What comic are you reading at the moment.

My reading is mostly trade-based and very sporadic these days, though every now and then I remember that I keep buying big bundles of digital comics on my tablet that I haven't read.

Recently, I read the 3rd and 4th volumes of the Rivers Of London comics, which are actually really good and work more as short stories set in the same world rather than the typical tie-in material where the authorial voice and standard of writing might fall far short of the source material.

I also finally got around to reading all of Locke & Key via my local library and was very pleasantly surprised - I've enjoyed a good chunk of Joe Hill's fiction, and suspect that he's a good writer who is, for the time being at least, better at concepts than he is character work (though that may be a subconscious and unfair comparison to his dad, who is a phenomenal character writer when he wants to be). In particular I love how Bode's curiosity and childish naiveté come across as much in his body language as in his way of speaking, but all of the characters are developed and fleshed out in interesting ways here (though, as has happened elsewhere in Hill's work, there are one or two moments that are kind of tin-eared in their earnestness to deal with certain sociopolitical topics). Throughout the series, Hill and Rodriguez work together to make both character and plotting really engaging, and as a result I would happily read more stories set in the same world because it has very neatly established a whole bunch of narrative possibilities.

Lastly, I read the excellent Your Black Friend from the Silver Sprocket Club (whose anthology, As You Were, I have enjoyed and posted about in the past). I thought this was a really good, if short, roundup of what it's like to be black in contemporary America, filtered through a very clever framing device of being an explanation for white people of what it is like to be "the black friend". I can see that certain perspectives and ideas may vary in their applicability, but the art is lovely and visually engaging, while the writing packs in a lot of ideas and concepts into a 12-page strip - all while also managing to avoid sounding preachy and having more than a few moments of humour.

Delirium wrote: »

Was really impressed with Your Black Friend. Got it as part of a selection of comics from ShortBox. They are great for finding good indie comics you might otherwise miss

I keep meaning to pre-order stuff from them, I'm kicking myself over missing the one at the start of the year that had a new Emily Carroll comics included. Every time I've looked over what they offer I've practically been drooling on myself

Planetary is a great read. If you enjoy that, you might enjoy the Warren Ellis run on Stormwatch and possibly the Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips series Sleeper.

Transmetropolitan is probably also worth a look, if the idea of a Hunter S Thompson political journalist in a beyond-Blade-Runner future sounds appealing. If you do check it out, start with the second half (issues 4-6) of the first trade. The first half is a bit po-faced in setting up the story, whereas the second half quickly gives you an idea of what to expect.