Reader Participation: Name a comic that you love that no one ever talks about.
69 Comments | Posted: January 29th, 2009 | Filed under: Reader Participation | Tags: bughouse, steve laffler
For me, it’s Steve Lafler’s Bughouse stories, perfectly constructed downbeat jazz dramas in a word inhabited by insects, full of betrayal, romance, and drugs.
Put yours below.
Tales of the TMNT. Great series that gets next-to-no buzz.
U.S. 1. Nobody I know has ever actually read it, so nobody knows that it’s actually a comedy. One that I would even go so far as to describe as “zany.”
Voltron. It’s not good. But i love it.
ArmageddonQuest. A three volume autobiography of the Antichrist- but he’s a good guy! Done over a 20-year span by a guy named Ronald Russell Roach, published by Sirius a decade ago. You can find it in the quarter bins (and it’s three big graphic novels) at most conventions, despite the nice covers by the artist of Dawn. Just completely off-the-wall stuff. At times, he was drawing this on NAPKINS.
Mister Blank – by Christopher J. Hicks. Awesome design, great sci-fi story, great characters – not marketed well at all by SLG.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Blank
Nobody ever really talks about Bone. I mean, it’s hands-down one of if not the greatest comics accomplishments of all time. You’d think it would merit a lot more critical discussion, seeing as how everybody agrees it’s brilliant and maybe we would like more people to take lessons from it. But the best it gets is other people saying “Bone was fantastic so what does that mean for this other Jeff Smith comic or this other comic with funny animals?”
There was a series I stumbled into during my very very earliest days as a comics-loving youth: Jazz Age Chronicles. Soft-focus, lovingly detailed, noir-ish detective stories. I have two issues and want to eventually get the whole damn set.
Milligan’s Human Target. Not always great, but usually really good. Overshadowed by the immense ass he was (mostly) kicking on X-Force at the time.
Used to love “Roachmill”…haven’t heard any mention of it in years…How about “Fish Police”???
“Scene of the Crime” by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark. I always hoped that the initial mini-series would have been followed by an on-going. Would love to see the characters resurface in Criminal (if Brubaker owns them, that is).
The mention of Thriller in an earlier comment thread reminded me of what great potential that series had in its first 8 issues.
Taiyo Matsumoto’s No.5. People love the hell out of Black and White, but it’s kind of tame compared the No.5. It’s like John Lennon hallucinated the Forever People and drew a comic about them killing each other.
The Heckler.
Paul Chadwick’s Concrete. Not only is his art unbelievably fantastic beyond all imagining–and unfortunately, the latest Dark Horse collections have been both undersized and in black-and-white–but the stories he weaves about this man who is both super- and sub-human are just incredible.
Maybe it’s because he’s writing The Matrix Online now and everybody thinks he’s sold out.
Art D’Ecco. Loved it so so much.
The first two years of Excalibur were so much fun. It was like Monty Python meets the X-men. Repo was off the wall as well.
Jan Strnad and Dennis Fujitake’s Dalgoda. A wonderful, beautifully drawn small-press SF jaunt that just almost started going somewhere when it was cancelled. Available now in a 50 cent box near you.
Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children by Dave Louapre & Dan Sweetman. Cotton Candy Autopsy still sticks with me 20 years later.
Props to The Heckler! I used to have the whole thing and now I don’t – must have lost it in a purge. Damn purges.
For me, it’s Green Lantern: Mosaic. Nobody talks about it cos it was weird, ambitious and totally ignored/retconned pretty much right after the series was cancelled.
My Monkey’s Name Is Jennifer. I love curmudgeonly characters, and this is one of the few monkey (chimpanzee, to be exact) comics that doesn’t bore me to tears. I don’t get the supposed obsession with them.
Beanworld. That may change as Marder’s getting back to work on it, but the number of people who don’t know about this is almost criminal.
Pirate Corp$ by Evan Dorkin. Originally by Eternity and, eventually, reprinted by Slave Labor. Not sure how you’d classify it. Sci-fi adventure meets ska-inspired slackers?
Hey, Mister.
The Jam; Stig’s Inferno; Megaton Man.
Scream , the British horror comic from the same crew that produced 2000ad. Only lasted 15 issues in 1984 before a combination of controversy over its horror content and production strikes at the publisher killed it.
That comic had a huge impact on the nine-year-old me, and even though some of the stories continued in other comics from the publisher, it just wasn’t the same.
