Sometimes I sense that my dearest friends aren't quite sure how to breach the subject of my work because it's completely foreign to them. Comics may be a growing market, but it's still rather small and still carries some unpleasant (and sometimes true) stigma. But I believe that for every person, there is at least one comic out there that it just for them. It's just wading through all the slog that's tricky. I'm honestly not very well-read in comics, and I'm picky about what I'll stick with, so please don't be offended if I left something off the list! Here are the comics I recommended for my friends (and for you!):
Y the Last Man (a single man and his monkey survive a plague that kills every other male on earth)
Fables (familiar fairy-tale characters adapt to life in modern NYC)
Demo (short stories with a slight supernatural twist)
Death Note (an eccentric investigator tries to track down an equally intelligent killer, psychological cat-and-mouse game)
Real (sports drama about three teen basketball players whose lives are affected by disability; everything by Inoue-sensei is amazing!)
Antique Bakery (four attractive men and the daily business at their cake shop underlies a darker mystery)
Nodame Cantabile (a rigid music student is forced to reevaluate when he meets the free-spirited piano player next door)
And Yen Press books don't count as gifts, really. Because I am biased. But there are definitely a few that deserve some attention!
Yotsuba&! (super, super cute antics of a precocious five-year-old; if you only read one YP series, this should be it)
Not Love But Delicious Foods (short stories about good food and people who love to eat it)
My Girlfriend's a Geek (this one I hesitate to recommend, but despite my misgivings about the subject matter, it made my laugh out loud when I read it. so...that must count for something)
Ah, there are so many more, but I could ramble on about my books all day, and no one really wants to read that, right? Yes. I also love getting recommendations, so please feel free to fire away!
Yotsuba&! Everything you've ever given me or suggested to me I have loved, but she's my favorite, by far.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I will totally talk nerd with you! I might have no idea what I'm talking about, but I promise I'll learn. Also, I wish I was as cute in real life as I am when you draw me. :)
ReplyDeleteFinding people to talk nerd with in Real Life can be difficult. All my manga-reading friends seem so far away!! If nothing else, I wish I had people to share my ridiculously huge collection of manga with. My brother who follows western web- and independent comics reads a few of my books though! I think part of the "problem" is that most of the series I read are just so darn girly.
ReplyDeleteI have similar thoughts on My Girlfriend's a Geek. I've never read a BL title, but I'm a long-time manga fan so I get the jokes even so. The last volume I read had me laughing out loud quite a few times :D And Yotsuba&! is one of the cutest series on earth!! My brothers ALL love it.
Aha! I'm so glad your brothers love Yotsuba!
ReplyDeleteI got my brother to read Spiral of all things, but even though he likes it, he doesn't seem interested in reading anything else... :(
We should meet up next time I'm in town for some manga chat I think. You can show me all the good places to buy manga and nerd stuff in GR!
I did find this used bookstore in Eastown over Christmas that had a surprisingly large collection of comic books and manga...