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

[Colin YNWA]

Cheers Colin, enjoying this thread, nothing I've read here yet, but a few I've been curious about.

Its a genuine pleasure - not just giving you joy you fine man you, but starting this thread.

Really wasn't sure how much of a response I'd get here and did think it might just become a journal of my thoughts seen by next to no one.

As it is thanks to all the ACE comments and enthusiasum of you folks its become a really cool place for comics chat with my posts just there to fire up the conversation. Its as more than I dared hoped so thank you folks and let's keep it up... well be warned I will be doing so regardless!

[Vector14]

I've only read the first Saga book, really enjoyed it and was looking forward to picking up the next one.
Your post has made me second guess myself a bit though. 😂

But I think I still might continue it. I see it as just a light fun read anyway.The worst I can say about it is that I had the feeling the writer was just kind of making it up as he went along with no overarching story in mind.

The question of things feeling authentic regarding fiction or moreso music like Bruce Springsteen.
I think it just comes down to wheter you like the music or not. If you enjoy it then you give it a freepass for being inauthentic. If you dislike the music then the phoniness of the singer just helps to affirm your opinion.
Like I'm pretty sure very few fans of Tom Waits really believe he's a hobo out there riding the rails with a knapsack on a stick.
Yet people who dislike him will find this hobo persona ridiculous and use that to criticise him.

Perhaps in fiction/comics though, things feeling overly contrived can be harder to accept as reading takes more engagement than listening to music generally does.

[kiwijohn]

Hi Colin,
Loved reading this thread, Logged on for the first time in years so I can comment.
I recently moved back to my home country of New Zealand, and after hauling my comics collection out of 10 years storage went through and sold about of half of it.  The major criteria for selling something was "Can see myself ever reading this again?"- with the added thought that "10 years in storage - did I miss it?" 
Anyhows that's just a bit of background to where some of my comments about your list are coming from. 

I'll start with the series you mentioned as not being on the list cos you've not read them:

100 Bullets - I read Azzarello's 'Hellblazer' before this, and 100 Bullets I actually collected for about the first 40 issues. Both his 'Hellblazer' and '100 Bullets" I rate lowly for the same reasons: they're bleak, dark, nihiistic, and almost gleeful in presenting unpleasant characters and scenarios that get dangerously close to caricature, - but then he doesn't have much to say about them - a comparison would be Brubaker's 'Criminal' - horrible flawed people in terrible situations, but still people, along with a sense of "there but for the grace of god"- what would I do in their situation?

Preacher - barrington Boots in his post (#25) nails it - although I never found any of the 90s humour funny even in the 90s when I first read it (and never finished it).       

Ghost World - I know I've read this and enjoyed, as a 20 something - can't remember much about it TBH

Starman - solid superhero comics avoids the DC/Johns "Grim and Gritty"TM, tells its tale and ends.  I enjoyed it very much, can't see myself reading it ever again though - out it went. Borrow it from the library, see what you think.

Blankets - a "worthy" "literary" read - good, but if I'm being honest, not what I read comics for. I can read a book if I want "literary". Borrow it from the library.

Black Hole - a "literary" comic that is a also a comic - the art and story together do what a novel alone cannot. 

Fables - I enjoyed this up until the point where the Fables defeated the villain - where Willingham's political subtext became too distasteful for me to ignore and continue reading - also without the villain the series lost much of its focus.

Astro City - I love Astro City, perfect almost nostalgic superhero comics - very well done with the advantage that being the vision of a single creator the continuity hangs together.  Will I read them again? Nope, sold them. Will I keep up with the series from the local library as it buys the TPBs? - absolutely.

Chris Ware/ Jason - never read.

Scott Pilgrim -  great fun. Try to read in one run in front of cosy fire on a rainy day :-)

Blacksad - I'm not a great fan of detective/thriller novels, but this has the visuals, which is what makes it for me - and I'm a sucker for historical fiction in comics. I also find non-American writers' takes on Americam genre fiction to often be more interesting than those of actual American writers.

