Kickstarter and 10 Best Comics

by on August 20, 2011 at 6:35 am

So, Kickstarter approved our project for the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath graphic novel! The actual Kickstarter page isn’t up yet, but we’re working on it and now working on the next steps for the book publication. Please check back soon for more information!

On other names, The Hooded Utilitarian posted my contribution to a poll of the 10 ‘best’ comics in the opinion of various comic folk. Looking back on the list, I have to admit that I was rushed and I feel bad for picking obvious ones like Tintin, Pogo and Peanuts (but I do like them!). They’re such safe answers. It reminds me of the time a friend asked me what one comic I would take with me to a deserted island and I answered “Doonesbury.” As he looked at me with a disgusted gaze, I explained that it was the longest comic I could think of that counted as a single story under the question and was of relatively decent quality.

Here’s my original list in no particular order:

* Achewood, Chris Onstad
* Beirusayu no Bara [The Rose of Versailles], Riyoko Ikeda
* Cerebus, Dave Sim & Gerhard
* The Doom Patrol Stories, Grant Morrison & Richard Case, with Scott Hanna, et al.
* Jojo no Kimyô na Bôken [Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure], Hirohiko Araki
* Meanwhile, Jason Shiga
* The New Yorker Cartoons, Roz Chast
* Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz
* Pogo, Walt Kelly
* Tintin, Hergé

If I could add 10 more comics, these would probably be the next four… they’re all wonderful ones that I somehow failed to list…

* Donald Duck & Uncle Scrooge, Carl Barks
* The Cartoon History of the Universe, Larry Gonick
* Maison Ikkoku, Rumiko Takahashi
* American Born Chinese, Gene Yang

And now things get fuzzy again… like the feeling that there are webcomics and recent works I’m forgetting…

* Palestine, Joe Sacco
* One Piece, Eiichiro Oda
* Antique Bakery, Fumi Yoshinaga (but its ending is weak… I’m not sure which is her best work…)
* Scott Pilgrim, Bryan Lee O’Malley
* The Drifting Classroom, Kazuo Umezu (I have a problem here. I want to include Umezu because he’s such an insane outsider artist with a powerful work ethic. But I’m not sure which of his stories to list… I would’ve listed Fourteen but, after reading it, I’ve discovered it’s actually too demented to actually be enjoyable, it goes past the border of lunacy and over the edge into childlike babbling. But he’s still great…)
* Black Jack, Osamu Tezuka (although this feels like an obligatory “I have to include something by Tezuka”…)
* Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud (though I feel weird including it)
* Li’l Abner, Al Capp (…or should I include Little Orphan Annie? Or Little Nemo in Slumberland? Or Popeye/Thimble Theatre… but I have to admit, I spent the most time in my childhood reading Li’l Abner. I think he introduced me to the concept of fanservice, and also of comic artists who become grouchy right-wingers as they get older. But it’s hard to honestly nominate Li’l Abner due to his slavemaster-like use of assistant labor.)

Then the list peters out again into conflicting impulses. There’s lots of really good comic artists I haven’t mentioned… Ariel Schrag… Gabrielle Bell… Felipe Smith… Shaenon Garrity… Chester Brown… I should probably even get Neil Gaiman in there….