Hey you! Have you ever wanted to read some different comics? Hopefully! Do you have a friend who you are always trying to get into comics? Yeah, you probably have 20! Are you waiting for the final wave of evil gobl-orcs to break against your castle walls and looking for something to steady your nerves? Good for you! (Also I’m now convinced that gobl-orc is the sound a turkey makes) If you answered yes to at least one of those questions then boy do I have the article for you! In Pageturn, I’m going to break down comics genre by genre and give you the best recommendations you can pester yourself and others into reading.
Some rules before we start (Even though I’ll almost certainly break all of them)
1. No superheroes
2. No Marvel or DC (maybe a sneaky Vertigo here and there)
3. Mostly modern reads
The White Trees
“The White Trees” by writer Chip Zdarsky (a favorite of the column) and artist Kris Anka (who’s soon to be a favorite of the column) is a compact, two-issue fantasy story about fatherhood, the disillusitionment of war and never having sex with a ghost under any circumstances.
I shouldn’t have been surprised this book has dicks in it, it has one of the most dick-prone creative teams ever, one of the protagonists is a hunky elf in stilettos, it would have been insane not to see some junk. But you just never see dicks in fantasy comics so this made me lose my mind. Gender coding and race coding in fantasy is fucking everywhere, I feel like I did manage to get a good list here that’s fairly exempt from those codings, but it’s so ever-present. So when I saw a comic like this which flies so avidly in the face of that, I fell in love. It feels like the fantasy genre has been rooted so deeply in tired tropes like damsels in distress and white, blonde hair, blue eyed christian kings for literally hundreds of years, so to a story so willing to just throw that away is really refreshing.
“The White Trees” follows three retired war heroes returning to their old lives to track down their children, who have been lost behind enemy lines. Despite its brevity, “The White Trees” manages to delve unexpectedly deep into the psyche and misgivings of these flawed yet well-intentioned fathers, also one of them is a giant badger guyl not relavent, but important. I feel like in sad, bad dad stories you kind of only ever get two types, you get gruff angry dads who are fucking horrible at being dads, and gruff angry dads who are great at it and do maybe one thing wrong through the whole story, but you just have to pretend they’re iredeemable because that’s more dramatic. “White Trees” manages to actually find the subtlety in between those two, creating flawed but committed characters who bring their own vulnerabilities to the relationship.
Kris Anka has this really light, over-expressive art style that can balance the whimsical and the emotional really deftly, and there’s a lot of emotion and whimsy to convey in a story like this. Every character design in “The White Trees” makes me lose my mind, it’s all so fucking perfect. I don’t even know if I’ll remember the story as much as I remember the vibe of this book, and that’s not an insult to the script, I’m just amazed at how much history and characterisation can be organically conveyed in 50-something pages. But, it is literally a federal crime to include a map in the front of this book and only give us two issues in this world. I understand that Chip and Kris are incredibly busy literally all the time but I just will not tolerate it.
Grab it if you like:
-Fantasy that cuts against the grain
-Emotionally deft genre art
-Nuanced stories about parenthood
If you like “The White Trees” read:
-“Afterlift” by Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo
-“Sweet Tooth” by Jeff Lemire
-“Saga” by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Mouse Guard
Continued belowWhen I was a kid I was in love with the Redwall series, essentially it was this french children’s book series about a Camelot-esque city inhabited by all the friendly rodents of a forest, they were (and probably still are) amazing. David Petersen drags me right back to that story in his fairytale fantasy series “Mouse Guard.” It’s a world filled with these disparate cities of mice connected by perilous, predatory roads that are only safe to roam with the help of the titular Mouse Guard, they face adversity inside and outside city walls, shenanigans ensue and in the end you have a lot of very tiny mice fighting some very, very giant animals. This is my heroin, my Sylvanian Families heroin.
