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"Joycore" Comics - Recommendations?

  
  

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Simplist
18:23 / 23.03.04
This thread is inspired by Flux's post over in the Comic Book Club thread:

I really wish that the Watchmen would stop being the ambassador to the non-comics world. I don't think it is coincidental that ever since that, the Dark Knight Returns, and the Sandman became the Respectable Face Of Comics/The First Comic We Give To Non Comics Readers general readership of comics has plummeted yearly.

How about something without superheroes? Or, making a compromise, a comic without DEPRESSED superheroes? Something a bit more Joycore would be fantabulous.

This is something I've been mulling over myself lately, having been asked for comic recommendations by a couple of "civilians" and found myself somewhat at a loss for good replies. Because what I'd really like to hand out is something that really captures the sense of joy, elation, and over-the-top craziness that got me into comics in the first place all those years ago, qualities sadly mostly absent in the comparatively morbid canon of commonly recommended "comic books for beginners".

Now, something like Grant's NXM almost qualifies, except that it's just a bit too continuity-heavy; really comprehending everything that's going on (particularly in the final arc) requires at least a passing familiarity with X-history, and I'm loathe to pass along, say, Essential X-Men v.2 as prep material, since IMO that kind of writing is best appreciated by longer-term comic fans who are conditioned to be automatically forgiving of a certain level of cheese and corniness when reading older comics. But non-comic-fans should really be exposed to something a bit more literary before being handed Essentials volumes and the like. But... What the hell do I hand them instead?

Of course the corollary to the above is that I'd love to discover some new, high-quality "Joycore" material myself, and hope to glean some recommendations for myself as well as strategic fan-recruitment suggestions.

For my own initial contributions, two books I've read in the last year come to mind, both Japanese in origin:

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind - End-time epic fantasy/environmental fable. Great characters, exciting, involving, occasionally heartwrenching. I really didn't want it to end.

Uzumaki - Maybe not "joyful" strictly speaking, but definitely partaking of just the kind of manic insanity I had in mind upon starting this thread. Put a big smile on my face with each new manifestation of twisted lunacy.
 
 
Aertho
18:30 / 23.03.04
Smax?
 
 
Tom Coates
18:52 / 23.03.04
I actually thought Grant's run on Justice League was kind of like that - amazing enormous exciting battles that are brightly coloured and look a bit camp but at the same time are treated as being normal. No jokes about the outfits, no self-conscious digs about the way they looked and no self-referential angsty examinations of what it is to be a human. Just epic cosmic battles, characters as archetypes and complex cascading beautiful stories (and art). Silver-age-tastic.
 
 
Aertho
19:03 / 23.03.04
I still say Smax

It's fun, you don't have a lot of bagges with continuity, and it's just one big hilarious romping adventure in fairy-tale-verse about growing up and inevitability.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
19:50 / 23.03.04
Too much family eating.
 
 
Suedey! SHOT FOR MEAT!
20:04 / 23.03.04
Wait, who does Smax?
 
 
■
20:14 / 23.03.04
'Mazing Man! It was just so rubbish, I loved it!
 
 
Haus of Mystery
20:22 / 23.03.04
Jack Staff
THB
Frank
Jack Kirby's fourthworld malarkey - New Gods in particular.
Calvin and Hobbes
Bizarro Comics
 
 
Imaginary Mongoose Solutions
21:25 / 23.03.04
Alan Moore and Zander Cannon do SMAX, yes?
 
 
woodenpidgeon
21:27 / 23.03.04
Duh.... what about Hellboy??
 
 
Aertho
21:37 / 23.03.04
Hellboy's too dark a genre... spills into Spawn-land for the masses.

Smax is a Alan Moore/Zander Cannon concoction. Mixes old, new, time, truth in a big vat of steaming humor. Add a dash of true terror and adult themes, and voila! Dinner is served. Hope everybody likes stew.
 
 
Simplist
22:07 / 23.03.04
I actually think I would include the neo-Kirbyesque Hellboy, come to think of it. It is dark, but an over-the-top funnybook kind of dark. In fact, replace Uzumaki in my initial post with Hellboy--on second thought I probably should've left Uzumaki out, as it really is a bit too dark for what I'm thinking of.
 
 
doyoufeelloved
22:35 / 23.03.04
I don't think there's a magic key that'll get everyone, but I definitely agree with Flux.

I've had excellent luck with Peter David's first 9 issues of SUPERGIRL (with girls and women -- and just FYI, these comics are a lot better than you might think they are) and TRANSMETROPOLITAN (for the cynical types). Both of them are hilariously funny, and while SUPERGIRL does have plenty of superhero trappings, it's not at all concerned with the usual superhero hangups. Well, for a while, anyway. David always runs out of steam eventually.
 
 
Murray Hamhandler
22:42 / 23.03.04
I'll second Frank. Something by Clowes would be good. Probably Caricature. Or Eightball #22. I'd say that one for sure, if I knew that it was widely available. Toss in some Los Bros. Hernandez: Gilbert's Palomar HC or Jaime's upcoming Locas HC. David Greenberger's No More Shaves.

