It’s that time of year again – snow is occasionally following, temperatures are lower, people are wearing scarves and warm hats and the various holidays are upon us. To that end, we’ve once again banded our heads together to offer you an eclectic list of picks that would make great gifts for anyone on your list this holiday season come Christmas/Kwanza/Festivus/ANTI-LIFE Day. And while Hanukkah has already begun, it’s not too late to buy your favorite Jewish friend (or your favorite Editor in Chief of your favorite Multiversity Comics) any one of these fun gifts. The choice is yours!
Read on below for personal picks from some of your favorite Multiversity staff members.
Matthew Meylikhov
A Game of Thrones Hardcover ($35.00 retail)
It might seem weird to start out a gift list on a comic site with a novel, but most comic fans will probably recognize the series by now. A successful HBO show and a comic in it’s own right via Dynamite, I honestly can’t recommend this book series any more highly. I’m not a big novel reader anymore (Words without pictures?! Blasphemy!), but my enjoyment of Game of Thrones seasons one and two brought me to the novels due to lack of patience for waiting for season three. And let me tell you, this is some of the best fiction I have ever read. If you’re a fan of politics or fantasy, then this is right up your alley, and if you’ve ever seen the show and enjoyed it, I can’t emphasize how much you need to read the book instead. It’s not that the show is bad, but… well, you’ll see when you get into it. Because you trust me and will buy the book now.
Or, fine, you can cheat and buy the show, which is a 90% faithful adaptation of the source material.
American Barbarian ($19.95 retail)
This is my favorite graphic novel out this year, hands down. Originally released as a webcomic that I admittedly didn’t keep up with, I purchased the hardcover and brought it with me for a long train ride one day. I ended up reading the whole thing in half the ride’s length, and just ended up reading it again because it’s such a fun read. If you are a fan of Jack Kirby, post-apocalyptic futures and zany good times, American Barbarian is for you.
And if you’d like to try it out, you can still read it online for free.
Flex Mentallo Deluxe Edition ($22.99 retail)
Flex Mentallo is one of my absolute favorite Grant Morrison works with art by the always incredible Frank Quitely, but for the longest time you could not get this series through any legal means. Long out of print and with single issues selling upwards of $50 minimum on eBay, it seemed like owning this would be an impossibility. But it’s 2012, and now you can buy Flex Mentallo in hardcover, and while it is indeed recolored from the original series (which I’m not a huge fan of, but whatever), it’s better to have this series at all than not have it. A stunning odyssey through the various eras of comics all topped off with a huge amount of optimism towards where the medium could go, it’s absolutely unmissable Morrison work.
And, come on – Frank Quitely art! That should be enough, really.
Morning Glories Deluxe Collection Volume 1 ($39.99 retail)
There are some things I was thinking about recommending for my last pick, but really, there’s no way I can’t recommend Morning Glories. I recommended this collection last year, I’m recommending it this year and I’ll probably recommend it every year until I am no longer recommending. Morning Glories is one of my favorite series, and one of the few books that I regularly pass around to people I know who don’t read comics. It makes for a great gift, and who doesn’t like big hardcovers of comics?
Buy it for everyone you know.
David Henderson
Marvel’s The Avengers on Blu-ray ($39.99 retail)
This is a pretty catch-all present, in all honesty. Unless by some miracle you find the one person on Earth who didn’t like this movie, you can use it for near everyone you know. Friend who’s into comics? Done. Friend who isn’t into comics? Bingo. Hell, you could even use it as a present for your family. It’s the all-purpose present.
Continued belowHellblazer Volume 1 – Original Sins ($19.99 retail)
With “Hellblazer” finishing at #300, now is the perfect time to go back and give the first issues of the series in a reprinted collection to that one person you know who’s always wanted to start reading it, but never got around it and give ol’ John a hell of a send-off.
Judge Dredd: Complete Case Files Volume 1 ($19.99 retail)
Dredd hit theatres earlier this year and while only about 5 people actually went to see it it got rave reviews across the board. With that in mind, why not go back to the original stories the introduced Ol’ Stony Face to the streets of Megacity One?
The Invisibles Omnibus ($150.00 retail)
Omnibus collections can get a bit on the pricey side. So what I always do is wait until the holidays and spring the one I really want to get on the one most likely to get me it (usually a family member with too much money to burn). This year it’s the collection of Grant Morrison’s “The Invisibles”. Large enough to kill a grown man if dropped from a height, this is my main event gift of the year, if you will.
