A comiXologist Recommends
Howard the Duck (1976 series) by Steve Gerber and Gene Colan
First off, let me say, for those of you who don’t read older comics, I understand. The regimentation of eras in comics history can be alienating, with the emphasis on the now for newer readers, and the sort of haughty nostalgia older readers can have for classic comics. I get it. Something that was fresh and exciting 40 years ago might not play as well today, and to be totally honest, the average Marvel Comic in 2016 is probably a lot better on many different levels than the average Marvel Comic in 1976. I would still encourage new readers to explore the back catalog, because you can find some real treasures if you do.
One such treasure is the original Howard the Duck comic. When it appeared in the 70s, there wasn’t really anything like it around, and there hasn’t been much like it in the mainstream since, though Chip Zdarsky @zdarsky and Joe Quinones’ @joequinones current Howard the Duck and Ryan North @ryannorth and Erica Henderson’s @ericafailsatlife Unbeatable Squirrel Girl are more than worthy heirs to old Howard’s stylishness and irreverence (get all of them with the marvel BOGO code- MARVEL)
The old Howard the Duck combines two of my all-time favorite creators at the top of their game. The writer, Steve Gerber, was unequaled at bringing weirdness to a standard superhero story- no one ever quite approached a dream state on the page the way he did, but he also had a knack for offbeat humor, social satire and strong characterization. Howard was a bit of a phenomenon in the 70s, and he didn’t just catch on because he was a wacky idea. Gerber gave him personality, crankiness and skepticism, tempered with a degree of tenderness, not commonly found in the hero of a mainstream comic.
Meanwhile, Gene Colan’s artwork on the series was unimpeachable. You don’t really hear about Colan as much these days because though he was one of the best, he’s not as influential as some of the other creators of his caliber from his era, because no one really aped his style, most likely because no one could. Colan blended realism and expressionism seamlessly, combining remarkably expressive facial features with a sense of shadowy otherworldliness. Though he did a great job on books like Daredevil and the Avengers back in the day, it was really in darker and stranger stories where his style truly shined, particularly in horror and noir-ish crime comics. Gerber’s dreamworld and Colan’s claustrophobic shadows blended perfectly in the absurd yet often nightmarish world of Howard the Duck. It’s a comic that feels like more than a comic- it’s an experience!
Recommended by Harris Smith (named after his grandfather Howard, appropriately enough), senior production coordinator, creator outreach and social media editor.
comiXology Unlimited Staff Selects
SHELTERED VOL. 2 & 3
Writer/Artist: Ed Brisson/Johnnie Christmas
What it’s about: The children of a survivalist kill their parents in anticipation of the end of the world and things continue to go downhill from there.
How you discovered it: Thought it looked cool so I gave it a shot.
Why
you like it: Brisson and Christmas create a consistent and unrelenting atmosphere of tension and angst.
Favorite moment: Pretty much ever time things go from bad to worse…
Favorite Character: Curt, the hyperactive, foulmouthed troublemaker who frequently makes things go from bad to worse…
Recommended by Harris Smith, Production Coordinator/Tumblr Editor
Read Sheltered and other SDCC Specials for a limited time on comiXology Unlimited!
comiXology Unlimited Staff Selects
Hip Hop Family Tree Vol. 1 @fantagraphics
Writer/Artist: Ed Piskor @edpiskor
What it’s about: A painstakingly researched and consistently entertaining history of hip-hop. Volume one covers the mid-70′s through 1981.
How you discovered it: My friend Ben Marra (@traditionalcomics) has a pin-up in the back (plus everybody’s talking about this book)
Why
you like it: Music and comics don’t seem like a natural match, but Piskor taps into something really elemental in this book. It probably helps to know the songs a bit, but you can basically hear them coming out of the page. Plus, the book’s energy and enthusiasm are totally contagious- if you’re not already a hip-hop fan, HHFT could make you one. This comics just, like, vibrates.
