These are comics that should all be collected

By Alex Ness

I RECOMMEND:

IMPALER
IMAGE COMICS
William Harms, Nick Postic and Nick Marinkovich

There are precious few comics considered to be in the horror genre that I find spooky. IMPALER is about the power of Vlad Tepes, Dracula alive in modern day New York city, and he is using his great powers to bring that city to its knees. Using pacing that is driving, characters who are intriguing, and moody art that is beyond good, I am addicted to this book in a serious fashion. I have no idea how it is selling, the business of comics rarely moves me, but I hope this creative team is doing well enough to do more than this story arc. I am very much a fan of this book.

GREEN ARROW
DC COMICS
Mike Grell and artists

There are few better candidates for collecting than the series GREEN ARROW of the late 1980s. Why? Simply that Green Arrow was a previously mainstream comic character that under the writing hand of Mike Grell took on greater maturity and intelligence. He lived in a real world place, with real world worries and crimes, he had a live in lover, he was growing older, and had the worries of an aging hero. The art was mostly Ed Hannigan and he did a great job, and there were occasions where guest artists and even Grell did the art. The issues of the environment, animal rights and crime made this a topical and intelligent work. I recommend the first fifty issues most of all, but beyond that as well. IF DC did reprint any of these in trade format, I'd absolutely hope that they would try to enlist Grell to do new covers. I'd certainly buy them.

SE7EN
ZENESCOPE
done by lots of folks

The Seven deadly sins of man are the crimes being committed by John Doe, serial killer. And what makes this such an intriguing series is that rather than present such a tale as morality tale, as some would appreciate, or disgusting splatter tale, this is “true crime” as “horror” and I am highly impressed thus far. The comic thus far has had very nice writing, and great art, especially the covers by David Seidman For those unfamiliar, the Seven Deadly Sins are Gluttony - Greed - Sloth - Lust - Pride - Envy - Wrath.

TYRANT
SPIDER BABY GRAPHIX
SR Bissette

Deep into the future, when people consider which comics were good, and what comics could have done and which expanded the perceptions of sequential art, this should be on that list for its forward thinking. It might not be collected, it might not have been the best seller of its time, but it is very important, and very good. The premise here is not “clever” as in a riff upon a modern idea, but instead does what is hard to do, and does it perfectly well. This is a series about a Tyrannosaurus rex's birth, life, and death. The lead character is a dinosaur, who faces egg sucking predators, other dinosaurs who challenge for territorial dominance and more. The end notes are fantastic, and this is a series that both kids who loves dinosaurs and adults who love NOVA on PBS can equally appreciate.

A DUMMY’S GUIDE TO DANGER
VIPER COMICS
Jason Burns & Ron Chan

The premise here is high concept done well, private investigator Alan Sirois and his partner Mr. Bloomberg, a paraplegic ventriloquist dummy that Alan believes was shot in the back by an assailant and became crippled when the bullet lodged in his spine, track down a gruesome killer known only as the Flesh Collector. This book has aspects of dark macabre humor, noir detective work, and mystery. I find it unique, and well done it the component aspects of the book, and it satisfies in numerous ways. I like much of the Viper Comics array of product, and along with Dead@17, and The Lost Books Of Eve, this title is welcome in my collection.

BLACK LAMB
DC/HELIX
Tim Truman

This series fell prey to the market vagaries of the 90s, but deserves to be collected. The undead, the misfits, the dangerous children of the night, have their own society, with rules, enforcers and consequences. The Black Lamb is a vampire who serves as the Judge, enforcer of that society, and tries to protect them from the outside world. Truman has many dark and gritty works, but whereas most deal with morally gray figures hacking out a moral path, this does something quite different it creates a society, and subculture and a set of ethics within it. Evil here is nowhere near as important as society, and so by looking at this world without judgment Truman creates a smart intriguing place and I wish he’d return to do more.

NIGHTWOLF
DEVIL’S DUE PRESS
Stephen L. Antczak Nick Marinkovich

This comic considers the consequences of trying to use an evil curse for a good purpose. A werewolf cursed fellow learns that in a rage of bloodlust towards a criminal a police officer was killed. There is obviously more going on than the reader knows and the creative team has done a considerable job making the reader understand the horror on both ends of the curse, the person with the curse who realizes his error and rage, and the victims of his uncontrolled rage. Both the writing and art here are inspired.

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