Mcfly's Christmas Giftorium Part 2: Comics!

Hey all you wacky wacky folks out there. Hope everyone is doing well, finals week and all. And if you don't take finals, be grateful. I just finished writing a new short story, which was written in a creative haze and finished in the same way; it's always a nice feeling to write, it's an even better feeling to finish that piece of writing. Sure, I should've been doing homework, but I wrote instead, so sue me.

Anywho, I hope you all enjoyed my last entry about books, this entry is going to cover some really great comics I've read and hopefully you guys will look into.

1: Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli: I spoke about this earlier in the year, when I read it in August and I still feel the same way. This is a great read. Comics, I've noticed, can work in one of two ways: either the words tell the story, or the art tells the story. In most cases, one takes the lead, with the other supplementing it, helping the story along; I'd never discount words or art in a comics medium. But in Asterios Polyp, Mazzucchelli manages to have the words tell a story, while the art tells another story, which when combined tell a whole, complete, and natural story together. It's a brilliant search for a man's meaning in life, and Mazzucchelli isn't afraid to show you the love, brilliance, heartache and irony we all go through to get the job done.

2: 100 Bullets by Brian Azzerello and Eduardo Risso: Now this is a big one guys, a HUGE undertaking. If you are a crime/mystery/noir fiend such as that I am becoming, this is going to be one for you. 100 issues of murder, mayhem, backstabbing, double crossing, a mysterious word, an even more mysterious council and ultimately the battle they are embroiled in with their former soldiers. This one has it all. Azzerllo and Risso take everything you love about crime fiction and the comics medium and they do it right. Damn right.

3: Locke and Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez: For all you horror fans out there, I present to you Joe Hill, a fairly new writer on the scene,making his big debut only a few years ago. His thing is horror and man oh man does he do it well. I just finished reading his first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, which was great, also highly recommended. But for the comic buffs, I suggest Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, which is the first volume of the series. The son of Stephen King, Hill mixes in tension, murder, guilt, supernatural forces and a set of mystical keys, that open many doors and do many things, of which we've only seen the tip of the iceberg. With him is Rodriguez who renders this tension perfectly in his pencils and inks. This is not a series to be missed.

4: Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba: Part Grant Morrison zaniness, part Gaiman thoughtfulness and all Gerard Way's ingenuity, this is a great, great book. Fear not, Way writes with a knack and a skill that makes you assume he's been doing this all his life. Likewise, Ba interprets this story with colorful characters and a cartoony surrealism that only draws you further into the seriousness of the story. But don't worry out, for as serious as it can get, The Umbrella Academy, a story of six adopted super-powered children all grown up, is a wild, insanely exciting trip through the wonders that comics are capable of.

And that's that. Hope you guys enjoy, and I'll be back soon with something else or a rant or two. Also, Jamie just got back from Dreidel Drinking. Happy Chanukah all my Jewish friends!