What should I read from Boom!

[Agent John Bishop]

Hello friends,

I recently got and read Wild's End and Welcome Back from Boom! which were both really, really excellent. It got me wondering what else I might be missing from them. I have tried a bunch of their children's stuff just because I am always on the lookout for books I can give to younger comic fans, but I have not tried much else. What do you recommend?

[TotalSnorefest]

Obviously it depends a lot on what kind of stuff you like, but here's some suggestions.

Wild's End: The Enemy Within functions as a sort of sequel to the Wild's End series. If you liked that, this is more you will enjoy.

Arcadia was highly acclaimed from a team of unknown creators. Think the Matrix meets class struggle. Very well done.

Adventure Time is one of the licensed franchises Boom! is doing an exceedingly excellent job with. The first 35 issues are written by Ryan "Dinosaur Comics/Squirrel Girl" North and they're hilarious, sometimes deconstructive pieces of work that are secretly better than the actual show. There's also a bunch of spin-offs, the Fionna & Cake ones are probably the best as they're gorgeous and function as an in-universe gender-swapped fan-fiction. Yup.

In that same vein, Bee & Puppycat is run by the cartoon's actual creators. This is a little more zany and at the same time a little safer, but they do cool stuff like having characters sing out QR codes you can scan to hear the music.

Anything under the Boom Box! imprint is cool YA/middle-grade and creator-owned stuff. Lumberjanes is hilarious although a bit too short everytime, The Midas Flesh is a little uneven space adventure that doesn't quite know if it wants to be comedic or serious, and Teen Dog is the coolest dude around.

Lastly, don't underestimate Archaia's output, Boom! acquired them a while back. The Joiners in 3D is a gorgeous piece of work that has David Marquez (Miles Morales Spider-Man) doing something wildly different with actual hand-drawn 3D comics. Very cool. Also recommend The Last Broadcast if your interests skew more towards manga and European stuff; it's about magicians and people who break into abandoned old buildings.

Last Archaia recommendation before this post becomes an entire essay: Jim Henson's Storyteller. There's two series so far, the Witches mini and currently one about Dragons. Every issue is a stand-alone adaptation of well-known folklore; you don't even need to know the Storyteller series at all. Particularly recommend the S.M. Vidaurri and Kyla Vanderklugt issues of the Witches mini, both are wildly different, but they're truly gorgeous. Not being hyperbolic when I say these are the prettiest comics I've ever read.

[Deniz Camp]

BOOM is putting out some brilliant books right now.

I can't recommend ARACADIA enough as a brilliant, brilliant book. It's about to wrap up, with a trade soon following, and it promises to be brilliant.

From that same author, I've read an advanced copy of TURNCOAT, and it's similarly brilliant. It's a post-post Apocalypse. An alien invasion occurred some 300 years ago, and the occupying forces were driven out some 3 years ago. Now the entire world is a post-colonialist state, with sympathizers and cultural elements (currencies, technologies, religions, etc) left over from that occupation. It's highly charged and really, really smart, reflective of India or Ireland or Iraq.

Si Spurrier is totally brilliant, and so I'd recommend THE SPIRE from him, and forthcoming WEAVERS. I haven't read WEAVERS, but it sounds kind of brilliant -- Lovecraftian super powered noir. THE SPIRE is epic, sweeping fantasy.

KLAUS is a lot of fun; it's an origin story for Santa Claus, by way of Lord of the Rings.

[HsssH]

The Spire, Six-Gun Gorilla, Klaus.

I'm reading Arcadia, but I'm a bit disappointed in it. First couple of issues were really good, but following that it kinda devolves into your usual sci-fi mystery stuff. Which isn't really bad thing in itself, but after strong start I was expecting something more out of it. And the art, not really a fan of the artist while my first three mentions have solid art backing up solid writing.

[Deniz Camp]

Oh man, Arcadia just gets better and better for me. It's the detail work as much as anything, but it's got such a bloody, emotional core. Love it.

Six Gun Gorilla is long done, but it's Spurrier's best work for sure. Can't recommend that one enough either.

[Agent John Bishop]

Obviously it depends a lot on what kind of stuff you like, but here's some suggestions.

Wild's End: The Enemy Within functions as a sort of sequel to the Wild's End series. If you liked that, this is more you will enjoy.

Arcadia was highly acclaimed from a team of unknown creators. Think the Matrix meets class struggle. Very well done.

