Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by retailer Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in
Last week in my column I wrote (for a change) about the comics I actually like and only got as far as the superheroes, which happily aren't the be all and end all for me. I'm still trying to come up with a better definition for what constitutes a "good" comic, but good ones generally are a) unexpected and b) weird. In my experience weird gets you at least half way to good. The exception that proves the rule: Jesus Hates Zombies.
Also on my list is Atomic Robo. I like it not just for how deep its pulp roots go but for the alternative comics rhythms it brings, which messes with readers' expectations. Dan Dare proves how good Garth Ennis can be when he doesn't indulge his darker impulses. I've already written about The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury and of course there's the long awaited conclusion to Scud The Disposable Assassin (I'm really looking forward to #23 shipping today).
Oh, and if any of you are interested in a crash course in comic book history but aren't nerdy like me, you should really check out Comic Book Comics from Evil Twin Comics. It's not just your standard recitation of dates and titles but more of a social history of
But probably the best comic I've read in a long time is one you can't buy, Elmer #1 by Gerry Alanguilan. I took a stab at summarizing it but discovered I couldn't do it justice so I'll let what the creator wrote on his Website speak for itself:
Elmer is a window into an alternate Earth where chickens have suddenly acquired the intelligence and consciousness of humans, where they consider themselves a race no different than whites, browns or blacks, and push to recognize rights for themselves as the newest members of the human race.
It tells the story of a family of chickens who live and struggle to survive in a suddenly complicated, dangerous and yet beautiful world.
You can't buy it because it's sold out, but you can download it for free at the creator's Website. I know how busy your days are, but you should take the time to do it because it's just that good, but also because it's good for business. It's offbeat with enough literary content that when the inevitable collection comes out it could be the next
But wouldn't it be nice if we started anticipating instead of reacting? As a group we tend to jump on bandwagons already in motion, but instead of waiting for the New York Times or Barnes & Noble or Borders to discover the new hot "outsider" graphic novel for us, wouldn't be nice if we got there first? We'd probably sell a lot of copies while other venues tried to catch up with us.
We've got to start looking for comics like Elmer, and the place to look for them is the Internet because more and more that's where people are going to be publishing things that are good and different. In a previous column I established I wasn't aware of half the Web comics my twenty-something god-daughters were all abuzz about, but now I'm downloading more and more of the comics I'm reading -- and I just don't mean my beloved Golden Age comics. Thanks to sites like WOWIO, you can read everything from Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon to Jesus Hates Zombies.
And as we all (hopefully) know, reading something for free doesn't preclude people from buying hard copies later, otherwise Dark Horse wouldn't be publishing collections of Wondermark, Achewood, The K Chronicles, or The Penny Bible Fellowship.
It's been a banner week in the blogs for showing contempt for comic book shops. Carla of Metro Entertainment reported that she overheard a woman in her store refer to it as the "Ugly Boy Store."* And enraged over concerns on the Internet that the upcoming Batman: Brave & Bold series would be too juvenile, its designer Mike Manley memorably referred to fans as "bitter bee babymen" and comic shops "the Walled City of Babymania" (Google the phrase and you can read it for yourself).
As much as I hate to admit it, he has a point. There's comic material out there that can appeal to the wildest possible audience of potential readers, we just have to do a better job getting it into our stores. Because if we don't, we run the risk of becoming increasingly irrelevant just as the medium becomes increasingly diverse and vital.
*which to me sounds like the name of a Japanese pop group. Maybe I'm masochistic but I kind of want to have staff Ugly Boy Store t-shirts made...
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
