schmevil | (no subject)

scottyquick wanted some comics recs. I figured I might as well repost them here.

Y: the Last Man, by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Gurerra: At times contrived and soapy, this one goes for the head and the heart. Start with the first volume and keep reading to end, if you like it. And as a bonus, the fourth trade Safe Word has a little theraputic kink.

Madame Xanadu, by Matt Wagner and Amy Reed Hadley: Shoujo-inspired art with hard-edged, urban fantasy elements, and a story that takes place in and around history and myth. See MX in Camelot, Xanadu, revolutionary France!

Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel: Cartoony art, the politics of the personal and growing up queer in a family funeral home. Obviously this one will try to break you a couple of times, but this is a restrained and thoughtful memoir. Bechdel doesn't go for the cheap shots.

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi: Another memoir, this time about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Part one is very much a coming of age story, it deals directly with Satrapi's adolescence, as she tries on different hats (Marxist? Muslim?). Part two looks at her return to Iran as an adult, and her coming to terms with who she and her homeland have become.

Pride of Baghdad, by Brian K Vaughan and Niko Henrichon: A pride of lions, formerly kept by Hussein Jr as pets, unexpectedly gains their freedom during the 2003 bombing of Iraq. The lions, who've spent their whole lives in captivity, have to navigate the ruined urban landscape, avoid other newly free predators and soldiers, and learn how to take care of each other. Stunning art.

Sensational She-Hulk, by John Byrne: Lawyer by day, fourth-wall-breaking superheroine by, er, day, Jennifer Walters is the Sensational She-Hulk. *insert sparkles here* This book is by turns hilarious, sweet and kickass. She-Hulk is that rare character who can bring light-hearted cheesecake and srs business.

She-Hulk, by Dan Slott (and others): See above. This is a cracktackular update of Sensational, with Jen working at one of the strangest law firms you've ever seen, and fighting threats minor and cosmic. One of her colleagues is a time-lost cowboy. Another is a speechless android. Run, don't walk.

Supreme Power, by JM Straczynski (and others): JMS reboots Marvel's alt-verse take on the Justice League. Relentless, unforgiving and dark, but well worth a read. Like Watchmen, Supreme Power is interested in the dark side of superheroing, but this maxi series has a sizable SF bonus, in the form of Hyperion (Superman analog) and Power Princess (Wondy analog), who are manifestly alien in a way that few mainstream heroes get to be. Another bonus is the deep interest JMS has in the relationship between race and the American dream.

Marvel 1602, by Niel Gaiman and Andy Kubert: An Elseworld take on the Marvel Universe - what if the Richards and crew were 17th century adventurers? What if the x gene manifested in the time of the Spanish Inquisition? Great art and epic story telling.

Cable & Deadpool, by Fabien Nicieza (and others): OMG HILARIOUS! See She-Hulk but with much, much more violence and the stakes upped to the fate of civilization and humanity as we know it.

Mouse Guard, by David Peterson: Sword-wielding mice discover a shadowy conspiracy to overthrow the mouse government, in a gorgeous, medieval forest. Hell, just check out the scans I posted here.

The Avengers Volume Three, by Kurt Busiek and George Perez: Great art and great story lines, this is one of the best intros to Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It starts with a classic action-packed, team-building issue (Avengers continuity is full of Who Will Be on the New Team issues - it's almost become a ritual now), and makes with the old school superheroics from then on.

The follow up Johns and Austen runs are worth a read too.

Uncanny X-Men, by Chris Claremont: This stuff is delicious crack and a must-read for any superhero fan. Claremont's prose is out of control purple - he never uses one descriptor when he could use six; he never lets the pencils speak for themselves. He's got a William Moulton Marston kind of interest in women and bondage, but in his book, the women do the tying up.

French Milk, by Lucy Knisley: The comic travelogue and memoir of the author's trip through France with her mother. Great cartoony, expressive art, and very personal, intimate story-telling.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is Cable & Deadpool out in TPB!?! I've been waiting for that. The only floppies I've been collecting are Batman:Cacophony and Doktor Sleepless.

I'd like to add Excalibur for the first, what? thirty issues? Before Alan Davis went away. And I'm such an Alan Davis wh0re I also bought the hardcover collection of Clan Destine.

OOOOooooh! And what Rec List is complete without Donna Barr's Desert Peach?

I also highly rec a web comic called Order of the Stick (http://www.giantitp.com) which is also available in TPB version. Which I have bought. ALL of them. Even tho they are free online. Don't let the art style fool you, this dude has story writing chops and his art is more nuanced than you'd think at first glance.

All of it is. Cable & Deadpool is AWESOME. C & D #43 was the very first floppy I ever bought.

Thanks for the 'recs! I think I'll try Madame Xanadu (which looks so frigging cool), Y: The Last Man, and Pride of Baghdad.

C & D #43 was the very first floppy I ever bought.

Aww! My first pamphlet-style comic was a Slimer (the green ghost) from Ghostbusters. I bought it at a garage sale. I need to get around to scanning it someday.

MX is my favourite new book.

I really liked the Ellis issues of Excalibur too. Pryde & Wisdom 4eva!

I also bought the hardcover collection of Clan Destine.

I keep hearing good things about Clan Destine. Tell me more.

The best explanation is from the wiki:
Creator Alan Davis explained that he likes the superhero genre in general, and the group book dynamic in particular, and was drawn to the opportunity to create a group of new characters unencumbered by a long and complex continuity, though he set it in the Marvel Universe in order to use characters like the Silver Surfer and MODOK in cameo roles. Since the range of superhuman abilities is limited, and good gimmicks rare and short-lived, Davis observed that the greatest opportunity for originality is in character development and interaction. Davis chose to make the group a family because the familial bond is not one of choice, and can be either rewarding or painful. Davis was also interested in superhumans who used their powers to enhance their lives, but did not necessarily feel either any heroic obligations or megalomaniacal greed. Although he made the Destines an extended family in order to make up new family members as he went along, the core of the group would be Rory, Pandora, Samantha, Walter, Kay and Dominic.[3] Although the family's full membership remains unrevealed for this reason, Walter has stated that there are "many" that eleven-year-old twins Rory and Pandora have not met.

I like to think of it as the story of what happens after a fairy-tale love comes true. =p

That sounds... really cool. I'm always interested in non-heroic metas, and I love family drama.

I really liked it!

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/tag/clandestine
for more. =p

Also, when it was running as a series Alan was called away, as it were, and someone else took over for a few issues. When Alan got back he retconned everything that happened while he was away as a horrible nightmare one of the girls had and those issues never made it into the hardcover TPB. XD

Oooh, I should also mention. A special, five-issue mini series was released last year. Best read if you've read the previous series which is probably why they released the trade.

I read the first part of Perseopolis ages ago, but never read the second part. Must get around to that.

Pride of Bagdhad sounds really cool. Might have to check out the X-Men and She-Hulk one. I really haven't read any Marvel comics that aren't from the early 90s.

I'm probably going to do another round of recs later in the week. Once you start recing, it's hard to stop. *g* I'll be sure to include some a goodly portion of Marvel books.

Pride of Baghdad is gooorgeous. Check out these scans (http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/tag/pride+of+baghdad).