It’s completely non-scientific, since many of you (and us) cheated and nominated more than the asked for 3 titles, but it’s still nice to collate all those votes and produce this FPI 2011 Master List, an indication of just what was the best of the best of the year.

Here we go then…. the FPI Master List 2011

With 7 votes this year, the out and out winner was….

NELSON, edited by Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix (Blank Slate Books)

A major UK comics event – 54 artists telling one brilliant story that holds up incredibly well with so many diverse British voices. A veritable who’s who of Brit comics right now, this was big news ever since its initial announcement, and credit must go to editors Davis and Phoenix for producing something so very good.

And to top it all off, every penny of the profits went to Shelter. Good all round.

Next up with 5 votes….

Love & Rockets – New Stories Volume 4 by the Hernandez Brothers (Fantagraphics Books)

Yes, it’s by the brothers, but it was Jaime’s Love Bunglers finale that had people proclaiming this amongst his best work. People such as Nick Abadzis:

“There are no pyrotechnics or fancy-ass page layouts, just a slow burn of emotion and expression, presented in calmly immaculate style. The moments of his characters’ lives that Hernandez chooses to show in the telling of his tales are picked and deployed with such precision it betrays a wisdom and clarity very few storytellers possess, in comics or any other media. Just beautiful.”

And right behind L&R on 4 votes:

Don Quixote Volume 1 by Cervantes, adapted by Rob Davis (SelfMadeHero)

You’d probably have grounds to call Rob Davis the man of the year in UK comics 2011. Not only did he come up with the idea for Nelson and shepherd it to publication, but the first part of his Don Quixote adaptation came out to much acclaim from SelfMadeHero, yet another company flying the flag for the new wave of Brit Comics publishing.

Here’s Dan Lockwood on the Don:

“With beautiful use of colour, and a loose, fast style, Rob has perfectly captured the absurdity of Cervantes’s dense novel without sacrificing any of the underlying tragedy – this is, after all, a book about a man losing his mind. The relationship between Quixote (a senile old man) and Sancho Panza (a dimwit) is brilliantly established and maintained, and the physical comedy perfectly judged. The funniest (and contender for best) book I read all year.”

Now, a few on 3 votes:

2000AD

The universal feeling was that Tharg and co. are having a big, big resurgence in quality right now, with good strips across the year. Cover featured is by Henry Flint. And here’s Mark Kardwell from his best of year post:

“….the comic that has defined the artform in these islands for five decades has also had its best year in ages, too”

Bad machinery by John Allison

Much enjoyed webcomic from Allison – here’s what Adam Cadwell thought:

“John Allison has been creating and defining web comics for so long I think everyone takes his work for granted and I’d put him top if I hadn’t been singing his praises for years. With Bad Machinery, Allison has been creating amazing, thoroughly well written mystery stories for kids and adults alike. The most recent story, ‘The Case of the Lonely One’ is the best story about school friendships, aliens, belonging and the true power of onions you will ever read. And that’s a promise.”

Everything We Miss by Luke Pearson (Nobrow Press)

Luke Pearson is definitely a rising star, with Everything We Miss and Hilda And The Midnight Giant both from Nobrow this year both practically universally praised. Here’s Tom Humberstone:

“This year has been Luke Pearson’s – without a doubt. After releasing Hildafolk last year his output has been consistently brilliant and profilic. With this mature, smart and ambitious piece followed by the equally outstanding Hildafolk and the Midnight Giant – Luke’s really stepped up a gear artistically, and that’s no mean feat considering his previous work.”

Hairshirt by Patrick McEown (SelfMadeHero)

Another entry in the master list for SelfMadeHero, a company at the forefront of the rise in Brit publishers over the last few years – here’s Joe’s take on the book:

“This is a superb, dark piece from SMH, a labyrinthean maze of childhood memories and how they shape and influence the character and outlook of the protagonists as adults”

And several comics came out with a couple of votes each:

The Boss by John Aggs and Patrice Aggs (DFC Library)

Corporate Skull by Jamie Smart

Habibi by Craig Thompson (Faber & Faber)

Hector Umbra by Uli Oesterle (Blank Slate Books)

Long John Silver by Xavier Drison and Mathieu Lauffray (Cinebook)

Luchadoras by Peggy Adam (Blank Slate Books)

Metamaus by Art Spiegelman (Penguin)

Pinocchio by Winshluss (Knockabout)

Sandcastle by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters (SelfMadeHero)

War – The Human Cost – edited by Sean Duffield (Paper Tiger Comix)

Another year, another great collection. Thanks for voting, thanks for reading, and here’s to an even better 2012 for comics.

So here we go…. Molly’s Best Three of 2011:

The Boss – by John Aggs and Patrice Aggs (DFC Library)

This is the one I had no time to review! Bad teachers!

But it was very, very cool reading an adventure about the group of schoolkids and the wonderful Boss!

Pirate Penguin Vs Ninja Chicken: Troublems with Frenemies - Ray Friesen (Top Shelf)

“These two are the best of friends one minute and the worst of enemies the next. That’s the whole “frenemies” thing. They have lots of fun, but fights break out all the time, over the silliest of things. But silly is good – and silly is very funny.

But my very favourite strip is Tough Yet Fluffy, and I like it because it mixes comic art and photography…. and because the plush toys are so CUTE! Yes, it’s well written and the art is lovely… but really, how cute? The book is really good because it is so funny and very cute (very). The art is really funny as well. Lots of laughs, a fast and fun read.”

Please Be Moral – Do Not Spit – Sarah McIntyre’s China Travel Comic

Everything that the main characters do in here is everything that Sarah did on her travels in China. And it looked like Sarah had loads of fun along the way, portraying the country so well that it makes me want to go there myself (and those Chinese sweets look lovely).

The comic was written and drawn by Sarah while she was there, which is pretty amazing really. It’s funny, fun and full of lots of great details.

It was available in a lovely handmade edition at Thought Bubble and I’m really grateful to Sarah that she gave me a copy! Thanks Sarah! Dad says you can read it all (and you should)  at the David Fickling Books website.

Thanks to Molly for those – nice choices as well! Next year, hopefully less juggling with homework and more time to pick her best comics – priorities, priorities!

Thanks to Clark for getting involved….

FPI: Can you pick three comics/webcomics/graphic novels which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

I stopped buying single issues of comics many years ago, after my Dad finally got fed up of having 10 boxes of old 2000 AD progs clogging up his attic, so I tend to stick to graphic novels and webcomics. I think this year has been brilliant for both of the latter, so I was pretty hard pressed to pick my favourites.

Graphic Novels

1) Dungeon Quest volume 2 – by Joe Daly

Childish, purile, hilarious, brilliant. I am completely in love with Joe Daly’s series at this point, and the second volume continues in the same vein as the first; namely, silly stoner-esque humour, with a love for RPGs at its heart.

2) Scalped Volume 7 – Rez Blues – by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera

I absolutely adore Jason Aaron’s writing in Scalped at the moment, without a doubt my favourite crime book currently being published: dark; blackly comic; and you just know that no one’s leaving the Rez alive/unscathed. It speaks to the quality of the series that issue 35 (found in this collection) is one of my favourite single issues of a comic ever. A poignant, stand-alone tale of one elderly couple’s attempt to survive winter on the reservation, it’s both totally incongruous to the rest of the series and yet perfectly placed.

3) Batman & Robin volume 3 – Batman & Robin Must Die! – by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart

I am an unabashed Grant Morrison fanboy, and I could probably have filled this list with his books, what with the recent release of Joe the Barbarian (excellent, by the by), but the culmination of his run on Batman & Robin takes the spot. I’ve been following this extended storyline since Batman and Son, way back in 2006, so seeing all the disparate threads come together, and Batman truly kick some ass (with the help of the Joker) delighted the bat-nerd in me no end.

Webcomics

1) Homestuck – by Andrew Hussie

Andrew Hussie’s magnum opus is one of my favourite comics at the moment, and is seriously pushing the boundaries of what readers should expect from the medium. Universe spanning, fourth wall breaking, interactive storylines, a killer soundtrack, all dosed with a knowing sense of humour. Give it a read, but beware the sizeable chunk of spare time it will take to catch up with the story so far. Truly epic.

2) Vattu – by Evan Dahm

Evan Dahm’s tales of Overside are consistently some of my favourite webcomics, long for storytelling, fantastical characters, and high fantasy storylines all combine to create gripping page-turners (screen-turners?) that reward the loyal reader. The latest story, Vattu, about a young hunter/gatherer captured by a warmongering empire and indentured could be his best work yet.

3) Three Word Phrase – by Ryan Pequin

Ryan Pequin’s Three Word Phrase is definitely not safe for work, and is consistently hilarious. Dumb and irreverent, but overall – fun.

FPI: Can you pick three books which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

1) The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kaufman

Kaufman’s previous novella All My Friends Are Superheroes would probably be more appropriate for this list, but I read The Tiny Wife most recently so it gets the plug. The hardback edition is lovely, as is the story within. Give it to someone special in your life.

