The 10 Best Comics + Graphic Novels 2011

10) Daredevil (Marvel) – Mark Waid

“Daredevil” has been a dark, gritty title for years. The character has been so emotionally and physically broken by crime aficionado writers like Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, not to mention Frank Miller, in c0mpelling tales that the only place to go was up. Waid (with some great pencilers like Marcos Martin) rebounded DD protagonist Matt Murdock in an upbeat, fun, witty way. This is old Marvel fun, DD as a Hells Kitchen coworker to Manhattan’s Spider-Man. We’ve had big superhero fun in the first half dozen issues. We’ve had artwork and narrative styles that employ and focus on DD’s specific powers and issues. We’ve had the best comic Marvel published all year in what was mostly a way-off year for them.

9) Vampirella  (Dynamite Comics) – Eric Trautmann

Dynamite Comics acquired “Vampirella,” the Harris property best known for pin-up styled cheescake art. What they did was revamp the character for modern times, clothing her (for the most part) and situating her as a real character. The covers maintained the pin up art  but the interiors gave us a horror comic vampire story with a strong female lead, a classic back-story including Dracula, an interesting side-kick, and some really solid pencil-work. Month in and out, “Vampirella” was a fun comic to read–and isn’t that why we read comics in the first place?

8) Detective Comics – Scott Snyder + Jock + Francesco Francavilla

Before DC relaunched with “The New 52,” writer Scott Snyder bid farewell to the old-numbering of “Detective Comics” with the best run that title has seen in years, a run ranking with the best Batman stories of all time. Jock and Francavilla alternating issues on the artwork didn’t hurt in that they crafted interiors as captivating as any covers to ever hit the shelves. What wasn’t to love in this run? A great Joker scene, a great old Gordon family mystery that situated a creepy new villain and history, great action scenes, character interactions, mystery, and everything else you could hope for from a Batman comic.

7) Scalped – Jason Aaron + R.M. Guera

“Scalped” will wrap up this year. We all know it won’t end pretty; it’s a totally original crime-drenched American noir, but it’s noir none the less and we didn’t set in for happy endings. We’ve known it would end in tragedy and the hook has been how it will get there and the deep character studies crafted along the way. In all-out classic style, 2011 delivered a surprising Red Crow bid for redemption, a quest soon to play out; it also revealed the identity of the murderer of Gina Badhorse. 2012 will let us see who, if any, survives this mess. Great storytelling, haunting artwork, fully developed characters, and though a title not big on the “feel-good” factory, one that is drenched in pathos and cracked yet beautiful humanism.

6) Chew – John Layman + Rob Guillory

We’re in the midst of listing several titles which I have included for the last few years and “Chew”– like “Criminal,” “Scalped” and “Locke and Key”–  is what you get when you pair a great writer with a great artiss who have a great chemistry together as they get to helm a project they have devised and dreamed and which they now have the backing to deliver as a great story, freely with no real baggage. This recipe almost always results in a work that stands out as its own on the racks and “Chew” is unlike anything else you will ever read. It’s an original style of art, a ridiculous premise that is also all too plausible in spite of the ridiculous aspect, and it’s a funny, layered, piece full of back ground jokes that repay rereads. “Chew” is at its core a humor comic, a thing which is few and far between now; but it’s layered up with action, drama, a bit of shock, and subtle social commentary. It’s really just a fun read, perhaps the “funnest” on the list. 2011 amped up some new details, adding a heavy dose of sci-fi to the mix. I’m with this all the way to its conclusion.

5) Criminal: The Last of the Innocent – Ed Brubaker + Sean Phillips

Brubaker served up Criminal fans with perhaps the strongest 4 issue run of the series thus far this year with “Criminal: The Last of the Innocent.” And that is saying something since “Criminal” is a close to flawless work in its every issue. “The Last of the Innocent” was somewhat of a detour from the methods employed in all of the other “Criminal” arcs thus far; it is a crime story, and there are pieces of information, characters, settings, and locations that tie this loosely to all the other arcs, but this is as much an homage to comics, different comic storytelling techniques, devices, eras, and genres as it is a crime story of its own. Yet all of that homage making fully tied in with the story in a way that heightens the techniques of this story itself, that works as a cross-current to send this one to the top of “Criminal” rankings. You’re kept on the edge of your seat with each issue and the suspense is taut; the ending itself is the blackest noir.

Yet

4) Severed – Scott Snyder + Scott Tuft + Atilla Futaki

What a truly unique, wholly original, and exceedingly welcome addition to the 2011 comic racks. Scott Snyder has been on a roll with creative new ways of doing Batman and now Swamp Thing for DC comics, and this creator pet project of his continued announcing his talented breakthrough as a major player in modern mainstream comics. Paired with writer Scott Tuft and some truly beautiful, striking, subtle artwork by Atilla Futaki, Snyder delivers a Gothic piece of Americana as a horror story. “Severed” follows the journey of a young barely-teenaged boy as he hits the road in 1920s era America in search of his absentee horn-playing father. He runs into a fellow boxcar traveling teen, a girl passing as a boy, befriends her and then meets up with a truly frightening road scourge, a villain who uses identity theft techniques to prey on children as a cannibal who sports homemade metal teeth. “Severed” still had a couple of issues to go before wrapping up its first mini-series when the year drew to a close, so readers are as of yet unsure of the fate of protagonist Jack. But unless this brilliant creative team seriously drops the ball in delivering the home plate issue, this is one of the most solid original concept mini-series in quite some time. What’s amazing is that this is a truly new horror story told in a way that is genuinely frightening but also non-gratuitous. This is not a bloody, gruesome affair–at least on the page; Snyder and company deftly employ Hitchockian techniques to scare the reader psychologically, leaving the most terrifying scenes off the page to play in our minds. The artwork is beautiful, it looks like water-colored montages of a time in American history far enough away from the current day to look totally new. I for one cannot wait to see where this story ends up.

3) Locke and Key – Joe Hill + Gabriel Rodriguez

Joe Hill continues to make his very first foray into the comics field the instant success and classic that it is. Locke and Key has had a set endpoint since day one and Hill moves ever closer to the culmination of his intricate and astounding genre-hopping work. Rodriguez continues to deliver a set of warm, fun pencils that look like art found nowhere else. Each mini-series of “Locke and Key” works as a complete tale but it’s the overall story which is taking on full-speed as the end draws close that is really knocking this title out of the park this year. Yet Hill always finds ways to deliver one-shot and single pieces that stand out as creative individual moments amidst the overall narrative, as he did in the sentimental (but not trite) short story that led off the “Guide to the Known Keys” this year (pictured above). In it, a young boy who is terminally ill is led to the moon in a hot air-balloon by his father and one of the Keyhouse keys is used to unlock the moon, revealing a place where the boy can live fully and whole, surrounded by family and friends as he looks down on the unfolding history of the world. Or moments in the primary series artistically showcase deft homages to other works, like when the young character Brodie is depicted as Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes in a memorable issue last year. Readers like me cannot wait to see how this ends and we have the utmost confidence that Hill can wrap thing up as satisfyingly as the story has been as a whole thus far–he’s given us every reason to trust his skills as a writer.

2) Habibi – Craig Thompson

Craig Thompson is a top-rate writer and artist who delivers a graphic novel by way of weighty tome every couple of years. His work is always literate, emotional, and personal. “Blankets” was solid but this year’s “Habibi” is the culmination of everything this great artist is capable of thus far. “Habibi” is an all out epic, a graphic novel to rival any “all time” graphic novel lists compiled. It’s a sweeping story of love, religion, romance, sex, culture, mythology, and language that carries its two protagonists through years that are grounded yet timeless. Thompson took the weight of his subject sincerely and his attention to detail is what truly shines in this work. His Arabic calligraphy is gorgeous as it should be in a work with the Middle East and it’s history, culture and religious landscape as its subject. Every page of this book is stuffed with details and decoration yet the focus never gets lost and it never drags the reader down. It is weighty, but not so dense the focus becomes strained. It works as a straight story and as metaphor-laden exploration. It surely will stand up to ever-revealing rereads but also works remarkably well as a take-your-time and soak-it-up first read. The characters leap to life, their joys and tragedies played out emphatically and grippingly on the page. This book is even great in its production, it’s a beautifully produced book worthy of any book-shelf with a physical presences to suit its story and subject matter.  Highly recommended to those not fond of the typical comic or even comics in general.

1) DC : The New 52  (DC)

So it may seem like a cheat to make my first pick something that encompasses 52 separate comic books, but the DC relaunch was such a good thing as a complete act and product that I can’t help but do so. DC relaunched their entire line with 52 number 1 issues this year, and as the year came to a close readers have gotten to read 3-4 issues of each title. What could have been a bad publicity stunt that failed to attract new readers and simultaneously drove away devoted fans has instead been something that makes it fun week to check in with DC each and every week. DC (for the most part) picked crack-fire teams to helm the books, and each issue of each title began with a completely new story that was approachable to any reader picking up that title for the first time. Yet as details about the new direction each character is taking emerges, it’s also clear that the work done in DC’s amazingly intricate old continuity hasn’t been completely scrapped. Characters and circumstances set up intricately and creatively by folks like Grant Morrison with the Bat-titles and their fresh mythology show up largely in place as the new norm with this fresh start; so what was good remains and much of what was bogged down has been streamlined across the company line. It’s also worth mentioning that DC has stayed true to their “drawing the line” price campaign as their books are still 1.00 cheaper than Marvel in almost every case.

