Completely Self-absorbed Top 100 Comic Runs You Need to Read

[Colin YNWA]

On another note while doing a 'test' for the latest post I've written I've learnt we have a 20,000 character limit on posts here. I mean that's entirely reasonable, but also made me shudder at how much I'm inflicting on folks!

Let the editing begin...

[Funt Solo]

we have a 20,000 character limit on posts

For all that I post, I only hit that when I did my review of '23 for the advent.

[norton canes]

Read the collected edition way back in the late 80's. The page which always sticks in my head is the one that details the handful of seconds it takes Electra to deal with the elite SWAT team types that storm the room, attempting to kill her

Elektra, even. Sake.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

I only read Elektra for the first time last year but absolutely loved it. I think there are parts which might not have aged as well as they could, but the art is so stunning I'm willing to ignore those. I also had no idea that Marvel were publishing comics like that in the 80's, I was something of a DC / Vertigo fanboy and apart from Byrne's She-Hulk run and reading the comics my friends were buying (West Coast Avengers being the main one I remember, weirdly) I just wasn't aware of what Marvel were doing at the time.

I really enjoyed your post once again Colin, and while the political satire wasn't subtle I hadn't realised that Ken Wild's look was based on Dan Quayle until I read your write up and then face palmed myself! The series also inspired me to check out Miller's Daredevil: The Man Without Fear which I enjoyed a good deal, though I feel it's a shame that's the last ever time he wrote for the series.

I'd really like to check out Elektra Lives Again at some point, but it seems to sell around the £30 mark and given that it appears to be for only 80 pages it's a bit too pricey for me right now.

[Colin YNWA]

I'd really like to check out Elektra Lives Again at some point, but it seems to sell around the £30 mark and given that it appears to be for only 80 pages it's a bit too pricey for me right now.

I've got this in a really nice Daredevil by Miller box set that has so much great stuff in it (including Elektra Assassin) but its the one bit of Miller Daredevil(ish) stuff that hasn't been kept in print regularly.

I only got the box set a few years ago and its not yet got to the top of the pile so I'm still to read it. Looks good but its reputation isn't the same as Miller's other work, possibly cos its kinda forgotten.

[Jim_Campbell]

I'd really like to check out Elektra Lives Again at some point, but it seems to sell around the £30 mark and given that it appears to be for only 80 pages it's a bit too pricey for me right now.

Story-wise, it's pretty insubstantial (as the low page count attests) but it's peak Miller/Varley — the visual storytelling is masterful and it looks gorgeous.

[Colin YNWA]

Number 98 - Plastic Man by Kyle Baker

Keywords: Loony Toons, Chuck Jones, funny, superhero

Creators:
Writer - Kyle Baker
Art - Kyle Baker
Colours - Kyle Baker

Publisher: DC Comics

No. issues: 20
Date of Publication: 2004-2006

Last read: 2024

Jack Cole's Plastic Man from the 40s is meant to be one of the great steps in the development of US comics. I can't talk to those as I've never read them. Though if they are anything like


Copyright - DC Comics

By Kyle Baker I really must correct that at some point.

So there are two key things to consider when reflecting on this series. Firstly Plastic Man and the characters place in western comics history and Kyle Baker and his most lauded works in that industry. In isolation they don't immediately strike you as a match that would work. But they are, they certainly are.

Plastic Man was created in Police Comics in 1941 by Jack Cole. His alias Patrick 'Eel' O'Brian was a mobster who through some comic book tomfoolery gained the ability to stretch and manipulate his bodies shape and indeed size in incredible ways. When he does so he retains his costumes red and yellow colouring... don't ask me why... you know ... comics. ANYWAY. He used his abilities to redeem himself and become a crime fighter alongside possibly the worst side kick in comics ever Woozy Winks.

His origins and adventures aren't what's important, but creator Jack Cole is. He made Plastic Man one of the first overtly comedic superhero characters. His art was a perfect vehicle to deliver comedic adventures of a man with a plastic body. His creative imagination and off the wall adventures was apparently like nothing else produced at the time. Significantly his work has influenced so many of today's top creators. He is cited by so many as an important figure. I can't comment on that series too much but I'm very aware of its important and comedic impact. I've seen the art from it and while it's no Will Eisner I get exactly what the excitement is all about.

