not even close. Tiny Titans was great but now its gone. 2011 will stand out as a golden year when DC Comics made good comics for kids. 2012, not so much.
It really broke my hear to see the TV show and this comic come to an end. Broke my kid's heart too. And speaking of breaking my kid's heart, Tiny Titans was also canceled in 2012. This made my kid furious. And yeah, Tiny Titans was replaced with another kid friendly book but it is no comparison. Not even close. Tiny Titans was great but now its gone. 2011 will stand out as a golden year when DC Comics made good comics for kids. 2012, not so much.
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
06 September 2012
11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 4: Life With Archie
EDITORS NOTE: I'm over "best of" lists. I came to the realization that I personally only read them to see if the list agrees with my opinions and if it does not then I instantly forget about it. I assume that I'm not the only one that sees them this way. So instead of a meaningless list I am posting a series of eleven individual reviews of comics I liked in 2011. These comics will be reviewed in no particular order. It was not my intention to wait until late in the year 2012 to post about these 11 comics but, events occurred. Thank you for your patience. Thanks for reading.
Life With Archie magazine published by Archie Comics.
Featuring work by Paul Kupperberg, Dan Parent, Norm Breyfogle, Fernando Ruiz, Pat Kennedy and others.
Available for subscription here.
My daughter has been reading Archie comics for about five years. She started with the digest books we found at grocery and drug stores. When the Life With Archie magazine started in 2010 we both wanted to check it out but it was really hard to find. The first issue we found was number 4 and we found it at a CVS drug store about 45 minutes from where we live. Not the most practical way to keep up with Archie Andrews' married life. So, I got her a subscription and it has been money well spent. My daughter starts bugging me about "when is the next issue out" a few days after we get the latest. Dollar for dollar I think it is the best ongoing (semi) monthly mainstream book out there. (Especially with Shonen Jump gone from the grocery store magazine stand.)
Just look at that beautiful Norm Breyfogle Christmas cover. Probably my favorite cover of 2011 and it looks so nice on that slick shiny magazine paper. And I love the magazine format. Each issue has two comics in it and the comics are really solid. Solid writing, art, colors etc. The stories are fascinating. So far it has been the Married Life story in which Archie travels to two different futures. One comic gives you a future married to Betty and the other a future married to Veronica. The kids are out of high school, married and dealing with grown-up stuff.
And it is insane.
This stuff is often Twin Peaks crazy. If Michael J. Fox and Doc kidnapped Archie Andrews and used the time DeLorean to drop him in the black lodge this comic is what you would get.
It is a wacky gimmick but the great thing about it is that it allows them to tell a lot of different kinds of stories. Most notably, it allows them to tell the story of the marriage of Kevin Keller.
Issue 16 of Life With Archie might be considered a January 2012 comic but we got our copy in the mail in December 2011 so I'll talk about it here. It has the (sort of) controversial Kevin Keller story of a gay interracial marriage. In an Archie comic. Maybe it is a gimmick but I think it will go down as the most important comic of 2011.
Keller is a veteran and the comics deal with both war drama and the issues that vets deal with after coming home. And that whole gay marriage thing. It's dealing with some things that are very much a part of what it is to be alive right now and these are issues kids are seeing whether we want them to or not.
As a parent I really appreciate how Life With Archie deals with these issues in a matter of fact way. It's not a preachy thing on the ethics of the "war on terror" or issues with marriage equality. It's just, here is this guy that went to high school with the Riverdale kids then he went and served our country in a war and now he's back and here is what he is dealing with. It's the kind of thing a lot of people are dealing with but we don't see much of it in those "grown-up" "not just for kids anymore" comics that Marvel and DC put out. And of course it still has insane trans dimensional romance. Where Archie beats Marvel and DC (who both followed Archie with their own gay stories in 2012) is that when they do these things it comes from a fun lighthearted place. When Marvel and DC do them it comes from a dark, gross and cynical place. Twelve year old Merry Marvel Marching Society Shannon Smith would never believe this but right now I prefer the comics coming out of Riverdale. (Just don't tell my daughter. She thinks the subscription was for her.)
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
05 September 2012
11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 3 : Brad McGinty's "Wysteria"
EDITORS NOTE: I'm over "best of" lists. I came to the realization that I personally only read them to see if the list agrees with my opinions and if it does not then I instantly forget about it. I assume that I'm not the only one that sees them this way. So instead of a meaningless list I am posting a series of eleven individual reviews of comics I liked in 2011. These comics will be reviewed in no particular order. It was not my intention to wait until late in the year 2012 to post about these 11 comics but, events occurred. Thank you for your patience. Thanks for reading.
Wysteria by Brad McGinty
Hand crafted hardcover graphic novel. Currently SOLD OUT but you could probably go to McGinty's site and nag him about a second printing.
Part of the reason for this series of "11 comics I liked in 2011" was to write reviews of some of the great stuff from 2011 that I did not have time to talk about. Wysteria, however is a book I did talk about. I reviewed it in its original minicomic form here and I talked about how much I loved the hand bound hardback version here last year. But I can't honestly talk about my favorite stuff from 2011 without mentioning it. The book has been in a bookcase in my kitchen since I got it and I pull it out and look at it all the time. It is a wonderful collection of amazing story art that I can stare at again and again.
But don't take my word for it. You can currently read it online for free.
Another great thing Brad did in 2011 was the American Christmas Devil Kaiju Xmas Card. I got some cards myself and sent them to family. They were a big hit. But it also gave us the funniest blog post I read in 2011.
Thanks for that Brad.
