Josh’s Book Shelf

By Josh Stasinos

This is just the beginning. And what a better way to start than with a list of my favorite books of 2008 and why I loved each one of them. Following this will come more lengthy reviews of the books I love and often feature on the Josh’s Book Shelf rack at the Library Store location of Night Flight Comics.

I love good storytelling of any kind, but I think that comics is one of the few unadulterated mediums in which a creator can truly tell the story they want to. But there‘s a lot of books out there, and a lot of crap. I want to use this to highlight what I think comics have to offer at their very best.

Feel free to give me your feedback in person at the Library Store on Tuesdays or by emailing me at Josh@night-flight.com. Happy reading.

The Best Comics of 2008

1. Criminal

Ed Brubaker’s love letter to the genre of crime fiction/crime noir also propels the genre forward with gripping stories of unsavory characters. When this book first came out it was fantastic and has only gotten better with each subsequent storyline.

Brubaker has created a grim, violent and unforgivable world where anyone could be victimized or killed. This truly creates drama and a heightened anticipation with each turn of the page. With each word and pen-stroke the characters come alive with a depth and ease that lacks in so many other books. Also, each single issue has the added bonus of essays and discussions on crime in comics, prose, television, and cinema, so don’t wait for the trade on this book as these bonuses are not reprinted.

2. Ordinary Victories: What is Precious

The first volume of this book is still in my top five favorite of all time. Volume two picks right up were one left off and completes the story. Masterfully paced and drawn, this is comics storytelling at it’s very finest. My life is richer and fuller for having read this, and I will continue to watch Manu Larcenet’s work with great interest.

3. Thor

All of it. Straczynski reeled me in, but the one-shots by Matt Fraction and the Secret Invasion mini-series featuring Beta Ray Bill are necessary companion pieces for what is a fantastic new vision of an old character. I like this stuff so much that I feel the need to explore the older Thor comics if only just to assure myself of this newfound greatness. Rich storytelling and stupendous artwork, Thor was the absolute best that mainstream comics had to offer ‘08.

4. The Joker HC

Although it sold well I don’t think anybody read issue #663 of Batman. A prose short story disguised as a comic, it was an interlude in the Son of Batman story by Grant Morrison. Who cares!…Right?

It seems Brian Azzarello and Lee Burmejo do because in that story the Joker cuts himself so that he has a smile created by scar tissue and behaves like a gangster, just like in the Joker HC. Now you can stop bitching about Dark Knight rip-offs and read this awesome comic.

Gorgeous artwork that redefines and further explores Gotham City and its cast of nefarious villains propels the story about a free Joker who is looking for what he thinks he’s owed as he reclaims the streets in his name. Gritty and brutal, the Joker HC might be the greatest Joker story ever told, and is one of the greatest comics I have read in many years. And wait until you see Harley Quinn!

5. Punisher Max by Garth Ennis

Ennis finished his lengthy, uber-violent run bringing everything full circle. His material is so rich and defining that once he finished his last issue Marvel should have canceled the series. The best Punisher story ever told - all 60 issues and spin-offs. Kudos to you Garth Ennis and thank you for pulling Frank Castle out of the Marvel Universe and creating a rich world full of wretches for him to eradicate.

6. Fables

The war between Fabletown and the “adversary” ended the lives of some main characters, created heroes, and vilified others. It also marked a change in the book’s direction all-the-while showcasing Bill Willingham’s writing talent and creativity. Perhaps the strongest ongoing series available today and definitely the best covers.

7. Doctor Sleepless

The long promised Warren Ellis’ mad scientist book. Ellis always brings a smattering of fresh ideas to whatever he does and my favorite work of his to date is Transmetropolitan. Doctor Sleepless feels like Transmet’s inbred sister: both comics berate the reader with what’s wrong with the world while entertaining morbidly.

8. Pocket Full of Rain and other Stories

A peek into the past of Jason with this collection of short stories from the beginning of his comics career. The titular story, while missing Jason’s anamorphic characters, is great and worth the price of admission alone. Sifting through the rest of the collection of strips, stories, and exercises reveals several little gems, my favorite (making me laugh out loud) being Carl Cat in What Time is It?

9. All-star Superman

A creative reimagining of the Superman mythos and the last days of his life. If you don’t like Superman you should definitely pick this up as it is nothing like the Superman everyone knows. Frank Quitely delivers some of the most vivid and amazing art while having fun with all of Morrison’s crazy ideas.

10. Mammoth book of the Best Crime Comics

479 pages of black and white crime comics featuring newspaper strips from Dasheill Hammett and Mickey Spillane, excerpts of Jordi Bernet’s Torpedo and Will Eisner’s Spirit, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore, Max Allan Collins, Charles Burns, and with publishing dates ranging from 1934 to 1996. Huge and awesome.

11. The Spirit by Darwyn Cook

A fresh and modern take on Eisner’s beloved character, Cook’s style and storytelling suit the title perfectly. The Spirit retains his core essence as a lady’s man who almost lackadaisically fights crime while also finding a greater seriousness in the dramatic situations.

