Classic EBI #36: The Best Comics I've Never Read
EVERYTHING BUT IMAGINARY 11/12/03 -- THE BEST COMICS I'VE NEVER READ
The best comics I’ve never read
Greetings, friends, and welcome to this special “interactive” edition of “Everything But Imaginary!” What makes it interactive, you may ask? Well, this week’s column both begins and ends with the insights I have from you guys.
Allow me to explain.
In my Oct. 29 column, “ Comics That Go Bump in the Night,” I confessed that, sin of sins, I had never read any of Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing. This, of course, was greeted by the sort of scorn and scandal most often associated with high school homecoming elections.
Actually, most people here at Comixtreme were quite nice about it. Suze wrote “Boo-urns on you for not mentioning Alan Moore's very scary run on Swamp Thing. I've read them collected not too long ago and they really scared me, especially when the giant fly from Hell crawls down the guys throat and does SOMETHING to him...its not shown..brrr...!!!!!”
Suze gets bonus points for working in a Simpsons reference, by the way.
Bad Monkey chimed in with a list of Swamp Thing trades available from Vertigo, and my old goombah Darthchased instructed me to also read some of Grant Morrison’s Animal Man run. Having endured the disapproving glare of my peers long enough, I made a vow to pick up at least one of these trade paperbacks the next time I purchased my comics for the week. And I did. I obtained a copy of Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing.
And I read it.
“Eh.”
Now put down the torches and pitchforks and let me explain, would you? It was a good comic. I enjoyed it for the most part. I thought the way Moore used the Justice League was particularly clever, actually explaining (for once) why the A-team of a superhero universe wasn’t just swooping down and taking out the villain du jour of a B-list title. But I’ve heard for so long about how groundbreaking, how terrifying, how bloody brilliant a title this was, and in the end, I just didn’t get that feeling.
On the other hand, the book did get me to thinking, which is a very dangerous thing to begin with but is also, in my estimation, the true measure of the worth of any piece of literature. What it got me thinking about, though, was this:
What about all of the other epic comic book stories I’ve heard people talk about for years but have never read? I’ve got a whole list of them somewhere, books that I swear I must read someday, if for no other reason than to find out what all the fuss is about. Morrison’s Animal Man and Doom Patrol. Dave Sim’s Cerebus. Lone Wolf and Cub. Marville.
There are some in particular I’m quite curious about. Moore’s own V For Vendetta, for instance. I’ve heard people say what a great, tragic, masterwork of a comic book it is for years, but I really know nothing about it beyond the fact that Larry and Andy Wachowski have supposedly written a script that Joel Silver is looking into producing. If the movie ever gets made I’ll want to see it, as I try to see every comic book movie just for comparison, but like any other movie adapted from a book, I’d rather read the book first.
Then there’s Art Spiegleman’s Maus, the highly acclaimed graphic novel that tells of the Holocaust by re-casting Nazis as cats and Jews as mice. I love allegorical storytelling, and a book with meaning as deep as this sounds very appealing to me, but it’s one of those situations where I’ve just never found a copy or, when I did, I didn’t have the money for it.
The Marv Wolfman/George Perez era on New Teen Titans is often bandied about as one of the pinnacles of superhero storytelling. These guys are both incredibly talented storytellers whose work I have enjoyed, but I was still quite young when their run started and their run had ended before I started reading comic books. I’ve read the odd issue here and there, but I’d like to see the whole thing. If only those DC Archives weren’t so expensive...
There’s the other side of the coin as well, though, friends. There are several comics that I have read that I suspect many of you have not, and that’s just a shame. A few weeks ago I mentioned Doug TenNapel’s wonderful graphic novel Creature Tech (and got a very nice e-mail from Mr. TenNapel in reply, I might add). It’s a wonderful science fiction/comedy/fantasy that not too many people have heard of. I’m a big fan of John Kovalic’s Dork Tower, the sixth volume of which (1d6 Degrees of Separation) is about to be released in trade paperback form. It’s an excellent series, but not one you often hear people talking about on the message boards or in comic shops.
Scott McCloud’s brilliant Understanding Comics is a book I think everyone interested in the actual craft of comics -- beyond just being a storytelling medium like television or novels or anything else -- should be required to read. It’s entertaining, and at the same time one of the most intelligent works ever written on the subject.
