Other Comics Picks

Other Comics Picks

Often pulls from series that are generally of a lot more variable quality, or series that are just beginning to get established. Warren Ellis crops up quite a lot.

This is an overview of stuff I like. Cover art is linked to many more extensive reviews on Amazon UK.

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Batgirl: Year One

Family-friendly modern origin for the first Batgirl, Barbara Gordon. Highly stylised and very likeable art, plus a plot involving a Batman and Robin team who aren't particularly gritty and act like role-models rather than holier-than-thou jerks. Quite refreshing if you grew up during the 80s or 90s in which everything tended to be "anti-hero" this or "dark vengeance" that.

Death: The High Cost of Living

Early art by Chris Bachalo and a life-affirming script from Neil Gaiman combine to make this probably the best spin-off story from Sandman. Several generations of kids have now grown up mimicking the Death look, often without knowing about the series. Apparently a film, which has been mooted since the 90s, is still a possibility. It's a light plot: Death walks as a mortal for one day each century to better understand her charges, dragging along a teenager who's tired of life with a bit of adventure along the way.

Desolation Jones: Made in England

Very definitely not for kids. Warren Ellis comes up with a standalone series dealing with the concept of ex-spies with rather unusual abilities put out to grass. This is by no means a cheerful book, and a lot of it's the author rummaging around in his brain for striking images to shock the reader. But then, that's nothing different to the schtick of most horror movies — it's just on a printed page instead.

Fell: Feral City

Warren Ellis sets out to provide cheap, dense 16-page comics with self-contained stories, and this is a collection of the results. With beautiful painted-style art provided by Ben Templesmith, this crime drama introduces Detective Richard Fell to Snowtown — a hole in which the police are more concerned with trying to stay alive than police. Despite this, there are a few grins in-between Ellis holding a mirror up to some of the worse excesses mankind has to offer. The good guy doesn't always win, but pulls off a decent batting average.

Generation X

This collection was released in 1996 by Boxtree and is long out of print. Second-hand copies do turn up frequently though, and it's worth looking for — hailing from a time when Chris Bachalo drew very sharp, clean art and with some touching moments between the then-new group of young mutants. Unfortunately the book was then put on hold for the Age of Apocalypse event and never recovered the same production quality, but this is good.

JLA Classified: New Maps of Hell

Warren Ellis does Justice League of America. This isn't an essential read or part of a comics "event" — which is a big part of why I like it. It's both a perfect introduction to the JLA and a reminder that DC characters can actually have character as well as being archetypes. Notable for making Superman feel rather realistic instead of being a collection of soundbytes, treating Lois Lane as a character in her own right, and bringing a bit of awe back to a cast that often seems routine. Highly recommended.

Ocean

Nicely illustrated science fiction. A UN weapons inspector a hundred years into the future investigate recent discoveries on Jupiter — specifically, a dig on the moon Europa that's uncovered a frozen race of alien life. Slightly limited re-read value, but essentially a self-contained story that comes across as a big-budget widescreen film, in the vein of adaptations of Philip K. Dick or Arthur C. Clarke.

Phonogram: Rue Britannia

Music and magic. This first series focuses heavily on Britpop, so it's most of interest to people who were alive and paying some kind of attention to UK music in the 90s. Essentially, magician David Kohl tries to save both himself and his patron Britannia from a threat he only comes to appreciate as the story goes on. If this seems pretentious, it is a bit — unashamedly aimed at lovers of comics that aren't about superheroes and who like bands such as Kenickie. If that includes you, you might really, really enjoy this.