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You're quite right, Kooks. I was pushed for time. Looking back, I note that one of my uppermost things was that none of them involved superheroes in particular. I think, in fact, that in almost all cases superheroes are compromised because somebody from the outside world may recognise Superman and Batman, say, but throw MArtian Manhunter or Azrael into the mix and you already need a reference guide; the story is paralysed by the assumption that the reader is familiar first with the universe and second with the conventions of the superhero comic. The Giffen/deMattheis JLA is probably slightly exempt from this because the characters are all sufficiently second-string to appear pretty generic and because its levity and tone kept it separate from most of the rest of the "DC Universe" at the time.
So...
Serial - Optic Nerve, or Action Girl. Would suggest Dork, although some of that is a bit too caught up in ED's love of comics.
Optic Nerve is an irregular publication by Adrian Tomine, which describes minor incidents in minor lives in a flat, undemonstrative style, with blackj and white images. On one level, this attracts because it has similarities with the modern short story style but expressed through a highly formal grid structure. Its stories are largely self-contained, and as such require no continuity knowledge, and revolve largely around people interacting with each other. Basically, it's a fair way away from "touch my tits with your claw".
Action Girl is a highly irregular, black and white, and by now probably bargain binned, anthology comic edited by Sarah Dyer, with a group of regular contributors and guests. With the intention of creating a comic by and primarily for women, Dyer's eclectic selection was tied together by the recurring character of Action Girl, a school-age gymnast who fights crime in her spare time, and also points out the value of thrifting over shoplifting, getting involved in lovcal communities, handmade clothes and lots of good stuff for an audience of young female comic readers that sadly simply does not exist. I recommend it precisely because of its anthology format - from knowing "superhero"-ish lampoons to personal memoir to what are in effect newstrips, it provides a non-exclusive tour of different ways to approach comics as a medium. Also features lovely lovely Elizabeth Watashin, whose characters are clean, simple, expressive and generally great.
Graphic Novel - Blue Monday, the Kids are All Right.
More black and white, and another female creator, writer-artist Chyna Clugston-Major, former holder of the WWF Intercontinental and Women's championship. This tale is one of series of collections of limited series portraying the adventures of a group of schoolkids in a sort of undefined early 90s American school, where Britpop rules and mod is always in fashion. In effect a tour of the creator's youthful cultural obsessions, Blue Monday charms with an open unaffected drawing style with a noticeable Manga influence (big eyes, pointy noses) and an amiable cast of teenagers dealng with problems like trying to get Adam Ant tickets at the last minute or falling in love with their impeccably mod English teacher.
Quarter Bin -
Somebody's already done The Giffen/DeMattheis JLA, and there are people better equipped than me to do Doom Patrol. Skreemer I am no longer sure about, so...
Shade, the Changing Man - Peter Miligan, currently writing the highly-regarded X-Force, cut his American teeth on this, his first long-running strip. Beginning with the hero, a radical revamp of a forgotten 70s superhero (and yes, fatbeards, I know he was in the Suicide Squad in the 80s. Shut up) arriving in spirit to possess the body of a convicted murderer and attempt to save America from a bubbling wave of psychosis, Shade begins as an examination of the neuroses of America - the Kennedy Assassination, the failure of the Love Decade, Hollywood and so on, then broadened and deepened into an exploration of love, death, madness and dislocation. Almost impossible to pin down, individual episodes of Shade remain entertaining regardless of context, and along with Milligan's height-of-his-powers script, aphoristic and surreal without ever losing emotional contact with the characters, however loathsome they become, the artwork is provided by such worthies as Bachalo, Richard Case, Phillip Bond and Glynn Dillon, making it possibly the best-looking long-running series ever produced by Vertigo. Noticably better and more intelligent than the Invisibles. |
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