In 1982 directors Jim Henson and Frank Oz, in collaboration with acclaimed artist Brian Froud, introduced us to the vivid world of Thra via their high fantasy film classic The Dark Crystal. Like many great fantasy epics a key reason for the success of Crystal lies in the believability of the setting in which it takes place. The setting of Henson, Oz, and Froud’s grand effort is rife with suggested histories and mythologies, a place teeming with a vast array of arcana seen everywhere: on clothing, jewelry, amulets, weapons, carved into ancient architecture, and scrawled across ancient crumbling parchments.
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As we enter mid-January and 2011 becomes more and more of a memory, I’d like to close out my look at the most notable releases of the past year so that those who may have missed the following can seek them out, or those who have read these be reminded that they are very worthy of a second (or third) read. So, without further ado let’s begin with…
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As 2011 comes to a close, I can say with a bit of relief that the amount of quality content being published within the world of comics continues to increase steadily. The interest in recent years in high-end, lavish, oversized archival editions and spiffy comic related art books signifies that people are not just reading comics for their obvious entertainment value, but also seeing the medium more and more as the valid literary and artistic arena it’s been since day one. As such I’ve assembled a list of 2011’s best that includes titles from across the increasingly eclectic (yet all welcoming) world that are the comics of today.
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We live in a society where mass consumerism has reached a terminal world-wide breaking point. We pretend to be aware of the negative effects of over consumption, both to our personal well being and to the planet we call home, but we continue on, completely unabated in our gluttonous self-indulgence. If art is a reflection of the times we live in, I can think of no better contemporary artist to put up the mirror to our less than responsible ways than Ron English.
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The Halloween weekend saw the appearance of the third annual Long Beach Comic Con (or as it is now known the “Long Beach Comic and Horror Con”), and I am extremely happy to report that it was the best year yet. What clearly sets the LBCC shows apart from its Southern California con counterparts is an actual emphasis on comics themselves, the writers and artists who produce them, and the greater illustrative art world that exists comfortably alongside the sequential medium itself.
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Welcome back to this continuing look at highly noteworthy releases from Archaia, a company whose dedication to compelling storytelling, beautiful artwork, and top-tier book design has earned them a reputation as one of the best independent comics publishers in the industry. Though Archaia releases cover a wide spectrum of genres, they are best known for their fantasy titles, largely due to the success of their flagship series, David Petersen’s Mouse Guard.
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It’s interesting to note the amount of conflict and turmoil “the big two” comic publishers are willing to inflict on their faithful and loyal readers, readers that without whom they wouldn’t exist. Relaunching, rebooting, renumbering, and the killing off of time-tested characters are some of the ways the majors shake beloved, long established universes up. There are two goals that can be achieved by doing this, and they rarely go hand in hand:
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Tales of dystopian societies and their corrupted and controlled cityscapes have a long and rich history across multiple areas of media, tracing back at least to the time of H.G. Wells. Still, it is within the last few decades that the frequency of these stories, in print and film, have increased exponentially.
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Any serious discussion of the best war comics of all time is sure to include the legendary Harvey Kurtzman-edited E.C. titles Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales. The stories found in these anthologies focused on the brutal realities of war instead of flag-waving glamorization and would even view conflicts from the enemies’ point of view, putting a relatable face on the nameless soldiers on the other side of the field.
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War, murder, corpse dismemberment, drug abuse, human immolation and religious fanaticism are, quite understandably, things not normally attributed to the beloved Carlo Collodi fairy tale Pinocchio. However, the traditional telling of the wooden boy who wishes to be a real flesh-and-blood child is far from what you’ll find in the astonishing 192 page oversized hardcover Pinocchio by Winshluss, translated from the original French edition and available now from Last Gasp.
