31 Days of Comics: Day 31 – Comic(s) You Feel Bad About Leaving Off The List

May has become the go-to month of the Comic’s Industry (even though National Superhero Day is late April, but whatever… Congress… pshaw).  It is when Marvel drops their big movie of the year.  May also sees the annual Free Comic Book Day celebration take place on the first Saturday of the Month, so I hope you all got to check that out.  May also has 31 days of the month so what better way to celebrate the wonderful world of sequential art with the 31 Days of Comics?

Seth Hahne, who runs the blog GoodOkBad, has put together the 31 Days of Comics challenge.  A daily challenge in which you are given a category and you have to fill it with a comic that you think fits it the best.  You’re all on the internet, I shouldn’t have to explain it to you.  For the rest of the month I will be taking this challenge.  It is my hope it encourages others to make and share their own lists either in the comments here or on their own websites.  The sharing not only might turn comic fans on to works they have yet to sample but maybe catch the eye of a few non-comic fans and highlight the diversity of the form. 

Our prompt for Day 31 “A comic you feel bad about leaving off the list.”

You’re shitting me right?  Listen I’ve played along with your stupid list the whole time.  I’ve dug back into my 30+ years of comics.  I’ve gone through my long boxes trying to remind myself of things I may have forgotten.  I’ve written every day for a month.  And now that I get to pick something totally on my own you tell me I have to limit it to one?

Fuck that.  I’m doing 30.  Real quick hits but here are 10 comics you should find a chance to read if you haven’t already.

Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory: Currently the funniest book on the racks.  Follows FDA agent Tony Chu, who has the power to pick up the memories of anything he eats, in a world where all powers are food based and chicken is banned due to Bird Flu.

Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wesley Craig: A homeless teen gets recruited to be trained at an academy of assassins.  Despite that it happens to be one of the more deeply personal and emotional stories in comics today.

East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta: Hickman might be the best at building a complete and full world in comics since…. Jack Kirby.  A post-apocalyptic science-fiction western whose main character is the personification of Death, and he’s the good guy.

Impulse #3 “How To Win Friends and Influence People” by Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos: Maybe my favorite individual issue of all time sees Bart Allen go to a normal high school for the first time and managing to get into a fight with the entire school at 3:00 pm after school.  Also, during a class assignment on France he runs to France to do research.

Mind Mgmt by Matt Kindt: An espionage agency made up of agents who all have some form of psychic powers.  Not only is the story great Kindt finds a way to use both outside and inside cover, the advertisements, the letter page, and ever the margins of the pages to add to the narrative.  Again, a Goddamn genius.

Stray Bullets by David Lapham: Maybe the best crime comic book ever made, although there can be arguments.  Went on a long hiatus but is now back and it didn’t miss a beat.

Morning Glories by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma: This book is the hardest thing to follow in the world and I legit don’t recommend it to anybody who needs to have an understanding of what is going on, needs things to make sense, or impatient people.  This book really is my “book that nobody else likes but me” and I don’t care.  Read the other 29.

Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson: Spiritually this is Spider-Man redone for the 21^st century.  Kamala Khan, a Pakistani muslim teen gets superpowers.  Truly wonderful comics.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples: A massive space-opera that also tells a story about the futility of war while focusing on the most realistic family dynamic in comics today (minus one having horns and the other wings).  Staples’ art is absolutely magical and there is a reason it’s on the top selling list everywhere.

Stray Bullets by David Lapham: Maybe the best crime comic book ever made, although there can be arguments.  Went on a long hiatus but is now back and it didn’t miss a beat.