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Out of all of them I'd recommend Unbeatable Squirrel Girl the most, I read it during the pandemic and credit it for helping me stay sane(ish) as it has such a wholesome, warm, funny and considerate central sentiment, where Squirrel Girl only ever resorts to violence if she has absolutely no other choice.

Hmmmm do I need something else on the list (to read not this one!)...no... but sounds like...

Eric Powell is an astonishingly good artist. I've not heard of Hillbilly before, seems worth a shot! I was a bit put off The Goon not because any of it wasn't great, but jsut becuase even after like 3 issues I felt I wasn't getting much new out of it. I'd love it if it was five page doses like in 2000AD, but 20+ pages each time of fairly similar stuff wears me down - something to enjoy in small doses!
But spunds as if Hillbilly has more of an overall story to get into?

It did take me a couple of goes to get into The Goon. After a couple of misfires after reading bits and bobs I picked it up in a Humble Bundle and gave it a proper go and by jiggers its is so good.

As for Hillbilly while I don't think it is as good those 12 issues of what was the ongoing are structured as a single story. The early issues do feel a little like monster of the week but its all building up to the end.

Never heard of this but it looks quite interesting

Yes same here, I've been looking for something different to read so will give it a try. Just downloaded v1 -4 graphic novels and will read tonight.

Cool Beans! Hope you enjoy it.

[#86 - Part 3]

#86 - Part 3


Copyright - him what created it

The story is really well paced and structured as well. It's crafted to build our understanding of both Rondel and his world with impeccable timing. At first we have a few short stories to introduce our brooding lead and his companions. We see the witches crawling darkly in the background, exploding onto the page in thrilling and physical climaxes. We learn Rondel's history as the extent of the danger the local communities face is steadily laid out. A creeping threat, which makes it all the more terrifying. This also means the reader is slowly drawn in and made to care. The tension and scale of what is faced drips out of the initial conflicts.

This means when we start to crash towards the final epic conflict we are invested and care. The cost of fighting these dark inhabitants of Appalachia we have witnessed in smaller scale, more intimate ways, so as the twelve issue series chops to the chase and Rondel's conflict explodes into warfare the larger scale still has very real, personal consequences. The reader is sucked into the world so effectively and this provides the series real, intense impact.

Unlike so many series I've discussed, my relationship with this is pretty simple. I often talk about what my enjoyment of a series says about me and my relationship with comics. This one is pretty straightforward. I just love well crafted adventure / horror stories, told exceptionally with astonishing art. While the stories are filled with mystery and intrigue my admiration and enjoyment of them isn't just that, these are just plain great stories told well. Once we are past the first twelve issue run the mini simply makes clear that there is much more in the tight, closed world we have seen. I'm genuinely hopeful that Powell returns to Rondel soon as it feels like there is a depth to the folklore we're still to see and we have a character through which learning this folklore is a thrilling, compelling, visual delight. If not what we have is entirely satisfying and self contained, so while I'd love more, we don't necessarily need more.


Copyright - him what created it

Where to find it

There are four trade collections that collect all the issues to date in all the usual places. Three for the 12 issues ongoing and one for the subsequent mini.

It would appear that a couple are out of print, but seem easy enough to get second hand. No glossy, shiny hardcover collection yet. Hopefully we'll get a nice Goon style compilation down the road.

All of these are available digitally as well from the normal places

Albatross Funnybooks seem to have all the back issues in stock, but shipping form the US and increasing value might make that not too attractive an option. The aftermarket is starting to get a little pricey too, though not too bad yet. Might be time to jump now and we can start a speculator boom on these comics that seem to have a little heat around them!

Learn more

What? WHAT! There's no Obligatory Wikipedia page for an ongoing Eric chuffin' Powell comic. Jez what is the world coming to? Well I'll just have to use this TV Tropes page I found instead.

In fact there's an amazing lack of any commentary about these comics on the internet at all much to my surprise. I mean come on this is Eric Powell folks! So all I've got is the Good Reads for the series to offer alternative views... though glad to say most are positive.

In doing some background searching for images for this one I did stumble across a gallery of original art on the Albatross Funnybooks website... I wish I hadn't, I'm SOOOOooo tempted but really should have other priorities right now... but just look at how glorious that art is. A great way to bask in Eric Powell's stupendous art though.



What is all this?

Conscious that this is becoming a long thread and if you're wondering what the heck you've just read and can't be arsed (quite sensibly) to search back to find out I'll link to my opening posts that try to explain all this.

What this all came from

And of course a nerd won't do a list like this without setting 'Rules' / guidelines

Some thoughts on what will not be on the list.