Kyle Baker certainly takes that and runs with it.


Copyright - DC Comics

So let's talk about Kyle Baker. Now I'm only going to reference what I know of Kyle Baker, or what I saw and I thought I understood of his work. It's not enough as I need to read more of his work as we'll see, he had very different ideas about his strengths than my perceptions. Baker broke into the industry in the 80s. I knew him then as an inker. He added wonderful dark, scratches of ink to even the most typical and solid of Marvel pencilers of the time and added depth and gravitas to their work. He then went on to do a run on The Shadow at DC, taking over from Bill Sienkiewicz to continue a run that pulled out the dark, edgy grim underworld reality The Shadow operated in.

Moving away from Superheroes he created lauded works like 'Why I hate Saturn'. While a comic I've not read I've always had the impression this was a serious, weighty work. It apparently has some comedy touches but coming from Fantagraphic my impression was he was dealing in the adult, grown-up market. Later work by him such as the award winning Nate Turner certainly do fall into that arena and is again something I must get around to picking up.

In summary he was a serious artist and so when I saw he was doing Plastic Man I was surprised, this wasn't the Kyle Baker I understood. In Plastic Man he shows with absolute aplomb that his creativity is as Plastic as our hero's elastic body. When the story needs it he contrasts the comedic, animated elements of his story with deeper, richer, almost painted pages.


Copyright - DC Comics

Baker uses these less cartoony, much less cartoony panels and pages to present the 'serious' side of the DC Universe, the grim superheroes so prevalent at the time in stark contrast to the madcap elements of the main story. Wonderfully this makes those pages some of the most comedic. It flags how ridiculous taking our four colour wonders too seriously can be. His handling of Batman is the absolute zenith of this. It's superb and worth the price of entry alone.

Obviously Kyle Baker knew what he wanted to be and it wasn't the artist either I, or the companies employing him, at least originally pigeonholed him as.

"But I always thought I was going to do funny stuff" rather than superhero comics.
(from Wikipedia - see below)

Its testament to his talent that his art style so perfectly reaches across the divide and can enhance a dark, brooding tone, while a moment later can provide zany madcap cartoon fun with even more aplomb. Artistically he's a wonder. It's fitting therefore that this entry sits next to Elektra Assassin in this list. For very different reasons they are both artist wonders and the art plays a big part in my affection for both.

A large part of why the art works so well is it absolutely captures the fact that these stories are basically the very best animated shorts of the golden era of Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and the like. I wasn't surprised to learn that Kyle Baker moved away from comics into animation as he wasn't getting satisfied by the work he was given. This experience in cartoons just shines through here.


Copyright - DC Comics

All the tropes of the golden era of the animation short are there. But Kyle Baker is smarter than that, he doesn't just throw in images that capture a look and feel of a fondly remembered time gone by. No he understands that these are comics. You can't draw the motion and action, the crazy distortions, directly as these are still images frozen on the page. Rather he understand that comics have that secret power that Scott McCloud explains so well his his seminal 'Understanding Comics' they have The Gutter, or rather the readers ability to fill the gap in what's happening in the gutter between panels. And he uses this to perfection.

He can't animate the scenes we see, he can draw the eyes as they pop out of a character's head. He understood however that the reader will add that animation as they move between panels, the reader will animate his drawing for him. Why draw 24 frames a second when you can draw two and allow the reader to do the heavy lifting! Well I say heavy lifting his art, panel design and selection of moments to add to the page makes it effortless.

He doesn't stop there however, he realises that the power of the artist, the gutter and the reader can create better, more intricate, more complex animations than even the old masters of the animation cel. As the reader is animating the images he (Baker) is able to show more complex sequences that have the movement created between these powers to do more, more detail, even more crazy things. Things that would have been practically impossible, too time consuming, to actually draw. So he not only provides all the crazy tropes of classic cartoons he learnt while animating and watching cartoons (I assume) he amplifies them, turns them up to 11 and does things that weren't done back in the day.

Kyle Baker uses the comic book form to do classic cartoons better than even the classic comics could. The clever devil!