Not every title in the New 52 is a complete winner and not everyone will work for every reader. I predict a few titles will fall by the wayside as 2012 rolls on. But what does work works amazingly well; Scott Snyder delivered the best “Detective Comics” run in years, ranking with the best work on a mainstream Batman story of all time. He continues that approach as he takes over the flagship “Batman” title with more fast-paced action, sharp dialogue, awesome character dynamics, and intriguing subplots and threads that will be a joy to follow. Brian Azarello and Cliff Chiang position “Wonder Woman” as one of the (perhaps THE) best title of the relaunch, and it’s far past due for the too-often misplaced sister character of the DC “Trinity” to have her own definitive modern run. Chiang’s pencils play up the high art and action of the story as Azarello intertwines horror and mythology, wit and emotion into a stellar and timeless story. “Aquaman” proves that one of the most maligned JLAers of all time is a great character and can be the centerpiece of a really great title as Geoff Johns and Ivan Reiss pour energy into that title the same way they did on their first flash of Green Lantern work years ago. Speaking of JLA (and Johns), “Justice League of America” combines superstar artist Jim Lee with the aforementioned Johns and in a flashback telling of how the new 52 universe’s JLA came together, the title is shaping up to be the best (and first good) run on a Justice League title in a long time (not counting the JLI).  Other titles–”The Flash,” “Wild Western Tales,” “Batgirl,” “Resurrection Man,”–are already delivering the goods with promising setups to carry them into the future. Most comic readers are thrilled with “Action Comics” as it showcases Grant Morrison in full on having fun mode as he crafts a flashback run cataloging the youthful early adventures of Superman in the new 52 universe, an agressive, somewhat naive but devoted populist Superman. Yet I find that the less popular “Superman” main title by George Perez delivers consistently fun, old-school DC superhero stories that take an appreciable long time to read. Former “B” characters stand out on superb books like “Swamp Thing” (penned by the iron-hot Scott Snyder) and “Animal Man” (a “mainstream” work by the inimitable alt.comic master Jeff Leimire). Great art, simple yet fun stories, and the burgeoning hint of an inter-connected and creative comics landscape all grant DC with the much-deserved honor of being the mainstream comics publisher of the year.

The Format of Presentation as Part of the Art

The vehicle which transmits a particular media can itself be part of the artistic expression–secondary, certainly, it isn’t on equal footing with the creator or artist but rather subtly intertwined with the expression itself as an added layer of entertainment. This is not always the case either, because the vehicle of transmission is often totally irrelevant. But when it is part of the entertainment package, the vehicle of transmission enhances the experience of a particular media item wonderfully albeit sometimes imperceptibly.

Two particular things got me thinking about this concept specifically at this time. First, I recently took a beach vacation and before going I stopped by a few local used bookstores to stock up on cheap paperbacks. Now the ideal beach read, at least for me, has to be something that is fast-paced, exciting, and page-turning and not to dense or hyper-literate yet without being dumb, poorly written or overly cliched. Thus a good beach read is by someone like Michael Connelly who detours “literary fiction” without becoming a James Patterson and does so by writing creatively and, well, “good.” Anyway, it had been a long time since I had bought fiction paperbacks; typically the sort of thing I’d want in a fiction paperback is something I’d try to find at the library; I’d resort to buying it if I couldn’t find it there, but any fiction item I purchase typically is something by a favorite author I know I’ll want to re-read and keep or something I’ve read before and know is a classic that I want to hold onto, in which case I want a nice, presentable softcover TPB or Hardcover; if a classic work of literature, I want it in an even nicer format if I can find a deal on it.  Anyway, since I was in the process of moving and thus in between libraries, because I wanted specific authors and books, and because I knew there was a high-probability that what I read on a beach would get sandy and water-logged, my best bet was purchasing these books myself.  So armed with a stack of Lee Child, Michael Connelly, and Graham Joyce paperbacks I made way to the beach. Down by the water each day, I realized that there’s no better companion to a shady beach chair, a cooler of drinks, and a fifteen minute dip in the ocean every hour or two than a great paperback thriller or mystery. Certainly the story itself has to be good–the author has to suck you in, get you flipping the pages, and never drag on to bore you out of the forward momentum. You have to be dying to know what will happen next, otherwise you’ll just throw it down and zone out in the sun. But the paperback format itself adds to this enjoyment tremendously; looking around to see what other beach-goers were reading I spotted the occasional Kindle and I just kept thinking that I would be continually nervous that the water dripping off of me, the waves rolling in, the sun beating down, and the sand everywhere would have me constantly nervous that my electronic device would go kaputz and not only would I be out a hundred or more bucks, I’d be without a read for the day. Armed with a 2 or 3 dollar used paperback, I could fold the pages, toss it in the beach bag, read it while covered in sand and not be overly concerned with its overall condition–it just had to hold up for me to finish reading it. If I fell in love with the book and wanted it for my library, I could hunt it down later in hardback. Even off the beach, the perfect format for a thriller you only need to read once is the used paperback; it’s fun and perfectly sized for reading wherever you want and easily portable. I suppose the Kindle could replicate this experience better than many other reading experiences if and when the price per item is comparable but until that is a reality I’ll hold out.

The other thing that made me think of this format as part of the art argument came from a few Yahoo news story. One story was the rehashed filler they pull out every month or so, the “businesses that are as good as dead”article which names video rental stores, costume stores, etc. Record Stores made the list, with the same old reasoning that people download, and when they do buy CDs they do so cheaply in big box stores. The article said that despite what hipsters, DJs, and collectors want to believe, the indie record shops are largely on the way out except for the ones who’ve managed to adapt and adopt business methods that work in the digital economy. Conversely, there was a story a day or two later that talked about how many record shops that struggled when the bottom fell out of the CD business were gaining enough ground to level off by switching to vinyl for the bulk of their sells. Indie stores in big cities and college towns around the country now devote more of their sales floors to LPs and 45s than to CDs  and the annual “Record Store Day” event in which artists release limited edition vinyl releases directly through independent music retailers was another huge hit this year. Vinyl sales were up more in 2010 than in any year since Soundscan began taking numbers in 1990. New albums by established artists and up and coming indie acts release their albums not only on CD and download, but on at least 500-1000 vinyl pressings; vinyl reissues of albums by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and the Who sell very well each and every year. Such stores in areas like Charlottesville VA, Cincinnati, OH and Louisville Ky have begun stocking high quality turntables because they were tired of turning away the teenagers and college kids stumbling into their stores to buy vinyl but needing the system to play it on. Now, vinyl collectors and audiophiles have kept vinyl in business and popular for years (this even made it to film in the classic 1990s comedy “High Fidelity” based on the Nick Hornby book), but the popularity among indie rock fan teenagers and twenty-somethings has helped it boom out more than ever to such a point that artists as mainstream as Taylor Swift make sure to press vinyl editions of their new work. Of course it’s still a niche market and the price of new vinyl coupled with the limitations and requirements it poses to mass consumption will never make its sells a drop in the bucket compared to legal and illegal digital downloads. But it is interesting. The part of this prompting the argument I am making here comes largely from the comment-thread in that last story. Every time there is a “vinyl is booming” new-story, there are dozens of people commenting things like “Huh? Why?” and dozens of audiophiles posting about the superior sound quality of vinyl vis-a-vis digital. These comment threads explode into over-the-top arguments as people seem to find each others arguments completely incomprehensible. Both have their points but both miss a key aspect of this hobby too. Vinyl does offer a warmer, fuller sound when the record is clean and well cared for, the turntable is of good quality, and the amp and speakers are the correct components. The clicks and pops won’t be there on new cared-for LPs (contrary to the arguments of those never having heard a new vinyl) and on older items a few introductory pops are indeed pleasantly nostalgic. The sound on a vinyl copy of, say,  “Abbey Road” compared with every CD pressing before last year’s remastering overhaul was miles ahead–I had no idea there were as many instruments and notes in the background as there were because of digital’s habit of maxing every sound to its top volume and then leveling it flat in a digital sample onto CD. Vinyl has a particular sound, one that jazz, blues, and classic rock built itself to suit for many years so of course a Charlie Parker, Bob Dylan, or BB King record from the 1960s will sound miles ahead of its CD pressing. Yet the digital folks have their point to; properly mastered CDs sound great on the right system, are more portable and sound great cars. MP3s are enervated a bit every time they are opened to a certain extent but aren’t susceptible to human sound warping through scuffs and scratches and are the height of portability thus far. They do limit the sound by compressing it more than any format before (LPs give off sound waves, CDs sample soundwaves, mp3s compress those samples even more), but now high-quality 320 and up kpbs digital tracks are available that in most cases catch the quality of a sound recording the way it was supposed to be; the fact that sometimes that results in a high-gloss sheen that sounds “artificial” to some in comparison to the “warmth” offered by vinyl is due more to aesthetic and nostalgic sensibilities than fact. What both sides of this (admittedly to the outsider rather pointless and arbitrary) argument don’t give priority to nearly enough is the format-as-part-of-the-art fact: it certainly isn’t just sound that draws collectors and hipsters to vinyl. If I just want to hear a new album, a download is the most efficient way to get to do so, often cheap or free; I can carry it around with me and hear it in my car or with headphones. If I want a better sounding copy to carry with me most anyplace that also offers me the intended packaging, there’s CD. For me, I preview and listen and can love albums that I download but once I truly find a great one (or know beforehand it will be a great one), I don’t feel I have it in the proper format until I get it for my turntable. Not just for sound–for presentation, collection, and process. It sounds good on an old fashioned home stereo; it requires my involvement in that I place it on the turntable and put the needle to it. I hear the first and last track of the first side, which especially in vinyl-era releases was the result of a deliberate sequencing decision and then I flip it to side two and repeat the process. It requires my care in that I keep it clean and safe. It gives me a giant cover with full-size artwork and an inner sleeve, often liner notes and extras tucked within. It gives me a collectible to place on the shelf and pull down when I want to. The vinyl hobby itself sends me to new and used and out of the way places in the towns I live in or bargain hunting on line. There’s nothing better than getting a record never pressed on CD or sampled digitally or one you’d never have thought to get and getting it for a few dollars only to find out you love hearing it spin on your turntable.