Grandville - alt-history, Bryan Talbot art. Fantastic stuff. I can highly recommend it.  I just read it again for the 2nd time last week, and loved it all over again. 



       

[Colin YNWA]

Wow cool Kiwijohn.

Of those I've now got Preacher and fromm the comments here I do wonder how it hold up???

I've picked up Ghost World in a Complete Eightball I treated myself to after some recent sales (along with Ducks and Street Angel) as I loved the issues I had back in the day and having been wanting to catch up with Daniel Clowes.

I'm really weary of Fables as I'm aware of the political undertones and think they will really jarr with me.

Scott Pilgram I almost picked up in a recent Humble Bundle but decided against so... actually why did I do that????

I think Grandville and Blackhole will be the next purchases from my list of obvious omissions and hear such good things about both and both should be right up my alley.

That list was amazing kiwijohn - chuffed you decided to join in the chat.

[Vector14]

Preacher is a funny one for me. At the time I thought it was the Best Comic Ever. It's partially responsible for me going off 2000ad at the time, as late teen me found this edgy fare to make 2000ad seem immature by comparison.
Ironically my introduction to preacher was through the megazine reprints.

When I think back on it now, all the things that made it seem adult to me then, make it seem far more immature than the average 2000ad story now.

I have a full set of the books here and I dont think I'll try reading them again. Without having to read it, its gone from my favourite comic to actively disliking it.

I read the first 100 Bullets book way back too, but it didnt make much of an impression.
Like you say KiwiJohn, its just overly nihilistic and dull. And no humour in it to give you a break.

I have a couple of Jason books and like them both. His books are really short so you might as well read them if you have them.
I reread the left bank gang last week and its a fun light read especially if you are interested in that generation of writers living in Paris.

[Blue Cactus]

Wow cool Kiwijohn.

Of those I've now got Preacher and fromm the comments here I do wonder how it hold up???

I've picked up Ghost World in a Complete Eightball I treated myself to after some recent sales (along with Ducks and Street Angel) as I loved the issues I had back in the day and having been wanting to catch up with Daniel Clowes.

I'm really weary of Fables as I'm aware of the political undertones and think they will really jarr with me.

Scott Pilgram I almost picked up in a recent Humble Bundle but decided against so... actually why did I do that????

I think Grandville and Blackhole will be the next purchases from my list of obvious omissions and hear such good things about both and both should be right up my alley.

That list was amazing kiwijohn - chuffed you decided to join in the chat.

If we're talking anthropomorphic detective comics, Grandville towers above Blacksad for me. I found it wittier, warmer, the characters more engaging and the plots more satisfying. It's outstanding.

I like Daniel Clowes's stuff a lot - Icehaven, The Death Ray and Patience are among my favourites - and Velvet Glove if you like the films of David Lynch.

[kiwijohn]

Wow cool Kiwijohn.

Of those I've now got Preacher and fromm the comments here I do wonder how it hold up???

I've picked up Ghost World in a Complete Eightball I treated myself to after some recent sales (along with Ducks and Street Angel) as I loved the issues I had back in the day and having been wanting to catch up with Daniel Clowes.

I'm really weary of Fables as I'm aware of the political undertones and think they will really
 jarr with me.

Scott Pilgram I almost picked up in a recent Humble Bundle but decided against so... actually why did I do that????

I think Grandville and Blackhole will be the next purchases from my list of obvious omissions and hear such good things about both and both should be right up my alley.

That list was amazing kiwijohn - chuffed you decided to join in the chat.

If we're talking anthropomorphic detective comics, Grandville towers above Blacksad for me. I found it wittier, warmer, the characters more engaging and the plots more satisfying. It's outstanding.

I like Daniel Clowes's stuff a lot - Icehaven, The Death Ray and Patience are among my favourites - and Velvet Glove if you like the films of David Lynch.

yes Colin, I'd be curious to hear your view of Preacher especially since you're coming to it as a first reader almost 25 years after it was written.