Favorite moment: There are a few stories that weave through this first volume, but my favorite is the buildup to “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” (I also like it when another friend of mine, Michael Holman, makes an appearance)
Recommended by Harris Smith, production coordinator/social media editor
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comiXology: CREATORS IN CONVERSATION
Mutiny on the Mousey is the latest comic by Harvey Award-winning creator Steven Weissman @stevenweissman, known for books like the critically acclaimed Barack Hussein Obama and the Yikes! series (both from Fantagraphics).
I was super excited to get the chance to chat with him about his new book, outside influences, old horror movies and some other cool stuff:
CX: Would you like to introduce yourself to our readers, assuming they aren’t already familiar with your work?
SW: Thanks! OK, about me:
I’ve made a lot of books with Fantagraphics + 1 with Retrofit.
I make weekly cartoons for The Stranger and Super Deluxe.
I also design for and help run (with Mats Stromberg) a boutique sticker operation called Stinckers @stinckers . These are sold in vending machines all over the place.
I like work that is funny, well-composed/well-drawn, colorful and high-contrast. I try to keep these things in mind when I make my own comics.
CX: Tell us a bit about your new book, Mutiny on the Mousey?
SW: Mutiny on the Mousey is based on Nordhoff and Hall’s famous account of the Bounty mutiny of 1789. Initially, I pared down the events in that story to illustrate a 9 sticker series for Stinckers. Once finished, I thought it would be fun to add diary entries written by a cat (playing the role of Master’s Mate, Fletcher Christian). The role of Captain Bligh is played by a mouse.
This is the first of three booklets I’d like to make based on the Bounty Trilogy. Booklet 2 is Mice Against the Sea, to be followed by Pussy Island.
CX: In this book, and in some of your others, you use a variety of materials beyond just pen and ink- screen tone, tape, sometimes hand-cut. Does this create unexpected results sometimes? Do you feel like this element of low-level chaos adds some vibrancy to your work?
SW:I believe that’s been the case with my Obama cartoons; with those I intended some level of improvisation. Mutiny on the Mousey is a lot more controlled. The edition available on Comixology is actually a completely redrawn version of a 2014 S.A.W. publication, which I thought looked sloppy.
CX: Many of your books are about childhood, or use images that recall children’s comics or illustrations from children’s literature. You also teach kids cartooning. Do you feel like working with kids, and their fresh, “naïve” perspective influences your own work?
SW: I like the straightforward style of great children’s authors like John Stanley (Little Lulu, etc.), Gaylord DuBois (The Lone Ranger’s Famous Horse, etc.) and Laura Ingalls Wilder (the Little House series). With my classes, I teach my students (4th-8th grade) to be as clear as possible in their presentation. Not because I have any problem with weirdness or ambiguity - I have tremendous confidence that weirdness shines through - but I want them to be able to make any point they want and have it land with the reader. The authors I mention above all do that so well.
I guess being surrounded by youths and youth literature does influence my own work and point of view. I don’t mind if it does.
CX: Speaking of kids, I don’t know how she knows this, but my friend tells me you like to watch Svengoolie with your son. Got any good horror movie recommendations?
SW: I grew up in the Bay Area, watching Bob Wilkins’ Creature Features. His dry presentation is my horror host ideal, but our whole family enjoys watching Svengoolie now on Saturday nights. Some of the better ones I’ve seen on his show are the Acquanetta Wild Woman/Jungle Woman movies. He just ran Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, which is nowhere near as good as Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
CX: And since we’re on recommendations, been reading any good comics lately?
SW: Fawcett Dick Tracy reprints, Kramers Ergot 9, Patience and [of course] Sir Alfred.
CX: Finally, one of your best known books is Barack Hussein Obama. Will this year’s bizarre election cycle lead to another politically themed book?
