What I'm Reading Now: An Actual Comics Post!

Here are some books you should be reading.  All of them are available at your local comics shop, either as original issues, collected editions, or both:

FINDER, by Carla Speed McNeil, available in collected editions and currently serialized in Dark Horse Presents.  FINDER is hard to describe.  "Aboriginal science fiction" has been used and comes closest.  The adventures of a character who works as a "finder" in an amazingly complete and richly textured alternate reality.

 

MONSTRESS, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, from Image Comics.  Yet another science fiction/fantasy book for which the phrase "lavishly illustrated" was invented.  A basic hero quest book, but with lush, detailed illustrations combining the sensibilities of Ambrose Bierce and the finest manga and anime.  Not to be missed.

MOTOR GIRL by Terry Moore, from his self-publishing house Abstract Studios.  Something completely different.  Terry Moore writes and draws the most amazing stuff.  He came to fame with Strangers In Paradise, which redefined romantic comedy.  He followed it with the sci-fi story Echo and then the horror epic Rachel Rising, all of which are worth your checking out.  His latest is the story of a young war vet who works as a mechanic in a remote desert junkyard and who copes with her PTSD with her imaginary friend and assistant who happens to be a gorilla.  But the UFO's which come to her for repairs might just be the real thing.  Black and white, beautifully illustrated -- nobody draws facial expression, women -- or aliens! -- like Terry Moore.

And finally, the antithesis of wholesome family entertainment:  CLEAN ROOM by Gail Simone and a couple of different artists, depending on which arc of the story you're reading.  CLEAN ROOM is from DC Comics' "Vertigo" imprint.  Ms. Simone has brought new depths to horror with this title.  You will be profoundly disturbed and upset by the goings-on at Ms. Astrid Mueller's facility and its so-called "clean room."  (I will never look at monkeys the same way, ever again.)  This book explores an interesting idea on where evil and our ides of demonic possession might really come from, and like everything Ms. Simone writes, is worth every second of your time.

So, yeah, while I consider myself a diehard DC Comics guy who never misses his monthly fix of Green Lantern and Batman, I also can't recommend these books strongly enough.  And like I said, you can find all of them right now, from the beginning, at your local comics shop.