We’ve all got lists like this, folks, and here is where the interactive conclusion of the column comes into play. I want you guys to tell me, what are some comic books you have always wanted to read, but haven’t? What comics do you think are great reads, but that not many people have read -- or even heard of? What do you think deserves some wider exposure?
I’m going to generate a reading list here, folks, and I’m going to keep it regularly updated. Every so often -- I’m not going to set myself on any kind of schedule because it will all depend on availability of the product and how much cash is in the pocket -- I’m going to try to pick up a title on this reading list that I haven’t read and then revisit this subject in future columns. I’ll let you know what I think of these works of art in the making. I just humbly request that you try to restrict suggestions to original graphic novels or stories that are available in collected form -- hunting down the single issues is neither easy nor, in many cases, cheap.
(And if you’re a comic book creator or publisher who wants me to chime in on a work of your own but don’t want it all over the internet, go ahead and drop me an e-mail. “Discreet” is my middle name. That’s what the “M” stands for.)
So the reading list, as stands, is thus:
V For Vendetta
Animal Man (Morrison Run)
Doom Patrol (Morrison Run)
Cerebus
Lone Wolf and Cub
Maus
New Teen Titans (Wolfman/Perez Run).
Kind of a short list, isn’t it? Well, that’s where you come in. Get me started, friends.
FAVORITE OF THE WEEK: November 5, 2003
I make no secret of my great admiration for Kurt Busiek or that I think his Astro City is the best superhero title in decades, but with Arrowsmith #4 he continues to prove his flair for both the fantasy epic and the war story.
Fletcher Arrowsmith’s story, of a young man in an alternate-history Earth who fights in the skies of World War I with sorcerer’s powers, shows off how well Busiek can humanize a character in a fantastic situation. None of us have ever been in exactly the situation Fletcher is, but we can relate to parallels in our own world as well as we can relate to the incredibly real character himself.
The artwork, by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino, is also above reproach. I don’t know what their next project will be once this miniseries ends (the sequel, if we’re lucky), but this is an art team I’d follow virtually anywhere.
Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the novel-in-progress Lost in Silver at Evertime Realms. He’s also the co-host, with good buddy Chase Bouzigard and Not-On-the-Internet Mike Bellamy, of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcasts. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms. Read past columns at the Everything But Imaginary Archive Page.
The best comics I’ve never read
Greetings, friends, and welcome to this special “interactive” edition of “Everything But Imaginary!” What makes it interactive, you may ask? Well, this week’s column both begins and ends with the insights I have from you guys.
Allow me to explain.
In my Oct. 29 column, “ Comics That Go Bump in the Night,” I confessed that, sin of sins, I had never read any of Alan Moore’s run on Swamp Thing. This, of course, was greeted by the sort of scorn and scandal most often associated with high school homecoming elections.
Actually, most people here at Comixtreme were quite nice about it. Suze wrote “Boo-urns on you for not mentioning Alan Moore's very scary run on Swamp Thing. I've read them collected not too long ago and they really scared me, especially when the giant fly from Hell crawls down the guys throat and does SOMETHING to him...its not shown..brrr...!!!!!”
Suze gets bonus points for working in a Simpsons reference, by the way.
Bad Monkey chimed in with a list of Swamp Thing trades available from Vertigo, and my old goombah Darthchased instructed me to also read some of Grant Morrison’s Animal Man run. Having endured the disapproving glare of my peers long enough, I made a vow to pick up at least one of these trade paperbacks the next time I purchased my comics for the week. And I did. I obtained a copy of Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing.
And I read it.
“Eh.”
Now put down the torches and pitchforks and let me explain, would you? It was a good comic. I enjoyed it for the most part. I thought the way Moore used the Justice League was particularly clever, actually explaining (for once) why the A-team of a superhero universe wasn’t just swooping down and taking out the villain du jour of a B-list title. But I’ve heard for so long about how groundbreaking, how terrifying, how bloody brilliant a title this was, and in the end, I just didn’t get that feeling.
On the other hand, the book did get me to thinking, which is a very dangerous thing to begin with but is also, in my estimation, the true measure of the worth of any piece of literature. What it got me thinking about, though, was this:
What about all of the other epic comic book stories I’ve heard people talk about for years but have never read? I’ve got a whole list of them somewhere, books that I swear I must read someday, if for no other reason than to find out what all the fuss is about. Morrison’s Animal Man and Doom Patrol. Dave Sim’s Cerebus. Lone Wolf and Cub. Marville.
