End of year lists

I don’t usually bother with end of year lists or top tens but I enjoy seeing other peoples books and pull lists so what the hell, why not? Not a comprehensive list of everything I read in 2022, just a few personal faves.

First up, Short and Curious by PJ Holden available on gumroad.

I know, I know… I’ve posted about this before but I bloody love it! I also wanted to show off the lil A5 copy I printed on the big old duplex copier at work… even dusted off my long arm stapler too.

The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering by Nate Piekos. While the book primarily focuses on using Adobe Illustrator there’s lot’s of useful guides and info. I’m really gonna have to make time to try out the stuff here and see if I can adapt the workflows in Affinity Designer.

Cyberpunk 2077: Blackout by Bartosz Sztybor and Roberto Ricci was a must-buy for me after seeing Roberto’s process posts on twitter.

The Dragon Path by Ethan Young was an absolute delight from start to finish. Some fanart is well overdue for this fantastic book.

Dream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon. I’ve had this on my bed side table for the past year and have read it now at least ten times. The stories collected are simply phenomenal, from the eeriness of ‘Guests’ to the sheer joy of ‘Beyond the sun’.

Kroma by Lorenzo De Felici. One of my favourite books on the stands at the moment, Lorenzo is producing something incredible with Kroma.

SKYBOUND X has been on my pull list since it started and issue 25 was excellent. Battle Beast, Kirkman, Ottley, need I say more?

Ok, that’s enough of that, happy new year dweebs!

Pull List – September 2020

I’ve largely been reading digital comics in the last few years, only really picking up the occasional small press printed book from creators at comic markets or through their websites. It’s really a space thing for me, there’s only so much stuff I can keep and I’ve even been selling things online to reduce my collection. With lockdown though and everything else that’s going on (insert internal screaming) the urge to visit comic shops again has been reignited for me in a big way. Newsagents like WHSmith and Eason have already closed in Northern Ireland and some other small newsagents have paused their magazine sales entirely. Comic publishers and local comic shops are taking a HUGE hit right now and it really feels crucial to get behind them in whatever minuscule way I can. With that in mind, I’ve now got a regular pull list with a LCS and thought I’d post some of the stuff I’ve been reading the last few months… it’s all great btw.

15/07/20

  • NEGAN LIVES #1 (Jul 01, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Cliff Rathburn (CA) Dave McCaig (A/CA) Charlie Adlard (L) Rus Wooton
  • OBLIVION SONG BY KIRKMAN & DE FELICI #25 CVR A DE FELICI (Jul 08, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Annalisa Leoni (A/CA) Lorenzo De Felici (L) Rus Wooton

When I heard Cory Walker was returning to draw Science Dog again in Oblivion Song #25 I couldn’t wait to grab a copy, check out that cover!

22/08/20

  • FIRE POWER BY KIRKMAN & SAMNEE TP VOL 01 PRELUDE (Jul 01, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A/CA) Chris Samnee, Matt Wilson (C) Matt Wilson (L) Rus Wooton
  • FIRE POWER #1 PROMO ED FORMERLY FCBD (Jul 01, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A/CA) Chris Samnee (C) Matt Wilson (L) Rus Wooton
  • FIRE POWER BY KIRKMAN & SAMNEE #1 (Aug 05, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A/CA) Chris Samnee, Matt Wilson (C) Matt Wilson (L) Rus Wooton
  • FIRE POWER BY KIRKMAN & SAMNEE #2 (Aug 05, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A/CA) Chris Samnee, Matt Wilson (C) Matt Wilson (L) Rus Wooton

Absolutely loving Fire Power atm, the process pages from Kirkman & Samnee in issue 1 was an unexpected bonus!

  • FCBD 2020 INVINCIBLE #1 (August 5, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A/CA) Cory Walker (C) Bill Crabtree

So excited for the Invincible animated show, these designs by Cory Walker are awesome.

  • OBLIVION SONG BY KIRKMAN & DE FELICI #26 (Aug 12, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Annalisa Leoni (A/CA) Lorenzo De Felici (L) Rus Wooton
  • BIG GIRLS #1 (Aug 12, 2020) (W) Jason Howard (A/CA/C) Jason Howard (L) Fonografiks

Lorenzo’s fight sequences in Oblivion Song #26 are something else!

12/09/20

  • FIRE POWER BY KIRKMAN & SAMNEE #3 (Sep 02, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A/CA) Chris Samnee, Matt Wilson (C) Matt Wilson (L) Rus Wooton
  • OBLIVION SONG BY KIRKMAN & DE FELICI #27 (Sep 09, 2020) (W) Robert Kirkman (A) Annalisa Leoni (A/CA) Lorenzo De Felici (L) Rus Wooton

17/09/20

  • STILLWATER BY ZDARSKY & PEREZ #1 (Sep 16, 2020) (W) Chip Zdarsky (C) Mike Spicer (A/CA) Ramon K. Perez (L) Rus Wooton

23/09/20

  • X-MEN MARVELS SNAPSHOT #1 (Sep 16, 2020) (W) Jay Edidin (A) Tom Reilly (CA) Alex Ross (C) Chris O’Halloran (L) Tom Orzechowski
  • SUPERMANS PAL JIMMY OLSEN #1 (OF 12) (Jul 17, 2019) (W) Matt Fraction (A/CA) Steve Lieber (C) Nathan Fairbairn (L) Clayton Cowles