Over the past few years, I've re-immersed myself in the comics artform after spending most of the years from 1985-1996 reading very few titles. The title I looked forward to most, in fact, was The Comics Journal. I found it was more interesting to read about comics than actually read them.
It was the Heroes Return event at Marvel a few years back that really brought me back to comics full-time. Mark Waid and Ron Garney, Kurt Busiek and George Perez and Busiek and Sean Chen did some terrifically entertaining comics, and other good things soon happened, such as the Kevin Smith Daredevil run. It was a great time to be reading comics. Since starting Comic Book Galaxy, I've found myself reading more comics than ever, some out of nothing more than a sense of obligation, to be sure I have some idea what people are talking about.
The overriding impact on me has been an intolerance of crap (and most mainstream comics are crap, some just more entertaining than others -- but remember, most of anything is crap), and a greater appreciation for the really good stuff out there.
The problem is, even if you're invested as a reader in a popular title with a generally acknowledged superior creative team, the companies more often than not find a way to screw it up. Who would have dreamed a year ago that The Authority would be so spectacularly fucked up? About the only thing predictable about the entire debacle would be that, ultimately, DC would be to blame. A company that goes out of its way to piss off Alan Moore definitely wants to shoot itself in the foot, and preferably as painfully as possible. Job well done, guys!
Here are my thoughts on the only ongoing comics titles that I would actually continue to pay cash for whether I wrote about comics or not.
The Authority
I've written extensively about how DC dropped the ball here. I'm cautiously optimistic about the upcoming fill-in arc by Peyer and Nguyen, and also the finishing off of the Mark Millar run with Art Adams, but the disastrous hiatus the book has been put on, combined with the cheerfully unreadable Monarchy spin-off, prove that the editorial powers-that-be in charge of this franchise have no idea what they're doing, and little motivation to get it right.
The Avengers
Kurt Busiek may be spreading himself a little thin these days, I'm not sure. But the Alan Davis-drawn issues of recent months, while above-average compared to most mainstream comics, haven't been as compelling as I had hoped for. Additionally, the departure of Davis, brief run by Rick Leonardi, and then a takeover on art by the unknown Manual Garcia, speak to me of a title that may slowly be spinning out of control.
I hope I'm wrong, I really do. Avengers was my favourite comic as a kid, and remains at the top of my short list of favourite mainstream titles. I am hoping Chris Allen is right, and that things will settle into their previous rut of high quality soon. But to be frank, hiring an unknown artist to fill the shoes of Perez and Davis makes me more than a little concerned. Nonetheless, Busiek and Brevoort deserve great applause for keeping this title excellent long after Captain America and Iron Man sank to varying levels of unreadability.
Black Hole
We don't often get new issues of Charles Burns's masterpiece from Fantagraphics, but when we do get them, Black Hole again and again proves itself one of the most dramatic and compelling comic books ever created. If you haven't checked out this extended examination of teenage disenfranchisement and despair, you are really cheating yourself.
Daredevil
Marvel Knights as an editorial office turned out a lot of crap--Marvel Knights the comic book, The Punisher as an angel, and Jesus, the new Ghost Rider looks just awful. But for all its scheduling difficulties (now solved, thankfully), Daredevil is still Marvel's best single-character book. The current Bendis/Mack run is terrifically moody and experimental, but I am dreading the upcoming Bob Gale-written arc. It will be drawn by Phil Winslade, who can do a passable Brent Anderson impression when semi-restrained (Ant-Man's Big Christmas), but who drew some spectacularly bad panels and pages on the more recent Spider-Man/Daredevil mini-series.
Defenders
I love the old-Marvel feel of this title, and I think Busiek and Larsen make a fabulous creative team. Marvel will have me for a customer as long as the two of them are doing a book together.
Eightball
Like Black Hole, we don't get new issues very often, but Dan Clowes is one of the finest cartoonists who has ever lived. Pick up the Ghost World or David Boring graphic novels if you don't believe me. The man has the goods, period.
JLA
Hitch and Neary are gone after #55, Waid after #60. Whoever is taking over after that has exactly one issue to convince me to stick around. Another title DC should be ashamed of itself for allowing to disintegrate.
Love and Rockets
There aren't many comics for grown-ups. Well, maybe there are, and I'm not reading them. Could happen, I suppose. This one speaks to me as a fully-functional adult, though. Emotion, conflict, sex, laughs -- Love and Rockets is just terrific.
