51 Comics that Sven Likes

[Sven]

9. Major Bummer by John Arcudi & Doug Mahnke (1997-98)



<ATTENTION EVERYONE: this is being collected. Preorder it, or at least buy it when it comes out. If you are disappointed, I will buy it from you.>

As much as I fawn over the excellence of the Mask, if there can be only one, it is Major Bummer that deserves timelessness. This is the most visually satisfyingly structured comic I have read. Arcudi's succinct verbiage, Mahnke's ingeniously rhythmic layouts, and Willie Schubert’s impeccably placed ballooning synthesize to slapstick perfection. Wild in a juvenile kind of way, privy to the pleasures of monsters and nazi dinosaurs. Clearly taken by 90s slacker culture and comics formula, Arcudi’s gag-a-page success rate is surprisingly fresh still. But it is, unsurprisingly as those observing even half-closely will know, Mahnke’s pencils that get me misty-eyed. He is, declaratively, my favorite illustrator. And Major Bummer is among his finest performances.

[Sven]

8. Animal Man by Peter Milligan & Chas Truog (issues 27-32, 1990-91)



Morrison's epic reconstruction of Animal Man is capped-off with this six-issue mind warp that keenly explores the desperation of a nightmare mindscape as Buddy Baker sleuths his way back to his home reality from within the most labyrinthine of mental/dimensional purgatories, allowing Milligan ample opportunity to craft conceptual horrors, the thing he does best. The flow of oddities, strange dialogue, impossible characters, halting images, cascade like a torrential river through the fundament of every panel, shifting the meaning of all that print in ways recognizable but still not. Quite. Right somehow. If Morrison’s run dealt with Buddy’s fictional nature, Milligan is bent on asserting the transgressive nature of fiction.

[Sven]

7. Justice League Elite by Joe Kelly & Doug Mahnke (2004-05)



I like being thrown into the middle of a world. Struggling to get ones bearings helps solidify context, and having been made more real by my inability to figure out who was doing what to whom and why for the first three issues or so, having not read any of the related Superman, JLA, or Action Comics that precede the story, the latter half of this Joe Kelly/Doug Mahnke collaboration practically exploded with emotional weight, vibrant action, subversive wit, and a bit of the old ultraviolence, uncannily rendered. Stick with it: it begins dense, but the payoff is tremendous. Going back and discovering more of the framework through K/M’s JLA run proved worth the hunt, too. These stories are sophisticated, complex, and beautiful, the textbook recommendation to those who demand challenge from superhero comics.

[Sven]

6. Supergod by Warren Ellis & Gary Gastonny (2009-10)



What if our manufactured heroes were bereft of humanity? This tale of human-made (in most cases) God-beings who, absorbed in their divinity, bring about unparalleled destruction resulting in their obsolescence and near extinction of mankind, is told with so much gusto that it elicits simultaneous waves of nausea and ecstasy. Seared into my brain. The knotting religious and scientific parables never threaten the book’s spine that is a pure thriller freak show caravan of awesome God Beasts, including a gigantic Cthulhu monster made of the mutated, fused-together bodies of living people, a triple-faced Mushroom space God, and a being that is unbound by the tethers of any medium, including the comic itself. A sprawling and violent history, it is bestowed the heft of epic through Gastonny’s mad images of celestial scope and Ellis’s speculative musings. This is the third part of a thematic trilogy that includes Black Summer and No Hero, both of which are also excellent.

[Sven]

5. Enigma by Peter Milligan & Duncan Fegredo (1993)



Flagship Vertigo miniseries about obliterating the veneer of pulp separating our dreams and reality, but I guess that describes a majority of Vertigo titles. It’s a deconstructive take on superheroes, offering some seriously whacked out villains for our seriously jacked up heroes to battle as the conflicts grow more and more inward. Fegredo's pencils are brilliant, gradually tightening and clarifying the mental jumble of lines that decorate the first half of the book. A landmark series for a particular reason that I don't want to give away, but which culminates in the resonant thematic climax where tethering events of the characters’ past converge with a nauseous awareness of their present. It’s surprising, but in hindsight is the only possible way the story could progress. Breathtaking sequences. This is the book that convinced me that Milligan’s abrupt stylizations can be wielded to graceful, poetic effect. He has since become my favorite writer. Lizards.

[Sven]

4. Final Crisis (incl Superman Beyond) by Grant Morrison, JG Jones & Doug Mahnke (2008-09)



The standout DC event. Couldn't even begin to sum it up, but it's big, it's insanely complicated, it's infused with all sorts of theories extending from string physics and its inquiry into dimensional science to new definitions of creation and art, all woven together by the LSD addled brain of a practicing magician (Grant Morrison) with a liquid perspective on time and space. A bona fide masterpiece. I’m including Superman Beyond, the dazzling two-issue feat which thrusts Superman through multiple dimensions in a narrative that operates on about six different levels, because it’s featured in the trade, where I read it for the first time. Jones is dandy, but it’s a damn shame that he was too slow to finish it while Mahnke was right there, always a consummate professional deadline-wise and a storytelling genius.

[number8]

FYI, Bruce Timm is turning JL Elite into their next DC animated movie, before Dark Knight Returns.

