So recently I read The Killer, a French series by Matz (W) and Luc Jacamon (A), which was originally published in six albums, and collected into a TPB by Archaia in 2007. I felt the need to share.
Starring an unnamed hitman, The Killer opens with the protagonist in a hotel room, waiting for a mark who's already several days late. As cabin fever collides with a mid-life crisis, he begins ruminating on his existence, past, motivation, and the world at large. Sociopathic and largely detached from the world, he takes a critical view of both society and himself, believing that he's really no more morally aberrant than anyone else, while admitting that his life has left him with more dead acquaintances than live ones.
Deeply unnerved by the unraveling of his carefully laid plans, the Killer bungles the hit in a massive way, further compounding his mental stress. Now with a French police officer on his trail, and his mental state quickly deteriorating, he must re-focus himself, elude the persistent cop, and make some hard decisions about how he's going to live his life.
I really loved this comic; it's a bit light on plot, but as a character study, it's really, really interesting. The art's fantastic, and Jacamon's especially gifted at depicting scenes occurring in nature. My only major complaint is that it, being a translated work, feels a bit dry at times. Which is an issue that I also have with a lot of manga and Euro-comics. Still, if you can get past that, and you have an interest in crime noir, I think you'll dig it.
Here's a brief excerpt I'm pretty fond of. Pardon the crappy scans.
If you've never read Metabarons, it's a beautiful series, not particularly long but pretty dense for all that.
Two other beautiful, strange books are Christopher Shy's from Studio Ronin, Silent Leaves and Soul Stealer.
I highly recommend Into the Dust by Jesse Rubenfeld. It's only 4 issues into a 12 issue series and he's been stuck there way too long, but it's still a lovely book with a nice twist on the Oz story. I commissioned a piece from him based on his series, and it's on his blog here (it's the flying mother and child, not the Cubist Thing).
Going back a few years, I really liked Peter Sickman-Garner's Hey Mister!, particularly #6, The Trouble with Jesus.
I picked up the first volume of Rex Libris a few while back, it's a reasonably fun read and Turner uses vector art to good effect. I tried his book Nil as well, but I didn't like it that much.
Same show I grabbed a copy of Flinch, which is well worth it, lovely little horror anthology with the greatest cover image I've seen.
If you're a Bone fan, you might look at Yets!, it's a children's comic but is extremely readable and Mike Bocianowski's world is similarly clean-lined and full of fun imaginaries.
I second the recommendation of The Boys, and I'll add on top of it a recommendation for an arguably darker precursor in the form of Rick Veitch's Brat Pack. BP isn't as over the top as The Boys, but still a very interesting read to lay alongside.
There's probably a lot more I should add here. Whoever posted Xeno's Arrow, thank you, I've been trying to find that forever.
So recently I read The Killer, a French series by Matz (W) and Luc Jacamon (A), which was originally published in six albums, and collected into a TPB by Archaia in 2007. I felt the need to share.
Starring an unnamed hitman, The Killer opens with the protagonist in a hotel room, waiting for a mark who's already several days late. As cabin fever collides with a mid-life crisis, he begins ruminating on his existence, past, motivation, and the world at large. Sociopathic and largely detached from the world, he takes a critical view of both society and himself, believing that he's really no more morally aberrant than anyone else, while admitting that his life has left him with more dead acquaintances than live ones.
Deeply unnerved by the unraveling of his carefully laid plans, the Killer bungles the hit in a massive way, further compounding his mental stress. Now with a French police officer on his trail, and his mental state quickly deteriorating, he must re-focus himself, elude the persistent cop, and make some hard decisions about how he's going to live his life.
I really loved this comic; it's a bit light on plot, but as a character study, it's really, really interesting. The art's fantastic, and Jacamon's especially gifted at depicting scenes occurring in nature. My only major complaint is that it, being a translated work, feels a bit dry at times. Which is an issue that I also have with a lot of manga and Euro-comics. Still, if you can get past that, and you have an interest in crime noir, I think you'll dig it.
Here's a brief excerpt I'm pretty fond of. Pardon the crappy scans.
I had tried the first two issues then fell behind due to the uneven scheduling. I didn't know it was finally in softcover.
And apparently Archaia are putting out a second volume. Their site says "coming march 2010" but their site is also a mess.
Still, this is something I definitly want to get a hold of again.