2) Anathem by Neil Stephenson

Detailed discussions of allegorical philosophical/quantum science concepts all rolled up in a ball with Kung Fu monks, parallel universes and a story that grips for the duration of its 900+ pages. Perfick.

3) The City and the City by China Miéville

I finally got round to reading this over summer, and I think it’s my favourite novel by Miéville. I think. The central conceit is deceptively simple, but challenges the reader’s perception of the story throughout. Like a post-Blade Runner Naked Lunch.

FPI: Can you pick three TV shows and/or movies which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

Television

1) Adventure Time

My favourite cartoon ever, after the Venture Bros. It has a magical talking dog, completely non-sensical storylines, dubstep on the soundtrack, and a great theme tune. Wonderful.

2) Bored to Death

I was torn between picking this and Community, but Bored to Death’s latest series was brilliant, and Ted Danson is amazing in it. But watch Community too, so long as it is just on “hiatus” now, and not cancelled.

3) Treme

Game of Thrones got the fanfare (and deserved it eventually), but for me the best thing on telly this year was Treme. Great soundtrack, laser precise writing, and the second season saw all the previous series’ disparate storylines coalesce in a pleasingly organic way. It’s that good it makes me be all pretentious and stuff. Wicked.

Movies

1) Kill List

Leon: The Professional meets… The Wicker Man? Kind of. Michael Smiley was great in it, and it had that whole Mike Leigh, Shane Meadows vibe to it, that’s always handy when the BAFTAs roll around.

2) Hanna

I saw Hanna with my Mum, and we both enjoyed it, though probably for different reasons. Great soundtrack by the Chemical Brothers, and everyone likes it when Eric Bana does accents, right? Saoirse Ronan was great as the eponymous heroine, and Tom Hollander is always a good watch, even when playing a psychotic neo-Nazi.

3) Drive

Probably on everyone else’s lists, so, yeah, I agree with everything they said (probably) – another great soundtrack, and, yes, Ryan Gosling is dreamy.

FPI: How did 2011 go for you as a creator? Are you happy with the way you got your work out this year?

2011 went well for Thought Bubble, we put on our biggest festival ever, both in terms of size and attendance, with surprisingly few hiccups, so we’ll class that as a win. We also put out our first ever anthology (through Image comics) with all profits going to the Barnardos charity, held the second annual Leeds Graphic Novel Awards (won by Sarah McIntyre), and Northern Sequential Art Competition (winners to appear in 2012′s anthology), and gave away a whole bunch of free comics through our book crossing initiative. Fun.

FPI: What can we look forward to from you in 2012?

Our biggest festival yet! We say that every year, but it continues to be true. We’ve got more expansion plans for 2012, and we’ll be revealing some of them in the new year, and then throughout 2012 in the run-up to next year’s Thought Bubble which will take place 12th – 18th November 2012 as part of Leeds International Film Festival.

FPI: Anyone you think is a name we should be watching out for next year?

Kristyna Baczynski! Her work’s amazing, and I hope 2012 is the year that she receives the recognition she deserves, e.g. ALL OF IT.

Comics

The Corporate Skull, Jamie Smart (webcomic)

The new chapter has just started this very week online, but over the last few months few things have made me laugh out loud as much as Jamie Smart’s Corporate Skull, taking the mickey out of big business and corporate office culture, loaded with cynicism and sarcasm, decorated liberally with bad language, foul behaviour and violence and bodily excretions. It’s everything rude and crude but expertly and cleverly crafted. I said several months ago that it was “arse splittingly funny” and I stand by that comment, mostly because the aforementioned bum is still recuperating from the previous comedic splitting. Sick genius. The doctors say it is good therapy for Jamie to work it out of his system.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec Volume 2, Jacques Tardi, Fantagraphics

For my money Jacques Tardi is one of Europe’s great comics creators, a true maestro who can turn his hand and alter his style to suit almost any genre, from gruesome, angry It Was The War of the Trenches to hardboiled 70s crime and, of course, his famous Adele Blanc-Sec series. A plucky heroine writer who investigates the bizarre and always becomes entangled in the oddest conspiracies and plans. This second helping collects two of the original French albums and serves up a heady cocktail of conspiracies, secret societies, black magic practiocners, mad scientists (and boy does Tardi do a great, cackling mad scientist – he even brings in some from his brilliant The Arctic Maruader into this) and all set against a beautifully realised backdrop of Belle Epoque, pre-war Paris. Fantagraphics are translating a huge swathe of Tardi’s work and in fact I’d recommend and and everything they have so far translated and republished, but for the sake of this piece I’ll go with the wonderful Adele.

Hair Shirt, Patrick McEown, SelfMadeHero

This is a superb, dark piece from SMH, a labyrinthean maze of childhood memories and how they shape and influence the character and outlook of the protagonists as adults, set in one of those depressing, featureless “it could be anywhere” type of towns, with emotional paths triggered by the reconnection between childhood friends and almost-sweethearts John and Naomi, it’s a fascinating through a glass darkly tale that I could see making an engrossing film in the hands of someone like Guillermo del Toro. Dark, brooding, intense and fascinating.

MetaMaus, Art Spiegelman, Penguin

Spiegelman’s Maus must be about the most famous graphic novel on the planet, known not only to comics readers like Watchmen but to the wider reading public because of its reception and the Pulitzer Prize highlighting it even to readers who normally don’t read in the comics medium. That, however, is also something of a millstone for a young artist to carry around for the next few decades of his career and Spiegelman talks about that, as well as how he came to make the original comic, discussing the craft, the family history, his relationship with his father, the approach to the art and layout, it’s a truly exhaustive (it comes with a DVD packed with more material) look inside one of the major literary works of the 20th century, but it is also deeply personal too, not just in terms of discussing Spiegelman’s relationship with his father, the man whose tale he is telling, but also how the book has affected his own children growing up in its shadow. Penguin also republished the original Complete Maus in the same hardback format as MetaMaus to mark the anniversary of its publication, they make a very handsome set.

Don Quixote, Migeul de Cervantes with some help from Rob Davis, SelfMadeHero

Several years ago a poll of some of the best writers from many countries picked out this masterpiece of Spanish literature as the favourite novel for most of today’s respected international authors. They were right. It’s an astonishing book that has crossed centuries, influencing artists, writers, playwrights, poets, painters, film-makers and readers; several centuries of readers have fallen in love with this mad knight who dreams of a golden past of chivalry and adventure. Is Quixote a dreaming madman in a cynical age or is it the world that is wrong and his vision which is the more wonderful? Is it a Quixotic madness to even attempt to adapt this great work into comics? Perhaps, but as one who has loved this book for years I think Rob too has supped from the same cup of divinely inspired madness that made our tottering knight charge at windmills; it’s a wonderful madness we all need to embrace from time to time to rise above the mundanity of the everyday. Rob has put a Herculean effort into this adaptation – a read of his blog shows the effort and thought and love he’s put into each frame, how to approach the characters, even the effect of changing colours and shadows, and it shows in the finished work.

Quixote is one of those books that belong to the world and to the ages, given that immortality that belongs to few books across the long centuries, the few that become immortal, the Poes, the Dickens, the Austens, that will be read for as long as there are books and stories. If you’ve loved Quixote you will delight in this joyful adaptation of the work, if you haven’t had that pleasure yet then Rob’s is the perfect, accessible introduction to it, and afterwards you’ll want to read the book itself and treasure it. As a bookseller and booklover I can’t think of a higher compliment than that.

Hector Umbra, Uli Oesterle, Blank Slate Books

Much acclaimed on it’s German language release I was delighted to see Blank Slate translating Uli Oesterle’s brilliant Hector Umbra, his first full length work to make it into English. A brilliant mixture of buddy movie, religious conspiracy, science fiction and dark magics, with more than a tinge of the excellent Mike Mignola flavouring it as Hector, between drinks, tries to find his missing DJ friend Osaka, stumbles into a megolomaniac attempt to subvert humanity, even finds himself, in an almost Hellboy moment, entering into Hell to be given information from a recently dead friend. Stylish and funny as we see bizarre sights, drinking, shagging, lunacy and more around Munich and strange realms hidden away from normal sight. Think Mike Mignola meets Quentin Tarantino meets Wim Wenders.

Rime of the Modern Mariner, Nick Hayes, Jonathan Cape

Coleridge’s famous poetical work, inspired in part by the great age of exploration as ships sailed to undiscovered corners of the world, is reworked visually here to great effect by Guardian cartoonist Nick Hayes, who follows the rhyme and beat of Coleridge but refashions the work to a more contemporary topic of the environment and man’s disastrous effect on those great, world-spanning oceans, the cradle of all life. The book itself is unusual for a graphic work, being similar in format to a thick hardback novel rather than the normally larger album format, but this is perfect for the few frames on each page, designed to work in time to the beat of the verse. There’s some lovely work in there too – Nick did a Director’s Commentary for us back in the spring, where he talked us through some of the work in his own words, go and have a look.

