Binge Recommendations - Day 7 - Words With Pictures

Sometimes you want to read something, with words and all that, but you want some lovely artwork to go along with it as well. Kind of like a film but also on the page. You know the kind of thing. Comics, yeah, those are the chaps. Well, it turns out that, muc like films, TV and books, there are all sorts of comics out there to cater for all sorts of tastes - they don’t have to be people in lycra outfits doing a lot of punching. Here are some options for you. I’m largely going to be recommending stuff that has a beginning, a middle and an end (although as time goes on, we may have enough time to catch up on every issue of X-Men...)

Mind MGMT
A mixture of conspiracy, paranoia and strange powers, Matt Kindt’s tale rewards binge reading with its secret messages and plot lines hidden in the margins. Kindt’s art is distinctive - I like its rough and scratchy style and it’s well suited to this sort of story but it’s not to everyone’s tastes. If you can get on board with the style, I think this one’s a gem.

Giant Days
John Allison’s book follows students Esther de Groot, Susan Ptolemy and Daisy Wooton from their first day of university through to their last and does so with humour, warmth and style. It’s also a perfect marriage as the artwork by Max Sarin (initially Lissa Treiman) is completely the right fit for the story Allison is telling. Highly recommended.

I Hate Fairyland
Written and illustrated by Skottie Young and with the over the top violent sensibilities of Peter Jackson tells the story of Gertrude, a young girl trapped in Fairyland who, after 30 years without ageing and no way to get home, has become the most horrendous psychopath you could ever imagine. Young’s kid-friendly cartoony art style makes theultra-violence all the funnier.  Pure unadulterated gleefully horrible fun.

Bone
One that is suitable for all ages this time. An initially whimsical tale of cartoon creatures lost in a bizarre valley (Fone Bone and his dopey cousin Smiley and scheming cousin Smiley), this expands into an epic fantasy as a mysterious Hooded One with an unknown link to the Bones begins a worrying rise to power… It’s funny, exciting and moving and definitely worth your time. You can get an all-in-one collection of the whole story too.

Transmetropolitan
This futuristic tale of a journalist who takes on a monster of a President (known as The Beast) only to end up replacing with him with an even worse option (The Smiler) is nearly twenty five years old and still feels as relevant as ever; replace “Beast” and “Smiler” with Trump and Pence and I think you’ve got a pretty good parallel right there. It’s caustic, funny and angry and has, in the shape of ranting journalist Spider Jerusalem (based partly on Hunter S Thompson), an iconic protagonist at it heart.


That’ll keep you going for a little while. Support your local independent comics shops who are still offering delivery services if you can by ordering up some of these graphic novels. Something for everyone there*.

I think that's more than enough binge recommendations to keep you going for a little while. I'll come back round to this when everyone's ready for some more.



* Not an actual guarantee of something for everyone. No responsibility taken for any lack of enjoyment.