Hand crafted hardcover graphic novel. Currently SOLD OUT but you could probably go to McGinty's site and nag him about a second printing.
Part of the reason for this series of "11 comics I liked in 2011" was to write reviews of some of the great stuff from 2011 that I did not have time to talk about. Wysteria, however is a book I did talk about. I reviewed it in its original minicomic form here and I talked about how much I loved the hand bound hardback version here last year. But I can't honestly talk about my favorite stuff from 2011 without mentioning it. The book has been in a bookcase in my kitchen since I got it and I pull it out and look at it all the time. It is a wonderful collection of amazing story art that I can stare at again and again.
But don't take my word for it. You can currently read it online for free.
Another great thing Brad did in 2011 was the American Christmas Devil Kaiju Xmas Card. I got some cards myself and sent them to family. They were a big hit. But it also gave us the funniest blog post I read in 2011.
Thanks for that Brad.
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
29 August 2012
11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 2 : Ben Towle's "Oyster War"
EDITORS NOTE: I'm over "best of" lists. I came to the realization that I personally only read them to see if the list agrees with my opinions and if it does not then I instantly forget about it. I assume that I'm not the only one that sees them this way. So instead of a meaningless list I am posting a series of eleven individual reviews of comics I liked in 2011. These comics will be reviewed in no particular order. It was not my intention to wait until late in the year 2012 to post about these 11 comics but, events occurred. Thank you for your patience. Thanks for reading.
Oyster War by Ben Towle
Webcomic available for free right now on teh intronet
Oyster War may be the most complete ongoing webcomic I read in 2011. (And in the present tense days of 2012 as well.) Excellent drawing, cartooning, storytelling, layouts, writing, dialog, character design, colors, letters etc. etc. All the things a great comic needs are there. The comic is a mix of historical fiction, folklore and cartoon comedy adventure. And not just any kind of adventure, nautical adventure! Popeye meets Patrick O'Brian.
Towle draws so well he could have just drawn a different boat picture on each page and I would have been happy but the characters are also very interesting.
Webcomic available for free right now on teh intronet
Oyster War may be the most complete ongoing webcomic I read in 2011. (And in the present tense days of 2012 as well.) Excellent drawing, cartooning, storytelling, layouts, writing, dialog, character design, colors, letters etc. etc. All the things a great comic needs are there. The comic is a mix of historical fiction, folklore and cartoon comedy adventure. And not just any kind of adventure, nautical adventure! Popeye meets Patrick O'Brian.
Towle draws so well he could have just drawn a different boat picture on each page and I would have been happy but the characters are also very interesting.
And the rest of the cast is great as well. The first few scenes where the Captain recruits his team are perfect. This is the most playful work I've seen by Towle so far. Both in the characters and the plot. Every panel is crammed packed with fun. Just look at all the back ground details. Cool looking boats and houses. Cool looking back ground characters. Every panel is thoroughly thought out and fully realized but none of it feels calculated. It feels like a solid tangible living cartoon world you could visit. You can really get lost in this thing.
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
06 June 2012
11 comics I liked in 2011: Part 1: Josh Latta's "Rashy Rabbit Droppin' Anchor"
EDITORS NOTE: I'm over "best of" lists. I came to the realization that I personally only read them to see if the list agrees with my opinions and if it does not then I instantly forget about it. I assume that I'm not the only one that sees them this way. So instead of a meaningless list I am posting a series of eleven individual reviews of comics I liked in 2011. These comics will be reviewed in no particular order. It was not my intention to wait until half way through the year 2012 to post about these 11 comics but, events occurred. Thanks for reading.
Rashy Rabbit Droppin' Anchor by Josh Latta.
7x8" black and white minicomic with full color card stock cover. 32 pages.
Published by Wide Awake Press.
$4.00. On sale here.
I was probably one of the first people to read this comic. My pal Josh Latta gave me a copy way back in April 2011 before Fluke. I started this review shortly thereafter but then things got crazy at work/life/Earth/Narnia/the astral plane etc. Now here we are over a year latter and I'm finally finishing this review.
For the past several years Rashy Rabbit has made my "best of" list. There are very few ongoing indie comics series today and fewer still of the quality of Rashy Rabbit. What is even more impressive to me is that Latta pushes himself farther and farther with each issue. What began as auto-bio comics disguised as funny animals has transformed into an ambitious adult comedy adventure comic. (Which may possibly still be auto-bio disguised as funny animals?) And this, the seventh issue in the series, is the most ambitious yet.
The story begins with Rashy screwing up a vacation with his girl Honey Bunny by getting thrown into some some sort of pre-industrial era airport prison for trying to take a bottle of conditioner on an airplane. Who knew airports had their own Mask of Zorro styled prisons? Josh Latta that's who. So Honey Bunny dumps Rashy (again) and our hero turns to booze and the guidance of his pal Jimmy. (You remember crazy off-the-grid Jimmy from previous issues right?) Jimmy suggests that Rashy go on a sea adventure and become a man. And honestly, it's probably the most mature decision Rashy has made in all seven of these comics.
This of course is all just an excuse for Latta to draw a hilarious seafaring adventure comic. And that's fine by me. Rashy goes on a sea quest with a Cap'n Patoootie and crazy hijinks ensue. There is some solid writing going on here. Rashy and Honey Bunny each have their own dramas and it all comes together in a Popeye meets Little Mermaid mash up. Almost every panel features a good physical gag and funny dialog. Latta, gets to draw boats, bunnies, boobies and all the stuff you need for a solid comic book.
