June 16, 2006
Comics are a cruel form of entertainment. Most comics are confusing, cheesy, and require an immense knowledge of the history of the characters. To make things even worse, many comics require you to crossover to other comics to get the full story. It?s almost never worth the trouble. BUT! Contrary to popular belief, there are in fact a few handfuls of very talented writers and artists working in the comic industry.
For those interested, I?ve chosen some graphic novels and trade paperbacks that are easy to pick up and read with little or no knowledge about the characters? histories (with a few exceptions that are noted below). So if you?ve been thinking about maybe getting into comics but you?re lost, or you?re just a jerk who is convinced that every comic is poorly written childish garbage, check out some of this stuff. It may (or may not) change your mind about comics.
It should also be noted that I?m not a comic book expert. I have a moderate collection and general knowledge, but that?s about it. So consider this a beginner?s guide? written by a beginner.
This is a good one for beginners, because its not only well written, easily accessible and often poetic, it also only loosely takes place in the DC universe, so no real previous comic book knowledge is required to fully appreciate it. The ?comic book? characters that do exist in these books appear rarely and usually just in cameo form. There are 75 individual comics in the Sandman series, collected in ten trade paperbacks, most costing around $20 MSRP. Because of the series? massive popularity (especially with girls, for some reason), there are various spin-offs from this series as well. I?ve heard mixed things about the spin-offs, but I?ve read the core series, and it?s great. The art in Sandman various from standard 80?s comic book style to a much more experimental style, depending on who was drawing it at the time. Dave McKean always did the covers, though, which are interesting to say the least. This one comes highly recommended, and even if you don?t like it, you can give it to your girlfriend. Or your sister. Or your mom. Or pretty much any girl I guess, they can?t seem to get enough Sandman.
Frank Miller is now, of course, widely known because of Sin City. For whatever reason, though, this one is one of his most overlooked books. The story goes all over the place, in a good way. It starts out in feudal Japan, then flashes to the near future, and then gets very sci-fi. The story takes a few twists here and there, and the art is experimental and sketchy, which is a nice break from the strait forward style most comics are drawn in. Also, interesting to note, Samurai Jack (the stylish, awesome cartoon by Genndy Tartakovsky) is heavily influenced by ?Ronin,? to the point that if you simplified the plots enough, wrote them down, and put them side by side, you wouldn?t be able to tell which is which. Of course they are entirely different experiences told in completely different ways, but still, its surprising to see where some stuff really comes from.
Daniel Clowes is better known for his graphic novel that was adapted into a movie, ?Ghost World.? The truth be told, I haven?t seen or read ?Ghost World,? but from what I understand it has a similar tone to ?Ice Haven.? The tone is very somber and sad, which is a strange tone for a comic to have, but in a good way. ?Ice Haven? is essentially a human drama about a small town, told from many different inhabitants? points of view. There are no super heroes here, which might bore some people, but might interest others.
While were on the subject of non super hero comics, I?ll go ahead and talk about ?The Quitter.? You may or may not have heard of Harvey Pekar, but there was a movie that came out about him, based on his comics, called ?American Splendor.? His stories are strait forward and about his life, but they?re well written, kind of sad, but also occasionally funny. Again, to some this might be a bore, but to others it?s a good, albeit sad, autobiography about a fairly normal guy.
Kingdom Come is quickly becoming a classic in the comic book world, and not without good reason. It?s clever, and manages to make what sounds cheesy fun and epic. If it wasn?t for this comic I would have never given a second thought to reading certain character?s comics, like Superman and Captain Marvel. Not only is it one of the best super hero stories around, the art by Alex Ross is astounding. Unlike other comic book artists, he doesn?t just draw, he paints from real life human models (and very well I might add), so the art almost feels like it should be hanging in a museum somewhere as opposed to in a comic book. This comic does require some general knowledge about the DC universe, although much of what is required to know is hit on in the comic itself, or fairly common pop-culture stuff (like Lex Luthor is the arch nemesis of Superman), so its still a good starting point for people that are new to comics.
Written and illustrated by Frank Miller (With colorist Lynn Varley for DKSA)
Like ?Kingdom Come,? most comic book ?people? consider both of Miller?s graphic novels ?Batman: The Dark Knight Returns? and ?The Dark Knight Strikes Again? as required reading. ?Dark Knight Returns? (I?ll call it ?DK? for short) was released way back in 1985 and is widely accepted as one of the most important comic books in history. Its influence has been felt in movies, books, and many other comics. Darren Aronofsky (director of ?Pi? and ?Requiem for a Dream?) often brings up this book in interviews, and Tim Burton at one point also wanted to ditch the version of Batman he was making in favor of a screen adaptation of DK.
?The Dark Knight Strikes Again? (I?ll call it DK2, as it is usually shortened to), was released much later (2001), to much controversy. Many consider it to be much weaker than DK, due to its more lighthearted style and experimental coloring process (DK2 was colored by a computer, which at the time was experimental). Probably about half of the people you talk to about this comic, that know what it is, will tell you that it sucks, and the other half will tell you how great it is. I loved it, but its one of those that you just have to read and make your own decisions about.
Well, that?s it for now. There are plenty more where that came from though, so keep an eye out for part two of this series. If you like this stuff and want more, check out part two later. If you hate all this stuff and want to kill me, wait until part two, there might be something on that list that you end up liking.
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