Favorite current indie/alternative comics and companies
Evening639
Posts: 368
The title of this thread is pretty self-explanatory. For clarity's sake, however, I shall elaborate a bit. What comics and/or publishers are you currently reading and enjoying that aren't Marvel or DC. Simple, right?
All I ask is that no one use this as an excuse to trash The Big Two. There's quite enough of that already. This thread is intended as a celebration of books and companies we normally don't get an opportunity to discuss at length elsewhere.
I'll kick things off with a few.
Books
Descender (Image Comics) - The opening story arc has supplied all the back story necessary to follow along with and enjoy this creative sci fi tale of an android boy trying to come to terms with a world in which his "family" is dead and artificial life forms are hated and feared.
Jeff Lemire promises a lot of future world-building with his descriptions of the different planets and races that exist in the galaxy the series takes place in. Artist Dustin Nguyen's painted style gives the book a hazy feeling that makes me feel as if I'm viewing the book through the eyes of the main character after he has just been awakened after many years of artificial hibernation. The characters emotions are also very clear, which is always a sign of a talented artist.
Dream Police (Joe's Comics/Image Comics) - The release schedule and delays on this book have admittedly been frustrating. However, the payoff has yet to disappoint me. The book centers on two detectives who inhabit a world of dreams and their efforts to police that world and protect dreamers as they sleep. Early in the series, a mystery subplot is introduced that writer J. Michael Straczynski quickly develops into the main focus of the book.
Sid Kotian provides pencils and really helps bring Straczynski's story to life. His interpretation of the dreamscape is simultaneously surreal and familiar which creates a perfectly disorienting atmosphere appropriate to the subject matter.
Lantern City (Archaia/BOOM! Studios) - While we're on the topic of artists who bring stories to life, Carlos Magno's detailed pencils fully submerge me in the city each time I turn the pages of this book. The comic is a futuristic dystopian tale with very relatable characters, a solid introduction and a steady pace with enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.
Writer Matthew Daley was assisted by veteran Paul Jenkins on the first issue.
Shutter (Image Comics) - I'm a little behind on this one but what I've read so far has been quite unique and never predictable. The book follows former explorer, Kate Kristopher, as she deals with family secrets, robot butlers, gangster lions and ghost ninjas. Oh, and somewhere in there, there's a story. Also, let me just say that I could drool over Leila Del Duca's two-page spreads all day.
The letters page is probably my favorite part of this book. Writer Joe Keatinge and artist Leila Del Duca use it as a forum to recommend to and discuss with readers their favorite comics, books, music, film and television.
In the interest of space and time, I'll simply mention the titles of a few other series that I'm currently enjoying (or have enjoyed if they have already concluded) before moving on to publishers.
The Bigger Bang (IDW Publishing)
Feathers (Archaia/BOOM! Studios)
The Humans (Image Comics)
Palmiotti & Brady's The Big Con Job (BOOM! Studios)
Shadow Show: Stories In Celebration Of Ray Bradbury (IDW Publishing)
Publishers
BOOM! Studios - BOOM! is easily one of the best publishers in the game right now, in my humble opinion. They release a wide variety of genres and there is material to be found for all ages. I especially respect the publisher for putting out intelligent comics targeted at kids, both through their main line and their Archaia and kaBoom! imprints.
Dark Horse - Dark Horse has not only been putting out great new creator-owned material but has also been releasing fantastic reprints of older material from various sources. They genuinely feel like a publisher that just loves good comics.
Humanoids - Any publisher that puts out large portions of Alejandro Jodorowsky's comics work and supplies me with an English translation of Barbarella written by Kelly Sue DeConnick is okay in my book.
Slave Labor Graphics - Not many publishers do "offbeat" as well as SLG. While I enjoy some of the more humorous titles they've released over the years, such as Milk & Cheese and Johnny The Homicidal Maniac, I also am quite impressed by strangely touching books like Egg Story.
I've rambled more than enough. Please, everyone, feel free to share your favorites here. I look forward to reading about them.
All I ask is that no one use this as an excuse to trash The Big Two. There's quite enough of that already. This thread is intended as a celebration of books and companies we normally don't get an opportunity to discuss at length elsewhere.
I'll kick things off with a few.
Books
Descender (Image Comics) - The opening story arc has supplied all the back story necessary to follow along with and enjoy this creative sci fi tale of an android boy trying to come to terms with a world in which his "family" is dead and artificial life forms are hated and feared.
Jeff Lemire promises a lot of future world-building with his descriptions of the different planets and races that exist in the galaxy the series takes place in. Artist Dustin Nguyen's painted style gives the book a hazy feeling that makes me feel as if I'm viewing the book through the eyes of the main character after he has just been awakened after many years of artificial hibernation. The characters emotions are also very clear, which is always a sign of a talented artist.
Dream Police (Joe's Comics/Image Comics) - The release schedule and delays on this book have admittedly been frustrating. However, the payoff has yet to disappoint me. The book centers on two detectives who inhabit a world of dreams and their efforts to police that world and protect dreamers as they sleep. Early in the series, a mystery subplot is introduced that writer J. Michael Straczynski quickly develops into the main focus of the book.
