My Favorite Comics

It's a quick list since I'm not a crazy comic person.

Let me begin by saying I was an avid Archie Comics reader as a kid. I got started during the time I lived in a group home.

Some person had donated Archie comics and Nancy Drew books by the truck-full. One other kid was as avid a reader as I was. Her name was Leslie and she had very straight, sun streaked blonde hair. She and I were both kids that preferred to be by ourselves and the rows of books were just our thing.

When I entered my teens I was introduced to Sandman comics by Cardin, another group home kid. He was an auburn haired  boy with a sullen mouth and a dark sense of humor. I thought he was beautiful. But I also appreciated his friendship. 

 

I remember we both wrote poetry and could often find common ground in discussions on music.

When my mother found out I had stacks of Sandman comics that I had bought from him, she made me give them to her so she could burn them. She said they were Satanic . Lord, I still wish I had those comics now. They would be worth some money!

An offshoot from this series is a series on Sandman's sister called "Death". I recently purchased the first two volumes (haven't read them since I was- what fourteen!) and I fell in love all over again. Funny, how a series on Death makes you feel grateful to be alive. Really fantastic series.

When I was in my twenties, I was introduced to Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. Created by Jhonen Vasquez, who would later go on to create the critically acclaimed children's (believe it or not!) series Invader Zim.

During the JTHM period, he also created the characters Squee (with a whole second series just with Squee), Filler Bunny (Slave Labor Graphics still puts out a few solo Filler Bunny comics from time to time), and Wobbly-Headed Bob. Dark, delightful, sadistic, as well as awfully cute (huh?!?) Only Vasquez can pull it off, but he does it well.

Too bad Invader Zim has pretty much put a stop to these comics. Don't want the kiddies getting any ideas, now do we?

Next on the list is a fantastic series called Love and Rockets. Punk rock chicanas from a fictional L.A. suburb called Hoppers. Written by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, brothers from Oxnard, California, it includes the Hoppers 13 (Loca) stories and El Palomar (series taking place in Mexico), plus numerous offshoots from these two.                                                                                                                                               
A short excerpt from wikipedia "Hoppers 13 follows the tangled lives of a group of primarily chicano characters, from their teenage years in the early days of the California punk scene to the present day. (Hoppers, or Huerta, is a fictional city based on the Hernandezes' home town of Oxnard, California.) Two memorable members of Jaime's cast are Margarita Luisa "Maggie" Chascarrillo and Esperanza "Hopey" Leticia Glass, whose on-again, off-again romance is a focus for many Hoppers 13 storylines. The series is also often called Locas (Spanish for "crazy women") because of the many quirky female characters depicted.

One aspect of the Love and Rockets opus is the way Los Bros Hernandez portray the passage of time in a relatively realistic manner despite the traditional constraints of the medium. For example, Maggie's character debuted as a slight yet curvy young adult Pro-solar mechanic living in a world both distinctly chicano and punk with a sci-fi twist. As Jaime developed her character in more detail, she started to gain weight slowly. Over the years, Maggie and the other characters have evolved, growing more layered and complex as their stories develop. The present Maggie is now the manager of an apartment complex with bleached blonde hair and a penchant for wearing sexy bathing suits on her rubenesque figure. Jaime has also made extensive use of flashbacks, with Maggie and the others presented at different ages from toddlers through teenagers and young adults to thirtysomethings. The first issue of volume two of Love and Rockets featured a cover with a range of different Maggie ages/looks."

The final series is an adorable little dead girl called Lenore.

Inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe poem, Roman Dirge has created the ultimate and cute/sadistic adventures with the dead girl in this series. My favorite is the comic where the squirrel head mounted on her wall comes to life and cries because he has no legs. Lenore breaks her barbie in half and sticks the Barbie legs on the squirrel, who then runs off to his squirrel friends (on Barbie legs).

Also fairly epic are the inserts called "Things Involving Me".

Finally, because the last two blogs have been all gothic and sh*t, let's go out on a lighter note- MAKING FUN OF GOTHS! WooHoo!