Rock Bottom, by Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard

Imagine that you’re a successful piano player with plenty of money, fame, and women. And you’re slowly turning into stone. Not turning into stone in the Fantastic Four way, but in the way that slowly crushes your organs and turns your blood into Jell-O. This the life of Frank Dare in Rock Bottom, as written by Joe Casey and Charlie Adlard. This is a deep comic. The story focuses on the emotional impact of what the characters are going through, like when Frank must revisit his troubled past in order to find answers that might save his life.

The line drawings of the pictures are only broken by Joe Dare’s transformation, which sets him apart from everybody else and adds to the tragedy of what is happening to him. The adult language and subject matter, especially in the beginning of the book, mean that this comic isn’t for everyone. Joe Dare is by no means a role model. But for those that are willing to look past what might make a man good or bad and instead what makes him human, this graphic novel is worth checking out.

This comic is recommended for Mature readers, ages 18 and up.

March is Small Press Month, and so we’ll be featuring comic gems that show what makes independent publishers so special. So stay tuned and discover the wide world of indy comics.

The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics, edited by David Kendall

Lumbering. Rotting. Hungry. Zombies. In outer space? Yes, The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics is filled with every type of zombie imaginable, from those that crank call their victims to, yes, space zombies from, well, outer space. Zombies have been popular in comics forever, but now are especially riding high on a wave of zombie books like World War Z and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This collection of comics will introduce you to zombies that you will never see in the theaters. You’ll find 18 stories that cover a broad range of zombie themes: classic revenge fantasies, the last man on earth stories, and tales of people just trying to find friends—that happen to be dead. There are even (gulp) romance stories about zombies and the women who love them.  If zombie romance stories aren’t your cup of tea, then you’ll be happy to know that each story begins with a half page introduction so you can quickly skip to the chapters that you think are the most interesting. Most of the stories are only a few pages though, and they are all entertaining (if somewhat twisted). The diverse nature of this collection can’t be beat. So if you like your undead villains shambling and ugly, then this book is for you.

This book is recommended for TEEN readers, ages 16 and up.

The Legend of Zelda, Vol. 1 and 2, Akira Himekawa

If you (unrighteously) missed the famous video game classic “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” on the good ol’ Nintendo 64, then there’s still hope for you in the manga version of the “Game of the Century.” While staying true to the gaming roots, Himekawa adapts the original Ocarina of Time story into a sword-swinging comic worthy of its hero, crammed with the necessary fairy tale elements that charmed gamers to begin with. Just as the game progressed into two parts, so is the manga broken up into two volumes, one following child Link and the other, adult Link.

The manga is the perfect accompaniment for the gamers looking for more media with their favorite hero, but is still an enjoyable read for those who have never even heard of the game (for shame!). Kid-friendly while still engaging for teen readers, both volumes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are adventures of fantastic proportions.

Also don’t forget the original Zelda comic, which was published by Valiant after the original Zelda game.

This comic is recommended for Young readers, ages 10 and up.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis is Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, and features her life in the city of Tehran from ages six to fourteen. The minimal black and white illustrations are emotional and often humorous, which exemplifies the tone of a war seen through a child’s playfully unsparing eyes. Satrapi depicts her story with bold lines and deceptively uncomplicated scenes, which are coupled with simplistic and emotional accounts of the madness around her.

Persepolis is both informative and compelling, comical and haunting. It was so popular in Europe that it was included in TIME magazine’s “Best Comix of 2003,” and was turned into a motion picture with the same title and art style. Satrapi also wrote the second volume, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return, in which she is sent to Austria to live as a young woman.

This comic is recommended for Teen readers, ages 16 and up.

xkcd, Randall Munroe

xkcd is “a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language” drawn with stick figures in plain old black and white. Although Munroe is a decent artist, as shown in his earliest strips, he has decided to stick (no pun, etc) to the basics with simple figures in his more recent work. I should guess this is not only to save time, but also to draw attention to the humor content, not the art, proving that it is indeed a webcomic of language and sarcasm. Although, for stick figures, even the art can be surprisingly sophisticated. Charts and graphs in a comic strip? Yep!

There is no continuous plot, and the few characters that reappear are unnamed, identified mostly by their props, such as hats, hair, or a computer desk. The content is extremely varied, ranging from several pop-culture fields, to obscure (at least for the average person) math references, to relationships, to really anything else that pops into the creator’s head. However, even if the reference is unknown, xkcd still manages to be funny, and rarely misses its mark.

Check out Munroe’s merchandise here.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” So begins the bastardized famous opening of Jane Austen’s classic Regency romance, with Grahame-Smith’s added flair of flesh-feeding “unmentionables.” P&P&Z is about 80 percent plain old Pride and Prejudice, with Austen’s characters only slightly—horrifically, but slightly—altered to fit the new calamitous setting in which Britain has been overrun by zombies for decades, causing forward-thinkers like Mr. Bennet to send his five daughters to train under a master of the deadly arts in China, a la Kill Bill. As a result, the Bennet daughters are wicked lethal with a musket, Katana sword, and hand-to-hand combat, with of course our heroine Elizabeth being the most proficient of them all.

Incredibly, Grahame-Smith manages to weave the original novel and his nightmarish insertions more or less seamlessly, and even keeps the morals that the literary classic sought to teach. The book is similarly improved with wonderful pen-sketched art depicting the various battles and zombie invasions. P&P&Z is a hilarious, tongue-in-cheek battle royale in which the Bennet sisters seek to annihilate Satan’s hordes of the undead and to marry well.

This comic is recommended for Teen readers, ages 13 and up.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde and Ian Edington

“Only shallow people do not judge by appearances.” –Wilde

Oscar Wilde’s only published novel finally hits the graphic novel genre, bringing along its notorious drama, wit, and shameless hedonism. Edington’s adaptation into the comic form captures the book’s gothic tone with thickly inked grayscale pages, coupled with simply drawn and heavily outlined characters. The art reflects the comic’s overall impression: dark, emotional, and stark. As Dorian falls deeper into his hedonistic world, I’m left wondering at the intricacies of his personality that would cause such a shift, seeing as before his wish of eternal youth is granted he is an upstanding, kind man. The comic is an enjoyable read, but only gives the reader a taste (as comic adaptations can only do) of the original novel; it left me wanting to read Wilde’s classic, which is excellent—after all the point of classic comics is to introduce readers to the world of literature and encourage them to continue exploring on their own. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a great visual romp through literature.

This comic is recommended for Teen readers, ages 13 and up.

Strangers In Paradise: Book 1, Terry Moore

When asked what motivated him to write Strangers In Paradise, Terry Moore responded that he had started with a question: “What is it like to be a woman walking around in a planet full of predators and trying to match up with one?”

Commonly hailed as Moore’s magnum opus, SiP tells the story of Katchoo, a beautiful and tough-but-lovable girl, who’s fierce, loyal, and happens to be into girls. Her best friend/love of her life, Francine, is the equally loyal and curvaceous-but-stunning better half of Katchoo. Unfortunately, Francine happens to be into boys. And what about David? Who is he into? Although Moore tiptoes around the whole gay factor, he makes it clear that no matter what sex they’re into, the two girls are soul mates. SiP is an extremely addictive read, chock-full of comedy, action, and drama, especially once the madam mob boss steps onto the scene to collect money from Katchoo. The characters are deep, believable, and, more often than not, tough as nails. SiP is more than deserving of the many awards it’s won over the years. It serves as a gateway drug for non-comic people, especially women looking to see a stronger reflection of their gender than the typical flimsy comic book heroine.

This comic is recommended for Teen readers, ages 13 and up.