In a year dominated by relaunches, reboots, and new universes, there’s been a ton of comics to read and discuss. As the year has gone on and we’ve seen Ultimate blossom and the start of the DC’s Absolute line I’ve felt my interest in what the Big 2 are doing wane more and more. For example, The Ultimates is raved about, and while I’ve enjoyed the issues, they don’t have the impact on me that they seem to do for others. Deniz Camp’s other work is far more engaging and memorable. Honestly, I think the work done outside the Big 2 is far more worth celebrating. 2024 isn’t good only because of Ultimate and Absolute comics. There has been a slew of excellent comics from Mad Cave, Dark Horse, and others, and I wanted to take some time to discuss my top 3 reading experiences of the year and what made them memorable.
ATTABOY
Attaboy by cartoonist Tony McMillen, published by Mad Cave Studios is described as an illustrated instruction manual for a video game that no one remembers. When I read those words, I was intrigued, and when I read the first few pages, I was hooked. Tony’s depiction of the side-scrolling game mechanics is pitch-perfect and made the game come alive for me. Effectively, I watched him play this game that was familiar yet different. And when the narrative shifts and tells you what the point of this is, my heart did a cartwheel.
Attaboy opens with this simple 4-page sequence that shows the main character falling. He’s halfway down page 1, then on page 2, he’s cut off by the end of the page. Page 3 is just the white background, and page 4 is the GAME OVER screen. Then, after that, when the narrator says, “There’s a video game from when I was a kid that no one else seems to remember,” You couldn’t take this comic from my hands; I’m not putting it down for anything.
What I really connect with about Attaboy is the experience of being a fan of a thing and watching your friends abandon it. The idea that the people the narrator knows say they don’t remember the game at all hits home in such a visceral way for me. It makes the game in the book come alive to me because I remember being abandoned by friends. That’s what it feels like to be told my favorite thing doesn’t matter or worse doesn’t exist. The frantic artwork amplifies these feelings for me. I don’t think I’ve personally connected to a book more this year. It’s one of the best things I’ve read this decade. And I think you’d get something from it even if you don’t have the same abandonment issues that I do.
THE ONE HAND & THE SIX FINGERS
One of my favorite monthly reading experiences was the interplay between The One Hand, by Ram V and Laurence Campbell, and The Six Fingers, by Dan Watters and Sumit Kumar, which can be read separately, however, the full experience is reading them both together. The recent trade paperback collects them in their recommended reading order. Part of what keeps the visual continuity of the two series is the work done by Lee Louridge (colors), Aditya Bidikar (letters), and Tom Muller (design).
I’m a long-time fan of Ram V and I’ve listened to just about every interview I could find. To say he’s my favorite writer is sort of an understatement and I’ve heard him talk about this series for a while, as it’s been in the works for quite some time. Finally reading it for myself was an incredible experience, it unfolds like a David Fincher film, but told through Laurence Campbell’s intricate linework and layouts. Few artists are able to craft layouts that play out like a film in my mind, Campbell is one of them. The partner series drawn by Sumit Kumar is equally intricate, but there’s something more evil in that book. The One Hand often feels like Se7en, while The Six Fingers is reminiscent of Hannibal (the TV series). The DNA is similar, but the genes are spliced in different ways.
Reading the comics every month made me feel like a detective. I poured over the pages trying to crack the code of the strange shapes painted in the crime scenes by the killer. At first, it seems like the layouts may be hiding something, as the panel shapes seem to be similar to the painted ones. It made me feel like I was spiraling into the whirlwind of details, like an obsessive detective. One day I hope to meet Ram and tell him the reason why I was able to crack the twist.
Between this and Ram’s and Dan’s interplay on Detective Comics, it’s been like watching two incredible tennis players go head to head. I don’t mean to say comics are competition, but I’m sure there was a little bit of that between them. I hope they find some new and creative way to volley again in the future.
INTO THE UNBEING
Often compared to Alien and Annihilation, Into the Unbeing is a wild horror story that has something neither of those do: Hayden Sherman.
I’m so happy that finally, I can say their name, and people know who I’m talking about. We are lucky to have them in comics and luckier even that they can work on multiple things at once. Into The Unbeing is a sci-fi/horror series about 4 climate scientists who journey into an anomaly (a.k.a. a big head in the desert!). What follows is madness – both literally and figuratively as Hayden illustrates both the horror and the descent with their immaculate depictions and extraordinary layouts. It’s both a wonder and a nightmare.
I got an early look at the first 3 issues prior to the release of #1 and I read the first 2 in a sitting then the following night I read 3 right before bed. It gave me nightmares. Which is both a compliment and a complaint, but come one mostly a compliment.
It was great seeing people react to #1 and knowing that they haven’t seen anything yet. By far one of the coolest parts of my year. Perhaps even cooler was telling Hayden in person that #3 gave me nightmares.
Rounding out the creative team for Unbeing is letterer Jim Campbell (I love his caption boxes in this comic!) and writer Zac Thompson, who is a great writer with so much range, it’s almost upsetting. My favorite slate of comics this year was the one that he put together, it’s the ultimate line of creator-owned comics that were an absolute joy to follow along with!
Into the Unbeing Part One is out in paperback at the end of January and Part Two begins February 12th! I’ve read the first issue and this sort of book is only possible because this team was given runway over at Dark Horse, so please support the book if you like sci-fi/horror! It’s so good that I’ve read early review copies and still went out and bought the issues.
Honorable Mentions
These are both out in trade paperback, both in your local comic shop and wherever else you buy books.
Bear Pirate Viking Queen by Sean Lewis and Jonathan Marks Barravecchia. A gorgeous watercolor comic that feels like a lost epic poem. If you want a brilliant artistic comic that wows on every page, this is it.
When the Blood Has Dried by Gary Moloney and Daniel Romero. I’ve said this on social media and I do believe this should be on the Eisner ballot, in every category possible. Many claim to be fantasy, but few are as transportive as this. It’s beautiful and I can almost feel the hours Daniel poured into this. Critics like to throw around the word “triumph”, but this is actually deserving of that word.
