N-Philes

Comics That Don't Suck #3

Posted February 2nd 2010 by Adam Glasgow.

Most comics blow. Without any kind of guidance, even thinking about finding a comic to read that doesn't suck is a little overwhelming. Lucky for you I'm here to make the process easier! Every so often I pop in these parts and point out some books that are easy to find and accessible to even the most casual comic book reader. And most importantly, you have my personal guarantee that these comics don't suck.

Space Ghost

I know you don't believe me, and I don't blame you. I didn't believe it either. But Joe Kelly's re-imagining of Space Ghost is just plain awesome. He's able to take a character that's viewed as hokey and silly - nothing more than a punchline for a show on Adult Swim - and turn it into something interesting.

The mini-series tells Space Ghost's previously unknown origin story with style and smarts. The characters are well rounded, the art is fantastic, and the story is lots of tragic fun. Given that, make no mistake that there is entertainment value to be had from watching something that's traditionally a joke get taken seriously. Space Ghost is a well crafted space opera, but the contrast of this comic and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast was certainly the source of some giggles.

Space Ghost (paperback)

Scott Pilgrim

Part of me is almost embarrassed to admit that I read this series. It's about a twenty-something guy in a band and his romantic misadventures. To make things worse, it's manga in style. I almost felt like a preteen girl reading this. But screw it, the book has entertainment value oozing out of its binding, and enough nerdy in jokes to make Kevin Smith jealous. I mean, the band Scott is in is called "Sex Bob-omb."

The premise of the book is that Scott is into some girl, but she has a backlog of seven evil ex-boyfriends who he must defeat before he can be with her. Defeating as in killing, usually in a very amusing over-dramatic way. The comic reads like a video game, if video games were drawn in panels and released in volumes. I mean this in the best possible way.

I guess I can't feel too bad about enjoying the comics so much, seeing as how Edgar Wright is working on a movie adaptation. If the guy who made Shaun of the Dead can like this comic without shame, so can I. There are five volumes of Scott Pilgrim released so far, with more to come and the movie due out next year.

Vol. 1, Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (paperback)

Parker: The Hunter

Ah, here we go. Some manly comics. For men. Real men. Darwyn Cooke (who penned the ever-popular DC: The New Frontier and had a ridciulously good run on The Spirit a few years back) takes a swing at the hard boiled crime genre, and comes out victorious.

Parker's roots go way back to pulp crime novels in the '60s and have been made into a number of movies, including Point Break and Payback. The original author (Donald E. Westlake writing under the pseudonym of Richard Stark) never allowed any other telling of the story to use his characters' original names, or the names of the books themselves, therefore keeping some distance between the original books and the adaptations of the books. Westlake was so impressed with Cooke's graphic adaptation of The Hunter, though, he allowed Cooke to do just that. Sadly, Westlake died just months before the completion of The Hunter and never got to see the finished adaptation.

I've talked a lot about Parker but somehow have gotten away with saying almost nothing about the story. All you really need to know is that Parker is a badass master criminal, that reading about him is awesome, and that Darwyn Cooke draws like no on else in the business can. Oh, and that Cooke is set to come out with a handful more of these in the future.

Parker: The Hunter (paperback)

Well that's about it for now, but I'll be back soon with more recommendations. If you try one of these out be sure to let me know what you think. Until then, make sure you keep reading those comics, but only the ones that don't suck.

Tags: Comics That Don't Suck

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