[# 86 - Part 2]

# 86 - Part 2


Copyright - him what created it

Rondel himself is central to all that happens in these tales. He's a fascinating character. Shrouded in mystery and enigma he's almost immediately compelling as we are introduced to this giant hulk of a human, with no eyes and tears of blood running down his cheeks. He grasps the reader and holds their interest. As his past is revealed none of that enigma is really cut away. He retains an air of mystery even as those obvious mysteries are stripped away. He's hard, taciturn, determined, reflective with a quiet compassion that he tries to conceal. He is also however very focused on this singular mission, one that he knows will cause great risk and harm to him and those who join him.

He's kinda how Marvel's Wolverine would have turned out if he'd actually lived the life he'd lived... and had his eyes poked out by a witch...

While the story centres around Rondel the supporting cast is almost as well realised. Aside from Lucille, the giant bear as caring as she is effective at violence when needed, Rondel is joined by his other friend James Stoneturner. Stoneturner has a really good character arc as he's pulled into ever increasing danger by supporting our protagonist. The lesser characters, even local farmers and other inhabitants of Appalachia, are all full, solid and fleshed out, even if their appearance is fleeting. Another strength of Powell's art is his ability to convey a rich array of characters and make each distinct and use their visual representation to develop character, without resorting to cliche, well too much. You can tell who can and can't be trusted, who is weak and who is strong, by the way they carry themselves, the light in their eyes and other visual cues. He achieves this without leaning too far into caricature, well unless the tone of the story calls for it and when it does he uses that caricature with unrepentant glee.


Copyright - him what created it

The setting of Appalachia is also fantastic. How many comics and tales lean into better known myths and legends. Do we need more stories that example Norse myth, are we short of stories featuring Baba Yaga, no. Even more contemporary legends feel overused now. Lovecraftian myths are ten a penny these days and frankly bore the bejesus out of me. Even the less known aspects of British legends feel like they are getting good air play. So it is really refreshing to be exposed to new tales and new creatures from a mythology that I had no prior knowledge of. The stories are so well presented, my ignorance of northeastern US folklore doesn't inhibit my enjoyment at all. Everything is introduced with all the information needed. That which is left shrouded just adds to the creepy, uneasy feeling that the series offers so well. Not knowing backgrounds and histories of these legends adds to the horror and exposes their brutality all the more.

This added to a timeless quality to the series. I get a sense that this is set in the early 20th century, but it's left unclear. Powell's art shows rural communities with basic technologies, rustic homes and clothing. All of this is draped in mist and clinging atmosphere to allow it to be nonspecific and timeless.

The tales of a newly experienced folklore. The fairytale timelessness and atmosphere of the world we explore add to the grim horror inherent in the series. Unlike Powell's other opus, The Goon, this one isn't played for laughs when it needs to. It is played far straighter and darker and this allows for the horror of the witches and other creatures to be felt all the more by the reader. It's a genuinely creepy horror show that feels set in a dank past, but could be lurking just around the next hill if you got lost in the dark forests of their setting today.

[#86 - Part 1]

#86 - Part 1



Number 86 - Hillbilly

Keywords: Artistic brilliance, grim fairy tales, The Goon, dreamlike, hard bitten

Creators:
Writer - Eric Powell
Art - Eric Powell (with a little by Simon Di Meo)
Colours - Eric Powell (with a little by Brennan Wagner)

Publisher: Albatros Press

No. issues: 19
Date of Publication: 2016 - 2019 (maybe ongoing?)

Last read: 2019

The other Eric Powell comic is


Copyright - him what created it

Well okay there are plenty of other Eric Powell comics but this is the other creator owned ongoing series he's done and while it might not be The Goon good, it's bloomin' amazing. The series follows the adventures of Rondel, the eyeless hillbilly of the title. He wanders Appalachia, in the northeastern US, hunting witches and other mythical beasts and more often than not slaying them with his mighty Devil's Cleaver. It's a series built to showcase Eric Powell's sublime, dreamy art.

Across the original ongoing series a single tale is told as Rondel wages war against the witches of the area who raise an army of ghouls and beasties to try to rid themselves of the regular folks who have settled in their rural homeland. A second 4 issue mini series tells a further self-contained story of Rondal repelling creatures from the stars. Alas this one doesn't have Eric Powell on art, but is still very good indeed.

That's all the background you need to know. These tales are steeped in what seems to be the real folklore of Appalachia and involves fantastical creatures including a giant sabretooth bear called Lucille, one of Rondel's only friends. These are fairy tales. Fairy tales that are grim and grubby, soaked in booze and cover caked in dirt. The lore they draw from is rich and earthy, violent, creepy and compelling. This is Thistlebone told with the brash confidence of US comics.


