Buying comics can be an expensive hobby. A lot of fans simply can’t afford everything they’re interested in, due to rising prices and the over-saturation of the market with superhero titles.
That’s why we’re here. Every week, the Multiversity staff is asked “What would you buy this week if you couldn’t go over $20?” and shares their reasons why, in order to help others who might have similar tastes make their own decisions in buying comics on a budget.
For our last Comics Should Be Cheap installment of this year, we’re doing something a little different. We’ve asked our staff for the can’t miss books of 2022, either something they picked for a previous installment or something they wanted to include during the year but could not. Since it is the holidays, we’ve also upped the budget to $30 – – but as you’ll see, you can’t put a price on good comics.
Be sure to leave your own picks in the comments! We’ll be back in January with regular Comics Should be Cheap installments, and wish you a very happy holiday season and Happy New Year!
Johnny’s Picks:
The Nib: The Cities Issue ($15.00): I wanted to use this list to not so much do a “Best Of” or “Can’t Miss” of stuff I recommended this year, but rather a list of things that I should have recommended and just never found the right week! First up is my favorite political cartoon website – The Nib – a revolving collective of cartoonists that are providing the most informative, beautiful, and often hilarious current event comic strips and essays, online or in print. Founded by cartoonist Matt Bors, The Nib has established itself as a wonderful repository to explore the news of our world, with membership plans for digital comics directly to your inbox every few days, as well as gorgeous print editions that thematically combine comics together in a wonderful package delivered right to your doorstep! The recent “The Cities Issue” features over 100 pages of comics and over 30 cartoonists, with topics including the siege on Kyiv, fleeing Moscow, and the public hook-up spots in Mumbai. The Nib also has a great collection of graphic novels for sale in their online store, from thought-provoking memoirs to well-researched historical biographies. If you have an interest in dipping your toe into the world of graphic non-fiction and/or political cartooning, The Nib is a perfect place to start! www.thenib.com
Bubbles Zine #12 ($8): Hearkening back to a time long ago, before the internet age, “Bubbles Zine” is the lovingly crafted work of Brian Baynes, a black-and-white fanzine that is the perfect gift for any hipster comic fan or hipster comic fan wannabe. What makes “Bubbles ZIne” great is not the aesthetic (though it is pretty fun), but the content. Baynes has an eye for fantastic comics, and the articles and interviews packed into each issue are a blast to read, and generally very insightful. A recent issue, #12’s “The Baseball Issue,” is a great look at how baseball and comics intersect, from the baseball influences in Dan Clowes’ “Eightball,” to manga appearances, to Todd McFarlane’s acquisition of a very famous home run ball. Oh, and it also just so happens to include an interview with comics legend Jaime Hernandez. You can get this issue, and generally any of the other 14 back-issues at your favorite hole-in-the-wall comic or zine shop, or here: https://www.bubbleszine.com/ .
Magical Beatdown Vol. 3 ($9.99): My last pick comes from my favorite small press publisher, Silver Sprocket Comics! Based in San Francisco, this outfit prints some of the coolest books you’ll ever see. Publishing anything from stapled black and white zines to beautifully stitched hardcovers, Silver Sprocket runs the gamut, favoring quality, interesting comics over any particular “house style.” My most recent Silver Sprocket obsession is Jen Woodall’s hyper-violent “Magical Beatdown” – a “Kill Bill via Sailor Moon” style book done in fluorescent ink that pops off the page and will absolutely sear your eyeballs, but in the best way. It’s fun, unexpected books like these are Silver Sprocket’s forte, and why I love checking out their online shop every month or so to see what new goodies they have in store for me. Do yourself a favor and give them a look at https://www.silversprocket.net/
Continued belowTotal: $32.99
Christopher’s Pick:
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Team Avatar Treasury ($38.87): With the Netflix series finally arriving next year, now’s a good time to catch up on Nickelodeon’s Avatar comics. This box set collects the latest three original graphic novels, “Katara and the Pirate’s Silver,” “Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy,” and “Suki, Alone,” all highlighting the young heroines of the series, like an omnibus of the previous stories, but not forcing them all into a single bound volume.
Total: $38.87. I somehow breached the limit even with a more lenient budget this week, but hey, it’s the holidays.
Mark’s Picks:
Leonide the Vampyr: A Christmas for Crows ($3.99):This doesn’t come out till next week, but since this is our last CSBC for the year, I think it’ll be OK to mention it here. I read this in advance and it is my favorite single issue for 2022. Mike Mignola and Rachele Aragno have made something special here.
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands ($39.95):Yes, this blows the budget, but it’s the end of the year, and I wanted to talk about books that I felt really passionately about. For me, Kate Beaton is on my always-buy list, but I didn’t hear about “Ducks” until after it was already out, so I was late getting this book. However, thanks to very strong word of mouth, it didn’t fly completely beneath my radar, I just read it two months later than everyone else. That said, this is a very different Kate Beaton book. “Ducks” is deeply personal and heartbreaking, and after I finished it, I needed time to simply sit with my thoughts for an hour. It’s also unquestionably one of the best books (comic or otherwise) I read all year.
Total: $43.94. Yes, I’m over budget, but ’tis the season of forgiveness, right? . . .Right?
Kate’s Pick:
See You At San Diego: An Oral History of Comic-Con, Fandom, and the Triumph of Geek Culture ($39.99): Compiling a history of Comic-Con is a Herculean task, and Matthew Klickstein rose to the occasion with not only a well-researched book bringing together a history that’s been recorded only in oral histories and ephemera before, but also a really good looking book. Put this on your bookshelf to thumb through to remind yourself of where fandom has been, and where it could go from here.
Total: $39.99. Yeah, we all went over budget. But this just shows you can’t put a price on quality comics or comics-related works.
