Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Comic Books >

Beyond the Big Two

22:44 / 01.03.06

What do you read that is not from Marvel or DC (or their various imprints)?

I'm pretty new here, but just scanning the front page of this forum, it looks like most of the discussions deal with "52," "Civil War," "Infinite Crisis," or "Ultimate What-have-you". Don't get me wrong. I love me some super-hero comics. But, there's a whole world of comics out there! So, I'm wondering... what else do you read?

And, if you feel like it divulging... where are you from? I'm in Los Angeles.

Glad to be here!

22:47 / 01.03.06

welcome aboard,

there's a tendancy to discuss what's new but do a search or flip through some of the back pages and you'll start to see some of the more obscure titles and topics that get tossed around.

Feel free to jumpstart any of those older conversation.

PS: OAKLAND - BAY AREA - Cali

22:50 / 01.03.06

Gold Digger, from Antarctic Press. One man has done the art and script on the book (and now, the colors too) for almost 15 years.

I'm in Rhode Island.

22:58 / 01.03.06

Thanks for the welcomes! I'm originally from Massachusetts, so nice to see some New England representation.

Mr. Tricks, surely there are some new non-Marvel/DC books to discuss.

Gold Diggers, huh? I've heard about it for years but I've never really known what it's about.

I read The Walking Dead from Image, and Strangers In Paradise from Abstract Studios (which is actually coming to an end!).

23:16 / 01.03.06

Basically, it's the story of a female Indiana Jones type named Gina Diggers (note that this book predates Tomb Raider by a good 4-5 years) and her family, and the adventures they get into.

It's a bit more complicated than that, but after 122 issues (plus assorted minis and one-shots) it'd have to be. Every story was written and drawn by the creator, Fred Perry, who's also animated (by hand) two short cartoons for DVD using the core cast.

23:20 / 01.03.06

Issue 2 of Dylan Horrock's Atlas came out a couple of weeks ago... it has litterally been years since issue one... unfortunately it is a lot less engaging (and a lot thinner) than issue one.

If anyone here hasn't read Horrock's fantastic and engaging fantasy Hicksville then I heartily recommend it... at its centre is a town where comics are the major culture and there is a library for every comic that there has ever been...

00:15 / 02.03.06

I read a lot of random single-shot stuff, like 'Monkey vs Robot' when they slide by, and buy new 'Savage Dragon' comics in bursts of interest, rather than regularly picking up issues. I've made no attempt at disguising my periodic and often inexplicable interest in Harris properties like 'Vampirella' and 'Pantha' and buy a lot of the Ellis-verse type books from Avatar: 'Strange Kiss', 'Strange Killings', and so on. There's some very good books out from IMAGE (what did that stand for, anyway?), many of them involving Kirkman in some way, and the upcoming revisions of various Wildstorm properties are more than likely going to end up bleeding my wallet dry. Adam Warren's supposed to have some new Dirty Pair material coming up.
I buy/read a lot of non-American comics, too. Old Pat Mills stuff holds a strange nostalgia-based fascination, and there's plenty of manga I'm just pleasantly in love with, like 'The World Belongs to Me' (AKA, 'The History of S & M), 'Please Save My Earth', 'Banana Fish' and 'Urusei Yatsura'.
Somebody did a Jason versus Leatherface mini, a bit ago, which was fun.
And I weep for recently deceased super-publishing ventures, where somebody tried to flood the market with a billion books, some really great and some I just couldn't be bothered with. Flooding the market might not be financially sound, but it helps make it likely you'll find at least one interesting book.
You know what was fun, recently? 'Night Mary'. Not exactly sure why it amused me as much as it did, but so it was. IDW was very kind to me, of late.
Does anyone read the nostalgia-eighties books like the recent 'Transformers' or 'Masters of the Universe' stuff? Can you explain the attraction or whether it's really about the nostalgia or something more/else?

01:30 / 02.03.06

G0dland from Image is a great book. I bought the first 6 issues on a lark for the Kirby tribute aspect and fell in love with the story. Really good stuff. I'm hooked for the time being. Pretty sure there's a G0dland thread somewhere around.

Big fan of the newish Conan series from Darkhorse as well. The Dynamiter Red Sonja is a guilty pleasure of mine but it's not as good as Conan IMO.

