The Super Pretentious Indie Hipster Whine Fest

[Francis Dawson]

I'm even flailing when it comes to having a 'pull list'. I'm enjoying Sergio Aragones Funnies, I'll order Multiple Warheads when it comes out. Beyond that ... shit, I don't know. Orc Stain and Jack Staff have been on hiatus forever, Criminal was published by M*rv*l so I'm passing. Sheesh. Any suggestions?

[Julian Fine]

Bulletproof Coffin has a sequel coming next year. Is Mouse Guard still going? RASL still has a few issues left. At this point DHP isn't competing with much so 8 bucks might be worth getting Beasts of Burden, Age of Reptiles, and Brandon Graham stories. Roger Langrige has Snarked which isn't doing much for me compared to Fred the Clown or Mugwhump the Great but YMMV. Batwoman is interesting though I haven't kept up.with it past issue 1 so I don't know if its gotten back to the quality it was at when Rucka was working with Williams. That's about all I can think of. Uggggh. So depressing.

[Francis Dawson]

I think in a recess of my brain I knew there was a Bulletproof Coffin sequel coming but I'd forgotten it. That's cool. I've never read Mouse Guard and I've never seen it as a pamphlet. Not sure it'd my thing but I'd check it out on your recommendation. I've frustrated myself with RASL - for some numbskulled reason I passed on the first few issues and now it doesn't seem worthwhile to jump on the series, I'm annoyed at myself about this one. I bought the dollar issue of Snarked and liked it well enough, it's better written and cartooned than 95% of DM slop, but I don't like it enough to continue with. Batwoman - meh. It's still stupidheroes at the end of the day isn't it? Even when they're drawn by someone with design chops. I liked the Marcos Martin drawn Daredevil better but same M*rv*l problem.

I've never read Usagi Yojimbo so I think now's the time to have a try. I'd like to give Glamourpuss a go too. Who would have thought twenty years ago that in 2011 the most cussed, sui-generis creators of DM pamphlet comics would be ... exactly the same figures: Jeff Smith, Dave Sim, Stan Sakai. Depressing doesn't cover it ...

... Luckily you and I both know that beyond the Direct Market Reservation (the glorious phrase is Dirk Deppey's) the comics medium is in rude health. Viva la comics!

http://www.adhousebooks.com/distro/distro.html

http://www.sparkplugcomicbooks.com/books/books.html

http://spitandahalf.blogspot.com/p/catalog-d.html

http://www.pictureboxinc.com/

http://profanityhill.blogspot.com/

[Francis Dawson]

Bulletproof Coffin has a sequel coming next year. Is Mouse Guard still going? RASL still has a few issues left. At this point DHP isn't competing with much so 8 bucks might be worth getting Beasts of Burden, Age of Reptiles, and Brandon Graham stories. Roger Langrige has Snarked which isn't doing much for me compared to Fred the Clown or Mugwhump the Great but YMMV. Batwoman is interesting though I haven't kept up.with it past issue 1 so I don't know if its gotten back to the quality it was at when Rucka was working with Williams. That's about all I can think of. Uggggh. So depressing.

Missed a few of your other suggestions. DHP ... yeah it's better than most things but eight bucks is a lot for something I'm indifferent to 70% of. I do really, really like the Finder chapters though. That's something I'd definitely follow as a stand-alone monthly. I'll pick up a Beasts of Burden series - solid writing, solid art. Age of Reptiles I'd never heard of, it looks great - will pursue. I'll definitely read anything Brandon Graham is doing, which I believe is the forthcoming Multiple Warheads from Oni.

Also forgot to mention that I'm reading Batman: Odyssey. If loving it is wrong I don't want to be right.

[Julian Fine]

I'm not opposed to superheros comics if they're good comics. I mean, Bulletproof Coffin is baisically a superhero comic, best one in forever. Batwoman suffers from terrible ad design, and if there were more good comics being published that would probably put it on the chopping block but there aren't, and its a good comic otherwise. At least it was. The first issue of the new series was kind of underwhelming after the wait and just how fantastic that Detective run was but I hear its gotten better.

