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[BEST & WORST ’12] Lonmonster’ List of the Best Comics 2012!

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Comics are my number one passion in life. While some may see me as childish or geeky, I believe comic books are one of the most powerful storytelling mediums around. If you disagree, let the mighty hammer of Thor rain down upon you. The point is that while some dismiss comics for lacking in maturity, comics are just as potent and intelligent as any other art form. I read an unhealthy amount of comics (seriously, it’s a problem), and I like to think that by know I know what makes a good comic. The books in my top 10 list range from indie graphic novels to New 52 ongoings in order to represent the wide array of quality comics from 2012.

I had a really tough time narrowing down my list. Starting with roughly 20 titles, I cut it to 10, then ordered them over and over again. I never would have guessed that my number one series of the year would be a zombie/vampire book.

Lonmonster’ List | Big J’s List | Jorge Solis’s List | Melissa Grey’s List | Your Friendly Neighbourhood Brady’s List | George Shunick’s List

LONNIE NADLER’S TOP 10 COMICS OF 2012

10. Alabaster: Wolves (Dark Horse Comics )

There’s just something about Caitlin R Kiernan’s white albino huntress that had me head over heals in love from issue #1. Kiernan bizarre world is so vast and unlike any dark fantasy I’ve ever encountered. While “Alabaster: Wolves” was just a brief miniseries, the fact that I liked it this much how much potential exists within this edgy fantasy world. This is the kind of fiction that is not grounded in our reality, but rather takes place in a reality of its own; a reality that is estranged, beautiful, and powerful.

9. Monocyte (IDW Publishing)

Prior to menton3 and Kasra Gahnbari’s endeavors with 44FLOOD, the duo released “Monocyte”, the story of a one-eyed necromancer who is awoken to put two immortal races to rest. It’s a bleak and gothic look into the future of humanity. I’ve read the book over several times, and while I can’t say I fully understand it, “Monocyte” is the most poetic comic I read this year.

8. Queen Crab (Image Comics)

When I heard that Jimmy Palmiotti was writing an original graphic novel being marketed at Stephen Kind meets David Lynch, I knew it would be on this list before I even read it. Ginger’s journey throughout “Queen Crab” is an absurd one, but more importantly it is an exploration how we try to find meaning in a world that is inherently without meaning. While “Queen Crab” is a story of female empowerment and male castration, it is so much more. Bold in his delivery, Palmiotti twists the classic horror movie monster into something far more beautiful and far more human.

7. Animal Man (DC Comics)

Jeff Lemire took a hero nobody believed in, and made him one of the most popular titles at DC. A horror title nonetheless. Buddy Baker is a family oriented man, and there’s nothing Lemire writes better than family drama. Sure, The Rot is dreadfully awesome, but what separates this book from the rest of DC’s lineup that Buddy Baker is far more relatable than most heroes. The horror is not strictly derived from Animal Man’s grotesque enemies, but more so from fear of what might happen to his beloved family.

6. Severed (Image Comics)

“Severed” is a classic horror story. It throws back to 1916 where fears of childhood and leaving home were ripe. Snyder and Tuft base their twisted villain on real life serial killer, Albert Fish; a brilliant move that reminds us of the sick people that exist in the real world. In the final few issues, nearly every page is heart pounding, packed with real suspense and true scares that are rarely seen in comics.

5. My Friend Dahmer (Abrams ComicArts)

If you dig horror, chances are you’ve stumbled across the Wikipedia pages of the most infamous serial killers. Jeffrey Dahmer is perhaps the most notorious of the bunch. Writer and artist Derf Backderf grounds his work in his own experiences, recounting his life and times with high-school friend, Jeffrey Dahmer. Backderf doesn’t shy away from the disturbing subject matter, making “My Friend Dahmer” a potent character study. This is a fascinating look into a broken world that bred a monster.

4. Sweet Tooth (Vertigo Comics)

“Sweet Tooth” represents all I love about Jeff Lemire. While I would have liked to put “Underwater Welder” on this list, “Sweet Tooth” has been too good and too close to my heart to leave it out. This series showcases Lemire’s compassionate writing and his unique, naïve artistic style. The post-apocalyptic hybrid creatures are cute, but the pervasive sense of danger throughout the series gives it a weight unlike any other series.

3. Saga (Image Comics)

I doubt that there will be a single Best Comics of 2012 list that does not pay tribute to Brian K Vaughan and Finoa Staples masterpiece that is “Saga”. Part sci-fi epic, part love story, part adventure, BKV draws from all genres to create a lush world that is as imaginative as it is dangerous. I cannot even begin to comprehend how BKV’s mind works, but I’m glad we have him on our side.

2. Locke & Key (IDW Publishing)

Just when I thought this series couldn’t get any better, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez deliver “Locke & Key: Clockworks”. “Clockworks” is a testament to Hill’s ability to shape multifaceted storylines as he ties the plot all the way back to the first arc. I have grown so attached to the doomed Locke family that I do now know how I will go through life once they are gone in 2013.

1. The New Deadwardians (Vertigo Comics)

If you had told me at the start of the year that a zombie/vampire book would be my favorite series of the year, I would have said you were batshit crazy. However, Abnett seamlessly blends in all the key elements of Gothic fiction with modern horror to create an extremely intriguing mystery that bleeds with whit, magic, and innovation. I’ve grown weary of the countless undead stories out there, but “The New Deadwardians” is the most ferociously original series I read all year. From the clever play on words to the rich elements of Victorian history, “The New Deadwardians” is proof that there is still plenty of life left in vampire/zombie fiction.

Honorable Mentions:

Colder (Dark Horse Comics)
Harvest (Image Comics)
The Hive (Pantheon)

Thanks everyone for a great year. See you in 2013!

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[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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