Walter Richardson
The Invisibles Omnibus ($150.00 retail)
I received this massive tome as a very generous present this year, and I cannot recommend it enough. The older paperback trades are great, and how many of us experienced “The Invisibles” for the first time, but like many of the early Vertigo trades, they begin to crumble after multiple readings. After a string of poorly-bound disappointments, DC has finally come up with an omnibus that they can be proud of. Both sewn and glued, this thing will stand up to multiple readings, which, as anyone who has read Grant Morrison’s magnum opus will attest, is a very good thing. As well as the entire series itself, the back is packed with extras, including multiple cover processes, the series pitch, scripts, and more. It may not be the gift to get someone who has never read the comic, but if there’s a Morrison fan in your life who you really, really like, and whose paperbacks are experiencing Vertigo Trade Syndrome, look no further.
The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library – Uncle Scrooge: Only A Poor Man ($28.99 retail)
Carl Barks is one of the undisputed masters of comics, and yet he does not get nearly enough love here in America. Thankfully, Fantagraphics has begun collecting his works in their library edition hardcovers, allowing many younger comics fans to experience his genius for the first time. While his Disney work technically started in the Donald Duck ‘Lost in the Andes’ hardcover, Barks is most well known for creating Scrooge McDuck, the rich and fiery Scottish millionaire uncle of Donald who soon attained a popularity rivaling that of his nephew. On the surface level, this is a fun read that embodies the difference between comics for kids and all-ages comics; at a deeper level, this is a comics textbook, to be pored over and studied by anyone who wants to make comics of their own. Get them while they’re still in print.
Saga Volume 1 ($9.99 retail)
I doubt I am the only one recommending this, and for good reason. The best new series of 2012 is even better when you can pick up the first paperback for a single Hamilton. This is the gift to get your friends who don’t read comics (well, depending on how squeamish they are), and who knows? Perhaps the talents that are Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples are enough to turn one from a skeptic to a diehard fan of the medium overnight. If anyone can do it, it’s those two.
Brandon Burpee
52 Omnibus ($150.00 retail)
If I had not preordered this already it would have been the number one item on my x-mas list. If you are even remotely familiar with me you know that I love this title and reread it once or twice a year. Now I won’t have to go through each of the tpb’s and instead can just get balls deep into one nut blowing collection!
Continued belowX-Men: Operation Zero Tolerance ($75 retail)
Operation Zero Tolerance came out during a summer I spent in Connecticut at my grandparent’s marina on the Connecticut River. That was a great summer and throughout my grandfather would take me to this gas station by the Goodspeed Opera House and he’d get my some comics. I devoured OZT over the courts of the summer. Bastion! Cecilya Reyes and Iceman on the run! So much fun stuff! I would love to spend some time rereading this for the first time in years. Under $50 seems like a steal of a deal as well!
X-Men: Fatal Attractions ($99.99 retail)
When I first got into X-Men comics it was thanks to the 90’s animated series. This crossover was what was all over the comic racks at the BX on the base where I lived. Colossus was a bad guy now?! SHUT UP! I was blown away by what was going on in this book. Plus, my little fucking eyes exploded when Magneto tore the adamantium from Wolverine’s bones! I could not believe that happened! Were you allowed to do that?! (Later I would find you could do this and you could do way worse because it’ll all come back to status quo eventually) This is yet another great X-Men reading milestone storyline for me that I would love to have collected and on my shelf.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II ($59.99 retail)
This business just looks awesome. Not comic related but has a large chance of dominating my time were I to get it from x-mas.
Brian Salvatore
The Comic Book History of Comics ($21.99 retail)
To paraphrase Steve Martin, if I could have one wish for comic book fans this holiday season, it would be a copy of this in each stocking. Entertaining, informative, funny and, at times, unbelievable, Ryan Dunlavey’s illustrations both manage to represent the icon work being discussed fairly, as well as give the book a freewheeling, underground aesthetic. Fred Van Lente’s research, though exhaustive, is presented clearly and humorously, while being a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks the comic book industry is a laid back, fun one. An absolutely essential book on the shelf of any serious – or not so serious – comics enthusiast.
Hellboy Library Edition Volume 1 ($49.99 retail)
With “Hellboy in Hell” launching this month, now is the perfect time to go back to the very beginning and see how everyone’s favorite demon wound up in Hell. Yes, these are pricey, but they look glorious on your shelf, and the format truly brings out the beauty in Mike Mignola’s artwork. Plus, if the recipient likes this book as much as they should, you’ve got the next 5 years covered, gift wise, to catch them up on the story. While not the best Hellboy stories, who really wants to start with Volume 2 on anything? And “not the best Hellboy stories” > most comics being published.
The Manhattan Projects Volume 1: Science Bad ($14.99 retail)
For the jackass in your family who likes really bad alternate history books, there is no finer gift that this: an alternate history done right, with lots of weirdness tossed in for good measure. Note: may not be the best gift for a practicing Freemason.
