What are your top 5 comics EVER?
Ken Eppstein is a comic artist, writer, publisher, and researcher. He runs the Nix Comics micropress, runs the annual Indie Comics Fair, and is a regular contributor to SOLRAD magazine.
1). PUNK MAGAZINE ISSUE #15: MUTANT MONSTER BEACH PARTY
By John Holmstrom, Bruce Carleton and Roberta Bayley / Punk Magazine, 1978
Punk magazine, John Holmstrom’s genre defining magazine that blended comics and zines, dedicated two separate complete issues to photo comics starring New York City punk artists from the 70s. The first was issue #6 and featured Richard Hell as private dick Nick Detroit and was published as a broadsheet newspaper. Pretty cool, but the second fumetti effort was actually my favorite: It featured the inimitable Joey Ramone travelling to Coney Island to rescue his girlfriend (played by the equally inimitable Debbie Harry) from a mutant sea creature. Pretty much every comic I’ve made personally was in part inspired by this theme.
2). KICKSVILLE CONFIDENTIAL
By Billy Miller and Avi Spivak / Norton Records, 2010
FIVE Kicksville Confidential is a collection of stories acquired by Norton Records co-founder Billy Miller about the obscure artists he featured on his label drawn by Avi Spivak, who is an amazing cartoonist. The Rudy Ray Moore story alone is worth the price! (Sez the guy who got his copy as a gift, but you know…)
3). THE END OF SUMMER
By Tillie Walden / Avery Hill Publishing, 2015
OK, are you ready for me to name drop? To shamelessly seek comics cred? I can almost GUARANTEE that I was into Tillie Walden before you were. I got a special preview thanks to family relations. Tillie’s my mother’s cousin’s daughter, making her whatever degree of cousin that is to me. I started getting email links to Tillie’s work from her proud papa well before she penned this first great graphic novel. I am so happy and proud that the world now thinks she’s as terrific an artist as I do.
4). MAKING COMICS
By Lynda Barry / Drawn & Quarterly, 2019
OK… 1, 2 and 3 are pretty standard in format. Like actually easily defined as comics. I would feel remiss in my duties as a local weirdo if I didn’t push the boundaries. Making Comics is definitely equal parts text book and comic. Or maybe, more precisely, a textbook in comic form. If you want to dig deep into the creative process of creating comics and cartoons, as opposed to just picking up the tools of draftsmanship, you should pick this up.
5). “PRACTICE SESSION”
By JD King / Mirror Records, 1984
You know what? Screw just pushing the envelope on expectations of what constitutes a “comic.” I’m busting the envelope wide open and you’ll just have to deal. On the back of the Chesterfield Kings’ “Night of the Living Eyes” LP is a cartoon by long time New York punk zinester and artist JD King and it is one of the most influential pieces of art of my whole career. Comics are everywhere and I’m most inspired by the ones that show up in unexpected but ALWAYS COMPLETELY appropriate places. Ya dig?