I Read Comic Books discussion

For this month's Book of the Month, re-read your favorite comic from last year and/or suggest your favorite read to other members!

If you're not big on re-reading, pick someone else's suggestion and read that!

What did you end up choosing? Is it as good as you remember?

Let us know about your pick and give recommendations in the thread below!

My favorite comic read last year was Derf Backderf’s excellent account of the 1970 Kent State shootings, Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio (2020). However, since that read was itself a re-read, I kinda felt that yet another re-read coming so soon on heels of the last wasn’t going to repay the effort.

I’m opting instead to pick up something based on someone else’s recommendation. Paul Goracke has thoughtfully made available on the IRCB Discord channel a link to his personal best of 2022. From that list I am picking Incredible Doom: Volume 2 . I read (and liked) the first volume back in early 2022.

Canavan wrote: "From that list I am picking Incredible Doom: Volume 2 "

Awesome pick! I loved Vol. 1 last year, I think I might pick this one as well.

My two main favourites from last year were While the king of Prussia was waging war, who do you think was darning his socks? and Forget Me Not. I strongly recommend both (but fair warning, you might wanna have some kleenex in hand's reach when reading).

If you're reading in french or spanish, I'll add this third book to the list of recommendation : El final de todos los agostos. Sadly I don't think it's been translated to english yet.

As for me, I'll pick from somebody else rec's either here or on the discord channel :)

Edit to add a few runner ups in case you need more recs from my reading list of last year : California Dreamin', The Thud, Be Prepared, Little Victories, The Witches: The Graphic Novel and Behind the Curtain. All of those were also very good reads I recommend if you have read or can't find my two top ones :) Happy reading!

Canavan wrote: "From that list I am picking Incredible Doom: Volume 2”

Yay! Both volumes are very likely for me re-reading again soon, I love them so much. (“Mazebook” is a close runner-up.)

In an interesting turnabout, your “Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio” recommendation looks like it will finally get me to take it off my TBR pile for this BotM.

For those interested, my list of 5-star reads (not all comics) is here. Only a few are actually published 2022, sort by date published to filter for that.

Paul your list of 5 star comics isn't actually a link.

Chad wrote: "Paul your list of 5 star comics isn't actually a link."

Fixed, thanks for saying something. Typing on my iPad had entered curly quotes around the link href.

I choose Godzilla in Hell, b/c I was going to be in a car for 3 hrs and I could binge it. I didn't enjoy as much as the first time. Each issue is written and drawn by a different team, with gorgeous artwork in all of them. Unfortunately, they're all vague and Godzilla is not an expressive character.
I would still give it 4 stars, but it's not something I'm going to think hard about.

I ended up picking up Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio too, and it was a pretty interesting read. I'm still not a big fan of Backderf's graphic style but that's very personal and I learned a lot. From outside the us, I never even had heard about the Kent State shooting before. Thanks Canavan for the rec!

This prompt is perfect because my favorite graphic novel (and probably my favorite graphic novel overall) that I read last year was and I have been meaning to write a review or do a video review for it since the 1 year anniversary of its publication is coming up soon!

Veronika wrote: "This prompt is perfect because my favorite graphic novel (and probably my favorite graphic novel overall) that I read last year was "

I just read that recently and LOVED it! I really wish it was an ongoing series, like those slice-of-life manga that go on for a million volumes. I loved their friendship and really wanted to read more!

I did finally get Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio off my To Read pile, thanks to Canavan’s prompt. My review:

Wow. Technically this incident is “before my time” so I figured it was summed up by “National Guard fires on protestors, killing four,” but there is so much more to it and Backderf details it all, presenting a story with characters you care about in as neutral of a political light as possible.

Starting slowly on April 30, 1970 and building to the fateful May 4, you see many of the tensions, bad decisions, and paranoid rumors that led up to the shooting. I learned of the preponderance of government infiltration that may have contributed to escalations that shouldn’t have happened. I learned that many of the victims weren’t even protesting at the time, and most of them were between one and two football fields away. Eight guardsmen were indicted, but acquitted, and nobody has really been held responsible. Weirdest of all, I learned that bayonets were used on students in the days prior. Bayonets, in 1970.

This book was infuriating, heartbreaking, and absolutely necessary. Thank you, Derf.

Evilblacksheep wrote: "I'm still not a big fan of Backderf's graphic style but that's very personal and I lea..."

Interestingly, I found his style here significantly cleaned up toward the mainstream. I agree his idiosyncracies are still there, but miles away from his early grotesque style in “The City” that kept me from considering his other books for far too long.

Paul wrote:
Interestingly, I found his style here significantly cleaned up toward the mainstre..."

I agree that he cleaned up a bit, the only other I had read from him was the one on Dahmer. But there is something that I dislike about the way he draws characters for some reason that I can't really pinpoint. That being said I think he did a good job on explaining the facts and all. I still have Trashed in my to-read pile but I can't see myself reading 2 books of him in a row so it'll have to wait a bit :)

Didn't get the chance to re-read Nuclear Winter Vol. 1 in January, so I decided to read it for this month as it was truly my favorite read of 2022! Plus, what could be a more seasonally-appropriate book for a heat wave than one about permanent winter? Right... right?

Also, as a Kent State alum who studied May 4 extensively, even meeting some of the survivors during my time there, I am very interested in reading Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio, especially after seeing everyone's reviews. Thanks Canavan for suggesting.