Back at it again, James M. Clark here. I’m currently waiting until Wednesday to get my comics from the shop, so unfortunately no reviews until then but I felt like blogging a Top 10 List to keep active.
I decided to create this Top 10 because I’m frustrated when people ask me, “What’s your favourite comic book?” Usually I ramble for forty, fifty minutes before the boys in blue arrive and escort me away for harassment. But then I get incredibly pissed off waiting with the police because I think “Crap, forgot to mention I’m a fan of ______ or _____”. There is just too many series I follow and too many interesting characters and concepts and worlds to explore when you’re a comic fanatic. There isn’t enough time or words in the world to describe them, so I boiled it down to MY top 10 favourites. So for all you out there ready to throw your two cents in, throw ‘em. I’m not claiming this is the best 10 comics ever created but I wouldn’t eschew them either. I’m always interested to hear what other people read because I’ve found it’s best not to be ignorant otherwise you may miss out on a book that you really enjoy. That being said, here is the Top 10 according to your heavily-biased Canadian friend from across the pond.
#10. Y: The Last Man (Vertigo)
Written By: Brian K. Vaughn
Art By: Pia Guerra and others
Being the last man on Earth leaves you with plenty of time to...think!
Y: The Last Man is a comic about the last man on the planet Earth, Yorrick Brown and his male pet monkey, Ampersand. The first trade provides a number of possible reasons males have all mysteriously dropped dead; virus, an odd scientific birth and other reasons are given throughout the series. I find this series has high literary value because I regard it as a largely feminist work. With this comic we get to examine what the world would be like if men did not exist and women were free of gender bias. However, Yorrick and his male pet monkey are the only males to survive whatever it was that caused the world’s men to perish. Brian K. Vaughan takes readers on an incredible journey giving them new clues as to why Yorrick and Ampersand may exist, and introducing them to the dangers of feminine society.
#9. Transmetropolitan (Vertigo)
Written By: Warren Ellis
Art By: Darrick Robertson
Transmetropolitan chronicles the battles of Spider Jerusalem, infamous renegade gonzo journalist of the future.
Transmetropolitan is a futuristic punk/sci-fi series that follows anti-hero Spider Jerusalem, an eccentric and down on his luck writer-reporter as he comes down from mountainous seclusion in search of a quick buck. The exploits of Spider are hilarious and the world Warren Ellis creates is so staggeringly large in scope one can’t help but wonder just WTF goes on in Ellis’ head. I was hooked on this series from the moment I discovered it and much like my quick reading of Preacher, I read the entire series in about a month or two.
#8. 100 Bullets (Vertigo)
Written By: Brian Azzarello
Art By: Eduardo Risso and others
The mysterious G-man named Agent Graves who solves stranger’s problems for them by appearing with a gun and 100 untreaceable bullets
100 Bullets is probably one of the grittiest crime epic’s I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. The genius creative team behind this series has since gone on to do other comics together and is perhaps one of the best Writer/Artist pairings in comics today. Brian Azzarello tells the tale of a mysterious G-man named Agent Graves who solves stranger’s problems for them by appearing with a gun and 100 bullets, every last one of them untraceable. Eduardo Risso’s bleak but enticing art sucks readers in to the world of 100 Bullets from the very first page and doesn’t let go the entire time. Each of these stories focuses on a person who has some sort of unwanted stress in their life, someone they need gone and what they decide to do with the 100 bullets Agent Graves gives them.
#7. The Boys (Dynamite)
Written By: Garth Ennis
Art By: Darrick Roberston, John McCrea, Carlos Ezquerra and others
The Homelander leads the Seven on a rescue mission unlike any others!
The Boys is one of my favourite series because it is a parody. And no one does parody better than Garth Ennis. The Boys follows check. Essentially, The Boys is a parody of the premier superhero comic titles such as Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, etc. The Homelander or ‘Homo-Lander’ is a hilarious imitation of superman with an insatiable appetite for gay sex, Tek-Knight is a Batman doppelganger who can’t stave off his own insatiable appetite for gay sex and his lust for his teenage sidekick’s tight little behind. Like Preacher, The Boys is quite over the top and offensive so I wouldn’t recommend either title to a young reader, perhaps best enjoyed by someone 15 and up. The adventures of Wee Hughie, Butcher, Mother’s Milk, The Frenchman and The Female are sure to bust anyone’s guts and are a wicked read for those with a sense of humour.
#6. Preacher (Vertigo)
Written by: Garth Ennis
Art By: Steve Dillon, John McCrea, Carlos Ezquerra and others
Preacher deals with the deep friendship between the titular character, Jesse Custer, and his friend Cassidy, the Irish vampire.