Great art is great art regardless of how it is presented. Yet the vehicle of transmission can add to the joy of the experience one has when consuming such art. Certain movies look great on the big screen and are a joy to see collectively in a theater and seeing them alone at home on the TV often cannot match that. A visually stunning movie looks excellent on a a Blu-Ray player with a proper screen and sound-system and can be much more fun that trying to squint your eyes at your smartphone to watch it. A classic jazz record sounds best on the turntable; a nineties hip-hop album sounds best on CD in a car with great bass speakers. A great comic-arc reads best in a nice and carefully presented Omnibus but a one-off fun short story comic works best as a single issue. A thriller works best as a cheap paperback, a dense erudite work is best in a hardcover sewn volume. I would argue that a newspaper still reads best via newsprint but those days are almost gone. So sure, this involves primarily matters of opinion and personal taste and I’m sure there’s an entire generation of kids growing up right now who will find no problem digesting every bit of their media with a handheld device. Perhaps by then every bit of media will be created and be tailored for display on such a device and thus be unfit for presentation in any other way. But for now, in the supposed last days of physical media there are still things that work best in the format they were created in and for; and hey, if the digital pulse ever comes knocking out all RF, satellite and wi-fi signals those of us with any digital media at all might be able to use our collectibles as widespread currency ala “The Book of Eli.”

FALSE Assumptions Non-Comic Readers Make About Comics

With Thor doing big things at the box office , now is as good as ever to do this article that I’ve been kicking around the past few weeks. My initial inspiration for this piece came from the comment threads on the various news-stories reporting the “controversy” in a recent celebratory issue of Superman in Action Comics #900. For those of you that missed it (it did become widely reported for all of 12 hours or so but those were the pre-death-of-bin-Laden-news-reporting-days) in a back up story in that landmark issue, Superman vowed to renounce his US citizenship so that his actions abroad would not be construed as actions of the US and that in a globalized and “smaller” world, he should serve and protect as citizen of the world. Anyway, many conservative sources lambasted this “liberal agenda” to, as some claimed, “brainwash our children.” Anyway, the comment threads on these stories, like the comment threads on every story the mainstream media has reported regarding comics in the past few years (Captain America’s assassination, Wonder Woman’s costume change, the Superman revamped earth-one origin in Stracyznski’s graphic novel), were laden with false assumptions by casual news readers who had never, or at least not in the past 30 years, read a comic (just like those reporting these stories). So what follows are 10 attempts to correct some broad false assumptions non-comic fans make concerning comics.

* Children make up the bulk of the audience for comic books

Those that worry DC has a nefarious plan to brainwash children into liberal hippies need not have too much concern because those under 18 make up a very small corner of comic readership. Though actual statistics drawn from research into the matter aren’t a deep well, most data of any kind point to the average reader being mid to late twenties; 28 comes up as the “average reader” in many sources, but arguments could easily be made for the mid-thirties being closer to the truth. Regardless, the under 16 crowd is not even a notable fraction of the comic readership base. Go into any comic shop in the US and you will likely find 20, 30, 40, and 50-year-old guys scattered about, especially on “new comics” day (Wednesday) when the new titles ship each week (occasionally women as well, though comics, particularly “mainstream” comics are more than 3/4 male supported). There are a number of reasons for this, some good some bad; positively, it means that comic publishers have managed to retain an audience over a long portion of time or at least able to entice “return customers” to begin following the adventures of characters in a medium they likely first encountered in adolescence. Also, because of this comics have aimed at telling stories that older readers want to read; thus writers in even the “juvenile’ genre of super-hero comics often finds ways to tell mature, thoughtful, or at least exciting stories adults want to read. Negatively, the reason more children aren’t reading is because comics are sold through a direct-market system: comic publishers sell through a third-party distributor (primarily “Diamond Comics Distributor”) which ships their products to comic shops which sell those comics to readers. This has been the primary model since the 1980s; and increasingly the local comic shop (with the more recent competition of online direct market options) has become the ONLY place to purchase the majority of comic titles. Remember the spinning racks at bookstores, grocery stores, gas stations, etc? When’s the last time you saw one of those? Most non-comic-shop locations no longer sell comics and unless the parents are readers themselves, most won’t take their children to the comic shop very often and if they do, they will likely notice many of these places aren’t exactly kid friendly or welcoming to the under 16 crowd.

* Comics are only about superheroes

Recent movies based on comics certainly show that super heroes are certainly big in comics–Thor, Batman, Iron Man, etc. Yet some great movies in recent years not about superheroes were also based on comics–V For Vendetta, Ghost World, Persepolis, and Road to Perdition to name a few. But certainly superheroes are the primary focus of the majority of comics to line the shelves in your average comic shop and their exploits make-up almost the entirety of “mainstream” comics. Yet scratch just a bit below the surface and you’ll find a breadth of creativity and a wealth of variety. Published as an imprint of DC is the Vertigo line which distributes cutting-edge subject matter and plots by new talent with the power and backing of  a mainstream company. Vertigo has delivered some of the best and most ground-breaking work in the history of comics: the award-winning high-brow literary epic The Sandman; the neo-noir impeccably plotted begging-for-an-HBO adaptation 100 Bullets; the dystopian gender-issue action adventure Y the Last Man; the religious mythology challenging Preacher; and the current soon-to-be classics Scalped, Northlanders and The Unwritten to name just a few. Artists and writers who went on to great acclaim and creative excellence in comics, film, and literature such as Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, Alan Moore, and Brian Azarello all put in early work at Vertigo. Then there are the myriad of titles  cranked out by various independent publishers that are thoughtful, challenging, literate titles about everything from complicated romantic entanglements (Strangers in Paradise) to ghosts, murder, and mysteries (Locke and Key), or that focus on youthful attempts at growing up and coming into ones own as a springboard for detailing the geographic scenes in minute and exquisite detail of every town along the way (Local).

* “Real” writers don’t write comics

Define “real writer” for me anyway. Regardless, you have comic scribes who win acclaim for the medium and then go on to do the same with novels, short stories, and screenplays (Neil Gaiman); you have screenwriters and novelists who try their hand at comics to great results (Joe Hill, Brad Meltzer, Joss Whedon). Then you have great writers, past and present, who just understand how to tell a great story and find the best medium to do that in to be comics, independent or mainstream (Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Gail Simone, Will Eisner, Art Spiegelman, etc.)

* Comics are cheap and disposable/  Comics are valuable Collectibles

Both of these seemingly opposite sentiments are both wrong when they push too far to either extreme.  Chances are the majority of comics you buy new off the shelf this year will not be worth even the cover price in a couple of months. Those that stock up on new comics for investments are the few and far between misguided folks who think it’s the early nineties again. Yet you won’t get these comics too cheap either, with DC charging 2.99 an issue, Marvel charging 3.99 for most issues, and independent companies falling somewhere between. Many shops offer discounts to subscribers and online options can save you a ton of cash, but if you want the experience (like most do) of going into the shop on Wednesday to pick up your new titles, to read them as they come out in installments waiting to see what will happen next, and conversing about them with your on and off-line friends, you’re going to be spending a few bucks to do so and if you don’t plan on keeping them to reread, file, and enjoy later, then you’re paying for a one-time use of each of those comics that even when read carefully and correctly will take all of 15 minutes a piece.On the other hand, a good way that comics not  “cheap and disposable,” is in the massive market for high-quality trades and collections. Want a leather-bound, sewn-bound, complete run of your favorite series in a large format with remastered print from the ’50s or even last year? You can probably find it; it will look great on your shelf, it will hold up to as many readings as you desire, and it will work great as a loan to friends you want to hook to your hobby. Don’t want to pay for the monthly installments of your title and are not to worried about staying in the circle of dialogue and speculation about the monthly plots? Then hold out 6 months, you can find a cheap paperback collection of the complete story0arc of any title you wish that will deliver the story just as entertainingly but for a fraction of the cost.

* Comic readers all look and act like that guy from The Simpsons.

We don’t. Well, at least not all of us.

* Comics are those things in the newspaper

So there’s this thing called “National Read Comics in Public Day.” It’s main purpose is to get those various folks who read all varieties of comics out in the parks, bars, subways, etc. reading them in front of the general public to let the masses who don’t know what they are understand a better idea of the variety inherent both in them and in their fan-base. Anyway, NPR did a story on it and hyped it for its fans and random folks in the comment threads incessantly referenced the “funnies.” NOT the same thing; those do employ graphic storytelling, but of a much more primitive method. Certain strips and the creators producing those strips have excelled in that medium making such a “primitive” art form classic, enduring and literate (Peanuts, Doonesubury, etc.), but the average “funny” is not the same thing as the average graphic novel. Oh, and drivel like The Family Circus and even the deeply funny Far Side are not even comic strips–a single panel without movement is its own art form and medium.

* Comics are a derivative medium

Graphic storytelling via the comic medium is an artistic outlet like no other; they are not “picture books” and the story you read in a novel or watch on the big screen cannot do the exact things that a comic can–those other mediums can tell stories equally as good (or as bad) as a comic, they just cannot tell the story in the exact way that a comic can. Film more than any other medium comes closest in that it also tells a story with words and pictures, but comics are like films with no budget and no limitation other than the imagination of the author and artist. Scott McCloud wrote a wonderful non-fiction graphic novel exploration of what comics are and how they function as a medium, Understanding Comics. He brilliantly walks readers through the tools graphic storytellers have at their disposal. Not every comic employs all of these tools, but the good ones do; comics are about making the pictures move in your mind, and often the action that occurs between the panels. They’re about the rapport between the writer and the artist, finding those great partnerships when the scenes a writer envisions are brought to life, framed, and detailed for an audience. Comics can work in a fluid, fast manner or a slow, attentive-to-detail meander, or even a back-and-forth between the two. They can tell you a whole story or bring you to a cliffhanger and make you wait. They can direct where you place your eyes and what you see there. They can do more than any other visual medium when they are truly produced by artists at the top of their game.

* Comics are misogynistic or sexist.