There are some in particular I’m quite curious about. Moore’s own V For Vendetta, for instance. I’ve heard people say what a great, tragic, masterwork of a comic book it is for years, but I really know nothing about it beyond the fact that Larry and Andy Wachowski have supposedly written a script that Joel Silver is looking into producing. If the movie ever gets made I’ll want to see it, as I try to see every comic book movie just for comparison, but like any other movie adapted from a book, I’d rather read the book first.
Then there’s Art Spiegleman’s Maus, the highly acclaimed graphic novel that tells of the Holocaust by re-casting Nazis as cats and Jews as mice. I love allegorical storytelling, and a book with meaning as deep as this sounds very appealing to me, but it’s one of those situations where I’ve just never found a copy or, when I did, I didn’t have the money for it.
The Marv Wolfman/George Perez era on New Teen Titans is often bandied about as one of the pinnacles of superhero storytelling. These guys are both incredibly talented storytellers whose work I have enjoyed, but I was still quite young when their run started and their run had ended before I started reading comic books. I’ve read the odd issue here and there, but I’d like to see the whole thing. If only those DC Archives weren’t so expensive...
There’s the other side of the coin as well, though, friends. There are several comics that I have read that I suspect many of you have not, and that’s just a shame. A few weeks ago I mentioned Doug TenNapel’s wonderful graphic novel Creature Tech (and got a very nice e-mail from Mr. TenNapel in reply, I might add). It’s a wonderful science fiction/comedy/fantasy that not too many people have heard of. I’m a big fan of John Kovalic’s Dork Tower, the sixth volume of which (1d6 Degrees of Separation) is about to be released in trade paperback form. It’s an excellent series, but not one you often hear people talking about on the message boards or in comic shops.
Scott McCloud’s brilliant Understanding Comics is a book I think everyone interested in the actual craft of comics -- beyond just being a storytelling medium like television or novels or anything else -- should be required to read. It’s entertaining, and at the same time one of the most intelligent works ever written on the subject.
We’ve all got lists like this, folks, and here is where the interactive conclusion of the column comes into play. I want you guys to tell me, what are some comic books you have always wanted to read, but haven’t? What comics do you think are great reads, but that not many people have read -- or even heard of? What do you think deserves some wider exposure?
I’m going to generate a reading list here, folks, and I’m going to keep it regularly updated. Every so often -- I’m not going to set myself on any kind of schedule because it will all depend on availability of the product and how much cash is in the pocket -- I’m going to try to pick up a title on this reading list that I haven’t read and then revisit this subject in future columns. I’ll let you know what I think of these works of art in the making. I just humbly request that you try to restrict suggestions to original graphic novels or stories that are available in collected form -- hunting down the single issues is neither easy nor, in many cases, cheap.
(And if you’re a comic book creator or publisher who wants me to chime in on a work of your own but don’t want it all over the internet, go ahead and drop me an e-mail. “Discreet” is my middle name. That’s what the “M” stands for.)
So the reading list, as stands, is thus:
V For Vendetta
Animal Man (Morrison Run)
Doom Patrol (Morrison Run)
Cerebus
Lone Wolf and Cub
Maus
New Teen Titans (Wolfman/Perez Run).
Kind of a short list, isn’t it? Well, that’s where you come in. Get me started, friends.
FAVORITE OF THE WEEK: November 5, 2003
I make no secret of my great admiration for Kurt Busiek or that I think his Astro City is the best superhero title in decades, but with Arrowsmith #4 he continues to prove his flair for both the fantasy epic and the war story.
Fletcher Arrowsmith’s story, of a young man in an alternate-history Earth who fights in the skies of World War I with sorcerer’s powers, shows off how well Busiek can humanize a character in a fantastic situation. None of us have ever been in exactly the situation Fletcher is, but we can relate to parallels in our own world as well as we can relate to the incredibly real character himself.
The artwork, by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino, is also above reproach. I don’t know what their next project will be once this miniseries ends (the sequel, if we’re lucky), but this is an art team I’d follow virtually anywhere.
Blake M. Petit is the author of the superhero comedy novel, Other People's Heroes, the suspense novel The Beginner and the novel-in-progress Lost in Silver at Evertime Realms. He’s also the co-host, with good buddy Chase Bouzigard and Not-On-the-Internet Mike Bellamy, of the 2 in 1 Showcase Podcasts. E-mail him at Blake@comixtreme.com and visit him on the web at Evertime Realms. Read past columns at the Everything But Imaginary Archive Page.