I'm sounding like a Fantagraphics shill here, but they probably do publish some of the best non-superhero entry-level works in comics.
 
 
diz
23:23 / 23.03.04
I've had excellent luck with Peter David's first 9 issues of SUPERGIRL (with girls and women -- and just FYI, these comics are a lot better than you might think they are) and TRANSMETROPOLITAN (for the cynical types).

i think early Transmet works OK, but at some point in the series (New Scum, maybe?), it moves rapidly from joycore to borecore and never returneth again.
 
 
The Falcon
23:25 / 23.03.04
Flex Mentallo = eau du joycore.

Though JLA is also very much so. Morrison; but, even Kelly's (what I read in the library) is pretty sweet.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
23:45 / 23.03.04
Bone!
 
 
doyoufeelloved
01:28 / 24.03.04
i think early Transmet works OK, but at some point in the series (New Scum, maybe?), it moves rapidly from joycore to borecore and never returneth again

This is, sadly, true. But I've found that the first 18 issues are enough to hook people pretty hard.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
01:37 / 24.03.04
Yay Bone. Yay Morrison's JLA.

Yay Madman. I mean, c'mon.
 
 
gergsnickle
02:51 / 24.03.04
I say Smax too. Top Ten also.
 
 
matsya
03:36 / 24.03.04
I'll second Hellboy, Frank and THB. Also Clowes's Caricature.

I'd also try Kyle Baker's stuff - Why I Hate Saturn especially, but You Are Here is good too. Chris Ware's work gets 'em in, but it's not so happy I guess.

m.
 
 
Hieronymus
03:47 / 24.03.04
Mike Carey's My Faith In Frankie is a fun little romp.





Dear god. Did I just say 'romp'?
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
04:48 / 24.03.04
Oh, fuck, Madman of course! And then we have to say Red Rocket 7. He's both fab AND gear, so definitely merits inclusion.
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
05:27 / 24.03.04
Tom Strong! I have a little bit of glee every time I read a new issue of this by Alan Moore, the ones not by him, not so much.

Kyle Baker's Plastic Man is PURE Joycore, as is his Undercover Genie GN.
 
 
diz
05:35 / 24.03.04
comics really need something that's as joycore as the Teen Titans cartoon. has anyone read the Teen Titans Go! comic? is it any good?
 
 
sleazenation
06:02 / 24.03.04
So is this another 'comics wot i like' thread? 'cause I don't really see Clowes work as being fun. Its enjoyable and undoubtedly well crafted but is if fun? Ditto with Transmet, but that's because I felt it got wrapped up in its own excesses at the expense of its narrative.

I guess this thread is as subjective as what the work joycore means.
 
 
Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo
07:44 / 24.03.04
Clowes is about as far from Joycore as it gets. There is just a pervasive anger in his comics that always strikes me as someone who hates both his characters and his audience.

And I have to admit that if I read one more comic about what dorks people who read comics are, I'm going to go to the creator's house and force them to read "Supersnipe" until they pass out.

No more of the gloomcore, it's all about the joycore.
 
 
■
08:37 / 24.03.04
Kyle Baker's run on And Helfer's The Sahdow was soo fun.
 
 
lekvar
08:54 / 24.03.04
With all this talk of Zander Cannon, I'm somewhat surprised no-one's mentioned the incomprable, is as-yet unfinished, The Replacement God. Also worth mentioning is anything graced by the hands of Phil Foglio, such as Girl Genius or Buck Godot.

Strangers in Paradise is also a good one for showing people that comics aren't just for kids, but it can get a bit heavy-handed.
 
 
lekvar
08:56 / 24.03.04
And every man, woman and child should own at least one book by Kyle Baker.
 
 
Sax
08:56 / 24.03.04
Love and Rockets.
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
09:24 / 24.03.04
 
 
sleazenation
10:24 / 24.03.04
 
 
Bed Head
11:18 / 24.03.04
Who gives a flying fuck about non-comic readers? One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that people either get it straightaway, or they don’t and can never be convinced. Some people, poor things, can look at a comic and see that yes, there’s words and pictures but completely fail to see anything potentially interesting about that. Even if you point it out to them, or show them a squillion articles in the style glossies about how cooool comics are. It’s just the way some people are. Y’know, I also know people who never, ever read books, and I don’t strain my brain trying to figure out the perfect novel which would introduce them to the wonderful world of reading. Let them watch telly.

But. Since you’ve actually been asked for recommendations, Simplist, I guess that’s different. Dunno what yr civilians are like, but a stack of Shade always goes down a storm, especially with women. Chicks dig Shade. In fact, chicks dig Milligan: Shade, Enigma, Paradax, Girl, Rogan Gosh (Er, but not Bad Company or The Minx, ugh, no joy there). And yeah, Hewligan, though I wishwishwish some kind soul would collect Sooner Or Later, because that would rock anyone’s socks off.
 
 
■
11:21 / 24.03.04
Ooh, yeah. Flip Bond's Wired World strips. Never got reprinted, did it?
 
  

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