Following
Fred Hembeck,
ADD, and everyone else (and, unlike
Mike Sterling, I'm not going to do the update thingy) Chock full of bias, predilection and whatnot. Links where I felt like it. And, in no particular order, as I jumped around quite a bit in putting this together, and my dog is sick:
1.
Love and Rockets - Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez.
2.
NBM.
3.
We3 - Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely. I'm a sucker for dogs. What can I say?
4.
The Complete Peanuts should be completed by the time I'm about fifty, so at least that's something to look forward to.
5.
Preacher - Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon.
6.
Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
7.
Jim Hanley's Universe, which I have to hit once a year or I'll cry.
8.
Planetary - Warren Ellis and John Cassady.
9. The sheer potential of the medium, as an artform, as entertainment, or both.
10.
Crayon Shinchan, because it makes the wife happy.
11. Minicomics and the do-it-yourself mindset.
12.
The Comics Blogosphere. Yeah, me too.
13.
The Comics Journal, which is still the best place to get insightful writing on comics in print form on a nearly monthly basis.
14. Krypto. I love Krypto. Again, dog.
15. The availability of both the cheaper paperback
Marvel Masterworks and the hardcover collector versions.
DC Archives, I'm looking at you.
16.
Daniel Clowes.
17. The potential to reach new markets (such as "the new mainstream," or whatever).
18. Knowing that Richard and Wendy Pini met through a
Silver Surfer letter column. Yeah, I'm that sappy.
19.
Same Difference and Other Stories - Derek Kirk Kim.
20.
Marvel Essentials. Even if I don't own any yet. I plan to eventually, and I love that they exist.
21. Leaving Free Comic Book Day comics in my bathroom for people to read while they poop, and then asking them if they liked anything.
22. EC Comics.
23.
Seanbaby's Super Friends page still makes me laugh uncontrollably when I need a pick-me-up.
24.
How Loathsome - Tristan Crane, Ted Naifeh
25.
Batman: Year One - Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli.
26.
Steve Ditko.
27. The way that, in the hands of skilled writers, artists and cartoonists, comics can echo the meter of poetry without coming across as affected.
28. Lockjaw. Teleports. Fork in forehead. Dog.
29. The
Labyrinth/
Nepotism two-in-one flip comic from Geoffrey Hawley.
30.
Oni Press.
31. My collection of dalmatian sketches from small press artists.
32. Good books about comics (examples:
Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book - Jordan Raphael, Tom Spurgeon;
Jack Cole and Plastic Man: Forms Stretched to Their Limits - Art Spiegelman, Chip Kidd).
33.
Kyle Baker.
34. Good books inspired
by comics (example:
The Fortress of Solitude - Jonathan Lethem).
35.
Jack Cole.
36.
Scott Pilgrim - Bryan Lee O'Malley.
37. Trying to figure out what comics will appeal to someone not heavily invested in the medium based on his/her preferences in entertainment, or what small press comics will appeal to people only reading superhero comics (specific example: turning my comics-hating little brother onto Jim Mahfood for the hip hop and political content).
38.
Street Angel - Brian Rugg and Jim Marucca.
39.
Watchmen - Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons. But more from a technical aspect than from the story itself (at least, in my case - I still want to take a look at how WATCHMEN, structurally, is almost a poem-comic).
40.
Top Shelf.
41.
Smallville. And fuck you, it counts.
42.
Jim Mahfood.
43.
Will Eisner.
44.
John Romita and
John Romita Jr. Also, filming JRJR doing the happy banana dance.
45.
Superman: The Man of Steel - John Byrne. For some reason, I have a soft-spot for this. Also,
Superman: For All Seasons, for similar reasons.
46.
Fantagraphics.
47. That comics would inspire someone to take on a task like looking at how superhero comics are
"a mirror to certain aspects of culture, superhero comic books are a fertile yet untapped source of thanatological exploration."48.
Hellblazer. Various.
49.
Milton Caniff.
50.
My Faith In Frankie - Mike Carey, Sonny Liew, Marc Hempel.
51.
Vertigo.
52. Knowing that I'll continue reading comics, and that this list will be completely out-of-date within the year.
53. Elseworlds. And, to a lesser extent, old
What If comics. I think I prefer the Elseworlds for the prestige format that lets the idea become more actualized, rather than just hitting on key continuity reference points for diehard fans.
54. That KRS-One once collaborated with Kyle Baker on a comic called
Break The Chain that came out through Marvel in the mid '90s (
click here for Marc Mason's thoughts on it after I sent him a copy, as I never did write about it).
55. The manga revolution in the states. Even if I'm not up on the manga as much as I should and would like to be, seeing that much shelf-space devoted to comics in mass market bookstores warms my bitter heart.
