Thursday, April 15, 2010

These Are the Comics I Read Regularly...

I'm in the process of moving back to the United States and all my hardcover archive books and whatnot and frippery are now resting in cardboard boxes I took from the supermarket downtown. I'm a bit stressed and running low on inspiration. So in lieu of anything timely or relevant or even interesting, here's a list.

1) Love and Rockets. Even though it only comes out once a year, a new issue of Love and Rockets is a major event for me. Perhaps because it only comes out once a year.

2) New Mutants. The only superhero book I can stand. After 11 issues I realized just how much I'm enjoying getting to know these characters again. I'm enjoying Zeb Wells' versions-- and Kieron Gillen's-- and really digging how Dani Moonstar is once again dominating the storylines. Now I'm hooked!

3) BPRD and Hellboy. Pretty much anything with a Mignola connection, but I'm taken with the characters and concepts. Guy Davis is a revelation on art, and I enjoyed Duncan Fegredo's work here a lot more than I did when his X-Statix... or was it X-Force... fill-in issue underwhelmed me. And Richard Corben? Wow!

4) Nana. I'm not sure when Yazawa Ai's going to take up where she left off. I haven't had an update on her condition in a while. Nana is every bit as addictive as Love and Rockets.

5) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century. Black Dossier was pretty cool-- especially the color section devoted to Orlando's life story and the vicious slam job on James Bond-- and merely whetted my appetite for more. Which "1910" sated temporarily. Now Mina and Allan are going to take on the 60s when London swung like the pendulum... did? Sign me up, please. I'll watch Hard Day's Night back to back with Help and Yellow Submarine one thousand times to get in the mood. I can't wait to see who Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill weave into their plot.

And that's about it. Torpedo rocks, but it's sealed in a box right now and I can't get at it. I'm very into Dark Horse's Creepy and Eerie and Nexus reprints, and Fantagraphics' Blazing Combat volume is one of my favorite books of any kind... ever. But while I've enjoyed a few other titles here and there, like 20th Century Boys, nothing current has really sparked an obsession like the five books listed above.

2 comments:

Richard said...

Remember, when your return to the States leads you into the fair city of New York, I want to personally escort you to St. Marks Place and the East Village and all the groovy comics shops in the vicinity. Just say the word!

(I realize going to St. Marks Place after living in Japan will be something like me going out searching for chip shops when I was obliged to return to New York after living in London…but one suspects you won't whimper and pout nearly as much as I did back then.)

Unknown said...

Hey, thanks! Something to look forward to!