With the regular Mighty Reviewers out of action for a short time, I though I'd get off the subs bench and chip something in. I hope you like it.
Over the last year or so, and after a lifetime of being a Marvel Zombie, I am down to taking one regular Marvel title, and very shortly, that will be none. Not that I am taking issue with Marvel’s current Editor In Chief (who I think has done a rather excellent, though by no means faultless, turn at the helm) but rather a weariness with the never ending nature of most superhero titles.
However, I still love comics, so have been seeking out other titles that I wouldn’t have previously considered. And the effort has been rather rewarding, as I have read some of the best comics I have read in a long time, that I otherwise never would have encountered.
So here is a wee meander through what’s been catching my attention in 2010.
First up is
Bone: Tall Tales HC written by Jeff Smith and Tom Sniegoski, art by Jeff Smith and published by Cartoon Books.
Anyone who has read my ramblings before knows my enthusiasm for the 1,400 page epic that is Bone by Jeff Smith. Not content with spending 13 years of his life writing and drawing that, Smith also produced two prequel titles. Rose, written by Smith, looked at the early life of Gran’ma Ben, while Stupid, Stupid Rat Tales looked at an early visit to the Valley by another Bone.
Tall Tales is a revisit of Stupid, Stupid Rat Tales. It’s been reprinted, both in hardback and softback format, coloured and the story structure slight re worked.
Tall Tales is four short stories linked together by the reappearance of Smiley Bone sometime after the events of the main Bone series. He recounts a series of improbable stories, the titular “Tall Tales”, to three scouts whilst camping. The stories comprise a short story featuring Fone and Phoney Bone, two new stories featuring Big Johnson Bone and the main Rat Tales story.
The book has been superbly coloured for this publication by Steve Hamaker, who coloured the main series. It’s clean, bright and vibrant, but still keeps the dark shadows of the original where appropriate. It’s a welcome addition to the book shelf, and nicely accompanies the coloured versions of the main book, and is daft, enjoyable fun.
Next is
Essex County TPB, written and drawn by Jeff Lemire, published by Top Shelf. I will admit this one is a tough sell. It’s set in a rural Canadian county and has three interwoven stories that take place over many years, an orphaned boy with a superhero fixation; an elderly ex-hockey player and his estranged brother, and a widowed county nurse.
It’s deceptively simple, but is beautifully plotted and rendered in black and white inks, and deals with that most human of complexities – loss. While this may be a cliché, I genuinely had a lump in my throat by the time I turned the final page.
I don’t want to say much more about this, but this book is my
pick of the year.
I recently completed
Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter HC, adapted and illustrated by Daryn Cooke and published by IDW. Crime noir fans, pick this one up. I thought that James Ellroy’s fiction was hard boiled. This makes it look like a 3 minute egg. This is the first of four adaptations of Stark’s ruthless anti hero. Book two (The Outfit) is on my current reading pile, and three and four are awaited. Bring them on, because this is great.
In this book Parker ruthlessly and efficiently hunts down his former colleagues who double crossed him and left him for dead on a job. Beautifully stark inks, like Parker’s morality, shaded with blues. I found the story as relentless as Parker himself and finished it in almost one sitting.
Another highlight has been the stunning European comic collection
Blacksad written by Juan Diaz Canales with art by Juanjo Guarnido and published by Dark Horse. I have reviewed that elsewhere and won’t repeat that here, but am just mentioning it now for the sake of completeness.
Other notable mentions are
The Playwright by Eddie Cambell and Daren White,
The Nobody by Jeff Lemiere (a modern day Invisible Man retelling) and
Louis: Night Salad by Metaphrog (beautiful, but totally bonkers).
That’s not to say I have given up on the pamphlets altogether. Paul Grist’s bright, colourful and downright funny
Weird World of Jack Staff has never been better. Equally, Jeff Smith is slowly publishing his intriguing sci-fi noir, alternate reality, art thief tale,
RASL which continues to draw me into its bizarre world.
So there we have it. Thanks for looking, and I hope that if you do elect to pick up one or more of these books you’ll enjoy it as much as it did.
*Apologies if these publishers aren’t considered to be indie, but I couldn’t resist the title.