The whole series (which has three main books at the moment) is full of a really placid diction that makes it so easy and calming to absorb. It might just be me, but I find classical fantasy super comforting; this probably overlaps with the universal peace I get from reading Wind in the Willows, it’s insane that I’m not knee deep in Animal Crossing. The art is so rustic too, it all feels so familiar, but it’s art that we never get in an actual honest to god comic. Sure it pops up in lots of illustrations and picture books, but nothing this sequential. Honestly just watch some of Petersen’s process, even that’s relaxing. There’s so much emotion crammed into the most button-eyed characters, it sort of creates this narrative distance where you aren’t necessarily following them with intense emotional investment and shared experience, but you love them like a pet, and would die to keep them safe in their little mouse homes.
It’s such an injustice that the film adaptation got cancelled, I probably watch that VFX reel they released once a month, it’s so perfect. It doesn’t help that these are all such quick reads; don’t get me wrong, it gives them the perfect picture book feel, but it also means I’m FUCKING RAVENOUS for more. It’s like eating dumplings, there’s no amount of dumplings you can eat where you don’t want to try other dumplings after, I’m always going to be hungry for “Mouse Guard.” Weirdly enough, this is one of the few fantasy things where I do actually care about worldbuilding more than the characters, which is a good thing, trust me. I guess it might be part of that narrative distancing I mentioned, but I feel like I’m more invested in this society and the creativity behind it than the individual inhabitants of that world. I mean they use bees as birds! Bees as birds!! Also the anthology books, “The Tales of Mouse Guard” have these poster covers that they use as paintings in the series and each has this little lore description that is so funky and intriguing, I love these books.
Read them with your kids, read them with your roommates, read them alone at 4am while having a tea party with your childhood toys, go nuts! This series is endlessly accessible, wildly enjoyable and so easily absorbable, go join the Guard.
Grab it if you like:
-Rustic fantasy
-Wholesome talking animals
-Creative worldbuilding
If you like “Mouse Guard” read:
-“Blacksad” by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido
-“are you listening?” By Tillie Walden
-“The New Guards” By JK Parker
God Country
“God Country” is the only book on this main list that doesn’t have a map in it, but it does have Cormac McCarthy quotes, which definitely tells you what kind of story you’re going into. That’s right, it’s time for a sad old man story! A main reason for “God Country’s” maplessness is its rural Texas setting, where we follow Emmett Quinlan, an old man with alzheimers who’s inadvertently tearing his son away from his new family as his condition deteriorates. But after Emmett finds a magic sword in a cyclone his memory is restored and he has to fight to keep his mind and the family he can finally appreciate.
This story mixes really amazing space opera locales with rustic americana in a cross section that couldn’t work without artist Geoff Shaw, I really think this book is a testament to his balance between dense high-action storytelling with genuinely touching emotional acting. His heavy inks and wide shadows can portray a cosmic god-king with a cloak of stars just as well as a little girl being haunted by a grandfather who can’t even recognise her face. It’s such a skill to be able to not only balance those two aspects, but do it without compromising on, or satirising, either. Donny Cates’s script is obviously a huge part of that too, he’s always had an amazing grasp on the burgeoning genre of domestic-action-familial-fantasy (check out “Babyteeth” and “Rednecks” if you don’t think it’s a thing), and “God Country” manages to not only balance those conflicting aspects, but use them to emphasize and recontextualise one another. It uses overt fantasy to look at the simpler magic of family tradition and takes the lens of domestic fiction to place a spotlight on the toxic father-son relationships idolised in fantasy stories. I just love how it can bring fantasy into the real world without having to make it all grim and demure. Lord of the Rings wouldn’t be more believable if Samwise Gamgee commits insurance fraud in it y’know, just take me on a good emotional journey and you can throw in as many talking swords as you want.
Continued belowHonestly, I’ve always been a sucker for stories about stubborn old people and let me tell you, “God Country” is the best thing for that since Up. I just love how every character is being pulled in a different direction by life and family and everyone’s reasons are still valid; no one is played down or obviously antagonised (I mean except the God of Death and the God-King of Daddy Issues, but y’know fuck them), everyone just has incompatible needs and circumstances. That’s what makes a story feel empathetic. Donny Cates has always had this voice for stubborn characters who are worn down by expectations and left facing otherworldly adversity from a state of emotional compromise, it’s so much more tragic watching someone fight for their memory than their life, and that’s why we want to see Emmett kick fate in the teeth and seize the miracle we’ve all wished for when faced with the death and deterioration of a loved one.
