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"Comics that aren't about straight white men"

 
  

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Axel Lambert
20:52 / 10.08.02
Oops see what you mean Sleaze.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
09:09 / 12.08.02
T-Gina
 
 
moriarty
16:43 / 12.08.02
Below are some of my favourite cartoonists. With a few exceptions, they are all women. I've included links so that you can sample their wares before purchasing. Buying comics blind can be an expensive venture. I'm really glad for this thread myself. It's a nice reminder of what's out there. That, and I never would have found Elizabeth Watasin's wonderful website.

Carol Lay draws little self-contained fables for alternative weekly newspapers. They're really good, and you can read a whole slew of them online at her site. She also contributed a wonderful romance comic satire to the unfortunately out of print Twisted Sisters that I remember fondly.

Is Flux around? Lynda Barry pulls all my strings. I'll admit that her later stuff doesn't really float my boat (which is the reason Flux and I might disagree on her work), but I've found almost all of her early books in used bookstores. They're really wonderful. Her stories centre on the lives of a group of lower-class kids during the 60s. Their childish concerns are intermingled with confusion with the serious things that happen around them. You never see the adults fighting or arguing, you just hear about it second hand through the children. Heartwrenching stuff.

The one artist on this list that I've been meaning to pick up forever, Debbie Drechsler. Her site is for her illustration work, and her subsite at Drawn and Quarterly isn't really happening. Shame. If anyone has tried her work, let me know, please.

How can Le Tigre possibly be wrong? Julie Doucet is great. I don't even know what to say.

"Tired of artificial X-angst? Disappointed by trendy Vertigo lesbians? Concerned that multi-culturalism in comics is being cancelled with half of the Milestone line? Pick up Stuck Rubber Baby. You won't regret it." From a review here for Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse.

Deva's recommendation, Donna Barr, of Desert Peach fame.

Not much at the Action Girl website. You can pick up almost all the back issues at Slave Labor Graphics. If you want to see what kind of work can be found within Action Girl, check out A-Girl Studio, the official website of Elizabeth Watasin. Whole issues of her mini-comics work can be found here. It still scares me how similar my and Haus' tastes in comics are.

For SFD. I completely forgot about Renee French. Surreal horror comics that completely freak me out. The only comic that almost made me throw up was by French. You can find samples here.

Even if most of these cartoonists are considered "alternative" in the comic mainstream, easily the most outside world mainstream press is focussed on their work. I've seen articles on Phoebe Gloeckner and her work in numerous publications, including the New York Times Review of Books. The majority of her semi-autobiographical work centres on Minnie, a young girl trying to make sense of a world she can't control, and the abuse she suffers by people she trusts. A short sample can be found in the gallery section.

Dignifying Science, a comic about women scientists as drawn by women cartoonists. Haven't read it myself, but many of the names listed are quite talented.

OK, I'm stretching things here, but Peanuts by Charles Schulz is not only the greatest comic of all time, but Peppermint Patty kicks ass. Not to mention Marcie, Lucy, and Sally. Oh, hell, add Violet and Patty in there too.

Considered the greatest work in comics (they're wrong, see above), George Herriman's Krazy Kat. George Herriman was believed to be of African descent, though at the time he didn't really promote that facet of his life, a trait he inherited from his parents. Krazy Kat is filled to the brim with dialects and ideas that come from many different cultures, and Krazy hirself is known to be whatever gender strikes hir mood. Easily one of the most vibrant and poetic of comics.

There's obviously many, many more. I would suggest checking out zines, zine fairs and the like. Most of the best, most personal comics I have ever read were stapled by hand. And also go to the library. Almost all comics work is filed together in one place. You'd be surprised. I have seen many of the works listed above in public libraries.
 
 
Shortfatdyke
17:47 / 12.08.02
Well, I'm happy and smug to announce that my first mission to Ebay has been successful - a really good condition copy of The Yattering and Jack (Clive Barker) graphic novel. For £4.20. I know comic marts could be fun, but I don't know how much they'd cost to get into, and I didn't want to spend a fortune in time and money on it. Although for all I know, I could've paid well over the odds anyway (looks for reassurance).

But I wouldn't have even known about it if it hadn't been for this thread, and this section on the board. Am checking out a few of the other bits and bobs recommended here, too - thanks!
 
 
Mr Tricks
18:55 / 12.08.02
has anyone mentioned Pablo's Infernio?

Little Chicano's Journey through Myth... great read...
 
 
sleazenation
21:41 / 12.08.02
SFD - Yay, hope you like it - There is always a danger in comic adaptations from other media that the images won't fit the ones in your head, but i think the style in that is so different that it feels more like your favourite play with a different cast than anything else.

As for cost- - hey with all things a bargin is whatever you are prepared to pay but i guess the yattering and jack must have been about £4-5 ish when it came out in the late 80s early 90s (that was back when a pack of cigarettes was £3 and money was really worth something-- i remember when this was all fields!)
 
 
Cat Chant
19:29 / 13.08.02
Sleaze - I've tried most of the places I know on Ursa < shudder > Prime and they're no use (they just try & sell me Butchy Butch). Have just been motivated to email the lovely folks at Page 45 who sorted me out with Desert Peaches after I got back from Atlanta (coincidentally! Isn't that the greatest shop ever? Patty Leidy works there, but I didn't get to meet her) and retroactively realized that it wasn't normal for comix shops to stock every issue thereof... so maybe they can help.

Am annoyed, after reading the review of Stuck Rubber Baby, that I didn't buy it at the comix fair for a tenner (not much of a bargain, but worth it). Maybe next time. Many thanks, moriarty, I shall start tracking these people down.

Yayy! Fresh blood! (happy dance)
 
 
sleazenation
09:01 / 14.08.02
I guess I've had more luck tracking down underground and similar stuff in shops other than comic shops - second hand bookstores a real good for this - unfortunately you can never guarentee what you will find (with the exception of michael morcock boks) so its probably not the most effective shopping strategy in the world.
 
 
houdini
18:33 / 14.08.02
Personally, I've been enjoying the hell out of Electric Girl by Michael Brennan. There's two elegantly blue-covered trades out for this, about $10 a pop and covering issue #'s 1-4 and 5-8 respectively.

Although the eponymous protagonist does indeed have classic supehero "electric control" powers, this is in no way a superhero book. Instead, it's in the Andi Watson school of elegant cartoon-light storytelling, character pieces and quiet humour. It's very human and has the great bonus of an incredibly irritating invisible gremlin sidekick for our heroine.

Check the website. This is one of the nicest indie books I've seen in a while and totally recommended.
 
 
Shortfatdyke
06:52 / 19.08.02
I read the Clive Barker graphic novel The Yattering and Jack over the weekend and thought it was superb. It seemed to me that the artists were completely into the spirit of the story - or perhaps it was just that their vision of it matched mine completely. I wouldn't mind seeing a few more of this series, but it occurred to me that I would still rather read just the text of a book, at least initially - I love 'seeing' a story as I read it, and I'd prefer it to be my own vision rather than someone else's. That's my writer/frustrated film director thing hoving into view, though. I am interested in From Hell, but I'm wondering if it can tell me any more than what I've already learned from Stephen Knight's book.
 
 
The Natural Way
07:35 / 19.08.02
From Hell isn't about "telling you more". It's not really about solving the Ripper murders. Goes much deeper than that: the intersection between history, myth and magic. Really, SFD, Moore is a very good writer.....get reading.
 
  

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