(Nick Hayes and William Goldsmith at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2011, pic from my Flickr)

Vignettes of Ystov, William Goldsmith, Jonathan Cape

Another unusual work from Cape in 2011 was this first major work from Will Goldsmith, whose work can also be seen in the Imagined Cities anthology Karrie Fransman put together. Ostensibly a series of short, two-page tales, each taking in a different story of a different (and usually eccentric and odd) dweller in a fictional, roughly Eastern European city, although the stories slowly start to become interlinked as you progress through, a little like Carver’s Short Cuts. Visually it is unlike anything else I’ve read in recent years, it’s a remarkable, unusual art style that demands re-reading to take it in. Unique.

Insurrection, Dan Abnett & Colin MacNeil, 2000 AD/Rebellion

I’m a 2000 AD boy, no question about it, original generation there right for the very first Prog and I still like to dive into the tales from the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic today, with a special fondness for the Dredd-verse. This story from veterans Dan Abnett and Colin MacNeil is set in Dredd’s universe but doesn’t feature him, taking place on a Mega City colony in deep space, fighting for independence. Following an alien attack where the Judges ignored pleas for aid everyone, including sentient robots, genetically uplifted apes and mutants, were given citizenship in return for fighting to save the colony. War over they judge marshal is told to revoke that citizenship, which he refuses, leading to a colossal showdown with the feared SJS, the Special Judicial Squad we first really saw way back in The Day The Law Died years ago, the Judges who investigate the other Judges. It’s a great future war tale, seemingly good guys against bad, but Abnett deliberately muddles the morality to make it more dramatic while MacNeil creates some brilliant B&W art (see my review here for more).

Batwoman – the New 52, JH Williams III & W Haden Blackman,published DC Comics

Over the years I have largely slipped out of the habit of picking up monthly or weekly issues – yes, I know, sounds sacriligeous for someone in my position, but I have collected them for more years than I care to recall and these days I generally prefer to wait for the collected trade edition. But along with the rest of the blog gang I had to have a look at DC hugely ambitious New 52 experiment, effectively rebooting the main DC Universe, all re-starting at issue 1, a great spot to leap on for anyone new to them, or, like me, who had missed out several years of continuity. It was a great success for the most part and now 5 issues later I find myself still checking the racks for some of them, most notably Batwoman.

I can’t help but go back to it every month – interesting storyline with Kate Kane’s Batwoman facing a supernatural, very creepy threat as well as a more natural world threat from a government agency and a screwed up wannabe sidekick. But the team also deliver a good personal side to Kate’s non superhero life – the problems with her sidekick being emlematic of her her problems with relationships in general, like her missing, presumed dead, twin who returned as a psychotic villain, her estranged father, her detective lover who doesn’t know she is Batwoman… But mostly it is JH Williams III’s art. Simply fabulous, probably some of the best artwork you will see in a mainstream comic right now, achingly gorgeous, atmospheric and with some fantastically kinetic layouts across double pages that as well as looking great scream out to me this is comics and this is the sort of wonderful visualisations of a story only this medium can do.

And as a bonus we have a very strong female lead, every inch the equal of the Batman, quite independent of him, strong but with doubts and troubles but a tremendous determination to do her ‘duty’ honourably. And the fact that she is a lesbian is, I am glad to say, simply a part of her character, played for emotional nuances but not for titillation or exotic allure. Kudos to the guys for that too. And on the New 52 front I also need to give shout outs for Gail Simone’s Batgirl and Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato’s The Flash. And boy, am I surprised to find myself reading Flash again after all these years, but there you have it…

Nelson, edited Rob Davis & Woodrow Phoenix, published Blank Slate Books

It’s been an outstanding year for comics work again, and especially for the UK scene. Nobrow, Blank Slate, SelfMadeHero and Cape have all distinguished themselves and it feels to me like the UK scene, both professional Indy presses and the self published small presses, are just getting better, more diverse and more intersting. Good time to be a reader – the only drawback is more good books than I have time to read and it is murder trying to make a list like this out of so many fine candidates! But, hand on heart, I have to stick with what I said in my review (see here) of Nelson, where I called it:

“a fascinating, unusual landmark publication in Brit comics, a moving tale that works not only as a snapshot of a woman’s life but as a snapshot of the finest comics talent working in the UK right now.”

In a year of quite brilliant works Nelson still stands out for me, a bold experiment by Messrs Phoenix and Davis and all at Blank Slate to craft a single tale covering decades of a woman’s life, each segment by a different artist yet all coming together as more than the sum of it’s parts. I think it is one of those books we will still talk about looking back from future years, a major moment in the renaissance of UK comics publishing. And we even got to raise money for Shelter just by buying it. I’m running up my flag and saluting Nelson as my best graphic novel read of 2011.

Books

Sea of Ghosts, Alan Campbell, Tor/Macmillan

First book of the Gravedigger Chronicles from the Scottish author Alan Campbell who impressed with his previous debut series, the Deepgate Trilogy. As with that debut his new series is an inventive, different and often disturbing take on a genre which can all too often fall into formulaic generic tropes. What starts as a fantasy on a world in which magic is real mutates throughout until it becomes half science fiction, half fantasy, with a compelling, driven lead character and a world where even the oceans have been poisoned by magica;/scientific meddling to become The Brine, the simplest splash of which is toxic and has horrible effects on the human body – and Campbell excels in grisly fates in a manner equalled only by veteran SF scribe Neal Asher. Compelling but not for the faint hearted.

The Ascendant Stars, Michael Cobley, Orbit

Book three of the Humanity’s Fire series sees Michael Cobley really coming of age – I enjoyed his original fantasy series he debuted with, but I think Mike’s switch to grand space opera science fiction was a wise one and this entire series marks him really growing into a much more assured, mature writer, with a brilliant tale of lost human colonies, major intrigues among major alien powers, a strong evnironmental thread and an exciting mixture of the big scale (major starship battles) and the personal (we get to know our heroes very well as they struggle for freedom), and his main planet with a colony composed of Scots, Norwegian and Russian descendants sharing their world with a friendly native species makes for a great and memorable cast of characters. Enjoy Ken MacLeod and Iain M Banks? Then you should be reading this.

The Reapers are the Angels, Alden Bell, Tor/Macmillan

Years ago a papercut from a radioactive book gave me special bookseller senses – sometimes a publisher will send me a book I know nothing about, the author is totally new to me, the book I know nothing about other than the blurb on the PR handout, and yet I get the tingle. And when I get that tingle it means I just know that this book is good, that I am going to like it and I trust the tingle because that instinct rarely leads me astray when it comes to reading. And I got the tingle for Reapers are the Angels and it was, again, pointing me to some bloody good reading. Both zombie tales and post-apocalyptic SF are ten a penny, it takes something to do either sub genre in a fresh way – Bell’s book combines both sub genres and it does so superbly, with his young girl wandering the remains of America after a zombie outbreak, trying her best to survive in a lethal, brutal world (where the remaining humans can be as dangerous as the walking dead), yet she has evolved her own quite moral code and a unique way of looking at the world and still seeing some wonder in it. It’s an amazing piece of work and – thank you – Bell is assured enough to keep it to a decent length and not feel compelled to bloat it to some 600 page monster as too many modern writers do. Beautifully self contained work.

Germline, T.C. McCarthy, Orbit

Another book that gave me the tingle is TC McCarthy’s Germline, a tale of future-war which draws on elements of the contemporary war on terror campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq with the historic (like Vietnam) with science fiction (parts of it are reminiscent of 2000 AD’s Rogue Trooper, including regiments of genetically created super soldiers). This is no war for ideal, not even pretending to be for ideals, it is purely for the remaining resources on the planet, and for every hi-tech future weapon there is the down and dirty tunneling and trenches of the Great War. Our main character is a reporter, but this is a war where you can’t stay an observer and our drug loving hack finds himself going through an Apocalypse Now like journey into the heart of darkness, along the way finding some strange buddies and even falling for one of the genetic infantry women. It’s dirty, gritty, very realistic and utterly gripping.

Echo City, Tim Lebbon, Orbit

I’ve been reading Tim’s work for a good while, he’s a brilliant, very unusual writer, coming from a horror background that also permeates his fantasy and I’ve often found it galling that he wasn’t published by a major imprint in his own country. Well this year Orbit fixed that and gave us his Echo City, a bizarre conurbation, totally self enclosed, wrapped around by an impassible, toxic desert, ruled over by a despotic family, political dissidents banished to a ghetto strip between the city walls and the desert proper. But someone has created a genetically manipulated being to cross that desert – and return. And on the return they learn that something – something unspeakable – is happening. Not just the fight between dissidents and the ruling elite or old and new ways of thinking, but something is rising from beneath the city. A city built endlessly on the bones of it’s own past, layer upon layer of new city built atop the old, vast undercity beneath, the river running through to vanish into the shadows below, where the city’s dead are fed into the falls to vanish – something is rising from deeper than even these dark levels… Scary, different, disturbing, mature dark fantasy from one of our very best.

