Mr. Geek Girl What Rules actually suggested I do a column on what to buy Geeks for Christmas/Yule/Chanukah/Eid-ul-Adha, but I’m guessing most of you have that covered by now. If not, well, it’ll be late, but there’s always ThinkGeek.com, an online store at which I spend FAR too much money. Particularly when I worked just down the business park from the teeny storefront they used to have in Redmond. Also, ChessEx has a website, for all your dorky dice needs. You have no idea how tempted I am to make personalized “Geek Girls Rule!” dice to hand out to people in lieu of business cards.
Anyway, instead of doing a big rundown on shopping that you should all have gotten done, oh, days ago, I thought I’d talk about comics I really, truly enjoy. The ones I’ve been able to catch up on, anyway. Most of my X-men comics are languishing in a stack right now because I haven’t had the time to sit down and catch up. SOON! I swear. Some of these I may have talked about before.
Gloomcookie. Seriously, if you take out the supernatural stuff, this comic reads like hanging out in Goth clubs. You always have the Queen of the Scene (Isabella). The cute, younger girl who lusts after bad-for-her boys (Alex), the dork who doesn’t realize he’s a complete tool (Vermillion). Add to this spot on skewering of Goth culture all the supernatural stuff (which I love) and it’s a win. A big win. Seriously, it hasn’t jumped the shark for me yet and I’ve been reading and collecting it since the beginning. It’s a little bit “Something Wicked This Way Comes” and a little bit tragic love story, and a lot entertaining.
PS 238. Put out by Nodwick Press, it is the story of a top secret school for superhero kids. Some of them have normal parents who just don’t know what to do with them. Some of them have superhero parents. Some are supernatural in origin. There’s at least one alien. Most of the popular superheroes are satirized in this comic. The writing is good. I enjoy the meta-plot. The female characters are clothed and have different body types. I like the art. I love this comic, AND I’d feel perfectly fine giving it to an 8 year old to read as well.
Ultimate X-men. I did not want to like Ultimate X-men. I really didn’t. I have a galloping allergy to anything with “ultimate” or “extreme” in the title, name, brand, whatever. But they had the issue with Ultimate Nightcrawler on the cover, so I picked it up for that, and then I started reading it. And then I was hooked. I’m desperately behind on the story arcs right now, because this is one of the comics in the big pile of stuff I haven’t gotten to, but I’m really itching to get back into it. I’ve liked the charaterizations so far as I’ve read, and didn’t even get annoyed at the “Nightcrawler as creepy stalker guy” storyline, because it fit with the rest of his character in that continuum. I wasn’t thrilled with the art in the last few issues I did read, but the writing is worth putting up with it.
Dr. Blink: Superhero Shrink. This comic makes me laugh so much. The premise is that Dr. Blink is the therapist for all of a city’s superheroes, and has to deal with rage issues, abuse issues, feelings of abandonment from former sidekicks. There’s a support group for the former sidekicks of one of the superheroes, as he replaces them when they get too old. There’s also some neat interpersonal stuff between Dr. Blink and his daughter. For another take on the psychiatrist to superheroes thing, go to Escape Pod and search for the story “The Death Trap of Dr. Nefario.”
Questionable Content. This, unlike the others, is a webcomic. Now, I go through phases with webcomics. I’ll read a lot of them, then I drift away and don’t read any for awhile, then the Mister will suggest one or more and I’m back. I really, really like this one. It’s about a bunch of Hipster music nerds, and follows their adventures in dating, friendship and dealing with anthropomorphic PC’s and Mac computers that can get up and walk around. Unlike other webcomics I’ve read, I have found myself getting REALLY attached to a couple of the characters. The Mister finds it highly entertaining that frequently after reading a strip I’ll sigh, and say, “Gee, I really want X and Y to hook up.” Maybe because I worked in a music club for so long I know people just like them, but I really enjoy the depth of the characters.
Runaways. I love this comic. Again, I’m desperately behind (damn you, summer of surgeries), but I have them and I’m just waiting for a spare hour or two to organize comics and sit down and read them all. Maybe New Year’s Day. The children of a group of supervillians decide to become heroes. They run away and live as a team. I really enjoy this comic for it’s dialogue. The art’s good, and the storylines are engaging. I really like the characters, a lot. This comic is proof that you don’t need TEH BEWBIES to sell comics.
I’m sure you’ve all noticed that my list is mostly Marvel and Indies. Yup. I’ve enjoyed a few DC things I’ve picked up. I’m liking the Sandman graphic novels, and I really like Lobo and some of the Batman arcs, but I don’t collect DC on a regular basis. Maybe I’ll give Birds of Prey a shot. Any other DC recommendations?
Geek Girls Rule!!! 
DC Recommendations? I’m definitely the one to talk to on that note, since I’m a huge DC fan.
Fables is one of my favorites. If you’ve ever read Sandman, it’s in the same vein. Just imagine fairy-tale characters exiled to the real world and learning to survive. Jack of Fables is another one I highly recommend as well (from the same writer of Fables – Mark Buckingham). Both of these are available in trade, and should be pretty easy to find.
Birds of Prey is REALLY good. Gail Simone finished her run up a couple of months ago, and Sean McKeever (who wrote Runaways, oddly enough) is the new writer of Birds of Prey as of this issue. He’s also the new writer on Teen Titans, and has a couple of issues under his belt.
Also, for some cool political intrigue stuff I highly recommend Checkmate – it might be a problem though if you don’t know anything about the DCU other than Batman. It does a good job of explaining most of the stuff, however.
The problem with most of DC’s books is they’re a little tough to get into. Most of the last couple of years they’ve been heavy into building a shared universe, and tend to shut out a lot of new readers as a result.
I would say the books I mentioned above are probably your best bets. I tend to stick with Vertigo when recommending DC books to new readers. Just much easier that way.
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I’ve read Fables, and I’m contemplating collecting them as graphic novels. I like the concept a lot.
I’m also considering Wonder Woman now that Simone’s on it, regardless of all the retarded fan-boy wanking that that comic seems to generate just by existing. Yes, I know it’s not the comic’s fault. Not entirely anyway. Maybe I’ll start picking it up.
I’m ambivalent about Birds of Prey. It seems that the fanbase spends about equal times ecstatic and pissed off. Again, we’ll see.
Ignore the fanboy wanking. Just read what you want. That’s all that matters.
There’s reasons I don’t comment on stuff like that – not worth it, and it only serves to fuel the fire even further. I miss the days when people didn’t get pissed off at every little thing involving comics.
And Simone’s Wonder Woman is pretty good, and it’s only two issues in. It’s so much better than it has been since the relaunch.
It is kind of nice to have, you know, a WOMAN writing Wonder WOMAN.
I’m a comic n00b. I just subscribed to my first-ever series, the Doctor Who one published by IDW. (of *course*!)