This one too often comes even from within the fan-base, usually from readers who consider themselves connoisseurs of literate, alternative, and “artistic” works tired of “defending” themselves to the non-comic reading public and in doing so concede that mainstream comics are sexist, but they aren’t fans of that kind of comic. There are great comics all around, past and present; some mainstream, some alternative, some wordy, some pure escapism and zany. So fine, if you only like the “literate” and “respectable” titles, that’s okay. But don’t condemn the majority of titles as “sexist” let alone “misogynistic” just because they aren’t your cup of tea. First off, misogynistic is a strong word implying degradation, violence against women, and a boys-club ethos of superiority over the other sex. I don’t find this in mainstream comics on any notable basis. So let’s go with “sexist.” This claim is drawn basically from the artwork that depicting colorful drawings of women with “exaggerated” female forms in skimpy, tight costumes (or less). Those certainly do abound in the superhero genre. So if the claim is that this alone makes them sexist or degrading, I suppose there is not much of an argument to counter that with. But such an assumption is false. Superficially, everything in superhero comics is drawn in over-the-top exaggerated ways; sure most women don’t look or dress like Wonder Woman, but do most men look or dress like Superman? Hardly. Their physical forms are largely unattainable for either gender and that is because superhero comics are pure fantasy. Moving past the superficial level (and completely ignoring the many pencilers who employ creative, “alternative” art styles to “mainstream” works), what can be pointed to in said comics that is sexist beyond appearance? Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Zatanna, She Hulk, Black Widow, etc are never “second-tier” to their male companions. DC has done great things with female leads in their own titles–Batgirl, Power Girl, Supergirl, Zatanna–and over at Marvel Sue Storm, Maria Hill, Mystique and the rest are never the sort to cow to male advice or commands. Oracle practically orchestrates every “bat” hero from her wheelchair and can still take care of herself in the field! Wonder Woman is just as strong and intimidating to the guys in her world both as hero and off-duty in her personal relationships! I’ve never seen (at least in modern times) a scene in mainstream comics where the male heroes chat about their superiority over the women either. Even the most provocatively dressed characters like Vampirella or Red Sonja (in horror and fantasy genres no less) are strong, intelligent, quick-witted protagonists who never falter against even their strongest male counterparts (Dracula and Conan, respectively). In the comics field itself we have strong female writers (Gail Simone) who have written some of those titles (Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman), and even artists who play up the campy eye candy (Amanda Connor). Female publishers and executives can be found at DC; some of the smartest critical reviews of comics are done by women (Blair Butler at G4s Fresh Ink, Sarah Morean at The Daily Crosshatch). Sure there are more down to earth, inspiring and realistic portrayals of women in comics (Strangers in Paradise, Love and Rockets, Local, Echo, etc). But don’t unfairly blanket the over-the-top escapism of the mainstream as being sexist simply for exaggerated artwork.

10 Best in Comics and Graphic Literature of 2010

10) King: A Comics Biography- Ho Che Anderson

Ho Che Anderson’s massive “King” compiles the three Fantagraphic novels he wrote and illustrated over the course of nearly twenty years (partly due to his own struggles with addiction as noted in the commentary essay in this volume, one of a slew of extras). The art is amazing–wholly original and stark, shifting and versatile. This was an attempt at portraying King as a real human amidst a particularly volatile struggle and historical setting. As such, Anderson doesn’t try to display just King the icon or giant–though at attempting to deconstruct him and display all of his flawed humanity, he displays some of that greatness even better. Along the way readers get to see balanced and complex portrayals of JFK and other key figures from the era and the struggle of the civil rights movement. A dense work that adds something new to the already wide variety of biographies on this leading American figure, but one that manages to utilize the comics medium to do things otherwise impossible. The multi-angle “commentary” on King by figures around him praising or lamenting him can get brutal, especially when detailing the rants of “average” racists of the time. “King” is worthy of reading even by non-comics fans. The only thing keeping this tome from ranking higher on the list is that it is very dense and there are moments when you get bogged down in the depth of a particular page.

9) Stuck Rubber Baby – Howard Cruse

This is another black-and-white graphic novel set in the south during the civil rights movement and based on fact, in this case a comic autobiography of someone coming out of the closet during that volatile period. “Stuck Rubber Baby” is gorgeously illustrated by the writer, each page has an incredibly detailed and warm feel, and it’s easy to see what caused the author to work on it for so long. It is also very interesting to see how closely intertwined the struggle facing gays and blacks was (and arguably is), and in this particular example the two struggles overlapped to a great deal in large part because these friends often fell in both categories and the struggle for rights under the threat of violence took its toll on both communities. This graphic novel was originally published 15 years ago but was out of print when Vertigo got the publishing rights and released this excellent new edition.

8 ) Fantastic 4

Fantastic 4 was Marvel’s best book and one of the funnest superhero monthlies (and certainly of Marvel’s) in 2010 under the formidable talent of writer Jonathan Hickman. Unfortunately the current arc is leading up to a “death” of one of the four key characters; I’m sure Hickman will tell this chapter in an entertaining way but I’m equally sure that in a year at most that same character will be back–there have been enough of these hyped up “deaths” this year (and many other years), so Hickman is doing himself a disservice to sink to such a ploy, but I’m reading along anyway (and the same thing for DC’s Batman this year under Grant Morrison turned out to be a lot of fun if only for giving us this new “Batman Inc” and allowing other characters to shine for awhile).  The single issue in which Ben Grimm gains the ability to be transformed into his old self sans the rocky exterior for a night on the town with Johnny Storm culminating with a surprise visit to his long-time girlfriend is perhaps the second best single (“floppy”) issue of the year (for the best, see later in this list). That issue was a sort of interlude and the main arc consisting of many superb sub-arcs was almost equally entertaining, from the multiple-universe battles between different Reed Richards’s to Sue Storm’s liaison to Atlantis, the Foundation for the Future group and the adopted child geniuses, the intergalactic and inter-dimensional family adventures, the teamwork with Victor Von Doom, and the reappearance of the Silver Surfer acting as herald for Galactus, this book delivered classic Marvel thrills for the 21st century in a traditional yet fresh way…all at the old 2.99 price point, one of the last titles Marvel hasn’t yet sold out on its fan base to sell.

7) Echo – Terry Moore

Terry Moore continued to deliver his independently published title with about 8 more issues making a 2010 appearance as the end of this title fast approaches…each issue might be a bit short at 20 pages a piece, but each page is filled with his wonderful dialogue and excellent pencils. I love each issue, from the cryptic historical quote and pace-setting snapshot opening to each cliff-hanger ending. Moore gives us a realistic, terrifying, all-too-plausible scientific horror story and ended the year with an unlikely tie-in to his long running completed masterpiece “Strangers in Paradise.” I like most who caught that am unsure how he plans to tie these very different pieces of comic landscape together, but I trust he won’t let us down after this great ride thus far. Let’s just hope Julie and her pals make it out alive, she’s been a charming heroine throughout.

6) Wednesday Comics

Rather than paste a picture of the cover, I couldn’t resist showing off some of the excellent art by Amanda Connor who fuses vivacious with humorous and cartoon so deftly as she does in her “Supergirl” strip here. This was the best coffee-table book of the year but much more than just that! It’s huge, measuring at 18 by ll.5 inches. The size makes it nearly impossible to fit it on any book shelf, but it shows off the artwork fantastically–those diverse, creative, colorful pencil and ink or paint drawings. The concept was to take the “Sunday Funnies” and do a “Wednesday Comics” version–ship a newspaper of 15 stories each week in serial form, which DC did last year for 12 weeks using some of the biggest names in comics. This year that successful experiment got the deluxe hardcover collection to display those strips in a new and collected way, trading up the newsprint for high quality paper but keeping the size. Most of the writing is pretty good, especially considering the way these writers had to restrict their length to fit each installment on a single over-sized page. “100 Bullets” partners Brian Azarello and Eduardo Risso give us a solid “Batman” story,  Amanda Connor is always a blast on female superhero stories as well as perfectly matched with Jimmy Palmiotti as a writer, and her “Supergirl” strip is a hoot. Neil Gaiman gives Metallo a shot and delivers some artistic quirkiness,  Lee Bermejo draws some jaw-dropping “Superman” sequences, Paul Pope gives us a fantastic “Adam Strange” story, and everyone else does nice work as well.

5) Chew

“Chew” continued to be a blast, even better this year than last. Each panel is loaded with gags and Easter-eggs, each joke works, and each issue holds up to repeat reads. The characters are fantastic, the situations absurd. Even amidst the absurdity and jokes, all of which are illustrated in a laugh-out-loud comical manner, the action and suspense still manages to excite. Who would imagine that a story focusing on FDA agents policing a US in which poultry is outlawed in the wake of a bird flu would be so much fun (and so oddly believable)? Add to that a government conspiracy, a handful of people with different “food-based” special abilities, “vampires,” aliens, cyborg-cops, dysfunctional families, and poultry-pushing crime syndicates and you have the best and most absurd slapstick comic in years.

4) Justice League Generation Lost

DC has managed to keep their big flagship super-team book (JLA) pretty much unreadable for too many years to count, but thanks to “Brightest Day,” we got this book sharing a bit of that title but with none of the big names–bringing back Keith Giffen’s international version of the team, the “B-list” heroes, “Generation Lost” manages to display those supposed second-tier characters in a fun, captivating, and cool way. This was the most fun super-heroes were in 2010; this book had it all–big fight scenes, funny jokes, mystery, suspense, cliff-hangers, time travel to apocalyptic possible futures, retconned origins that were better than the original versions, group chemistry, treacherous villains, and pretty much anything else a comic fan might want from such a book. A great bi-weekly series that seemed to up the ante with each issue and was actually better than the actual “event” that ushered it in.

