Or ‘Graphic novel’ if you want to be a pretentious piece of
shit, but let’s not put on airs and graces here. Even though i use the terms interchangeably because I am myself a pretentious piece of shit.
Beserk – Kentaro Miura’s dark fantasy is of often put in the
running for best manga ever, and I can see why. I’ve only read until the end of
the golden age arc, which is the one everyone knows about because that’s
usually as far as any anime adaption gets, and it is a damn fine read with some
fantastic art. It’s been made famous for the gore and violence, which certainly
is there, but Guts and Griffith are a fantastically well realised set of
characters, along with the rest of the band of the Hawk.
Devlin Waugh – Some fucking insanity from the world of Judge
Dredd. Devlin Waugh is a homosexual, foppish Vampire who works for the Vatican as
a supernatural investigator. It feels like reading a Constantine book, but with
everything turned up to 11 on the insanity charts.
Fables – In particular books 6-14 this year. To be honest, I think
fables has kind of let it’s starting concept of the fables from legend living
in the real world run away from it. What started as a framing device of the
nameless Adversary pushing them to hide in the mundane world has now become the
plot, which was the somewhat inevitable conclusion of having the story run so
long, but I think it was to the detriment of the series. Regardless,
they are very well put together, and for all my complaints I’m going to keep
reading to see where it all goes, because even at it's worst, fables is pretty great.
Injustice: Gods among us – A tie in to the games of the same
name made by DC. It’s pretty engaging, but very stupid, and very bloated. You
could easily cut out two books and nothing would be different other than some
minor characters being dead. The best part was plastic man rescuing his son
from Superman’s underwater prison. It’s a case where they when so far to make
Superman Evil and ruined any moral ambiguity on which side was in the right. It ends up being just laughable ANYONE is with Superman, so it’s pretty much an
idiot plot since the end of the first year. But what can I say, for the most part it was entertaining.
Preacher – Trade paperback 1. I picked this up out of
curiosity after I found out they were making a series of it, and now I can’t watch
the series because they changed so much. Que sera sera. Nothing amazing from
the first book, but a fun idea with engaging characters, and some pretty visceral scenes. I plan to pick up more to see where it goes at some point.
Providence – Books 1 and 2. Alan Moore gets a lot of leeway
from me, even when his books aren’t good, they are certainly interesting. And
Providence is good. Robert Black, a gay writer, decides to take a leave of absence from his job at a newspaper to get over a break up and chase a story he things could help give him material for his book, but as he starts digging shit gets weird, fast. There’s lots of Lovecraftian goodness in this yarn and I’m hoping to get the third volume
soon to find out how on earth this all comes together, but just based on what I've read this comes recommended
from this bookend. Special note of the format of having no on page thought
bubbles, but the main characters journal at the end of each chapter. It can be
quite interesting seeing how what he says and thinks can differ across the
story and how he attempts to rationalise the madness he encounters after the fact.
Swamp Thing – Volume 6. The final part of Alan Moore’s run
on the series. Gives swampy an ending he deserves after a trippy journey
through space. Moore's run on the comic is famous for a reason.
The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers – A strip full of stoner
humour first printed in the 70’s, and still pretty funny in my opinion. It’s
always depressing when decades old satire from before I was born can feel just as relevant today.
Top 10 – Jee, I wonder if I have a thing for Alan Moore’s
work... I wasn’t too fond of Top 10 when I started it, I thought it was just too
by the numbers - a police procedural, but everyone has super powers, how lolrandom! But I guess that was all necessary set up, because by the end I was
hooked on this weird and wonderful world where everyone is a superhero.
And the winner is...
Providence
I love me some Alan Moore, and this demented trip across
America hooked me from the start, and if it wasn’t so close to Christmas I
would have already bought volume 3 for myself. It was a close one between this and Beserk, but I can't bring myself to give that much support to a manga that is never going to be finished by the author.
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