You and Blue Cactus have persuaded me to look for Daniel Clowes in my local library - looks like there is a very good selection - https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/search?query=daniel%20clowes&searchType=everything&pageSize=10

Blue Cactus - if pushed, I'd have to agree with you on Grandville vs Blacksad, but I like them both for different reasons really.
 (Speaking of Grandville and Bryan Talbot, I hesitated on Alice in Sunderland for a long time - wondering whether the history of an English port town held relevance to me here in New Zealand - but after reading it I found that many of the themes resonated - especially since NZ has been taken in by the same kind of neo-liberal trickle-down BS that has effectively destroyed the UK economy - the main difference for NZ is that we still have exports that others want ie: food. (but not for long if vat-grown protein becomes economically viable)

Interesting debate on 'Saga' too - I haven't picked up Saga because 1/ I didn't really like the premise 2/ SF comics I almost invariably compare to 2000AD,and most fall short 3/ I also read a lot of SF novels and for me good comicbook SF has to stand up against them (most US SF comics I don't rate as SF, they're space opera ala Star Trek/Wars), 4/ I absolutely hated his Y-The Last Man - great world-building for the first issues then it got bogged down in tedious relationships and totally whiffed the ending with a pseudo-mystical handwave...


 

[kiwijohn]

Onto THE LIST:
Copperhead, I did read the first few issues as they came out, and decided to wait for the trades - then went overseas and lost track completely. I agree that Copperhead wouldn't be at all out of place in 2000AD or the Meg - which is high praise as far as I'm concerned.  As I alluded to above, I inevitably end up comparing  comicbook Sf (whether US, BD or Manga) to 2000AD, and much falls short.  I do have a similar situation with movie/TV SF - I end up comparing it to the likes of Sapphire and Steel, Dr Who, the Tomorrow People or Blake's 7. (NZ in my 70s childhood really was a cultural colony of the UK). 




 

[Funt Solo]

The closest thing in 2000 AD to Saga is probably the similarly incomplete Brass Sun.

I like both of them. Saga can be a bit brutal, but it's never dull.

[BadlyDrawnKano]

Preacher's a weird one for me, I read it online in 2007 when I was all but bed bound for six months after breaking my leg really badly (in what is a surprisingly dull story I'll probably tell when I've a bit more time) and I enjoyed it a good deal, there were a few "Oh, Garth, really?" moments but mostly I found it fun. But then after a lucky charity shop find I reread it after the tv series had started and, well, I still like about half of it, but I do have issues with the way Jesse treats Tulip, and some of the gross out humour felt a bit dated. I'm glad I own it, but at the same time I'd be surprised if I read it a third time.

[Colin YNWA]

Number 123 - Fatale

Keywords: Image; horror; Brubaker and Phillips; Era spanning; Lovecraftian

Creators:
Writer -  Ed Brubaker
Art - Sean Phillips
Colours - David Stewart

Publisher: DC under the Vertigo imprint

No. issues: 24
Date of Publication: 2012 - 2014

Last read: 2016

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are a creative marriage made in heaven. They have a clear desire to tell the same sort of stories and they are both perfectly matched to create the comics they use to tell them and clearly work so well together. It was therefore a surprise when only a couple of their works, which I generally really like, made the list. Why this specific one did is therefore quite interesting to me.


Copyright - them what created it...

This is particularly true as Fatale deals with Lovecraftian, cthulhu type stuff and if I'm honest that kinda stuff doesn't really interest me... I might go as far as to so it bores the bejeezus outta me... but I'm getting ahead of myself, what is this story about?

Josephine or Jo as she is often referred to is the archetype femme fatale, little surprise given the title. She glides into people's lives and uses her inescapable charm and magnetism to enchant them into doing her bidding. She uses her superhuman charisma to manipulate men to serve her purposes, to try to escape the forces that surround her. Her ability isn't something she can control, though it provides her almost complete control of those who get caught in it. This, of course, has a significant cost to those that get entangled with her, and once used she moves on leaving them devastated.