Yup, Garth get’s two series on this top 10 list. Can you tell by my choices that I’m a 3rd generation British-Canadian yet? I began reading this series after being a fan of Hellblazer for a long time and hearing Preacher described as an off-shoot of Ennis’ work on Hellblazer. The story follows Texas preacher Jesse Custer (initials JC, modern-day Christ, but BAD ASS) who has the pleasure of acquiring the word of God when he becomes possessed with the offspring of an angel and a demon. The word of God doesn’t mean he has a bunch of lunatics following him around and drinking his blood and eating pieces of his flesh but rather, the amazing ability to command people to his will. With a few words, Jesse Custer possesses the ability to make anybody do as he says which leads to hilarity at every turn. My personal fav is when he tells an overbearing conservative police officer to ‘Go eff himself’. Jesse develops into an amazing hero throughout this series and essentially does the work of a God that has abandoned Heaven and hidden himself somewhere on Earth. Jesse uses his power to do good and help folk out along the way and goes in search of a cowardly God in order to make God realize the error of his ways in abandoning Heaven. Jesse is accompanied by his girlfriend, Tulip O’Hare and the ultra-cool Irish vampire Cassidy on this wild road-trippin’ adventure across America’s heartland.
#5. Watchmen (DC)
Written by: Alan Moore
Art by: David Gibbons
This city's afraid of me... I've seen its true face...
Watchmen is a favourite of mine and just makes the top 5. While Alan Moore hates me and would probably like to see me nailed to a cross and burned alive for picking up DC’s prequel Before Watchmen series, the original fascinates me both as a comic and as a literary work. Moore is without a doubt the best creator in comics. The way in which he builds a world and inserts incredibly interesting and complex characters that are easy to identify with and then writes suspenseful, believable dialogue is what draws me to Alan Moore’s work and specifically to Watchmen. I first encountered Watchmen as an undergraduate student in a course titled ‘Reading the Modern World’. It was the most interesting required reading I had in all of university and I had read the thick graphic novel 6 times over before we were even required to read it. I relish every moment and every read I have with Watchmen, it’s a classic that I always keep close by because each new reading of it leads to a deeper understanding of this text and most often a new interpretation and new creative energy for me to write. If you haven’t ever read Joseph Conrad, this graphic novel begs a question I think Conrad was one of the first to ask, “Who watches the watchmen?”. In laymen’s, retards or American terms, the question Alan Moore poses means: Just what kind of sick bastards did we give the power to guard us?
#4. Spawn (Image)
Key Writers: Todd McFarlane (Creator); Alan Moore; Frank Miller; Brian Michael Bendis; Steve Niles, Brian Holguin, David Hine, Robert Kirkman, Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman
Key Artists: Todd McFarlane (Creator); Greg Capullo – two of comic’s top artists in my belief
Spawn must choose between his life on Earth and his place on a throne in Hell.
Spawn, Hell’s white knight. The series was created in 1992 and helped establish publisher Image as a major player in the comic’s game. Again, dark themes (maybe I should see a psychiatrist?) and this time our hero is an ex-Black Ops specialist who is double crossed into damnation and recreated as a soldier in Satan’s (or in Spawn’s case Malebolgia’s) army. In as little as 5 years, Spawn went from Todd McFarlane’s brainchild to a feature film and an award winning HBO animated series. Now, 20 years and 220 issues later, Spawn is still going strong and still boasts an amazingly talented creative team behind it. It seems Todd McFarlane’s success with Spawn spilled out into other avenues, making Todd the richest dude in comics with his assets in Image, McFarlane Toys and baseball collector’s items. If you’re a writer or an artist looking at plying your trade in the world of comics, your dream is to be Todd McFarlane, the guy is an ace. However, I should note that in 2008, Al Simmons (the first Spawn) committed suicide and a new Spawn (Jim Downing), took over as the title’s main character. While I did find the initial transition jarring, Jim is one hell of a Spawn and as pieces of his past are slowly being revealed, I just can’t help but be enthralled by what’s coming up around the next bend. I’m an avid collector and subscriber of the series and I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this character.
#3. John Constantine: Hellblazer (Vertigo)
Key Writers: Alan Moore, Jamie Delano, Brian Azzarello, Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Jason Aaron, Peter Milligan, Mike Carey, Denise Mina, Darko Macan, Andy Diggle.
"You don't need anything magical to tell most people's futures. They get old, get married, have kids, work their life away, and die. And, that's just too depressing for me!"
Alright, I’ll give you Brits a break and put some British works into the mix. John Constantine came off the pages of Swamp Thing some years ago. Albeit the movie starred Canadian actor Keanu Reeves, it was quite terrible. Keanu as John and Shia LaBoeuf as Chas? Gimme a break. This character has so much more potential than the big-screen gave him credit for. He holds those same dark qualities I look for in a character and he is extremely cynical and hates himself almost as much as Deadpool (see above). The chain-smoking British mage is most often authored by a British writer and is Vertigo’s staple as its longest running series as it approaches 300 issues in the months to come. It is most definitely not a kid’s comic and deals with extremely dark themes while incorporating loads of sex, violence and a horror/fantasy landscape which is literally straight out of Hell. John wages war with demons and other mystics and is a con-man by trade, constantly suckering his seedy enemies with the short end of the straw. The list of talent attached to this series was just too awesome not to be in the Top 5.
