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What was the last comic or graphic novel you read that didn't come from Marvel or DC...

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09:53 / 22.12.04

... or one of their subsidiaries? What did you think of it? This is the thread to tell us all. The idea is to get people to talk, hopefully at some depth, about some of the other great comics out there comics. Who knows, maybe it will tempt some people to try other comics...

Who wants to go first?

Dan Fish - @Fish1k

10:07 / 22.12.04

Over the past week I read:
1.
Grant/Zeck's 'DAMNED' trade, which is a fine crime story, wrapped up in 100 pages. Zeck's art has a JRJR quality to it in this, which isn't a bad thing. There is an extra 6 page epilogue, which definitely improves the pacing over the original abrupt ending. This is still pretty mainstream, but recommended.

2.
BWS' 'ADASTRA IN AFRICA', beautiful b&w hardcover, which was originally part 3 of X-Men: Lifedeath featuring Storm. As far as I can tell, this is still Storm, but they have renamed her for one of BWS Young Gods characters. There is a mock interview in the back with Adastra, who has a completely different character to the one portrayed in the book. The story is fine enough (maybe not for the cynical), but the pictures are really very pretty indeed. Apparently Marvel rejected it for promoting suicide, which shows a massive misunderstanding of the story in my opinion.

I've also been reading a big stack of 'CRISIS' comics, I'm finding a lot of it to be disappointing though to be honest. Again, there are nice pictures, but stuff like 'Happenstance and Kismet', 'The Real Robin Hood' and 'Insiders' kind of wander about without really saying anything.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

10:50 / 22.12.04

I tried 'Concrete: Think Like a Mountain' but got halfway through and lost interest. I think the lack of actual characters in favour of long essays on the radical green movement might have had something to do with it.

11:28 / 22.12.04

I've been re-reading a lot of Hellboy recently, there's just something about the characters that I love, and that's even wothout considering Mignola's brilliant art. That led me on to picking up some of Eric Powells' "The Goon" where the art is excellent and it makes me laugh, which is always good.
I used to read a lot of Oni stuff like "Hopeless Savages", "Blue Monday" but my local comic shop doesn't stock singles just the TPBs so I'm not really au fait with what their putting out at the moment. I did really like the Ida Red stories by Paul Dini and J. Bone.
Randomly I picked up Hench which was a really nice salute to some of the classic heroes and their creators while also looking at the life of the costumed goon sympathetically.

11:54 / 22.12.04

I've been working my way through the collected Bone which, while utterly beautiful to look at, isn't holding my attention quite as much as I hoped it would; there seems to be a lot of meandering in the middle section. Also, it's just too fucking heavy to be able to hold comfortably for any length of time, especially since I like to read in bed and I can't figure out an acceptable balancing position for it.

I've finally gotten around to picking up Stray Bullets after years of having it on the "To Read". I sped through the first four trades last week, and I'll be tracking down the others as soon as I can. Damn, this is good stuff. Funny, sad, scary, and I love the way that the apparently random jumps through the timeline are sketching in the wider story in such a grippingly unhurried fashion. I'd never noticed how much like David Lapham Paul Pope's art is, either, which seems rather obvious in retrospect.

I guess Murder Me Dead is next on the list once I've caught up on Stray Bullets and have joined the anxious ranks of those waiting months between issues...

Haus of Mystery

13:04 / 22.12.04

The first volume of Tomie by Junjo Ito (of Uzumaki fame), his first major work. Rough around the edges, and poorly translated it might be, but it still packs a punch.
Basically it concerns a mysterious girl (the eponymous Tomie) who may be the reincarnation of a murdered school girl. This Tomie-cypher that turns up tends to make men obsess over then murder her in a viscious cycle. Unkillable and cancerous in her growth this nightmare in flesh seems to draw out the most base desires before turning them sour. It's weird, heady stuff, and less mysoginistic than it perhaps sounds. Men are exposed as weak and often psychotic, but there's no doubt that of the malignancy of the girl-thing. It's not as good as his later works, but the seeds are planted of a singular talent. Recommended if you've read Uzumaki and GYO.

13:33 / 22.12.04

I've been reading far too many comics this last month. I read Clumsy and Be a Man by Jeff Brown yesterday so I can't remember anything further back than that.