Adventure Time is one of the licensed franchises Boom! is doing an exceedingly excellent job with. The first 35 issues are written by Ryan "Dinosaur Comics/Squirrel Girl" North and they're hilarious, sometimes deconstructive pieces of work that are secretly better than the actual show. There's also a bunch of spin-offs, the Fionna & Cake ones are probably the best as they're gorgeous and function as an in-universe gender-swapped fan-fiction. Yup.

In that same vein, Bee & Puppycat is run by the cartoon's actual creators. This is a little more zany and at the same time a little safer, but they do cool stuff like having characters sing out QR codes you can scan to hear the music.

Anything under the Boom Box! imprint is cool YA/middle-grade and creator-owned stuff. Lumberjanes is hilarious although a bit too short everytime, The Midas Flesh is a little uneven space adventure that doesn't quite know if it wants to be comedic or serious, and Teen Dog is the coolest dude around.

Lastly, don't underestimate Archaia's output, Boom! acquired them a while back. The Joiners in 3D is a gorgeous piece of work that has David Marquez (Miles Morales Spider-Man) doing something wildly different with actual hand-drawn 3D comics. Very cool. Also recommend The Last Broadcast if your interests skew more towards manga and European stuff; it's about magicians and people who break into abandoned old buildings.

Last Archaia recommendation before this post becomes an entire essay: Jim Henson's Storyteller. There's two series so far, the Witches mini and currently one about Dragons. Every issue is a stand-alone adaptation of well-known folklore; you don't even need to know the Storyteller series at all. Particularly recommend the S.M. Vidaurri and Kyla Vanderklugt issues of the Witches mini, both are wildly different, but they're truly gorgeous. Not being hyperbolic when I say these are the prettiest comics I've ever read.

I am excited to read Wild's End: Enemy Within when it comes out and Arcadia and the Joiners also sound right up my ally! Much thanks.

[Agent John Bishop]

Oh man, Arcadia just gets better and better for me. It's the detail work as much as anything, but it's got such a bloody, emotional core. Love it.

Six Gun Gorilla is long done, but it's Spurrier's best work for sure. Can't recommend that one enough either.

Oooh, Six Gun Gorilla looks very cool too. Not yet a huge fan of Spurrier but apparently this is the place to start.

[HsssH]

If you'll like Spurrier's work then I recommend tracking down this too: http://www.amazon.com/Numbercruncher.../dp/1782760040

[HsssH]

Oh man, Arcadia just gets better and better for me. It's the detail work as much as anything, but it's got such a bloody, emotional core. Love it.

Read last issue today and overall my opinion of it improved, I think it had pretty solid ending with all required beats. Thou, still not a fan of the art and I think that middle parts could have used some cutting.

[Ragdoll]

I'm all about Giant Days.

[Agent John Bishop]

Read last issue today and overall my opinion of it improved, I think it had pretty solid ending with all required beats. Thou, still not a fan of the art and I think that middle parts could have used some cutting.

I think I agree with you. I binged the whole thing and it was fine, but it felt very similar to a number of other books which start out high concept and gets bogged down in its own complexity. It ended well, but it also ended on such a huge scale that the emotional stakes were pretty much out of sight.

[manatree]

I'm a big fan of the Wild's End series. It reminds me a bit of Wind in the Willows meets War of the Worlds. The little added items in each issue (newspaper articles, etc.) help to provide backstory and flesh out the world/universe. I also think it would be appropriate for the YA crowd as well.

Giant Days has been a pleasant surprise. As a 40+ male, I'm not the target audience. However, it is extremely well written, has a unique art style and is just flat out funny as hell. I work for a large university and the characters in Giant Days are spot on composites of today's students. I was very glad that it has become an ongoing and not just a short series.

Feathers was a six book series that has finished. A lot of fun, and like any good fairy tale, a bit of an intrigung dark side. I think kids would like it as well.

[MRP]

Not current, but fairly recent from BOOM: Hit, Hit: 1957 and Day Men are all worth checking out. The Hit minis are great crime noir comics and Day Men features Brian Stelfreeze on interior art. If you ar egoing to go back to Archaia pre-BOOM, check out Secret History too.

-M

[TotalSnorefest]

Oh! Also the original Hexed if you can find it! That's from where Emma Rios really took off in the US market, I think. Worth a look, since it's just one volume. They did a relaunch recently but I'm not sure how that fared.

[HsssH]

Was relaunch or original by same artist as Klaus?