That's so kind of you to say and I'm thrilled to hear you're enjoying my little videos - long may that continue! I keep polling viewers from time to time on the community page here on KZfaq on which Top 10 to do next, so keep an eye out there to vote! 😀 kzfaq.info/love/HWewIR09S61SA5egCaa7Iwcommunity?view_as=subscriber

I hope to deliver exactly what you are looking for - a wide range of excellent reads. Part 1 and 2 together should whet your appetite, I feel 😁

And it's always a great day when I hear something like that 😁! Cheers!

Thank you! I hope you like the 'concluding chapter too', hopefully up soon!

Thank you so much and welcome! Here's an older video (but I still stand by the list!) in which I offer up 10 great gateway comics, see what you think! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mr-VZ7B4krXWf2w.html

My favourite comic KZfaqrs collide!

Thanks so much! Building tension is the way I experience making lists so that seems fitting, eh? And I am relieved to have your opinion on Berserk on the record - As I said, I did enjoy the first volume, for exactly the over-the-top nature you highlight, but the pressure created by the universal adoration is something I thought I was immune to. Now I'm worried what kind of an idiot I am if I don't enjoy the subsequent volumes!

@@peterlinfield He's one of the people whose work really inspired me to try a KZfaq channel by showing me what was possible.

@@ftloc thank you very much.... "yeah yeah, I'm great" (Harlan Ellison) :)

@@earlgrey862 Haha! Or even 'Shut up baby, I know it!' (Bender the Robot)?

It's a fluke, it won't happen again! 😁. It'll be quite a personal list, of course, but I think most people will find at least one book on there to love, which is fine by me! Thank you so much, and I'll hopefully up that next video up soon!

@@ftloc You already sold me on Mouse Guard, actually you did that in a previous video a while back. I ended up sitting with a notepad and taking down all the interesting titles you were mentioning and by the end I had about 30 books on the list. My wallet has developed a much earned fear of you, friend.

Thats the kind of dear I'm ok with! 😀

Welcome to the channel! Where we never talk about ten books if we can talk about 30 instead! ♥

Thanks for joining us - I may not be completely sold on the 'live' format, but I do like the chat! 😀

Ah darn it, I knew that would happen! Now I have to read more surreal comics to warrant a top 10! 😁

@@ftloc What delightful It would be, read amazing surrealism titles

Hahaha, I just say Top 10 because that sounds more traditional - as you can see they are usually 20 or more titles being listed. In this case more than 30! 😁

Thank you so very much! Welcome to the channel and I hope you find plenty to enjoy here!

@@ftloc you're welcome. Sure!

Thank you sir, that's very flattering and I am glad to know of the additions to your list. I'm hoping the final episode doubles down on that for you! 😁

Yes, i think a WTF Comics list is definitely something i should attempt! 😁 I've read the first volume of Thorgal and really enjoyed it, but have been stymied in my quest for the rest (at reasonable prices)

haha, then mission accomplished! What piques your curiosity the most, if I may ask?

Thank you so much! You're absolutely right about listmaking being a journey, and that exactly what I attempt. There's no way any qualitative Top 10 actually thinks it's definitive and absolute, is there? So why even spend energy presenting it as such when one can instead wander around a library together? 😁 With Mouse Guard start with Fall 1152 followed by Winter 1152. Then you can either read The Black Axe or the first volume of Legends. The first is a prequel and the second an anthology series. Then the Legends volumes in numbered order (although, being anthologies, it doesn't matter) Reading in voices is tough, and for such a long series in particular. How do you remember where you put the Irish accent and whatnot? 😀 My kudos! And you will never regret reading Castle Waiting, guaranteed! Cheers!

For the Love of Comics Well said - and the tour through your library is so very awesome indeed! Thank you for the Mouse Guard cheat sheet, and the strong recommendation for Castle Waiting - these are now wedged into my upcoming reads queue! As for my Bone predicament, I have to admit, the decision was totally careless and I painted myself into a corner before I even knew what I had done. 😂 As much as I want to go rogue on this and finish it solo, I can’t bring myself to go on without him. And the Irish accent cue is usually revealed by letters ‘droppin’ of the end words iirc, but once I’ve got the feel of the main characters, they are so distinct it becomes natural (all very imperfect at best). This probably sounds a bit corny, but since he loves it, I go All-in. 😊

@@kidofcrash703 sounds like a great time. I do voices whenever I read to my nephew, but I always lose track of which choice I made where, especially for the colourful supporting characters!

Nothing blocked yet, but I suppose it's only a matter of time 😣

Matt Kindt, in this video? That's Ether, with David Rubin!

Thank you! In case you haven't seen these, here is a playlist of the handful of 'list' videos I've made so far: kzfaq.info=PLf2B7UoR9NKVthCbMtOGfKlz_4vbJ4IVA This contains: The Top 10 Gateway Comics, Top 10 Best Comics for Kids, and two videos on my Top 10 Sc-Fi Comics. Hope you like them!

btw did you ever read taiyo matsumoto works?