An autobiographical recreation of a failed long distance relationship in great indy comix fashion. It's painfully honest and sincere, making it soar at times. James Kochalka and Chris Ware gush about it on the back cover.

Be a Man is a parody of Clumsy. The wounds of that heartbreaking tale were healed by the belly laughter of Brown's precise and scathing self parody.

I am a fan now.

08:57 / 23.12.04

Right, not read some of these, but had read around most of them, so I’m going to try to reply to all the posts… Starting with Mr Fish

I didn’t really read much Crisis when it was being published (For American readers, Crisis was a self-consciously ‘political’ British anthology comic). What few issues I have read, stuff like the Amnisty International issue, have led me to agree with comics critic Roger Sabin that Crisis was ‘worthy, but dull.’ I have heard fond remembrances of stuff like Third World War – would you recommend?

As for Adastra, well BWS’s pre-Raphaelite artwork is gorgeous, but I didn’t really appreciate the New Gods when it was part of his Storyteller anthology and I don’t really think mapping a rejected X-men story onto it is going to be much of an improvement. Coupled to that it is the high cost and production values discouraged me further, I’m afraid.

Can’t recall Damned off the top o my head – have you got anymore details – Alan Grant and Mike Zeck Right?

09:11 / 23.12.04

Our Lady-
Not read much Concrete, but have been impressed by what I’ve read – namely Killer Smile and Fragile Creature and it seems as if, after the original run at least, Chadwick has tightly focused each story on a central theme or premise, sometimes to the exclusion of some of the character development that wouldn’t advance the plot. Killer Smile, for example, is tightly focused on a supporting character, Larry, and the impact of being held hostage has on him… The only thing that really disappointed me was that it was mainly focused on the suspense of the event than to slow, painful lasting legacy of distrust that it leaves in its wake…

– By the by, how much text is involved in Think Like a Mountain? Around the same amount as in Palestine?

Dan Fish - @Fish1k

09:21 / 23.12.04

Damned was Steven Grant (not Alan). It was originally a 4 issue Wildstorm mini, but the trade has lots of extras, including the new end sequence.

The CRISIS issues I bought (recently, second hand) were the final issues, 50-63. It seems that Third World War has fizzled out by this point. The cast is the same as 'Finn', which appeared afterwards in 2000ad, so it is a little too magical and out there for my tastes - the baddies are all space alien newts masquerading as corrupt businessmen. I would have preferred a less sci-fi approach. Sabin sums it up pretty well, story-wise, (excepting a few highlights - I liked Morrison's Bible John, and a couple of the one-offs). Some of the art is great, Manara does a strip based on an unmade Fellini film, with some stunning set pieces (and pretty ladies), but the stories seem to have a tendency to flounder somewhat. Only buy if you see 'em cheap.

I never read the Storyteller series, so was unfamiliar with the concept, but I get the impression that the portrayal of Adastra in this had nothing to do with what was seen in Storyteller, and that very little was changed from the original Storm characterisation. This was a reasonably-priced Ebay purchase, I'd have been put off by the price otherwise too.

13:35 / 23.12.04

DEMO - at the tipping point between indie and mainstream comics, super-powered teen drama for your emo needs. each of the 12 issues is a self-contained weird and sad music video; haven't read all of them yet but what I saw is pretty good. Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan have nailed the depressive and angry atmosphere in which teen social life takes place almost as well as most manga aimed at teenage girls. the increasing reorder numbers [as a recent Pulse report noticed] only comes to show they may have found an audience.

SCURVY DOGS - well-fed in pop-culture in general and video-game culture in particular, Andrew Boyd and Ryan Yount just have plain fun by placing old pirates in modern day situations, like finding a job inside a corporation. I found myself laughing at the most stupid gags. like DEMO, this is on a edge, but where xeroxed comics stop and indie-pro comics start. each issue features several short stories and pin-ups by other guys from Larry Young's posse such as Kieron Dwyer.

both soon to be collected by their publisher AiT/Planetlar, I suppose.

15:46 / 23.12.04

Demo was hit and miss.

Six were terrific.

Six were toss.

Won't be buying a trade.