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AJRSome guy who wrestlesNorwichRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
Yeah, I wouldn't mind reading a few more European comics. I've ordered a few French comics online just recently.
If you've never read Metabarons, it's a beautiful series, not particularly long but pretty dense for all that.
Two other beautiful, strange books are Christopher Shy's from Studio Ronin, Silent Leaves and Soul Stealer.
I highly recommend Into the Dust by Jesse Rubenfeld. It's only 4 issues into a 12 issue series and he's been stuck there way too long, but it's still a lovely book with a nice twist on the Oz story. I commissioned a piece from him based on his series, and it's on his blog here (it's the flying mother and child, not the Cubist Thing).
Going back a few years, I really liked Peter Sickman-Garner's Hey Mister!, particularly #6, The Trouble with Jesus.
I picked up the first volume of Rex Libris a few while back, it's a reasonably fun read and Turner uses vector art to good effect. I tried his book Nil as well, but I didn't like it that much.
Same show I grabbed a copy of Flinch, which is well worth it, lovely little horror anthology with the greatest cover image I've seen.
If you're a Bone fan, you might look at Yets!, it's a children's comic but is extremely readable and Mike Bocianowski's world is similarly clean-lined and full of fun imaginaries.
I second the recommendation of The Boys, and I'll add on top of it a recommendation for an arguably darker precursor in the form of Rick Veitch's Brat Pack. BP isn't as over the top as The Boys, but still a very interesting read to lay alongside.
There's probably a lot more I should add here. Whoever posted Xeno's Arrow, thank you, I've been trying to find that forever.
Metabarons is weird as hell.
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So recently I read The Killer, a French series by Matz (W) and Luc Jacamon (A), which was originally published in six albums, and collected into a TPB by Archaia in 2007. I felt the need to share.
Starring an unnamed hitman, The Killer opens with the protagonist in a hotel room, waiting for a mark who's already several days late. As cabin fever collides with a mid-life crisis, he begins ruminating on his existence, past, motivation, and the world at large. Sociopathic and largely detached from the world, he takes a critical view of both society and himself, believing that he's really no more morally aberrant than anyone else, while admitting that his life has left him with more dead acquaintances than live ones.
Deeply unnerved by the unraveling of his carefully laid plans, the Killer bungles the hit in a massive way, further compounding his mental stress. Now with a French police officer on his trail, and his mental state quickly deteriorating, he must re-focus himself, elude the persistent cop, and make some hard decisions about how he's going to live his life.
I really loved this comic; it's a bit light on plot, but as a character study, it's really, really interesting. The art's fantastic, and Jacamon's especially gifted at depicting scenes occurring in nature. My only major complaint is that it, being a translated work, feels a bit dry at times. Which is an issue that I also have with a lot of manga and Euro-comics. Still, if you can get past that, and you have an interest in crime noir, I think you'll dig it.
Here's a brief excerpt I'm pretty fond of. Pardon the crappy scans.
Would you recommend getting this in french then if I can find it?
Also does anyone know if World War Robot is worth picking up and where the best place to find it is?
My haul at Heroes Con 2010 was pretty severely curtailed by obtaining autographs/sketches, but I did manage to get some interesting-looking stuff:
Flink by Doug TenNapel. A boy encounters Bigfoot on a camping trip. I'm pretty sure I've raved about TenNapel's work here before, and it seems like he cranks out a new original graphic novel every year or so. This one's no exception to the great mix of cartoony artwork, comedy, and action.
Grounded by Mark Sable and Paul Azaceta. A nerd with a penchant for superhero comics discovers that his parents are superheroes, but he hasn't inherited their talents.
Halo and Sprocket by Kerry Callen. Halo is an immortal, sexless, desire-less celestial being. Sprocket is a robot trying to understand the quirky ways of humanity. And Kate (not titled) is the human who tries to explain it to them. The vignettes remind me a little of the philosophical ponderings of Calvin and Hobbes, albeit taken to greater extremes, since Sprocket is simplistically naive/literal and Halo is often disdainful of the baser urges of humanity.
The Playwright by Daren White and Eddie Campbell. "A dark comedy about the sex life of a celibate middle-aged man." The story is told entirely in narrative and examines the inner musings of what can be charitably described as a nerdy introvert. Campbell's cartooning is brilliant, rendering both simplicity and detail in the same frame.