SW: YES. Looking For America’s Dog will be published by Fantagraphics this September (at better bookstores, or digitally on Comixology). Until then, my Trump Boyzz mysteries at Super Deluxe are at least trying to keep up with current events.
comiXology Unlimited Staff Selects
Title: The High Cost of Dying, @fantagraphics
Writer/Artist: Reed Crandall (with Al Feldstein and others)
How
you discovered it: I’ve been ravenously snapping up any EC comics
I could get my hands on since I first saw the Tales from the Crypt TV show as a
kid, so Fantagraphics’ EC artists series is a dream come true.
Why
you like it: Each of the EC artists had a distinctive style that lent
itself to different kinds of stories, but Crandall’s blend of fine lines
and shadowing was adaptable to all of EC’s genres- crime (my favorite),
horror (2nd favorite), sci-fi (close 3rd)…All are well represented in
this volume.
Favorite characters: The doomed tough guy from the first
story, “Carrion Death” (”C’mon, you lousy vultures! C’mon down here and
FEAST!”)
Favorite moments: The hearbreaking ending of the “Kindapper,” the grim twist in “Together They Lie”
-Harris Smith, Senior Production Coordinator/Creator Outreach/Social Media Editor
Read The High Cost of Dying and thousands of other comics with comiXology Unlimited!
A comiXologist Recommends
Written by Tim Seeley
Art by Juan E. Ferreyra
Back in the 80’s, John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad set the standard for everything a superhero comic should be. Ostrander crafted a series built on a foundation of strong storylines and character development that heightened the action and intrigue, rather than overwhelming it. As thrilling as the Squad’s missions were, it was the characters themselves that made the series great, their differing motivations and personalities, and their relationships with one another, whether tender or antagonistic.
Deadshot has always been at the heartless(ish) heart of the Suicide Squad. Though often imitated, the character has never really been replicated, and it’s easy to overlook his complexity in favor of surface concept- he’s a guy with a cool moustache and a cool suit who shoots guns at people, often coolly. But Deadshot has never been the sort of ultimate badass tough guy that he seems like he might be. As developed by Ostrander, he’s a conflicted character, professionally immoral but haunted by feelings of guilt that manifest in a general ambivalence about life itself. He’s a perfect match for the Suicide Squad because, although not actively suicidal, he doesn’t really care if he lives or dies, and sometimes seems like he just wants someone to put him out of his misery.
The intricacies of this characterization are thankfully carried
over into New Suicide Squad, written by Tim Seeley, with art by Juan E.
Ferreyra. The current version of the
Squad is appropriately violent and a lot of fun, with stories moving along at a
frenzied, breakneck pace, punctuated with the kinds of double- and sometimes
triple-crosses perquisite in a good Suicide Squad comic. Seeley is especially adept at playing the
different personalities of the Squad members off of one another- Deadshot’s
ambivalence and weary resignation, Harley Quinn’s unpredictability, Cheetah’s
cold viciousness and El Diablo’s piousness- giving the characters depth that
elevates and motivates the action. Issue
20 also teases a forthcoming confrontation between Deadshot and longtime
frenemy Captain Boomerang (their last interaction ended with Deadshot shoving a
spatula down Boomer’s throat) and an even bigger reckoning with the Squad’s
government handler and frequent manipulator, Amanda Waller, that promises to be
apocalyptic.
Harris Smith a former supervillain forced by a shadowy government agency to work as a production coordinator, community outreach specialist and social media editor at comiXology.
A comiXologist recommends
House of Penance #1 (Dark Horse)
The Winchester House has long been a source of fascination for acolytes of the arcane. Construction of the house commenced in 1884 at the behest of Sarah Winchester, widow of gun-maker William Winchester, and from early on Sarah felt the house to be haunted by the ghosts of the victims of the Winchester repeater rifle with which William secured his fortune. The house was built without an architect or specific design in mind, and was constructed with a kind of madness, with additions of various sizes, unopenable doors and staircases leading nowhere.