It's the dark nature of the things she needs to escape that separate this from the typical noir tale. This isn't Criminal. Jo appears to be immortal, in her current incarnation since the early 20th Century and the series follows her moving through different eras trying to escape the grasps of a supernatural cult that wants to use her for their own elder God type machinations. Each of the arcs has an opening and closing sequence in the 'modern day as Jo's story races to a predictably tragic conclusion.

There is more though, other incarnations of Jo, or characters very similar that have lived in other times, we see mediaeval France and the Wild West. Her presence, or the powers that drive her exist across time. The similar dark forces trying to ensnare her.


Copyright - them what created it...

So far all I've talked about is Jo pretty much. Other characters do come in, focus is given to those she uses and the cost they bear. But really this story is centred very singularly on Jo and whether you engage with it rests largely on whether you also fall for her charms.

 I very much did.

Like the best femme fatales she knows the harm she will cause to those she uses, she feels guilt for the power and damage she will inflict. She tries to resist and understand what it is that she can do. But she is relentlessly driven. Terrified and does all she can to escape the clutches of those that pursue her regardless of the cost.

The cult that follows her is really just window dressing, a plot tool that gives motivation for Jo and a focus to allow us to sympathise with her plight. To that end while Lovecraftian things do tend to bore me, here it doesn't have a massive impact, any number of drivers might have worked and the story remains an examination of the concept of the femme fatale. This also allows the pursuing threat to suitably mysterious and vague, their desire to capture Jo and what that can mean oblique, just as Jo is.


Copyright - them what created it...

Another major factor in my enjoyment of this is of course Sean Phillips and Ed Brubaker as said at the outset an almost perfect comics coupling. Brubaker, already discussed on this list, is superb at creating characters that inhabit dark corners of a world that feels at once grounded and 'real' yet also embroiled in the fantastic. He centres the stories he creates on people the reader can engage with and understand, the reader can relate to even as the character's worlds spin into places we can only imagine.

As said when I look at my  list and see the one other Phillips + Brubaker series that appears, and it kinda surprises me they only have two entries, it struck me the other one is a series that also has fantastical elements, not one of their 'straighter' pieces (why isn't Fade Out in the list... I do wonder about myself at times!). I think it's the fact that I do love genre fiction and the way they balance this with more 'real world' elements of many of their works really works for me.

Good as they are as a pairing it's hard to deny that Sean Phillips is the real star here, taking the characters and casting them into dark shadows and dimly lit worlds. He does this while never losing any of the subtlety of their humanity, their reactions portrayed as both real and nuanced. Yet still allowing the melodrama of the scenarios, interactions and world the characters inhabit chime through. Neither element detracts from the other and he balances things perfectly. This courses the readers to fully embrace the human elements, engage and fall into those characters. Always though emphasising that this isn't our world, we are looking into things we can't comprehend yet those things exist in a world we know and feel grounded in.


Copyright - them what created it...

As Jo is so dominant in this story it's also vital therefore that she is so perfectly realised by Phillips. He manages to make Jo astonishing, beautiful and sexual enough to believably compel men the way she does. Yet real and with the vulnerability we all have, and especially in extreme circumstances like those she lives in. He does this without leaning into bland sexualisation as so many would. Jo is so much more than her powers, yet her power over people is clear from the way Phillips draws her.


Copyright - them what created it...

The final thing I want to reflect on is really what they don't do. I was surprised to learn that this was originally created as a 12 issue series. That doesn't feel that it would allow the scope and range of the time scanning element and would have felt too compact. They expanded it to the 24 issues we get, which feels perfect. I do wonder if they considered taking it beyond that, as the fact that Jo and the other incarnations we see cross a vast range of time means that this could have spun on and explored other eras. It's great that it doesn't as we get to explore Jo completely with what we get and more would have felt like padding. They judge the story perfectly.

We also don't get full disclosure on Jo's powers, their origins and exactly what will happen if those that pursue her are successful. Things are alluded to, but it's never explicitly laid out. For me this is a really successful choice. It allows Jo to remain a mystery, have an element of enigma regardless of how closely we follow her during her tale. She remains forever slightly untouchable to the reader and that feels very smart to me. She is the perfect femme fatale after all.