When I think of this series as a whole I still have a soft spot for issues three and four. In those two issues Latta had perfected the drama, comedy and slice of life blend he was working in at the time. I could really relate to those issues. But with issue five (Redskin Rashy) Latta totally abandoned that world of emo indie alt comics and dived head first into the kind of adventure stories you would be more likely to find in an Uncle Scrooge comic. But he brought along all of Rashy's baggage so it retains all the adult humor and subversive Easter eggs of the earlier issues. (Translation: sex and drugs.)
It is a very rich comic. It really does everything I want a comic book to do and I read them over and over. These Rashy Rabbit comics have never seen my bookshelf or the dark side of a long box. I always have them lying around ready for a quick flip through if I need a laugh. And that is what comics should be. Well, maybe not all comics. Sometimes I need a brutal Howard Chaykin comic or I need to get lost in Paul Pope's mad inks and sometimes maybe I just need to see Captain America punch Wolverine in the face. But if the world could just give me stoned out rabbit comics for adults and have them available at the nearest gas station check-out line at least once a month, well, I might not have to drink so much.
My recent intronetings have uncovered that Josh has a new full color Rashy Rabbit collection coming out (and/or possibly available right now). And this Droppin' Anchor story is in that book. Josh says the color makes these comics so much better that I will want to burn these minicomics I love so much. So yeah, you should try to buy that. Josh has also been posting color Rashy pages online as what the youngs like to call a webcomic. You should check that out as well. And I do believe that Josh will be on Indie Island this month at Heroes Con as well as McGintyfest. Whatever the Don Heck that is. You should probably get in on all of that. I'll even let you buy me a drink.
(Mr. Latta with the new full color Rashy Rabbit collection. Stolen from the facebook.)
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
p.s. Say you want a leader but you can't seem to make up your mind. I think you'd better close it and let me guide you to my twitter feed.
p.p.s. Let's pretend we went to high school together on facebook
p.p.p.s. Google + is another place you can read the same thing I posted here.
p.p.p.p.s. I'll tumblr for ya.
02 February 2011
fuo's favorite minicomics of 2010
When I started file under other in 2007 it was mostly about minicomics. Gradually webcomics, graphic novels and other stuff worked their way in. In my 2009 "favorites" list I went through a long list of cartoonists whom I was impressed with during the year as opposed to focusing on just the individual works. I liked that format a lot and I'd like to do it again this year but, it took a lot of time. And, to be honest, if I did the same list this year, the names would be mostly the same. So, in the interest of catching up on reviews, I'm going to just stick with a few of my favorite mincomics this year.
As I've said over the past few years, I don't think the word "best" has any place in art criticism. Certainly, some things are clearly better than others but it's not my place to decide for the reader. All I can honestly do is let you know what effect the work had on me. What follows are the minicomics which had the most impact on me. The ones I thought about the most. The ones I enjoyed the most. And mainly, the one's I re-read the most.
Cragmore by Pat Lewis.
Books one, two and three.
Cragmore is a story by Pat Lewis about a billionaire trying to cheat death and the Devil. Lewis is currently working on getting the complete graphic novel out there but I was lucky enough to get the first three fourths or so of the story in minicomic form. I think you can still get the minicomics at Lewis' store. You could hold out for the graphic novel but why not just buy it in both formats? I mean, you're rolling in dough right?
As far as minicomics go, these first three issues are just about perfect. Lewis' comics chops are on the money. Writing, drawing, inking, lettering, layouts, pacing, timing, physical comedy... he's got all that down. I'm a big fan of his design style. Not just the character designs, which are brilliant, but the backgrounds, clothes, sound effects etc. etc. Lewis creates a full cartoon world here made up of all the coolest elements from the cartoons I loved when I was a kid. When I pick up one of his comics I immediately know the world he's building and I feel right at home in it. I think a big part of the reason I've carried these comics around with me for months and re-read them several times is that he builds a complete world you can escape in.
There are no holes in the thing, or to put it another way, Lewis does not take any shortcuts. All of the characters are fully realized and work off each other with much hilarity. Even the supporting cast and extras are very interesting. One of my favorite scenes is actually a conversation two extras have about the Cragmore character.
Lewis' writing is so sharp. The concept is great. A billionaire jerk develops a way to cheat death so the Devil himself sets out to stop him. Greed vs. Evil to the death! Oh, and special guest star, God! It's gonna make a great graphic novel.
A Rabbit in King Arthur's Food Court: A Rashy Rabbit Adventure by Josh Latta.
This sixth Rashy Rabbit minicomic from Josh Latta is probably the most solid minicomic from cover to cover that I read in 2010. Great cover. Great look. Great feel. Great comics inside. Packed with so many great gags. I think it is Latta's most ambitious and best executed book so far. I've re-read the thing a bunch of times since my original review and I always catch something extra in it. There is a whole shopping mall of neat looking background characters in the thing. I could stare at the thing for hours. And I have.
Mazed and Confused (Or The Minotaur And The Labyrinth) by Brad McGinty
I just re-read my review of Mazed and Confused and I can't think of much else to say about it. Simply put, it's bat poo crazy comedy genius. I got two new minis from McGinty in 2010. Mazed and another one called Fast Food Feud. I'll review Feud sometime soon I promise. Feud is probably a better minicomic as far as craft goes but Mazed and Confused is so absurd that I can't stop thinking about it. Almost every line of dialog in every panel is cough up a corn dog hilarious. There is a panel where where Zeus says to a minotaur and the guy who came to kill the minotaur, "Later Bro-Doggers!" If you don't think that's funny then I really can't help with whatever is wrong with you. Maybe being happy just ain't your thing.