In the 80’s, a version of Winchester house appeared in Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing #45, haunted by human and animal victims of the rifle. The issue suggested that the house was borne out of Sarah’s guilt for the fortune she secured from a legacy of violence and bloodshed. This idea forms the groundwork for Peter J. Tomasi and Ian Bertram’s new comic, House of Penance, from Dark Horse. The first issue starts off as a fairly straightforward examination of the construction of the house, along with its owner’s precarious mental state, intercut with scenes of the devastation of gun violence, gradually bringing a cryptic, possibly supernatural element into the mix.
House of Penance is an exquisite comic, with Tomasi- always
a great writer- really getting a chance to flex his literary muscles. Bertram’s artwork evokes an atmosphere
steeped in the language of 70’s horror comics, with a bit of a Euro art comic
influence thrown in- think Creepy and Eerie by way of Moebius. I can’t help but feel there’s also a bit of
an allegory to be found in this comic about the gun violence that afflicts our
society today, and the fortunes that have been made on the backs of others’
tragedies, but this is played very subtly, layered among the myriad of
mysteries established in this first issue, befitting the mysterious nature of
the Winchester House itself.
I can’t wait to see how this story evolves over time…
Harris Smith
is a senior production coordinator and social media editor at
comiXology. He also hosts the weekly radio show Negative Pleasure on
Newtown Radio and curates film screenings for the Spectacle Theater in
Brooklyn.
A comiXologist Recommends
Moon Knight #1 (Marvel Comics)
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Greg Smallwood
Who would have thought, not too many years ago, that Jeff Lemire, author of acclaimed graphic novels like Essex County and the Underwater Welder, and later the strange and heartbreaking Vertigo series Sweet Tooth, would become one of the most sought after and influential writers of superhero comics? He broke out as one of the brightest stars of DC’s New 52, writing Animal Man and Green Arrow, then the Teen Titans: Earth One graphic novel, and has since gone on to high profile, universe defining runs for Marvel and Valiant (as well as creator owned series for Image), all without sacrificing his signature style. Lemire’s work can be odd and disturbing, but it’s also heartfelt and sincere, not in a treacly, sentimental way, but in a real, human way that rings true. The people that Lemire writes about, whether Animal Men or Underwater Welders, are recognizable as people, not just characters on the page.
Now Lemire is bringing that style to Marvel’s Moon Knight, a character who has been revived many times over the years, with many different ideas behind him. A number of these reboots have been successful because the character, by his nature, is enigmatic, a bit of a cypher- in the earliest version, the character even possessed multiple personalities, essentially he was four different characters inhabiting the same body, something referred to in the early pages of Lemire’s Moon Knight #1.
The tone for the book is set as Marc Spector’s reality shifts between a mystical netherworld and what seems like a very real mental institution. Is he a madman with delusions of a career as a superhero, or an actual hero, misunderstood and imprisoned in an asylum? Or is he dead, and experiencing some hellish vision of the afterlife? Lemire raises more questions than he answers, setting up some very promising obstacles for Moon Knight to overcome as the series progresses. I definitely plan on sticking around for the ride, and you should too, if you don’t mind a little mind-bending mysticism mixed in with gutter level reality.
Wanna know how Jeff Lemire took the superhero world by storm? Just read Moon Knight #1.
Harris Smith is a senior production coordinator and social media editor at comiXology. He both enigmatic and a cypher.
SUPERMAN: AN INTRODUCTION
Superman is about as familiar to most people as a fictional character can be. Since 1938, he’s been a symbol for all that’s good and heroic in the world. Perhaps because of his iconic stature, he has undergone fewer changes over the years than Batman or Wonder Woman, remaining steadfastly honorable and altruistic.
