Author(s): Winsor McCay
Artist(s): Winsor McCay
Publisher: Evergreen
Date: 1905-1914
Employee: Matt
Why: Winsor McCay was the Da Vinci of comic books, a master of figure, perspective, craftsmanship, and architecture. Little Nemo is his greatest creation - a superbly written, gorgeously illustrated trip through the subconscious of a small boy. McCay draws anything you can imagine - and a lot you can’t - superbly over the nine-year narrative. Essential in the history of American comics.
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Author(s): Jack Kirby
Artist(s): Jack Kirby
Publisher: DC
Date: 1970-1974
Employee: Matt
Why: Jack Kirby possessed the greatest imagination ever to grace comic books. After leaving Marvel where he single handedly created almost their entire line, he went to DC in 1970, creating with the New Godsand the rest of the Fourth World line, an entire superheroic religious theology, based around his inference that superheroes where the latter day equivalent of the gods of primitive civilizations. The most psychedelic and mind-blowing thing you will ever read. Promise.
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Author(s): Will Eisner
Artist(s): Will Eisner
Publisher: DC
Date: 1940-1952
Employee: Matt
Why: This is one of the Master of American Comics at his very tip top of his game. The Spirit is probably the finest example of comics as an art form before 1985, encompassing every genre of pop culture - action, mystery, adventure,, romance, horror, humor, and anything else feasible. This painstakingly selected collection showcases 20 of the very best Spirit stories. Buy it and be blown away.
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Author(s): Frank Miller
Artist(s): Lynn Varley
Publisher: DC
Date: 2001
Employee: Matt
Why: Frank Miller’s unfairly lampooned follow-up to Dark Knight Returns goes it’s predecessor one better. With a script that would make William Burroughs as proud as it would Stan Lee and art and colors reminiscent of George Herriman and Andy Warhol, Miller delivers a futurist nightmare, a pop-art kaleidoscope, a balls-out superhero tale, a 9/11 parable, and that rarest of birds: a sequel both better and more innovative than it’s original.
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Author(s): Paul Pope
Artist(s): Paul Pope
Publisher: Adhouse
Date: Current
Employee: Matt
Why: Pope has been one of comics’ best and brightest for over a decade but his output is sporadic at best. THB is his attempt at a regular series, and if issue #1 is anything to go by it’s going to be a fantastic ride. By combining mind-bending sci-fi, whimsy and great humanity, and the latest in experimental narrative technique, Pope has a winner on his hands. Grab issue #1 and get in on the ground floor while you can!
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Author(s): Chris Ware
Artist(s): Chris Ware
Publisher: Pantheon
Date: 2005
Employee: Matt
Why: Chris Ware is comics’ futurist. His drawings simultaneously recall pointisim, Dada, and 1950s-style comic art. His stories are similar, Kafka-esque in exposing the squalling mundainity of modern life with empathy, contempt, and wicked humor. This collection presents a “Greatest Hits” compiled over the past decade or so.
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Author(s): Grant Morrison
Artist(s): Frank Quietly
Publisher: DC
Date: Current
Employee: Matt
Why: The best comic of the new millennium. Morrison spins beautiful, poignant, action packed, idea-charged Silver-Age-brought-modern Superman stories, while Quitely’s pencils (and Jamie Grant’s colors) are absolutely jaw-dropping to behold, like Caravaggio or Rodin in comic-book form. Buy it. It’s an Essential piece of 21st century art and literature.
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Author(s): Grant Morrison
Publisher: DC\Vertigo
Date: 1994-2000
Employee: Matt
Why: Morrison delivers the closest thing comics have to a postmodern, avant-garde manifesto, a “narrative hyper sigil” that is designed to slowly influence the world around us. Of course it’s also a great psychedelic spy/action series, with art by Frank Quietly, Phil Jimenez, Chris Weston, and more.
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Author(s): Peter Milligan
Artist(s): Max Fiumara
Publisher: DC
Date: Nov. 2007
Employee: UeL
Why: Strong artwork that is dark, not muddy, fully expresses the feeling that Vertigo allum. Milligan is going for. The characters, though just introduced, (unless you read 52) are fully developed with both feelings & foibles. This is a great first issue for those of you that are looking for a little more from a superhero comic.
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Author(s): Joe Casey, Tom Scioli
Publisher: Image
Date: Current
Employee: UeL
Why: This collects the first years worth in oversized bliss! Inspired by comics Marvel put out in the 60’s & 70’s, this book is more than a simple homage. It stands on the shoulders of Kirby / Lee / Thomas / Kane and more, then jumps into the expanse of universal delight with arms outstretched & eyes open. 40 Extra pages of material makes this a keeper for anyone looking for a fun comic with an adventuring superhero!
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