The Enquirer Dharbin by Dustin Harbin
The Enquirer Dharbin is a full color newspaper. Now, you may be thinking, 'hey, that's not minicomics!' You would be wrong. It's self-published, self-distributed, smallish print run and totally not a standard pamphlet comic or graphic novel. That's minicomics enough for me.
As I detailed in my original review, Enquirer Dharbin is about the size of a standard newspapers' Sunday Funnies supplement. One of the great things about that format is that it is super thin and fits perfectly in my laptop case. I've carried this thing around with me for six months. I've read it and re-read it and wore it out and I find it enjoyable each time. Harbin is playing around with styles in this thing so there is a lot of variety. Several great strips to choose from and read over and over. And I have.
Nathan Sorry No. 1 and No. 2 by Rich Barrett
Nathan Sorry is a graphic novel work in progress being presented as an ongoing webcomic as well as minicomics.
That's a great strategy. Build the readership while you are working on the thing. Work out some of the bugs in front of a test audience. Minicomics are so great for that sort of thing. (Remember those Pat Lewis minis I was talking about?) But let's pretend I don't know anything about all that and just look at these two minicomics Mr. Barrett was kind enough to send in.
That's a great strategy. Build the readership while you are working on the thing. Work out some of the bugs in front of a test audience. Minicomics are so great for that sort of thing. (Remember those Pat Lewis minis I was talking about?) But let's pretend I don't know anything about all that and just look at these two minicomics Mr. Barrett was kind enough to send in.
They are not perfect. There are a lot of clumsy spots. Clumsy spots in the drawing especially when perspective comes into play. Some style choices I'm not too fond of. Especially in the lettering and balloon placements. It looks like a Brian Michael Bendis comic in spots. Which is to say it has panels over crammed with balloons. But I'm just nitpicking. The storytelling is ambitious and Barrett is working his way through some tough stuff in here. (Making comics is hard yo.)
Despite the clumsy moments, I really like Barret's drawing. Especially his faces. There is a lot going on behind the eyes of each character. And I like the style of it a lot. Lots of tones. The drawing is clean but the inks are rough enough to give it some edge. And the characters need that edge. The cast is damaged goods. They each have a lot of depth and more questions than answers.
The story is a clever twist on the wrong man idea. Nathan Sorry was supposed to be in the World Trade Center on 9/11 but he ends up assuming a dead man's identify and making off with his millions. The story is clever. Barrett does a nice enough job teasing the little mysteries behind the characters that I was easily caught up in the thing. I'm not that big on mystery or drama but I like it best in short installments. All the fun is in the the unknown with this sort of thing and Barrett knows how to keep you guessing. Hitchcock would love this thing.
So there ya go. There's 2010 for ya. Hopefully in 2011 I'll review the hundred or three minicomics that are still sitting here on my kitchen table mocking me before the Aztecs show up and demand their continent back. Or maybe I'll just keep re-reading the books I mentioned here.
Later Bro-Doggers!
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
19 March 2010
Favorite comics, cartoonists and stuff of 2009.
Yes. I realize this is months late. I'm usually sick of reading year end best lists by Thanksgiving. I started writing this around Thanksgiving and I've been meaning to post this for a while but, I've been very busy.
I read a lot of great stuff in 2009. Some of it I even reviewed here. Let me just take a second to say that if you gave me stuff in 2009 (or 2008) that has not yet been reviewed then I apologize. 2009 was a challenging year. (For a lot of us.) I will still review everything I've been sent as soon as time allows.
Every time I do one of these things I preface it by saying that I don't think the word "best" has any place in art criticism. I of course use it. I used it a while back when I tweeted what I thought was the "best" graphic novel of the decade. (Louis Riel.) I use it in part as a kind of short hand to save the time of going into my whole philosophy of art criticism and in part as concession to the fact that I'll never get the rest of the world to stop using it any faster than I'll get the rest of the world to realize that 2009 was not actually the last year of the decade. (Or that 2000 was not the first. But alas I live in a world where everyone else apparently has eleven fingers and counts to ten by going zero, one, two, three ... ten. Oh well. You can't have it all. Press on.)
I want to do things a little different this year. Sure I'll tell you what my favorite stuff was but rather than just focus on a list of products I want to talk about a few creators whom I think had a strong year. I think that one thing that has become apparent in 2009 is that the comics game has officially changed and won't go backwards. No one just makes strips, or minicomics, or webcomics anymore. Minicomics guys post their stuff on the web. Webcomics guys collect their stuff into minis. Cartoonists make prints, t-shirts, animation, toys etc. Cartoonists blog, and tweet and update and podcast and all kinds of things. Some of them even review cartoon and hillbilly themed food stuffs. To just name a bunch of products I enjoyed from the year does not really sum it up anymore. I can't possibly talk about all the stuff I liked but I can talk about a few of the folks I liked. So without further ado and in no particular order...
Minicomics and Webcomics
Patrick Dean.I'll talk about Mr. Dean first because if I was forced to name one minicomic as my favorite of 2009 it would probably be his book Knocked 'Em. The way I calculate which minicomic is my favorite is just by thinking back and figuring out which one I picked up the most and thought about the most. Dollar for dollar it is just a great buy. The art is fantastic. The story is fun. It's a great big huge art object. This book more than any of his others really showcases all the element's of Dean's drawing that makes his stuff so much fun for me.
