Comic Book Resources

So, pony up the goods, Jack.

I think that speaks highly of 2006 as a good comics year. I haven’t read Fun Home yet, but it’s getting accolades out the wazoo – so that you can off the top think of five betters… I love this era in comics. There’s so much just plain rad stuff being produced.

2006 WAS a good comic year.

Except for superhero comics.

But even for superhero comics, it was probably better than 2005.

2006 was a fine year for superhero comics, just not for the things that sold the most and got the most attention. That’s even true for the big two.

I suppose I shouldn’t be one to talk, though. 2005 and Countdown was the most excited I was for comics in over ten years, right up until the last page of Infinite Crisis 1.

Here, though, I’m talking more about the Agents of ATLASes, Firestorms, Union Jacks, fun Aguirre-Sacasa or Nicieza or Mike Carey stuff, and enjoyable Power Pack minis.

Lots of fun stuff, just none of it’s selling over 40K.

I actually think that Marvel’s got their most talented group of writers in years, once you get past the top four or five guys not named Brubaker.

Nicieza stuff isn’t fun. It’s migraine-inducing, with it’s continuity-obsessiveness and devotion to very minor characters with even smaller fanbases.

2006 was a fine year for superhero comics, just not for the things that sold the most and got the most attention. That’s even true for the big two.

There were more good superhero comics in 2006 than in 2005, true.

In no particular order:
1. American Born Chinese
2. Pride of Baghdad
3. Brownsville
4. Cyclone Bill and the Tall Tales
5. The Nightmarist

I’ll have to break down Fun Home and its accolades soon. It’s very good, don’t get me wrong. But I think it’s a bit overrated.

Kinda like Maus?

American Born Chinese and Pride of Baghdad are really good. So are Guy Delisle’s travelbooks, ‘Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea’ and ‘Shenzhen: A Travelogue From China’.
I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about them, I highly recommend them. Not sure if Pyongyang came out in ’06 though, could be ’05. But ‘Shenzen’ was definitely ’06.

Kinda like Maus?

I don’t think Maus is overrated, but that twin towers book Art Spiegelman did is.

Ditto on both counts, Greg.

I’m always behind on my graphic novel reading. Haven’t read Fun Home yet, the new Yoshihiro Tatsumi collection, Curses, or even the Eddie Campbell book. All are on the “great expectations” reading list, but god knows when I’ll get around to them.

On the other hand, Lost Girls, Pride of Baghdad, and Scott Pilgrim were all quite excellent, and that’s not even counting the Absolute Sandman & New Frontier I picked up at the end of the year.

You should get to Curses right away, Ryan. It’s amazing. Fate of the Artist is pretty good as well, but the post modern tricks Campbell uses come off more gimmicky than necessary to the story, but he’s still an amazing trickster.

That said, Fun Home is certainly the best graphic novel from a fresh talent and compliments Little Miss Sunshine in the literary quirky family genre, and it was my favorite graphic novel of the year, if not necessarily the best.

“3. Brownsville”

I think Brownseville suffered by trying to be too ‘Altman’.
There were a lot of odd non-narrative and non-main character scenes in there, which is cool, but the art made it confusing.
Still enjoyable though.

4. Cyclone Bill and the Tall Tales

Cyclone Bill rocked.
My only issues with it was the doco maker (beyond the equipment being incorrect, why was she filming half that stuff? How did she film some of that stuff? How come unedited tapes had cuts in them?), she was a narrative device that didn’t work.
My other problem was the last chapter, but that was so fucking out there that it may work better than I’m willing to admit.