Comics, Part 1: Not The Superhero Comics

In between my Read More Novels kick I’ve been keeping up with all manner of graphic novels / trade paperback comics collections.

For people who don’t read comics, it’s nearly incomprehensible why any adult would want to do such a thing, I know. For me the fusion between words and pictures is a sublime thing, in the same way that a pop song is neither music nor a poem, but a unique combination of the two. It can be rubbish, but when it’s written and drawn well, it can be Art.

My tastes are generally skewed away from superhero stuff, and I tend to follow writers rather than artists. DC’s much-touted Vertigo range has housed some of the finest mature-readers comics ever written, including The Sandman, but it’s also sometimes guilty of being weird for weird’s sake, and its recent output often seems overly-familiar; like endless riffs on past successes. Nonetheless when it’s good it’s a haven for non-superhero comics, so I decided to pick up a few of their ongoing series.

( Human Target )

( Fables )

( Y: The Last Man )

( Lucifer )

( Global Frequency )

I do still dabble in the odd superhero when it involves a favourite writer (yes, Mr Whedon, I’m looking at you), but I think I’ll leave my eccentric collection of superhero comics until another day…