Sid Kotian provides pencils and really helps bring Straczynski's story to life. His interpretation of the dreamscape is simultaneously surreal and familiar which creates a perfectly disorienting atmosphere appropriate to the subject matter.
Lantern City (Archaia/BOOM! Studios) - While we're on the topic of artists who bring stories to life, Carlos Magno's detailed pencils fully submerge me in the city each time I turn the pages of this book. The comic is a futuristic dystopian tale with very relatable characters, a solid introduction and a steady pace with enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.
Writer Matthew Daley was assisted by veteran Paul Jenkins on the first issue.
Shutter (Image Comics) - I'm a little behind on this one but what I've read so far has been quite unique and never predictable. The book follows former explorer, Kate Kristopher, as she deals with family secrets, robot butlers, gangster lions and ghost ninjas. Oh, and somewhere in there, there's a story. Also, let me just say that I could drool over Leila Del Duca's two-page spreads all day.
The letters page is probably my favorite part of this book. Writer Joe Keatinge and artist Leila Del Duca use it as a forum to recommend to and discuss with readers their favorite comics, books, music, film and television.
In the interest of space and time, I'll simply mention the titles of a few other series that I'm currently enjoying (or have enjoyed if they have already concluded) before moving on to publishers.
The Bigger Bang (IDW Publishing)
Feathers (Archaia/BOOM! Studios)
The Humans (Image Comics)
Palmiotti & Brady's The Big Con Job (BOOM! Studios)
Shadow Show: Stories In Celebration Of Ray Bradbury (IDW Publishing)
Publishers
BOOM! Studios - BOOM! is easily one of the best publishers in the game right now, in my humble opinion. They release a wide variety of genres and there is material to be found for all ages. I especially respect the publisher for putting out intelligent comics targeted at kids, both through their main line and their Archaia and kaBoom! imprints.
Dark Horse - Dark Horse has not only been putting out great new creator-owned material but has also been releasing fantastic reprints of older material from various sources. They genuinely feel like a publisher that just loves good comics.
Humanoids - Any publisher that puts out large portions of Alejandro Jodorowsky's comics work and supplies me with an English translation of Barbarella written by Kelly Sue DeConnick is okay in my book.
Slave Labor Graphics - Not many publishers do "offbeat" as well as SLG. While I enjoy some of the more humorous titles they've released over the years, such as Milk & Cheese and Johnny The Homicidal Maniac, I also am quite impressed by strangely touching books like Egg Story.
I've rambled more than enough. Please, everyone, feel free to share your favorites here. I look forward to reading about them.
Comments
Would also recommend Boom's 'Big Trouble in Little China'
Dark Horse's ' Fight Club 2' - my gripe with DH's reprints is they're usually smaller than the original dimensions and that bugs me a bit.
Also enjoying several Valiant titles
Also enjoy the odd Red 5 comic. They used to publish Atomic Robo (now at IDW) which is great. But also books like We Kill Monsters and Neozoic are really entertaining books.
I've also liked a couple of indie books that very few mainstream comic fans have probably heard of. You have to look twice through Previews to locate them :)
"Future Proof" by BlissOnTap - it was Chrononauts before Mark Millar came up with the idea. This appears to be a bi-monthly book.
"Hellbreak from Oni Press has also been quite enjoyable.
To build further on this statement, in recent months I've found myself going straight to the back of the Previews catalogue when I get in my shipment and going through the book in reverse when deciding what to order. I try to follow a very strict budget each month and too many times I noticed that I had already met or exceeded that budget before I even made it out of Image.
This approach has led me to some great reads like Egg Story from Slave Labor Graphics (which I mentioned in a previous comment), Street Angel from Adhouse Books (I believe this was originally published by SLG as well), and A Silent Voice from Kodansha Comics.
I always get excited when I see previously out of print material released in trades as well. I believe last month some old Tekno Comix stuff was solicited from Super Genius.
Devil's Due has resurrected First Comics to create Devil's Due/1First Comics and is reissuing E-Man from Charlton. They will also be releasing new material from a wide variety of creators, including two of my personal favorites, Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner.
This is easily one of the best times to be a comics reader.
It's an amazing book that should be required reading for anyone who is a bully or had to suffer through it growing up.
It's probably little to no surprise that I hit up the manga publishers before anything else. I maintain that anyone who tells me they don't like manga simply hasn't found their title yet, and urge them to keep looking, because there's real brilliance being published right now. Examples?
Viz Media - probably the biggest publisher of manga in the States, with a slew of titles to boot. My favorites right now are Master Keaton by Naoki Urasawa and Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida. The former because it's Urasawa and he's amazing on pretty much anything, the latter because the art is amazing, the writing is madcap, and the story is completely immersive.
Kodansha - see A Silent Voice above. A beautiful book.
Yen Press - We don't get Yotsuba! volumes as much as production has caught up to Azuma's schedule, but when they come out they're an immediate top of the stack.
