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My List of the 10 Favorite / Best / Most Significant Comics Works
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (the arrival of non-fiction graphic novels)
Yesterday morning, the Hooded Utilitarian posted my list along with 21 others who contributed to a giant survey of comic book creators, retailers, publishers, educators, commentators (like me) and other industry folk from all over the world to determine the 10 Best Comics. In total, 211 people responded.
I sent my list on June 15, in response to the question, “What are the ten comics works you consider your favorites, the best, or the most significant?” I started my email response to the Hooded Utilitarian with the following: “I want you to know, this is IMPOSSIBLE.”
And it is. But despite that…
My list:
- Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
- Bone by Jeff Smith
- Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
- Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
- Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman
- Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley
- Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud
- The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard
Start clicking and see if something interests you.
There are plenty of comics that are just as good as the above that deserve to be listed, and even some that are better. But I had a few guidelines to help focus my list down to a manageable size.
First, I had to have actually read the material. Of the above, only Peanuts has material that I have never read. But I’ve read enough of it that what I haven’t read would have to be an absolute bomb for it to tarnish the goodwill. That means there was some material that I am fully expecting to love and that I love for its mere existence and concept that I had to leave out. I really wanted to include Carol Tyler’s You’ll Never Know on my list. It sits by my desk in my to-read pile from last year‘s Comic-Con.
Second, I leaned much heavier on the “most significant” portion of the question. As some have pointed out, the question asked by The Hooded Utilitarian is really three different questions which could result in three very different lists. Because what interests me is comics’ efforts to find new audiences, I interpreted “most significant” as the comics that have been most successful in winning over new readers. That was probably my biggest barometer. Each of the above have helped establish a genre or publishing strategy or level of skill that has expanded what comics can be and are today. In retrospect, I might’ve leaned a little too heavy on modern material but I think some of the most innovative and inclusive material is being made now (if you know where to find it).
OK, so let’s hear it. What did I miss?
(More random thoughts after the jump.)
The Ten Best Comics
#8: Pogo by Walt Kelly
Over 200 international comic book creators, retailers, journalists, educators, and pundits (including me!) submitted their lists answering the question “What are the ten comics works you consider your favorites, the best, or the most significant?” back in May, and now the results are getting posted at The Hooded Utilitarian.
So far, the classics Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay, Locas stories by Jaime Hernandez, Pogo by Walt Kelly, MAD by Harvey Kurtzman and company, and Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby take up spots six through ten respectively. Four and five went up this morning and the top three spots will go up tomorrow and Friday.
Then starting on Monday, they’ll start to post the top 115, as well as each contributor’s list. Once mine goes up, I’ll link to it here as well as expand on why I chose what I chose.
So far none of my choices have made the Top 10, but that doesn’t completely surprise me. The why behind my choices probably didn’t match with the majority of the other participants. But I can’t argue with what’s up there. Each entry so far is legendary for a reason. The Little Nemo write-up by Shaenon K. Garrity in particular really resonated with me, effectively capturing why Winsor McCay and his comic strip are so special.
Only occasionally has a publication or institution attempted to define a canon for sequential art (comic strips, comic books, graphic novels, manga, web comics, etc.). Literature, film and other art forms have often selected what is generally considered by most critics and fans as the height of quality and/or influence, whether it be the American Film Institute or the Great Books of the Western World.
Here are some previous entries into establishing a comic book canon:
- Sixteen Steps Toward a Superhero Canon by Timothy Callahan (October 22, 2008)
- Flying the Standard Part 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 by Scott O. Brown (November 27-December 4, 2006)
- Top 100 Trade Paperbacks of All Time from Wizard Magazine: Free Comic Book Day (2006)
- Top 100 Comics Works of the 20th Century by Tom Spurgeon (October 24, 2004)
- The Top 100 (English-Language) Comics of the Century from The Comics Journal issue #210 (February 1999)
Part of the fun of these kinds of lists is to make shopping lists and, probably more, to debate. So I’ll be taking a look at this list and how it compares with the others, looking at what I think was missed, what they got right, and the growing consensus of these lists.
Web and Digital Comics dominate Harvey Awards nominations
Gutters by Ryan Sohmer, Lar deSouza, et al.
The prestigious Harvey Awards have released their 2011 nominees for excellence in the comics industry. Named after the influential cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman, founder of MAD Magazine, the Harvey Awards are the only comics industry award both nominated and selected by comic book creators, those who write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit and/or otherwise help create comics.
This year showed an unprecedented number of nominations from web comics and digital comics, with a total of eight different works getting recognized in multiple categories. Most significantly is the showing from Gutters, which is nominated for a startling six nominations, more than any other single creator or comics work whether in print or not. The web comic that satirizes the comics industry appears to have won a significant number of fans within the industry, as it has been nominated for Best New Series, Special Award for Humor in Comics, Best Online Comics Work, Best Writer (Ryan Sohmer), Best Artist (Ed Ryzowski), and Best Colorist (Ed Ryzowski).