I absolutely LOVED Sunny, which I talked about briefly in one of my 'Recent Reads and New Arrivals' videos. I also enjoyed his story in the Tipping Point anthology. Unfortunately, I've been unable to get my hands on anything else by him since them. I'm particularly interested in the Louvre book he did (I loved the one Taniguchi did) and I've heard good things about Go Go Monster. Fingers crossed that one day more books will come my way? Thanks so much for the kind words!

​@@ftloc Oh cool, i'm glad that you enjoyed reading sunny. Unfortunately Go Go Monster is so hard to find in a good/reasonable price, but you won't ever get disappointed by it, it's my favorite fantasy so far and it has one of the best ends ever, Tekkonkinkreet and Ping Pong are great too

A very warm welcome to the channel and so glad you hear you're enjoying it thus far! I'm definitely going to attempt a list on crime comics at some point, I just feel I need to read way more than I have read for it to be a fair attempt. As for the slice-of-life stories, those I have the opposite problem with - I seem to have so many to choose from that I may need to make subdivisions within them! I'm thinking nonfiction, autobiography, news/reportage etc to allow for a proper spotlight on so many great comics. What do you think?

@@ftloc It would be so great to see lists like that. I'd be particularly interested in the autobiographical comics. Since I'm a Cleveland kid, my favorite is American Splendor but I'm interested in seeing some other books like that. I'd also like to see you do a "none of the above" list for slice of life comics. This is because Love & Rockets and Optic Nerve wouldn't fit in any of those subgenres. Love & Rockets definitely starts out more as a fantasy/sci-fi comic that becomes more realistic as time goes on. Optic Nerve is somewhat autobiographical, but has many narrative stories about made up characters. I really like these titles (can you tell?) and I'd love to see your take on them

@@joelgreenlee9421 I love American Splendor, Love and Rockets and the comics of Adrian Tomine as well! I've been trying to figure out the best way to approach them in videos, but 2021 will see at least one of them get spotlighted for sure, maybe more?

I'd love to make one, I just get the feeling I need to read more before I am 'qualified'! 😁

"I need more comics" is exactly what I love to hear! 😁 I hope you find plenty to enjoy on this channel, and do check out all our our playlists ( kzfaq.infoplaylists ) for some helpful groupings by title/creator as well as type of video, and let me know if there are any questions! Welcome to the channel!

@@ftloc so far I have, thank you!!

I quite enjoyed the Tintin movie, but yes, on this channel I focus on comics as a medium, because I love the unique power they have, and because movies/TV and even prose books get a lot more attention and don't need my meager contributions 😁

Perhaps I should try for some of that big pharma money! 😀 Thank you, I'm so glad you liked it. Yes, I did finish the trilogy - I don't know if I had the third book when I did my Shelf Seven video, but I did have Sugar Skull in one of my Recent Reads and New Acquisitions videos, but I can't remember exactly which one.

@@ftloc listening to your talks is my therapy 🛐

Haha!

Thank you, glad you liked it! No, I've not read Nailbiter. Some tell me it's great, some say it's not, so I've prioritized other books, unfortunately.

I’m reading The Murder edition(s) right now. So far I’m liking the build up and am excited where the atory is going!

Thank you! Yes, I think I will just keep doing these types of disqualifications every time I make a list video from now on. That way, by the time I'm old(er) and grey(er), I will really be challenging myself, having covered so many favourites already over the years! Good plan? And re: Bone, of course there are differing opinions for every 'hailed' work, and why should it be any different? How one connects to stories can be such a complex nest of evaluations and reactions that I think the reasons and conversations around them really say as much about the work as the 'final verdicts' do. I personally know some very smart people who don't feel charmed by Bone, and I respect their take. For me, there is so much out there that is cookie-cutter, pandering, imitative and outright insulting in both comics and kids' stories that I may overdo it in my love for something so fresh, original and character-driven. I'm not saying my praise for Bone is exaggerated, just that if it were, that may be a reason why. 😋

Thanks! Frank is stupendous - I need a few more books (like Weathercraft and Congress of the Animals) to fill out my collection there but it's quite unlike almost anything else. And yes, whittling away the most obvious (for this channel!) choices should allow for a more idiosyncratic final Too 10! Watch this space!

Haha, that is almost verbatim what the wife said! 😁

That question came up a lot in my sci-fi list videos! Unfortunately, I have never read any of the works of Druillet, although I know of his reputation. But his books are just very hard to find here, and the few copies that can be seen on Amazon are incredibly expensive. One day soon I hope to close this big gap in my reading.

My pleasure!

Thank you, and long may that continue! 😁

Fantasy/magical/superhero? Or more realistic?