#2. Deadpool (Marvel)
Key Writers: Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld (creators); Daniel Way, David Lapham, Victor Gischler, Joe Kelly, Mark Waid, Christopher Priest, Fred Van Lente, Adam Glass.
The "Merc with a Mouth" is infamous for breaking the fourth wall.
Yup. Bet you’d never find Deadpool on any other Top 10 List. I realize you UK comic fans are probably pissed and are wondering if Doctor Who, Judge Dredd, etc. make the list but unfortunately they do not because I have not had the chance to read them. Why Deadpool is #2: he is an acquired taste. Not everybody likes Canadians (Americans mostly, we did burn down their White House and we do make better beer), let alone mouthy schizoid Canadian mercenaries dressed in crimson spandex with guns, sharp swords and sharper humor. But once you get to know this crazy Canadian regeneratin’ degenerate you just can’t help but love him. I first picked up Deadpool at about 7 years old and let’s be honest: he kicks Wolverine’s ass. Yeah Wolvie is the X-Men’s cornerstone, the poster-boy and the better selling character but I’ve never been one to bandwagon and if I had the choice to have beers with a superhero, it’d be Deadpool. Why not Spiderman? Same reasons eggheads, if I want to read about school boys saving people where everything is relatively kosher, I’ll put Spidey and Supe in the Top 10. I believe people are pre-disposed to never be entirely good but also to never be entirely bad and Deadpool definitely walks the fine line between the two as he is most often described as an anti-hero. He is a young hero in comparison to a lot of other titles at only 20 years old, having been created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza in 1992 when they were working on New Mutants #98 together. If you have a good sense of humor and can wrap your head around a mercenary who recognizes he is a comic book character, loathes Wolverine and loves tacos then I’d recommend you grab yourself some Deadpool issues and a few Canadian cold ones. He is a popular but often under-rated and overlooked character that I think deserves a lot more praise than he gets.
#1. Batman (DC COMICS)
Key Writers: Bob Kane (creator); Frank Miller; Jeph Loeb; Alan Moore; Doug Moench; Chuck Dixon; Dennis O’Neill; Brian Azzarello. Greg Rucka, Scott Snyder & Many More but these are my favs.
I highly regard Batman as the best hero in comics because of his dark allure. Perhaps that’s why Superman doesn’t appeal to me as much.
HAHA! Gotcha! I bet you all thought I was going to go with the hegemonic North American practice of ranking Superman first like IGN and so many other Top 10’s. Hell naw. If I have pissed anyone off doing this, I don’t care for your two cents here, save ‘em and buy a lolly, keep your forked tongue behind your teeth and @$#% off while you still have two legs to carry you. Ahem… so, why Batman? Batman was my first experience with a hero. As a child I’d go after school to my grandparent’s house and have a few hours of TV and a snack before my parents would come to get me. When I wasn’t busy being a little hellion, I’d watch the old Batman’s starring Adam West with my grandpa. There was so much adventure and action, coupled with those cheesy super-imposed comic bubble sound effects that I couldn’t help but take up Bruce Wayne’s crusade and label myself a Son of Batman. From the old TV show I moved on to the animated series in which Mark Hamill voices the Joker, to the Tim Burton films and so on and so forth (and yes, Nolan’s rendition is the best to date). But we aren’t here to talk TV or film today.
I highly regard Batman as the best hero in comics because of his dark allure. Perhaps that’s why Superman doesn’t appeal to me as much. The Dark Knight boasts many spin-off character franchises and what I believe to be the best cast in comics of all time. The heroes – Batman, Robin, Red Robin, Red Hood, Nightwing, Batwing, Oracle, Batwoman, Batgirl, Catwoman. The villains – Joker, Riddler, Two-Face, Scarface, Bane, Hush, Mad Hatter, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, Ra’s Al Ghul, Clayface, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn. There are several other heroes and villains I’ve forgotten about, but these are all marquee, top selling characters. And there’s always new characters popping up, such as James Tynion IV’s Talon which is due to come out this fall. Batman has stood the test of time and continues to evolve with modern comics and in modern pop culture as a much loved mythos.
You can follow James on twitter at @JamesMClark87
Posted on July 5th, 2012
Category: 50 SHADES OF BLOOD AND VISCERA, NEWS & VIEWS
Tags: 100 Bullets, Alan Moore, Batman, Brian Azzarello, Brian K. Vaughn, Comic Reviews, Darrick Robertson, David Gibbons, Deadpool, Eduardo Risso, Garth Ennis, James M. Clark, John Constantine: Hellblazer, Preacher, Spawn, Steve Dillon, The Boys, Todd McFarlane, Top 10 Comics, Transmetropolitan, Warren Ellis, Watchmen, Y The Last Man