A comiXologist Recommends (their favorites from 2015)

by Harris Smith

There were too many comics this year to pick one favorite, so here’s just a bunch of my favorite things that happened in 2015:

1. Stories from a comic I published, Felony Comics #1, were featured in Best American Comics 2015, so that was pretty cool.

2. Ben Marra, cover artist for Felony Comics #1, published his first graphic novel, Terror Assaulter: One Man War on Terror, from Fantagraphics.  That was also cool.

3. Chuck Forsman’s self-published Revenger continued to channel the spirit of 80′s action movies like Death Wish 3, combined with the stark, deadpan sensibility that made his previous comics, like TEOTFW and Luv Sucker so powerful.

4. Future Shock Zero- If you want to get an overview of the best of today’s indie/art comics scene, Josh Burggraf’s sci-fi anthology is the perfect place to start, with comics by some of my favorite artists, including Lala Albert, Alex Degen, Sophia Foster-Dimino, Victor Kerlow, Jasoph Murphy, Aleks Sendwald, Pete Toms and Ben Urkowitz.

5. Every moment of Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe

6. Antisocial gorilla bikers in The Humans

7. Upping the indie quotient on comiXology like wow with the digital debut of MOME from Fanagraphics

8. We got  my favorite book by my favorite cartoonist, The Freddie Stories by Lynda Barry,  on comiXology, thanks to the digital launch of Drawn & Quarterly

9. Another one of my favorite indie cartoonists, Michel Fiffe, took on Ann Nocenti-era Daredevil (possibly the best creative run on a superhero comic of all time) in Marvel’s Secret Wars: Secret Love #1

10. Good superhero shows on TV- Jessica Jones, for its emotional complexity; Gotham, for being a noir-ish soap opera with Batman characters; and Supergirl, for being smart and fun.

11. DC Comics in general, for giving us a Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League book, teaming up Gilbert Hernandez and Darwyn Cook on the Twilight Children, the new PREZ book, launching the old Joe Simon PREZ on comiXology, launching Jack Kirby’s OMAC on comiXology, and I know it isn’t out yet, but a new Swamp Thing book by Len Wein and Kelly Jones?  Too good to be true.

Harris Smith is a senior production coordinator and the editor of comiXology’s Tumblr, as well as the publisher of Felony Comics and a film programmer at the Spectacle Theater in Brooklyn.  His New Year’s Resolution is to read and make more comics in 2016.

A comiXologist CREATOR recommends
MOME

Fantagraphics’ groundbreaking anthology MOME is releasing today on comiXology.  I caught up with contributor Dash Shaw to get an insider’s perspective on what it was like to participate in this highly acclaimed series:

“I was excited to contribute to MOME because it was one of the only alternative comic anthologies at that time to come out frequently and be in color. It was a consistent, regular venue. At the time it started, Fantagraphics wasn’t publishing many new one-artist anthology issues, and the other publishers’ anthologies were irregular and different formats. Literary cartoonists still made short stories, but there just weren’t many places for them to appear in print. Also, it was during a wide interest in long, single graphic novels, which I contributed to but never felt were inherently superior to short stories. Obviously, a good comic is a good comic, in any format. Tim Hensley and Gabrielle Bell and Lilli Carre and Olivier Schrauwen, to name just a few, have comics in MOME that are as great as they come. Tom Kaczynski’s “Million Year Boom” (in vol. 11) is one of my all-time favorite comic short stories. Most of Eleanor Davis’ “How to be Happy” originally appeared in MOME. Plus there were never-reprinted stories by R. Kikuo Johnson, Laura Park, Al Columbia, David Heatley, John Pham, and many more… There’s a lot there to dig through!“

(Pictured- MOME Vol. 11 cover by Al Columbia, comics by Dash Shaw, Tom Kaczynski and Gabrielle Bell)

Dash Shaw is an award-winning animator and cartoonist.  His books include Cosplayers, Doctors and Bottomless Belly Button.  He contributed stories to MOME 10-17 and 20-22

A comiXologist recommends
MOME

For decades now, Fantagraphics Books has been one of the most important purveyors of art- and lit-leaning comics and graphic novels that the industry has ever seen. What makes the publisher so special is not just the consistently excellent quality of output, but the incredible spectrum of different approaches to the medium represented in their catalog. Even a casual reader knows that you can count on Fantagraphics for lavish reprints of the revolutionary undergrounds of the 1960s, complete collections of ‘80s and ‘90s indie classics, cutting edge talent from the modern moment, and even benchmark strip comics from the early 20^th century. Few publishers ever achieve this level of diversity, where you can find Charles Burns right next to Charles Schulz on their proverbial shelves, and just as lovingly represented.

 Nowhere is Fantagraphics’ prismatic character so abundantly apparent as in its quarterly anthology Mome. Utilizing the blue-blooded format of a distinguished literary journal, editor Eric Reynolds diligently gave indie comics their due once a season from 2005 to 2011. For the novice who is drawn to the publisher’s aesthetically rich and esoteric content, but doesn’t know where to start, Mome remains a true gift. Each carefully curated volume offers work from around ten different artists from a multitude of styles and genres, and thoughtfully intermingles known quantities with brand new creators and deserving obscurities. The reader is treated to prime cuts from the publisher’s coterie of comics royalty, including Jim Woodring, Dash Shaw, Gilbert Shelton, and Lewis Trondheim; there are also tasty morsels from then-rising stars like Gabrielle Bell, Lilli Carré and Eleanor Davis; but tucked between these easy sells, one also finds gorgeous, challenging pieces from less available individuals like demented genius Al Columbia, the controversial memoirist David Heatley, mashup scientist Tim Hensley, and the infuriatingly scarce stylist D.J. Bryant. In case you want more insight into the meanings of and motivations behind these unusual comic creations, each issue includes an artist interview by Fantagraphics co-founder and publisher Gary Groth.

In the final estimation, whether you’re already indie literati or a naïve newcomer, Mome is for you. Pick a volume, any volume—we dare to not to find something you love.

Claire Donner is the supervisor of comiXology’s international production team.  As a cartoonist, she is the author of Guilty, published by Snakebomb Comics.  Her work has also appeared in the anthologies Electric Ant, published by Youth in Decline, and Jeans, published by Negative Pleasure Publications.