3) Demo vol 2

Everyone praised “Daytripper” as Vertigo’s best and most heartfelt mini- of the year, but I vote for “Demo volume 2.” Sure, that other mini- had “big” issues of life and death at its forefront, its art was beautiful and it had more than its share of tear-jerk moments, but “Demo” gave us casual moments of life and death too,beauty in unexpected places, and “powers” that don’t seem so magical. Brian Wood is a terrific writer whether up close and personal in this and “Local,” or bigger than life in “Northlanders” and “DMZ.”  Each “Demo” stand-alone installment was packed with importance even in sparse panels and Becky Cloonan’s black and white pencils were gorgeous. The “Volume One Love Story” was the best of the lot and the year’s most unlikely yet fulfilling romance, perhaps seconded by another Demo, “Stranded” (after the tragedy ended anyway). “Pangs” was downright horrific, “The Waking Life of Angels” is a bit in the vein of this year’s “Black Swan” film as far as claustrophobic psychologically scary goes; “Sad and Beautiful World” was just devastating. These were emotional tales that merged the line between romance and tragedy, comedy and horror, all under the guise of supposed “gifts” that ordinary folks find themselves with–”Demo” is a cynical look at what “superpowers” would be apt to be like in the real world.

2) Brave and the Bold #33

J. Michael Stracynzski really dropped the ball on “Superman” and “Wonder Woman” this year and gave a whole new generation of fans reason to hate his work, but he was on his A-game for this excellent one-shot story in “Brave and the Bold” which featured a missing tale from Batgirl’ s history (turning out in the surprise ending to be her last possible chronological story before she became Oracle). It was 2010′s best single “floppy” issue. The story follows as Zatanna gets a premonition that something bad is around the corner and arranges a girls night out with Wonder Woman and Batgirl. The girls tear through bars and sing karaoke, then sober up over coffee and conversation just before dawn in a diner and on the final page we find out this is directly before the events of “Killing Joke” as Barbara Gordon arrives home. This was a perfect book for DC fans, giving us a missing piece of history that felt unforced and natural and in doing so, JMS topped off a fun (and stunningly illustrated by Cliff Chiang) one-off with a heartbreaking final twist that lands this tale solidly in DC history.

1) Unknown Soldier

Joshua Dysart and Albert Ponticello’s jaw-dropping, emotionally devastating, and pitch-perfect 25 issue run on Vertigo’s “Unknown Soldier” came to a close this year; they had gotten notice in plenty of time that 25 issues would be the end of their run regardless of how many they had planned to try for, so Dysart was able to plot the story so that nothing was left unanswered and it could come to a natural close. He does so perfectly and as a reader I wasn’t left feeling cheated (as I was a bit with “Young Liars” and to an extent “Vinyl Underground” which faced this same problem), though I would have proffered an additional 25 issues. The ones we got in 2010 were phenomenal and this rounded off a work of art that was not only the best comic of 2010 but one of the best and most important pop culture products of the past few years–these 25 issues are crying out for a massive hardcover Omnibus complete with Dysart’s essays and historical recounts, hopefully withsome unpublished extras–plot lines, sketches, research pieces, etc.  DC’s classic “Unknown Soldier” was pretty much a pulp romp featuring a WWII soldier with a bandaged face, but what we get in the 2000s version is a pacifist turned violent force of a man etching out revenge and survival in Uganda. Each part of the story dealt with harsh realities yet occasionally with hidden beauty and life.Each character was vibrant and real, each facet of culture exhaustively researched and authentically portrayed. This book ratcheted from horror to romance to political commentary and gave readers characters, settings, and situations rarely found in any American media. This book held a microscope up to issues ignored by the mainstream media as the protagonist strove to put an end to Joseph Cony’s child-soldier-training reign of terror; this book dealt with difficult ideological debate as it examined the pull of pacifism and its seeming impossibility in the face of abject horror. This was a tough, thoughtful, unflinching, terrifying, despairing, inspiring, hopeful, tragic, bloody, violent, caring, hard-working, faithful, beautiful, real story that deserves to be read but is often emotionally difficult to do so. In the process Dysart gave us a twist we didn’t see coming, a tie to that older DC staple, and a fulfilling, logical, yet expected disheartening ending.

The Bible and Superhero Comics : The Retcon

I’m a student of religion and philosophy and I’m also a medium-grade comic geek. These two loves rarely overlap in my writing, but this particular article unites the two interests (which means fewer readers are likely to be interested!). In this particular article, I’m not even talking about the big, literate, “artsy” comics either– a lot of religious parallels can be found in the work of Gaiman, Moore, Ennis, and the like– read my Preacher book review for a stab at that. No, this is continuity-traversing, in-universe superhero comics here: Max Lord, affiliated with the Justice League International in the DC comics universe to be precise.

The retcon (“retroactive continuity” to be precise)  is a common tool in the mainstream superhero comic medium (I wager that it is in daytime soaps as well). Basically, the retcon takes a character that has been around and used in various prior ways and starts them on a new path with a different past– a famous modern example is what’s going on over in Marvel comics with Spider-Man. In the pages of “Amazing Spider Man,” Peter Parker made a deal with the devil of the Marvel universe (Mephisto) to save his aunt’s life and as a result his past marriage to Mary Jane Watson never occurred. Thus, the story recast Parker as a single guy juggling dating with all the other facets of his life to make him more relatable to unmarried readers, I presume. Currently an arc in “Amazing” is dealing with just what did happen on the what-would-have-been-wedding-day and filling in the gaps of the changed history in the Quesada-penned “One Moment in Time.” In many ways, though, what’s occurred in “Amazing” is incongruous with most ret-cons. Most ret-cons would have simply started off with a new story arc, possibly with a new numbering system, and have Peter single, never having been married, and nothing would be mentioned about this glaring change- readers would simply shrug and move on with the story if the writer did his job well enough. Of course, Spidey’s a bit of a big-name, his history was to in-depth and prominent for such a move. But that’s not the case for Maxwell Lord over at DC.

See, Maxwell Lord has had a quite twist-and-turny sort of history; he started the Justice League International and caused the death of a villain he had set up in the first place to publically prove his new groups mettle. Then he shifted from being outright evil to simply being an unscrupolous and greedy businessman. Later, he was a cyborg–then he came back and the turn to cyborg was written out as if it never occurred. His back story gradually became one that played all of his past motives in a much more sinister light to set him up as the villain in the OMAC debacle which resulted in Wonder Woman snapping his neck, an event that had ill effects on her public reputation to say the least, but it was a move she felt had to be made to save the world. Now, the glaring retcon is the cyborg issue–seriously, a character becomes a cyborg, operates as a cyborg, then returns later and the whole cyborg thing is neglected to be mentioned?

….I do realize I’ve lost most rational people at this point, but hey.

All of this fails to matter for what we have with Max Lord now, other than these few facts: A) He was/is evil  B) He formed the JLI  C)Wonder Woman killed him…but now with this only-in-comics-or-daytime-soaps addition…D) During a DC mega summer event (“Blackest Night”), Max was resurrected and only the members of the team he formerly created have any idea who he is.

That’s the premise of “Justice League: Generation Lost,” a bi-weekly title from DC that is entertaining, funny, exciting, and a worthy read twice each month. JLI was originally penned by superhero yet comic (in the humor sense) writer Keith Giffen, who appears now only in the breakdown department. Judd Winnick is the current scribe, pulling out the humor touch he employed so well in his creator-owned career-starting work “Barry Ween Boy Genius” (non comic fans might know Winnick from MTV’s “The Real World,” some early season of it) as well as his knowledge of the DC Univese gained from writing dozens of its titles over the past couple of years. JLI was fun in that it was the b- and c-listers who populated its ranks–the Justice League had always been Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. JLI gave readers Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Captain Atom…and it worked in unconventional ways that was fun to read. Now, JLI: Generation Lost,” under the “Brightest Day” banner gives readers a mystery, a thriller, a comedy, and with issue 6 (the best so far), a futuristic Twilight Zone-esque tale.

So what does this have to do with the Bible? I’m certain to offend all sorts of folks by drawing any comparisons from the pop-stew mess above to scripture, but when thinking about the retcon I thought about the Bible.  I remembered a paper I worked on about King Sennacherib of the Assyrians in my first-year OT Exegesis course. There are three major sources on Sennacherib: the book of Isaiah, the book of 2 Kings, and the annals of Sennacherib which Assyria recorded. Taking just the Biblical text, since that is the focus here, there are three conflicting accounts of  King Sennacherib’s military siege of Judean land. Dating the text is a debated issue–some scholars posit the story to have first been in 2 Kings and then recounted in Isaiah, tweaked to reflect the theological position of that particular author(s). Others posit that it was first written in Isaiah and then retrofitted into later versions of 2 Kings.  If the story was first written in 2 Kings (and that account matches closest with the Assyrian version) King Hezekiah paid tribute to the Assyrian King Sennacherib to halt the siege of Jerusalem. The author of Isaiah retcons the story– Hezekiah does not pay tribute to Sennacherib and instead trusts in God for deliverance. In Isaiah, this works, and Sennacherib suffers for his siege.In the context of Isaiah and for the reason this story was being recounted, this version works. Readers of “Isaiah” might have been well aware of the earlier version but understood the reassurance this “tweaking” served in their context and under the oppression they found themselves in.

So yes, I think scriptural scribes might have been some of the earliest employers of the retcon tool. If you’re like me, a geek with an interest in religion and comic books, I recommend reading “Justice League: Generation Lost,” as well as Isaiah Chapter 36 and the book of 2 Kings. All 3 are good reads–tell me what you think.

Weighing in on Superman #701

Pause with me for a detour into the land of geek diatribes. I generally save my comic book posts for year-end recaps or notable graphic novel reviews, but the comic blogosphere is buzzing incessantly about this particular issue and the wealth of angry negativity addressed towards it provoked me to write a countering opinion.

Last month Superman issue #700 was released–quite an accomplishment for a book to be that long-running. Superman in its comic book incarnation has had its share of ups and downs, but when it’s up it is remarkable and worthy of the pop culture icon status its protagonist has held for multiple decades.  Issue 700 was underwhelming, however; consisting of a few short segments, the first was a nice epilogue to the “War of the Supermen” crossover that stretched out over several DC titles for the past year; the second was a “lost tale” of Superman helping Robin in Gotham; and the last was the prologue to the new arc which writer J M Straczynski has been tapped by DC to deliver. JMS set up the story quickly–a woman approached Superman and delivered a “slap heard ’round the world” to him because he wasn’t on earth to save her husband from cancer during his year-long absence. Had Superman been at the right place at the right time, he could have detected her husband’s cancer and helped to save him. Certainly Superman can’t be everywhere all the time, this is an issue introduced every so often as a story point; but this time it provoked Superman to become “grounded” for the near-future–walking around the country and trying to reacquaint himself with average people.