Copyright - DC Comics

He goes beyond that as well. His art at first glance is so distinctly his. His work has such a strong personal stamp to it, that shines through regardless of the diversity of tone or style he is going for. This was true in the days when he was inking others and is just as true when taking all the art chores as he does here. Yet he tweeks the finer points of his art in this series, creating subtly different styles to homage the very best of the cartoons he's drawing so much from. Tex Avery, Friz Freleng and Chuck Jones all 'appear' in the drawing he does, depending on the story he's doing.

There will be better observers of this than me, folks who can spot things and associate those clear differences in ways I've missed. It became particularly clear to me with issue 14, a story in which Plastic Man tries to catch a mouse in his home. His art is straight from a Chuck Jones era Tom and Jerry cartoon, it was absolutely clear to me. He'd tweaked the art to suit the picture and even 'animation' style he was after. It's an astonishing piece of work. It's the craft of an artist and storyteller at the very top of their game.

Once I saw one example I flicked back and noticed more and more of the differences in his other stories. I've not got the knowledge or eye to say with absolute confidence which stories are definitely homaging which animator but it's there and it's clear. Some stories are more Road Runner, some others some call on Hannah Barbera, it's quite astonishing how deft the skill on display is.

 
Copyright - DC Comics

I've said before I often don't feel able to talk about lettering as I don't have the keen awareness to always tell good lettering from average - I can really notice when it's bad though as most comics fans can. There are occasions when it does stand out and this is one. Kyle Baker builds the lettering into his art so it really does become a vital part of the finished product. Appreciate that is always the situation, but here the craft is evident even to a lettering dullard such as myself.

The lettering font is very stylised but that captures the mood and tone of the series really well and provides another way the feel of those classic cartoons is emphasised. All the more impressive as of course those cartoons did require dialogue balloons to be printed! Yet somehow the font used does the job!

The thing I really noticed as impressive is how the balloons are used to move the eye around the page. How they are placed to help the reader navigate the often jam packed pages. Where a panel is very dialogue heavy and that dialogue might interfere with the energetic, kinetic action on the page it's cleverly boxed away within the art, or almost in text boxes rather than balloons so it's compartmentalised. All there, all entirely easy to follow, but removed a little from the action so as visually not to kill the timing on the page.

See this is why I don't talk about lettering much - I don't have the vocabulary to really express what I mean... well even more so than when I'm talking about other things before anyone says anything. Maybe any passing letterers can explain more and interprete things for me, if they know the comics... hint hint...

Overall the impact of Kyle Baker's genius both as an artist and storyteller is held within the two issues he doesn't do in this series. Scott Morse fills in on issues 7 and 12 with two really fun one and done stories. These are good comics, the art is lively and also captures something of the tone of those done by Kyle Baker. And they are a real let down! Not as they are bad, they are good, but by being simply good, fun stories you realise quite how special the Kyle Baker issues are. However much fun you have while Scott Morse is on the comics I spent every moment reading them waiting to get to the next Kyle Baker issue. No detriment to Scott Morse, rather absolute testament to Kyle Baker.


Copyright - DC Comics

I mean look I've written a lot of words here and really to a great extent none of that was necessary at all... quiet at the back I know NONE of this is necessary at all... I as I could have just said

"Read these comics as they are just a massive dollop of plain fun. They are hilariously funny and have astonishing art."

In the early 2000s, an era that was hitting hard on grim and gritty in the mainstream, by trying to have an edge of 'realism' after the big guns and pouches of the 90s these comics were an absolute breath of fresh air. Very few comics make me laugh out loud. I noticed how close these were to the top of my to read spreadsheet (re-read in this case) so I did a bit of a shuffle and read them just before writing this entry. The looks I got off Mrs YNWA, the boy and girl child and even the cat while she was trying to settle down on me as I giggled happily to myself as a re-read these is all you need to know as to why this series gets it place on the list.

Where to find it

Alas there is only really one place to get these neatly these days. In a single hardbound collection - sealed by a giant rubber band of course. This edition is also available digitally at a more reasonable price.

Once again the aftermarket will be your friend. As with so many on my list these didn't set the world alight, so a bit of patience may be required. If you do have that you'll pick these up easily enough for bobbins though.