Just ordered the first 3 issues of Fear Agent from Image which looks interesting.

I'm in Memphis, TN (or da Dirty South if you prefer).

08:21 / 02.03.06

So, how many people have been reading the graphic novels published by Pantheon/Jonathan Cape? They've creamed off some of the most interesting non-Marvel & DC books out there...

the credible hulk

01:37 / 03.03.06

There aren't really a huge number of comics I read outside of the "big 2" (especially if we're considering Vertigo and Wildstorm as a part of DC), but I have found a few really enjoyable titles since I've started reading comics again in the last year or so.

I, like quite a few others, absolutely adore Image's Walking Dead. I've been a sucker for zombie movies and post-apocalyptic fiction my entire life, so coming across a well-written monthly series like that is a big deal for me. I love the way Kirkman writes, and the fact that the cast seems to shuffle around a lot, that we're seeing a semi-regular addition and subtraction of new elements to the basic survival theme.

While on Image Comics, I loved Millar's Wanted series, Grounded, and I've just started reading Girls. When I first got into comics as a kid, there wasn't much at Image that I liked, and I was really pleasantly surprised with a lot of the stuff they've been publishing recently.

If we're considering Wildstorm and Vertigo to be non-DC, then there's a lot more I could talk about, as these two imprints are home to many of my personal favorites. I ADORE Planetary. I'm hoping they manage to get the last few issues out reasonably soon. I've been reading Y: The Last Man, The various volumes of the Authority, the new Captain Atom series, Preacher, Loveless, Invisibles, Lucifer, etc..

I spent the last decade not reading comics, so I've been doing a lot of catching up these days, and my horizons have been pretty seriously broadened.

PS: I'm new too. Southern Ontario, Canada.

05:10 / 03.03.06

Some titles I like/love are:
Scott Pilgrim
Paul Pope's THB
Street Angel
Crickets

(and I make one too)

I too am from the dirty south: Louisiana via Alabama, but I just moved to Portland OR.

07:19 / 03.03.06

And one day we will eventually see THB collectedin some form...

I've got to say that I'm quite disappointed in how unadventureous many people who would identify themselves as comic fans actually are... there are many fantastic comics tacking a diverse range of forms and most 'comic fans' seem rather less than interested in exploring them...

Perhaps this unfair, perhaps this is largely a problem with the paucity of many comic shops however as an ever increasing range of graphic novels are being stocked in book shops lack of access is becoming less and less of an excuse...

Or do comic fans just not look in books shops for graphic novels...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

07:44 / 03.03.06

I think a lot of it is also to do with the crossover on the board- I'm guessing the vast majority of comic fans on Barbelith read at least a few of the big names (there's a reason they're all so famous, and it's because a lot of people read them), and because they're all reading them at the same time they're easy to discuss. Once you get away from the broad-spectrum appeal, there's probably a lot more variety.

I think what I'm trying to say is that I imagine a lot of 'lithers DO love non Marvel/DC comics- just not necessarily the same ones.

I'm currently enjoying, among others, Sea Of Red (vampire pirates!) but don't seem to be seeing a great deal about it anywhere (not just on here). I don't know how many it sells, but it's got to be a damn sight less than, say, Astonishing X-Men, meaning that if I bring it up there will almost certainly be far fewer people prepared to discuss it.

07:54 / 03.03.06

Oooooh, that reminds me Stoatie - have you read Steve Yowell's recent pirate strip from 2000AD (also collected as a graphic novel) - the artwork is beautiful (and B&W, as best fits Yowell's work...) I think you might like it...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

08:20 / 03.03.06

That sounds truly awesome. I may have to check it out. Cheers sleaze!

10:11 / 03.03.06

I think it's called Red Tide or something similar...

Coming back to the topic... I don't wholly buy the notion that the lack of discussion of non-DC/Marvel comics is entirely down to frequency of publication...

10:11 / 03.03.06

I think it's called Red Tide or something similar...

Coming back to the topic... I don't wholly buy the notion that the lack of discussion of non-DC/Marvel comics is entirely down to frequency of publication...

11:42 / 03.03.06

Doubtful... GD is more or less monthly.

Red Star, OTOH....