Issue 701 launched that story–Superman in full-on Forrest Gump mode, traversing the US and dealing with personal, one-on-one issues. The result from this reader’s point of view was an entertaining start to a story that could easily be one of the funnest and most “positive” comic reading experiences of the year…though the internet is quick to showcase this may be a minority opinion. First off is a clear hatred by many fanboys for JMS–though considered by many to be a top-notch writer in the comics field, his detractors consistently accuse him of being one of the worst (Jeph Loeb can be considered a person in this unflattering position as well). Some fans simply refuse to like anything with JMS’s name attached to it, for whatever reason. This is baffling in many ways though, because despite his occasional short-comings, he’s delivered some really great writing: the award winning run on “Thor,” the standalone “Girl’s Night Out” issue of “Brave and the Bold” (#33) this year which might be the best single issue of a main-stream comic all year, much of his pre-OMD/BND “Amazing Spider Man” run, and  his screenplay for the Eastwood-directed  modern classic “Changeling,” to name a few.

Then there’s the “not my Superman” furor–any time a new writer takes on a classic character, there’s an uproar that the current storyline or take doesn’t live up to a particular readers memories of their favorite prior take– JMS isn’t going to give us John Byrne’s, Kurt Busiek’s, Grant Morrison’s, or anyone else’s version of Superman–he’s going to give us JMS’s version of Superman. Not to say he’s going to deliver a fully original version either–Superman’s stories have been told for 60 years in multiple mediums and there’s arguably no Superman tale left untold. All a writer can do is deliver a Superman story that resonates, that taps into action, emotion, and fantasy; a Superman tale that sparks childlike wonder in the reader, that brings back the reader’s favorite Superman memories and reinterprets them in a way that makes them feel new. Superman is the superhero archetype and a good Superman reading experience invokes the aspects of comics reading that was most fun to us as children but that works for us in new ways as adults.

Now, JMS doesn’t execute the “good Superman storytelling” factors perfectly, but he’s on the right track. The best versions of Superman in recent years–Geoof Johns and Gary Franks run on “Action Comics,” Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly’s “All Star Superman,” Bryan Singer’s film “Superman Returns,” and perhaps seasons 2-4 of “Smallville”–rank with some of the best Superman tales ever, and that’s saying something. JMS isn’t quite there yet, but give him time, he’s only just begun this arc. Certainly, he’s aped or copycatted aspects (possibly inadvertently) of even those recent tales. Online critics have complained his 6 page suicide talk-down to the ledge sitter was done in one page in “All Star.” Yet that scene worked very powerfully here for JMS nonetheless.

What issue 701 gives us is a human Superman but a wise Superman. Here is a character that lives in a world where he must make the right choices; there is wrong and there is right, and although the real world gets so much messier, it doesn’t for Superman and his inner resolve or moral clarity never waivers. Some readers complained that he quoted Thoreau to a person crossing his path–I thought that worked marvelously. Or that out of respect for the law he didn’t enter the drug dealer’s houses but yet he looked in with his Xray vision and set their stashes on fire–yet that was an entertaining and likable scene. A huge complaint concerns the scene in which Superman approaches the elderly man with the heart condition–Superman tells the man to get to a doctor soon. Readers bemoan the fact that Superman didn’t rush the man to the clinic personally, but I would guess that Superman could tell from looking that death wasn’t imminent but that treatment was needed; it also shows that Superman believes the individual has personal responsibility–the man has been warned and now Superman trusts that the man is intelligent enough to take care of the problem.

Here’s the speech that many readers attacked: “…in the end, all we can do is look at where we’re standing and say we will not allow this, here. Over there has to stand for itself, has to speak for itself. Because it’s only when over there becomes here that we can stop this once and for all.”  This bit of comic book moralizing infuriated many a reader, but I found it wholly in line with this incarnation of Superman. Superman is attacking problems here, one at a time and on a personal level. He addresses some passer-by’s in a way that stresses they must become responsible for making the right decisions as well. He’s stressing we must first take care of ourselves and mind our own choices before we look to “correct” the choices of others; on from that, he’s saying that we have to take care of our environment and our community before branching out. Once this way of dealing with situations spreads out and “over there” begins to do the same thing, then in effect “over there” becomes “here” in a way that we are all taking care of ourselves and each other. Do I want this type of message in every comic? No. Do I always buy it or do I find some unrevealed and staggeringly original truth in its vocalization in a Superman comic that I’ve never found elsewhere? No. Do I agree with it on every level and in every way? No. But it works for this comic in this instance.

All in all, I’m excited about JMS’s current arc and look forward to see what comes out of it.

The “Horns” Book Review

Joe Hill is quickly shaping up to be one of the best modern fiction writers of any genre. “20th Century Ghosts” and “Heart Shaped Box” proved him a lock for the best new voice in horror and dark fantasy, and although “Horns” is undeniably another horror rooted work, it’s just one more piece of evidence that Hill is a top-notch writer surpassing any genre limitation.

“Horns” is suspenseful, intriguing, heart-breaking, comedic, scary, thought-provoking, disturbing, vibrant…it’s a breath-taking thrill ride from start to finish, with an ever-layering yet plausible mystery at its core. The characters really drive the story. Ig Parrish and his lost love Merrin Williams are a relatable, realistic, captivating couple. Their romance, its gruesome demise and its nostalgic highlights jump off of the page.

Give “Horns” a read. It’s bound to startle you, pull you in and keep you wondering how it will all turn out until the very end. The ending might cause you to feel angry that certain things don’t work out as you had hoped. But after wrapping it up, think back to the part where Merrin says “I’m away from it and into the treehouse” and think about that “wedding.” I’m being vague, because I don’t want to ruin it, but I think that the Rolling Stones song that’s referenced in the book, “You can’t always get what you want” works out very thematically in the ending. I hate to use a cliche, but I think the ending truly is bitter-sweet upon reflection. Something about it makes sense and is satisfying in its own way, and the more I mentally fill in the blanks, the more I think Ig might have worked out things as best as he possibly could.

After you read “Horns,” if you haven’t checked out “20th Century Ghosts” or “Heart Shaped Box,” do so. “Pop Art” in 20th Century Ghosts is one of the most oddly profound short stories I’ve read in years. If you’re a comic fan, check out “Lock and Key,” the montly series Hill writes for IDW.

Peace.

The Last 2009 List- Honorable Mentions

Movies

There were some great contenders within an inch of the best; “Invictus” was a wonderful film and Morgan Freeman played Nelson Mandela as convincingly as you would have imagined. The only fault for me was there really wasn’t enough of his character in the film– I would’ve liked to have seen Morgan bring Mandela’s inner self out onto the screen, to see where he came from and what drives him. I understand that this picture wasn’t a Mandela biopic meant to encapsulate his whole life– it was about the Rugby Cup, the unification of the country through a shared  (though labored for) passion. All in all, it was a good picture a bit shy of being a great movie.
“Sherlock Holmes” is an excellent action movie; I saw it after I posted my list, and had I caught it first it may have been in consideration– all in all, I think I would have kept my original list though as it was just beaten by the fierce competition this year. Last year it would have made it.
The best blockbuster of the summer was “Star Trek.” Unlike “Transformers 2,” it had smarts, good acting and just-as-good effects. The first Star Trek movie that levels the playing field and works for more than just a core fan base, this one was fun for anyone remotely interested in science fiction or smart action movies.

Then there were just a lot of fun genre movies that wouldn’t make a best of list because they’re understandably not “great” movies, just really fun ones that work for their target audience. There was a trilogy of great, ‘80s style horror movies– the “Friday the 13th” remake was an amped-up and entertaining hour-and-a-half mash-up of the original first 3 F13 movies, trimmed of the fat and void of any pretense, it actually improved on the originals (which let’s face it, weren’t sacred cinema to begin with). Then there was the “Evil Dead” cult-fave director Sam Raimi’s return to form with “Drag Me to Hell.” Raimi’s been mainstream with the “Spider Man” movies the past few years, so it was nice to see he could still deliver the laughs, thrills and B-movie schlock that he does so well in a really fun fright-fest. Last in this batch, there was “Jennifer’s Body.” The writer of “Juno” out of nowhere decided to pen an over-the-top, could-it-be feminist horror movie (well, to a point– we do have a sex-glowing airbrushed-looking Megan Fox prancing around playing the vapid hateful slaughter machine). “Jennifer’s Body” was more fun, intentionally laugh-provoking and exciting than anyone would have ever believed and was the best horror movie of the year.
The two funniest movies this year (high on laughs with no real concern for plot) were “The Hangover” and “Bruno.” Grossing more money than a Nicholas Spark adaptation, “The Hangover” delivered almost non-stop laughs. Not quite as relevant and important as “Bruno,” but more envelope-pushing and more proof of Sacha Boren Cohen’s relentless cajones in exposing hypocrisy and ludicrousness, “Bruno” did things on the big screen that were truly unmentionable (yet funny).

Comics

Only one mainstream work made my list of best comics and graphic novels this year (“Amazing Spider Man”). DC had all the runner-ups, though. “Batman and Robin,” though best in its first few issues when Gary Frank’s art was complimenting Grant Morrison’s prose, every issue has been fun even with the follow-up pencilers. Every Batman book has been a lot of fun this year that Bruce Wayne has been “dead.” JH William III drew an impressive pallet of experimentalism in the core Batwoman story in “Detective Comics,” Tim Drake’s journey around the globe in “Red Robin” was good, the return of a new “Batgirl” was fun (and not even campy). Outside of the Batverse (but still in DC), Gail Simone has hit her stride in what could become her best run on any book with “Secret Six.” Although every Superman book is currently tied up in the “new Krypton” affair, the Geoff Johns written Gary Frank penciled “Secret Origin” is amazing so far. Away from DC, “Boom Studios” produced Mark Waid’s terrific “The Unknown – The Devil Made Flesh,” some creepy horror fun. The CBLDF fundraising books “Liberty Comics” issues 1 and 2 featured every notable artist and writer in some fun, censorship baiting one-offs. Vertigo’s next big hit might by “Sweet Tooth,” which was building to a big moment as the year wrapped up.

