Every first Saturday in May is Free Comic Book Day (FCBD), an initiative supported by comic specialty stores and bookstores across the world. On this particular day, participating outlets would give out FCBD comics – comics which have been specially published for the event – to readers. It’s an interesting way to celebrate this medium, giving independent comic publishers a chance to reach out to their fans and introduce new books to them.
A book to be savoured and treasured.
Looking at the FCBD Comics list this year makes me realize how far comics as a medium has evolved and grown, especially in the last decade or so. Although popular thinking is that comics are predominantly super-heroes and slam-bang action, I beg to differ. Comics and graphic novels from Watchmen (Alan Moore) to Sandman (Neil Gaiman), from A Contract with God (Will Eisner) to Sin City (Frank Miller) tell us to dig deeper and expect more than the usual masked suspects.

A charming and happy read
to brighten up your day.
Having been around comics, or rather been surrounded by them for quite a number of years, you’ll probably expect that I’d be immune to the deluge of comic books flooding the book stores. But I haven’t. I’m still so much in love with the comic book, despite the lousy story arcs, horrible artwork, run of the mill storytelling and publishing houses cashing in on their cows. That’s because there are still books out there worth waiting for.

Take David Mazzuchelli for example. After illustrating Batman Year One, arguably one of the best superhero origin books ever written, he soon dropped out of illustrating traditional superhero comics. But his return in 2009, with the Eisner and Harvey awarded Asterios Polyp, a dazzling engrossing and profound graphic tale of self discovery is truly worth the wait. Not only is it a dark-comedic journey of the title character’s life, Mazzuchelli explores comic storytelling technique with a performance worthy of a standing ovation. Another great comic that truly embodies the great comic storytelling is the slice-of-life manga, Yotsuba&! (read as Yotsubato). The daily going-ons of the five-year-old Yotsuba shows us the world from the eyes of a babe, often innocent, misunderstood and charmingly funny. It puts a smile on my face every time I read it.
What happens to a castle when the princess
wakes up and rides into the sun?
Adventure, history and
great action in one.
If you’re into fairy tale retellings, Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting is the comic to get. The plot centres on a castle, and its charming inhabitants, led by Rackham, a stork who is a dandy as well. Anthropomorphism is a popular device in comics, Usagi Yojimbo being my favourite. Set in 16th and 17th century Japan, Miyamoto Usagi is a wandering samurai rabbit, who gets into various adventures and fights (of course!). Another great read with similar elements is Mouse Guard by David Petersen. Set in a parallel medieval era, it revolves around the adventures of the Mouse Guard, a brotherhood of sentient mice.

Harry Potter or Christopher Milne?
For comic fans who enjoy a bit of nostalgia like I do, Savage Sword of Conan, which reprints the now-discontinued magazines and Modesty Blaise collections, the latest being Live Bait, are just what you need.

Fantastical to say the least, would describe The Unwritten, the brainchild of Mike Carey (with art by Peter Gross). Inspired by Christopher Milne’s autobiography, in which he talks about how he felt robbed of his life because his father had used him in his Winnie-The-Pooh stories. In the comic, Tom Taylor is in the same situation with Milne, having been the fictional hero of his father’s books. The Tommy Taylor books are supposedly written in the same vein as those of a certain young hero with a scar on the forehead, but Carey claims otherwise. Still, I enjoy the literary references that keep popping up.
Grotesque to the point you want to turn away,
but can't as it's such a good read!
Although I avoid horror in any medium, The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service (黒鷺死体宅配便) is too superb a read to forgo. A brilliant yet grotesque amalgamation of horror and humour, it follows the escapades of five fresh graduates who form a company that specializes in delivering corpses. Often enough, their clients are the corpses themselves!
Not to neglect ‘traditional’ SF, especially for those who grew up watching Astro Boy - loosely based on Tezuka’s manga is Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto (プルートウ). It offers a revisit to this world, from a darker, more realistic point of view, as the lead character investigates a series of murders in which the victims are both humans and robots. Asimov fans may want to give it a try. 


A manga that influences the wine market!

Know how comics work?
I have a soft spot for food related manga, and enjoy many a good manga that’s translated into Chinese. So, for the lamentable lack of English translations – I take comfort in Oishinbo and The Drops of God. The super long-running Oishinbo 美味しんぼ(currently at 107 volumes in Japanese) is only presented in English, in a mere 7 volumes, as the publisher opted to do themed compilations from the series. This somewhat leaves completists with an urge to learn Japanese, in order to be able to enjoy the manga in its entirety. Thankfully, the critically acclaimed Drops of God 神の雫, has not gotten the same treatment so far, and fans can enjoy the whole story in full glory for the time being, with superb translations to boot.

Read about their origins from
the superheroes' own point of view.
Sitting on my desk right now is a quirky (to me!), interesting book entitled Avengers Assemble: An Oral History of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Written in the form of a long interview or conversation between members of the Avengers, Michael Brian Bendis proves again that he can do no wrong. And, for those who are keen to read more prose on comics, these two books are great additions on your to-read list: Reading Comics by Douglas Wolk and Dreamland Japan by Frederik L. Schodt.


John, Paul, George and Stuart?
Don’t despair if you’ve already read them all (hats-off to you for a job well-done!) as May is such a wonderful month for comic and graphic novel releases. I’m truly looking forward to Shigeru Mizuki’s NonNonBa, Mizuki's most well-known for his horror manga GeGeGe no Kitaro where the title character is a yokai with one-eye; Baby's in Black by Arne Bellstorf, a story about the Beatles in the early years when their fourth member was Stuart Sutcliffe; and the first volume of the Graphic Canon, an epic collection of work inspired by the literary classics.

So, with all those wonderful reads out there, (the ones here are only a mere drop in the sea), how can I not love my comics?

(cross-blogged from The Gentle Madhouse)


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