Recommended Comic Reads (non-spandex stuff)

[Joose]

Right, I've been meaning to do this for ages. Much as I love all forms of comics there's a lot of people who avoid them because they think it is all Batman and X-Men: fellas in tights with too many muscles punching each other and striking vaguely homo-erotic poses. To be fair, a hell of a lot of comics are just that, at least they are in western comics. Apparently there's everything in Manga from Dragonball type stuff to soap operas, and its a pretty even spread between the genres. Its only us western world denizens that decided comics should just be for children, and although that certainly isnt the case any more, we still have some hangups because of that. Hence lots of childish (or at least childish appearing) themes. But its not all like that, and there are some truly excellent comics that have nothing to do with what most people think of when they think comics. Here are some of what I think are the best ones, for people who might not normally read comics. In no particular order:

Locke and Key

I've only recently discovered this. When I did, I read all 31 issues in three days. Its smart, witty and imaginative, more so of the latter than anything I have read recently (or watched on telly or cinema for that matter).

The story follows the Locke family as they deal with the aftermath of the violent death of the dad. They move to the old family home, where the kids find magical keys that do all manner of strange things: The Ghost Key kills you and lets you fly around as a ghost and then return to your body and come back to life. The Head key lets you flip open the top of someones head and take things out or put things in. The Wellhouse Key lets you summon echoes of the dead. The Moon Key opens the Moon. Its quite strange. They soon find out that there is a great and terrible secret about the keys, the house and their family. Its all more than a little Lovecraftian.

Which actually brings me on to the one and only criticism of the series. Whilst its mostly very cleverly done, there's a couple of references that are distractingly overt. The big one being that the setting for this Lovecraftian tale is a town called Lovecraft. Really? Really? The other issue is that the main "bad guy" is so obviously the bad guy that he might as well be stroking his goatee and cackling. But really, that's it. Everything else about this comic is great.

I'm especially a fan of the whole magical keys thing, not just because I like magical shit but because they serve as a really neat story telling trick. Every time a new key is introduced you get a little thrill of discovery. Introducing a new key every couple of issues keeps that side of things entertaining and fun even when the story gets to its slower patches, and lighten things when it gets a bit overly dark.

Finally, I'm fairly sure that if you don't find the youngest kid Bode to be a brilliant character, you are less than human.

If you like Lovecraftian weirdness and/or imaginative stories, pick this up immediately.

MOAR RECOMMENDATIONS TO COME!

[Mr. Johnson]

Thanks for making this, as I always wanted to read more comics but never know what to read. I'll have to find something more suitable than a computer screen to read them from though.

[Joose]

There's a few comic reader program's that can make reading them on the computer a bit nicer, like the ComicRack software I use. It's still not the ideal way though. If you have any kind of tablet there are some excellent apps you can get, which is slightly better than reading on the computer. Of course, the best way is still the old way, getting them in print. I prefer to get them in the collected graphic novel formats known as trade paperbacks, as that tends to get you the most value for money. You can get stuff in good condition for bargain prices if you hunt around places like the Dreaded eBay.

I'll do a bit of a software roundup too if people are interested.

[Joose]

Haha, ok, so I did one recommendation and then stopped? That was a bit rubbish of me. Here are some more:

Y: The Last Man

Brian K Vaughn writes good reads, and this is definately one of them. Its all based around a simple but interesting idea: What would happen to the world if all the men in it fell over dead all at the same time? Although the why of it is covered eventually the event itself isnt really the focus of the story, its how people/society reacts to it.

A bit I found particularly interesting was in the first issue (or possibly early in the second issue). The book is set a few years ago, so Vaughn used real world statistics to work out some of the effects of a sudden dude-ocalypse. Governments would be gutted, as the majority of the highest positions in most countries are held by men. Militaries would be similarly in trouble, as would the police and other emergency services. Although doctors in general have quite a gender mix we would lose most surgeons. Nearly every plane would be in trouble, as most pilots and air traffic controllers are male. Distribution of goods would become difficult, as most truckers are blokes. And so on, and so on. It made me very aware that for all of our modern sensibilities around gender equality, we really are still in a very male dominated world. Not the sort of thing you expect to get out of a comic book.

Its not all deep thinking and feminism though. The story follows a guy called Yorrick, who for some reason appears to be the only living bloke left on the whole planet. He really shows off one of Vaughns strengths as a writer, as Yorrick is simultaneously likeable and a bit of an idiot, unusual but completely believable. Theres a lot more depth to Yorricks character than I see in most fictional characters.

Despite essentially being one long tale of a guy trekking across a woman dominated post apocalyptic world the story manages to keep interesting throughout the series' run, with interesting twists and turns throughout. Then ending is a bit WTF, but not so much that you will be disappointed in the whole thing. You can find the whole series on the floor, or you can pick it up from teh eBays for relatively little money.