Rule 34, Charles Stross, Orbit

Charlie is another writer I have admired for years, endlessly inventive, with a great take on using technological and societal trends to great (and cynically funny) effect. In Rule 34 he gets to indulge in the Great Edinburgh Detective Novel along with some near future science fiction, with a unit dedicated to policing all the weird cases that are spawned via the web, and our long suffering but tenacious female detective finds a bizarre murder case rapidly spinning into something much larger, going well beyond the city and even the country. It’s fast-paced, well delivered, clever and darkly humorous stuff from the guy who has become one of the best of the UK SF crop.

Supergods, Grant Morrison, Jonathan Cape

Half a potted history of the superhero comics and half a form of biography, Grant’s Supergods is an interesting read for anyone who’s grown up reading the four-colour pages. The earlier chapters dealing with the history of the early capes is fine but not anything you don’t really know already, although it has the benefit of having someone who has himself written many of these characters commenting on them and their creators. But for me the book really becomes much more interesting when we get to the 60s and Grant talks not only about the comics from then but on the ones he as a youngster was picking up and what they meant to him personally, then on to his early work (an anthology put out by the old Edinburgh SF Bookshop, which would eventually be the Edinburgh Forbidden Planet), constantly changing his style as the years pass, it offers an interesting insight into his own creative processes as well as his views on other trends in comics publishing and other writers and artists – you won’t always agree with them, but it’s always interesting.

Film & TV

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

Luc Besson’s big screen adaptation of Jacques Tardi’s Belle Epoque heroine takes elements from a couple of the original bande dessinee to make it to it’s running length, but despite mashing together different story elements from different books it cracks along at a good pace and delivers much of the same joy of adventure and gorgeous visuals (especially of Paris in the 1910s), a very fine comics adaptation and sheer fun throughout – here’s hoping he adapts some more.

Troll Hunter

One of my highlights of my annual sojourn at the Edinburgh Film Festival was this Indy monster flick from Norwegian director/writer André Øvredal. Made on a budget of only three million Euros it uses the found footage device like Cloverfield or Blair Witch, but much better (and less annoying) than either of those, supposedly recordings by media students doing a video project, reporting on a licensed bear hunt when they find a loner who follows the hunt for the rogue animal but never takes part. Tracking him night after night they find out he is actually a member of a secret government department tasked with keeping the public safe from (and ignorant of) trolls. And we get to see all manner of trolls, from forest to cave to gigantic beasts who roam above the Arctic Circle. Funny and very inventive, never showing its tiny budget, it is sheer fun and the film fest audience gave the director a huge cheer at the end. (see here for a spoiler-free review)

Hugo

The brilliant Martin Scorcese adapts Selznick’s wonderful tale, his first foray into 3D (and surprisingly not annoying in 3D), turning the book into a fairy tale – an orphan living within the walls and tunnels of a 1920s Parisian train station, mending and maintaining the clocks while avoiding the station police who will bundle him off to the orphanage, working on restoring a 19th century automation his father was trying to repair before his death.  Befriended by a young girl (Kick-Ass’s Chloe Moritz), menaced by a grumpy toy shop owner (her godfather) the pair are lead not only into the mystery of the clockwork mechanical man but of one of the great magicians of the 19th century, a curator of automata and wonders and the first, great genius of the early cinema. The dawn days of the film become part of the magical, fairy tale like story. 20s Paris in winter is a magical, enchanting land, and Scorcese makes much of the giant cogs and wheels of that era’s engineering and machinery while celebrating the first wonders of the silver screen. A pure joy.

The Borrower Arrietty

Another gem from the Film Fest for me was the new Studio Ghibli – I know I’m far from alone in being a huge admirer of Myazaki-san’s studio and their wonderful animations and the chance to see this tale, adapted from Mary Norton’s classic book The Borrowers, is a visual wonder as we see the tiny Borrowers living hidden in the human household, and how one Borrower girl and one seriously ill human boy come together despite the vast difference in sizes. The art is a delight showing our world at the Borrower’s tiny scale (so small when they pour tea from the pot it doesn’t flow like our water does, it comes out as large droplets), even the sound is used to convey the scale, the rustling of shirt fabric enormously loud to Arrietty’s miniscule ears. It is charming and a pure visual feast of traditional animation (with a few CG elements). See here for a review

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Maverick director Werner Herzhog gained exclusive camera access to the Chauvet caves of southern France, one of the great historical discoveries of the last couple of decades, a series of caves used by our ancestors for rituals, for art… For the oldest human artwork we know of, a glorious series of cave paintings over 32, 000 years old. Just consider that for a moment – human artwork many times older than any beautiful work that survives from Rome, Ancient Greece or even Egypt or Ur or Babylon. These may have been stone-age people, but they are modern humans, just like us physically, and in their art we can see they are much like us mentally, spiritually. Art paintedin darkness lit only by flickering torches, which would have made the animals depicted seem to move. The artists are clever, using their material wisely, using the surface qualities of the rock and the curves and undulations to emphasise the art, making a horse seem dynamic as it curves around a bend in the wall. The work is far too delicate to be open to the public, only scientific teams are allowed in to a now sealed, climate controlled environment, Herzhog’s access therefore as close as we can get to this miraculous find. It’s a treasure in paint and stone and human effort and cleverness reaching out of the darkness across long millennia to us. It’s so beautiful it will make you cry with wonder. The human spirit and art eternal…

As usual I have rambled on far, far too long and been a bit self indulgent, but again my excuse is that I read far too many extremely good comics, books and saw some fabulous films again through the year, and this is me missing out many I would have liked to include as well (I haven’t even managed space to give proper mentions to the Big Bang Theory – much improved this year with a stronger female strand to the regular male geek cast – or Doctor Who or the surprise that was The Fades, the brilliant adaptation that is A Game of Thrones, the growing pleasure of Fringe (one of the best SF shows of recent years, I think), SyFy’s Haven, Warehouse 13 and Lost Girl).

Looking forward to in 2012

Okay, as I said I have gone on too long already, but what the smeg, a very brief look at some books and comics coming up that I’m looking forward to this coming year: Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes, Mary & Bryan Talbot, Jonathan Cape. Bryan was kind enough to give me a peek at some of this collaboration with his wife Mary some months ago and I’m eager to read the finished book – Mary was kind enough to to pen a Director’s Commentary about Dotter for us and I’m delighted to say you will be able to read it on the blog tomorrow. Kochi Wanaba, Jamie Smart, Blank Slate – I love Jamie’s work and adored what I saw of Kochi online. It’s an amazing mixture of the supercute and the bizarre, almost grotesque and I’m chuffed to see him getting this lovely hardback edition from Blank Slate.

One of the great European classic has been promised in new English editions to use several times over recent years, but never appeared – now, at last we’re going to see it again: Corto Maltese: the Ballad of the Salt Sea, Hugo Pratt, Universe. Hopefully this summer sees the third part of the League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Century by Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill, Knockabout/Top Shelf. This final part brings us up to contemporary times after we last saw the League in the Swinging Sixties (with a coda in the punk era of the 70s). Peepholes, Laurie J Proud, Blank Slate Books looks absolutely fascinating – it was due late 2011 but will now be this year, but a pleasure delayed simply increases the final satisfaction (and I hope to have Laurie also doing a Commentary for us too in the near future).

And I’ll leave you with a couple of 2012′s science fiction works that caught my eye – Empire State, Adam Christopher, Angry Robot. I was treated to an advance copy at the end of 2011 but the book is out this month – if you follow our Twitter feed you’ll already have seen me singing the praises of Adam’s novel – set in a 1930s/40s city that seems like New York but is actually the Empire State, like an alternative version of the New York we know, with gangsters and speakeasys and superheroes in rocket boots like characters from the old Republic serials of the day. A city that is all that exists, surrounded by a mist around its rivers, and yet there is a mysterious enemy ships sail off to fight… Somewhere. Hugely stylish, with elements that reminded me of hardboiled noir of the 40s and 50s, the old serial movies, Rocketeer and Dark City- probably the first really interesting SF book of the New Year for me. And this year also sees the return of one of my long-term favourites, Ken MacLeod, with Intrusion (Orbit) – Cory Doctorow has seen it already and described it as “a new kind of dystopian novel: a vision of a near future “benevolent dictatorship” run by Tony Blair-style technocrats who believe freedom isn’t the right to choose, it’s the right to have the government decide what you would choose, if only you knew what they knew. ” Ken told me a little about it recently but to be really honest all I need to know is it is a new Ken MacLeod and that means I’ll be reading it.

And hell, it was a good, good year. There have been far, far, far too many comics released this year that I really wanted to read, and sadly some of the ones I’ve bought for myself, desperate to get around to, and possibly ones that would have made it to this list, have remained unread. I reckon Mark Kalesniko’s Freeway and Howard Cruse’s Complete Wendel would have been on here – if only there were 28 hours in the day eh?