12. Umbrella Academy

I resisted reading this do to the writer coming from a popular band that I don’t care for, but I have to say that I am glad I finally broke down and read it.

Funny, dramatic, and perfectly paced Gerard Way’s entrance to the world of comics could do a lot to teach many of the “superstars” coming from prose, TV, and elsewhere about understanding the difference in writing for the comics medium; each single issue is strong in and of itself and the story comes together fantastically to make a great complete story.

The characters are well-imagined and have a lot to offer future stories as they are further developed. This book is a whole lot of fun and ideal for fans who don’t follow traditional superhero comics but don’t mind a story of super-heroics.

13. Wasteland

The post-apocalyptic tale continues and the characters and story have only grown more interesting and the world more grandiose.

14. Omega the Unknown

A retelling, kind of, of Steve Gerber’s bizarre 1976 series by prose writer Jonathan Lethem. Reading it in monthly form felt jumbled, but the hardcover is a fun read that seems to better pull the story together. It feels more like something that Top Shelf or Oni Press would publish rather than Marvel. Bizarre, funny, and strangely moving, Lethem and artist Farel Dalrymple fill Omega with heaps of their own style and pepper it all with a touch of Philip K. Dick,.

15. The Burma Chronicles

Like his previous autobiographical books Shenzhen and Pyongyang, a now married Guy Delisle takes his family to a new place where he documents life and his explorations and discoveries - Burma. Insightful, humorous and often times educational Delisle delivers another solid comic without becoming tiresome as some autobiographical series do.

16. Scalped

This book is like The Sopranos on an Indian reservation complete with all the suspicion, death, and tragedy which makes this one of Vertigo’s stronger ongoing series. The dialogue is a glass of warm piss with an angry rattlesnake inside and gives life to characters who wouldn’t think twice about drinking the above mentioned contents and then breaking the glass over your head. Mean and bleak, this book will kill the rainbow living in your house and then sodomize your cat.

17. Black Summer

Warren Ellis killed president Bush last year. A post human “gun” got really pissed off and fed up with everything and marched right into the White House and killed until everything was just blood on the rug. And that all happens in the first eight or so pages with the rest of the book about the repercussions. A gory book about the misuse of power and a laundry list of Ellis’ problems with the Bush administration, Ellis safely lives out his evil little fantasies on the printed page.

18. Local HC

Brian Wood’s indie book in which each issue a city is picked and real places and streets are featured around his fictional characters. A fun concept that while a bit masturbatory, added to the listlessness of the main character. Exceptional art and storytelling.

19. Essex County volume 3: The Country Nurse

The third and final installment of the quiet and somber Essex County Trilogy in which a local nurse helps the community deal with its scarred and troubled past. Read as a whole the series is much stronger, but each volume stands on its own. The art looks and feels a bit like Craig Thompson but has enough freshness and originality that Jeff Lemire has arrived as a cartoonist to be recognized.

20. Freakangels

Let’s face it, Warren Ellis is a great comics writer who actually produces a large body of work each year. His third title to make my list here, Freakangels is his free web comic (6 new pages a week) that also became published in a printed form for the first time. Read it either way, it kicks ass (The internet version sure has nice color to it, while the print version isn‘t limited by the shape of your screen). Ellis’ worst work in any given year is probably still better than most comics being published.

The world ended and a dozen punk/suicide girls/techno-geeks who happened to all be born on the same day and can speak to each other telepathically are living in a flooded Whitechapel, England. This first volume explores the place, the characters and almost has a plot to it, but it will draw you in and keep you coming back for more.

21. Good-bye

Adrian Tomine (Optic Nerve) has said that one of his greatest inspirations is Yoshihiro Tatsumi whose work is now being reprinted by Drawn & Quarterly. Similar in tone and style, Good-bye is the third volume collecting several short stories written and drawn between 1971 and 1972 that show life in Japan and reflect on the damage done at the end of World War II. Bleak and breathtaking, the stories capture a damaged place trying to stand back up better than most anything else in any other medium.

Guilty Pleasures of 2008

The Boys - Garth Ennis continues to extend his middle finger at Marvel and DC. Fun, but no Preacher or Hitman.

Guardians of the Galaxy - A raccoon that talks smack and fires large guns in space. That’s the reason to read it.

The Immortal Iron Fist - Buy volume 2, especially if you ever played Street Fighter or Mortal Combat.

Jungle Girl - A mostly naked woman and dinosaurs…come on!

Northlanders - Violence and death with Vikings. A guilty pleasure due to the dialogue anachronistic speech patterns and vocabulary. If that doesn’t bother you then it’s a lot of fun.

Scott Pilgrim 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together - Continues the fantastic series that everyone should read. Not as good as the previous volume.

Walking Dead - Anytime it comes out it’s one of the first books read off my stack. I find it entertaining, but wonder whether in the crop of fan-boy-writers if Kirkman has any real talent (much of his Marvel work shows his lack there-of and Walking Dead seems to have turned in to shock more than horror).

Wintermen Special - Nobody read it but me and Al. Guy Ritchie should make this a movie.

Wolverine - Get Mystique is violent and brutal and got me picking the book up again.