The Year in Comics
Part One of Two
Let’s talk about comics. Specifically ones I bought this year.
Love and Rockets: The First Fifty, Los Bros Hernandez
Lavish(and lavishly designed) box sets get a lot of play in other forms of media, but comics is really no different. Especially in the modern day. A lot of people who love comics also love preservation.
Love and Rockets is an incredible comic. It’s also a difficult to describe comic, but the best stories are always hard to describe. You have to experience them for yourself. Now this set retailing at $400(But never pay retail.) isn’t what one would call “entry level” but every penny spent is visible in this set.
I also love facsimile reprints. Every issue of these first fifty issues includes reprinting of the ads, the letters pages, everything that was in the issues when they were originally printed.
The Art of Peter Bergting
This one was, essentially, a blind buy for me. However, I was somewhat familiar with the fact that he’d worked with Mike Mignola. Well and truly good enough for me. This book is gorgeous. Especially if you like spooky shit like ya boy.
A Guest in the House, Emily Carroll
ON THE SUBJECT OF SPOOKY SHIT
I really love Emily Carroll’s stuff. It’s just great creeping horror. This one is about a newly married woman whose husband comes with a daughter. His first wife died. And maybe, as it turns out, a mysterious death. And maybe, as it turns out, the daughter sees her mom’s ghost sometimes. And maybe, as it turns out, you should pick this one up.
Alison, Lizzy Stewart
This one is only ostensibly a comic and that’s what’s great about it. It’s more a book of prose with wonderful art throughout. Which tracks as it’s about an artist.
Monica, Daniel Clowes
I’m a big Clowes fan and he’s one of these artists that seem to just keep getting better and better and never plateauing. Monica is a book about trying to solve the mystery of your own existence. Much like his other work, this book is sad and funny and scary. Just like life.
I do believe I’m going to try and limit this to ten. So stay tuned as I try to pare things down into only five more.