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There are many books and comics that tempt the reader with the promise to go inside the mind of a murderer, but none in recent memory do so in such an alarming and realistic way as The Killer, a superb French comic series by Matz and Luc Jacamon. This multiple Eisner Award nominated title, translated in three hardcover volumes to date from
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There is very little else from the landscape of American popular culture that serves as a direct emotional bridge to my childhood like Charles Schulz’s eternally beloved comic strip Peanuts and the classic animated specials inspired by it. As such, you can imagine my feeling as I turned onto West Steele Lane in picturesque Santa Rosa, California (an hour north of San Francisco) after a road trip of nearly 450 miles, to see the image of a contentedly skating Snoopy telling me I’ve arrived at the amazing Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. The Museum opened in 2002, two years after Schulz’s passing, and stands as a testament to the life’s work of the most beloved comic strip creator of all time. It might sound silly to some, but seeing the beagle’s familiar image at the entrance of the parking lot really felt like an old friend, not seen for a long time, was standing there welcoming me.
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As almost everyone reading this knows, Saturday, May 7, is Free Comic Book Day at participating shops across North America. With over 35 free titles vying for the attention of avid comic fans, I’d like to make a special note of the exemplary offering from publisher Archaia — Mouse Guard, The Dark Crystal, and Season of the Dapper Men, plus a sneak peek at the highly anticipated graphic novel A Tale of Sand all under the cover of one flip book. I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of this release and my already high expectations in terms of art and storytelling were completely surpassed.
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2011 marks the 25th anniversary of San Francisco’s WonderCon and the convention’s growth, particularly within the last few years, has been remarkable to say the least. When I first began attending in the late 90’s the convention was held across the Bay in Oakland (then its home since its inception in 1987) and was still a moderately low-key affair. With its move to the Moscone Center in 2003, attendance has grown steadily with every passing year. Most astounding is the jump from last year’s head count of 34,000 to as many as 45,000 for 2011.
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Welcome back for this, the third and final article on the three issue indie/mainstream mash up Strange Tales II. To me the most unique aspect of this mini-series is in seeing alternative creators working with characters and situations completely opposite from what we have come to expect from them. The cover of ST II #3 is a supreme example of this in which Schizo creator Ivan Brunetti presents us with an adorable look at a superhero-centric health club, complete with aerobicizing X-Men and a pool-diving Daredevil.
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What happens when alternative comics superstars meets the world of capes and cowls? The second issue of Marvel’s Strange Tales II that’s what! Things begin incredibly strong right out of the gate courtesy of a cover by Love & Rockets co-creator Jaime Hernandez. Long known for his ability to draw gorgeous women via his beautifully clean line work, it’s great to see him portray some of the ladies of the Marvel universe in his trademark style.
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When Marvel’s 2009 indie-comics superstars meets time-tested superheroes mini-series Strange Tales was released it seemed almost too good to be true. This highly unique assemblage of oddities was so pleasingly originally and off the typical spandex path that a follow up seemed implausible at best. Happily, fans of the publisher didn’t mind seeing their favorite heroes taking a good natured (and overdue) ribbing and the series was a surprise hit. Now we have the three issue mini-series Strange Tales II and the hit versus miss ratio is even more solidly in the positive here than it was for its predecessor.
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Welcome back for the second and final installment of my look at some of the best of last year’s releases. Let’s not mince words and get right to it, shall we?
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A year ago this week, I was having a tough time of compiling a scaled down “Best of the Year” list due to the unexpected flurry of note-worthy material released during 2009. Now I find the task even harder considering the avalanche of great releases that saw print in 2010. A chief reason for this is the recent explosion of exceptional archival comic strip collections, lavish artist career overviews, and beautifully produced art books by publishers like Fantagraphics, IDW, and Flesk Publications. Add to this numerous comic book mini-series, one-shots, and monthly titles more than worthy of note and you have a year that would command any sequential art enthusiast’s attention. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the great material that hit the shelves in 2010!
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Welcome to Part 2 of Sequential Sunday’s look at the highly varied and completely mind-blowing work of 3-D processing master Ray Zone! In part 1 we saw numerous examples of depth-defying art from early issues of Zone’s self-published title The 3-D Zone. Though this series constitutes a sizable chunk of his 1980’s output, Zone applied his skills to the comics of numerous other publishers from the decade of the independent publishing boom as well, including Eclipse Comics.
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