Reviews » Chapel Hill Comics

Erin’s Best Comics of 2009!

Posted by Neal at 8:01 pm Comics, Reviews

Feb 172010

Jellaby In the City (Jellaby v.2) – Kean Soo

The cutest monster of all time returns with his friends Portia and Jason! I love Kean Soo’s art, which is cheerful and engaging in addition to being SUPER ADORABLE. The threesome continues on their quest to return Jellaby to his mysterious home, this time exploring the streets of Toronto and meeting some rather suspicious characters. I can’t wait to see where this series ends up!

Tales From Outer Suburbia – Shaun Tan

This new book from Shaun Tan is just as awesome as The Arrival, which I’ve discussed before. Here, he showcases even more amazing artwork in a variety of styles. There’s the gorgeous pencil work from his previous books, plus pen & ink, collage, colored pencil, and paints. Tan’s
strange-but-almost-real stories keep pace with his clever, skillful art, and make this book great on the first or the fiftieth read.

Locke & Key Vol. 2 Head Games – Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

Locke & Key continues to be one of my favorite current series, and the second volume is more spooky & tension-filled than the first! Here we learn more about the Locke kids and their father’s mysterious ancestral house. Strange things keep happening, there’s a new kid in town who seems eerily familiar, and the discovery of another magic key reveals
some…interesting family abilities. I really started to get attached to the characters in this story arc, and I had that
“LOOK-OUT-IT’S-RIGHT-BEHIND-YOU!” feeling from start to finish. When a horror comic can make your palms sweat & your heart pound without an ounce of gore, it’s got to be good!

Wednesday Comics – various writers & illustrators

As a Paul Pope fangirl, I expected to like the 12-week run of Wednesday Comics over the summer, but there were some pleasant surprises within its newspaper-sized pages! The new “Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth” story was even more engaging than Pope’s “Strange Adventures”. Kyle Baker’s “Hawkman” was epic and I loved the bright, sixties-style art for “Deadman” and “Green Lantern.” I just loved the whole idea and its execution. It was interesting to see how different writers & artists handled the page
size and serial format. You can pick up a full 12 issue set in the store right now, or if you–like me–aren’t sure how to store the newsprint without wrinkling it, you can wait for the upcoming hardcover collection, which I’m sure will be beautiful.

The Fart Party Volume 2 – Julia Wertz

Fart Party 2 is a little bit more serious than the first volume, but no less hilarious. There are still plenty of jokes about bikes, beer, and cheese. I’m super picky about humor, but I think this is one of the funniest series we carry in the store, plus it’s written by a lady, which is awesome!

Heavy Liquid and 100% – Paul Pope

Yes, yes I have a bit of a Paul Pope obsession, but his art is so great! Let me convince you. 2009 saw reissues of two Pope books: Heavy Liquid, a story from early in his career, and 100%, which mysteriously went out of print about 18 months after its release. Heavy Liquid is terrific because it’s much simpler work in terms of both line and color. Comparing it to post-Batman-Year-100 Pope shows just how his style has evolved over the years. It’s a great noir-ish story about a boy and a girl and a drug deal gone wrong–in The Future. Who doesn’t love The Future?

100% is a brief tale about six lives in a familiar-looking Future New York. The story and characters and imagery are filled with the energy and grit and hope of the city. That’s why Pope’s comics are great–no one else captures that movement and anticipation in every inch of ink.

Oishinbo – Tetsu Kariya

2009 is the year that Oishinbo made its way to the US, and it was worth the wait! This food-themed manga is very popular in Japan, for good reason. Each volume discusses a different element of basic Japanese cuisine. My personal favorite in the series, which makes me hungry every time I read it, is Ramen & Gyoza. The story follows a newspaper crew as they learn about the cultural history, ingredients, and preparation of traditional noodles & dumplings. Did you know that if you boil noodles at
too high a temperature, it roughens their surface and alters the flavor? Yeah, that’s how intense these books are. If you love any kind of food, you’ll love the details and the precision in Oishinbo. You may want to put your favorite Japanese restaurant on speed dial before you sit down to read, though. Just writing this review made me hungry!