I even managed to read some comics (those floppy things) from the big two this year – I’ve no idea if the new 52 will provide the long-term boost to DC that they obviously hope, but the actual quality of some of the books really surprised me, with quite a few passing muster for second and third issue reads, and there will be several amongst them that I’ll be waiting for the trade – OMAC, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Batwoman and maybe a few more. On the Marvel side, the new Ultimate line was particularly strong in the early issues, but the absolute stand-out of all the new big two comics I picked up has to be the new Daredevil – which so nearly made it onto the ten.

Yet again, 2011 was an incredibly strong year for Britain, with the work laying foundations for the new Brit scene in 2009 and 2010 really paying off. Companies such as Nobrow, SelfMadeHero, Blank Slate, Knockabout, Fanfare/Ponent Mon, Cinebook continued to produce a strong, diverse line of great books whilst the UK’s thriving self-publishing scene grows ever stronger and professional every year I do this.

Okay, enough. Here you go…. my ten best of 2011…….

The Absence #3 (& collection) by Martin Stiff (self published)

Frustratingly, Stiff only managed one issue of his breathtakingly good comic this year. But I forgive him, as it was simply wonderful. And the collection of issues 1-3 gave me chance to delight in the brilliance of it all over again. I said with issue 3′s review that this was “absolutely making it onto the best of 2011 list” and I’m true to my word.

“Issue 3 takes everything that was brilliant in issues 1 & 2 and just keeps on going. The whole thing starts wonderfully and, through the pages, builds and builds on what has gone before, ramping up the tension and mystery all the way through until we get to the ending – which, as the lead character Marwood promised is truly “something extra-ordinary”.”

The Boss – by John Aggs and Patrice Aggs (DFC Library)

A brilliant, perfect all-ages thriller from the DFC.

“It’s a bit Blyton Secret Seven, a bit Three Investigators, and it’s got the thrills of a Bourne film (albeit with a lot less violence). This is a brilliant, brilliant intelligent thriller of a comic.”

Cindy & Biscuit – Dan White (self published)

Reviewed back in May, but even then, I had it marked down for this list.

“Three stories, three absolute little crackers. Brilliance, beautiful, sweet, wonderful, yet slightly tragic.”

“….each and every time of the multiple readings so far – it fills my heart with simple joy and then breaks it apart. It’s a lovely little comic, a wonderful new discovery and something I’ll cherish. I think you should as well.”

Don Quixote by Rob Davis (SelfMadeHero)

A magnificent adaptation of the visionary romantic quest, as Davis went all out to deliver perfection in the writing and especially his gorgeous full-colour artwork. And it allowed me to lead a review with a Nik Kershaw lyric.

“Don Quixote and Sancho Panza – the original double act – Morecombe & Wise, Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, just 300+ years prior. Yet just as funny, maybe moreso. Not in the slapstick, but in the clever, ridiculous wit that pervades Cervantes’ original, and is ever-present in Davis’ cultured remake. But again, don’t let the “cultured” bit fool you – Don Quixote is a comedy, pure and simple, and Davis’ adaptation brings all that out.”

Feynman by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick (First Second)

Genius. Brilliance. Feynman. That was the title of the review of this one. And it applies to both the man and the graphic novel.

“I love it. But I knew I would. I have Feynman’s books on my shelf, Feynman biographys alongside those. All a Feynman graphic novel biography had to do to make it great in my eyes was to simple tell Feynman’s story, capturing all the genius, the invention, the spirit of the man.

It most definitely does.”

Hitsville UK #1 by John Riordan and Dan Cox (self published)

A surprise when I read it, but no surprise to see it make the best of the year. Starts slow, but within just a few pages it grabs, delights, and never lets go.

“Page 8 is the bit of the tune where the drums kick in and the world goes away and all that matters is the experience, and everything suddenly goes a bit wonderfully magical, transfixing and amazing you all the way through to the end.

And yes, that’s just what Hitsville UK made me feel.”

Long John Silver by Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Lauffray (Cinebook)

This would have made it onto the best of 2010, except Volume 1 came at the end of the year and I didn’t review it until the start of 2011. Since then Volumes 2 & 3 have been released, and they all feature brilliance in writing and art. Part potboiler adventure, part mystery, part psychological character piece. My only problem – the long wait for the concluding Volume 4.

In fact, I almost had to put this in here….

“There’s a quote on the back of this from me that’s so true….. “practically nailed on to the best of 2011 list already“. And Volume 3 merely reinforces that verdict. This is everything I was hoping it would be, a  perfect continuation of the saga.”

Nelson by a veritable who’s who in UK comics, co-edited by Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix (Blank Slate Books)

A single story anthology, building a life in an unusual fashion, 54 artists creating one life; heartfelt, moving, and real.

“Nelson succeeds not because it brilliantly serves up lashings of nostalgia for the last 40 years, not because it creates rounded, interesting, and recognisable characters, not because the lives these characters lead in the 44 years of the story are absolutely involving, passionate, rewarding, emotional, poignant and heartfelt. No, it succeeds because it feels completely, absolutely, utterly REAL.”

Summit Of The Gods Volume 2 by Yumemakura Baku and Jirô Taniguchi (Fanfare / Ponent Mon)

As with The Absence, I nearly didn’t put it on here, simply because it was in last year’s list. But then just thinking about it I could remember the thrill of reading it, and I knew it had to be here.

“Within just a few pages, Summit Volume 2 delivered everything that had made Volume 1 a best of year book and simply eclipsed it. Epic simply isn’t descriptive enough for the feeling you get turning each page, in the grip of an excitement, transported to the utter wilderness of the mountains, sharing in the experiences of these climbers.

The first 112 pages are possibly the finest, most thrilling work of comics I may have seen, dealing with climber Jouji Habu attempting a solo winter climb of the Grandes Jorasses of the Mont Blanc range. It is simply incredible work.”

Tuk Tuk #1 by Will Kirkby

Kirkby’s “Only Fools And Horses in a fantasy setting” description, coupled with some truly sumptuous and fun artwork had me before I even got hold of this one. But once read, I was utterly convinced.

“Tuk Tuk Issue 1 is quite simply brilliant, where the rush and the fun of a great concept, beautifully produced page after beautifully produced page more than made up for it’s few shortcomings. The gags are genuinely funny, it’s clever, it’s cool, it’s very, very good.”

Okay, that’s the ten. And oh, heavens that was tough. Getting it to a top 20 was alright, but narrowing that down to a top 10 was like pulling teeth.

There you go, 2011 over and done with. A great year. Here’s to an even better 2012.

FPI: Can you pick three comics/webcomics/graphic novels which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

Maura: It’s difficult to present a top three list across a variety of media because there are so many excellent works in the shops and on the screens at the moment. I’ve focused on indie/low budget/unusual titles that captured my attention during 2011, and are deserving of a larger audience.

Comics:

1. Luchadoras by Peggy Adam from Blank Slate Books

A grim, compelling graphic novel set in Mexico and featuring Alma, a woman attempting to escape the trap of violence that permeates her life. Adam doesn’t flinch from the story and attempts to unpick the complexities of the effect on people of living in an unpredictable, often-hostile environment.

Not a story that’s going to make you feel better about the world, but it might help you understand some of it a bit better.

2. Shadoweyes in Love by Ross Campbell from SLG Publishing

The sequel to Campbell’s previous title, Shadoweyes, the story continues the adventures of Scout Montana, who has been inexplicably transformed into a large, powerful creature that gives her the power to fight against crime in the futuristic city of Dranac.

The pleasure of this work is following a truly diverse set of character, who are both funny and complex, set in a traditional coming-of-age superhero story.

3. Nelson edited by Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix from Blank Slate Books

If you want a snapshot of the existing and emerging talent in the UK comic book scene then this comic book anthology is the perfect seasonal gift. Nelson is a series of short vignettes from the life of the heroine of the story, Nel.

It was conceived of as an experiment in the exquisite corpse format where each artist/writer must react to the piece that preceded it. A triumph in both form and content, and a showcase for the UK indie comic book industry.

FPI: Can you pick three TV shows and/or movies which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

Maura: Television

1 Wilfrid, created by Jason Gann and Adam Zwar

It’s rare that a truly oddball story appears on our screens that is both poignant and darkly funny. The protagonist Ryan (Elijah Wood) is a suicidal, depressed lawyer who is asked by his neighbour Jenna (Fiona Gubelmann) to take care of her dog Wilfrid for an afternoon. To Ryan’s surprise, he sees Wilfrid as an Australian man (Jason Gann, reprising his role from the Aussie original version) in a dog suit.

They embark on a strange friendship that sometimes seems to be a voyage into the darker impulses of Ryan’s psyche. The fun of watching it is trying to piece together just what is going on with Ryan and what has brought about this fracture in his reality, while enjoying the wit and banter of the show.

2. American Horror Story, created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk

The premise of this series is the standard haunted house story. A couple attempting to save their marriage move to L.A. with their daughter and unknowingly purchase “the Murder House”. Quite soon the ghosts turn up and rather bold-facedly start interacting with the family. At times this series has exasperated me, but ultimately I enjoy the stand-out performances, and the cocktail of horror influences from David Lynch, Dario Argento and Stanley Kubrick.

