DC Conspiracy[dots pattern]

3.23.2005

Know any good gateway comics?

By that, I mean comics that you can give non-comics readers to get them hooked. Or at least get them to not dismiss the medium outright.

Of course, the selections should be in line with the audience. I've had mixed success with Whiteout, but Red Star was a bust. Results from Creature Tech were disappointing. Fables seems to be generally well-received. Finder seems like it should have broad appeal, but I worry that it can be daunting; and Hopeless Savages is a wonderful tale, but the way it unfolds might require familiarity with the conventions of comic book storytelling. Maus, kind of intense.

Watchmen worked, but that was almost twenty years ago.

Bram at 10:36 AM  |  link to this     

9 Comments

Sin City and Road to Perdition are good for those friends who like movies and ignore comics. I am also partial to Heavy Metal, for the wonderful quality they print with.

Deb at 3/23/2005 11:51 AM   

I've always thought "Stray Bullets" was a great gateway comic. I bought a TPB for my girlfriend when she lived in New Orleans, and she seemed to really like it.

I think "Y: The Last Man" is probably a good main stream gateway book. Good, consistant artwork, fantastic writing, and a pretty original concept. It's set in the real world, so new readers might find it easier to read, or less hokey than a conventional super hero book.

I think it probably depends on the person you're trying to introduce to the medium. I mean, if it's a girl who enjoys poetry and puppydogs then get her the "Broad Appeal" anthology put out by Friends of Lulu. If it's a guy who likes Arnold Shwartzenegger films, let em read the collected "Ultimates" books.

Jacob at 3/23/2005 12:01 PM   

"Sandman gets passed around relationships like a fucking venereal disease."
-Brian Wood, creator of Channel Zero

Also, as much as I love Stray Bullets (favorite ongoing comic series of all time, most likely), I would never give that book to a good chunk of the people I know. It's stuffed with excessive violence, sex, violent sex, drugs, etc, etc, etc. It's a really bad book sometimes.

I would also say "Goodbye, Chunky Rice" or "Dear Julia", something with a heavy subject matter presented in a way that the pitch-line almost sounds light-hearted. I think comics are really good for that, Maus being another example.

Jason at 3/23/2005 1:26 PM   

although he didn't specify, that loan of watchmen was to me... how to meet art school chicks by loaning them comics!

of course, we also give copies of little lit to all our friends' children (usually before they can walk, let alone read - the friends, that is), in an attempt to warp their little minds early on.

monica at 3/23/2005 7:15 PM   

Now, Bram, being someone to whom you mostly introduced graphic novels (I'd read the Mauses, the Sandmans, and Kurt Busiek's Astro Citys, but that's it)--I have to say that, in addition to really loving Whiteout (and hey, I liked Red Star), I liked Top Ten even better than Fables--thought it was every bit as clever, and certainly easy to follow (this may also have to do with a small crush on Smax). I think some new to the form--say, my partner Mel--get easily overwhelmed by a lot of impressive filmic "cuts" and the sometimes-elliptical storytelling of the graphic novels that connoiseurs most prize. Persepolis, Interman, and the ever-mild but moving Blankets might be the best intros for those reluctant folks (I myself feel pretty able to keep up with whatever's thrown at me, but found Chunky Rice visually unappealing--couldn't get into it). I instantly dug your gift of Finder: Talisman, and while I very much admire the larger series, I do think it requires a commitment that some new to gns might not be willing to put in. For Buffy fans, Joss Whedon's Fray seems a likely intro...

Emily Lloyd at 3/24/2005 5:48 PM   

The Losers. If they like action films.

We3, but not if they're excitable animal lovers.

Love Fights or 100%, if they like romance.

Same Difference & Other Stories, Blankets, Carnet De Voyage, all from Top Shelf.

Electric Girl or Demo, from AiT/PlanetLar.

Just some suggestions. I gave up trying to convert my infidel freinds years ago.

Johnny B at 3/24/2005 9:36 PM   

Emily -

Blankets is hot or miss, I think. My girlfriend couldn't get through it, I've yet to find a comic to cross her over although she seems to get a kick out of the old pulps and the Marvel Essential series, the old Stan Lee stuff.

My mom, on the other hand, was visiting me recently and she picked up Blankets and started casually flipping through it. Read the whole thing over the weekend. My mom only read Archie comics when she was a girl and she hardly reads much of anything now.

So, hit or miss. My mom's ready Chunky Rice now and I'm trying to get my girl to check out some Scott Mills, "Cells" in particular.

Jason at 3/24/2005 10:40 PM   

Johnny Bacardi -

Isn't Carnet do Voyage wonderful? I just finished reading it despite that fact that all my fellow comic friends told me it was a waste of money. It was so raw and honest, great work.

And I think why it works as a gateway comic is because you don't have to be familiar with the sequential format to get into it. It's a journal, we intuitively know how to read it. WIth most comics, there's a learning curve involved in reading them that turns a lot of people off. For us it's simple, our eyes know where to go next. Give a non-schooled comic reader a Bendis book, especially an earlier one like Jinx or Torso and they just won't be able to read it (plus they were lettered pretty bad, a comic fan can read it with the occasional confusion, a non comic fan would have a really hard time).

Jason at 3/24/2005 10:45 PM   

I definitely liked "Carnet De Voyage" better than "Blankets." It had more energy and was impulsive. "Blankets," for me, was another teenage angst love story.

I'd recommend "Bloody Streets of Paris" by Tardi as a good first read. It's a mystery with beautiful, large pages. The figures are drawn kind of cartoony, but the backgrounds are marvelously detailed.

Dembicki at 3/25/2005 6:07 AM   

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