Standup comics
A break from books that are just words.
If you’re just joining us, I normally blather on about books—mostly novels, though I’ll blather about non-fiction, essays, and short stories, too—but I’m reading an excellent comic right now, which made me think of another one that I really liked…and then I got stuck.
Because the truth is, I haven’t actually read that many comics despite the neat families of boxes of them that live somewhere in my house, thanks to the many, many decades of careful collection on the part of my husband (he’s 183!).
Anyway, years ago, my friend Sam (more from him later) loved a comic so much he had an issue of it sent to my home so that I’d read it. As I’ve mentioned re: Bob Iger, this is a trick that works, and is why I have read A Court of Thorns and Roses. I figure my two comics picks would be pretty obvious to any of you who are already into the scene, but, hey! Maybe they’ll be really helpful for those who were more like me: readers who wanted to get their book-feet wet. But a Sam pick! That could be considered advanced! So you can look for Sam’s down at the #3 slot.
Then, at the end, Julia has a webtoon recommendation for you (a webtoon is a type of digital comic made specifically to be read on a smartphone,).
Pardon all the throat-clearing, but I felt compelled to explain! And so far out of my comfort zone! I gotta read some sort of English countryside butler “drinks are served in the drawing room” murder mystery, stat.
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Want to see what books I’ve recommended in the past? Guess what—I’ve created a handy spreadsheet with all sorts of helpful info to help you choose your next read, and if you’re an EELS subscriber, I’ll give you access to it. It’s free, it’s easy, maybe it’ll help!
♈🪽 Saga
Created by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Sam very sweetly sent me this book and I very sweetly read it. I also read this graphic non-fiction book Understanding Comics because I had to interview the extremely nice and helpful author, Scott McCloud, for a story. If you ever get a chance to see him talk, please do.
A brief note about Understanding Comics, because I think it will be helpful for book readers who have struggled with comics: I learned I was reading comics too fast! My mind was too used to paragraphs! I only sought out the words and sort of skimmed over the pictures. As such, I was missing a lot of visual cues, which left me confused as to what was going on a lot of the time. The pacing confused me too, and I felt unsatisfied. I had to pay more attention to what the art was telling me, and McCloud showed me how to interpret that.
Back to Saga: Alana, one of the protagonists of this story, becomes a mother literally and disgustingly on the very first page. She is fierce, headstrong, and sometimes so incredibly dumb. Her dude Marko is quieter, more measured, and makes good jokes. This all spoke to me on a personal level. He’s got horns, she’s got wings. OK, this didn’t speak to me as much, but looks really cool. Her people are the oppressors, his are the oppressed. They’re not supposed to be together. It’s all very romantic and funny, and very NSFW.
Saga is a true saga and has been going on for a bajillion years now. I can’t keep up. That baby from the first page is probably 30 by now, whizzing through space, joining forces with (or railng against?) the robot bluebloods with TVs for faces? I hope her ghost babysitter is still around. I’ll read the latest issues one day.
Recommended to: Those who love good art, are not easily scandalized, have an excellent sense of humor, and a good head for nuance. This is a very rich story with lots of layers.
🚲 Paper Girls
Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson
I really liked the Amazon Prime series of the same name and was very put out that it wasn’t picked up for a second season. Guess no one else liked it! Turns out, they were correct, because now that I’ve read the comic (which is serial—a true comic!—but has completed) I can attest that the comic is way, way better.
Picture it. Cleveland, 1988. The hours before dawn. Four 12-year-old girls hop on their bikes to begin their paper routes. It’s the morning after Halloween so they know there will still be obnoxious teenagers out, ready to do them harm, particularly since they’re girls doing jobs that should rightfully belong to boys. But this year, things are much worse than the odd pimply douche in a mask. What’s this? An object on the ground with a strange symbol on it that looks like an… apple with a missing bite? What’s that flying above? A pterodactyl?
There is something so charming about 1988 paper girls taking on time-traveling villains from all over. I could read this thing forever, but I’m also kind of relieved that it will end (though, Saga, I am sort of glad you’re apparently going on forever.)
I’m aware I’m recommending two comics written by the same guy (though I’ve read one other by him that I super did NOT like), but the only other one I can remember really liking is Hawkeye: My Life is a Weapon by Matt Fraction and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl so maybe read those too! It’s genuinely just a quantity thing here—I haven’t read enough to know, so, at this point, I am going to turn it over to the experts.
Recommended to: Those who like a good time travel thing without having to think too hard about time travel. I really like the culture clash between time periods.
🤖 Atomic Robo
Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener
(The below text is written by Sam! Thank you Sam!)
I love comic books and my favorite series by far is Atomic Robo. It’s a joyful series where each volume (which can be read in any order) explores a portion of the life of the titular Atomic Robo, a fully sentient android built by Nikola Tesla in the early 20th century. One volume has Robo fighting for the Allies in World War II, another is set in 1930s gangland Chicago. More modern volumes include a homeowner association conflict with Richard Branson and Robo calling up Steve Jobs to complain that the iPad’s touchscreen doesn’t recognize input from robot fingers.
This is a comic book series without any cynicism. It is an homage without irony. It's a book where our hero will hit rampaging giant ants with cars because that's what you do and fend off an extra-dimensional vampiric invasion while insisting that vampires can't possibly exist. My personal favorite is Volume 3: The Shadow from Beyond Time where Robo encounters the same giant world-eating monster in four different time periods of his life. It is full of delightful moments I won't spoil, and it all comes together beautifully in its last chapter.
Recommended to: Those who wants to see a lovable robot team up with Carl Sagan to use science and lightning guns to fight off Cthulhu.
And now, a bonus recommendation
⚡ Lore Olympus — Rachel Smythe
Recommended to: “For lovers of Greek mythology and slow burn romance, Lore Olympus is a beautifully illustrated digital comic on the app Webtoon that retells the myth of Hades and Persephone with humor, heart, and Olympian hijinks.”
Recommended by: Julia, who has an absolutely splendid Substack called
, is lately into watching the playthrough of a video game called Lies of P, a gritty steampunk retelling of Pinocchio in which you fight your way through a fallen city taken over by zombie puppets, and must lie to survive. It has a vibe similar to Dark Souls (iykyk). Recommended to fans of immersive world building and scrappy heroes with mechanical hearts. The last three books she loved were Giovanni’s Room, all about love, new visions, and Talking to My Daughter About the Economy. I’ll miss you Julia. Julia 🥀. That’s a Poldark joke. I lied last week.That was the twenty-fourth EELS! And it was a special edition in honor of my pal and lifelong Fantastic Four fan Oliver. I would be just so grateful if you’d share widely with your networks! As always, send any and all questions, feedback, and shouted book recommendations by hitting reply.
📚 Susan