It’s a series that’s all about the women, and the actresses are fabulous featuring a range in age that is rare in American television. The triumvirate of wife Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton), creepy next-door neighbour Constance Langdon (Jessica Lange) and daughter Violet Harmon (Taissa Farmiga) keep me watching this show.

3. Lost Girl, created by Michelle Lovretta

Technically this was first broadcast in 2010, but it was only aired in the UK/Ireland in 2011 on SyFy. Honestly, I came to this show expecting to dislike it, but was pleasantly surprised by the range of characters and the writing. The story centres around Bo (Anna Silk), who grew up as an orphan in a human family only to discover she is actually a succubus, and part of the Fae world that co-exists, with its own rules, next to the human world.

The lure of this show is Bo’s best friend, a thief and con-artist call Kenzi (Ksenia Solo), who helps Bo set up a neutral detective agency to investigate crimes in both the Light and Dark factions of the Fae. Bo also has relationship with both a wolf-shifting police detective Dyson (Kristen Holden-Ried) and a human forensics expert Lauren (Zoie Palmer). This series confounded my expectations and turned out to be a well-written, entertaining series with enough twists and points of departure to keep me happy.

Film

1. Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, written and directed by Madeline Olnek

Created on a tiny budget and shot in black in white New York, this story emulates a 1950s B-movie science fiction tone from the beginning, with its baking tin spaceship and outlandish concept. In it aliens are shipped away from their home planet to Earth for having ‘big feelings’, and have to live in Manhattan as exiles, attempting to eschew relationships (but never succeeding).

At its centre is the romance between human stationary clerk Jane (Lisa Haas) and her alien girlfriend Zoinx (Susan Ziegler), which is both awkward, funny and heart-warming. This endearing film doesn’t outstay its welcome, and proves what can be done with a good comedy script and the right cast.

2. The Devil’s Business, written and directed by Sean Hogan

This British horror film is the perfect example of what horror writers/directors should emulate when attempting to make a film on a low-budget: put the work in on the story. The film centres on two London gangsters Pinner (Billy Clarke) and Cully (Jack Gordon) who break into the house of a man their superior has told them to kill. As they sit, waiting and talking, it becomes clear that their target is involved in the occult and their boss has a Faustian bargain that he’s attempting to break.

There are only four actors in this film and most of it takes place in a couple of rooms in the house, but the writing and the actors’ delivery means it is never boring.

THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS trailer from Sean Hogan on Vimeo.

3. The Innkeepers written and directed by Ti West.

West has already proven himself a capable and innovative horror writer/director with House of the Devil, and with The Innkeepers he keeps on trend and delivers a gripping, low-boil horror film. The story revolves around the last couple of days in an old Inn that is being closed down and is almost devoid of guests. The last shifts are being handled by Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy), who are the kind of quirky, funny people nearly everyone has worked with at some point in their lives, and who help you get through deadbeat jobs. The Inn has a reputation for being haunted, and Luke has been filming sections of it for his web site.

As the duo’s last nights in the Inn unfurl the scares slowly ratchet up for a chilling climax. It’s great to watch a horror film with characters you actually care about, and which takes its time building up the atmosphere.

FPI: How did 2011 go for you as a creator? Are you happy with the way you got your work out this year?

Maura: I’ve been delighted at the reception to both of the comic book series I’m writing Atomic Diner: Róisín Dubh (reviewed here by James) and Jennifer Wilde (reviewed here). Issue two of Róisín Dubh hit the shelves just before Christmas and issue two of Jennifer Wilde should be out in February.

(sketching in Paris in Jennifer Wilde by Maura McHugh, Rob Curley and Stephen Downey, published Atomic Diner)

FPI: What can we look forward to from you in 2012?

Maura: The collected graphic novel of the first volume of Róisín Dubh  and Jennifer Wilde should be out by the end of the year, and before that the third issue of both of them. I’ve also a script in the Womanthology comic book anthology, which should be in the shops by January.

FPI: Can you pick three comics/webcomics/graphic novels which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

Mark: Oh hell. Like I predicted last year, the renaissance in the UK original graphic novel publishing scene has really started to bear rich fruit, and it’s proving hard to narrow my decision down to just three. SelfMadeHero, Nobrow and Blank Slate have all published great book-after-great book in an amazing cycle of one-upmanship where the winner has been the Anglophone comic-reading audience. This is complicated further by the fact that the comic that has defined the artform in these islands for five decades has also had its best year in ages, too.

(above – page from Hair Shirt, by and (c) Patrick McEown, published SelfMadeHero; below – Adam Cadwell’s page from Blank Slate’s superlative team comic marathon Nelson)

So I’ll go with Patrick McEown’s Hair Shirt (SelfMadeHero); Rob Davis, Woodrow Phoenix et al’s Nelson (Blank Slate); and 2000AD (Rebellion). I’d have thrown Uli Oesterle’s Hector Umbra (Blank Slate) in there too, but it technically didn’t originate in 2011. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy it. You should. And Joe is inserting a handy link to do just that right here (yes, indeed, you can order it here, and it is brilliant – and the English translation does originate from this year even if the German original doesn’t, so it does count! That sneaky Kardwell did that just to slip an extra book in, for which I salute him – Joe). BUY IT! DO IT NOW! NOW!

(above – one of the stunning pages of artwork 2000 AD, published Rebellion, treated us to in 2011, the always brilliant D’Israeli’s interpretation of Hondo City for Lowlife; below – the brilliant Hector Umbra by Uli Oesterle, published Blank Slate Books)

FPI: Can you pick three books which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

Mark: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt (Granta)

Always thought it better for a book to be “interesting” than “good”, which is probably why I wrote my BA thesis on Tender Is The Night rather than The Great Gatsby, and my MA thesis on George Moore rather than Jimmy Joyce. And when you work as a librarian, and talk about books all day with your colleagues and customers alike, you do tend to feel obliged to read large chunks of the Booker shortlist every year. The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt was easily the most enjoyable book the usually dreary and worthy Booker crowd have endorsed since Vernon God Little. One of those books you can’t help but choose a dream director and cast for in your head, as the movie of the novel unfurls in your imagination.

Luther: The Calling by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster)

Luther: The Calling is the best spin-off novel I’ve ever read, hardly much of a claim when you consider how inconsequential that sub-section of fiction has been over the years. This one managed to both be a damned fine thriller of the post-Thomas Harris variety, and Cross’s love-letter to the performances of the cast of the first series of his procedural-cum-grand guignol. I loved that first series of Luther, but even as a fan I realised the twists in the penultimate episode were kind of shonky, they rather came out of nowhere, and partly this novel is a knowing correction of those pacing mistakes. And it turns out Cross is also a stylist who writes great sentences.

Ragnarok by A.S. Byatt (Canongate)

As a kid in love with Jack Kirby’s The Mighty Thor comics, I picked up the massive compendium of world myth in my school’s library, and Byatt’s book rang true to how those stories resonated with me. She was exposed to them as a nature-loving rural kid in a country threatened by imminent Nazi invasion, while her father served abroad in the RAF. I read them as a nature-loving rural kid growing up during Northern Ireland’s Troubles and the Cold War, feeling both threatened locally by the prospect of terrorist violence, and existentially by the prospect of nuclear war and its attendant mutually assured destruction. This might be the most atypical book of Byatt’s career, but it’s the one that resonated the most with me.

FPI: Can you pick three TV shows and/or movies which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

Mark: I think I haven’t darkened the door of my local fleapit once in the last year, so any movies I’ve seen have been on DVD. I loved Attack The Block, a movie which mightn’t have been terribly original, but its brilliance came from the playful fusion of genres, and a real love of language.

Community season two rocked my world. I watched the first half of the series drunk, and the second half hungover, and that may have affected my rational judgement, but I came away from the experience thinking this might be the best nerd-oriented TV series since Spaced. It certainly resembles that show in cinematic ambition, intent and construction. And I’ve completely fallen in age-inappropriate love with Alison Brie.

And oh alright, Luther season two. As I said earlier, I loved the first series but was all-too-aware of its failings. It aspired to be a police procedural where everything spiralled into an operatic level of mayhem, but all-too-often just seemed like a bizarre episode of The Bill which descended into a bloodbath. The final two episodes eventually hit the tone they were grasping for, and the results were magical. In the second series, essentially two movie-length specials shown as four episodes, they stepped straight back into that groove, somewhere between the works of David Milch and John Webster.

FPI: How did 2011 go for you as a blogger? Are you happy with the way you got your work out this year?

Mark: In terms of regularity of posting, I’ve had a quiet year, I must admit. It’s always hard to update a blog as regularly as you’d like when your familial and professional lives have been in something of a chaotic state. When you’re pushed for time, it’s so much easier to just compress an idea into a tweet than take the time to compose a full blog entry. I really must try harder next year. But in terms of my blog influencing the universe on a cosmic level, this has probably been my best year yet. I mean it. No, I’m not mental. GGGNNNNRRRRTTT.

FPI: What can we look forward to from you in 2012?

Mark: Between the London Olympics and an unavoidable global apocalypse at the next winter solstice, I fully expect it’ll be a bumper year for blogging.