[Francis Dawson]

I love superhero comics - first love never dies. But I hate them too!

I do want to read the Elegy TPB. I liked Greg Rucka's Queen and Country and that JH Williams kid can draw.

[Julian Fine]

Also with RASL you could always catch up with the digest or oversized collections. I'd reccomend the oversized.

[Francis Dawson]

Got a nice little package from Atomic Books of ye olde alternative comic books (http://www.atomicbooks.com/):

Pope Hats #2 (Adhouse) - Imagine the characters from Thirteen Going On Eighteen grown older and sadder and working in office hell. Everybody should be reading this.

Boys Club #1 (Sparkplug) - I thought this was long out of print everywhere so I was delighted to get this. Four funny animal hipster room-mates interact, spew, and defecate whilst dialoguing in internet patois. Funny, and deftly and economically cartooned.

King Cat #4 (Image/Tokyopop) - Man this is hard to track down in back issues. I'm still missing about half this series. Brandon Graham is the shizzle but you probably already knew that.

Uptight #4 (Fanta?) - This is great. Two stories written well and cartooned well. I don't know what else to say. Jordan Crane makes good comics.

Optic Nerve #12 (D&Q) - I'm generally a bit of a fence-sitter when it comes to Tomine's work but I really, really enjoyed this. Probably not coincidentally this is also the first time I've read an issue of Optic Nerve rather than a book collection. Tomine is one of the last comic book hold-outs in a world where even Palookaville has shifted to book format (a hilarious and self-aware strip in this issue has Tomine agonosing about being "the last pamphleteer"). There's two long stories, both excellent (surely the similarities to Wilson in the first can't be coincidental - though Tomines's conclusion is more redemptive). Yet it's the "throwaway ancillary stuff" - Optic Nerve also has a letters page - that makes the overall package so loveable. Long may Tomine stubbornly stick to his guns.

One of the great things about Atomic Books is that they also throw in freebies on orders over $20 so I also snagged Secret Prison #2 an Ian Harker edited newsprint alt-anthology that features loads of contributors including Benjamin Marra, Luke Pearson, Box Brown and many others. Haven't read this yet - will make a cup of tea now and settle down.

These are all really good comics that don't make me die inside. If your LCS is genuinely interested in diversifying its audience and surviving beyond the next five years (which doesn't mean getting back the dudes who read Spawn in the 90s) then they should be ordering these titles and others like them. You should be reading them. This has been a public service announcement.

[Francis Dawson]

Hey! New Paul Grist series! I had no clue this was coming:

http://ifanboy.com/articles/preview-...by-paul-grist/

[Julian Fine]

God I love Boy's Club. I'm not too hot on Tomine myself, but everybody's talking about it and it is one of the very few remaining alt pamphlets so I think I'll pick. It up.

[dr chimp]

I'm even flailing when it comes to having a 'pull list'. I'm enjoying Sergio Aragones Funnies, I'll order Multiple Warheads when it comes out. Beyond that ... shit, I don't know. Orc Stain and Jack Staff have been on hiatus forever, Criminal was published by M*rv*l so I'm passing. Sheesh. Any suggestions?

http://www.markosia.com/wordpress/ti...-made-silence/

http://www.markosia.com/wordpress/sale/

£8 for 6 issues +£3 in UK = 6 issues of what i thought was exceptional work

[Francis Dawson]

^ Neat, thanks. Will give a go at that bargain price.

[Francis Dawson]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gods-Novel-W...0538896&sr=8-2

people may or may not enjoy lynd ward's god's man - a wordless graphic novel in woodcuts from 1929. some gorgeous cuts, a great story, and a nice cheap yet quality edition by dover = recommended

Essential stuff. Thanks for highlighting.

[dr chimp]

Essential stuff. Thanks for highlighting.

yeah its amazing how long it actually takes to read. whilst the story telling is exemplary, the lack of words really slows you down and forces you to build up the narrative. any others you'd recommend?

[Julian Fine]

Just got Big Questions from a secret santa. Gonna start reading it tonight.