Hmm. Atari Force, maybe. I know that Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century didn’t get a lot of attention during its run… just me and Scipio at the Absorbascon, really.
Gary Spencer Millidge’s Strangehaven is an amazing little series that is so overlooked that the author himself has apparently forgotten to put out a new issue for a few years now.
I never meet anyone who likes Jar of Fools as much as I do.
Hall of Best Knowledge by Ray Fenwick
Kris Dresen’s Manya. I initially picked it up because I knew a girl named Manya and wanted to give it to her; I loved it so much I kept it. I don’t know why Ms. Dresen doesn’t have a major graphic novel book contract yet.
I agree for whoever posted Repo. It was nuts. One of my favorites of 2008 (2007?).
The Highwaymen was also one of my favorite comics of the past few years, and it got practically no mention anywhere.
Tezuka’s Adolf was a masterpiece. So was his Buddha.
Hepcats.
Chad, I might be able to take you on for the biggest Jar of Fools fan trophy. Lutes is a fucking genius.
MGK: nobody talks about Bone? Do you have any idea what the colourized trade reprints do in bookstores? It’s uber-popular with the grade school set, so don’t worry about it none.
Now, did adults properly appreciate it when it was B&W and the nineties? No, they likely did not.
Steampunk. Joe Kelly and Chris Bachalo. I loved this series more than I’ve loved any series not named Casanova. STILL waiting for the concluding third of the series. I asked Kelly about it at NYCC last year, he didn’t say it’d never happen, but it seemed like things didn’t look good.
In any event, GODDAMN, I loved this book.
Stray Toasters. Bill Sienkiewicz doing a surreal murder mystery in a dystopian urban environment. It’s absolutely batshit crazy, but the sheer range of art and the ambition of the narrative is still impressive to this day.
More recently I’ve been absolutely loving Pat Mill’s and Olivier Ledroit’s Requiem: Vampire Knight, but given that it’s only available in America through Heavy Metal magazine, I can understand why few people are aware of it. Still, if you enjoyed Mills on early Marshal Law or Nemesis, you really should check this out, it’s got the same kind of crazed inventiveness and fondness for pushing boundaries as those series with far more detailed and lush artwork.
I agree about The Heckler. And used to feel that way about Rocket Raccoon, but now he’s back, so… maybe there’s hope for The Heckler?
Maybe I travel in the wrong circles, but I also rarely hear anything about Alien Legion. When the Big 2 do cosmic stuff, I’m always shocked they don’t have some branch that’s basically ripping this series off, one way or another.
SHATTER. The first digital comicbook. I bought a cheap, beat-up trade paperback of it waaaaay back in the day, when I was maybe 11; I loved the hell out of it. It’s Blade Runner-lite and the plot’s pretty thin, but I still remember it fondly. It had some cool concepts and some snappy lines. Also reinforces the argument that the 1983-1987ish era was a damn fine time for comic books.
I think AiT archived it back in ’06, for the 20th anniversary.
That is all.
[de-lurking]
Majestic by Abnett, Lanning, Googe and others. It’s one of the best Superman stories I’ve read. And it doesn’t even have Superman in it.
Hoshin Engi by Ryu Fujisaki. On the surface it’s a simple battle manga, beneath it’s not much more (except for a few pleasant surprises). The characters are very imaginative and the art is not quite like anything else I’ve seen – in a good way.
The Sound of Drowning
http://www.soundofdrowning.com/
Albuquerque Ben!
The Maxx, definitely. Also, Goblin Lord, which was published in the 90s by a company called Goblin Studios, and I can’t even find so much as a mention of it online now.
Micronauts!
And Devil Dinosaur!
The Lt. Blueberry books by Charlier and Giraud aka Moebius. It’s a French Western, and it is magnificent. Oh, and the Desert Peach, by Donna Barr, is about the Desert Fox’s gay brother, and it is hilarious.
There are a lot of folks who would enjoy Dragon Head if they could be persuaded to read black and white comics from Japan.
Dalgoda
Those Annoying Post Brothers, Savage Henry, and pretty much anything else by the excellent and seemingly forgotten Matt Howarth.
…Bone…?
Bone? “No one ever talks about” Bone?
MGK, you gotta read something other than comic books once in a while, man.