Copyright - him what created it

Let's cut to the chase here, one of the key reasons I love these comics is Eric Powell's stupendous art. If you placed a gun to my head and asked me to name my favourite comic artist, on certain days, when the wind is blowing in from last night's nightmares, I'll answer "Eric Powell for today." he's that good. His washed out watercolours with perfectly chosen lowkey palette, over strong robust figures and creations cast in an almost 'cartoony' style provide a glorious juxtaposition in tone that almost defines what comics can be when they are used to their maximum potential. On one hand bombastic, hyper-realised, forcing a reader to the edge of their imagination, yet on the other hand soft, quiet and intimate, pulling the most out of each frozen moment. Somehow Eric Powell brings those two things together and makes them work as a joyous whole that is at times so comfortable and kind on the eyes, at others creeps into the darkest corners of your mindseye to terrify you.

He's able to place these characters and beasts into environments that buzz with life and sweat. Water drips from the moss draped over branches, mud pulls at feet so each step feels hard and earnt. You smell the rot in the wood of his worlds and feel the cold dampness of the stone and concrete. Yet all of this is set in landscapes filled with sweeping hills, or tiled roofs in streets of broken paving to give them a sad, almost poetic beauty, cast as it is in the dim light of the gloaming. He manages that great trick that the best artists of all forms can do by taking two seemingly contrasting tones and aspects and bringing them together in a way that would otherwise be hard to imagine.

It's that quality of his art that so perfectly reflects the stories of Hillbilly. They have a dream-like quality that sets the myths and legends that they play with into an otherworldly aspect. At the same time they are hard, grounded and muscular. Dealing with real people who you understand and believe, while also being firmly set in the world of story. That the art is able to hold all these elements so perfectly together and unified into a delightful whole is why I find his art so damned compelling and genuinely believe it's amongst the very, very finest to grace the comics page.

I've not read much seventies or eighties Marvel as I was an annoying DC kid as a teenager (though I did always have a soft spot for Byrne's She-Hulk run and Groo), and I definitely plan to check out some of the recommended comics from this era, and Power Pack will be on that list. But I have recently read a good few series from Marvel from the 2010s and I think some of it is superb, I absolutely loved Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Jason Aaron's Thor run when Jane Foster is the central character, plus am very fond of Matt Fraction's Hawkeye and Fantastic Faux series, Charles Soule's She Hulk issues and am making my way through the and enjoying first Spider-Gwen omnibus currently, so I definitely wouldn't write the company off completely.

I keep my toe in modern Marvel waters, largely due to Daredevil but I check out others. Its strange that while a lot are clearly top notch they often don't speak to what I want from superheroes. I have this terrible feeling that mainstream comics are defined by the 80s for me. Which seems to be quite a limiting way to view them. That said the odd thing does sing out and a number of the titles you mention are things I think I'll check out one day. Especially that Hawkeye run which I hear such good things about.

[Dredd]

Well the catch up is complete and I've not got much to say beyond what I did last two times. Damn this is a fantastic line-up.

Dredd - well the longer it goes on and I wonder more and more why its lasting so long, the more I'm actually enjoying this one. Weird!

Aquila - I mean you know what's coming, but still can't help punching the air when it lands!

Brink - Simply magnificent on every level. When did four people chatting in an intriguing lite room get quite this compelling?!?

Indigo Prime - just keeps ramming the wonderful ideas home hard. Loving this.

Proteus Vex - In any other Prog this would surely be the best thing by a mile but with Brink just chewing the pages up it has to settle for an astonishing second. Brilliant.

When a pretty damned decent Dredd is comfortably bottom of the pile you know Tharg is knockin' out the thrill park.

[always]

Finally my replacement copy loads (went to eBay as I gave up hope of my sub turning up which means it will land Monday - its happened before!

Had a couple of progs get lost in the dimensional oubliette of RM over the last few years.  One thing I will give subs is that they always sort out a replacement no quibble and PDQ.

yeah I've done that before but had to do it about a year ago and don't want to take the p*ss so decided to cope for it this time.

[Dredd]

Well after some Lego and tea to allow the thrill receptors to cool back to the catch up.

This time not much to write here really is there. As its just as you were.

Dredd actually I'm getting into this more and more. I mean its nowt news but its really good fun.

Aquila just magnificent opeatic fun.

Brink actually I might have to save my last visit with Briget until tomorrow so I can saver it more! So good.

Indigo Prime - still immense fun.

Proteus Vex - still even immenseier fun - just so, so fun, just not quite Brink good.

You know what this Prog might be even better than the last. I think I've save 2380 until tomorrow as three of these in once day is just going to lead to thrillchaffing isn't it.