Sweet Tooth – Jeff Lemire

Sweet Tooth is hands down my best new series of 2009. The setting is the post-apocalyptic United States. The apocalypse has come in the form of some kind of sickness that has killed off most of the population and produced a new generation of children with various animal mutations. The eponymous main character, for example, sports an impressive pair of antlers, as well as the almond-shaped eyes and broad nose of a deer (though to be honest, the nose may just be a trademark of Lemire’s–see Essex County). The story begins deep in the woods, where Sweet Tooth and his ailing father live in seclusion, in order to protect the boy from
sinister forces that remain in the real world. Once his father is gone, Sweet Tooth is forced out of the forest and towards… well, we’re not quite sure yet, but it’s going to be really fun finding out. Jeff Lemire is an equally talented artist & storyteller so this comic has been a joy to read and look at month after month.

I also have to endorse three of Andy’s picks on my Best of ’09 list:

Asterios Polyp – Totally worthy of the list just for the story or art alone. Both together make this a book that will definitely become a classic of the genre.

DMC – I have never before experienced the sensation of cringing uncomfortably and laughing at the same time, but I’m willing to brave it for this series. So offensive it’s hard to endorse, but so funny I can’t put it down! You’ve been warned.

20th Century Boys – Urasawa is a master of raising the hairs on the back of your neck. Without being overtly scary or gory, without any of the usual horror tropes, he manages to create the pervasive feeling that SOMETHING IS VERY, VERY WRONG HERE. I look forward to every volume!

–Erin Gumbel

Chapel Hill Comics
316 W Franklin St
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

It’s Neal’s favorite comics of 2009!

Posted by Neal at 2:50 pm Comics, Reviews

Feb 132010

These are my favorite comics of 2009. While it would have been cool to get this out right at the end of the year, I wanted to make sure I’d had a chance to read everything in my stack so that I didn’t miss anything!

Are these the most critically acclaimed books of the year, or our best-selling? Some of them are, and some of them aren’t. They’re my favorites, so they may not be yours, so let us know what you think! I’ve included series which had at least one entry out in 2009, in any format. On with it: Here are my ten favorite comics of 2009, and because it was such a good year, some runners-up!

1: Asterios Polyp
by David Mazzuchelli
Hardcover, $29.95

This one deserves all the critical acclaim it has gotten. Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece is one of the few comics I’ve read which takes full advantage of all the possibilities offered by the comic medium. It’s a love story about how people affect and change each other over time, which he shows visually, with words, and with symbolism. I love this book!

2. Umbrella Academy 2: Dallas
by Gerard Way, Gabriel Ba, and Dave Stewart
Paperback, $17.95

The first volume was was great, and the second one is even better. It’s about an extremely twisted (visually and mentally) family of superheroes who come back into each others’ lives when their father figure dies. It really develops the characters who were introduced in the first one, taking them to even weirder extremes. The art and colors are gorgeous. Read it!

3. Detroit Metal City
by Kiminori Wakasugi
3 paperback volumes so far, $12.99 each

Here’s a wild card for you: Humor manga about the lead singer of a metal band who secretly yearns to be a twee pop singer. He’s funny, but the band manager is one of the funniest characters I’ve ever encountered in a comic. I would not recommend this to people who are offended by… anything, I guess. It’s dark, twisted, and funny as hell!

4. Boys Club
by Matt Furie
3 issues so far, $4.95 each

Boys Club #3 was my favorite single-issue comic of the year. It’s about drugs and poop. Don’t think drugs and poop are funny? Don’t read it. Do think drugs and poop are funny? Read it, and then read it again. You don’t have to live the lifestyle to think it’s hilarious; I’m as square as it gets, I mean, I try to avoid caffeine, and I still think it’s hilarious.

5. Incognito
by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips
Paperback, $18.99

Brubaker and Phillips are the strongest creative team in “mainstream” comics right now. I put mainstream in quotes because while this is a Marvel-published book, it’s very different from their usual fare. This is a pulp noir story which stars a supervillain in witness protection. When he starts taking recreational drugs which counteract the drugs given to him by the government to suppress his superpowers, things get very fun. If you like crime comics, check this out, then go back and read their previous collaborations, Sleeper and Criminal!