Patrick also had strong comics in a couple of anthologies this year including the excellent Fluke Anthology which of course is associated with the Fluke comics fest in Athens of which Dean is an organizer. Dean has also posted a ton of comics on his blog. His comics blog has become one of my favorites.
Patrick Dean links you should check out:
My review of Knocked Em'.
Patrick Dean's comics blog.
Fluke.
Josh Latta.I could have just as easily called Josh Latta's Redskin Rashy my favorite book of 2009 but I'll give Knocked 'Em a slight advantage for being a more ambitious art object (and partially because I called the last Rashy book my favorite of 2008). If you want to know what I think a minicomic should look and feel like then get a copy of Redskin Rashy. The cartooning and storytelling are excellent. The story is fun. The characters are great. The production is precise. Redskin Rashy was published by Wide Awake Press and that means J. Chris Campbell helped with the book design and production. There is nothing crazy or gimmicky about the design and production. It's just good. Very good. It just looks right and feels right. It's what a good minicomic should be.
Latta's blog is also a must read. He posts custom avatars commissioned from his customers/fans. They are usually hilarious. A bunch of them were collected in another great looking minicomic from WAP. Latta's blog also offers some great reviews of everything from french comics to cartoon candy and hillbilly soft drinks. Latta also had a really great comic in WAP's FCBD anthology which you can read here. Latta is also one of the two best facebook/twitter status updaters on teh intronets.
Josh Latta links you should check out:
My review of Redskin Rashy.
Lattaland.
Josh Latta tweets.
Josh Latta Flickrs.
Avatards.
The fuo interview with Josh Latta.
Dustin Harbin.Despite having been in the same place at the same time as "Dharbin" several times over the past few years I have tragically never managed to come home with his comics. I have read a lot of his comics online though. 2009 saw Harbin post a lot of great comics on his Dharblog under the Dharbin strip name. Harbin adds a new strip each week. (Sort of.) His strips are usually one full page of comics with occasional multi-part stories. The subject matter is whatever he felt like drawing that week. Sometimes auto-bio. Sometimes historical. Sometimes literary adaptations. Sometimes simple nutt and fart jokes. He is bravely trying everything and pushing himself to be better. Week to week you can watch the cartoonist grow and try to find his voice. It's a welcome rarity in comics. What I see in most webcomics is that the creators put their strip out there and define what it will be from the start and seldom seem to grow or change. They seem to set up rules about what their strip will be and are then confined by them. I call it the style cage. They try to find a comfortable (or at least marketable) style and lock themselves into it and it becomes a cage that limits their potential. Harbin seems to have gone in the opposite direction. His only rule seems to be to challenge himself. (Josh Latta is another example of avoiding that style cage by allowing his style to change from issue to issue.)
If you go to Harbin's strip page and read the comics from oldest to newest you can watch him refine his craft from page to page. He also posts sketches, commissions, a book club and random bloggy type things on the blog. Taken as a whole, the Dharblog experience is like watching a cartoonist study and experiment with what it is to be a cartoonist and he welcomes you along for the ride.
And, when Harbin is not busy with all of that, he helps organize the last great American comics show.
Dustin Harbin related links you should check out:
Dharbin's diary comics on Flickr.
Dharbin's comics strips.
Dharbin's blog.
HeroesCon.
Julia Wertz.Wertz's Fart Party webcomic has been one of my favorites but seems to be all but dead now as she moves on to bigger things. Still, as far as 2009 goes it was one of my favorites. As far as diary/auto-bio comics go, Wertz's might be the funniest. I don't think I've ever held any of her books or minicomics in hand but I've read some great samples online.
Julia Wertz links you should check out:
Fart Party.
James Kochalka
I don't think I read any new paper comics from Kochalka in 2009 but American Elf continues to be one of the only webcomics I read on a daily basis. I've read it every day for years now and I still look forward to it.
James Kochalka links you should check out:
American Elf.
Blog.
Glorkian Warrior.
J. Chris CampbellAs the main man behind Wide Awake Press, J. Chris Campbell was involved with the design and production of some of the best minicomics I read in 2009. Campbell co-edited the Fluke Anthology with Brad McGinty. That book is one of the better looking minicomics I've seen is was my favorite anthology minicomic from 2009. Campbell and WAP also put out a Free Comic Book Day online anthology called The Ancient Age and a Michael Jackson tribute comic called Off The Wall which both included some fantastic comics. Campbell's own comics were strong in both of the mentioned anthologies and he put out at least one new minicomic of his own. Campbell has made a lot of cool minicomic over the past few years. I think I have most of them and I keep planning to do a big write up covering all of them as soon as I have time. Many of Campbell's minis are pocket sized. I love pocket sized minicomics. They are a lot harder to make than you might think. I see a lot of them where it is obvious the creator did not take the size into account when they laid out the book and did the lettering because the the things are hard to read. Campbell however has the pocket sized mini down to a science. Lights Out from 2009 is a good example of his pocket sized minis. Nice full color card stock cover. One panel per page layout. Cool character design. Funny dialog. Just plain cool. In a perfect world I would be able to buy a new little mini like this at the check out counter of my nearest gas station every week.
J. Chris Campbell links you should check out:
Main site.
Wide Awake Press.
Off The Wall.
Ancient Age.
My review of Fluke 2009.