Becky Cloonan deserves wider recognition.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

18:27 / 23.12.04

I am reading the "Escapist" trades, which are very well intentioned antoholgies showing different stories that would have been printed over the years if the character had really been a comic book character instead of an idea in the Chabon novel. Most of them suffer from the "Modern sensibilities in supposedly old stories" that this historical injection usually gets, but the lineup of creators is strong, and even the more self-conscious stories are entertaining.

I'm also reading the Max Allen Collins Dick Tracy strips that Checker is reprinting, and loving them. The art is very much like Chester Gould's, but Collins writes Dick Tracy as an updated version of the 50's detective that works well for me. The only thing that could make it better is that if the bizarre villains felt a bit more real, as a lot of the time it almost seems like a strain for them to be in the plot they are in.

rabideyemovement

23:59 / 23.12.04

I'm loving the first two paperbacks of "The Walking Dead"... If you haven't seen it yet, check it out...

08:39 / 24.12.04

Phirephox-
While I really enjoyed Mike Mignola’s artwork in stuff like Gotham By Gaslight and the The Jungle Adventure, Hellboy never really appealed to me – I read the short Hellboy interlude in Next Men and a Hellboy collection that left so little impression on me that I can’t actually remember what happened in it. But I have heard good things a BRPD though so I might well give that a whirl. I was very impressed by Oni’s initial line-up but little it has done since has really appealed – 3 days in Europe was a fun enough tale, but could have done with being either a shorter series or an OGN… The current Sam Kieth book is coming off as another re-hash of the ‘Megan’ issues of the MAXX to me –I have heard good things about Greg Rucka’s stuff though, so I should probably check that out…

The Hench link you posted didn’t work by the way…

08:57 / 24.12.04

Elegant Mess-

Yeah I remember reading Bone way back when… Some beautiful artwork in there particularly during the thunderstorm around issue 16… There were also some funny jokes towards the start of the series – but as the story took a turn away from madcap comedy and towards a trite Disneyesque tale of a lost princess I lost interest and stopped reading around issue 25… Having said which, the ability to buy the whole thing in one volume for a far cheaper price than the original issues might well tempt me to buy it to read on a long flight… (Graphic Novels *need* to break into the airport lounge market).

Stray Bullets is so good, it should almost go without saying. It was the one comic that I knew was going to be mentioned on this thread. Doesn’t 2005 mark the 10th anniversary of Stray Bullets 1? (I should probably go and reread these sometime soon) But yeah, shouldn’t we get to meet Harry at some point soon? While Virginia Applejack’s hard, cruel life is compelling, I would like to see where she fits back up with Harry’s gang at some point soon…

11:39 / 24.12.04

Sleaze - BPRD is pretty good. Guy Davies has taken over the art duties, I'm not such a big fan of his work as Mignola's but only due to personal taste, it's solid effective work. The expansion of the focus of the book away from Hellboy to the Bureau as a whole is a good thing in my opinion.
Sorry about that link to Hench, but the book is easily google-able, it's worth checking out.
I have to say Walking Dead is a strong title, though I prefered Adlard's artwork to Moore's.
I liked Demo as well, though sometimes it went a bit too "emo" for my tastes, though I second Miles' comment about Becky Cloonan who's work on Demo was never less than excellent.

18:31 / 24.12.04

Stardust TPB - Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess version with the pics.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

20:11 / 24.12.04

Akira, Stardust was DC.

That's a demerit point and you now owe me a bag of pretzels.

08:34 / 25.12.04

I haven't bought comics in such a long time. I always like to recommend Eddie Campbell's Alec reprints. It's old news, but such good news, like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. I also like to snaffle up any Rick Geary collection I come across.

09:57 / 25.12.04

Titan Books under licence from DC comics. First edition 1998. ISBN 1-84023-052-5

09:59 / 25.12.04

Yes I am an idiot. Merry Christmas.

A

11:19 / 25.12.04

The last non Marvel/DC comic I bought was an issue of Near Myths I randomly stumbled across in a secondhand bookstore for a buck or two. It has the second installment of Grant Morrison's Gideon Stargrave in it, so I was pretty pleased to find it.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

11:54 / 25.12.04

I'm reading "Matrix Comics" Volumes one and two, and am impressed with the art and the variety of stories. Oddly enough, the only dissapointment in Vol. one was the story by Peter Bagge, which had a "plot twist" that I guessed after reading the very first panel.

