Comics are my life, so if I'm doing a year in review, I'm mostly just gonna find myself talking about comics. So, here's what I'm currently reading as 2012 comes to a close.
Anything by Clint Basinger- My friend, fellow Comic Quest Creator's Alliance Member, and occasional collaborator, Clint Basinger makes some of the best comics going today, period. His comics are wild, silly, weird, and endlessly beautiful. I'm not sure what exactly came out this year (my memory sucks ass), but I make it a policy to score anything Clint produces. Also, Nacho-veratu (a Nacho Cheez Vampire)... GENIUS!
Copra by Michael Fiffe- I heard about this self published, monthly comic online, and I decided to try it out. It's pretty darn good, a story about a...ahem...suicide squad... of mercenaries who have a gig go really, really wrong, and end up hunted fugitives. I'm not sure I'm completely thrilled by the story, but the artwork and the utterly bizarre character designs are jaw dropping, making this worth the extra money you gotta spend on shipping.
Anything by Tom Scioli- This year, in the world of Tom Scioli, we got: Final Frontier- a bizarre homage to the Fantastic Four, featuring an alt-world FF re-imagined as the Beetles, where Sound and Music are at the center of everything. What starts as a somewhat simple story of a wedding spirals madly out of control into a ever expanding universe where anything can happen. It was a trip. Other than that, we got some cool short online comics (Myth was awesome), a twisted take on Superman called "Satan's Soldier" that's been pretty darn cool, and, in the world of print comics, we got an issue of "Godland" that was a full-on tripadelic thrill ride of wonder. Tom Scioli's the man, man.
BPRD and Hellboy- By Mike Mignola and lotsa different artists (and back up writers)- What can I say about BPRD? I love it. Horrible monsters, the slow burn of an inevitable apocalypse, a surprise in just about every issue, just wonderful. If there's something I don't like about this comic, it's that so many of my favorite characters are either dead now or in a coma or have lost their powers and disappeared. As a result, we've been left with a skeleton crew consisting of mostly under equipped humans trapped in a desperate struggle for survival. It's still great, but I miss Abe and Liz. Also, we got some Hellboy this year (I think there was Hellboy this year). I haven't got Hellboy in Hell yet, but what Hellboy that did come out this year was awesome.
Baltimore- By Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and various artists- Produced by the same crew that gave us Hellboy and the BPRD, but set in an alternate universe where Vampires (really, really nasty Vampires) run rampant, Baltimore follows the grim adventures of one legged Lord Baltimore in his endless Quixotic quest to kill the one eyed Vampire that killed his family. It's grim and dark and has lotsa monsters. I like the lotsa monsters part the best.
Happy- by Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson- I hate to admit this, as much as I love Grant Morrison, this series just isn't thrilling me all that much. I like it alright, but it doesn't kill it like other Morrison books. On the bright side, it's only a mini-series, and I'm curious to see how it will end.
Haunt- by Joe Casey and Nathan Fox- This series surprised the hell out of me. The star of the show is Nathan Fox's wildly kinetic artwork that evokes a bit of a Paul Pope feel. The story, about evil religious cults and a pair of squabbling brothers still connected after death is pretty okay.
Multiple Warheads- by Brandon Graham- For me, personally, the top two guys making comics right now are Tom Scioli and Brandon Graham. Brandon's work is so full of madness, invention, oddball puns, and pure fun, it's almost impossible not to be enamored with it. Multiple Warheads is pure Graham, a drifting road trip of weirdness in a world that continually reveals itself to us in new and exciting ways.
Prophet- by Brandon Graham and various artists- Speaking of Brandon Graham, I consider Graham's re-imagining of the not-so-classic Prophet to be the best damn comic being produced today. Endlessly inventive, completely unpredictable, and jaw droppingly beautiful. Prophet is just the best thing out there.
Saga- by Brian Vaughn and Fiona Staples- A close second for best comic out there is Saga. A sci-fi/fantasy world full of infinite dangers where even the innocent are not safe, Saga not only has truly, truly beautiful artwork, but a pretty damn compelling story and a bizarre and wonderful cast of characters as well. Just about everyone's reading this one. If you're not, you really should be.
Supreme- by Erik Larsen- So, just to be clear, I'm reading all of the Extreme Reboot books, because I can. Supreme's pretty okay, featuring a conflict between the original, hard nosed, Rob Liefeld Supreme and the more idealistic, retro Supreme created by Alan Moore. I'm curious to see where it's going.
Adventure Time- Who knew this comic would be so rad? I mean, I LOVELOVELOVE the cartoon, but I figured the comic wouldn't be worth a damn. I was wrong. It was brilliant, and continues to be so. The recent "Choose Your Own Adventure Time" comic was genius.
Bravest Warriors- If Adventure Time is "Dragon's Lair", then Bravest Warriors is "Space Ace". Like Adventure Time, Bravest is a fun, silly, actiony comic set in a colorful universe of endless possibilities. Great stuff, glad I picked it up.
It Girl & the Atomics- Jamie S. Rich and various- Not as good as Madman, this spin off series is still pretty fun, and helps to flesh out some of the various supporting characters from the Madmanverse. I figure I'll stick around for awhile.
Spawn- by Todd McFarlane & Symon Kudranski- In a bizarre fit of nostalgia, I found myself reading Spawn again after a ten year break. It's not bad, but not great. If nothing else, I find myself trying to put the various puzzle pieces of this series together, trying to reconcile where the series left off when I quit reading, and where the series is now. At the very least, it's an interesting experiment.
Glory- by Joe Keatinge & Ross Campbell- Another comic in the Extreme Revival, Glory is a firecracker of a comic, rising from the ashes of Liefeld's Vanilla rip-off of Wonder Woman, and Alan Moore's Vanilla warm up to Promethea, Glory is a wild, bloody, sexy battlefield of a comic full of mystery and surprise. But the real star of the show is the beautiful artwork by Ross Campbell. I never knew you could draw women the way he draws women and somehow make them power and sexy at the same time. A truly underrated comic.
Youngblood- by John McLaughlin & Jon Malin- More Extreme Revivalism, Youngblood has turned out to be a really good comic, full of interesting characters, intriguing mysteries, and, perhaps best of all, every issue has a self contained story where Youngblood actually saves the day. Just good, solid, comics work.
Bloodstrike- The last of the Extreme Reboot titles, Bloodstrike is bloody and vicious and fun. That is all.
Savage Dragon by Erik Larsen- For years I have attempted to get into the Dragon, and for years I've been picking up an issue here and an issue there, but have never managed to stay with the series. In celebration of 20 Years of Image Comics (wow, 20 Years since the Image Revolution changed my life... wow), I decided to try to stick with the Dragon for awhile. I jumped in at a pretty odd spot, so in a way it's pretty excited, like trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle of ideas. It's neat.
Those are the main comics I'm following right now. Other than that, I'm always looking forward to new comics from fellow Small Press creators, such as Nik Havert (Pickle Press), Steven Hager and Bruce Rosenberg (Dutchy Digest), John Hoban (Apocalypse City, Night of the Smurfing Dead), Paul Schultz (The Serial Squad), David Branstetter (Straw Man), Craig Bogart (the Ineffables), Jon Michael Lennon (Product of Society), Leslie and Jarod Anderson (Maybe Too Metal), Johnathon and Betsy Brock (Fortune Pancakes and Fruit!), and Mark Griffin (Night Warrior). Hope I didn't forget anyone...
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