My Mom Thinks I'm Cool

17:36 / 03.03.06

I'd say I don't pay any attention whatsoever to who the publisher is: I just try to follow certain writers (ellis, ennis, morrison, moore, miller...) and then grab other stuff that looks interesting. I'll second both Walking Dead, which is sweet, and Gold Digger which is about much more than archeology...like leprechauns in power armor, for instance. Sadly GD only seems to show up in the shop about every fifth issue so I have trouble following the series - a problem which could probably be corrected if I stayed in any one location long enough to justify a subscription box.

Does anyone read the nostalgia-eighties books like the recent 'Transformers' or 'Masters of the Universe' stuff? Can you explain the attraction or whether it's really about the nostalgia or something more/else?

I got all the Battle of the Planets (G Force)...having never seen the original show (no channels when I was a kid, sob! never saw transformers, gi joe, he-man...) anyway, because I liked both the art and the writing. I'd also reccomend the Speed Racer shorts if you can find them in the back issues, drawn by (I think) Tommy Yune? And right now Street Fighter 2 rocks. What is all this stuff, Top Cow maybe? Not sure...like I said, don't really care who publishes, just what the comic is.

Ninja High School at Antarctic Press is also pretty good though the art is (to me) inferior to Gold Digger...I also liked Night Mary (kind of what The Cell should have been and with awesome art...)

Damn, I'm gonna have to go through my stuff at home and see what's from where.

17:59 / 03.03.06

You can subscribe to GD (or order individual issues) from the AP site.

(Yes, I'm shilling for them

)

19:01 / 03.03.06

Comics that I have read recently, or am currently reading, that are not from Marvel or DC, and are very good:

Akira by Katsuhiro Omoto

A History Of Violence by John Wagner and Vince Locke

Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Boy On Earth by Chris Ware

David Boring by Daniel Clowes

120, Rue De La Gare by Leo Malet and Jacques Tardi

City Of Glass by Paul Auster, David Mazzucchelli, Paul
Karasik, Art Spiegelman and Bob Callahan

Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard

Hellboy by Mike Mignola

Appleseed by Masamune Shirow

Arzach by Moebius

Cerebus by Dave Sim and Gerhard

Escapo by Paul Pope

All in the last month or so. I love libraries.

19:14 / 03.03.06

Janus, I'd like to suggest that you try not to post lists. They're boring, and, frankly, I'd actually like to hear what you think of the books you're reading.

20:17 / 03.03.06

I know, my bad. I was planning on writing comments, but then things came up and I decided to just post the list (made two mistakes, too - should have included Gerhard as a creator of Cerebus, and A History Of Violence was actually published by DC).

I'm sorry, I'll get a proper post up later.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

21:25 / 03.03.06

sleaze- I wasn't talking about frequency of publication so much as a broader range of subject matter. The majority of comics readers, I'd venture to guess, especially on Barbelith, are likely to read at least some superhero stuff, therefore the likelihood of people reading the same stuff is higher. The amount of people reading comics on, say, epilepsy or Kosovo is probably smaller, therefore the likelihood of people all having read the same comic is smaller. We do have many threads on independent comics- many of them sink, not because of the quality of the comics, but because they appeal to a tighter demographic.

To draw an analogy (and deliberately not use comics) I can, in real life, always find someone to argue with about Star Wars, whether they're a movie fan, a science fiction fan or not. If I start a conversation about Stalker, say, I probably won't get as many takers. And if someone else starts a conversation about Beaches, I'll have nary a clue what they're on about.

21:57 / 03.03.06

I'm sorry, I'll get a proper post up later.

Hey, man, the fact that you can take take constructive criticism is bloody brilliant. We could do with a lot more posters like you.

Welcome to the board.

22:26 / 03.03.06

I suspect that frequency of publication theory is fairly accurate.

I tend to pick up my independants in collect form: Age of Bronze, Berlin, Jar of Fools & anything Joe Sacco. The lag time between reading them and getting around to posting about them just tends to let them fade away. Also on a personal note I don't find myself as moved to say much about them. Outside of THEY'RE GREAT & you should read them.

Meanwhile the "rush" of a lunch break read on wednesday makes it rather easy to post about it later that afternoon or a couple of days into that end of the week. Also, posts about AGE of Bronze book 1 might well get me to re-read that book or might have me just skimming over that thread.

So, is street angel really that good? I flipped though the occasional issue and have seen the TPB but haven't quite bothered to pick it up. Same with DEMO.

