And
so once more into the breach dear friends, as I bring us to the
second half of this happy little countdown of the Indie comics that I
loved the most this past year. Yes, I know, it's been a long gap
since Part 1 of this little countdown and the New Year is well into
it's first quarter, but it is what it is - I felt that coverage of
our Comic Con in Delhi and all that came out of it took precedence
and this could wait just a bit.
Before I get to the final leg of the
countdown, a quick listing of the books that almost made it to this
top ten but fell just shy. I wish I could have made this list longer
and perhaps I will review them all in the near future, but in the
meantime I think they all deserve an Honourable mention:
- The Goon (Writer/Artist: Eric Powell)
- G.I.Joe Cobra (Writer: Christos Gage and Mike Costa, Artist: Antonio Fuso)
- Scarlet (Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Artist: Alex Maleev)
- Scalped (Writer: Jason Aaron, Artist: R. M. Guéra)
- Artifacts (Writers: Ron Marz, Marc Silvestri & Matt Hawkins, Artists: Michael Broussard, Stjepan Sejic)
- Super Dinosaur (Writer: Robert Kirkman, Artist: Jason Howard)
- Fallen Angel: Return of the Son (Writer: Peter David, Artist: J.K.Woodward)
So thank you for
your patience and now without any further rambling along on my part,
lets just get to it shall we?
05. HELLBOY
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Writer: Mike
Mignola w/ John Arcudi
Artist: Various
Publisher: Dark
Horse Comics
For those of you that have been
following Mike Mignola's
worlds as they've evolved in the Hellboy, B.P.R.D
and related series, I think you know what I mean when I say that for
so many years now they have been the most consistent, creative and
amazingly put together comics – among the best comics as a medium
have to offer in a sense. For those that have not, you are really
missing out on something special.
The various story arcs and such
together form such an amazing, long-running and vast story-line and
world that it's amazing they've managed it for such a long period of
time – and the hand of creator Mike Mignola is definitely visible
in every single book, even the one's he has not directly scripted
himself. Of course credit where it's due to the talents who've worked
with him and been able to strike a nice balance between their own
work and style but ever retaining the unique look and feel that
Mignola brought to the comic-medium. The truly awesome part being
that it remains this damn good even after 17 years!
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This past year we've seen the B.P.R.D
books go through hell and I was torn about whether to put that book
or Hellboy on this list, but in the end the saga of the titular
-struggling hero and the last few adventure that he's had which led
to his [CAPTAIN!!! SPOILER AHEAD!!] that last great battle
which Hellboy won but for which he ended up paying the ultimate
price... well all that was so amazingly wrought that I had to give
this book the edge, and besides, the torment and adventures of his
friends goes on so maybe they'll be on next year's list!
We saw Hellboy face The Wild Hunt,
The Storm and The Fury (to name a few), lose all direction
and faith, find his inner strength and a new love and in the end
prove himself the hero everyone always believed him to be, and unlike
many such tales that fall victim to cliché and the like, Mignola and
his team really dug deep into folklore and detail and created visual
feasts to draw us into this terrible battle for the future of the
world itself.
Drama, intrigue, conspiracy, the
supernatural, raw action and basic humanity, all these and more could
be found in the pages of Hellboy this past year and for that I salute
the people behind it and recommend you all give them a read.
04. THE STUFF OF LEGEND v3: A Jester's
Tale
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Writer: Mike
Raicht, Brian Smith
Artist: Charles
Paul Wilson III
Publisher: Th3rd
World Studios
When I first picked up a copy of the
first issue of The Stuff of Legend v1, it was purely on
a whim and because it simply sounded like something different and I
love to try my hand at the unfamiliar. I expected a simple and
entertaining story to be read and the move on from, but instead I
found a world so unique and amazingly realised that this book has
been a constant favourite without fail ever since and every issue has
done nothing but get better and better.
The initial premise was a simple one, a
young Boy is kidnapped by the Boogeyman and his toys which are
secretly alive (that part makes you think of Toy Story doesn't
it!) spring into action and decide to bravely try and rescue him from
the dark and evil armies of the Boogeyman. From that starting point
the tale veered into territory I think no reader would have expected
and evolved very fast into a truly dark and epic fantasy tale in this
strange new land filled with surreal characters that our heroes
travelled and fought their way through. What made it even more
astounding was the depth and richness that Raicht and Smith have
brought to each and every character that just makes this one of the
most remarkable comic experiences I've ever had in all my years.