Ed Choy MoormanSince I started file under other I get a lot of packages in the mail but few of them get me as excited as the ones that feature Ed Moorman's return address. This year Moorman sent me two of my favorite minicomics of the year. Dark Cloud Comin' and The Love Song of Kermit the Frog. Dark Cloud Comin' shows Moorman pushing his cartooning chops. It is a Miyazaki styled fantasy adventure with a lot of room for Moorman to show off his range. It looks beautiful and it is a fun read but it lacks some of the emotional weight his other comics have. That can be explained away in part because most of his comics are auto-bio and this is fiction but I think the real difference is that his auto-bio stuff feels like stories that he had to tell where Dark Cloud Comin' fells a bit like an exercise. Still, as far as exercises go, Moorman nails it. The Love Song of Kermit the Frog is a collection of Muppet themed comics. There are auto-bio bits as well as a semi historical bit on Jim Hensen. What's nice about the Hensen story is that it feels as real and personal as the auto-bio stuff. It's a beautiful little comic. Maybe I'm just a sap that loves Muppets but there is a sequence where Hensen is learning of his brother's death off panel and Moorman shows a lifeless un-maned Kermit puppet in panel. It is simple but it is powerful. Some spots in the book feel rushed and you can see the artist testing the waters and trying to find his voice. But when he nails it, he's scary good.
Moorman also had comics in some of my favorite anthology books of the year but I'll get to those later in this post.
As a side note: I also love that one of Moorman's packages came with a hand written thank you note that was written on the back of what appears to be an Art History class assignment. I get to read about half of one of Moorman's answers to a question about the Arts and Crafts Movement in the late nineteenth century. Awesome.
Ed Choy Moorman links you should check out:
Main site.
Store.
Sally BloodbathSally Bloodbath makes a lot of great minicomics, shows up in anthologies and edits the always good Always Comix. I really enjoyed the comics she posted on her web blog live journal thingy in 2009. Her auto bio stuff is as good as any I've seen in the past couple of years. Her drawing and storytelling chops have gotten really strong over the past year or so. It reminds me a bit of Julie Doucet which is about as nice a thing as I can possibly say.
Sally Bloodbath links you should check out:
Live Journal.
Always Comics.
Michael Kupperman
Kupperman is the other half of my two best facebook/twitter status updates on teh intronet. Oh, and he makes really good comics too. Teh intronets was made better in 2009 by his Here Comes Madness blog and Snake N' Bacon cartoons.
Michael Kupperman links you should check out:
Here Comes Madness
Snake N' Bacon
Rene EngstromI've talked before about how Anders Loves Maria is one of my favorite web comics. Sadly, the story is now complete so I guess we won't be seeing any new pages. On the bright side, now that it is complete, you can read the whole thing from the beginning. I plan too.
Rene Engstrom links you should check out:
Anders Loves Maria
Live Journal.
Kate BeatonMost of the funniest and most interesting comic strips I read in 2009 were on Kate Beaton's blog. I'm not smart enough to explain why Beaton's comics are so funny but I'll give it a shot. They have the spontaneous irreverence of comics you would draw and pass around in 11th grade English/Lit class and the sophistication of comics I'm not classy enough to actually read.
Kate Beaton links you should check out:
Hark a Vagrant
T-shirts and such
Megan Rose GedrisI think I mentioned Yu + Me Dream on my best of list last year. It's one of the few strips that remains in my blog reader thing. It does not always make a lot of sense to me but it is always lovely to look at. Her ability to shift gears and change styles for each part of the story is astounding to me.
Megan Rose Gedris links you should check out:
Yu + Me Dream
Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space
Brad McGintyI've talked a lot about my pal Brad's stuff here at file under other. I think Brad only put out two new minicomics in 2009 so that is kind of a down year for him but when you combine those with the pages posted on his Paper Pusher blog and all the pages he had in various anthologies it's a very impressive stack of comics. Brad's story (with Cate Bosserman) in the WAP Ancient Age anthology showed some fantasticly brutal action. His piece in the Fluke Anthology which he co-edited showed some fantastic cartooning chops. His random strips on Paper Pusher showed his shoot-coffee-out-your-nose-ha-ha-funny wackiness. (Some of which are collected in the lovey full color minicomic Tobey Maguire Comics and Stories published by WAP. Yeah, that J. Chris Campbell guy. Again.) Brad also found the time in 2009 to make a whole bunch of awesome cartoons. Brad does most of the writing, animation and voices in these things. It's really amazing. People that have money need to wake up and start throwing it at this guy. My only fear is that one day he'll be too busy blowing his cartoon millions to make any more comic strips.
Brad McGinty links you should check out:
Paper Pusher
Ancient Age
Cartoons
Fluke
T. AveryWay back in September I started a review of T. Avery's most recent Dirthead collections but my life spiraled out of control and I never got it finished. The Dirthead books are collections of webcomics. Like most webcomic collections, attention to the printing of the minicomic version is mostly an after thought. I seldom see webcomics collected as minicomcis where the finished project stands out as a great looking book or art object. But, I really do enjoy the quality of the comics themselves both in the collections and on Avery's website. Avery's drawing style is much closer to the illustration style of comics I grew up with than the Disney knock off style I see in the majority of webcomics. Avery's characters look, move and act much more like real people than the over the top chariactures I see in most webcomics. That's not to say that I don't like the over the top cartoony stuff. I actually love it. But for what Avery is doing here, a more reserved style is not only appropriate but refreshing. These comics are really all about the dialog. Avery's dialog is very real and honest. The cast is pretty big and each character speaks with his or her own voice. That is impressive to me. Some of my favorite writers can't seem to figure out how to keep all their characters from speaking with the writer's voice. (Or maybe they just don't realize they are doing it?) In Avery's comics each character is their own person with their own life and little ongoing story points. And all this in a strip format without it turning into ongoing soap opera. It's a nice balance I don't see in a lot of ongoing webcomics. Especially with a cast as big as this.