Music

There were some great music items that seemed to have been polished and released out of nowhere. The Tom Petty Live Anthology, a whopping 4 discs of remastered, unreleased alternate takes came out for less than 20 bucks, and it contained about 5 hours of excellent rock and roll. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame released (through Time Life) some great DVDs featuring the best speeches, inductions and performances of the past 25 years. Paul McCartney’s 2 disc (and 1 DVD) “Good Evening New York City” was a nice live review. To top it all off, the entire Beatles catalogue was finally remastered and sold out in retail stores across the country at a time when people seem to have stopped buying music in that manner.
As for albums that came close to making the cut (and didn’t get a mention on any of the music lists here this year), Morrissey’s “Years of Refusal” is his best work since The Smiths and was the one album that made it the closest to the cut. “It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore” almost made the singles list but didn’t– there are really 6 or so other songs on the album equally as good though. “The Promise Land,” a song by Mike Dunn and the Kings of New England, was on the singles list until the last minute. It’s the best song off of a promising album by a New England old-school bar band.

That’s it, I’ve said enough about 2009. I’m going to try and get my “Best of the 2000s” lists posted within the week, then that’ll be it for the pop culture commentary for awhile. I’ll be played out on it, moving on to something different.

The Best Graphic Novels and Comics of 2009

10)  RASL  (Cartoon Books)

I almost crossed this excellent series off of the list out of frustration at it’s infrequent release schedule, but had to relinquish out of love for Jeff Smith’s work. Jeff Smith wrote the epic and infinitely important-to-the-field work that is “Bone,” a book that shipped in single black and white issues about 6 times a year for around a decade, selling mostly to adults, which was then repackaged in a graphic novel form that sold to teens, then it was colorized and packaged in small, portable volumes which Scholastic publishing stocked in book stores and school libraries causing it to catch on with kids. So, the book that was meant for all ages and works on multiple levels for them all finally reached it’s wide scope of an audience. Smith returned with “RASL” as his follow up, a book that is meant only for adults and older teens– it’s not gory or offensive, but it’s obvious by some of the content and complexity that this one wasn’t casting the net quite as wide as “Bone.” So it’s a nice change of pace to showcase Smith’s versatility in a heavy science-fiction tale that weaves noir, romance, and flawed characters into a great read unlike anything else on the shelves. This year we got the great, over-sized trade collection that reprints the first 3 issues as well as two new issues to further the story. We’ve been patiently waiting for issue number 6 which was due to ship back in October and has yet to show– but the teaser art for issue 7 is already on Smih’s “Boneville” website. So get these books to us, Jeff—we’re willing to pace ourselves with 4 issues a year if the material is this good, but we at least want those 4 issues to come out relatively on time!

9) Echo (Abstract Studio)

There’s quite a lot of similarity between this pick and the previous. Like “RASL,” this book is the follow-up work that is written, drawn and produced by someone coming off of a long running, industry shaking series (Moore’s was an alternative comic that was all romance, comedy and drama for adults — “Strangers in Paradise”). Moore’s new series also makes the jump to something that  features heavy science-fiction with full, realistic explanations; Moore also throws in a Hitchockian chase in his work with the tale of a woman (Julie Martin) who finds herself wearing a new alloy after it rains down on her when the scientist flying it in  it’s test phase is murdered by her own company. Now Julie has inherited the power of the suit and the memories of the woman murdered while wearing it. Helping her is the deceased woman’s boyfriend and on their trail is both the government-funded research group behind the secret project and a serial killer wearing the other half of the suit. Enough with the plot synopsis– it’s a great story with Moore’s great ear for dialogue and penciling that details vivid, emotion-displaying facial features. The black and white art in both “Echo” and “RASL” are some of the simplest yet most entertaining comic art being produced right now. To gripe Smith a bit more, though, it’s worth mentioning that Terry Moore has been getting “Echo” out every month even though he is the sole driving force in it’s art, story and production as well. So, Jeff, if Terry can do it, why not you? I know it must be difficult and I’m impressed either of you are making such left-of-center and creator-driven projects these days, but…I’m just sayin’…

8)  Amazing Spider Man (Marvel)
This book makes it’s appearance here again this year. It’s the only mainstream work on the list this time around, and it’s unabashedly that; this is full-on, spandexed, brightly colored and perpetually adolescent superhero work. It’s the best example of what that can be now, for teens and adults who maintain their childhood adoration of the characters they grew up with. It’s still coming out 3 times a month, it’s still 2.99 (keep it that way Marvel) and it still features a rotating stable of great writers and artists doing their best work on it. We get jokes, suspense, action, Pete’s Aunt May’s marriage to JJJ’s Dad (?), Pete juggling work, dating and super-heroing, new and old villains and the return of the letter column! This is the best almost-weekly 15-minute escape a nerd can ask for and it’s really the only Marvel book worth checking out right now.

7)  Chew (Image)
This book is purely bizarre and sound ridiculous on paper. It features Tommy Chu, a naturally born cibopathic– which means that when he eats any food he gets mental pictures and sensations of everything that happened in the production of that food, from slaughter or harvest to production and preperation. Tommy gets recruited by the FDA which is the strongest arm of the federal government in an alternate US future. The strongest, because a bird flu has devastated the country, resulting in the outlaw of poultry, resulting in a huge black market and gang-run business of fried chicken dinner shacks and raw poultry sales. It’s a goofy, shocking, funny story by John Layman and the art by Rob Guillory is very reminiscent of old “Ren and Stimpy” cartoons. It also changed my mind about “Image,” since I have mentally castigated Image for being a dumping ground of stylistic-steroid-pumped art and zero story (an image crafted by their early hits like “Spawn” and “Youngblood”). No, with “Chew,” “The Walking Dead” and the “Killing Girl”  mini a couple of years ago, it’s evident that Image has the potential for producing off-the-wall and innovative work.

6) The Illustrated Genesis by R. Crumb
No one could have expected such a faithful and non-satirical adaptation of the book of Genesis to come from R. Crumb. Crumb was a key figure in the underground “comix” scene that pumped satirical, foul, edgy and subversive work out to college kids in head shops and acid-rock concerts in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Yet when Crumb took on the task of adapting one of humankind’s oldest stories he surprised himself by falling in love with the text. He didn’t become a believer, but he rendered the characters and events of this Religious pre-history scripture faithfully to the text, relying most heavily on the KJV of the Bible and Robert Alter’s translation of “The Five Books of Moses.” Reading Crumb’s adaptation brings the narrative out in strong,  gripping fashion. You at times are on the edge of your seat in suspense even though you know where the story is going, and the intricately detailed pictures liven up even the genealogical passages. Of course, reading the story with complete illustration makes this an adult work (the only Biblical book with a parental advisory, probably) and it may highlight the difficulties in holding to a literal understanding of such early biblical works– detailing the two opposing creation stories and both versions of the flood tale of Noah may cause fundamentalists great frustrations. Yet it’s a great read for the rest of us.

5)  Locke and Key  (IDW)
Joe Hill made this list with this series last year for “Welcome to Lovecraft.” That mini was followed with “Head Games” early this year and as the year draws to a close we get the third mini-series detailing the family’s plight in “Crown of Shadows.” Gabriel Rodriguez’ art is beautiful, Hill’s prose is as exciting in this format as it is in novels (“Heart Shaped Box”) and short stories (“20th Century Ghosts”). Get either trade and jump in, but start from the beginning if you can because although all of the mini’s stand on their own they also interlock and tell a much larger and developing story when read together. Plus they keep the same characters (following the Locke family), so it only makes sense to do so if you like this stuff!

4) The Unknown Soldier   (Vertigo/DC)
This one may be Vertigo’s most ambitious and important work ever. It details life in Uganda complete with child soldiers, internal politics, flawed assistance service, civil war, humanitarian drive, potential, tragedy, love, fear, death, disease…it’s dense and full of life bursting from every seam. It’s exciting but not exploitative, sad but not pandering, important but not pretentious. This is deserving of study in school and general awareness raising of the general populace– writer Josh Dysart actually traveled to Uganda to fully immerse himself in it and the artist of the latest arc is an African artist who renders his characters beautifully.

3) The Unwritten  (Vertigo/DC)
“The Unwritten” follows Tom Taylor whose father used him as the basis for “Tommy Taylor,” a boy wizard in a series of classic, best-selling novels read by more than 1/3 or the world population– kind of like a fictional, amped-up “Harry Potter.” Early in the series, Taylor is framed for a series of gruesome murders by some otherworldly villains who are linked to metaphysical “story” creators of some sort. “The Unwritten,” is Mike Carey and Peter Gross’s multi-layered examination of “word as flesh,” as stories that become real simply by being written. It’s a look at fiction becoming reality and it weaves in characters from classic novels, religious texts, fables and myths. We’re less than a year into this fascinating story and we can’t be sure of where it’s going, but every twist along the way thus far has been exciting.

2) Scalped  (Vertigo/DC)
“Scalped” may be the best comic book on the shelves each month. Everyone tries to do noir, it seems like, but Jason Aaron does it right and does it in a fresh, exciting, and wholly American way. “Scalped” follows life on the “rez” as Dashiell Bad Horse goes back to the reservation he fled in rejection. He’s back as an undercover FBI agent, hiding as a cop on Tribal Leader Chief Lincoln Red Crow’s force of crooked cops. Bad Horse’s mother Gina is murdered in the first arc and the mysteries flowing out of that incident propel the story forward and flash it back to a fateful night 20 plus years ago. R.M. Guera’s art is murky and muddy yet perfectly fitting and twistedly pretty. Nothing will end well for anyone in this story, we can be sure of that, but every event is worth looking at in microscopic and sordid detail. Check out all of this series, now available in 5 trade collections (so far), the latest of which is “High Lonesome,” which came out last month, the current arc “The Gnawing” is wrapping up this month and will likely be out in collected form at the first of 2010.