“God Country” is one of those stories where you wish it was a 300 issue ongoing series, even though you know it would be horrible like that, but at least there would be more of it. There’s just something infectious about someone fighting a monarchal, arbitrary system while living on borrowed time. This is also one of the few comics that has progressed on the contemporary brand of comic book fantasy, the first post-modern reimagining of that Jack Kirby mix of mythological fantasy and utopic space opera. It’s a book wading through uncharted territory with familiar tropes, a magic sword wedged in old Texan rock.
Grab it if you like:
-Emotionally complex genre fiction
-Sci-fantasy
-Family stories
If you like “God Country” read:
-“Buzzkill” by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw
-“Mister Miracle” by Tom King and Mitch Gerads
-“Olympia” by Curt Pires
On the Shelf: Head Lopper
“Head Lopper” is the passion project of cartoonist Andrew Maclean, who I talked about last time when we covered “Apocalyptigirl.” “Head Lopper” is essentially light-hearted fantasy in its most concentrated form, the speedball of weird magic shit. MacLean brings his distinctive pencils to the story of Norgal the Head Lopper and the severed head of Agatha the Blue Witch, whose adversarial relationship is the driving force behind their pinball journey through this land and its eye-raising, sword-praising inhabitants.
So far we’ve had 3 books (which are four oversized issues long each) that have really noticeably grown in quality and confidence as time goes on; the amount of story covered, emotion invoked and action portrayed becomes more and more noticeable as Maclean’s style deepens and creative team expands. This can really be felt once colorist Jordie Bellaire joins the story, her vivid palettes lend so much mood and ambience to the carefully rendered and tonally-entrenched environments Maclean comes up with. I feel like by book three especially, I stopped looking at Maclean’s art and going “oh that’s cool” and would instead just start vibrating in time with the atoms of the air around me, phasing through the universe, propelled by Maclean’s pitch perfect beefcakes and little’uns. You guys can relate to that, right? The whole book is just so COMFORTABLE. You can reread it over and over because everything is so strong in the visuals, your eyes will love you every time you feed them some “Headlopper.”
I feel like I’m not giving Maclean’s writing enough of a spotlight though, his trick with characters seems to be balancing a little dash of backstory with giant heapings of personality, and it works so well. I mean obviously I’m a sucker for the Mike Mignola influence in his writing, but the glib dialogue is just so perfect. There’s so much fun, hokey over-acting, it’s like Lord of the Rings if the Coen Brothers had made it; or as Matt Draper more maturely puts it, “A fantasy world imbued with modernist sensibilities in character creation, action and language.” I’m so excited for “Head Lopper’s” return (hopefully) this July, because I’m finally going to be caught up. That means I’m going to derail this segment for a second so I can make a cry for help, if you have any experience with this book I’m asking for your wisdom on whether I should grab it in trade or issue by issue. Obviously issue by issue is more exciting, but the epilogues seem to be trade-only and they feel kind of essential, I need your knowledge! Still however you read it, “Head Lopper” will be a shining light on your reading list.
Continued belowGrab it if you like:
-Comfort reading
-Highly expressive stories
-Comics where the art comes first
If you like “Head Lopper” read:
-“Apocalyptigirl: An Aria for the End Times” by Andrew Maclean
-“Hellboy” by Mike Mignola
-“Ronin” by Frank Miller
Rulebreakers
Thor
Thor is probably the most obvious fantasy character in comics, I’ve been a pretty recent Thor reader, but there have been some pretty amazing runs since I got on board. The most obvious would be Jason Aaron’s seven year run on the character, stretching from 2012 to 2019 across roughly four main titles. It starts in “Thor: God of Thunder” by Jason Aaron and artist Esad Ribic and it was pretty much an instant classic. The story of Gorr the God Butcher, which stretches from issues #1-11, has the perfect mix of scope and emotion. It’s weird because it’s one of the most comic book-y stories ever but has some of the least comic book-y art, in a good way. Ribic uses this desaturated, romanticist paint look that really captures the epic feel of it all. The story stretches between three different eras as the young, modern and future Thor all fight against a manifestation of heresy and grapple with the meaning and burden of godhood. From there Aaron began a saga that expanded on that question across different Thors from different worlds all facing similar struggles. It’s all pretty great, I feel like you could probably skip most of the middle section plot-wise, but you could also read any arc and be entertained, so there’s no real need to hollow it out. I feel like this really cemented that whole Marvel sci-fantasy style that started with Jack Kirby, DC definitely leans further towards the Alan Moore-style gothic magic of Swamp Thing, Zatanna and Constantine, so this series ends up feeling weirdly unique for a Thor story. This is in its early stages, but the new “Thor” writer, Donny Cates, has been putting out some good stuff. He’s managed to inject a ton of moral quandary into the character in a story that feels a lot more weighty and serious than what Aaron was writing.
