Hellboy
So last week I asked ‘Rama readers to recommend me a good comic to pick up. I read through your recommendations and chatted with my local comic shop guy, and ended up with Hellboy: The Wild Hunt #1. Partly because it was a #1 so I figured a good jumping-on place, and partly because I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the two Hellboy movies and figured I’d like the comics.
And yes, I’m hooked. I likes. I like the big guy’s attitude and the tone and the Irish mythology—I studied it some when I was an undergrad, oh, a million years ago, so names like Tuatha de Danaan get me excited far more than they do most people.
But this and some of the discussions on this blog have got me thinking about what makes a comic fan.
None of us read everything that comes out each week, I don’t think. That’d be impossible. So we all make value judgments on what will appeal to us. Comics aren’t a genre, they’re a medium, and we all have different things we love about it.
The books I love run the gamut from Nextwave to Local, from Scalped to Sandman. There are certain writers and artists that I love (shut up, guys) and will nearly always buy what they put out. For instance, Neil Gaiman on Batman? I’m there. Also read Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo’s Joker book, though I don’t usually read superheroes much.
I hear all the time, from friends and commenters, that I’m not a “real” comics fan because I don’t read this book or that book. Barb took grief in a post below because she admitted to being a fan of women in comics yet not reading She-Hulk.
Now, I’m not going to justify myself to you. Matt Brady and Troy Brownfield have seen fit to ask me to join this blog, and that means they have confidence in both my writing and my comic-fan cred. (Though I’ve been tempted to tattoo “nrrd grrl” across my knuckles or inside my lower lip for ages now.)
I read the books I read on my limited budget because they’re what appeals to me. I tradewait several books that are good, because I’m broke and because I’m fairly sure that Fables will keep existing whether or not I buy it each month.
I don’t expect you to read exactly the same books as I do, though I’ll continue to recommend the ones that I love because I think they are great books.
However, since my first “What should I read” post resulted in me buying and liking something that I wouldn’t have otherwise, I’m thinking about making this a weekly feature. Maybe on Mondays? What do you think? Are you up for giving me pitches on a weekly basis for the books you think I should buy? I’ll try to narrow the field a little bit when I can, by mentioning things that might interest me. And in each week’s I’ll give you a bit of a rundown on the previous week, if I took your suggestion, and what I thought.
Sound like fun?
December 9th, 2008 at 11:18 am
“I hear all the time, from friends and commenters, that I’m not a “real” comics fan because I don’t read this book or that book. Barb took grief in a post below because she admitted to being a fan of women in comics yet not reading She-Hulk.”
No…she took “grief” because she said she was not aware of the book existing, due to the fact she’s usually automatically disinterested in titles where females leads are based off of male characters (which I can understand). That’s why she took flak from posters, not because,”[shes a] fan of women in comics yet not reading She-Hulk.”
December 9th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I think this would be a great idea for a column.
This week I would recommend:
Booster Gold (which is funny),
Secret Six (ditto, but in a different way),
Big Hero Six (I must like comics with 6 in the title, but I am hoping for giant monster action), and
Gold Digger #101, which I hope is coming out this week; it is funny, full of ’80’s toy and cartoon and D&D references, and occassionally heart-warming.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Almost forgot…
I recommend:
Marvel’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz, looks very cute, Skottie Young’s pencils look brilliant.
Vertigo’s Young Liars (completely uncomfortable-gives me horrible anxiety while reading it, but still is oddly GREATLY enjoyable at the same time)
…but what I can’t wait for is …
Phonogram 2 Singles Club!!!!!!!!
I loved the first series, and think I’ll enjoy “the done in one issue stories” take even more in this mini. The front page has a nice preview of it…I adore it, I feel like the comic was targeted at me…music, dancing, and magic :), my favorite obsessions. If you get one comic this month, buy this, you will not regret it.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Great feature Sarah!!
I’m a huge Fables trade nut too (if I’m interpreting what you said right, lol).
The book I can’t recommend enough right now is Jay Faerber’s Dynamo 5. It is a superhero book, and taking it at only that it’s an average book. The main undercurrent is about family though. The Five are all the bastard children of this world’s Superman figure, each with one of their father’s superpowers. The best issues of the series haven’t been the superhero action issues, but the interaction with the character’s families and each other.
December 9th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Incredible Hercules. It doesn’t matter what your taste is like, you have to try this book out. Any issue, you can read any one issue even if it’s in the middle of a storyline, and I guarantee you’ll still enjoy it (hell, the recap pages alone are priceless.)
December 9th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Ok, here’s my pull list for tomorrow, so you know what I’m already buyin’:
DMZ (duh)
Phonogram 2 (I have been convinced!)
And I want detailed recommendations!! Give me reasons for your pitch. Bonus points if it’s reasons why I will like it, not why everyone will like it.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Two books that will be on my pull list tomorrow that I am most looking forward to are:
Courtney Crumrin and the Prince of Nowhere (Oni Press)
Terry Moore’s Echo No. 8 (Abstract Studios)
I very much enjoy Ted Naifeh’s work, so I typically will buy just about any work he puts out. But his Courtney Crumrin projects are definitely my favorites. Courtney is an extremely interesting character and I like the environment Ted has created for the ’series’. ( if you don’t happen to be familiar with the Courtney Crumrin ’series’, you can find more info on Ted Naifeh’s website - http://www.tednaifeh.com )
As for Echo, if you’ve ever read any of Terry Moore’s work, then you know how good it is. If you haven’t, then Echo is definitely a great series to check out. They just published a trade that collected the first five or six issues of the series, so you could grab that and get in right on the ground floor. ( for more info on Echo you can check out the wikipedia entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_(comic_book) )
December 10th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
From our vaults, I’d recommend J. Michael Straczynski and Gary Frank’s Midnight Nation. Non-superhero, smart comic story-telling with all 12 issues collected in a trade. The best recommendation is that my wife (a firm non-comic reader) and the ladies of her book club recently read it and really enjoyed it.
I also highly recommend Greg Rucka’s Queen & Country from Oni Press if you haven’t already read it. Incredibly realistic espionage intrigue and three dimensional characters framed in events inspired by the real world.
Filip Sablik
Top Cow Productions, Inc.
Read a free issue of Witchblade at http://www.topcow.com/witchblade
December 19th, 2008 at 1:02 am
Don’t know if you’ve read Fray yet…it’s not new per se, but Whedon is lovable.