Every month I find myself reviewing a fair number of comics, and it’s always a pleasure to let you know about the great work that’s coming out right now. But every month it’s a worry that some things I really, really loved get lost in the sheer amount of posts her on the blog.
Which is where the Best Of The Month Propaganda post comes in.
Again, it’s a little strange this month, as this feature is based not on what I’ve read this month but what reviews I’ve posted in January. Thus the strange Smoo situation crops up – because my best of 2012 was all about what I’d read, Smoo #6 was already in there, despite not being reviewed until January. Confused? No more than I am…. anyway here we go… the best comics I reviewed in January 2012:
By Simon Moreton
Oh, the beautiful minamlism of Moreton’s comic work continues. I’ve so long been a fan now that I come to expect each new comic to be an exercise in taking everything on his pages in. And Smoo 6 was really no exception, a perfectly pitched tone piece, evoking all of the feelings of drifting and melancholy we recognise. Wonderful work.
by Jade Sarson
I am a huge fan of a good quality, old fashioned Rom-Com. And Cafe Suada has all the making of a good, old fashioned Rom-Com, something comics really don’t do enough.
It’s also wonderful to be able to start the year with a new name, and I do sincerely hope to be talking about Sarson later in the year and beyond.
The Summit Of The Gods Volume 3
By Yumemakura Baku and Jirô Taniguchi
Spectacular climbing adventure Manga series. This took me an age to get around to, purely since it came to me on a pdf. I now finally know I cannot do long form comics on anything other than print. Because on screen this took so long to get through. In print it was a read in one, thrilling, awesome, epic performance of a comic, exactly as the previous volumes have been.
By Dan White
Another old favourite here, and although not as heart-rending as previous works, Dan White makes up for it here by having his heroine and her dog engage in a spectacularly well constructed action epic here in the longest of his three tales. And I finally, forehead slappingly obviously get around to the Calvin & Hobbes comparison. It’s glorious.
By Luke Pearson
Nobrow Press
And speaking of glorious…. the second of Luke Pearson’s fantasy series was published last year, but I finally got around to getting off my arse and writing about it this month. Delight really is a word almost perfect made to fit with this comic. But there’s more to it than the fantasy, in much the same way that Pearson’s spiritual touchstone of Tove Jansson dealt with so much more, so Pearson does; filling his child-centric world with all the traumas and troubles, all the moods and misery of a child moving house, pushing boundaries, finding new friends. A glorious fantasy, and so lushly illustrated, quite gorgeous.
Okay, that’s it. Sorry there were 5 this month, but when they’re so very good, it’s cruel to have to choose, and halfway through the tortured decision of which tweo I had to get rid of, I realised I didn’t have to get rid of any. Five it is.
Sat, Feb 9, 2013
Comics and cartoons, Reviews