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This, the third mini-series in this
saga follows the character of Jester who formerly was a
Jack-in-the-box but when he came alive and went into the fabled lands
of The Dark, he was transformed into a clever and somewhat
swashbuckling warrior that almost makes one think of a darker Errol
Flynn. Ever ready with a quip and a one-liner, he was without a doubt
one of the most interesting characters in the group and this solo
series follows his adventures as he leaves the group after the
devastating events of The Jungle (volume 2) and
ventures into the Indian Lands to rescue his beloved who has been
lost. He is given a sidekick of sorts in the form of a bumbling
fellow known as the Mayor and together they have traversed and
survived many lands and many perils including giant sea-serpents.
Additionally, we get a side-story that is shown alongside the main
story which reveals the origin of the Jester, so to speak, where we
learn how he came to belong to the Boy and his life before this grand
adventure began. In the end he never wavers and stays on his path to
rescue the princess, but to learn the eventual fate of all, go read
this book.
And I promise you, you will not regret
it for an instant. Not only is the story absolutely amazing, but you
also have the utterly astounding Charles Paul Wilson on art duties
and the sepia-toned world that he renders is beautiful beyond simple
words – in a sense it evokes a feeling of something old and
long-gone and it has been suggested that it touches on the the
long-lost childhood and days of ones youth.
This mini-series is a great jumping-on
point for any new readers and if you look for truly creative new
material that engages and challenges you as a fan of fiction, this
book should most definitely be on your To-Read list.
03. CHEW
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Writer: John
Layman
Artist: Rob
Guillory
Publisher: Image
Comics
This series was a hard call in terms of
where to put it on this list, but it was the overall nature and
execution that brought it to #3 for me. For the uninitiated, the
story is set in a world where all poultry and bird-meat in general is
considered illegal after some catastrophic bird-flu outbreak that
resulted in several million deaths – it does indeed strike a
familiar chord to real world events.
The protagonist of the series is a cop
named Tony Chu who we learn in the first issue itself is a “Cibopath”
which is essentially a person who gets psychic impressions and images
from things that they take a bite from and eat. Yes it is indeed a
strange concept and it actually lent itself to some really
entertaining and funny stuff in the initial issues.
But this is a series that has been
running for 23 issues since it began in 2009 and the thing that
stands out for me is that Layman has managed to avoid the pitfall
that frequently kills concepts like this one – wearing out the
primary gimmick. Now I don't say gimmick in a bad way, it's just the
thing, the concept that separates this book from all others and in
this still entertaining and exceedingly bizarre book the development
of the story, the world and all the dilemmas and adventures has been
consistently entertaining. I give this book a hell of a lot of points
for that alone and the fact that there is a constant undertone of
cleverness and quite a quirky and wild imagination throughout the
series, it lends itself well to keeping it all interesting and not
taking itself too seriously.
The art is not the most fantastic, but
whatever else it might fall short in, the style and feel of the
characters and the basic art of the book works well with the odd-ball
and often surreal stories that we are reading and so is equally
enjoyable in its own way. The biggest plus seems to be that as a team
I think Layman and Guillory have a great dynamic and understanding
that shows through in the final pages and makes this one of the
better creator-owned books in the market.
02.
THE UNWRITTEN
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Writer: Mike
Carey
Artist: Peter
Gross
Publisher:
Vertigo (DC)
First things first, I have to admit
that I only started reading this series around it's 10th
issue and that too because I had been hearing and reading great
reviews for it. This is something that I have beaten myself up for a
lot since then and made it a point to never miss a single issue of
this mind-bending tale.
In today's day and age with technology
and accessibility of information and people, this story strangely has
a lot of relevance if you think on it. Following the journey of Tommy
Taylor who is the son of a world-famous and beloved author who
created a series much akin to Harry Potter, using his sons name for
the titular character, this series resonates yet again on the culture
of obsession with fictional characters and the fervour of fans.