[Dredd]

Finally my replacement copy loads (went to eBay as I gave up hope of my sub turning up which means it will land Monday - its happened before!

Anyway that makes this potentially a three prog day so I'll review each as I go quickly to try to give my thrillbuffers the chance to cool (I mean I'm 52 years old and I still buy into this Tharg stuff. Is that wrong of me?).

Anyway enough waffle to the meat of the matter.

Dredd fun but utter standard fare. Guera gives good snow wasteland mind.

Brink f88k you Royal Mail for making me wait three weeks to have Bridget back in my life. Oh God its such a joyous reunion. The only good thing about the wait is I'm up for it three times in one day!

Aquila brilliant fun. Everyone is so mean and hard and brooding but its made to work wonderfully!

Indigo Prime ha! it slips and it slides, nothing can be taken at face value and its immense.

Proteus Vex but immense as IP is PV is even immenseier, its immenourmus... but still its Bridget I'm looking forward seeing again most.

So I may have been made to wait but I'm so glad its a Prog like this I've returned to. Another Prog to really nail home that when its at its best there really isn't a genra comic as good as Tharg's mighty organ. We always know we're in a good place when Dredd is the weakest thing in the House of Tharg and even that was pretty good!

Funnily enough I recently discovered My Marvellous Year too, it's excellent - the hosts have that jokey/laughter-based dynamic that works so well for Fox and Conrad. I'm still listening back to the end of year round-ups and have only made it to 1984 - long way to go!

Yeah the relationship between Dave and Zack and later added to by Charlotte is just great. Their chemistry makes this a good substituion from my long missing favourite. I actually started in 'my era' and skipped straight to the early 80s and have reached 93. It makes a good companion piece to my slow reading of back issues of Comics International I've been slowly picking up.

Nice! That podcast sounds fun too.

Defo work checking out as Marvel is something you enjoy.

That said, I'm guessing I might be less into the crossover heavy 1990 end of the run when I get there one day, but that sounds fun in its own way as well.

That's interesting as I'm currently listening to an interesting Podcast 'My Marvelous Year' which goes through Marvel history year by year reflecting on important and key comics and story arcs. I'm up to this period now and when they talk about the X-Men from a period I'd dropped out of comics altogether they sound so of their time. full of EVENTS and significance and explosions that I have no desire to check out the comics.

Yet my interest in hearing about them remains, there's still an absolute fascination for me in superhero comics...I'm just not sure I want to read them! I'm intrigued by folks really doing deep cuts on comics that don't sound like they stand up to any deep analysis, yet get that in very interesting ways. It will be fascinating to hear what you think when you get there.

Jordan Thomas (Weird Work, XINO) & Shaky Kane (Bulletproof Coffin, The Beef) will be signing copies of their latest collection The Man From Maybe on Tuesday 28th May from 6-7pm!

https://goshlondon.com/the-gosh-blog/man-from-maybe-signing-with-shaky-kane-and-jordan-thomas/

I picked that series up and its pretty good. Its no Bulletproof Coffin but good fun. Defo pop in if you are in the area.

I love the 'fade out' of the action on the back cover and it really leds into the power of the action on the cover.

And boy oh boy even on a glossy cover the colour lose from that original is quite something!

I did eventaully read pretty much all the Claremont stuff as an adult, thanks to the Panini Pocket Books (excellent value comics in small size!), and it's good clean superhero soap opera comics.

These are great comics and bang for your bukc. Last time I tried the Morriosn X-Men run it was via these.

...especially the 'Classic X-Men' back ups. But I find these were more of a signpost to me that I should read more Vertigo comics, that do this kind of thing better, and in more depth.

Yeah those shorts are defo my fav X-Men stories these days. And John Bolton just knocked it out the park with them. I think you can get them in a seperate collection now that I should try out.

Everyone knows that Nightcrawler is the best, right? He just looks (and, frankly, acts) cooler than any other Marvel character by miles.

Nightcrawler is definitely the best! I always liked Colossus too.

YEH! Nightcrawler love in da house. He's such a cool and charming character. I'm always a bit amazed no one has found a way to give him a decent series of his own. I always pick them up and quickly pass. Mind the recent Uncanny Spider-man by our own Spurrioso was pretty good and I guess that counts.

The characters I actually think are pretty well crafted - they're all very distinct, with clear roles in the psuedo-family dynamic. I'm not sure about the forced nature of them, that might require a re-read. Again there's some nostalgia involved here.

Yeah I think many folks geton better with that. The family dynamic he went for worked so much better in Power Pack for me, hence dropping this one here. I'm guessing that won't work for many folks though. Mind I was chuffed with the positive reaction to that one I have to say.