The digital comic Box 13, originally released through ComiXology, also had a decent showing, with two nominations: Best Letterer (Scott Brown) and Best Inker (Steve Ellis). Comfort Love and Adam Withers also received two nominations, one for Most Promising New Talent for their web-comic Rainbow in the Dark, and one for Best Anthology for their Uniques Tales.
The remaining Best Online Comics Work category had the following nominations: Guns of Shadow Valley by David Wachter and James Andrew Clark; Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton; La Morté Sisters by Tony Trov, Johnny Zito and Christine Larsen; and PvP by Scott Kurtz, who will be the Master of Ceremonies at the award show at the Baltimore Comic-Con in August.
Last year’s Harvey Awards only saw 3 categories outside of the Best Online Comics Work category nominate digital and/or web comics. The Best Online Comics Work category was added to the Harvey Awards in 2006.
Harvey Awards (1988-present)
On the print side of thing, this year’s Harvey Awards gave five nominations to Darwyn Cooke and his adaptation of Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit. Writer Joshua Hale Fialkov won four nominations for his work in Echoes with artist Rashan Ekedal and Tumor with artist Noel Tuazon. Tumor is nominated for Best Graphic Album Previously Published; it was originally published digitally on the Kindle in 2009. Artist Jaime Hernandez (Love and Rockets: New Stories) and Thor: The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee each had three nominations, with an additional nomination each for The Art of Jaime Hernandez: The Secrets of Life and Death, edited by Todd Hignite, and Langridge for his writing on The Muppet Show comic book series.
IDW Publishing raked in 16 nominations, more than any other publisher. Marvel Comics brought in 13, including 1 from their Icon imprint. DC Comics and Image Comics both obtained 11 nominations each with their respective Vertigo and Top Cow imprints bringing in more than half.
LA’s All-Star Comic Creators Team-Up
LA Comics Creators (left to right): Johnny Ryan, Jaime Hernandez, Ron Regé, Jordan Crane, Sammy Harkham, Frank Santoro (click for Comics Comics article)
Some of Los Angeles’ finest and most innovative sequential storytellers met up for dinner recently, and Frank Santoro of Comics Comics was there. Part one was posted last Saturday and part two should be coming this weekend. It’s a fascinating look at the comics community of Los Angeles with interesting observations about the storytelling style of these local artists. Santoro is an acclaimed artist himself, and in fact his arrival in town for a gallery exhibition of his work at Dem Passwords in West Hollywood (still happening until February 18th) was the impetus for the epic meeting.
So who made up the all-star lineup?
Jaime Hernandez makes up one third of the legendary Los Bros Hernandez, creators of the hugely influential Love and Rockets, a series that revolutionized the alternative comics scene in the ’80s. The rich characters Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez created in that series continue to this day in the annual publication Love and Rockets: New Stories. Jaime’s primary narrative grew out from the California punk scene of the time and his home town of Oxnard, about an hour or so east of LA. As you’ll see from the article, Jaime is greatly revered by Santoro, and for good reason because of the high caliber of his work and the trailblazing he did in the industry almost 30 years ago. It’s entirely possible that without him, the rest wouldn’t be doing comics, or if they were, their work would look significantly different and possibly never make it to our hands.
Sammy Harkham is the editor of Kramer’s Ergot, one of the most acclaimed comics anthologies of the last 10 years. He is a respected artist himself, his current work is his series Crickets. He also co-owns the comics and book store Family on Fairfax in West Hollywood. The shape of the sector that is often called literary comics, art comics and/or alternative comics would look a lot different today without him.
Ron Regé, Jr. is, like me, originally from Massachusetts and now lives in Los Angeles. So basically we’re the same person. Except that he’s created amazing artwork that explores colorful dreamscapes like Skipper Bee Bye and Yeast Hoist. He’s apparently working on a new release that sounds amazing. Regé is also a musician, currently playing drums for the LA-based country/folk/psychedelic Lavendar Diamond.
Johnny Ryan is a mad man. Also originally from Massachusetts, he is responsible for reinvigorating humor comics with a brash and often shocking energy, in Angry Youth Comix, Prison Pit, and his work for VICE magazine. Definitely a lot of NSFW, and he’s not for everyone, but I think he’s hilarious. He’s one of the few people carrying the torch of the underground comix of R. Crumb and others.
Jordan Crane is a wonderful artist perhaps best known for The Clouds Above, a delightful children’s story. But he has also created some heartbreaking, simply beautiful stories, such as The Last Lonely Saturday, a poignant tale of an old man visiting his late wife’s grave. The latter is seen in our documentary short Dig Comics, and won over a self-proclaimed book snob and English major who thought comics were just violence.
All of these artists are unique creators to be treasured. Check out the links above and discover stories you didn’t even know you were missing.
