What are the best non-big two comics everyone should be read

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Vertical Inc
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What are the best non-big two comics everyone should be read

Post by Vertical Inc » Tue May 27, 2014 8:35 am

What are the best non-big two comics everyone should be reading?

Hmm… I can’t do best, because that’s narrowing a super-broad field down to just a few, but here’s some stuff I’ve read or liked that comes to mind:
Tsutomu Nihei’s Knights of Sidonia: Weirdly-toned space mecha comic, with character designs that remind me of Chris Bachalo more than anything else and monster designs that are exceedingly creepy. It’s cute, it’s fun, sometimes people are dismembered.
Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro: I read the latest volume of this gritty horror/magic action comic yesterday and was struck by how much I like how Hayashida draws women. Nobody else in comics is really on her level or wave. She also draws chunks of flesh and beatings and smoke like nobody else, if that’s more your speed.
Jaime Hernandez’s Maggie the Mechanic: I’m about two-thirds of the way through this one, I think, and it’s pretty good. Hernandez does this thing where his characters will have some really mundane or heated conversation while walking through places doing stuff. I remember Batman fans talking about Chuck Dixon doing that on Nightwing (the train conversation issue, among others) like he invented it, and it’s a technique I like a lot, so it’s nice to see it applied to like “going on a date” or “hanging out.”
Weekly Shonen Jump: Still the best value in comics, dollar for dollar, and there’s at least one super-hot chapter of a series I like a week, but often more.
Mike Mignola’s Hellboy in Hell: Mike Mignola’s screw-around comic. I’ve been off BPRD for a long while at this point, but Hellboy in Hell is on point. It feels like old school Hellboy stories, but Mignola is so, so much better now than he was then. I like this one so much I had to get it on paper after reading the digital one.
Geof Darrow’s Shaolin Cowboy: “Hey, do you write about comics? Do you not know how to review or appreciate this comic? You should stop writing about comics!” —my review of the four-issue Shaolin Cowboy that ended earlier this year
Raina Telgemeier’s Smile: I was tricked into braces as a kid by a doctor I’m pretty sure cheated us; I enjoyed this comic a lot and connected to it in a big way. I’m looking forward to her new book.
Study Group Comics: Maybe cheating to name an entire website of different comics but they have a high batting average.
Author-san’s Kawaiikochan!! Gaming No Korner: It’s like the highest concept joke ever; difficult until you get it and then oh man, it is glorious. I laugh at the phrase “this yarou” often, and Majide’s personality kills me sometimes.
Meredith Gran’s Octopus Pie: Killer emotions, killer figures, killer jokes. Gran takes no prisoners. My copy of Dead Forever will get here Tuesday probably, and the Christmas special is pretty good, too.




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