My Comic Collection

Personally I blame Jan. She's the one who started it. Told me that I'd really like Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, and I ought to get hold of a copy.

So I did. Tracked down "Death, the High Cost of Living". Read it. Loved it. Wanted more. Over the next months, as my budget allowed, my student grant went on acquiring the rest of the Sandman series in trade paperback collections. And then the next Death mini-series.

That wasn't too bad... it was controllable. Until I met Steve. And he introduced me to Katchoo, David, Francine and the world of Strangers In Paradise. Ooops. More comics. That I liked. And more books to collect. (Up to volume 9 now, and anxiously awaiting the next collection. I've even started to buy a few individual issues. This is getting scary.

And then the really really frightening thing happened - I discovered that here in Nottingham is the most wonderful comic store - Page 45. With an expert staff, who have gotten to know me, know what I like reading, and are just chock-full of recommendations that challenge my mind, stretch my imagination, and max out my credit cards.

So here, if anyone's interested, are the comics I own and adore. This list is subject to keep growing exponentially each month.

• Sandman ( Neil Gaiman) - the first, and best.
• Strangers in Paradise (Terry Moore) - even my partner likes this, and she's not 'into' comics. The love, lives, and past-catching-up-with three very different people. Just.. read it.
• Dykes to Watch Out For (Alison Bechdel) - possibly the first 'adult' comic I got into. Very funny and wry look at lesbian life.
• The Tale of One Bad Rat (Bryan Talbot) - a clearly told story of one girl's journey to come to terms with who she is and her past. Highly recommended as an introduction to comic reading.
• Heart of Empire (Bryan Talbot) - by the same author as One Bad Rat, but a very different style. Gorgeous colours and a decadent "parallel" world, where Brittania still does rule the waves. Somewhat warped and gory, but intriguing none the less.
• Box Office Poison (Alex Robinson) - "slice of life" type stories, following a group of friends through life and love and growing up.
• Breakfast After Noon (Andi Watson) - Another "real life" tale, dealing with unemployment and its impact on relationships. Touching and sweet.
• Strangehaven (Gary Spencer Millidge) - Bizarre goings on in a rural English village. Large cast of characters and a woman who appears to be in a fish tank. Strange doesn't quite cover it,
• Lost Girl (Nabiel Kanan) - a "one off" comic book, with incredible art work, giving a real feeling of 'space' to a story about an adolescent girl's transformative summer holiday.
• Clan Apis (Jay Hosler) - another "one off", this one telling you everything you wanted to learn about bees, and more, in the context of a surprisingly moving story.
• Maus I and II (Art Spiegelman) - the classics of comic book writing. The holocaust, with Jewish mice fleeing from Nazi cats, as told by a father to his grown son. Deeply, deeply touching.
• The Inhumans (Paul Jenkins/Jae Lee) - the closest I've gotten to classic "superhero" type comics. However, this is much more about personality, destiny, relationships and strategy than anything else. Glorious artwork too.
• Promethea (Alan Moore) - OK, the second closest to superheros. Or, in this case, a superheroine. However, the 'super' bit actually lives in the land of imagination and fantasy... thought provoking indeed.
• Moonshadow (John Marc DeMatteis) - Quirky, fun, dreamy light colour artwork accompanies a quirky, dreamy story of an unusual boy's unusual journey to adulthood.
• Pedro and Me (Judd Winick) - put a comic book writer into MTV's Real World series, and let him share a room with an AIDS activist. This book is the result. Intimate, wise, and well worth a read.
• More Alan Moore recently: Top Ten about policing a city where absolutely everyone has super powers, and Watchmen which I can't describe in one sentence, but enough to say that I wouldn't really be in to superhero stuff, but this is wonderful reading.
• Cuckoo by Madison Clell. (Visit the website here). A gritty, raw, grainy autobiographical account of living with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Manages to be funny and poignant and painful all at once.
• On a similar subject, Daddy's Girl by Debbie Drechsler deals with growing up as an abuse survivor. Uncompromising, and sometimes upsetting.
• Mail Order Bride by Mark Kalesniko. A comic and toy store owning geek's dreams of a submissive oriental wife don't quite work out in real life. Lots of good stuff about relationships and identity and discovering who we are in this one.
• Daniel Clowes's Ghost World manages to be almost completely different from, and yet identical in mood and theme to the movie which it spawned. Not suprising seeing as he wrote the movie too. If you've seen that, and liked it, do read this. And if you haven't seen it, go do so, and read this anyway. Adolescents looking for a place to fit in. Moody blue-toned art work just adds to the style.