On COMICS! (part 2)

Here we are on part two of me talking about some of my favourite comic series. Part one was yesterday if you didn't see it, you should be able to find it in the archive thingy on the left. I hadn't actually intended on making two posts about it, but after I put together the list of things I wanted to talk about, and considering I had other things I wanted to do that day, I decided to split it up. Today's post will be a bit shorter, but has some really great books. Let's get to it!

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

Written by Grant Morrison with art by Dave McKean. So this book actually came out before the whole 'Batman Arkham game' craze, so it doesn't really have anything to do with those games. In fact, it's a very unique Batman and indeed superhero genre book, as its themes and imagery are much darker and more disturbing than we are used to. Morrison's work is expectedly great, but one of the things that I love about this book is that the story is told almost as much with the art as it is with the words. As you can see from the page above, the art is very abstract, and the text is almost a part of the art itself - each character's text is in a different style. The result is absolutely stunning.

The one issue I have with this book is that the art is so abstract, that sometimes it can be difficult to tell what's going on. There are a couple of characters that appear that I was not super familiar with (being more of a Marvel guy than DC), and I actually had no idea who they were. This had a bit of an effect on the story for me, but I still appreciated the art and words in those parts. The stylized text can also be a bit hard to read in some parts, especially for the Joker. Not to the point where it was completely illegible, but there were some parts that I had to read over a couple of times to actually get what it was saying. Even considering that, I think the impact of the style outweighs the difficulties I had.

DC included a saving grace for me, though. In the edition of the book that I have (the one with the cover above, I know there are a few others), the original script is included. This meant that I could look through the script and actually read what the artist was drawing and named all the characters, so I was able to figure out everything I was unsure of on my first time through. This alleviated my minor frustrations, but I could see how some might not be so forgiving.

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps

Written by Geoff Johns with art by Peter Tomasi and Sterling Gates. So this one might be a little more niche than the others - to enjoy this one you'll have to be either a big fan of DC, or have been into DC's event from several years ago, Blackest Night. What it is is basically a mini-series featuring six stories - one for each colour of the Lantern Corps (which were featured heavily during Blackest Night), giving an introduction to who they are and what they're about. This was perfect for me, since I didn't know much about DC's universe but thought the event sounded cool. So I really enjoyed this mini-series, as the stories were very well-written and -drawn too. Unless you are in a similar position as I was, though, your enjoyment may vary.

Lady Mechanika

Written and drawn by Joe Benitez. This is another one that I wasn't sure about putting on the list because it's another series that's on hiatus, this one only after three issues(!!). But what I've read in the first three issues I really liked, so I just had to include it. It takes place in a steampunk world that contains some like, clockwork cyborg characters that all seem to have some mysterious connection. It does use the tired 'main character has amnesia' trope, but the writing is so smart and the art is so gorgeous that I can overlook it. There are rumors that the series will continue in July, and I really hope it does.

Greek Street

Written by Peter Milligan with art by Davide Gianfelice. So this one I thought had a pretty cool concept: Ancient Greek myths being translated into modern times, taking place in an urban setting. It focuses mainly on the myth of Medea, which translates to a series of murders being investigated by a detective, one of the main characters of the story. The book deals with some...mature themes, as might be suggested by the cover up there, but I found it really interesting how it translated the old Greek stories into modern times, settings, and characters. I found the art got a bit sketchy in some parts, but overall I liked it quite a bit. For me this was another series in which the story fell off a bit as it went, but at the very least Volume 1 was really enjoyable.

Stitches: A Memoir

Written and drawn by David Small. This is a book that my mother actually got for me - I'd never heard of it beforehand. It wasn't something that I would usually be interested in, as I'm into things that are more fantastical and imaginative. This, however, is a retelling of the tragic child childhood of author David Small, who had one of his vocal cords removed at a young age, turning him into a virtual mute. As a result, dialogue is at a premium, and most of the story is told through the art and short text descriptions. I'm definitely glad I got and read it, though, because it really is a riveting story, and a stark and beautiful contrast to what I am used to getting from comic books. If you are wanting something different from the action-packed, superhero type comic books that are so common today, this would be a good place to look.

Saga

Written by Brian K.Vaughan with art by Fiona Staples. This is one of the few books on this list that's actually running right now. I had heard about it before, but had never looked into it. My buddy Matt gave it a strong recommendation, though, and at this point having a pretty good trust in his taste in books, I picked up volume 1. And I friggin' love it. I've heard it described as a space opera, in which a brand new family (the happy couple and their new baby above) are just trying to find a peaceful place to live their life. They come from different sides of a long-running war, though, and both sides see their union as an abomination. So they must try to escape pursuers coming from seemingly all directions as they try to keep their newborn child safe.

The writing in this book is just phenomenal. It's smart and funny, and you just really never know what's going to happen next. The main characters are all amazingly lovable, and the character designs in general are just ridiculous in the best way possible. At first I was a little put off by the art style, which is pretty sketchy, but I quickly grew to love it as I saw how Staples is able to get such incredible emotion out of the characters' faces. I've only read volume one of this ongoing series (volume two in July...hurry please), but I can heartily recommend this book for any comic fan.

Transmetropolitan

Written by Warren Ellis with art by Darick Robertson. Well we've come full circle, haven't we? Started with Warren Ellis, and now we're ending with him. THIS is the book that rivals Watchmen for my favourite of all time. It's just...it's just so GOOD! The story is about a journalist, Spider Jerusalem, in an expansive cyberpunk city. Spider hates the city, though, for various reasons that are best discovered for yourself. The one thing he does believe in though is the truth, which is in short supply in his time. He goes on a quest to uncover the truth and get it out to the people, at ANY cost.

So, I'll just state the obvious here and say that I love the writing. It's Ellis, right? In Transmet he just goes all-out and says whatever the heck his crazy mind wants. As a result, the book is quite vulgar, so if you're not so much about that, Transmet might not be for you. But if you can at least tolerate it, you'll read some amazingly thought-provoking stories that range from hilarious to heart-breaking. The page above that I picked is a great example of what you're in for (click for a bigger, readable version). I'm not sure how, but Ellis manages to make his angry and hate-filled main characters completely lovable.

Robertson's art is also just amazing. His characters are incredibly expressive, and the detail put into the environments is just staggering. In fact you could probably spend as much time exploring the book's art as you do reading the story. I mean, just take a look at the cover I posted above (which is the cover for volume 1), and imagine that sort of detail on every single page. It's just amazing how well the art matches the writing, you can really tell that these guys had a blast making this book.

The only CONCEIVABLE issue I can imagine for Transmet is that it clocks in at 10(!) volumes, making it a bit of an investment to fully read. But it is SO worth it. It is hard for me to explain how much I love this book. I found myself avoiding reading it towards the later volumes because I didn't want it to END. But it did, and it was amazing.

So, that's about it for my list! Of course this isn't a full list of all the great books that I've read, but it's a good sampling of the best, I think. I hope that at least someone enjoyed reading this, and maybe will have found something new to read and enjoy. Alternatively, if anyone has any suggestions for things to read for me, I'd love to hear them. Just hit me up here in the comments or on Facebook.