1) Asterios Polyp

David Mazzuchelli crafted the most fulfilling, creative and boundary-pushing graphic novel of the year, one also worth being on any short list of best graphic novels of the 2000s and in the top 25 of all time as well. “Asterios Polyp” is that good– the style and shifting art, mood expansion, thematic structure, brave new ways of telling a tale— these artistic workings are some of the best the genre has ever displayed. The story is simple enough, but it’s also good and tends to get lost in reviews when faced with the amazing art and creative styling’s present here. The story follows Asterios Polyp, a world-renowned architect who has never had any of his critically acclaimed designs actually built– his work always stays in the blueprint and theoretical phases. He’s arrogant, too sure of himself and he’s a smug professor who loves the sound of his own voice. We read as he deals with a crumbled marriage, the end of a career and a journey of self discovery and nostalgic remembrance. It’s a great story that would be good in any format but one that works best as a comic because it pulls out every trick imaginable to show just what the comics medium is capable of. This one’s a beauty to look at, a thrill to read and surely one to own and pull off the shelf at least once a year.

Geek Diatribe

As always, thanks for visiting “Raging Against the Dying Light,” all dozen of you. ( : I have a lot of loose threads in this one, my main articles for November and December are in formation and so now’s the time to spew out what I refer to as a “Geek Diatribe” to touch on all the incomplete facets of interest I write about on this site. This time it’s all light too, no politics or religion!

First off, the 2009 Baseball season is over. I find it a very depressing of an end at that…I’m not a vehement Yankee hater, I have extreme love for the history of the team and readily admit the talents and watchability of most of the current Yank roster, but I always have a bit of anger over the unrestrained budget the team has to work with and the idea that they can “buy’ the championship…and the fact that A-Rod alone earns a higher salary than several combined teams. So, there’s always the hope that they will be shutdown and it will be proven that money can’t suppress the drive to overcome that thrives in the underdog teams; the Phillies would have been a much more satisfying win. But the whole thing got me thinking about the structure of the current season; it’s November, and Baseball is just now wrapping up. It’s cold, grey over much of the country and well on the way to winter. Now, I never thought I’d specify that the season should be shorter since Baseball is really the only sport for me, but the season should be shorter! It’s a spring and summer game, and the now extended season length drags it into competing too heavily with football broadcasts and ticket sales, and the game just doesn’t seem appropriate this time of year for whatever reasons. I say, start it in early spring as is done now, start the post-season in September and have the World Series the first week of October. Anyway, as many people thrive for the play-off season when things heat up, as fun as that can be I prefer two other key baseball phases—the opening game through the first two weeks of the season and the events of and games leading up to July’s all-star game and home-run derby. A lot of this ties in with many of the teams still having a shot, but just as much at factor is the time of the year and the way it perfectly fits with the game. I imagine football fanatics feel the same way about fall and February.

Item two on the geek docket is the best music of the 2000s. I’ve pretty much got the 50 picked out for albums and almost for songs, I just have to properly rank them which requires listening to them and making the call on order. It’s a compulsive geek trait for any type of list like this, but you can’t just arbitrarily throw them together. There’s a distinctive reason why item A is at 17 and item B is at 16…or at least there should be. As I was working on my list I noticed that “Paste” magazine already has their “50 albums of the 2000s” on their site. I really like “Paste” and they’ve turned me on to a lot of good music over the years, but their list was off (in my mind) on several accounts—for one thing, it’s early November, there’s still 2 months of music yet to be released. Related to that, their “Best of ‘09” list isn’t up yet—it seems fairly backward to sum up a decade before the last year of the decade. As to the selections, there’s the obvious nerd-centric private idols that the publication adores and will rank highly and mention continuously even if no one else does as highly—everyone does this, my lists are guilty of it as well. “Paste” is very noticeable for adoring a core 5 bands that can never do wrong, as is Rolling Stone and AMG and it’s interesting because these core 5 never overlap in the same regard between these publications. That’s a very signifying factor that when it comes to art and pop criticism, there is no great science. There may be general critical consensus that something new and groundbreaking is “excellent” but it often differs from group to group and certain styles and personalities latch on to certain sounds. I won’t ruin the article for you, but the #1 album of the decade for “Paste” sums up their stance and personality as a publication, and that’s not a bad thing. I’m pretty sure my “1 choice does the same thing for me, as will RS and AMG’s. Another observation on “Pastes” selections is that they was heavily eschewed towards music made by bands established in the ‘00s, with a few ‘90s bands new work thrown in but very little attention paid to career artists releasing very notable work in the decade. No mention of critically acclaimed and massively entertaining work by Dylan, Young, Springsteen, U2, etc. Jazz, Hip Hop and Blues were almost completely overlooked as well, and although Indie is a major focus for “Paste,” they’re an eclectic publication so I expected more variety. The 2000s, looking at them as a whole, may very well have produced the bulk of music that will stay with me the longest. I was a junior in High school at the beginning of the decade and as it draws to a close I’m a first year grad student working on a Masters. In between there was college, work, marriage. I’ve moved several times and grown a lot, and the music I’ve heard that’s stuck with me from each phase of this decade is formative and memorable. Granted, most of my all time favorite albums were made long before this time, but there’s something to be said for what was new and vibrant amidst the average, waiting just to be found.

On to the next one; I always cap up the year’s best in graphic art and prose– comics and graphic novels—with a top ten list at the end of each year as well. This year has been phenomenal with trend breaking literate work in Graphic Novels- – “Asterios Polyp” by David Mazuchelli, The illustrated book of Genesis by R. Crumb, pretty much the entire Vertigo monthly catalogue, creator owned and controlled titles by Jeff Smith and Terry Moore (“RASL” and “Echo,” respectively) and notable work from indie publishing houses IDW (“Locke and Keye“), Boom Studios (“The Unknown: The Devil Made Flesh“), etc. As far as mainstream work, generally meaning the “big two” (Marvel and DC), it’s become clear that despite cornering 65 percent of the market and being host to millions of loyal fans who refuse to read books published by anyone else, Marvel is far inferior to almost every other publishing company, especially DC. It just hasn’t been Marvel’s year. They sell out to Disney for a big paycheck. They opt for raising the majority of their titles to a higher price point– an entire dollar more, making most of their mainstream titles 3.99, a price DC reserves for special events and “important” stories. Unlike Marvel, when DC charges 3.99 they provide ten additional pages of story as well as better paper and ink quality. Marvel heads (here’s looking at you, Joe Quesada—by the way, stay retired from penciling, your art is atrocious) originally stated that this was the result of a tighter economy and to combat mounting paper costs but later Quesada admitted in an interview that it was really because “this is a business” and they wanted to see how much profit they could make if the cost of the titles continued to go up and sales didn’t dip accordingly. To make matters worse for Marvel, their output hasn’t been good enough to justify such tactics anyway. The only really smart move they’ve done recently is re-tool “Amazing Spider Man” last year, shedding the excess titles, hiring a great staff of rotating writers and artists for it, releasing it thrice monthly and generally making it the best popcorn, fun-for-everyone-over-13 book as possible. They have even (thus far) kept it price-pointed at 2.99 and the stories from it all year have been great escapist fun. Other than that, they’ve consistently dropped the ball. Big tie-in events and mini-series? DC’s “Blackest Night” is far better than Marvel’s “The List” or whatever they’re calling it now (since it’s an ever continuing fall-out tale from last summers “Secret Invasion” which was far inferior to DC’s “Final Crisis” at that). Thor? An Eisner-winning surprisingly smart book by Stracinzski is now moving on without Stracinzki and staying at 3.99 (without the extra ten pages). Then there’s the it-just-won’t-die slew of “Marvel Zombies” mini’s that get worse with each sequel. Or dumb ideas like “Marvel Apes” or “X-Babies.” There’s the never-reveal-the-ending-to-the-mystery compost-heap “Hulk,” which gets ever more ridiculous and stopped being fun half a year ago. They were building up steam with “Uncanny X Men” each issue after 500 then lost it having each issue be part of an asinine tie in to an asinine concept series. The only other worthwhile Marvel title right now is “Fantastic 4,” while DC has been on a run with their mainstream work as well. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank are producing the best Superman mini in years, “Secret Origin,” and their entire run on “Action Comics” was terrific last year. Since Batman’s death, every tie-in Bat title has been excellent., notably, “Batman and Robin,” with Grant Morrison and initially Frank Quietely but “Detective Comics” as well if only for J.H. Williams III’ impressionistic and unconventional art. “Green Lantern” and every “Blackest Night” tie in has been great sci-fi and “Wednesday Comics” was a truly original and successful idea. Of course, “JSA” has fallen off and “JLA” seems to never work, but the point is that much of their mainstream work is great and most of it is approachable and more affordable than their competitions. Most importantly, where DC has it’s “Vertigo” imprint which puts out a lot of great, intelligent adult-geared work and DC utilizes that imprint heavily, Marvel’s “Icon” imprint which allows creator funded work to be released doesn’t get nearly enough emphasis. “Criminal” by Brubaker and Phillips is back again with another miniseries, and it’s great. “Kick Ass,” is always fun whenever Mark Millar bothers to get it out (he’s late on everything lately), but what else does Icon have? And why no funding from Marvel? Why not more emphasis?

Okay, last up (and briefly) is “The Wire.” Harvard recently announced a college course that will utilize “The Wire” in its curriculum. If any show has ever been worthy of this, it’s this one. The smartest, most important and best produced television show of all time. Five seasons, so check them all out. That’s all for now.