6. A Drifting Life
by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
Paperback, $29.95

This is a memoir by the creator of The Push Man, Abandon the Old in Tokyo, Good Bye. It’s about his life as a young manga artist, which takes you just up to the point before the release of the comics which are now collected in The Push Man. He’s a great storyteller, which means that everything in this memoir, from the exiting stuff in his life to the day-to-day grind is very compelling. I highly recommend this to fans of grown-up memoir comics like Fun Home or Epileptic.

7. Pluto
by Naoki Urasawa
7 paperback volumes so far, $12.99 each

Naoki Urasawa’s adaptation of an old Astro Boy story is great. It’s a robot murder mystery! Do I have to say more than that? I do? Oh, okay. It’s a very compelling robot murder mystery. Different parts of the story are funny, creepy, and touching. I can’t wait for volume eight to ship; it’s the last book in the series, and I’m dying to see the end of the story.

8. Dungeon: The Early Years
by Lewis Trondheim and Christophe Blaine
2 paperback volumes so far, $12.95 each

I love all the Dungeon books (so far, we have English translations of maybe 10 or 11 Dungeon books, with more on the way). They’re kind of a cross between funny animal comics and Dungeons and Dragons. They’re somewhere in between completely serious and parodies, and the art and colors are always great. At this point, the Early Years volumes are my favorites, due to the art of Christophe Blaine, the artist of Isaac the Pirate and Gus and his Gang. The adventures of the dungeon master as a young man can be read before the other books in the series or after, but either way, they’re a lot of fun!

9. King City
by Brandon Graham
4 issues so far, $2.99 each

Brandon Graham’s art and stories are both lots of fun. There are lots of whimsical and offbeat characters in King City, but the main dude is a cat master, who is kind of a martial artist who uses a cat as his weapon. What can he do with the cat? I’ll just give one example, which should be the exact amount to tell you if you want to read these comics without spoiling too much. He uses the cat as a periscope by looking through its butt and seeing out its mouth. Also, the cat’s name is Earthling J. J. Catingsworth the Third. This comic is awesome. I even have fan mail in the second issue!

10. 20th Century Boys
by Naoki Urasawa
8 paperback volumes so far, $12.99 each

While I kind of wanted to give the number ten spot on my list to something else rather than giving another spot to Naoki Urasawa, just to highlight a wider range of reading materials, I couldn’t do it. Why? Because this series is one of my favorites too! It’s a science fiction story in which some everyday guys are trying to stop the end of the world, which is playing out exactly the same way they imagined it would when they played together as kids! Every volume seems to pull you so close to the end of the story, but then Urasawa throws in yet another twist. It’s great!

This was such a great year for comics, I couldn’t just let the list end at ten. Here are some runners-up:

Beasts of Burden
by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson
4 issues out, $2.99 each ($19.99 hardcover coming soon)

Horror comics about dogs which protect the world from ghosts and monsters. Both adorable and terrifying!

Black Jack
by Osamu Tezuka
9 paperback volumes out so far, $16.95 each.

This series about the world’s best surgeon, who operates outside the law, is still going strong. Every time I start one of these volumes, I can’t stop. These are so much fun.

Scott Pilgrim
by Bryan Lee O’Malley
5 paperback volumes out so far, $11.95 each

The story of the twenty-something year old hipster dude who has to fight his new girlfriend’s seven evil exes continues, and is still lots and lots of fun!

Gogo Monster
by Taiyo Matsumoto
Hardcover, $27.99

Everything this dude does is beautiful. Gogo Monster is a surreal story about growing up, with lovely art and packaging.

Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter
by Darwyn Cooke
Hardcover, $24.99

You know that a year when a perfect adaptation of a Richard Stark novel by Darwyn Cooke doesn’t make my top ten is a year that a lot of good comics came out. I still can’t get over how effortless and graceful Cooke’s art is.

Eden
by Hiroki Endo
12 paperback volumes so farm $12.95 each

A long ongoing soap opera about robots, viruses, prostitution, gang violence, and dudes getting chopped into perfect cylinders by robots in the midst of gang warfare. It’s like Akira, but a lot more violent and a lot dirtier.

