Comicbooks

[Adam]

I don't suppose anyone else here shares my facination with comicbooks? if so, then I could really use some recommendations. I haven't been really into a monthly series for a couple of years now, and I'd like to find a series or two that I can look forward to. The only thing I'm regularly reading now is The Red Star, which is a cool sort of sci-fi/fantasy story featuring soldiers from a fictitious country resembling the Soviet Union rebelling against their nation. I started picking it up only because I talked to the writer at the Las Vegas Comicon last fall and he talked me into buying the trade paperbacxk collecting the first twelve issues. It's not a bad read, but it only comes out like once every three months.

Somethgin else I've picked up recently is Superman: Red Son, a nifty little "what if" story where baby Kal-El lands in a Soviet collective insead of on the Kent farm, and ends up as Stalin's successor. It does a great job capturing the flavor of the periods portrayed, as well as the flavor of classis superhero comics, in addition to posing some interesting questions about politics and morality.

Uh...rambling now...anyway...if you're reading any monthly books, I'd love to hear about them. I miss walking into the local comic shop on Wednesday to pick up my month's supply of four color goodness.

[viscousmemories]

Sorry, can't really help you. The only series I ever got into was Cherry Poptart, and if it's not erotica then it's bizarro ala Dan Clowes.

[livius drusus]

I'm afraid the Frank Miller Batman graphic novels are as close as I get to familiarity with comic books, and I'm sure they are no news to you. I once wrote a paper (and did an in-class presentation) comparing Batman to the hard-boiled detective tradition of Chandler and Hammett; Miller's work featured prominently. Sorry, Adam.

So, um, are those shrimp in that dude's eyes?

[viscousmemories]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

So, um, are those shrimp in that dude's eyes?

Perhaps. There seems to be some agreement that they are at least crustaceans, anyway. From here:

You have to have a taste for the surreal to enjoy this, as it's deeply strange. Cross David Lynch with a splash of John Waters and a smattering of Russ Meyer, and you're not too far from a basic understanding of what this is going to be like. Where else in comics are you going to find a fish-girl called Tina, a dog with no orifices or a man having an eye infection cured by the insertion of crustaceans into his eye sockets? In fact, where else in any medium are you going to find such things? This is strange but compelling and charming, in its own disturbing sort of way. This book confirms Daniel Clowes as a comics treasure, bringing something special to the world that probably couldn't exist anywhere else.

The graphic novel in question is Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, by Dan Clowes. His Eightball comics are very cool, too, for the same reasons this book is. I highly recommend them both.

[lisarea]

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

The graphic novel in question is Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron, by Dan Clowes. His Eightball comics are very cool, too, for the same reasons this book is. I highly recommend them both.

Everyone must read this book. It's cruel and beautiful and inimitable, and you just plain have to. It's the kind of thing that just comes back to you for no reason all the time, and I really really need Laura the orificeless dog to be a part of our collective cultural memory so I can refer to it carelessly.

And based on simple correlation of my own preferences, if you like Clowes, you might also like this:

Duplex Planet

This guy David Greenberger goes to retirement homes and talks to old people, and part of the project involves just transcribing their stories and answers to simple questions (many of them confused and nonsensical) and illustrating them. It's never really struck me as mean or exploitative, although it's possible it might come across that way to some. (Go to the little stores on the map for examples of the text.)

Comics

Books

Magazine

But I don't have any recommendations for regular serial comics or anything. I just don't have the discipline to remember to keep up with them, I guess.

[Adora]

I used to buy Gaiman's stuff a while ago. But then I got poor and got a bit bored with them. Then I wasn't poor again and decided to finally buy some manga I'd been hanging out for (Saiyuki). Now I'm poor again and can't afford to import them anymore.

I've never been able to get into US comics as much as manga. I'm not as much of a fan of the artstyles, layouts (far too constricted in US comics) or limited genres ("Superheroes" and "Everything else"). So I'm a terrible heathen who thinks the From Hell movie was better than the (comic) book. I didn't mind Hard Boiled though. That was okay.