End of Year Lists!

Virginia Paine’s Top 10:
(Eleven, actually!)

Emily Nilsson’s Top 10 (in no particular order):

1. Love and Rockets: New Stories #4 by Jaime Hernandez. I haven’t even read this one yet, but I know I’m going to love it, because I’ve loved Jaime for the last 20 years and more.
2. Play Overlord by Theo Ellsworth, Sean Christensen and Amy Kuttab. Three geniuses, or is it genii?
3. Habitat #2 by Dunja Jankovic.
4. American Gun Culture Report edited and published by Ross Eliot. I’m anti-gun, and yet I find this zine engrossing. It’s made by and for liberals, spanning issues such as politics, feminism, and LGBT.
5. Face Man by Clara Bessijelle. I got a preview copy at BCGF!
6. Big Plans #5 by Aron Nels Steinke
7. Shenzhen by Guy DeLisle. I know this is a couple years old. But I read it over the holidays and I really enjoyed it and learned a lot! Travelogue comics are among my favorites.
8. The Holy Ghost Guide to The Stars by ??? – A mystery lady in bird/ghost costume handed this to me at BCGF. Did you know that the Septagram is the “star of Babalon and the SFPD”? You will know that and more if you read this. See her blog here.
9. Have You Seen the DOG Lately? edited by Serena Lafler. A great comic/zine anthology including the likes of Steve Lafler and Carrie McNinch.
10. Manifesto Items by David Lasky. A collection of poems, comics, and thoughts. David’s been a great inspiration and support to me in my own work over many years!

Tom Neely’s Top 10 (that isn’t a “Top 10” at all)

I can’t call mine a “Top 10 of 2011” because I haven’t read everything that came out in 2011 (I’m still catching up on the last couple of years of books). Maybe I’m just excited about comics in general, and lately I’m in a mood to lean more towards entertaining comics than heavy literary tomes, but it seems like I’ve found a lot of really amazing stuff this Fall. I got some good stuff earlier this year at Stumptown and TCAF, too, but that seems like a lifetime ago. After several years of the comics industry at large proclaiming the end of everything from comic books and comic shops to the end of all print media, finding so many good comics coming out of the small presses and self publishers fills me with inspiration.

So, this is more of a “best of the comics I acquired on my Fall tour.” In no particular order:
1) JOSH BAYER! Man, is he some kind of unstoppable force?! His new Raw Power is really amazing. Get it from Retro Fit Comics. While you’re at it, subscribe to Retro Fit Comics! Who doesn’t like getting comics in the mail?
2) Rub The Blood by Various. This book is a psychotic art attack on all things Rob Liefield and awful ’90s comics that all nerds my age have a special soft-spot for. “Only available in person”
3) Gagged by Dan Wiekin. This is a ridiculous book of really dirty, somewhat evil, and really offensive “gags.” Uncivilized Books.
4) I’m really excited by everything I’ve read from Domino Books.
5) Sammy the Mouse Vol 1 by Zak Sally. This collects the first three issues of the series in one book. All hand printed by the artist on his own printing press. Amazing. Even if you have the 3 individual issues, I think the story reads even better in this format. Get it from Zak Sally’s La Mano 21.
6) Things You Carry by Vincent Stall. A beautiful, wordless, dreamlike book that seems to be about loss. Get it from 2D Cloud
7) Mother Lover Anthology from 2D Cloud. A couple of really good short stories by a few good Minnesotans.
8) BENJAMIN MARRA! Getting a new Marra comic makes me as giddy as when I went to the comic shop on new comic book day when i was 12 years old and still liked superhero comics. Get Night Business and Gangsta Rap Posse from his own Traditional Comics.
9) King Cat # 72 by John Porcellino. What can I say? John P. is a national treasure. Everyone should be reading this series.
10) Andros by Max Clottfelter. This guys a genius! So funny. So surreal. I wish I could draw like this guy.
11) 3 Short Stories by Clara Bessijelle – Clara’s drawings are mesmerizing. Domino Books
12) The Greatest by Kelly Froh. This simple little book makes me really happy.
13) Sad Sex minis by Heather Benjamin. The drawings in these things scare me. This girl is sick. I like it.
14) WEIRD Magazine #1 by various artists – Imagine if all the weirdest art comix stars were running things at the old Warren Publishing house in the ’60s and ’70s. Yeah… that woulda been awesome. And it is. From E. T. Press
15) Keenan Marshall Keller! I love his super-stoopid-sci-fi-drugged-out-EPIC Galatctic Breakdown series (not pictured above)
16) The Disgusting Room by Austin English (not pictured above) – I wasn’t sure if I should promote a Sparkplug book on this list since I’m now a partner, but it came out before I was officially part of Sparkplug Books, so… This is probably my favorite book of the year. Austin English continues to blow my mind with his merging of art into the narrative comics form. This work deserves to be hanging in museums. I can’t wait to see what he does next. I told Austin it was like if “DeKooning had made comics” and he frowned and said “I’ve never really been a fan of his work…” Which makes me like Austin’s work even more.

I would also like to mention that I really enjoyed new minis from my partners Emily and Virginia.