Sunday, June 29, 2008

Ragmop & Alex are mine, Tom's got his - what makes your most overlooked books?

A fascinating post from Tom Spurgeon over at the Comics Reporter that I felt deserved a little exposure here as well. 12 comics from the last 12 years worthy of looking at again.

There's a few favourites on there (Paris, Jar of Fools, New Love) but a lot of very interesting books to hunt down and one completely left field choice in US War Machine. But it made me think about what would be on my list of criminally overlooked books and these two sprang immediately to mind:

Alex by Mark Kalesniko

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An utterly miserable, truly depressing tale of an alcoholic lead character. But it's also incredibly involving and utterly absorbing. Not one for a bad mood day, but a must read nonethelesss.

Ragmop by Rob Walton

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The smiley, happy alternative to Alex in a way. Ragmop manages to be two incredibly difficult things; hilarious and deep at the same time. Well, maybe not the same time, but certainly within a couple of pages of each other at least. The story is a Marx Brothers farce or the plot of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World but with Time Travel, dimension spanning aliens, talking Dinosaurs all thrown in. Add to the mix a perfect piece of political and social satire and you have one of the best comics I've ever read.

Okay, your turn - what makes your most overlooked list? Answers in the comments please.

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