Shazam POP Figure by Funko ($10.99 retail)
The Green Lantern one is on my desk, and I keep thinking he needs a pal. Plus, you can secretly call him Captain Marvel around the house and DC editorial can’t yell at you!
David Harper
Abominable Charles Christopher Book Two ($40-65 – add $20 if you get book one too!)
You’re reading The Abominable Charles Christopher, right? You’re not? What’s wrong with you? Karl Kerschl is creating something that David Petersen called the closest thing to Calvin & Hobbes today, and you’re NOT reading it? Buy both of these books right now! But if you are, and you have a friend that you like a whole lot that likes comics, get this for them. It’s an amazing series filled with spectacular art and genius ideas, and it’s routinely one of my favorite comics around. Plus, pretttttttyyyyy.
Continued belowFear Agent Hardcover Volume 1 ($49.99 retail)
Fear Agent from Rick Remender and friends (like Tony Moore and Jerome Opena) is one of the flat out best comics I’ve ever read. I love it dearly, and for comic fans who like adventure, sci-fi, great character work, Han Solo, monsters, aliens, spaceships and/or functional alcoholism, this is the book for them.
Saga Volume 1 ($9.99 retail)
This book is about to get A LOT of love in our 2012 in Review segment, and deservedly so. Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples are creating one of the best comics around, and it’s incredible how good it is just 7 issues in. This should be mandatory for all comic fans, but for those that don’t have it yet, buy it for them and then slap them in the face. The latter part is free.
Vince Ostrowski
1. Adventure Time, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes or Batman: the Animated Series on iTunes (prices vary)
For a virtual stocking stuffer, I would absolutely love it if friends got me episodes of Adventure Time, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, or Batman: The Animated Series on iTunes. It’s a relatively cheap and easy thing to gift your friends through iTunes or Amazon.com. Every comic fan loves seeing their favorite characters done right, and Avengers: EMH & Batman: TAS are the best examples of this that we have. As for Adventure Time, fans of the comic are probably already fans of the show, but I can tell you from experience that nothing makes a 20 minute wait go by in a flash quite like watching an episode of Adventure Time on your phone.
2. Saga, Mind the Gap or Revival Volume 1 ($9.99, $9.99 or $12.99)
For someone reading their first comic, is it cheating if I say Saga Vol. 1, Mind the Gap Vol. 1, or Revival Vol. 1? I think that these are 3 great Image books for starting any sort of media fan who might be curious about comics down the right path. If fantasy/romance fans can get past the sometimes vulgar imagery, they’ll find compelling characters and a contemporary script that will keep them entertained with “Saga.” Fans of your more conventional paranormal TV series will find plenty to like with “Mind the Gap”, which is anything but conventional while still being really easy for the uninitiated to digest. And as for “Revival”, well everyone is asking about what the “next Walking Dead” is and “Revival” is as good a choice as any. Horror is a movie genre that has general audiences coming back to the theaters week after week and “Revival” is the best of what that genre has to offer. I know I’ll be gifting it to a few of my Wisconsin friends back home.
3. DC Collectible Print Posters (prices vary)
For the tasteful comic book room, you’ll want DC Collectible Print Posters. I don’t claim to be a style icon, nor do I know the first thing about elegant home decor, but I happen to think that these modern art-style prints of popular DC iconography look pretty classy. So maybe your significant other will roll their eyes if you ask if you can hang this in the living room, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind this hanging in the same room that you keep your seemingly endless shelves of graphic novels, right? They are sharp as hell. If any of you wealthy Multiversity readers out there want to know which one you could get me, I’ll tell you that I’ve got the perfect spot on my wall for that gorgeous Green Arrow print.
4. The Sandman Slipcase Set ($199.00 retail)
For someone you really love, or that fake geek girl or fake geek guy you wanna get with, I have to recommend the Sandman Slipcase Set. What can I say that everyone else hasn’t already said about “Sandman”? If you have the set already, then you’re enlightened. But I run across more than my fair share of comic book readers that have never tested the waters of Neil Gaiman’s wondrous fantasy world. To those people I say you owe it to yourself to just jump right into the pool on this one and buy the whole set. Trust me, you wouldn’t be able to buy the next one fast enough by the time you’re done with the first volume. And for those shopping for loved ones and friends who are lucky enough to have a big spender for a friend, there is no gift that keeps on giving more in comics this year than this beautiful set.