Learn more

Obligatory Wikipedia page but since there isn't one for this particular run I've gone with Plastic Man's entry which only has a tiny section on this great run alas.

I'll add Kyle Baker's wiki page as I quote it above as well.

from Grand Comics Database - the covers to this series. I've included them here as they really give a sense of the fun this series encapsulates. The cover don't reflect the stories inside directly but they nail the tone perfectly.

The Comics Journal has a great article talking about the Jack Cole stories and this run. Well worth the effort.

Focusing on issue 8 Multiversity Comics has some nice reflections on the run as a whole.

There's plenty more. These comics are starting to get the attention they deserve. Some of my fav comic YouTube channels have you covered as well. Cartoonist Kayfabe does a deep dive on issue 1 and For the Love of Comics reviews this after a re-read in conjunction with Tom King's Mister Miracle. Talk of Plastic Man starts at around 13.40 but really it's worth watching all of any video on this channel.

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.

[13school]

Why I Hate Saturn is excellent, but it's in no way a serious work - it's very much a New York comedy in the vein of things like Seinfeld or even Friends. Nate Turner is the exception in Baker's body of work - pretty much everything he does is either comedy or action-comedy, and it's all very much well worth checking out (The Cowboy Wally Show and I Die at Midnight are two of my faves).

Even his work on The Shadow pretty quickly takes the character down a very absurdist path - his final story (it ends on a cliffhanger because they'd gone so far from what the owners of the character wanted from a Shadow comic that they pulled the plug) was just a bunch of wacky support characters fighting over, uh, something closely related to The Shadow, and the way it was resolved would have led into a plotline a lot closer to Robocop than you might have expected.

[Colin YNWA]

Why I Hate Saturn is excellent, but it's in no way a serious work - it's very much a New York comedy in the vein of things like Seinfeld or even Friends. Nate Turner is the exception in Baker's body of work - pretty much everything he does is either comedy or action-comedy, and it's all very much well worth checking out (The Cowboy Wally Show and I Die at Midnight are two of my faves).

Damn I really need to read more Kyle Baker that's for sure!

[BadlyDrawnKano]

I'd really like to check out Elektra Lives Again at some point, but it seems to sell around the £30 mark and given that it appears to be for only 80 pages it's a bit too pricey for me right now.

I've got this in a really nice Daredevil by Miller box set that has so much great stuff in it (including Elektra Assassin) but its the one bit of Miller Daredevil(ish) stuff that hasn't been kept in print regularly.

I only got the box set a few years ago and its not yet got to the top of the pile so I'm still to read it. Looks good but its reputation isn't the same as Miller's other work, possibly cos its kinda forgotten.

I'm going to keep an eye out for that as it's be a handy way to pick up all of Miller's Dardevil wrok.

I'd really like to check out Elektra Lives Again at some point, but it seems to sell around the £30 mark and given that it appears to be for only 80 pages it's a bit too pricey for me right now.

Story-wise, it's pretty insubstantial (as the low page count attests) but it's peak Miller/Varley — the visual storytelling is masterful and it looks gorgeous.

Thanks for that Jim, it probably won't be until Christmas but I definitely will get it at one point this year.

And that Kyle Bakere Plastic Man looks phenomenal and has instantly gone on my Amazon wish list!

[Colin YNWA]

And that Kyle Baker Plastic Man looks phenomenal and has instantly gone on my Amazon wish list!

It really is.

Why I Hate Saturn is excellent, but it's in no way a serious work - it's very much a New York comedy in the vein of things like Seinfeld or even Friends. Nate Turner is the exception in Baker's body of work - pretty much everything he does is either comedy or action-comedy, and it's all very much well worth checking out (The Cowboy Wally Show and I Die at Midnight are two of my faves).

Even his work on The Shadow pretty quickly takes the character down a very absurdist path - his final story (it ends on a cliffhanger because they'd gone so far from what the owners of the character wanted from a Shadow comic that they pulled the plug) was just a bunch of wacky support characters fighting over, uh, something closely related to The Shadow, and the way it was resolved would have led into a plotline a lot closer to Robocop than you might have expected.

