oh yeah, a couple more things

[jfb]

I've been introducing people to Pokey the Penguin.

The gorilla, she always remembers.

Like dougo said: James Urbaniak, aka Doc Venture and the other guy from Henry Fool, is on LiveJournal. And he's funny!

I sold a bunch of comics for $10 in store credit. What should I get? (I can go over budget, IF I MUST.) I haven't bought any comics since Persepolis.

Comments

[tuliphead.livejournal.com]

if you haven't read it, i'm currently enjoying Grant Morrison's "Invisibles" series...

[jfb.livejournal.com]

I read the first TPB, IIRC. I was a fan of Morrison's Doom Patrol but lost interest at some point. Thanks, though.

[bushmiller.livejournal.com]

Yuck, I don't recommend you get get the Invisibles. It starts off well and deteriorates into total pretentious shit. I'm still angry about how that turned out.

Anyway, that's about as far away from Persepolis as you can get. If you'd like to continue with the originally-printed-in-French memoir style book, David B.'s Epileptic is quite good.

I haven't been buying that many comics lately, but I'm probably going to go pick up a manga called Planetes today, which was recommended to me as being one of the best hard SF manga published recently. Sounded intriguing.

I know you've read and enjoyed Understanding Comics, which is always the first book I suggest to people who are looking to buy a comic. The second -- and similarly powerful to me, but in a very different way -- is Dylan Horrocks' Hicksville. It's a fiction, but one which seeks to map out the world of comics. Funny and moving and weird.

Other suggestions of the top of my head: Howard Cruse's fictionalized memoir of coming out amidst Civil Rights struggles, Stuck Rubber Baby; John Porcellino's wonderful and sparse memoir of depression, Husker Du, and being a Midwestern teenager in the '80s, Perfect Example, was just reprinted; Jason Lutes' Berlin: City of Stones came out a few years ago, collecting the first chunk of his ongoing series about Berlin and its fall into National Socialism.

Dunno if you've already read any of these, but they were all notable to me!

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Hicksville looks interesting--thanks!

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

I also do not recommend Invisibles -- as much as I overall love the Morrison, it's a good example of how he slips into total pretentious/shock value mode. (At least, unlike Ennis, he's got a mode beside trying to constantly shock you.)

My recommendation? Flight. I can't endorse it strongly, since I haven't read it, but I've been hearing terribly good things, and I met several authors recently.

The Venture Brothers is a funny, funny show. I need to see some movies besides Henry Fool.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll look for that one too.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

I enjoy Finder, but it's a little rough sometimes. (As in, not quite as good as it could be.)

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Hm, intriguing. I've been trying not to accumulate stuff, but you know, somewhat to my surprise, I do miss comics.

[bushmiller.livejournal.com]

I thought Finder was kinda interesting, but suffered from being the kind of soft sci-fi where aliens dress like they're at a RenFaire, a Furry convention, or both.