Thieves and Kings: Apprentices by Mark Oakley. I was surprised and pleased to find this, because I wasn't sure if Thieves and Kings was still being published. This is the sixth graphic novel in the series, which is a fantasy epic focusing on Wizards and Thieves (and apparently, in Oakley's world, these are things to be capitalized). Oakley does simple, Miyazaki-esque characters in beautifully detailed sketched backgrounds.
So I got Chew Vol 1 for 5 bucks at Wizard World and I really liked it!
It didn't have any dudes in capes punching other dudes in capes and I liked it!
I don't know how to deal with this
Chew is good times. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on Vol. 2.
I just read "A God Somewhere" written by John Arcudi and it's actually pretty good. It's a story somewhat similar to Irredeemable but from a more human perspective. I'd recommend checking it out to any peeps who like those types of stories.
I have zero interest in phonogram too. It's some kind of modern fantasy involving music or something, from what I have heard. I don't really care about magic or music.
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
edited June 2010
Do you care about people? Or being passionate about things? Because it's not really about magic or music.
I'm not saying it is bad, it just doesn't interest me at all from what I know about it. My budget is limited, there are things that do interest me that I haven't bought yet. I'll buy those things first.
TLB, you should try out Biomega. It has a badass cyborg on a ridiculous motorcycle fighting zombies and monsters and he teams up with a talking grizzly bear.
I read the first volume of Phonogram
I thought that it alternated between mediocre and bloody awful
and it is totally about music and magic
Good news! The second volume has almost nothing to do with the first, and is a hojillion times better. But I have a total lady hard-on for the series, so I'll go ahead and talk about something else.
I just got into Demo by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. I guess the premise revolves around people with special powers and how they deal with it? Though sometimes they gloss over the Powers part and just write excellent single-issue stories about cannibalism or OCD or whatever. The second volume is just finishing up, and I think each issue has gotten better and better.
I read the first volume of Phonogram
I thought that it alternated between mediocre and bloody awful
and it is totally about music and magic
See, I collected The Singles Club after seeing a few people mention it online. I loved it. I thought it was fun and clever and different. Then I decided to pick up the Rue Britannia thinking I'd get more of the same.
I couldn't really get into it. I read about halfway through before putting it back on my shelf and I haven't come back to it.
I don't necessarily think you'll enjoy The Singles Club, but it's very different to Rue Britannia.
So I saw a bunch of people were picking up Chew and saying good things about it so I saw it at Books & Co. and decided to use a gift card I had on me to grab the first volume.
Just want to say thank you. Awesome suggestions all up in hurr. I can't wait to get the second volume and catch up although I don't know if this would be better trade waited or just go ahead and get singles.
I'd love to hear some more suggestions about alt. comics like that. I love the mystery/crime solving kinda thing, as well as my normal super hero stuff so yeah anything like that would be cool.
There is an oversized hardcover coming out, Chew Omnivore Edition.
I just bought Tennapel's Ghostopolis. I'm about a quarter of the way into it, and it is really, really good. This book is awesome. The art is really good, the writing is great.
Basically, a boy, Garth, gets sent to a weird afterlife by mistake and has adventures riding a horse skeleton. The afterlife isn't so nice anymore, so ghosts try to escape. Gallows works for an agency who returns the escapee ghosts to the afterlife. He messes up and sends Garth to the afterlife. Garth has an incurable disease and doesn't have much time left on Earth, and his Mom is freaking out because Gallows sent him to the afterlife.
Gallows goes to an ex girlfriend of his, who has a crazy buggy that can transport you to the afterlife.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited August 2010
Morning Glories came out this week, and this Nick Spencer guy can write a pretty good story. It's kind of a mix between DeFillipis and Weir's New Mutants work, Young Allies, Umbrella Academy (though not as gloomy), and a bit of Ultimate Spider-Man. For $4 you get 48 pages of story, and it moves fast yet it doesn't feel decompressed.
Here are some scans to point out what I'm talking about:
Basically kids are chosen from around the world to attend school at Morning Glory Academy, and it's the usual tropes of students, but it's written so well:
That right there is when I realized it was a good book, that's clever.
And here's where the twist happens:
It also has crazy RA's, students trying to break out like it was a prison, and a psychic demon who seems to stalk those who figure out too much about the school.
It's really worth a look, and Nick Spencer just became someone who could write Teen Titans and save the book. He takes some cliches and tropes about teen characters and makes them original and interesting enough to make me want to continue picking up the book.