T. Avery links you should check out:
Cheating At Solitaire
Store
Minicomic Anthologies
So, have I mentioned that Fluke Anthology from 2009? It's great. I have to put out the disclaimer that I am actually in the book but I promise you I would love it either way. Its' a great looking book with lots of great comics and is about as well made as a minicomic can be. Editors J. Chris Campbell and Brad McGinty along with all their WAP pals did a great job putting it together. You can watch them make it here. You can read more about it here.
Pinstriped Bloodbath is another great minicomics anthology. Like the Fluke book, this one has a really clever cover design. The cover opens up like a suit jacket. It might be the coolest looking minicomic from 2009. Even without the gimmick it's a great looking cover design that suits the gangster theme of the comics. The book is edited by and contains some comics by the always great Jeff Zwirek. My favorite story in the book was Change Your Name by Sam Sharpe.Random non-minicomic stuff I liked in 2009:
I've talked about 2D Cloud books here before. Specifically the Good Minnesotan minicomic anthology. The third Good Minnesotan volume the 2D Cloud gang grew the series into a full trade paperback. It is a fantastic looking book with quality and content comparable to Fantagraphic's Mome series. It is a really solid anthology with material ranging from the cute the disturbing. This is another book with a great comic by Ed Moorman. The cover by Nicholas Breutzman is one of the better looking covers I can think of in recent memory. 2D Cloud also published a really great graphic novel called Yearbooks. The book is drawn by Nicholas Breutzman, written by Nicholas Breutzman and Shaun Feltz and features some wonderful coloring by Raighne Hogan. Its a beautifully produced book. The color pages are so vibrant it feels like you are holding and original water color painting. I had to double check a few times to see if the page was still wet. The story is a kind of Charles Burns/David Lynch high school anxiety study. The story telling ranges from straight forward narrative to stream of conciousness. The art also meanders a bit from the straightforward Daniel Clowes school to a loose sketchbook style. Each change feels appropriate for that moment in the story and is true to the highschool notebook feel of the story. The book shows a lot of range in storytelling, art and production. A very impressive book from a small press team that seems to grow by amazing leaps and bounds every six months or so.
Speaking of Mome. I ended up buying the Winter 2009 volume of Mome. It came out in winter of 2008, which is confusing, but I read it in winter 2009 because the cover told me to. I liked most of it. I can't decide if I like the Dash Shaw bit or not. I should like it. It is the exact kind of sci-fi stuff I love. Like TXH 1138 or Solaris. But, for some reason, I felt I had to force my way through it. Maybe it's the sixteen panel per page format? I loved the Josh Simmons' piece. Open letter to comics publishers; If you put Josh Simmons in your book I will buy or steal a copy.
Ghost Stories. Have I ever mentioned Ed Moorman you guys? Besides making his own comics, Moorman edited a benefit anthology called Ghost Stories. Not only that but he managed to land a Xeric grant for the thing. I really enjoyed the book. It's a thick anthology with a lot of contributors so there were bound to be some misses but most the stories are hits. Some of my favorite folks are in it and some people I had not heard of like Evan Palmer, Sean Lynch and Lucy Knisley won me over. At just $10 it is a great value.
Another anthology I enjoyed was side B: the music lover's comics anthology. I talked about it a while back. It is a book I've gone back to several times to revisit certain great little stories. It is one of the more successful theme anthologies I can think of. Oh, and it has that Ed Moorman guy in it too.
Comics are expensive and I don't buy a lot of original graphic novels but I did like the original The Surrogates miniseries enough to buy The Surogates: Flesh and Bone the first time I laid eyes on it. In the spirit of full disclosure, the author of the book, Robert Venditti, is a pal of mine but I honestly did love the first series and thought that Flesh and Bone was at least as good if not better. I think Venditti's writing is sharper in this and Bret Weldele's art and storytelling are stronger and more effective. The only edge the first series might have over Flesh and Bone is that the original had a more visually prominant villain with the robot Steeplejack character. But this is a prequel and you are seeing robot technology devlep so it would have been really cheap for Venditti to force the characer into this book. Flesh and Bone came out around the same time that the movie of the first version came out. While the book and the movie did get their fair share of press in the comics community, I feel like the quality of Flesh and Bone got lost in the movie hype and a lot of people might have over looked this book. I don't like to tell anyone how to spend their money but if you like sci-fi and mystery then you probably need to check out both of The Surrogates graphic novels. There is not a doubt in my mind that if you like the Ellis and Templesmith book Fell, then you are going to love The Surrogates. Weldele and Templesmith both have styles that I did not quite know what to make of at first but I've become a big fan of both. Weldele and Venditti both look to have a lot of exciting projects coming out in the near future. You should check out thier sites here and here.
My pal Jeremy Massie also had a graphic novel out in 2009. The Deadbeat collects what was originally a series of minicomics I talked about here and here at file under other. It's a great looking little graphic novel. Close to manga format in size. The story reads great as one book. The comic had the look and wacky fun of a super hero romp but the twist is that it is actually a quality drama. Massie's cartooning chops are strong but I'm most impressed by the writing. Especially for a first book. The book is very affordable and worthy of picking up for repeat readings. Massie has a lot of interesting stuff in the works and you can check it out on his blog.