Out of interest I forgot to ask 13school have you read Plastic Man and how does it standup compared to Baker's other work?

[JohnW]

Have you read Plastic Man and how does it standup compared to Baker's other work?

Sticking my oar in if I may, I'd have to say that Plastic Man is my least favourite of Baker's stuff (although – as usual now – faced with the persuasive enthusiasm of your review, I might have to give it another go).
For my money, The Cowboy Wally Show is the business, with King David and You Are Here following close behind.
The impact of Cowboy Wally might be diminished if you notice the uncanny similarities with Krusty the Clown, but Baker was in there before Groening.
Have a butcher's, Colin, and tell us what you think.

[Colin YNWA]

Have you read Plastic Man and how does it standup compared to Baker's other work?

Sticking my oar in if I may, I'd have to say that Plastic Man is my least favourite of Baker's stuff (although – as usual now – faced with the persuasive enthusiasm of your review, I might have to give it another go).
For my money, The Cowboy Wally Show is the business, with King David and You Are Here following close behind.
The impact of Cowboy Wally might be diminished if you notice the uncanny similarities with Krusty the Clown, but Baker was in there before Groening.
Have a butcher's, Colin, and tell us what you think.

All oars welcome! This is almost what I was expecting. I get a sense the more I look into what Kyle Baker has done that Plastic Man was his fun, for laughs project and his other work has much more depth and is very interesting. That's not to devalue Plastic Man for being fun and for laughs as its very VERY good for that BUT there will be other things to get form his other works.

I'm defo checking some of them out and with the ones you sight... though the fact I've not read 'Why I hate Saturn' always feels like a bit of a blindspot I need to sort!

[13school]

And that Kyle Baker Plastic Man looks phenomenal and has instantly gone on my Amazon wish list!

It really is.

Why I Hate Saturn is excellent, but it's in no way a serious work - it's very much a New York comedy in the vein of things like Seinfeld or even Friends. Nate Turner is the exception in Baker's body of work - pretty much everything he does is either comedy or action-comedy, and it's all very much well worth checking out (The Cowboy Wally Show and I Die at Midnight are two of my faves).

Even his work on The Shadow pretty quickly takes the character down a very absurdist path - his final story (it ends on a cliffhanger because they'd gone so far from what the owners of the character wanted from a Shadow comic that they pulled the plug) was just a bunch of wacky support characters fighting over, uh, something closely related to The Shadow, and the way it was resolved would have led into a plotline a lot closer to Robocop than you might have expected.

Out of interest I forgot to ask 13school have you read Plastic Man and how does it standup compared to Baker's other work?

I have! It's a bit more 'all ages' than the rest of Baker's work, especially the early issues - I vaguely remember the first storyline was going to be a stand alone GN but it was turned into an ongoing series. As JohnW points out, it's a bit of an outlier in Baker's work. It's much more focused on animation-style visual gags, whereas on the whole his other work is a lot more grounded (that is, the visual stuff usually sticks to the limits of a very well directed Hollywood comedy or action movie).

But above all else he's an excellent cartoonist, and his art is always really strong whether he's going more for realism or cartoony - he's one of those artists where I just love looking at his drawing no matter what the story, and his visual storytelling is always rock solid even when he's writing something that's dialogue driven.

Baker's currently publishing his new stuff (and a lot of his old stuff) through Amazon, and though I haven't got his latest book yet I did enjoy the two volumes of Deathcathalon that're out if you're wondering what he's up to now

[Colin YNWA]

"Why do you spend so much time typing things 'bout comics dad?"
"Cos I want to share my love of the medium and maybe help folks find some good comics they don't know about."
"So why is it costing you so much money?"
"Oh 'cos I'm a f**kin' idiot..."

So once again my list of my favourite comics, a list of comics I'd recommend folks to read has cost me money.

After chat here I've found a nice double header Why I Hate Saturn + Cowboy Wally Show at what seems like a very good price AND I found both Deathcathlon hardcovers for less than £20 and so....

...sigh... I mean at least it covers both ends of his career... and I'm learning as I go... I mean I'm not learning to stop spending money on more bloody comics when my waiting list is 4 years BUT I'm learning new comics to add to that pile!