Comics

The art of Graphic Novel has been undervalued for a long time. Rubbish, kiddy stuff, inferior. Grab Sandman, Maus or Give Me Liberty and you'll see the light. I promise.

Nonetheless, judging by my enthusiasm levels, this page would rightfully belong in the Child section. I really, really do love comics. But we're here behind the blue curtain since in my books (no pun intended) comics are first and foremost literature. What can I say, to me the pictures are words, too.

(FIN) Suomenkielisiä sarjakuvasivuja:
- Katuoja, arvioita ja kolumneja sarjakuvista.
- Kvaak.fi, sarjakuvaportaali.
- Luetteloita Suomessa julkaistuista sarjakuvista ja kattava linkkilista.
- Valerian-sivusto.

Didier Comès is my (chronologically) first true comics love. He is a Belgian master of black and white whose mystical and haunting art and stories enchanted me in my early teens. I still remember the impact of reading Lumikko (La Belette) for the first time, and how I then re-read it time and time again in the local library. I guess the Pagan themes were a partial reason for my fascination but I also loved the unique art style. Another Comès memory is asking for the Finnish translation of Silence (Jalava 1986) at a second-hand bookshop in Tampere, must've been around 1997, and the storekeep pulling out the book from under his desk, wrapped in plastic. The price he asked, 200 FIM, was a lot for me then, but I wanted it so bad that I paid it. The collector pleasure still rises in me when I think of my acquisition, now over twenty years old. In addition to my precious first printing Silence I own second printing Lumikko (boy was I thrilled when they finally re-printed it!), the twisted Eva, Sydänpuu (L'Arbre-coeur), Uneksivien puiden talo (La Maison ou revent les arbres) and parts of Iris, only partially published in Finnish in three issues of the late comics magazine Tapiiri.
[Information on Comès] [Suomeksi julkaistu tuotanto (FIN)]

(At this point I must mention the Finnish X-Men: Ryhmä-X. I bought my first issue in late 1987 from the local newsagent because something in the cover (with Rachel in her hunting outfit) fascinated me. The story was continuation from the previous issue and thus somewhat challenging to get into. Nonetheless, I started buying Ryhmä-X, then subscribed it, and have kept with it all through its ebbs and flows, publishing halt and re-start, stories that were sometimes brilliant and sometimes disappointingly poor, the new rise with Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) and all.)

Neil Gaiman's Sandman is my second comics love. It is a true epic, spanning 75 issues (10 collections), several additions or spin-offs and a whole mythology of its own. And then some. My first full reading was when my friend Kaitsu lent me his Sandman collection some time after I had started my uni studies in tampere, and since then I've acquired it for myself. My favourite edition is The Absolute Sandman Vol. 1, oversized, re-coloured, slipcased hardcover containing the first 20 issues and extras. Gaiman has written other extraordinary comics as well, such as the miniseries Books of Magic that was the starting point of the Books of Magic series.
[Overview of Sandman] [Sandman annotations] [The Wake] [The Dreaming ~ Books of Magic annotations]

My third big comics love is Alan Moore, the grand old man of comic writing. Of his numerous works my favourite is the series of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which I own in almost ridiculously multiple editions (Vol. 1 in Finnish paperback and in English harcover, Vol. 2 in Finnish paperback and in English both hardcover and absolute edition, and The Black Dossier is in preorder in English harcover). I also love Moore's Top Ten, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Promethea and the brilliant and pornographic Lost Girls painted by his partner Melinda Gebbie. As far as I am concerned, the best proof of Moore's genius is that even his Superman stories are innovative and interesting!
[Alan Moore Fan Site] [Top Shelf Productions] [Annotations for Alan Moore comic books]

Some addictions I've acquired more recently include Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise spanning 90 intriguing, funny, bittersweet and tragic issues; Bill Willingham's Fables series, which is innovative modern fantasy that draws from fairy tales; David Mack whose gorgeous art fills his own Kabuki series (see David Mack Guide for samples) and Daredevil written by Brian Michael Bendis.

I love others, too. Petri Hiltunen, the Finnish fantasy and scifi master, who has - among other things - done Conan in Mustan rannikon kuningatar, his own mythologies in Ontot kukkulat and Praedor series and strip comedy in Väinämöinen series. Frank Miller as the father of Sin City series and Give Me Liberty (complete works). Benoit Sokal who has taken noir and covered it with feathers and fur without losing the tragedy (suomeksi julkaistu tuotanto (FIN)). Wendy and Richard Pini's Elfquest series still holds magic to me. And Hellblazer's John Constantine looks like Sting and not like K. Reeves (more info).

And then there's manga, finally published in Finland, too. Some of my favourites are Matsuri Akino, especially her Pet Shop of Horrors series (some of her works are available in English only scanlated); Tohru Fujisawa's GTO with momentum, naughty school kids, unlikely events and surprisingly deep characters starting with Great Teacher Onizuka himself; Natsuki Takaya's surprisingly addictive Fruits Basket; Gosho Aoyama's Meitantei Konan where a prodigal teenage detective solves crimes and mysteries in the guise of an eight-year-old. More on manga here, including a listing of our manga collection.

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