Favorites of 2010

Chew - Chew started around October 2009, and 2010 was its first full year, and it has been great. The artist and writer both won the Eisner Award, and Harvey Awards, and was nominated for 2 Eagle Awards this year.  Above all, check this book out.  Great concept in Tony Chu, an FDA agent,  who gets psychic impressions from things he eats

Sweets - Artist created, written and illustrated work, Sweets is a crime story that takes place in New Orleans, and written by Kody Chamberlain who now lives in Lafayette but used to live here in New Orleans.  Classic noir feel, and looks and feels like New Orleans.  Many books have tried to get that look, but without being here and living here, it misses some of the nuances.






 
Blackest Night - Blackest Night started in 2009, but finished up in 2010, and with the introduction the of all of the new lantern corps, this series has continued to bring new stories to DC.  In the grand scheme of things, it may have looked just like a super powered zombie story with the Black Lanterns bringing back those that have been dead for years.








Superman: Earth One - I'm not sure I have seen single book get more pre-release press than this book this year, and unfortunately most of it was all wrong. It was billed as a Superman version of Twilight, and it could not be further from that.  I'm generally not a Superman fan, he is usually too powerful and ends up being to boring of a character, but Straczynski did a great job in telling a story of young Clark Kent, struggling with wanting to help his parents, wanting to just be a regular person, or whether to use his powers to help others.


Criminal Vol. 5: The Sinners -  Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips finished up this series this year, and if you are not in any of the superhero or any "metahuman" this series was just about regular people, except for the career criminal of the people of the story.  This book brings back the main character Tracy Lawless trying to solve some mysterious murders. Always well done, always a good story in all of these books.




Parker: The Outfit (Richard Stark's Parker) - I have mentioned this one before, but just wanted to mention it again here, because it is so good.  I love a good noir story whether its in comics, movies, or books, and these stories are based off of a good noir book series, and when you add in the art style of this book and its just a really great book.


 Here are two examples of the art style of the book.
 

Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer Volume 2: The Great Puppet Theater  - This one is just a mention, not an all time favorite for the year, but a good quick book to read that makes to laugh when you think of Pinocchio slaying vampires.  This series is directed at the younger audience like teens, for what it is, it is good, and it has stepped up from the first volume.

Comic Alliances: The Complete Great Comics That Never Happened Holidays Specials

I just had to make sure at least these two pictures got out more.  These are hilarious, and I would kill for these.  Here is the full article.  Comic Alliance - Comics that Never Were



Superman's Cousins No-El and The Dreaded Dreidel of Doom
For all the non-comic book fans out there, Superman's Krpytonian name is Kal-El.

Please go check out the rest of them. Comic Alliance - Comics that Never Were

Origin Story

So I guess its time for the origin story. For the most part, I have only been into comics heavily for the past 5 years.  Specifically, December '05, right after Hurricane Katrina. Before this, I had had comics around, nothing new by any means.  Around '92-'93, I think, my cousin got into comics for a little bit and I read a few of his. This was right around the Death of Superman, and I believe the next Christmas, I was given the Death and Life of Superman which was the novelization of the death of superman, and his return.  I loved that book. I probably read it twice just in the first year.

With my interest in comics rising, my father found me his old collection, and here was when I was introduced to my two favorite characters, still to this day.  The Spirit by Will Eisner, and  The Green Hornet created by Trendle and Striker.  Of course Green Hornet was first meant for the radio back in 1936, and getting his first comic book appearance in 1940. The coincidence here his that The Spirit got his comic book start in 1940 as well. Both very similar characters, but both unique enough in there own right.  The issues seemed been collected over time in the 60s -70s by not only my father but also his brother who was a few years older.  Also collected in here were a few Green Lantern issues from what I recall were from the 70s, and then some Avengers, and a little bit of Marvel stuff thrown around.  Back then I didn't like Green Lantern.  It was just a bit too weird, too much space stuff going on, etc.  And of course now, Hal Jordan is one of my favorite characters around. Back to the early to mid 90s, I started reading some of my dad's collection and was loving it.  As a child of 8-10, I didn't have enough money to buy comics myself so I never really read anything new, so my love for comics actually died shortly after it started. I still liked Superman and Batman, but read very few things for the next decade.

So jump back to August 2005, I had moved out of my parents house for a few years, but I always kept my little collection of comics with me (which mostly included the stuff my dad gave me).  Of course I kept these in a nice plastic box in a closet at my apartment on Canal Blvd in Lakeview, but the hurricane saw fit to floozy that house with 7 feet of water, and like thousands upon thousands of NOLA residents, I lost everything I owned except for the few things I took with me.  Now, after a few months traveling around Tennessee, then to Arkansas, and then to Texas, I was finally back home come late October.

