by Benn Ray
The first great, gritty, literary junkie novel of the Opioid-era, with a splash of PTSD for good measure.
From the writer of one of my favorite short story collections, Jesus' Son - this is the recently deceased Johnson's final collection. And this and Jesus' Son perfectly bookend his career - almost as if the characters from the earlier book could be the old, mortality-laden characters in this book. Beautifully written.
Funny, bleak, but real.
This book is simply, in a word, bonkers. If they made it into a movie, they'd have to pretend it was fiction because no one would believe the ridiculous shit Leary and Nixon pulled. It's a delightful historical screwball comedy.
A stunning long-term mass murder committed by whites to take money away from a community of very rich Native Americans who had the good fortune and misfortune to have oil under their land.
Do you suspect your job is bullshit? Then it probably is. Think of it as a safeguard baked in to capitalism to keep people too busy to do things like unite to get rid of capitalism.
It's been a long time since I've read a comic and have actually been creeped out by the imagery. This is an effective haunted house tale with an anti-Islamophobia twist.
In 2018, Jeff Lemire juggled a bunch of creator-owned titles (not to mention a handful of work-for-hire super hero titles for DC and Marvel). And I picked up and enjoyed every one of his creator-owned series.
Black Hammer - this is an expansive super hero universe that Lemire has created for Dark Horse (sort of like Mike Mignola's Hellboy) - with mini-series, one shots, ongoing series and spin-offs. These stories are overflowing with ideas. And the core books - Black Hammer Volumes 1 and 2 - felt a little Watchmen-like - yeah, it's that good.
Descender - a beautiful family-oriented sci-fi epic. I was recommending this for people were all caught up on Brian K. Vaughan's Saga and wanted something similar to tide them over.
Gideon Falls - a paranoid horror tale about a mysterious barn.
Royal City - This was a subtle drama set in a post-industrial America focused on a family haunted by its own ghost - literally.
Tom King's run on Batman, like Scott Snyder's a few years ago, are some of the best Batman comics written in the past 30 years. He has characterization down. And he finds humor in the all the best places. Plus, he's in it for the long haul - so you can see someone planning out a bigger tale with pieces in motion that will come together down the line.
Usually you get a good story or great art in mainstream comics, but rarely do you get both paired up - and Mister Miracle is one of those rarities. This is next-level storytelling - a definitive graphic novel for a cult character in a large universe.
Biggest Surprise: MAD Magazine
I grew up on MAD Magazine, so I admit that I've always had a spot in my heart for it. But this year MAD Magazine rebooted - starting over with #1 and a new editor - and holy-shit it got good. And it got relevant. And it's pretty goddamn fearless. Just pick up the year end (#5) 20 Dumbest Things of 2018 issue and tell me it's not great. I dare you. No, I double-dog dare you.
I grew up on MAD Magazine, so I admit that I've always had a spot in my heart for it. But this year MAD Magazine rebooted - starting over with #1 and a new editor - and holy-shit it got good. And it got relevant. And it's pretty goddamn fearless. Just pick up the year end (#5) 20 Dumbest Things of 2018 issue and tell me it's not great. I dare you. No, I double-dog dare you.
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