@@ftloc Any genre would be good but I already have a lot of superhero. Si-fi, Fantasy and realistic would be great, thanks

The Delilah Dirk comics are a great swashbuckling adventure series, and the Hilda books are about the most feel-great stories I've read. Astro City is a terrific superhero series that I think everyone should read, and of course there's Bone. Actually the list can easily get crazy very quickly! Have you tried Fables?

@@ftloc I've already read both Bone and Fables and liked both (thought I found the art in both to be just ok). I have Astro city on my list so maybe I'll give it a go. Thanks

I need to read more!

Haha, maybe that is the one type of 'hate' I am ok with 😋, given that it results in the spreading of love (of comics!) Thank you so much for your 'kind words'!

Glad you liked it!

Winsor McCay was publishing Little Nemo in 1901! 😁

He used to; I think he just got lazy! Maybe if someone volunteers to do them for him, he'd credit them in the description, maybe even pin the comment? 😋

And there will eventually be a second part too! 😀

I'd love to get my hands on some Phoenix volumes some day!

I need to get my hands on more books published by Humanoids. The one that came really close was Carthago, for my sci-fi list though, I think.

Soon! I can't believe how quickly a video ends when I think about how long it takes to put it together! 😋 But thanks so much for the enthusiasm; that's the real fuel!

I really wanted to love that series but I just couldn't get into it for some reason, in spite of my constant fandom for Busiek! 😔

Fantasy has a tricky relationship with novelty. A good fantasy work is like taking a journey to new place, meeting new, unfamiliar things. It’s about discovery and wonder, about expanding your thinking and your world. So it’s ironic that fantasy also has a canon of elements familiar enough to be considered cliche: little people, hidden kings, evil overlords. Using these familiar elements, it is convenient for an author to try and tempt potential readers looking for fantasy. And yet canon is also a trap: in 2020 there is little novelty in dwarves and wizards themselves, which means an author must bring something new to accompany them, or risk reader boredom. Two titles here illustrate successful and not quite successful approaches.

Hilda is my top pick in all of the "heroic fantasy" category. Children are the target audience, yet I maintain a full thirty percent of the fanbase are fully grown men going "ooh" and "aah" at the outstanding artwork. Silly humour is a mainstay of the series, and any panel may potentially contain a throwaway gag-or often a strange and wonderful visual instead. "Modern" elements are cannily mixed in, like the leader of a strange people being a prime minister instead of a king, or Hilda and her mother moving from the countryside to city life. Conversely, familiar elements like trolls and monsters also feature in starring roles. Many have also commented a certain Tove Jansson influence. The overall effect is an alchemy that manages to create true adventure. I never quite know what I will find turning the next page: only that I want to go there. A supremely accomplished work, Hilda feels cozy and familiar and new and exciting at the same time.

Volume 1 of Bone is likewise an unique blend: Looney Tunes slapstick antics combined with a "standard" fairytale forest and its inhabitants. A classic for a reason: the elements work together wonderfully, creating something new from their meeting. Volumes 2-9, however, progressively abandon the sense of humour if favor of the "standard" fantasy settings and plot points. By part 9 I was honestly baffled : Bone seemed like it was simply going over the emotional and storytelling landscape J.R.R Tolkien had done earlier and better. Why abandon the thing that made the Bone unique, in favor of something the reader has already experienced before? Yes I know Lord of the Rings is not a comic book and not everybody has read it at the tender age of 12 like I did but humour me here. What’s the appeal?

What a great read - thanks so much for sharing! You have some great observations but best of all you are able to draw the through lines clearly for me to follow. I'll digest more fully upon reflection, but here are some immediate reflections: While it is true that a certain sense of familiarity has ironically tinged fantasy, the same could be true for most, if not all, genres that have 'mainstream' presence. While the breaking of new paths and radical reinvention are always to be lauded, I also think that much of 'originality' lies exactly in tiny tweaks and adjustments, a collection of small individual and idiosyncratic elements that give works their unique identity. While a lot of people say 'messing with the formula' I don't actually think there is a formula - there is pale imitation, which resembles mass-production based on checklists, and there is 'good storytelling', which doesn't have to be new elements or even new 'major' combinations, but unique and well crafted micro-element collections. So as critics we can categorize and group and draw intersecting (or not) Venn diagrams, I feel a good work will nonetheless be possible without any major invention. As for Bone, I agree, the humour and slapstick does fall away but I was mainly OK with it. The characters were kept constant throughout, their decisions and reactions still felt 'true', and the humour of the earlier chapters had a major role in establishing what that base for 'true' was for us readers. As an act of tonal transformation it was well done, I thought, matched to the rising stakes and escalation of consequences, and a volume like Dragonslayer does a terrific job of bridging the facets. Whereas the Lord of the Rings, for all its impressiveness, still stops shy of really getting to my heart, its consistent tone notwithstanding.