Seven Seas - Monster Musume...not gonna be for everyone, but their rep at SDCC said it was their best and funniest title. He ain't lying. Do not leave it around for your kids to find. It's one of *those* manga but god help me it's a hilarious read. Citrus is also a pretty darn good yuri manga (yuri = female/female relationships but don't get too excited...it's heavier on the "relationships" part than what you're likely imagining).
Vertical - Just started releasing My Neighbor Seki which is a hilarious book about a girl forced to sit next to the class slacker/clown at her school and how she has to deal with him.
And while not always in Previews - if you're on kickstarter at all look for Digital Manga's run on getting Osamu Tezuka's catalog re-released. They don't always list the overflow in Previews and have mentioned that given their success they're planning to crowdsource all future rereleases. Great way to get your mitts on some manga classics.
East of West
The Manhattan Projects (When it comes out)
The Dying and the Dead (Also really late)
All Hickman, imagine that..
Saga is of course a masterpiece.
I'm also enjoying Injection by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey.
Fight Club 2 has been really good.
A couple I haven't read yet are the new Archie book and BKV's We Stand on Guard.
I've enjoyed the first 25 of Manhattan Projects but the new model (Hickman went to a series of minis model) only has one issue out and I haven't caught up with it yet. It's been long delayed (but I suspect that's due to Secret Wars and it doesn't bother me). Fun title.
I'm catching up digitally with Lazarus.. I let that one by me despite Rucka/Lark being a team I would love and the concept sounding cool. I haven't been disappointed. GREAT book. @wildpigcomics wasn't kidding.
Rumble is also a lot of fun.. I know John Arcudi from dabbling in Hellboy (someday I'll tackle all of that). But James Harren on art is what sold me- he did a Conan arc that I thought was awesome artwork. That's 5 issues or 1 trade in so easy to catch up.
The Autumnlands: Tooth & Claw is also very cool- appeals to me as I like a good sword & sorcery book and it's Busiek who killed it on Conan among other things. The art on this book is also amazing- Jonathan Dewey is the artist and I'd never heard of him before. Also about 6 issues in for this one so easy to catch up & jump aboard.
Wytches (Snyder/Jock) has been a good read, Jock art is awesome as usual.. The Fade Out (Brubaker/Phillips) is good but not quite great for me, I have a few gripes with it but am staying with it for now.
Sometime down the road, I will catch up with Saga-mania, I know I'm in the minority but BKV has never really done it for me.. however, it's hard for me to resist a book that gets praised like Saga does.
I also have read a lot of Savage Dragon over the past 2 decades and definitely want to get current with it again too. It's quite a piece of work as a series- now over 200 issues with Erik Larsen writing & drawing- Larsen is always experimenting with the form and is very "meta" often in the book but it also has built quite an interesting universe (or universes) within the title even if you don't get every industry in-joke.
Aside from Image, I have a few other series I'm liking a lot and have stuck with from the start:
I read all the Baltimore minis from Dark Horse- that's in the Mignola-verse so in three words: literary, gothic horror.. and I've enjoyed those minis and one shots a lot. Baltimore is a classic lone wolf anithero with his own moral code (much like Conan who I'm a fan of).
Ragnarok - More adventure-type stuff.. Simonson writing and drawing mythic Norse characters for IDW, that should sell it enough. It comes out about every 2 months.. I am loving the book. Another easy title to catch up with- there are only 5 issues out.
Sixth Gun - By Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt. The main series is about an arc away from finishing, it'll be around 50 issues when it's done. It's been a great book- it is a weird Western with monsters, supernatural forces, etc. and they have done a great job building the history and mythology of the larger world of this story, while developing the main characters well.
Rat Queens - if you like your fantasy with a bit of irreverence, this is your book. Also an artist I really dig, Tess Fowler, is on art chores now and she's really knocking it out of the park.
Sunstone - A book about two girls into bondage. And if that's all it were about I wouldn't buy it. We have this thing called the internet now. :) Amazing artwork, and more importantly characters you can believe in and a view into a world many of us may never know. Did I mention the artwork is amazing?
Revival - Tim Seeley and Mike Norton (who at one time was a bit of a regular on here) together on a book? Yeah, sign me up. It's been consistently great - in the vein of Fargo - a noir horror story.
Goes without saying this one isn't for the kiddies, of course, but it's a definite top-of-the-stack for me when a new volume comes out.
Six Guns - what a great weird west story.
Skullkickers - the series just ended, but it was probably my favorite thing I read last year. Jim Zub can write some amazing fantasy comics.
Pathfinder - Zub writing more fantasy good stories in the pathfinder universe.
Knights of the Dinner Table - I love KoDT. I don't even game much and love this series.
I believe these series have been discussed a lot so:
Black Science
Saga
Fade Out
Finally 2 licensed books that are really enjoyable
Big Trouble in Little China
Sons of Anarchy
I'll also mention one series I really liked the first trade of Fuse and I completely forgot about
Southern Bastards - Another great story from Jason Aaron. If you liked Scalped you might want to try this series.
The truth I really love all those books I've mentioned. I get 99% of all my indie books in trades or wait for the price to drop digitally so I'm almost always 5-6 months behind.