So, someone asked the question this evening - and I'm paraphrasing here: "Can you recommend any bad comics?" The context being that we were discussing what not to do, how not to write a comic.
There are certainly poorly written books out there, but I'm going to waffle - just a little - and say that it's all subjective. In class, I name-checked a DC collection called Cosmic Odyssey that came out sometime in the '80's. I bought it a couple months back. I read it. Didn't care for it. Too much exposition - another of tonight's topics - and a lot of talking and thinking, though the latter was at least handled in captions and not thought balloons. And the general story - protecting the universe from some Evil Dark Force that was going to break through - was rather meh. That said - just my opinion. Your mileage may very.
Now, I've come home and have been trying to find other books to recommend as "bad" examples. I'm hard-pressed to do so. Not that everything I buy and read is awesome. I'm just a bit of a writing snob. I find the few guys I really like and read their stuff, with few exceptions. Grant Morrison. Alan Moore. Warren Ellis. Each of these guys have a shelf to themselves. The Walking Dead. Y: The Last Man. Scott Pilgrim. I have the full collection of each. Neil Gaiman. Mignola's Hellboy and some of B.P.R.D. First five volumes of Dark Horse's Conan. Kingdom Come. Marvels. There's very little that I own that I cannot recommend. So, while I may be at a loss to come up with any further examples of what not to do in a comic, let me toss out some off-the-cuff favorites in no particular order - some of which might be new to you....
Girls by the Luna Brothers is like The Walking Dead, but with homicidal naked women. As exploitative as that may sound - the characters of the small town are beautifully written. Like The Walking Dead, they're the reason I kept turning pages and bought all four volumes.
Any of the Criminal series of books by Ed Brubaker (He also writes a few books for Marvel these days, including Secret Avengers. If you're looking for a current monthly, I don't think you'll go wrong with that.)
Captain Britain and MI:13 was a short-lived Marvel series focusing on heroes from across the pond, and written by Paul Cornell. Magic, aliens, and the little known fact that Dr. Doom's armor is flecked with pieces of the True Cross. (Trust me, this last is actually important.)
Casanova by Matt Fraction is a mad, parallel universe-hopping, loonily plotted spy yarn that's funny, inventive, sexy, and hoo-boy crazy. (Fraction is big wheel at Marvel right now, writing X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, and I'm sure something I just can't recall.)
Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk by Damon Lindelof of Lost fame. This book had a HUGE gap between issues two and three, but the final complete tale is a marvel - pun intended - of storytelling expertise. If you hated all the flashbacking in his TV show, you might not care for this. However, if you like getting the important bits of info only when you absolutely need them, then you might give this a whirl.
The Books of Magic, Vol. 1 is written by Neil Gaiman and focuses on a young boy who will grow to be the greatest magician of all time. Kid even looks like Harry Potter, but this was published in 1990, so there. The story is great, taking the kid to the land of faeries, a demonic party in San Francisco(!), and the end of time. Never bothered with subsequent books as they're not written by Gaiman. Did I mention I'm a writing snob?
Real quick - some quick nods to the three guys who get their own shelves in my abode....
Grant Morrison - The Invisibles, New X-Men, Seven Soldiers of Victory, Doom Patrol, We3, All-Star Superman, and his Batman run, which started with Batman, is wrapping up in the current Batman and Robin, and will transition to the new Batman Incorporated starting later this month
Alan Moore - As I said in class tonight, Promethea is the best comic I've read. Moore's segues into long dissertations on the tarot and qabalah put some folks off, but the story is amazing and the art by J.H. Williams III is some of the best out there. (Side note: Inked by AAU's own Mick Gray.) Other books: From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and his run on Swamp Thing is just about as inventive as his work on Watchmen. Seriously.
Warren Ellis - I've cooled to him a bit in recent years, but he's got more than a few standouts, including Global Frequency, Planetary, Ocean, The Authority, and the relatively obscure Aetheric Mechanics - just about the most messed up Sherlock Holmes story ever.
All right. So, I didn't manage to come up with any other "bad" examples. I'll keep thinking about it and post more when/if I'm successful.