Continued belowJames Johnston
Cyclops Was Right T-Shirt ($22.00 and shipping)
Upset with the ending of Avengers vs. X-Men? Did you begin to side with Cyclops when you realized that he was completely justified in wanting the Phoenix to reignite the mutant population after it worked? Well you’re not alone, as Leigh Wortley (as well as others, I just think her design is the neatest) have crafted some fashion lifted directly from Scott’s warning to Wolverine in AvX: Consequences. Along with some pink hair, this shirt makes for some great Quentin Quire cosplay.
Batman: The Black Glove Deluxe Edition ($29.99 retail)
So you’ve gotten your friend into Batman. They’ve seen the Nolan trilogy, read Year One and TDKR, and are aware that there’s more than one Robin. Great, all you need to do now to drag them into the level of Bat-Mania that explains why you’ve gone as Batgirl on Halloween for the past four years. Lucky for you, obsession is Grant Morrison’s middle name and the beginning of his huge Batman Saga (continued in Batman and Robin, Return of Bruce Wayne, and Batman Incorporated, is the perfect way to get your friend into Batman, and maybe superhero comics as a whole, on a whole new level. This edition collects Batman Vol. 1 #655-658, 663-669, 672-675
Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff Poetry Magnets ($12.00 and shipping)
Some people love Homestuck. Some people despise it with a burning passion. Some people don’t know what it is and would like everyone to please just stop talking about it. However you feel about that webcomic (or cartoon or game or whatever it is), there’s no debate that Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, Homestuck’s sibling comic, is the finest piece of art to ever affect the internet. Celebrate the holiday seasons with these poetry magnets to confuse and frighten your family. Probably NSFW.
Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD staring David Hasselhoff (prices vary)
“FROM ONE OF THE WRITERS OF BATMAN BEGINS” comes The Hoff himself as Nick Fury. I haven’t actually seen this movie, but Amazon lists new copies starting at $93.90. I’m no psychologist, but paying more money than it takes to watch every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to watch the guy from Baywatch scream “HYDRA!” is the type of insanity that comics were made for. I wish I’d seen this movie so I could accurately describe it, but Nick Fury’s first spoken words in the trailer are “I’ll get that vampire’s blood if I have to suck it from her neck!” Fun fact: he would utter those same lines again in Spongebob Squarepants: The Movie.
Michelle White
Saga Volume 1 ($9.99 retail)
This might not be the most original of choices, but if there’s something I’ve learned from the general response to “Saga”, it’s that this is a story that unites people — comic fans of all kinds, and even some people who aren’t usually comic readers. I don’t know if it’s the epic story (an interstellar war with a couple standing in the crossfire, and trying to find a safe place for their baby to grow up) or whether it’s the heady combination of Brian K. Vaughan’s grounded and believable characters and Fiona Staples’ luminous artwork, but “Saga” is just special somehow, and almost sure to warm the heart and engage the interest of a fantasy or sci-fi fan.
(It might be best to save this one for the teenaged-and-older readers on your list, however. Unless you’re cool with whoever it is reading a scene featuring an orgy. Up to you!)
Feynman ($29.99 retail)
A non-fiction comic with a lot of energy and charm, Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick’s biography of the iconic scientist is told in Feynman’s own voice, painting a lively portrait of a brilliant — and thoroughly likeable — guy. Featuring light anecdotes as well as playfully illustrated physics lectures, and showcasing Feynman’s various interests and hobbies (they extended past theoretical physics to span music and art) this would be a great gift for your favourite budding scientist or Fine Arts major (who is sure to appreciate Myrick relaxed but precise art style, and Hilary Sycamore’s fantastic colours). The book is also a really gorgeous object in itself, all big and glossy and bright, and so would be fun to unwrap. That’s important too, you guys.
Continued below(If you’d like some more details, you can check out my full-length review of “Feynman” over here.)
Yi Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender ($25.00 retail)
This one’s for the history buff on your list. Telling the story of Korean navy commander Yi Soon Shin, and his integral role in fending of the invasion of the Japanese during the Imjin War of the 16th century, Onrie Kompan and Giovanni Timpano have crafted a book that’s meticulously researched as well as fun to read. Timpano’s art glows and shimmers, setting out the story with clarity and attention to detail, while Kompan crafts a wealth of fascinating characters, and is careful to humanize the key figures on both sides of the conflict, rendering this story with a lot of nuance when it could easily have become a black-and-white hero’s tale. The clincher here is that this story isn’t terribly well-known among Western audiences, and would make a neat change of pace for someone whose interests don’t always extend that far east. Topping it all off, this edition is packed with extra material (there’s even a foreword by Stan Lee), and presented in truly deluxe fashion — ribbon bookmark and all.
For more on “Yi Soon Shin: Warrior and Defender”, you can check out my review over here.
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