22:31 / 03.03.06

STREET ANGEL is really that good. I picked up the trade at NYCC this weekend and was blown away by how fucking great Jim Rugg's art was -- and it's damn funny, too, in that cute "ironical" way that a lot of things are funny these days, except this shit completely pulls it off 100%.

Other non-Big Two stuff I adore: SCOTT PILGRIM, ATLAS, TALES DESIGNED TO THRIZZLE, GODLAND, BERLIN.

22:49 / 03.03.06

Thanks for all the replies, everyone!

I've recently started reading Eightball and Stray Bullets, too. I've been really taken with them, Eightball in particular. Does anyone know when the next issue comes out?

The why's as to the lack of discussions on smaller press stuff is interesting. I can see what's being said about the lesser number of readers will naturally result in a smaller percentage of online posters who might have picked it up. So then why the smaller number of readers?

As someone said, the lack of discussion doesn't reflect on a lack of quality. Just on a lack of getting to people who post on boards like this.

00:18 / 04.03.06

I was into Strangers In Paradise when it first came out (man, that was about 9 years ago! probably a bit more now that I think about it) and read it for several years....after a while I felt like it was the same soap opera situations being played out over and over, and lost interest. (the lead 3 characters' romantic triangle, a few significant others, and the blonde's past as an assassin)

I really enjoy Greg Rucka's real-world-espionage series QUEEN AND COUNTRY, but it hasn't come out in quite a while. The two 3-issue miniseries about Q&C supporting cast are decent but not quite as much fun as the regular book, which is due to return in maybe 6 months or so, I think, as Rucka is occupied with lots of DC writing and writing a Q&C novel, as well as Perfect Dark (video game) novel.

I strongly recommend the highly entertaining ACTION PHILOSOPHERS! from Evil Twin Comics (a great name for a comic company if I ever heard one). Fun little historical vignettes about great philosophers throughout history, with silly commentary thrown in. Cleverly written and well-drawn in a cartoony style...I guess it's similar to Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe, although I've only seen bits of that series.

Invincible by Robert Kirkman (over at Image) is well-done superhero fun.

Love THB (all together now) "when it comes out."

00:19 / 04.03.06

Is there a collected ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL volume coming out, prompted by the movie? I've seen a few pages of it here and there in Clowes anthologies but haven't seen a book of just ART SCHOOL.

01:39 / 04.03.06

>> I'm pretty new here, but just scanning the front page of this forum, it looks like most of the discussions deal with "52," "Civil War," "Infinite Crisis," or "Ultimate What-have-you".

It's funny....I think this is partly just a product of the time at which you showed up. Had you first come here say, 1 year ago, the top threads would have been Promethea, We3, Powers, Tom Strong, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (and Ultimates as well, I imagine); books more of that ilk...not that it was all Moore & Morrison, but it was a bit less 'mainstream super-hero-y' at the time.

I think the current top thread crop is because DC is doing some dynamic (or at least 'big event') stuff lately that's generating a lot of interest (whether people like it or not is another question). When Morrison was writing X-Men, the boards were aflutter with speculation and discussion of every single issue that came out. Each issue ended up with a 9-page thread or something like that. I'm trying to think of what the comics landscape of this board looked like about a year ago and I'm having trouble coming up with more than the above.

02:11 / 04.03.06

ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL is, IIRC, just a few pages long -- the movie's pretty much entirely original as a story. All the ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL stuff (there's not a lot) is collected in TWENTIETH CENTURY EIGHTBALL, I think. But I could be wrong.

15:55 / 04.03.06

Well I've always been attracted to post apocalyptica - hence my column that starts in the next issue of The End Is Nigh Magazine - so chalk me up as another Walking Dead reader.

Also from !mage I've been following Rex Mundi with keen interest and despite the recent snags and delays I'm still following it.

Not quiet in the spirit of the question but I've recently found myself only reading a couple of D.C.'s superhero books but a lot more of their other titles like Jonah Hex, Loveless, Fables, Y the last man, Exterminators and so on.

And I may not have mentioned this but 2000 A.D., The Megazine, Extreme Edition, and other fine products from the House of Tharg as well.

Red Seas is the story you're looking for, by the way. Red Tide was John Smith and Colin MacNeils first collaboration on Devlin Waugh.