Happy New Year! Our staff has some goals for our personal comics consumption in 2022, and we want to encourage y’all to do the same! So, each day this week, we’ll be sharing some of our thoughts and goals for the next 12 months. We’d love you to continue the conversation in the comments or on social media.
Question #3: A genre of comics I would like to explore deeper in 2022 is…
Ramon Piña: Court-related books, every time I see a tweet of a court scene from “She-Hulk” or “Daredevil” I laugh my ass off, so, it’s weird but I want to read more court-related books.
Paul Lai: The world of young adult and middle grade graphic novels in the US market. This includes the manga that crosses over to young English-language audiences, the many publishing lines and imprints popping up for adolescent and kid readers, and the adaptations and cross-media expanded universes connected to books, movies and series, and (sigh…) even video games that shape young people’s imaginations.
Mel Lake: Horror. I’ve read some horror here and there but I’d like to do a deeper dive into horror comics and graphic novels to really see what’s out there and what I like.
Mark Tweedale: Fantasy. I read a lot of fantasy anyway, but last month I just discovered Kamome Shirahama’s “Witch Hat Atelier” and immediately fell in love with it. That was a reminder of how much great stuff there is that’s right in front of my nose that I’m still missing. Plus I’m looking forward to the new Hiromi Arakawa series. And there are so many creators I love that are working on great fantasy titles at the moment…
Elias Rosner: I read very widely so there aren’t many genres I don’t read. That said, I think I tend to avoid literary graphic novels & non-fiction non-memoirs like they’re beets, the tuber of evil. In 2022, I’d like to dive more deeply into those books. There are plenty of fascinating topics that can be explored in novel and far more enjoyable ways through comics than their prose counterpart. If there’s ever a place for me to try to expand out from my usual habits, it would be here.
Here being non-fiction more than “literary fiction;” I’m still pretty allergic to the usual Fantagraphics/Drawn & Quarterly fare.
Kate Kosturski: International comics. This does include manga, but I also want to explore the world of European comics deeper. I have a subscription to Izneo, which has a rich catalogue of comics from France. And as more stories make their way to English translations, I want to keep them at the front of my reading list. Hopefully I will be back to traveling internationally for my day job in 2022, which will allow me to see the local comics scene right on the ground in Europe.
Robbie Pleasant: Tabletop RPG adaptations.
Okay, I know this is a weird one, but bear with me. I’ve read every “Pathfinder” and “Dungeons & Dragons” comic I can get my hands on (including the “Critical Role” comics), but those aren’t the only TTRPG comics out there. Marvel is giving us some “Warhammer 40,000” comics, while Vault Comics has introduced me to the world of “Vampire: The Masquerade.” Those are games I’ve been wanting to try out, but haven’t been able to because, well, they take time, money, and friends who also have the time to try them out. The comics have helped me understand the characters and lore of those games without needing to play them myself, and while I still want to play them at some point, they’re great introductions.
So give me more of that, for other games I’ve been wanting to try. Give me “Shadowrun” comics, “Call of Cthulhu,” heck, give me the next issue of the “Humblewood” comics so I can learn more about that world. And if they’re from indie publishers, as mentioned in my first resolution, then all the better.
What can I say? I love it when my interests intersect, and two of my biggest interests are comics and TTRPGs.
James Dowling: Formalist stories. More and more, I’m realizing the comics I enjoy most are the ones that use the idiosyncrasies of the medium to their advantage. I want to read more books that lean on the non-linear and the techniques only possible in sequential storytelling, it’s where you can find all the best innovations.
Zach Wilkerson: Horror. I’m not a horror guy, but the genre is really having a boom and I feel like I should give it a shot.
Brian Salvatore: Slice of life stories. While I read a lot of superhero comics, nothing tickles me more than seeing a comic of someone ordering a sandwich at a deli or someone scratching their belly while reading the newspaper. I need more of those in my life.
