ELECTRIC ANT ZINE BLOG


dispatches from members of the extended zine crew

BEST X OF EVERYTHING LISTS (short versions)

I'm cross-posting these from Same Hat, where more detailed explanations can be found for why I liked what I liked and didn't like what I didn't (if you are that interested to read them).  I'm very curious to hearing arguments and disagreements among this group, but most importantly... share your recommendations for shit that NEEDS to be READ from the past year.

BEST MANGA! 2008 (same hat post )

NOTABLES:
After School Nightmare by Setona Mizushiro
Disappearance Diary by Inio Asano
Cat Eyed Boy by Kazuo Umezu
Tokyo Zombie By Yusaku Hanakuma

12. Red Colored Elegy by Seiichi Hayashi
11. Supply 2 by Okazaki Mari
10. Monster 14 by Naoki Urasawa
9. Parasyte 3 by Hitoshi Iwaki
8. Dororo 2 by Osamu Tezuka
7. Travel  by Yoichi Yokoyama
6. The Drifting Classrom 11 by Kazuo Umezu
5. Nana 8 by Ai Yazawa
4. Monster Men Bureiko Lullaby by Takashi Nemoto
3. Goodbye & Other Stoires by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
2. Black Jack 1 by Osamu Tezuka
1. Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azuma

BEST COMICS! 2008 (same hat post)

NOTABLES:
Empire Park by Jason Shiga
Bullshit Frank & Gorilla Joe by Mickey Zacchilli
The Would-Be Bridegrooms by Shawn Cheng
RASL by Jeff Smith

12. SnooPee by Ken Kagami
11. BodyWorld by Dash Shaw
10. Stay Away From Other People by Lisa Hanawalt
9. Ramble On! / Millie & Hattie by Calvin Wong
8. Omega the Unknown #10 by Jonathan Lethem/Farel Darlympe
7. Crickets 2 by Sammy Harkham
6. Acme Novelty Library #19 by Chris Ware
5. Tales Designed To Thrizzle #4 by Michael Kupperman
4. All-Star Superman #10 by Grant Morrison/Frank Quietly
3. Jin & Jam #1 by Hellen Jo
2. Dungeon Monstres vol.2: The Dark Lord by Sfar/Trondheim/Blanquet/Andreas
1. What It Is by Lynda Barry
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16 Comments

Jan 21, 2009
Anthony Ha said...
Local.
Jan 21, 2009
Michael DeForge said...
good list! i liked this a lot from this year
http://leonbeyondfacts.blogspot.com/
they did a little zine collecting the first batch of them, too
Jan 21, 2009
michaela zacchilli said...
dude, im way behind on comix and manga, i haven't heard of half of these!! i just started reading lone wolf and cub and uzumaki. although i read dororo 1 and enjoyed it.
Jan 21, 2009
jenn yin said...
agreed, for the most part. nice! i could never do best of lists since my brain just isn't manufactured for that sort of comprehensive thinking. good job.
Jan 21, 2009
saicoink said...
Wow! Great list! I'm so behind on manga and comics. I'm reading Body World right now. The layout and use of color is just great. I look forward to seeing the more detailed post later.
I've been enjoying 坂道のアポロン - a manga set in the 1960s about the friendship of three highschool students. I am poor with writing descriptions, here the wikipedia article is here.
The artwork style is really solid. It portrays those moments of youth really well. I highly recommend it.
Jan 21, 2009
saicoink said...
Okay, apparently the site won't link to the Wikipedia article properly, but I suppose a quick Google search would give you the needed link. :-)
Jan 21, 2009
REMOTE RYAN said...
@anthony: Nice, I haven't read it yet... Is the entire series in one complete book yet?

@michael: Oh nice, I have enjoyed that strip but didn't know where to track it down. At least a few of those dudes on that blog live in St. Louis... They have a great comic shop there, Star Clipper!

@michaela: dororo is so crazy... swords for hands? tezuka, you so crazy.

@jenn: glad you approve. yeah, it took standing in front of my shelves and looking through old emails to try and remember all the stuff this year.

@saicoink: thanks for the recommendation! do you have a copy or are reading scans? I'm gonna start poking around for it. Alice made me start reading this manga called Helter Skelter and it's really wild-- i'm only a few pages in but it seems like it's gonna be grand!

Jan 21, 2009
saicoink said...
@Ryan: I bought the books a couple of months ago from Amazon JP. I'm not sure if there are any scans floating around or not. I make a post about it here with some images though if you want.
Also, I wanted to put in a good word for My Brain Hurts by Liz Baillie. It's about queer punk teenagers in New York City. The storytelling is really good. I just bought the first volume at the Beguiling over the weekend, and I'm just blown away by how utterly awesome it is.
I'll be sure to check out Helter Skelter- sounds like fun.
Jan 21, 2009
REMOTE RYAN said...
@saicoink. Oh, it's a new book! I misread and thought it was released in the 1960s. Nevermind about scans :) I will try to eventually buy a copy at Kinokuniya in San Francisco.

I am going to check out Liz Baillie now. This looks a little like the kind of artwork that might initially keep me from checking out something, but I'm gonna get past that and give it a read. An awesome & troubled coming-of-age story sounds good to me. This one?
http://www.lizbaillie.com/mbh8.htm

Jan 21, 2009
Sophia Foster-Dimino said...
It's a relief to see I've read most of these... still gotta work on it. So thanks for making lists :] Actually I got Travel for Christmas and haven't read it yet, but I flipped through it and it looks psychotically awesome. Loving Dororo at the moment, almost done with vol 3. Shameful confession time: I started reading Drifting Classroom before it got licensed, and stopped when it did. I wish my school's library had as much manga as it has European and American comics. :[
Jan 21, 2009
saicoink said...
@Ryan
Yes, that's the one! Yeah, I wouldn't have ever checked it out if wasn't recommended to me. But the raw style of the artwork really fits the story and punk characters. :-)
Jan 21, 2009
michaela zacchilli said...
wait! what the hell! i just noticed i got listed under notables??! man im so honored, but, [tezuka] you crazy!
Jan 23, 2009
Calvin said...
Aw shucks Ryan, I'm honored to be on your list! But I think you should put 'Gus and his Gang' by Christophe Blain there instead!
Jan 23, 2009
REMOTE RYAN said...
I haven't read Gus and his Gang, but i just read Jog's review. Will check it out soon!
Dude, you definitely are up on my list. Those books were both killer! When do we get new stuff?

ALSO: When are you joining up on this here blog? Derek already beat you to it, if you can believe it!

Jan 04, 2010
samuel said...
hello all
Jan 04, 2010
REMOTE RYAN said...
@samuel
sup d00d

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