So, with nearly 80 years of steady continuity to wade through, where do you start reading Superman? If you want a taste of the Big Blue Boy scout at his most iconic, I recommend starting with Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s run on Action Comics #858-870. Johns is a writer who brings gravity, humanity and history to his characters and Frank’s expressive, detailed style make for a compelling read and an accessible entry point into the world of the Man of Tomorrow. It also doesn’t hurt that Frank’s take on Superman resembles the actor Christopher Reeve, the actor who has perhaps been the most fully realized big screen version of the character.
For further Superman reading, check out:
Up, up and away!
Harris Smith is comiXology’s mild mannered Tumblr editor and production coordinator.
BATMAN: AN INTRODUCTION
One of the most frequent comments I get when I tell people I work in comics is, “I love Batman, but there are so many comics, I don’t know where to start.” No doubt many people will be walking out of Batman V. Superman this weekend with the same question on their minds.
Batman tends to be defined by his creative team, and depending on who you ask, any number of different creators could be responsible for the “definitive Batman.” For my money, the best place to start is the relatively short run on Detective Comics by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin. Spanning issues 471-476, these stories have just about anything you could ask for from a Batman tale, blending moody, noir-ish visuals with melodrama and serious action. Here you’ll find Bruce Wayne’s struggles with his noctual alter ego (is he Bruce Wayne pretending to be Batman, or Batman pretending to be Bruce Wayne?), his tortured love affair with Silver St. Cloud, a psychological battle with potential usurper Hugo Strange, the introduction of the modern version of Deadshot and the legendary Joker fish story that inspired the first Batman movie. A lot happens in just six issues!
These stories are great because they give you a look at some of the the Caped Crusader’s finest crimefighting, but also a glimpse at his human side, the man behind the bat. Batman is a cool character, and a lot of his appeal has always been in his depth, and you get a lot of that here, not just in the grand “oh, my parents died and now I’m a creature of the night” kind of way, but in a very human, relateable way. How does someone with a calling balance their needs as a human being with their desire to do good? And does the desire for justice always equate to doing the right thing? You’ll get plenty of that here, expertly balanced with rooftop showdowns and aerial, rainsoaked kung-fu.
Detective Comics #471-476 by Englehart, Rogers and Austin are personal favorites, but they’re not the only place you can start with Batman. A few other suggestions:
-Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy have collaborated on a number of Batman stories over the years, and bring a similar mix of depth and style to the character as Englehart and Rogers (and a continuation of their Hugo Strange storyline). Most of their stories appeared in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight.
-Scott Snyder has guided the Dark Knight’s adventures for many years now, and he has a great feel for the world of Gotham. His first run on the character, starting in Detective Comics #871 is a perfect starting point for anyone who wants to get up-to-date on Batman’s current adventures.
What’s your favorite Batman story?
Harris Smith is a senior Production Coordinator and Tumblr editor at comiXology. He attended the Washington, DC premiere of the first Batman movie as a kid and still has the copy of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns they gave away at the afterparty in the bat cave of the National Zoo.
A comiXologist Recommends
Daredevil #252-273 by Ann Nocenti, John Romita Jr. and Al Williamson
One of the first comics I read monthly, and years later, still one of my favorites. Picking up Nocenti’s Daredevil for the first time as a kid was a revelation. Sure, the book had all the action you’d expect from a superhero comic, but it also had rich layers of ongoing story, resonant thematic content, social and political consciousness, thoughtful character development and one of the best rogue’s galleries (Typhoid Mary, Shotgun, Bullet, the Wildboys, Bushwacker) since the Flash met Captain Cold and the gang.
Nocenti’s fresh, contemporary take on the character was more than enhanced by John Romita Jr.’s pencils, which themselves were further enhanced by Al Williamson’s inks. As creative partners, Nocenti and Romita made perfect sense. Both were young, up-and-coming talents with unique, hip styles influenced by new wave 80′s. Williamson was more of a wild card. He was old school, coming up as an artist for EC Comics and spending much of his time prior to Daredevil working on more straightforward sci-fi comics, like Star Wars and Flash Gordon. And yet Williamson and Romita’s art meshes perfectly. As a great inker, Williamson understood what was special about Romita’s art and enhanced it.
