SFFWorld Best Reads 2007 (Part II)

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3. Comics (and Manga)

Hobbit: Seems to continue to grow. Strengths and weaknesses this year?

Robert: Unfortunately, since starting Fantasy Book Critic, I haven’t had as much time to read comic books but there’s still been some good ones coming out in the past year like Stephen King’s Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born and the first three issues of GRRM’s The Sworn Sword adaptation. I also liked what Charlie Huston did on Moon Knight, Ghost Rider has always been a favorite, the Anita Blake comics are fun, I’ve been enjoying Iron and the Maiden, and I’m really impressed with everything that Virgin Comics is putting out. Oh, and I almost forgot Paul Dini’s Madame Mirage and Garth Ennis’ The Boys!

As far as weaknesses, I think it’s the same as always—the typecasting and not being taken seriously as literature, though I think the industry is making strides in that area.

Strengths…well, this is more of a trend, but you see a lot more authors taking a stab at writing comic books, which is great in my opinion, and I think you’re going to keep seeing more and more of it in the near future. Also, it seems like actual publishers are getting more involved in the comic book industry, at least with graphic novels. I mean Del Rey already has a manga imprint and they recently announced that deal with Marvel Comics for an original Wolverine/X-Men manga and that other deal with Dabel Brothers Publishing, which are working with some big names like George R. R. Martin, Dean Koontz and Jim Butcher.

Plus, Random House has a couple of other exciting graphic novels coming out next year from Terry Brooks and another one from Dean Koontz. Then there’s Hachette Book Group USA who recently released the graphic novel Shooting War and they also started a manga imprint. Meanwhile, Fox Atomic Comics has teamed up with HarperCollins, and Virgin who’s already gotten into the comic book industry, is now also trying their hand at publishing. Finally, Tor Books recently announced their new manga imprint in a partnership with Seven Seas.

Overall, I think it’s a really smart and exciting move. After all, speculative fiction literature can be pretty visual, at least in the reader’s mind, so I think it’s only natural to see popular SF/fantasy novels adapted into comic book format. That said, I’d like to see the comic book/publishing industry work even closer together, not just in adapting books, but creating original stories and I’m confident that there’s much that could be done that would benefit both sides. The sky’s the limit!

Adam: Didn’t really keep up to date with comics this year.

Aidan: The Dark Tower adaptation was brilliant and The Dabel Brothers continue to bring excellent adaptations of some of my favourite series. I can’t see this trend going anywhere but up over the next few years.

Terry Brooks is releasing a graphic novel next year, The Dark Wraith of Shannara, and I think that really shows how serious the industry is in promoting the medium of story telling. When an old, veteran writer like Brooks jumps on the bandwagon, and Del Rey fully backs him, you know it’s going to be big.

Rob Bedford: The biggest thing in comics last year was The Dark Tower graphic novel published by Marvel Comics, scripted by comics legend Peter David, with fantastic art by Jae Lee.  As a fan of King’s opus, I enjoyed this series issue-by-issue.

The Big 2 (Marvel and DC) continue to dominate the shelves of comic book stores with mega-crossover events.  Marvel’s big Hulk crossover sold boatloads and seemed to receive a positive response from readers.  DC’s Countdown series and crossovers not so much.  It is selling, but it doesn’t seem to have the same buzz as the prior year’s 52.

Relating specifically to Fantasy and Science Fiction, the Dabel Brothers bounced from Marvel to Random House and continued to adapt popular works of fantasy authors (George R. R. Martin & Laurell K. Hamilton).  I’m particularly looking forward to their adaptation of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files.

Thankfully Mike Mignola is continuing to churn out Hellboy stories.  Image Comics and Dark Horse comics are doing interesting things in Science Fiction and fantasy. Rick Remeder, Steve Niles, and Robert Kirkman are all doing some cool stuff – Space Opera, Vampires and Zombies.

Graeme: I’m only really reading The Walking Dead (regularly) and that has been consistently excellent from day one. I’ve just started getting into Manga (mostly through Yen Press although I am reading Death Note online as well) but that has been very hit and miss in content. There’s enough there though to make me give Manga the benefit of the doubt and keep reading, With the Light (Keiko Tobe) in particular was an excellent read.

Mark: Not really read much in the way of comics this year, though Yen Press are producing some very interesting graphic novels. Keiko Tobe’s With the Light was a phenomenal book in that it challenged my preconceptions of the graphic novel.

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