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange has also been holding his own for the last couple years, bouncing between really great comics and creative teams. Chris Bachalo and Jason Aaron (who’s obviously got a genre) kicked off the winning streak in 2015 with their awesome run on the character, pitting the doctor against the scientific death of magic, his own repressed misery and the terrifyingly villainous Orb. I feel like whenever I try to describe this run, the only phrase that really encapsulates it is ‘oogly-boogly,’ y’know this is a story where Strange has to fight his fridge for every meal and everything is made of gunk and floating eyeballs, oogly-boogly. Now other than giving Doctor Strange an axe, which I will always miss and remember fondly, the most inspired addition to the whole run is librarian and apprentice Zelma Stanton, she’s a really awesome addition to Strange’s star-studded supporting roster. Honestly, his might be on par with like Spider-Man or Squirrel Girl’s. After Jason and Chris, Dennis Hopeless and Niko Henrichon gave us a ‘Secret Empire’ tie-in story that I can actually remember! What a novelty. Anyway that led into Donny Cates’ stint (whose genre, evidently, is following up on Jason Aaron’s best runs). It’s honestly amazing that this was his first Marvel work and he got both a crossover and an event comic out in his first two arcs, ‘Loki: Sorceror Supreme’ and ‘Damnation.’ Both were such novel ideas that would amp up their scale to insane levels, they’re unabashedly great reads. Plus it gave us Bats the Ghost Dog who is my favourite guy, he’s just the best character ever, a pinnacle. Every other writer loves him and has tried to steal him for their own series (Gerry Duggan, Jed MacKay, Mark Waid, Tom Taylor) but none of them can truly write Bats like Cates does. Anyway, if you’re looking for some magic in your life then you can’t go wrong with something Strange.
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman might be one of DC’s few high fantasy characters (I mean the whole greek mythology stuff might make it more sword and sorcery but I don’t have the energy to argue the point) and it feels like it’s taken almost 80 years for people to start giving her some proper attention. Probably the most notable run from the last ten years would be that of Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang. I reviewed the first issue of the series a while back and I feel like it gets better from there. My main complaint was the pretty squiffy female representation throughout, which doesn’t necessarily get better, but it definitely gets more self aware, so that’s something. I still think it’s way better than most Wonder Woman stories out there in terms of female presentation. It’s hard to find comic runs this concentrated too, “Wonder Woman” #1-35 is a defined and considered journey, and that really works to its advantage. It definitely drags in spots but by the later sections it’s full of amazing fight scenes, a layered and creative family dynamic and a genuinely thoughtful ending that left me stumped. If you liked the most recent God of War game then this will probably appeal to you, it’s also just a damn good story. Our next tale of Amazonia is “Wonder Woman: Dead Earth” by Daniel Warren Johnson, it’s still ongoing so I can’t speak for the conclusion of it, but so far it’s been absolutely amazing. It’s pretty much just Diana Prince vs the world of Mad Max, I don’t know if I can sell it any better. DWJ has this scrappy yet soft art style that really works for Wonder Woman, maybe it’s just because she’s supposed to be weakened in this story, but she feels more emotionally valid here, which feeds well into this story’s weirdly inspirational undertones. It’s a premium format comic too, so you know you’re getting the art in the best possible manner.
Thank you all for reading! Until next time, stay mystical, stay magical and stay mental.