I am also a big fan of Gloomcookie from SLG, but they have been in the middle of a continued story for what seems like forever, so I can't really recommend it. Unless you want to buy about 5 back issues...

I don't think anyone here is an idiot...but I'm still waiting for my pretzels.

14:21 / 27.12.04

McGyver - You're right - Tomie does sound rather mysogynistic, but I'll keep an eye out for it. My knowledge and reading of Manga is shockingly poor - I've read Paul Gravett's recent book on the form - I've read Barefoot Gen, Domu, Akira, Mai GTO Yukiko's Spinach and a few assorted manga movie adaptions, but not much more. Manga tends to take up roughly the same amount of shelf space as western comics in book shops at the moment, but the row of spines I am presented with when facing such a shel hasn't really tempted me to grab something on a whim. - Furthur recommendations of top Manga would be appreciated...

14:31 / 27.12.04

I skimmed my girlfriend's copy of Clumsy, but it hasn't really compell me to sit down and read it straight through yet - however I have read enough of it to really appreciate Brown's Be a man a top giggle- I guess comedy is an easier read than the well-beaten path of indy emotional exhibitionism...

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

15:38 / 27.12.04

Jasen Lex's The Gypsy Lounge was a fantastic GN, the equivalent of, like, Safe Men. As was O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim. Those were probably the two best indie things I've read lately. Gave Sequential as a gift and that looked gorgeous and awesome, no surprise there. I've also unearthed the Complete Bone and am having similar problems getting through it. Sure, 40 bones for one book, great, but at what cost...at what cost.

Finally bought the last three Calvin and Hobbes books beause they're always remainder at every bookstore on Earth. Stellar.

I have similar misgivings about Demo. A few were great. A few were hell of slight. Most were in between.

The Walking Dead is great, though.

Haus of Mystery

10:17 / 28.12.04

Sleaze: Buy absolutely anything by Taiyo Matsumoto. Black and White, or No.5 being the most readily available. A combination of Moebius and Manga, but totally fresh. I can't recommend it highly enough.

16:44 / 28.12.04

Age of Bronze has been pretty great... waiting for the next one...

A fall of geckos

11:48 / 31.12.04

I've been enjoying Queen and Country by Greg Rucka. It's a spy thriller set in the Special Section of Britain's Ministry of Intelligence. It reminds me of the British thrillers of the 70s and 80s like All the Kings Men, Smiley's People and Edge of Darkness - all questionable morality and quietly unpleasant interdepartmental politics. It's a good, intelligent set of thrillers.

Jake, Colossus of Clout

22:36 / 04.01.05

Nowheresville, by Mark Ricketts, was great. It's this B&W beatnik/ crime story with great dialogue, deep characters and a very immersive atmosphere. Worth the price of admission is an introduction by Brian "that fucking hack" Bendis which basically says that this Ricketts character does everything Bendis does, but much better. And it's true.

I enjoyed Astronauts in Trouble very muchly, also. Just a fun book with good art and crisp storytelling.

Haus of Mystery

23:44 / 04.01.05

Recently bought first 'Walking Dead' trade from Image. Gotta say, despite the saturation of zombies in popular culture, it's great stuff. Lovely, simple idea of 'what if?' with quasi-Steve Parkhouse B+W artwork. First exposure to Robert Kirkman and I'm mildly impressed. Is Invincible any good?

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

18:24 / 07.01.05

UT!

Flaming Carrot is back and all is well!

Balony Gun!!!!

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

06:39 / 08.01.05

Invincible is FANTASTIC.

Lesse. Non DC or Marvel that I've read recently.

Girl Genius is done by Phil and Kaja Foglio and is a superb work of steam-punk romance/humor. The art is nice and cartoonish, the dialogue is witty and humorous, and the plots are just nuts. Its a great job, all in all. The third TPB, "Agatha Heterodyne and the Monster Engine", just came out (the first two being "Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank" and "Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City").

I also spent my Christmas break re-reading Greg Rucka's Queen & Country. A SUPERB spy book, I really can't rave enough about it. I made a post to my blog a while back on it, that I think explains my love for the book.

07:40 / 08.01.05

Stray Toasters - Bill Sienkiewicz. Gorgeous.

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