We get to see the journey Tommy must
undertake now that he is much older after the death of his father and
as strange things start to happen to him. His nature, his identity
and his very purpose and existence begin being called into question
and before long his world becomes turned upside down as fact, fiction
and everything in between starts to blend and intrude on his own life
and reality. This past year Tommy's adventures got kicked into a
higher gear as he began to come into his own and take charge instead
of just trying to keep it together in the torrents around him, soon
becoming almost like a new man as he starts to put together what it
was his father was up to over all those years and more. All this
growth of course leads to the story as a whole moving further from
the simpler real world with fantasy intruding into it, to a wild mix
of the two with fantasy aspects getting much more room to thrive and
entertain us.
With every mystery, conspiracy and
dilemma from the early issues slowly leading to answers, Carey ups
the ante and brings in a new question and a new mystery with shocking
new twists and reveals that just keep you utterly absorbed in what
you are reading. Of course the mind-bending artwork by Gross goes a
long way in taking this fantastic story to a whole other level as his
layouts and designs breathe an even greater energy into an already
fantastic story and provides a visual feast for you to devour on
every single page.
In the end though, this book at its
core is essentially a testament and homage to the wonder and power of
story-telling and the stories themselves and what they mean to people
and the world, their impact and relevance. For anyone who is a reader
and loves books and exploring the imagination frontiers, this will be
a treat that you shouldn't miss under any circumstances.
01. THE
LI'L DEPRESSED BOY
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Writer: S.
Steven Struble
Artist: Sina
Grace
Publisher: Image
Comics
I honestly don't know what to say about
this book folks. I mean I could babble on about it for ages and yet
it would feel like overkill really because this is possibly the
simplest little tale I've read in ages and unlike every other comic
on my list (and most every other comic out there) there is very
little “happening” as such. Yet within two issues it has become
one of my favourite comics of all time and I wait like a junkie for
his fix for the new issues of this series.
This comic is utterly brilliant in its
simplicity and the emotion and humour that creator S. Steven Struble
and artist Sina Grace have filled this book makes it something truly
unique. I honestly believe that this is one of those comics that you
will either love instantly or just not get at all, if you're like me
and will like it then you are truly in for something special.
To put it simply: this comic follows
the life and times of the titles Lil Depressed Boy (known in-comic as
LDB), who is rendered as effectively a blank slate that strangely
makes it so much easier to allow the reader to relate to him and sink
into the character. LDB is an everyman, not a sports-star or a hero
of anything or rich and successful or surrounded by girls fighting
for his attention. He is just an average guy, a somewhat sad kid
making his way through life's ups and downs and so much of what he
goes through will resonate with many of us – a reason I attribute
to the success that this series has found since its launch. He falls
in love, gets his heart broken, hangs with his friends, reads comics
and listens to great music – who amongst us cannot relate to that?
This is a very human story, one that stays away from all the things
that stories often tend to rely on and simply engages the reader at
the most basic, most simple and most human level. I think pretty much
every nerd alive will love this book if he gives it a chance and
before you know it, you'll be rooting for LDB and sharing his joy and
sorrow from issue to issue.
Filled with lots of pop-culture, indie
music references and cameos and a very real feel to it all, this book
deserves every ounce of praise it gets for accomplishing what it has
in under 10 issues. And what makes it even better is that Struble has
managed to not only accomplish all this, but he has done it while
retaining just the very barest thread of optimism instead of going
the full-cynic or negative as would have been the easier way to write
this and end up turning it into a tale of melancholy. Despite its
name, this series is never depressing, it is VERY cautiously
optimistic (like LDB) but never completely loses hope, a trait that I
think a great many of us share when it comes to looking at the world
at large. If you live in a bubble of happiness, away from the real
world around us then I wish you well and good luck, for everyone else
who see's the good and the bad and has faced all the little peaks and
valleys of life – you should give this little comic that could a
try, I think you might like it.
And just because it bears saying, any
comic that has a bowling match where you've decided to add “style
points” to make it more fun (you know you've either tried it or
want to now!) and leads to a bowling ball being launched Hadouken
style to predictably disastrous but undeniably hilarious results is
something special.
So there it is folks, the end of this
little attempt – my first comic countdown as it were.
I do hope you enjoyed this and that you
were inspired to pick up at least one or two of these treasures that
deserve to be seen and spread around.
I will be back soon enough for 0-day
reviews next week and then some more wayfaring for your reading
pleasure, in the meantime have a good week and a great weekend ahead
folks.
Cheers!
Cheers!
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