FPI: Anyone you think is a name we should be watching out for next year?

Mark: I’m almost embarrassed to plug the books I’m looking forward to in 2012, because anyone flicking through the last couple of years of these things will see that a tip from me is a surefire sign a book is going to miss its deadllines egregiously. Let’s just say that I’m still looking forward to Warwick Johnson Cadwell‘s Gungle (and his Hunch Parsons); Glynn Dillon‘s The Nao Of Brown; and any of the ever-growing list of projects Paul Pope has on the long finger (The completed THB, Battling Boy, La Chica Bionica, Psychenaut, Pulphope 2, the new edition of The One-Trick Rip-Off).

Al Ewing and Brendan McCarthy‘s Zaucer Of Zilk starts in 2000AD next year, and that should be a hoot. Dan McDaid keeps previewing panels from some unnamed project he’s working on for Oni Press at his blog, looking forward to seeing more of that. Dan’s a great writer as well as a damned fine artist, and after some delays due to backstage legal wrangling, his epic Doctor Who Magazine serial The Crimson Hand is finally being collected by Panini. I hope Marvel put out a fancy hardback collection of The First almost as soon as the last issue is released.

(some Doctor Who awesomeness by Dan McDaid)

As hilarious as it’s publication history has been, Chris Weston‘s work is uniformly gorgeous, and the world deserves to know what happened The Blue Blade. Paul Holden keeps posting outrageously intricate pages from The Department Of Monsterology on Twitter and Facebook. No comics artist goes out there and bares his soul for the amusement of strangers on the internet like PJ, he deserves a hit, if just to see what effect it would have on his online persona. One name the FPI readers mightn’t be as familiar with is David Wynne – he does indie and webcomic work that’s like the right-side of Warren Ellis’s brain pumped full of happy juice and grafted to the drawing hand of Paul Grist. People should go and buy his comics just to free him from the day-job he clearly hates.

(Particle Fiction #14 art by and (c) David Wynne)

And anyone who says that’s just a list of stuff by my mates from Twitter is a liar.

FPI: Can you pick three comics/webcomics/graphic novels which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

JM: First of my choices is Joe The Barbarian by Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy. Despite years in the industry, Morrison can still surprise you with his personal work. Unlike some of his contemporaries, what marks him out as a great writer is the fact that the best of his output has real heart and passion to it. Joe The Barbarian is helped by the fact that artist Murphy is one of the best artists to rise to prominence in the past five years in American comics. Every page drips with atmosphere and he is the perfect counterpoint to Morrison’s clever script. Despite DC’s recent treatment of Vertigo (shifting a number of its characters back to the main DC Universe and cutting back its line), it’s good to see that this series got its own slightly oversized hardcover. A brilliant modern-day fantasy series with some intelligent touches, it’s highly recommended…

My second choice is not a book that came out in 2011 but I hope you’ll let me have it. Criminal is a comic that shows why Ed Brubaker is probably the best and most consistent mainstream comic writer of the last ten years. The hardcover that reprints Volume 1 1-10 and Volume 2 1-3 is a monstrously lavish affair, showing off Sean Phlllips’s simple but brilliant art to magnificent effect. Brubaker really understands noir and Criminal is a fantastic series. It was great to hear that it’s been optioned but let’s hope that it’s treated with some respect and the flavour of the comic remains when it’s transferred to the big screen. Criminal channels Chandler, Hammett and Spillane but Brubaker has an obvious love and affection for the comic form which shines through…

The third choice is Hellboy: The Fury by Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo. The third Hellboy series by the pair of creators, they end the story with a real bang and Fegredo takes some chances artistically. His art on The Fury pays homage to Mignola but takes things in a different direction. All three of Mignola and Fegredo’s Hellboy stories have captured all that is best about the character and The Fury sets up Mignola’s return to drawing the character again. He continues to express his deep interest in folklore in a fun and accessible fashion and Fegredo is doing some of the best work of his career…

FPI: Can you pick three books which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

JM: Christopher Fowler is an author who has always delivered likeable, enjoyable prose and Bryant & May and The Memory of Blood, the ninth book featuring his pensioner detectives, doesn’t disappoint. He makes good writing seem easy while packing a lot into a single novel. He has a great ear for amusing dialogue that still moves the plot along and a knack for credible characters. He doesn’t get the attention he should even though he is a prolific writer of entertaining crime novels…

Another book that I read this year that I would pick out, even though it wasn’t published this year, is Erik Larson‘s Devil In the White City. He tells two connected tales, one of the building of the World’s Fair in Chicago in the Thirties and the other of a serial killer who uses the mayhem and chaos of that event to murder his victims, but does so with rare style and panache. It is a fairly dense book but you are carried along by the skill in which he tells his stories. Along with Glen David Gold and Michael Chabon, Larson is probably one of the best writers in this particular field of fictionalised history…

My last choice is Lee Child‘s The Affair, the latest of his Jack Reacher novels. Child has gone back to when the character was a military policeman, investigating the murders of four women in a town in Mississippi in 1997. He has a very smooth way with prose, he moves the action along at a decent pace and Reacher is a well-rounded action hero albeit rather damaged. Child writes very readable books…

FPI: Can you pick three TV shows and/or movies which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

JM: 2011 has been another great year for television. I picked it last year but I have to pick it again this year because the second series has been even better than the first and that’s HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, showing in the UK on Sky Atlantic. Steve Buscemi as gangster Nucky Thompson is brilliant and the rest of the cast are also magnificent especially Michael Pitt as Jimmy Darmody, with the interplay between the two characters at the heart of the second season. Boardwalk Empire shows why TV continues to steal a march on cinema these days…

My second choice is Showtime’s Homeland, an intelligent and well-made drama about a Us Marine (Nicholas Broady, played by Damian Lewis) who has returned from Iraq. But has he been turned to act as an agent of Al Qaeda? Claire Danes is excellent as manic CIA agent Carrie Matheson as is Lewis himself. Based on an Israeli TV miniseries, Homeland is compulsive viewing and it will be intriguing to see where they go with a second season.

My film choice for 2011 is Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows. With this second outing for Guy Ritchie’s retooled and revamped iconic detective, the director has shown that there is real chemistry between Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson. And with the introduction of Jared Harris as Moriarty, Ritchie has made a pulp adventure story with a true sense of fun at its heart. It proves that, given the right material and the correct cast, the director is actually very talented.

FPI: How did 2011 go for you as a creator? Are you happy with the way you got your work out this year?

We did get another Tripwire print issue out in 2011, so I am glad we did. But it’s very hard out there especially in terms of advertising so it was a harder issue than 2010′s. But at least we got back into Diamond for the first time since our Superhero Special in 2009. It was good to get issues out digitally of TRIPWIRE as well. Personally speaking, I continued with my photography and that has born fruit for 2012, and I did some work on my detective novel. I also continued to freelance for places like the Judge Dredd Megazine and Big Issue in The North, so that was also good news.

FPI: What can we look forward to from you in 2012?

TRIPWIRE celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2012 so there’ll be an anniversary book later in the summer, which will hopefully top the 10th anniversary book we put out in 2002. We are also planning a TRIPWIRE 20th evening at Gosh later in the summer with guests like Michael Moorcock and Mike Carey, plus we’ll be kicking off things at Bristol in May with a 20th anniversary print and a panel there. Speaking of Gosh, the shop will also be putting on an exhibition of my comic creator portrait photos from March 9th for three weeks, which is very exciting and feels a little bit weird (check out some of Joels’ excellent photos on his Flickr stream here – Joe). If all goes to plan, we’ll be launching TRIPWIRE as an app at the end of February after our experiment with digital publishing this year.

FPI: Anyone you think is a name we should be watching out for next year?

JM: I think Sean Murphy will continue to be a name to watch in comics and Kody Chamberlain, whose Sweets made quite an impact at Image last year, will build on his strengths. With Jack Reacher on the big screen via Tom Cruise (slight groan), I think Lee Child will become more visible. Director Gareth Edwards (Monsters) will move up the Hollywood food chain as will Kill List’s Ben Wheatley. This continues to be the toughest question to answer here as there are a load of people worth watching who work in film, TV, genre, animation and comics.

(page from Sweet #1 by and (c) Kody Chamberlain, published Image Comics)

The Dept of Epic Awesomeness

A Best Of The Year list for 2011 is not complete without Craig Thompson’s magnum opus Habibi (Pantheon/Faber & Faber).  Not because it’s such a hefty tome (it is), not even because it’s a gripping story (it is not), but predominantly because it’s one of those books that don’t leave you when you read them.  You find yourself coming back to it, thumbing through the pages of delightful art and rereading passages that did not make sense at first, but that are now full of hidden meaning.  This is, in all sense of the words, a major work.

