My 2008 in comics here's my personal "best of/favorite" comics of 2008.. I didn't read everything, not by a long-shot, and I missed some pretty essential stuff too (how did I miss reading Ganges 2? POPEYE 3??? LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE 1, Powr Mastrs 2?????), so. I don't know, these things are always subjective anyhow, so whatever. I guess I don't feel too bad about it.

(this is not an ordered list)

-Kramers Ergot 7- It's just plain amazing. Not everything in it hits me too hard, of course, and there were some disappointments from people I was expecting revelatory work from, or inventive usage of the space that just didn't happen.. but on the whole? man, this thing is just an explosion of comics.

-BPRD- The actual BPRD comic, not any of the weak-sauce one shots and minis that came out this year (oh wait, BPRD:1946 was actually really cool) Guy Davis (all I really need), plus: ACTUAL FORWARD MOMENTUM!
(ps, Hellboy: The Crooked Man was great, thank you Richard Corben!). Yeah, anyhow, I love this series.

-All Star Superman 10- Maybe the perfect issue of a near-perfect series? I confess to losing some excitement around the middle of the series, especially the too-long Bizarro story, but this issue is fantastic. Made me feel warm inside. No, I'm not a critic, obviously.

-Perla La Loca- Jamie Hernandez at one of his early peaks, after you thought he'd already had to have peaked, and before he kept getting better. He's like some sort of self-defying impossible to replicate curve of excellence, rising higher and higher and- What's that? I'm being a fan-boy? sorry. Basically, I'd already read all these stories over and over a hundred times before but these bigger-than-digest sized reprints continue to prove themselves to be the perfect vehicle for the saga of Maggie et al.. I keep finding new connections and resonances between events and characters I thought I'd previously mined completely.

-Gus and His Gang- Christophe Blain does it again. The level of cartooning in this book is so incredible, not just on a panel to panel level (which is of course great) but also all of the neat "comics vocabulary" stuff that he does, showing what people are thinking about while they talk with pictures, and Clem's conscience visualized as a giant cyclops with an illuminating eye... Anyhow. Impressive. I loved all the family parts at the end, and the way Blain got around to imbuing practically every character with some weight and background detail in mostly very subtle ways. Basically yet another book that deals with modern ideas about relationships in an old-world setting, and does it well.

-RASL- New Jeff smith! Sci-Fi! Titties! I'm hooked.

-Capacity- By Theo Ellsworth. Theo is a friend of mine, but this book is worth your time, even if you don't know him. It's one of the most intense documents of the mind of an artist I've ever seen, and I really love his drawing and design.

-BodyWorld & Bottomless Bellybutton- Actually, BBB is more "serious" but I think BodyWorld will end up being the better book. It's definitely the only webcomic I go out of my way to read, even with Achewood I just kind of let it accumulate and go in at random points to catch up, but BW is a must-read asap with each new installment. In both cases, Dash Shaw does shit with comics I've never seen before, and creates engaging characters and plots. I also really like his art these days, it's funny to think he used to be so Paul Pope influenced. It's interesting that he can capture some of the subtlest things in the world (dust motes in a sunbeam, etc) with fairly clunky but expressive artwork and great writing that he never would be able to when he drew more "realistically."

-CRIMINAL: Bad Night- I keep wondering how much longer these guys can keep up the quality level with Criminal, and I like this one more than the last. As usual, since I'm pretty visually minded you've got to know that a lot of my affection for this series comes from the amazing work Sean Phillips does, but Ed Brubaker is an engaging writer, easily one of my favorite mainstream dudes, and his love of the noir genre makes this bigger than the sum of it's parts. PLUS, it's about a two-fisted cartoonist! How can you go wrong? It's kind of like a sleazy smoky version of Derby Dugan.

-CRICKETS 2- Sammy Harkham just keeps plugging away at his golem story, mainly. I'm more than happy to just see where the hell he goes with it, and absorb his drawings along the way. I'm especially interested in his flashbacks and digressions and use of visual symbolism. Plus some raw-dog shit where he makes fun of other cartoonists is kind of fun to read in that same way as when someone rips into an acquaintance at a party and it's kind of funny and wrong at the same time and you know, you shouldn't really smile about it but you do before you realize you shouldn't?

-Dungeon Monstres 2: The Dark Lord- only for the Blanquet chapter, but it is interesting how the other included volume intersects with this one. Anyhow, Blanquet in color drawing weird ass monsters and buxom cat-ducks. The insect dudes wearing the skin of the lizard dudes trips me out every time I see it.

-Love & Rockets: New Stories 1- I don't have a lot to say about the Gilbert stuff, though it was pretty good.. I don't know how to talk about someone who's been so influential to my comics but I have a hard time reading their new work. In any case, the only flaw in Jamie's new story is that it's "to be continued". Updates the status of the characters, broadens the world back out into sci-fi territory, it's funny, it's got pathos, it's got great fight scenes, and the drawings are 100% perfect. WTF DUDE.



Man, my taste is kind of all over the place.. Also, I missed a lot of rad shit due to being insanely broke 90% of the year, so that explains the exclusion of What it is, Ordinary Victories2, Popeye 3, Acme 19, and a bunch of other stuff that probably would have made it...  ¶ 10:18 PM