[Joose]

Saga

Another Vaugh book, this one is a strange mash up of mythology/fantasy and sci-fi. Some people are describing it as "Game of Thrones meets Star Wars" which I think manages to both exaggerate and undersell it at the same time. Its the story of a man from a world of magic and a woman from a sci-fi empire (ruled by robot people with televisions for heads) who fall in love despite their two worlds being at war. They have a baby and run away. Wierd shit happens, including spider-ladies, indestructable mercanaries with odd names, a cat that can tell if you are lying, a space-ship that is also a tree and a dead teenage girl whose intestines are showing. Its pretty short at the moment, but is ongoing. Definately worth checking out, it has the excellent characterisation and plotting that Vaughn puts into all of his stories. Anything that manages to make fantasy not just another bunch of elves and orcs gets bonus points from me.

[Dog Pants]

The Walking Dead

I've been reading The Walking Dead for years, and it's only just occurred to me to write about it here. I'm pretty sure we've all heard of it by now, or at least that the successful TV series is based on comic books, but I don't think that many people have read them.

The Walking Dead is an ongoing series, currently on book 19. For those who don't know it's about survivors of the zombie apocalypse, centred around a single group led by policeman Rick Grimes. As with all the best zombie fiction, it's all about the people. The relationships within the group, the people they meet. Those two sets interchange quickly as people die and new groups of survivors are found. The zombies are just the menacing background noise who apply psychological pressure and occasionally remind them that they're never safe. As is to be expected, it's very dark. Those familiar with the TV series will probably set their expectations by that, but the books are a lot nastier. They just couldn't get away with the brutality on TV. It's not the darkest thing I've ever read - Crossed: Wish You Were Here gets that dubious accolade - but it's got to the point where I haven't bought the last book because it just got too fucking depressing. I can't read Crossed, I can only skim it, because it's just too nasty, but Walking Dead is just on the tolerable side enough for me to get attached to characters, so when something really bad happened in book 18 I just walked away. Take from that what you will. I believe Kurt Vonnegut once said something like (and I'm probably mangling the quote) "a good writer must be a sadist, do unpleasant things to his characters." Robert Kirkman must be bloody good by that reckoning.

[Anery]

Issue 1 of the walking dead - first print - is now worth a few bob.

Anyone ever watch Comic Book Men? It's about Kevin Smith's comic shop in New Jersey, really good even if you have no interest in the medium. They had an issue 1 brought in but it was from Canada and not from the original printing which was only done in America so the price dropped from several hundred to about $30 still not a bad investment for 3 bucks! Occasionally they do get somebody come in with something so valuable they straight up tell they to get their ass to Christies.

[FatherJack]

believe Kurt Vonnegut once said something like (and I'm probably mangling the quote) "a good writer must be a sadist, do unpleasant things to his characters." Robert Kirkman must be bloody good by that reckoning.

Vonnegut's quote was about making really bad things happen to characters so you can see what they are made of, rather than just killing them off - not that I am accusing the comic books of doing that as I've not seen them, I only have the TV and games series to go on: both of which seem to like to bump off half the cast at season end.

[Dog Pants]

Yeah, he pretty much just keeps killing them off. Often after torturing them. There are hardly any original characters left I reckon.

[Anery]

believe Kurt Vonnegut once said something like (and I'm probably mangling the quote) "a good writer must be a sadist, do unpleasant things to his characters." Robert Kirkman must be bloody good by that reckoning.

Vonnegut's quote was about making really bad things happen to characters so you can see what they are made of, rather than just killing them off - not that I am accusing the comic books of doing that as I've not seen them, I only have the TV and games series to go on: both of which seem to like to bump off half the cast at season end.

Are we still talking about Walking Dead? because this applies very well to Game of Thrones. RR Martin seems to like writing sympathetic characters then killing them off too.

In non-spandex related comic book news, I have just finished The Last Zombie which is about a team of government survivors attempting to contact another base which has gone offline.
Also, Steam-Wars. A steampunk take on Star Wars, though I suspect I'm only recommending this because I spent most of the book working out which bits of the story were from what film.

Both available as TPB from Antarctic Press.

[FatherJack]

Are we still talking about Walking Dead? because this applies very well to Game of Thrones. RR Martin seems to like writing sympathetic characters then killing them off too.

Possibly more so, as the books are written from the character's perspective. Half of the fun of reading Martin is the dread of where he's taking your favourite ones. Also his characters don't always stay dead, either.

[Anery]

Spoiler:

Sshh, she'll hear you! ha! right back to walking dead...

[Roman Totale]

The Wicked and The Divine

Every 90 years a Pantheon of 12 gods are resurrected. After 2 years they die again. The cycle is known as The Recurrence.

Written by Kieron Gillen, I found this to be a very enjoyable read. Nice use of gods that aren't as well known. Art work very nice as well - easy on the eye, simple but not childlike. Lovely colours.

Sample image (non-spoilery)

[Joose]

I'm a big wic+div fan. As well as being a good read it's done some interesting arty things, notable by them being both experimental and successful. I particularly like the clubbing issue.

The letters pages are the most emo teenage angst nonsense I have ever seen, which is alternately entertaining and kinda sad.