Rarely have I seen the horrors and absurdity of war depicted in such a harsh and hard-hitting manner than in Onward Towards our Noble Deaths (Drawn & Quarterly) by manga god Shigeru Mizuki.  It’s a loosely autobiographical tale of Mizuki’s involvement in the battle on one of the tiny islands in the Pacific during World War II.  The baffling lack of realism on the part of the commanding officers, the sheer disdain by everybody for conscripts (who were “worth less than horse” and the senselessness of these lives lost for no reason at all – it leaves you breathless.  Literally (and I mean, literally)

Life’s a Bitch Dept.

Life With Mr Dangerous (Villard) confirmed my eerie suspicion : Paul Hornschemeier is just so much better than Chris Ware in depicting the drudge of daily life, the misgivings and self-doubt of your average 21th Century human, and the impossibility of real relationships, and doing so in a style that is at once daring and experimental, and more than pleasing to the eye.  It’s not as good as his masterpiece, The Three Paradoxes, but it’s dangerously close.

One of the very few pamphlets I bought this year (and yes, I know that contributes to the total annihilation of the industry), is Optic Nerve 12 by the very slow Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly).  Every time I think I’m over him, he brings up this kind of work that is simply amazing.  The book is only 42 pages, and largely consists of a really deterministic tale on how delusions of grandeur are bound to fail, and one about what happens is you happen to look exactly like a porn star.  Tomine storytelling at its best.

Read Up On Your References dept.

2011 was also the year that witnessed the publication of  the complete edition of Brian Walker’s The Comics (Abrams) at the incredibly affordable price of $ 24.99.  This book gives an overview of the history and evolution of American newspaper comics from the Yellow Kid all the way to the Boondocks.  It’s littered with concise but comprehensive profiles of all the great creators, but the best part is the artwork, which is abundantly present and lavisly reproduced.  No library should go without it !

Another great book “about comics” is Art Spiegelman’s MetaMaus (Pantheon/Penguin), the extensive companion volume to his graphic novel, Maus.  In this book, Spiegelman presents the back story of the comic, how it came to be, what the hurdles were, the influences of the people around him, etc.  The real gem of this edition, however, is the bonus DVD containing the complete Maus, along with audio commentary, linked reference texts and preliminary versions of nearly every page.  A real gem.

Dept. of music to my ears

I wrote earlier about La Maison de Pain d’Epice (Dupuis) by the French cartoonist and musician Cleet Boris (see here – begging to be translated and published in English, publishers that is a hint), and there’s not really a lot to add to that.  I simply fell in love with this book – its format, the artwork, the honesty of the stories, the humor that accompanied really painful passages, and the large dose of healthy nostalgia that it exhudes.  And, let’s not forget, the fact that Boris is one of the few artists that can draw a believable guitar.

Not really about music, but closer to jazz than I have ever seen a comic go, is Daytripper (Vertigo), by the Brazilian wonder duo Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá.  The book reads like a series of variations on an age-old theme (“If I die tonight, what will my life have been ?”).  Moon and Bá take you on board for what can only be described as a series of every-evolving and accelerating sax solos, only to end in a climax that leaves you stunned and deeply moved at the same time.

Close To Home dept.

To round off, two books from my neck of the woods.  If Boerke In Hollywood, Pieter De Poortere‘s latest collection of strips about his anti-hero, Boerke (Oog En Blik / De Bezige Bij) doesn’t finally get him noticed across the pond, I don’t know what will.  The book contains 53 silent parodies on famous movies – sometimes hilarious, sometimes zany, quite often totally over the top, but never not funny.  And always meticulously drawn in De Poortere’s signature style, combining filth with picture book like innocence.

When I was a kid, my parents used to read Knack, a weekly news magazine that also contained a very strange strip, called Iamboree.  It basically features a number of ancient greeks discussing philosophical conundrums and mundane problems with the same profundity and relentless logic, always ending in totally absurd situations.  I was intrigued by these stories, most of which I didn’t quite understand.  To coincide with this year’s festival, Strip Turnhout asked venerable creator Gommaer Timmermans to make a selection of ten years worth of strips.  And to my great delight, they are still as great as ever.

FPI: Can you pick three comics/webcomics/graphic novels which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

Gary: 1) Tank Tankuro by Gajo Sakamoto from Press Pop I’m really enjoying the current wave of old comic strip reprints, including the gorgeous and rightly highly praised Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck books from Fantagraphics and the amazing Moomin comic strips from Drawn and Quarterly. Flying under the radar came the beautiful reprint of impossible to get hold of pre-war strips from Gajo Sakamoto. With a cover designed by Chris Ware, these very surreal, but still quite simplistic strips about a superhero machine-thing amble from one bizarre scenario to the next (Octopus cannonball attack!), as if written at breakneck speed by an excitable 8 year old. Just the sort of stories I love, in fact!

2) Pinocchio by Winshluss published by Knockabout I came across Winshluss’ work a few years ago when he was involved in the crazy concept of the multi-stylistic, era-spanning Monsieur Ferraille and the mind-boggling exhibition that went along with it in Angouleme. Pinocchio was being serialised in the French anthology magazine “Ferraille Illustre” and I was very excited when I found out Knockabout were bringing out a translated edition of the collection. Winshluss’ dark, surreal retelling of the story is beautifully loose and steeped in old-school cartooning aesthetics. Very inspiring.

3) Le Trop Grand Vide d’Alphonse Tabrouret by Sibylline, Capucine and Jerome d’Aviau from Etincelle I spotted this book mentioned on your blog last year (see here) and endeavoured to pick it up from my trip to Angouleme this January. it took me a while to track it down, but boy I’m glad I did. I confess, my French is weak at best, but the deceptively simple drawings are so packed with charm, emotion and character that I treasure this book more than most. Someone translate it into English please!

FPI: Can you pick three books which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

Gary: 1) I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (Walker Books)

Simplicity is the key when it comes to great storytelling and I don’t think I’ve ever read anything simpler that leaves you laughing so much at the blank expressions of the bear who wants to find his hat. It’s a perfectly told story that you will read in less than three minutes, yet be glad you spent £12 on.

2) A Bit Lost by Chris Haughton(Walker Books)

Not too dissimilar to I want My Hat Back, A Bit Lost is about a baby owl looking for his mum. It’ll break your heart and make you laugh, and again it’s a story told in less than 5 minutes. But the artwork is stunningly designed and the story so beautifully rolled out, it’s another book to treasure and show off to friends.

3) Stitch London by Lauren O’Farrell (David & Charles)

(Full disclosure – Lauren is my studiomate and my girlfriend. So sue me :P ) Lauren loves making quirky little knitted creatures, often for the cause of knitted graffiti (see her OTHER book Knit The City) and when offered the chance to create a whole book of knitting patterns she grabbed the opportunity with two hands and after months of hard graft, presented to the world a book full of her crazy creations, including Cooey the pigeon, Fleabag the fox, Toerag the tube mouse and even the Queen (and Big Ben!) for everyone to knit. Totally nutty.

FPI: Can you pick three TV shows and/or movies which you especially enjoyed over the last twelve months and tell us why you singled them out?

Gary: 1) Game of Thrones – I don’t watch much telly, but Game of Thrones had me totally glued and and counting down the minutes till the next episode. so many interweaving stories, so many complete bastards! loved it.

2) Thor – I loved Thor, I genuinely thought it was rollicking fun. Chris Hemsworth was a jovial version of the grim comicbook character and it was visually stunning. Everyone keeps telling me it was boring and Captain America was better, but we must have watched different films; Captain America was as flat as a pancake.

3) West Side Story (Remastered) – Watched this at the BFI over the summer and the remastered print was probably as bold and fresh as the day it was released. I totally forgot how sad the end was though. :,(

FPI: How did 2011 go for you as a creator? Are you happy with the way you got your work out this year?

Gary: Derek the Sheep finished his popular run in the Beano. But this gave me time to work on my new 70 page dinosaur book for Walker Children’s books. I dove headfirst into the project, to prove to myself, if nothing else, that I was still capable of producing good, funny stories for children. It’s quite a different approach to my usual comics and I reckon it will surprise a lot of people. You’ll have to wait till 2013 before it turns up though.

FPI: What can we look forward to from you in 2012?

Gary: I’m still writing and drawing comic strips for National Geographic Kids every month, so fingers crossed I’ll keep on doing that. I’m also writing and drawing a new strip for The Phoenix Comic, coming out in January, called Gary’s Garden. I’m having great fun working on this strip too and from what I’ve seen in issue 0, I reckon The Phoenix is going to make quite a splash. It’s also been fantastic to play a part in two brilliant anthologies this year; Nelson from Blank Slate and Jim Medway’s online Comical Animal. Two cracking projects that were desperate to show off to the world the amazing cartooning pedigree we have in this country and did so with aplomb!

(Panels from Gary’s Einstein strip for National Geographic)

FPI: Anyone you think is a name we should be watching out for next year?

Gary: I’m hoping Warwick Cadwell’s Gungle finally turns up next year from Blank Slate. That guy is a wizard with a pencil and the pages that have previewed so far are stunning. Also Will Morris, who is bringing out out a book from Blank Slate. Boy, can he draw too!

(some beautiful artwork from the forthcoming Blank Slate release The Silver Darlings by and (c) Will Morris)