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
by Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki
9 paperback volumes so far, $10.95 each

I think of these as humor comics, but some other folks primarily think of them as horror. Either way, they’re great. These are lighthearted but spooky stories about a group of students at a Buddhist university who help the spirits of the dead find their final resting places.

So, what do you think of my picks? And what did you like in 2009?

Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics
316 W Franklin St
Chapel Hill, NC 27516

My favorite comics of 2008!

Posted by Neal at 6:43 pm Reviews

Dec 172008

Hey, folks! Somehow this year with the store’s move and the setup of our new POS and inventory program, I found the time to read some comics. And you know what? Some of them were really great. Do you want to know what I loved? Well, read on, friends: it’s my Top Ten Comics of 2008!

1. MESMO DELIVERY by Rafael Grampa

This was my favorite comic of the year. I love it unconditionally and have read it at least five times. It’s ridiculously violent, ridiculously detailed, and just plain ridiculous. it’s about truckers fighting in a truck stop. There’s a part where a dude TAKES OFF HIS HAND AND REPLACES IT WITH A GIANT HAND! Whew. Please forgive me for shouting. It’s like Geoff Darrow meets C.W. McCall. It is perfect.

2. GUS AND HIS GANG by Chris Blain

This one is about cowboys who rob banks and have romantic misadventures. It’s funny. It reminded me of Joann Sfar’s Vampire Loves, but with Cowboys instead of monsters. What a treat. The art is fluid and whimsical, without losing its consistency. I’m very happy about all the French comics which are showing up here these days, and this is one of my favorite.

3. BLACK JACK by Osamu Tezuka

The first two volumes of this seventeen-volume series are out now, and they’re delightful. They’re short stories about Black Jack, the world’s best mercenary surgeon. Osamu Tezuka was a great cartoonist, and I’ve enjoyed almost all of his books which have been released here over the last several years (MW was my favorite book of the year in last year’s list), and this is no exception. It’s light-hearted, but also really dark at times. I recommend the hardcovers, which each contain a story expunged from the Japanese paperback edition for being too disturbing. The first volume’s bonus story was about conjoined twin’s and the second was about… even worse baby surgery stuff. Don’t let me pressure you, though; we have the cheaper paperbacks too!

4. DISAPPEARANCE DIARY by Hideo Azuma

This is an autobiographical biographical comic by a cartoonist who disappeared from his home and job and became homeless. He’s left out the most horrific parts of the story in order to make it more fun, and weirdly enough, it is. So there you go: it’s a weirdly fun autobiographical comic about an cartoonist who bails on his wife and job, sleeps in the park, and scrounges beer, cigarette butts, and food from the trash. At times he also works for a gas company and seeks treatment for alcoholism. It’s very compelling.

5. HELLBOY: IN THE CHAPEL OF MOLOCH by Mike Mignola

My favorite Hellboy comics are Mike Mignola’s short stories, like The Corpse, the Iron Shoes, and Heads. In the Chapel of Moloch is a return to form. It’s a single issue comic which has all the great Hellboy stuff, namely, monsters and hittin’. Oh, it’s so good.

6. BPRD: THE WARNING by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Guy Davis, and Dave Stewart

I bet you thought I was going to cheat and list all the Hellboy and BPRD stuff together so I could put more comics on the list, didn’t you? Wrong! The Warning has been great just like every other BPRD story that this team has put together and deserves its own spot on this list. BPRD: 1946 was also exceptional, and while I was dubious about anyone who’s not Guy Davis drawing BPRD the same way I was dubious about anyone other than Mignola drawing them originally, Paul Azaceta was perfect for the story.. Wait, I guess that was cheating. Oh well. Get over it, I love BPRD!

7. MONSTER, by NAOKI URASAWA

It’s a thriller about a surgeon who saves a little boy’s life and then chases him through Europe after he grows up to become a serial killer. It’s a fantastic thriller. I’m about to have a fit waiting for the 18th and final volume. Highly recommended!

8. SAD ANIMALS by Adam Meuse

It’s a collection of drawing of Sad Animals. What else do you want me to say? …no, that’s too short. This is a hilarious little self published comic which features on each page a, well, a sad animal. It’s four bucks, and I think we’ve sold more copies of this mini-comic this year than anything except maybe that Obama comic from IDW. It’s the type of thing that people notice, pick up, flip through, and then bust out laughing.