Good job promoting this, Image.
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
4th Letter has a pretty good piece on King City, which Douglas and I drone on about ad nauseum. I often have a hard time expressing why I like the book so much, but David Brothers does a nice job explaining it, both through words and scans of the comic pages. So go check it out, and if you like what you see, take a chance and buy the book.
I'll be sad when the last issue comes out, but Multiple Warheads is getting a full color release next, I think.
King City is amazing, and unique, and it does make a lot of other comix look inferior. Brandon Graham really gets comix, he understands comix, he loves comix. He studies comix from all over the world, comix of every genre imaginable, and learns from all of them.
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CorporateLogoThe toilet knowshow I feelRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
I would buy King City but the odd size means I wouldn't be able to store them at all
And since it's not getting collected that means I'll never end up reading it
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i did this thing too
talked to him briefly about the new pipettes material and about his plans for the now likely never going to happen fourth series
So what were his plans for the fourth series?
(Because I'm a terrible masochist and I need to know about things that will never see sunlight.)
He has a great way of capturing those seemingly insignificant significant moments in a person's life.
he was speaking at an incredibly fast rate but from what i could tell it would talk about the origin of Kohl among other things
Starring an unnamed hitman, The Killer opens with the protagonist in a hotel room, waiting for a mark who's already several days late. As cabin fever collides with a mid-life crisis, he begins ruminating on his existence, past, motivation, and the world at large. Sociopathic and largely detached from the world, he takes a critical view of both society and himself, believing that he's really no more morally aberrant than anyone else, while admitting that his life has left him with more dead acquaintances than live ones.
Deeply unnerved by the unraveling of his carefully laid plans, the Killer bungles the hit in a massive way, further compounding his mental stress. Now with a French police officer on his trail, and his mental state quickly deteriorating, he must re-focus himself, elude the persistent cop, and make some hard decisions about how he's going to live his life.
I really loved this comic; it's a bit light on plot, but as a character study, it's really, really interesting. The art's fantastic, and Jacamon's especially gifted at depicting scenes occurring in nature. My only major complaint is that it, being a translated work, feels a bit dry at times. Which is an issue that I also have with a lot of manga and Euro-comics. Still, if you can get past that, and you have an interest in crime noir, I think you'll dig it.
Here's a brief excerpt I'm pretty fond of. Pardon the crappy scans.
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Two other beautiful, strange books are Christopher Shy's from Studio Ronin, Silent Leaves and Soul Stealer.
I highly recommend Into the Dust by Jesse Rubenfeld. It's only 4 issues into a 12 issue series and he's been stuck there way too long, but it's still a lovely book with a nice twist on the Oz story. I commissioned a piece from him based on his series, and it's on his blog here (it's the flying mother and child, not the Cubist Thing).
Going back a few years, I really liked Peter Sickman-Garner's Hey Mister!, particularly #6, The Trouble with Jesus.
I picked up the first volume of Rex Libris a few while back, it's a reasonably fun read and Turner uses vector art to good effect. I tried his book Nil as well, but I didn't like it that much.
Same show I grabbed a copy of Flinch, which is well worth it, lovely little horror anthology with the greatest cover image I've seen.
If you're a Bone fan, you might look at Yets!, it's a children's comic but is extremely readable and Mike Bocianowski's world is similarly clean-lined and full of fun imaginaries.
I second the recommendation of The Boys, and I'll add on top of it a recommendation for an arguably darker precursor in the form of Rick Veitch's Brat Pack. BP isn't as over the top as The Boys, but still a very interesting read to lay alongside.
There's probably a lot more I should add here. Whoever posted Xeno's Arrow, thank you, I've been trying to find that forever.
@oldmanhero .programming .web comic .everything
I had tried the first two issues then fell behind due to the uneven scheduling. I didn't know it was finally in softcover.
And apparently Archaia are putting out a second volume. Their site says "coming march 2010" but their site is also a mess.
Still, this is something I definitly want to get a hold of again.
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Metabarons is weird as hell.
TylerJ on League of Legends (it's free and fun!)
Would you recommend getting this in french then if I can find it?
Also does anyone know if World War Robot is worth picking up and where the best place to find it is?
Flink by Doug TenNapel. A boy encounters Bigfoot on a camping trip. I'm pretty sure I've raved about TenNapel's work here before, and it seems like he cranks out a new original graphic novel every year or so. This one's no exception to the great mix of cartoony artwork, comedy, and action.