Myth of 8-Opus
Thomas Scioli crafts a wonderfully Kirbyesque tale that serves as an obvious metaphor for the shameful treatment Jack Kirby received (and continues to receive -- where's his credit in Ultimate X-Men?) from Marvel. Scioli's self-published work is one of the most delightful and important titles that you're most likely not reading.
Orion
Walter Simonson is one of the five best superhero artists ever to draw comics. You are lucky to be alive at a time when he is delivering a new issue every month. Orion and the New Gods have never been this compelling or this entertaining, even when Kirby was doing them. If you're not reading Orion, you're cheating yourself. If you've sampled it and don't like it, I have no use for you. Go away.
Planetary
I recently re-read the entire series to date in one sitting. It's scary how focused Ellis is on his storytelling here, and it's amazing how much John Cassaday has grown as an artist. The series is available in hardcover and trade paperback collections, so you have no excuse. Buy. Immerse. Thank me.
Powers
Everybody says they love Bendis, and this book is all the reason you need as to why. His Fortune and Glory really is the gold standard as far as his masterpiece, but Bendis and Mike Oeming and Pat Garrahy have re-defined what it is to be doing cool comics in the 21st century. If you haven't sampled it, look for the standalone #7 at your local comics shop. Warren Ellis is a guest-character, in one of the best comics ever.
Promethea
Like some other famous comics folk, such as Barry Windsor-Smith and Grant Morrison, Alan Moore has discovered that there is more to the fabric of reality than most people ever really bother to find out about. Moore's ongoing self-education into magick and reality is shared with us in each issue of Promethea. It is astoundingly good, and vital work. It takes a real committment to even begin to understand what he's on about, but it's a lot more important and relevant than whether the Hulk can beat Thor.
Savage Dragon
I once engaged in an ad hominum Usenet attack (and really, is there any other kind on Usenet?) on Erik Larsen, having never read this title, simply because it was an Image book. Kurt Busiek yelled at me. Kurt Busiek told me it was great fun, and a terrific superhero comic. Kurt Busiek was right. God bless Kurt Busiek.
Sock Monkey
Tony Millionaire is a genius. His comics, Sock Monkey and Maakies are like alternate universe versions of each other, each twisted, each fevered, each amazingly good. If you aren't reading them, frankly, I have little use for you. We've got your hit registered on the software, go away now.
Tom Strong
It's hip, it's retro, it's got gorgeous frigging artwork by Chris Sprouse. Alan Moore's intellectual sequel to Supreme, a better book than Rob Liefeld ever deserved to have associated with his name. Now you can have all the fun and none of the guilt. I don't get to say this as often as I'd like, but just to throw it in: Rob Liefeld sucks. He sucks the life out of everything he touches. He auctions off other people's art to attract attention to himself. "Hey, world, I'm here! Rob Liefeld! Important comics guy here! Yeah, over here!" Fuck Rob Liefeld.
Transmetropolitan
Planetary is Ellis's best book, but Transmet is good too. Spider Jerusalem is Warren Ellis's Hunter S. Thompson pastiche set in the future. For non-Thompson readers, a fun and occasionally thought-provoking comic. For Thompson fans, a delight.
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up
Ultimate Spider-Man
Ultimate X-Men
None of these titles is going to save the world. They're quick, light reads in the same way People magazine is. They reinterpret the old stories in a thoroughly modern and entertaining way, and are usually the first thing I read when I get a new stack of books. The Ultimate titles are all light years beyond the titles that inspired them, but the ongoing shame for Marvel is that they don't just cancel the worn-out original titles and fully commit to these. They are spectacularly well-done, a delight for new readers and old pricks like me, too.
There are other titles I read, because I get them as part of my Comic Book Galaxy duties. Some of them I even enjoy to one degree or another. There are also creators, like James Kochalka or Barry Windsor-Smith, that I will buy forever, no matter the project, but who have no regular comics work going on at the moment. This list simply represents the only ongoing titles that I would be buying, Comic Book Galaxy or no. Some of them, like The Authority and The Avengers, seem to me to be at a crossroads in their ongoing existences. Some, like Black Hole and Love and Rockets, don't suffer the same editorial considerations and are more likely to still be on my pull list one, five, and ten years from now, if they still exist in some permutation.
I am growing weary of superhero comics, but some still have the power to move me. If your favourite title is not on this list, it's because it's either somehow escaped my attention, or it has failed in some way to permanently win me over. Favour the latter. There's plenty of great books on this list, though, and if you aren't reading any of them, you should have a look. Because chances are, you're spending money each month on at least one title that doesn't absolutely knock your socks off. And that's just unacceptable.