The result was a creative team working perfectly in synch, coming to the exact right character at the exact right time. Nocenti’s Daredevil is not just one of the best, probably the best, Daredevil runs of all time, and not just one of the best superhero comics of all time, but, with its perfect blend of style and substance, off the wall action and moving emotional weight and the synchronicity its three creators brought to one anothers work and to the atmosphere of series as a whole, it’s one of the best comics of all time.
Harris Smith is a production coordinator, social media editor and creator outreach specialist at comiXology. He’s watching Daredevil season 2 as he writes this and having a pretty good time.
A comiXologist Recommends (a book that changed his life)
Buddy Does Seattle, Buddy Does Jersey, Buddy Buys a Dump by Peter Bagge, @fantagraphics
I was pretty much a standard issue crappy teenager. Moody, petulant, a real pain in the ass to just about anyone who knew me, friend or foe. Most of the time, I was my own worst enemy, but I had a preternatural capacity for alienating the people around me. It wasn’t that I had bad intentions, I just didn’t get the way the world went, and felt happiest and safest thumbing through stacks of old records in a thrift store.
Around the age of 15 or so, I started reading Peter Bagge’s Hate, which was then being published a few times a year by @fantagraphics. Along with Dan Clowes’ Eightball, it was one of the few comics I kept up with during my late teens and early 20′s, after sort of tapering off of superhero comics a year or two before (around the time Ann Nocenti and John Romita Jr. left Daredevil, though I stuck it out with JM DeMatteis/Keith Giffen Justice League for a while, and Peter Milligan’s Shade the Changing Man). Eightball was great- moving, funny, literary yet stylish. Hate was something else entirely. Hate was real. Buddy Bradley, the book’s protagonist, was a guy I could relate to. With my shaggy hair, plaid thrift store shirts, black Levis and omnipresent cigarette, I even kind of looked like him. He was one of the first figures in art or media that I identified with fully, good and bad, since while Buddy was cool, living on his own in Seattle, drinking beer, dating girls and collecting records, he was also about as petulant and temperamental as I was, and had the same penchant for pissing off strangers, friends and loved ones.
Hate ran for 21 years (for me, ages 13 to 34), and in it, Bagge did kind of an amazing thing- he let his characters grow with the series. The artist has said Buddy and Lisa and the rest of the crew’s arcs mirror, in many ways his own, and in many ways they mirrored mine as well. Buddy became an upstanding member of society, or at least alright guy, a lot more comfortable with himself and generally more good-natured and easier to get a long with. I, too (despite what some of my co-workers might tell you), went on a similar journey. Not even a journey, really, just getting older and growing up, learning not to make some mistakes twice, or making the same mistakes over and over again until they’re too painful to continue. Change comes naturally and through work. There’s no set path.
Just as Buddy mirrored my adolescent years (though he always did much better with women that I could manage, though neither of us nor the women we pursued were any less dysfunctional), his growth mirrored my own. Hate became totemic, and much of the pleasure in reading it was the chance to check in with Buddy ever few months (then later once a year), to see how far we’d both come. And looking back on the most recent issues, reprinted in Buddy Buys A Dump, it’s a long way that we’ve come, in different directions, but we’ve both found our niches professionally, our friends who have stuck around over the years, and a greater general sense of peace from within, tempered with more than a hint of curmudgeonliness. It’s not such a bad life, no matter how much either of us likes to complain…
Anyway, all of this is to say you must read the first two Hate collections, Buddy Does Seattle, Buddy Does Jersey and Buddy Buys a Dump, which are out now from @fantagraphics. If your youth was anything like mine, you’ll find at least something to relate to in these books. If it was nothing like mine, you’ll get an insider’s view to a world of sullen, shaggy haired misfits. And if you just care about comics, it’s a hell of a story, full of wild scenes, a few cringe inducing moments and a lot of good laughs. It’s sort of like Seinfeld where the characters have less money, better hair and record collections and deep, crushing existential dread. In other words, it’s perfect.