Grounded by Mark Sable and Paul Azaceta. A nerd with a penchant for superhero comics discovers that his parents are superheroes, but he hasn't inherited their talents.
Halo and Sprocket by Kerry Callen. Halo is an immortal, sexless, desire-less celestial being. Sprocket is a robot trying to understand the quirky ways of humanity. And Kate (not titled) is the human who tries to explain it to them. The vignettes remind me a little of the philosophical ponderings of Calvin and Hobbes, albeit taken to greater extremes, since Sprocket is simplistically naive/literal and Halo is often disdainful of the baser urges of humanity.
The Playwright by Daren White and Eddie Campbell. "A dark comedy about the sex life of a celibate middle-aged man." The story is told entirely in narrative and examines the inner musings of what can be charitably described as a nerdy introvert. Campbell's cartooning is brilliant, rendering both simplicity and detail in the same frame.
Thieves and Kings: Apprentices by Mark Oakley. I was surprised and pleased to find this, because I wasn't sure if Thieves and Kings was still being published. This is the sixth graphic novel in the series, which is a fantasy epic focusing on Wizards and Thieves (and apparently, in Oakley's world, these are things to be capitalized). Oakley does simple, Miyazaki-esque characters in beautifully detailed sketched backgrounds.
It didn't have any dudes in capes punching other dudes in capes and I liked it!
I don't know how to deal with this
Deal with it by buying Phonogram: The Singles Club gogogo
Chew is good times. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on Vol. 2.
I just read "A God Somewhere" written by John Arcudi and it's actually pretty good. It's a story somewhat similar to Irredeemable but from a more human perspective. I'd recommend checking it out to any peeps who like those types of stories.
I know I am not gonna like it
I know it
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TLB, you should try out Biomega. It has a badass cyborg on a ridiculous motorcycle fighting zombies and monsters and he teams up with a talking grizzly bear.
I only love what is best in life:
To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.
That is good! That is good.
I thought that it alternated between mediocre and bloody awful
and it is totally about music and magic
Good news! The second volume has almost nothing to do with the first, and is a hojillion times better. But I have a total lady hard-on for the series, so I'll go ahead and talk about something else.
I just got into Demo by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. I guess the premise revolves around people with special powers and how they deal with it? Though sometimes they gloss over the Powers part and just write excellent single-issue stories about cannibalism or OCD or whatever. The second volume is just finishing up, and I think each issue has gotten better and better.
See, I collected The Singles Club after seeing a few people mention it online. I loved it. I thought it was fun and clever and different. Then I decided to pick up the Rue Britannia thinking I'd get more of the same.
I couldn't really get into it. I read about halfway through before putting it back on my shelf and I haven't come back to it.
I don't necessarily think you'll enjoy The Singles Club, but it's very different to Rue Britannia.
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Just want to say thank you. Awesome suggestions all up in hurr. I can't wait to get the second volume and catch up although I don't know if this would be better trade waited or just go ahead and get singles.
I'd love to hear some more suggestions about alt. comics like that. I love the mystery/crime solving kinda thing, as well as my normal super hero stuff so yeah anything like that would be cool.
Steam: Grizz
3DS: 4038-6012-7259
I just bought Tennapel's Ghostopolis. I'm about a quarter of the way into it, and it is really, really good. This book is awesome. The art is really good, the writing is great.
Gallows goes to an ex girlfriend of his, who has a crazy buggy that can transport you to the afterlife.
Here are some scans to point out what I'm talking about:
Basically kids are chosen from around the world to attend school at Morning Glory Academy, and it's the usual tropes of students, but it's written so well:
That right there is when I realized it was a good book, that's clever.
And here's where the twist happens:
It also has crazy RA's, students trying to break out like it was a prison, and a psychic demon who seems to stalk those who figure out too much about the school.
It's really worth a look, and Nick Spencer just became someone who could write Teen Titans and save the book. He takes some cliches and tropes about teen characters and makes them original and interesting enough to make me want to continue picking up the book.
Good job promoting this, Image.
Tumblr Twitter
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
King City is amazing, and unique, and it does make a lot of other comix look inferior. Brandon Graham really gets comix, he understands comix, he loves comix. He studies comix from all over the world, comix of every genre imaginable, and learns from all of them.
And since it's not getting collected that means I'll never end up reading it