[Sven]

3. Human Target by Peter Milligan, Edvin Biukovic, Javier Pulido, Cliff Chiang, and an issue by Cameron Stewart (2003-05)



I understand there’s a television show of this. How does it work? Does the actor playing Chris Chance actually disguise himself as these people a la Sellers? Do they cast different actors to play the same character a la Bunuel? Is the actor presented as himself, with the audience suspending disbelief a la Quantum Leap? Anyway, I guess my point is that it’s a conceit so specifically fitted for the comics medium, it justifies itself. There isn't a satisfying solution for the show. How could a television show possibly pull and prod at the very notion of the subject’s identity the way a simple illustration can? This is Milligan’s masterwork, shifting references, reestablishing definitions, layering personalities, and always questioning identity and motivation, cruising through the American psyche a la his Changing Man Shade, only with the beautifully choreographed panels of Pulido, Chiang, and especially Biukovic, whose story is a tragic one, his work here is exemplary.

[number8]

They radically alter the premise for the TV show. Chance doesn't become the target, he just distracts people from the target. So the whole identity crisis aspect is entirely lost and it just becomes a generic espionage show. I fail to see the point, myself.

[Sven]

FYI, Bruce Timm is turning JL Elite into their next DC animated movie, before Dark Knight Returns.

I'm interested to see how they adapt it. It'll be sad to see Mahnke's illustrations Timmbered.

[Sven]

2. Seaguy by Grant Morrison & Cameron Stewart (first series, 2004, second, 2009, I don't want to wait three years for the third)



Starting with dada, then spiraling into weirder territory, this chronicle of an adventuresome seaguy named Seaguy, whose scrapes against the glass floors of actualization as he slowly diagnoses his oppressed state are too uncanny for this world, changed my perspective on the sequential medium entirely, a shift which naturally rippled into my register of the real world. Scary and hilarious and romantic and poignant and violent and sexy and bizarre, the innocent enthusiasm of the character achieves the elating effect of spiritual aspiration. Seaguy, as evocatively sculpted by Stewart and Morrison, is truly the most heroic avatar conceivable. I can’t think of a thing, book or otherwise, that I anticipate more than the completion of this trilogy. Nobody’d better die between now and then.

[Acapelli]

there are so many choices for your number 1 that i can honestly say i have no idea what it's going to be

[Sven]

there are so many choices for your number 1 that i can honestly say i have no idea what it's going to be

Heh. And here I thought I was being totally obvious.

1. Grant Morrison's Batman (Arkham Asylum, Gothic, Batman, Batman and Robin, The Return of Bruce Wayne, Batman Inc, 1989-current)



My number one choice could not be anything but. This is dark, ambitious, incredible stuff. Morrison’s angle is one of all-inclusiveness, incorporating into his Batman Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Current age characteristics. His Batman has lived through all the Batman comics. His Batman has to deal with street punks and cosmic deities. His Batman doesn’t forget about Ace the Bat-Hound. The biggest complaint I hear about it, other than its incomprehensibility (which doesn’t make sense), is about the inconsistent art. No! That is absolutely one of its greatest strengths. Coordinately, the rotating roster of artists permits, functionally, adequate footing for the reader to suspend continuity disbelief, and on an expressive level, the style of illustration to transform fittingly as Morrison constantly introduces and explores new angles. His artists tend to make reappearances, too, emphasizing his habit of referring to past plot points, themes, and images. Of course, there is also the bonkers element, these being some seriously strange episodes told with Morrison’s usual eccentricity, unhinged in time, unbelievably stuffed with strange new characters and seeds of larger stories. I’ve never had a more satisfying reading experience than on these Batman books, RIP specifically, that trippy ride down the river Styx becoming my current favorite comic.

I’m too burnt out to give a rundown on each title, maybe sometime later. I’m just happy to be done with the list and hope I wasn’t talking out of my ass too much. Thanks for following along, y’all! Spoilered is an easy-to-reference list, if you’re interested:

[

Show Spoiler

51. Camelot 3000
50. Bad Boy
49. Crisis on Infinite Earths
48. Shaolin Cowboy
47. Steampunk
46. Brat Pack
45. Earth X
44. Skreemer
43. OMAC
42. Iron Man: the Inevitable
41. Enginehead
40. Cy-Gor
39. X-treme X-men: the Arena
38. Promethea #12: the Magic Theatre
37. Matt Fraction's Thor
36. Silent War
35. Hybrid Bastards
34. Bad Dog
33. Mesmo Delivery Service
32. All Star Batman and Robin
31. Hitman: Ace of Killers
30. The Question (Veitch)
29. The Winter Men
28. Swamp Thing (in Gotham City)
27. Hellboy: the Wild Hunt
26. Gravel
25. Mr. Majestic
24. Charlatan Ball
23. The Authority: the Kev saga
22. Punisher: Dark Reign
21. Igor Kordey's Cable
20. 1963
19. Global Frequency
18. Rock Bottom
17. Red Mass for Mars
16. X-Men: the Blood of Apocalypse
15. JLA/WildCATS
14. Rarebit Fiends
13. The Mask
12. The Filth
11. Planetary: a Mystery in Space
10. Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset
9. Major Bummer
8. Peter Milligan's Animal Man
7. Justice League Elite
6. Supergod
5. Enigma
4. Final Crisis
3. Human Target
2. Seaguy
1. Grant Morrison's Batman

]

[megladon8]

Spectacular list, Sven.

I know I've said it too many times already, but my Amazon wishlist has grown immensely

[Acapelli]

i guess it was sort of the obvious choice, but morrison's batman is probably my favorite comic too