Call them comics, call them graphic novels, call them whatever you like but I've been a huge, huge comics fan since I was small enough to still balance the weekly pocket money quandary, choosing between that week's issue of 2000AD or a 10p mixed bag of toothrot.
Usually the comic would win out (which is probably why I still have teeth in my head at my age, so yay comics again!)
So I couldn't possibly pass up an opportunity to read and review the revised edition of "100 All-Time Greatest Comics" from SciFiNow / Imagine.
First off, it's worth pointing out that this is very much a US-Centric tome, so don't go wailing and gnashing your teeth about the scant Euro / Brit / Japanese comic representation in this (to be honest, it's not TOO bad but played very much with a safe set of choices as you'll find out when you dig in). On the brit-side you'll see some fairly light coverage of some of the mightiest comics and GNs from Tank Girl (seemingly ignoring some of the greatest Deadline strips in favour of some of the really poorer modern stories), to Dredd via Halo Jones.
Thankfully, Brit creatives get plenty of page space though, with the likes of Alan Moore extolling the virtues of comics as a medium for pushing their own boundaries beyond what cinema, videogames or novels can achieve, and of course plenty of mesmerising artwork from folk who hopped over the pond to work for the mighty two, Marvel and DC.
As I've already said, the choices here are the sort of choices you'd see someone recommending to folk who left comics behind in their childhood, and wanted to figure out what to pick up as an adult reader wanting to rediscover the vibrant dynamic and in some cases quite harrowing world of modern comic strips (though I use the word 'modern' slightly ironically here, bear in mind that the 'safe old choices' are often nearly 30-40 years old - "The Dark Knight Returns" for example will be celebrating its 35th birthday this year, just in case you didn't feel old enough today. Same goes for Watchmen!)
Where this book wins out is in the creator interviews - both writers and illustrators pitching in with some really insightful info around their creative processes, and how their most famous works came to be (I could read anything where Alan Moore is talking, somewhat modestly, about his impact on comics from the mid 80s onward in fact he probably features in this book more than anyone else, quelle surprise!)
If you do find yourself in that almost envied position of having a stack of catching up to do with comics, this is a really good guide to get you up to speed with all the stuff you should be reading before you start digging into the more interesting stuff (I am so pleased to see both "Saga" and "Blacksad" cropping up in this tome but there could've been a lot more Bandes Desinee stuff for my money).
A real treat to read through, even if you're overly familiar with the choices you will also discover a few rare nuggets and recommendations, and you won't have to shout loudly in disagreement at the number 1 choice as it's not a 'top 100' and nothing's ranked by order of greatness, thankfully!)
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