9. BOY’S CLUB by Matt Furie

Single page comics about these animal dudes who do drugs and turn into things. Sometimes there’s no punchline except for the fact that a dude turns into something hilarious. Occasionally that dude will say something or throw up, though. It’s so dumb, and so funny. The strip with the kiwi in it cracks me up every time I read it.

10. DEMON OMNIBUS by Jack Kirby

I love Jack Kirby’s seventies comics. Kamandi, 2001, and Devil Dinosaur are my favorites, but I like all of it. I read these Demon comics years ago and didn’t really enjoy them, but I decided to reread the series when DC re-released it this year in fancy hardcover form. It’s great, and I don’t know what I was thinking! There are some two-page action spreads in here that just kill me. It’s yet another example of why Kirby was the King.

So there you go: My top ten comic release of 2008. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know what you think!

Thanks,
Andrew Neal
Chapel Hill Comics

Valentine Vanessa’s Picks for Lovers

Posted by Neal at 9:00 pm Comics, Reviews, Store Photos

Feb 082008

Here are Vanessa’s Valentine’s Day picks for lovers!

Love Hotels – Let’s go to Japan and visit theme decorated hotel rooms that couples can rent. Love Hotels. What do you like? Cake Room? High School Class Room? Library Room? Cathedral-Style party room? Alien Abduction Room?…. I like them all! 71 pages full color photographs.

Manga Sutra – romantic soap opera style sex manual.

Lost Girls – Naughty, Naughty, and Naughty

The Fancy Hesitation Waltz-Flip Book – We have a grand assortment of tiny old fashioned flip books. This is one of my favorites… because I love to waltz.

Will You Still Love Me If I Wet The Bed? – Cute autobiographical strips by Liz Prince. One of our best-sellers!

Shopping for Valentine's Day at Chapel Hill Comics = +600 to LOVE
Some of our fine Valentine’s Day Picks!

Valentine Vanessa’s Valentine’s Day Picks for Future Lovers!

Posted by Neal at 9:00 pm Comics, Reviews, Store Photos

Feb 082008

Vanessa’s Valentines Day Picks for the Future Lovers:

Castle Waiting – I have always loved fairy tales. The characters in this book are all so strange and beautiful. It bring tears to my eyes. You will meet faires, unwed mommy princesses, bearded ladies, nuns, a talking horse, and so much more. This book is about friendship, kindness, truth, and love. If my eyes had a nose this novel would surely smell like freshly baked, and still warm bread.

Mary Perkins Vol.1-3 - Can’t say enough about Mary Perkins. I love this gal. She is my mother, my fairy godmother, my sister, my best friend, my darling wife… Oh how I adore Mary Perkins.

Vampire Loves – Joann Sfar is at it again with the most romantic and charming vampire tale I have ever read.

Dr. Strange: The Oath - Brian K. Vaughan - This book has everything I want out of a superhero comic. Action, adventure, treacherous villians, a chivilress hero, and ah yes…the NIGHT NURSE. Just a touch of romance makes this short novel a classic.

Love and Sex with Robots – Non-Fiction- Explore the possibility of human intimacy and yes, even love with robots. Using object attachment theroy, the reasons that we fall in love, and artificial intelligence data, David Levy has opened my eyes. At once shocking and convincing. The future is breathtaking… I’ll have two please!

Professor’s Daughter – Joan Sfar and Emmaneul Gibert- Romance between a lovely lady and dashing mummy. Set in 19th century London. Charming.

Terry and the Pirates – Take a long and penetrating look into the past if you imagine your future filled with adventure on the hi seas with a sexy villianess who would just as soon kill you as kiss you.

Spent – Take a lesson from Joe Matt, there is nothing wrong with rubbing one out now and again (or in Joe Matt’s case constantly and non-stop), while you wait patiently for the love of your life.

Until then, my darling future lovers, come on down to Chapel Hill Comics and get SPENT.

Shopping for Valentine's Day at Chapel Hill Comics = +600 to LOVE
Andrew finds that as much as he knows, there’s always more to be learned.