Sleaze Castle. It’s an adorably bizarre interdimensional fantasy story and the art is a treat. The name’s a pity, though – I know it’s a joke based on the story, but it did make me assume that the comic would be bad pr0n, which is why it took me so long to finally read.
Pat Mills and Kevin O’Neill’s Marshal Law: Fear and Loathing gets my vote. It’s Judge Dredd vs Superman, as realised by James Ellroy’s imagination.
Man, I forgot all about The Heckler – loved that series.
I’d say no one talks about how criminal it is that Bernet’s Torpedo is still out of print here…
Again, guys: find me some critical discussion of Bone and we’ll talk. I’m not kidding; I’d genuinely love to see some serious analysis of it. I know that Bone is popular, but there’s a difference between popularity and discussion, which is my point.
Bone flies under the critical radar, quite possibly because it’s just too good to nitpick at – but come on, the fantastic-spiritual heir to Pogo deserves more. That’s all I’m saying.
Peyer & Morales’s “Hourman.” There was a reason Grant Morrison called it DC’s best superhero book of the new millennium and Mark Waid went around comic conventions giving copies away to fans. It was only 25 issues. I would love to have a “Showcase Presents” phonebook reprinting the whole thing!
A great little British 6 issue mini called CLA$$WAR by Rob Williams and Trevor Hairsine.. seek this story out it’s Akira meets Watchmen..
Another vote for Scream.
If you haven’t seen it, go google it, there’s plenty of scans and things of the various issues floating around. Some of its strips absolutely buried themselves in my head in terms of striking imagery and atmosphere and they’re still there today.
Of particular note – Max the Elevator, and this one story where a kid gets stuck in a funfair haunted house. I don’t remember much about that last one, but I do remember the ending being amazingly depressing and ultra-creepy.
I used to read “City of Light, City of Dark” by Avi and Brian Floca when I was younger. I’ve never heard anyone ever talk about it, but I absolutely loved it growing up – I actually wonder how it holds up 16 years later??
MGK, do you mean stuff like this analysis of cartooning pacing in Bone that was posted earlier this week and was linked on Journalista?
I was gonna say Marshal Law, but someone else already did.
So I’ll just mention that Top Shelf is rereleasing *all* of it in a ginormous omnibus this November.
Damn, Kitty beat me to the punch. I don’t know if I have too much to add here, but as for current comics, I like Charlatan Ball and Rocketo. Older stuff (as in, “doesn’t come out anymore”): Vertigo anthologies like Flinch, Gangland, and Weird War Tales; and latter-day Kirby like Captain Victory or Silver Star.
I really liked District X by Daniel Hine, cancelled back in 2006. It’s a pity no one else did.
The early ’60s Charlton film-inspired giant monster comics. Gorgo, Konga, and (especially) Reptisaurus.
Man-Monster, The Djinn, Epicurus The Sage, and Coyote. Ditko’s Shade.
Zander Cannon’s ‘The Replacement God’. Humorous, heartfelt, graphically astonishing, unfinished. One of my favorite unfinished symphonies. I keep hoping Zander does the same as Tim Eldred did w/ ‘Grease Monkey’ & releases it as a Bone-thick hardback in five or six years…
Yeah. And maybe Alan Moore will let Eddie Campbell take over on ‘Big Numbers’. Pffff.
Corporate Ninja
The Quake and Quisp of Capital Comics: The Badger and Nexus by Baron, Rude and a cast of thousands. You know it, Larry!
Somebody already beat me to “Hectic Planet” but I have a few others.
“Vermillion”, from the late, lamented Helix line. I also really love the hell out of “Noble Causes.” One of the guys at my shopped talked me into it a few years ago and it’s a great little gem of a title.
I feel like people have written off Powers, and that’s aggravating to me. But then, so is Powers‘ release schedule.
I’d definitely second Replacement God and Concrete.
Also, let me add Dylan Horrocks’s Hicksville to the list.
Cages – Not without its flaws, but Dave McKean’s art and storytelling are stand-outs.
Kings in Disguise – I bought a cheap copy at a used book store, and loved it. It’s a story about a boy riding the rails during the depression, and it’s stirring.
Voodoo Child: the Illustrated Legend of Jimi Hendrix- It fails as a biography, but Bill Sienkievicz’s artwork is amazing, possibly his best.
Tomb of Dracula – Although it’s a classic, I don’t see many bloggers extolling its virtues. The Colan/ Palmer art is flat-out gorgeous.