I guess like a number of people, I started to miss my belongings that had been lost, but I noticed that I kept feeling sentimental about the comic books. I don't even remember where I first heard about it, but I heard about this semi-new series called Invincible which was billed as a super hero comic book that really strayed away from the normal super hero themes.  It had a teenage coming into his powers with his father being the protector of Earth, a Superman like character, extremely fast, and strong, etc.   Anyway, December '05, I went to Midtown Comics website and ordered the first volume.  I probably read through it that night, and the next day ordered the next two volumes. The next month, I moved out to Prytania, and lived right above the Creole Creamery.  One day while out there, I took my bike and rode out to Oak Street, where I found More Fun Comics actually open.  I had been there when I was younger, but kind of forgot about it.  Any I walked in and picked up a few issues to get me started again, and had DC, the guy who runs the store, order me volume 1 and 2 of the return of Green Arrow, which were written by Kevin Smith, of Clerks and Mallrats fame.  A few weeks later, I picked up my volumes, started a pull list, and have been showing up there every few weeks ever since. So pretty much five years ago this month, I got addicted to comics.  Through the ups and downs of live, comics are always there, always drawing you in.  Even too this day, I find stuff that I haven't read yet.  Books that are classic to readers who have been following books for years.

Christmas Gifts Ideas for the comic book nerd

Sure, it is late for this kind of thing, except for some of us who still have all but a single gift purchased.  Some of use love the thrill of procrastination.  I'm going to split these up between the comic book nerd that has everything so will be looking at some newer releases, and then maybe the person you want to get into comics.

First up is the newer stuff for the everyday comic book nerd. 

Chew vol 3: Just Desserts written by John Layman with artist Rob Guillory.  Tony Chu, the main character for this series, is a cibopathic FDA agent meaning he has the ability to get a psychic impression of something by eating it.  Being an detective for the government, this quickly turns into him eating dead body parts and getting an impression of what happened to that person as they died.  This particular volume deals with Tony hunting down his ex-partner, Mason Savoy, who is also a cibopath.






The Unwritten Vol 2: Inside Man written by Mike Carey and illustrated by Peter Gross.  Unwritten follows Tom Taylor, who's father wrote books in the same vein as Harry Potter, but with his son as the main character.  Tom has to deal with somewhat celebrity status because the character was so closely based on him. So think if Harry Potter was based off a real kid, just an completely boring kid.  Only later do strange things start happening, and make his followers believe he actually is the character from the book.  Volume 2 follows Tom into prisoner where he was sent after being accused of killing a room full of famous artists.

Richard Stark's Parker: The Outfit adapted from the classic series of books and illustrated by Darwyn Cooke.  This is a sequel to The Hunter which is also a great book, and I suggest both of these books.  Parker is hunting down members of The Outfit to get revenge for messing with his life.  The style of the book has that classic noir style, and Cooke illustrated the book to keep with that them, and it works perfectly for this book.


Now for the classic books or trying to get the new people turned to into a comic book nerd.


Y: The Last Man written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Pia Guerr. Yorick Brown is for all intents and purposes the last surviving male on Earth, save for his pet money Ampersand. This series ended two years ago, and has been out in paper back volumes for awhile, but I have been enjoying the hard back collected editions. Yorick along with his bodyguard Agent 355, has been following Doctor Mann across the country and now across continents.

Pride of Baghdad written by Brian K Vaughan as well.  During the bombings of Baghdad, a group of lines escape the city zoo and this story follows them around the city while giving them human qualities.  Based on a true story of some animals, this like the Y: The Last Man is not a traditional superhero comic book and is easily accessible to non-comic book readers.

 If you like either of the two most widely know superheroes around, then you may like the next three books.  All three are by the team of Jeph Loeb writing and Tim Sale illustrating.  Superman: Man for All Seasons, Batman: Long Halloween, and its sequel Batman: Dark Victory.  Superman is less about him being a superhero, but more about him dealing with the repercussions of being a superhero.  Batman Long Halloween centers around the crime families of Gotham, and the Holiday Killer, and also the origins of Two-Face.  Dark Victory is the follow-up with the crime families struggling after the events of Long Halloween, and then the Hang-Man Killer killing cops throughout the year.  There is classic Batman stories here with Batman being more detective instead of just a fighter.

Sleeper  written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Sead Phillips.  Agent Holden Carver was given superpowers by his boss in the government and then sent into a secret organization as an undercover agent. Only problem is that the only person who knew he was a double agent is now in a coma.  He struggles with not getting caught while also slipping into just accepting his fate as a supervillan as he feels that no one will ever believe him as a double agent.





Finally,  Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer and illustrated by Rags Morales and Michael Bair.  The Superheroes of the DC Universe are in a crisis because family members of heroes are being killed. The JLA come together to try and hunt down the killer. One of the better "DC Crisis" stories, and a definite for and DC fan out there, or any who enjoyed shows like the JLA Unlimited TV Series.