So Fatale and Jo. If you get a knock on your office door, see a perfect figure behind its frosted glass and smell an alluring mix of sensuous perfume and tobacco smoke. Slip that whiskey bottle into your bottom draw, take your feet off the desk you sit behind and invite her in... just make sure your gun is loaded when you do.


Copyright - them what created it...

Where to find it

There are five trades that include the entire series and two deluxe edition hardbacks, though the first of these seems to have hit those fictional crazy prices some collections do (does anyone ever sell those things for like £150 or whatever?!?).

As ever the aftermarket is your friend and this being a nice compact 24 issues means it's not too hard or expensive to get hold of if you have that all important patience. Also reckon it'd be possible to get that first deluxe volume at a reasonable price.

Don't know if the collections include some nice back matter that Brubaker and Phillips normally include in the floppies, you like that kinda of thing it's worth tracking down the original comics.

Learn more

Obligatory Wikipedia page

Strange Brain Parts the superb YouTube channel doesn't like it as much as me but provides a great alternative take

Image Page for the series which includes a gallery of covers. Always like those when the covers really give a nice sense of the series as these one's do.

As ever the various volumes and collections get plenty of reviews which are just a quick Google search away (add Brubaker and Phillips to that search to avoid other stuff!). I quite like this one from Lakes Festival, nice and succincent.

[Blue Cactus]

Brubaker and Phillips do make a great team! I think you're right about this series, the way they keep the full story just out of view and Jo remains an elusive figure you can't quite fathom. I think I found that a little perplexing on first read as I felt like it was me missing something or not grasping the full story, but like you say, that's by design isn't it. I'll bear that in mind when I come to reread it. I've read a fair bit from this creator team and with you mentioning The Fade Out, I will say I that was possibly my favourite series of theirs alongside Kill or Be Killed. Interesting to see which of their other series makes your list.

[Barrington Boots]

Same with Bruce Springsteen. I once read someone saying they found his stuff a bit like a big broadway musical version of working class anthems, which they found a bit inauthentic, but other folk hear it as the genuine article. I realise I am saying nothing deep here, just that some people react differently to others!

Such a good analysis of Bruce Springsteen there! Music is beautifully subjective of course but this is one of the reasons I feel someone like Billy Bragg is authetic and Bruce isn't.

Also a very insightful critqiue of Kirkman from Hawk there that perfectly captures why I fell out of love with Invincible and TWD.

Anyway - I have tried and never rally engaged with Saga, but very interested to read everyones thoughts on it. Fatale isn't something I've read and I'm very interested to do so, I will check it out.

[Colin YNWA]

Super intrigued to read Preacher now with all the chat here. I do wonder how it will sit with me now, but excited to find out.

Alas quite a way to go before it gets to the top of the 'To read Spreadsheet' - sooo many comics to read!

On a related note do the Ennis + Dillon Hellblazers hold up? I've not read them in a long, long time but loved them as they came out.

I like Daniel Clowes's stuff a lot - Icehaven, The Death Ray and Patience are among my favourites - and Velvet Glove if you like the films of David Lynch.

The newly purchased complete Eightball got a cheeky boost up that 'To Read Spreadsheet' as I spotted a gap. So looking forward to it.

Same with Bruce Springsteen. I once read someone saying they found his stuff a bit like a big broadway musical version of working class anthems, which they found a bit inauthentic, but other folk hear it as the genuine article. I realise I am saying nothing deep here, just that some people react differently to others!

Such a good analysis of Bruce Springsteen there! Music is beautifully subjective of course but this is one of the reasons I feel someone like Billy Bragg is authetic and Bruce isn't.

Have to say I love them both.

[Vector14]

I've got some of the Brubaker and Phillips books from a humble bundle. And like most things I buy on there in the £1 tier, I havent read any of them.
Maybe time to remedy that and check if Fatale is in there too.