Harris Smith is a production coordinator and comiXology’s main Tumblr guy.
A comiXologist Recommends (something special)
Ok, let me just take a minute to compose myself. Reading Copra, thinking about Copra, talking about Copra gets me kind of riled up. Copra is exciting. Copra is a happening. Copra is happening. Copra is something new. Copra straddles the line between conceptual and commercial. Copra is…Copra.
Let’s get one thing out the way- yes, Copra does bear a superficial resemblance to Suicide Squad. It’s not an accident, and it’s not something creator Michel Fiffe shies away from. Michel, like all good people, is a devout fan of the original John Ostrander Suicide Squad series, and to some degree the original intent of Copra was for Fiffe to create something like a continuation of that series on his own terms. But Copra isn’t fan ficition, it isn’t an imitation and it isn’t an infringement. If Fiffe is borrowing familiar elements, it’s in the service of crafting something that feels unlike any comic you’ve read before. Yes, it has superheroes and dazzling action sequences, but there is an element to it that’s elusive and ethereal, a bit strange but ultimately inviting and invigorating.
Michel Fiffe could be the future of superhero comics (he’s done some books for Marvel and Dynamite based on the strength of Copra). He’s certainly a key voice in the future of comics in general. His blending of the familiar with the inscrutable taps into the very essence of what a comic is, of our shared consciousness of the medium‘s collective history, of what a comic feels like, the world it inhabits, both concrete and intangible, almost like a dream. Copra is everything a comic should be, everything a comic needs to be, and it expands the cosmic edges of what a comic can be…See, I told you Copra got me riled up.
Harris Smith is senior production coordinator and comiXology’s Tumblr editor. He is currently riled up.
A comiXologist Recommends (a crime comic)
Dark Corridor #6 by Rich Tommaso (Image Comics)
I love crime. Not actual crime, that would be horrible, but the crime genre, which has long provided a fertile ground for artists, both as an exploration for the act of crime itself, and as a jumping off point to explore themes and ideas that tie in with criminality and its opponents. This has resulted in a rich field of varied works, from the shadowy film noir of Nicholas Ray and Jacques Tourner in the 40s and 50s to the neon tinged, ultra-slick procedurals of William Friedkin and Michael Mann in the 1980s, from the intricate con games of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley to tough-as-nails Harlem detectives in the books of Chester Himes, and beyond, to the true crime stories in the films of Errol Morris and in books like Helter Skelter and In Cold Blood, the fictionalized accounts of real life crime in the books of Joyce Carol Oates, hyperreal tales of crime fighting and investigation in comics like Batman and Judge Dredd, and noir influenced comics like The Fade Out and Stray Bullets.
As a connoisseur of crime, I’m also a critic. It’s not enough to ape the aesthetic of other successful crime stories, a creator has to bring something new into the mix, something of their own. One of the most individualistic creators working in crime comics today is Rich Tommaso, a brilliant artist and writer who has a firm grasp on both the tradition of the crime genre and how to infuse it with his own unique, creative voice.
His most recent work is Dark Corridor, published by Image Comics. In Dark Corridor, Tommaso weaves together several intricate and connected storylines involving numerous colorful characters, not entirely unlike the aforementioned Stray Bullets, or the novels of Elmore Leonard, but the whole of the book far exceeds the sum of its influences. Tommaso moves smartly from stark, stylized violence to deep, involving character development to near hallucinatory setpieces (such as the haunted house ride sequence in the most recently issue) with assuredness. Never do these variations in tone betray the totality of the work as a whole. Dark Corridor is the work of an artist with a vision, and deserves a place among the pantheon of great crime comics.
Harris Smith is a senior production coordinator and the editor of comiXology’s Tumblr. He’s never been caught.