56. The potential for really dry, thematic takes on superheroes.
57.
Carmine Infantino (and, in particular, his "stop motion" effect of demonstrating the Flash's superspeed).
58. Grant Morrison.
59. My favorite '50s title change:
Moon Girl -->
A Moon, A Girl... Romance.
60.
Comics: Between The Panels - Mike Richardson, Steve Duin. More fun than an entry-driven book should be.
61. People who just have boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of comics. People who have whole rooms of comics. People who want to swim in a big vault of comics like Scrooge McDuck. I'm not one of those people, but I love them. Particularly if they actually bought them to read them, not to slab them, or speculate with them, or anything that would require "three copies."
62. Superhero t-shirts. I loves 'em.
63.
Bernie Krigstein.
64. Superheroes that have more potential than people give them credit for. Martian Manhunter, for instance.
65.
When I'm Old and Other Stories - Gabrielle Bell.
66. Superhero comics that are about more than people beating each other up and money shots.
67.
True Story, Swear To God - Tom Beland.
68.
Chynna Clugston-Major. I hate linking a LiveJournal, but I can't find an actual "site."
69. Madcap fun superhero comics.
70.
Origin Comics, home of Damon Hurd and Rick Smith.
71.
The Incredible Hulk. I just kind of like the big green guy.
72.
Fade From Blue - Myatt Murphy, Scott Dalrymple.
73.
Alternative Comics.
74.
MoCCA Arts Festival and
SPX which are more fun than playing laserlight with my dogs. Well, maybe not quite, but still... (Honorable mentions to SPACE, STAPLE! and APE, which I haven't hit yet, and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, which I hope to hit this year).
75. The idea that there is a class of demons that only speak in rhyme.
76.
Concrete - Paul Chadwick.
77. Going buck wild in a quarter bin.
78. "Secret Wars Part One" and "Secret Wars Part Two" - The Last Emporer. The perfect synthesis of geek and hip hop.
79.
New Frontier - Darwyn Cooke
80. Working with a guy who borrows comics from me.
81.
Drawn and Quarterly.
82. The idea that comics can be a gateway drug to get kids to read. I don't like kids, exactly, but I want the fuckers to read so they don't grow up to be illiterate, functionally illiterate, or suffer from the idea that books are meant for school only.
83.
Nowheresville - Mark Ricketts.
84.
AdHouse Books.
85. Nightcrawler. I want a prehensile tail. I always have.
86.
Jack Kirby.
87. That, in my youth, I loved the Claremont/Byrne X-Men so much that I insisted on naming my burly Lab/Chow mix "Kitty." If you repeat that, I'll spit on you.
88.
Zero Girl - Sam Kieth.
89.
Batman: Jazz - Gerard Jones, Mark Badger. Although that's probably because it has a character that's an analogue for Charlier Parker, and I love Charlie Parker. Also, it's pretty.
90. Knowing I could probably just as easily come up with a
100 Things I Hate About Comics list, and that such a list wouldn't invalidate my love of the medium.
91.
Laurenn McCubbin. I don't know what it is that I like about her work, but I know that I do. And I still stand by my past assertion that
xxxlivenudegirls was a comic book poem, which is why it works for me.
92. Waiting for the trade.
93. Larry Young's press releases that poke fun at the concept that "we're all out of issue X, so you can't get any!" is a brilliant hype strategy.
94. Comics with a beginning, middle, and an end, either serialized or in graphic novel form. I'm a big fan of finite storytelling.
95. Seeing major publishing houses like Norton and Scholastic publishing comics to wide distribution.
96. The retailers who are actively ordering from the green section of
Previews, whether to serve their customers or to just support more diversity in the market, as well as retailers who stock manga.
97. The weird dialect of the gangs in
Dark Knight Returns, and Frank Miller.
And now, the schmaltz.
98. The people. You know who you are (although maybe you don't... but you should). I had been living in central Pennsylvania for a while before I found "the comics internet," and it (as pathetic as this may sound) filled a certain social gap in my life. I found it difficult to have conversations of substance with the people I came into contact with on a regular basis. I won't name anyone for fear of leaving someone out unintentionally, but the past four or five years has been better for me because of you.
99. The on-line writing on comics (biased or unbiased). Some of you fuckers are smart. Some of you are funny, or focused, or snarky, or however you can be qualified. But you've all got passion, and that's commendable.
100. That comics inspired tons (or,less hyperbolic, twenty or so) of people to go and make their own lists of a hundred things they love about comics.
FELT: TRUE TALES OF UNDERGROUND HIP HOP 