Another book I bought was The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb. The world's greatest living cartoonist adapts Genesis. I'm a big fan of both Crumb and the Bible so, yeah, I was sold on this the first time I heard about several years ago. There is not a lot to say about it. It is what it is. R. Crumb does Genesis. It's a rare miraculous thing where fans of a creator anticipate and talk about a work for years and when it comes out it actually lives up to expectations. Almost everything you could say about this book was already said before the book came out. Imagine if The Phantom Menace had lived up to the expecations of Star Wars fans. What would they have done with themselves? They would have seen the thing and walked out and said, wow, that certainly is a Star Wars movie. So, that's about all I can think of to say about Crumb's Genesis. Wow, that certainly is R. Crumb doing the Book of Genesis. The only thing that surprised me about the book is how the art seems to get better from chapter to chapter. For one thing, I did not hink Crumb could get better. Another thing is that if I were to expect any quality change I would expect it to be that the art would deteriorate toward the end of the book as the artist loses some steam. But this is the opposite. The last chapters about Joseph are just plain gorgeous. I think it might be the best art of Crumb's career. Or at least the best I'm familiar with.
I don't read a lot of mainstream comics. It's not that I don't like them. I like big dumb super hero comics just fine and even more I love going to comic book shops and buying them. The main thing keeping me from being the mainstream floppy pamphlet funny cook eficianado that I once was is the price. Comics are rediculously reaking expensive. But still. I read a few. I really liked Wednesday Comics. I like the idea, I like the format but most of all I like Paul Pope and Kyle Baker. Let me make this very clear to any mainstream publishing folks that may read this. If you put Paul Pope or Kyle Baker in your comics there is a much better chance I might buy them. I also loved, loved, loved the Kamandi story by Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook. That Kamandi story got me as excited about reading comics as just about anything I've read in the past fifteen years.I also liked the Strange Tales book Marvel put out. It had Paul Pope in it. Again, if you put Paul Pope in your comics there is a much better chance I might buy them.
The absolute best non-Paul Pope, Kyle Baker or Kamandi mainstream comic series I read in 2009 was Supergirl Cosmic Adventures in the Eight Grade. Love that comic. Wish it had not just been a mini series. I also like the Johnny DC Batman The Brave and the Bold, Tiny Titans and Super Friends books. The Johnny DC line knows how to make good comics. Pay attention everyone else!What little money I do have to spend on superhero comics is spent mostly on the Marvel Essential and the DC Showcase Presents lines. For me it'a all about the value for the dollar and you can't beat the Essential and Showcase books. Yeah, the don't have color but color is for suckers. I'm pretty sure color comics cause cancer and should be avoided as much as possible. This past year I enjoyed the Challengers of the Unknown, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Captain America and Daredevil books. Great comics by some of the best folks that ever made comics.
I also buy the occasional Archie digest at the local grocery store. I don't live near a comic shop so the Archie books are the only comics I see on a regular basis. Well, the grocery store does stocks some Marvel comics but they cost an insane amount of money and flat out suck. They are ugly and they don't make any sense. (I looked at this one Mark Millar Avengers thing at the grocery store and it had this sequence of pictures, notice I did not call it a story, about how the Red Skull is Captain America's son and he carves his own face off because, ya know, that's what kids shopping for comics at the grocery stores want, stories about guys carving their own faces off. Gah!) The Archies are pretty good though. I get them for my daughter and we both enjoy them. She prefers the double digests. Lots of reading material and variety for a small price. I even like the new look stories that a lot of people have trashed on teh intronets. I would prefer if they did not use the word realistic when talking about the art style. It's not realistic, it's just different. I don't have any problems with them mixing up the art and going off model. As long as they don't abandon the past. Which, they haven't. The digest books offer a good variety of stuff from the past fifty or so years.TV Cartoons:
Oh man I loves me some cartoons. I've said it before and I'll say it again; we are in the golden age of the television cartoon. Yeah, I know there will never be anything like the collective goodness of every kid on earth watching Saturday Morning Cartoons at the same time but we have so many choices now. Nick, Nicktoons, Disney, Disney XD, Cartoon Network etc. My faves are still Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Star Wars: Clone Wars. Those two shows are too good for TV. We don't deserve shows that good. We should be ashamed of ourselves for alowing ourselves to watch them. I also like Flapjack, Chowder, Phineas and Pherb, Spectacular Spider-Man, Wolverine and the X-Men, Spongebob, Ben 10... I could go on. Lots of great shows. Marvel's Super Hero Squad thing is weird but occasionally funny. It does not seem to have anything to do with the comic characters. It's basically a bunch of pre-schoolers dressed up as Marvel characters living in a city where Stan Lee is mayor. I reckon that's as good an idea for a cartoon as any. My daughter thinks it's funny so I guess Marvel knows what they are doing. I hope Squad, Spidey and Wolverine survive the Disney takeover. And since I'm talking cartoons, my three year old's favorite show is Max and Ruby.
As far as TV shows with people in them go, No Reservations is still my fave.
Movies: I like movies plenty but I don't get to see too many of them. I saw exactly one movie at a theater in 2009. I took my daughter to see Hotel For Dogs. It was pretty good. Nickelodeon's live action movies are usually pretty good. So there ya go, Hotel For Dogs was the best movie of 2009. Suck on that Avatar!
See you in 2010!
Oh, right, 2010 is about a quarter of the way over with. Good times.
Your best pal ever,
Shannon Smith
p.s. Don't forget to follow file under other on teh twidder.
p.p.s This article is going to have lot of spleeling errorers in it beecuza blogger's spell checker apparently thinks that working is for suckers. Oh, and cuz I can't spell.
p.p.p.s. Please feel free to use the comments section to let me know what you think of these choices and to tell me about the many other books I probably missed. It's your intronets. I just work here.
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