It’s getting to be the end of the year, and it’s that time when everyone starts making their lists of best, worst, and most notable whatevers. (You can find a fairly comprehensive collection of links to lists of this sort right here.)

I don’t really have a Best/Worst list for the year, but one category that I would have mentioned is this one:

THE COMIC THAT FINALLY GOT ME TO READ MANGA: Gyo Vol. 1 by Junji Ito – I’ve never had anything against manga, and I’ve had only a passing interest in it as a whole…my interest in comics history would lead me to read articles and histories of manga, for example, without actually reading any manga (I recommend the excellent Manga Manga: The World of Japanese Comics by Frederik L. Schodt). However, the sheer wrongness of some of the imagery in this book compelled me to give it a try. Seeing fish on legs invading an island community…there was just something primally disturbing about this idea, and given that I have an interest in horror comics in general, this was a natural book with which to break my manga drought.

Of course, this now has me interested in Ito’s other horror work, such as Uzumaki. You (and I as well) can learn more about Ito here.

Plus, now that I’ve broken down that barrier, I find myself looking at more manga, such as Sgt. Frog, which is about as far away from Gyo as you can get. Don’t ask me to explain.

Many years ago, Eclipse Comics released a regular-sized issue of mini-comics mainstay The Amazing Cynicalman by Matt Feazell. In the text pages of this comic, Feazell made readers an offer (no longer good, I am guessing) to send a free mini-comic to anyone who sent in their own drawing of the title stick-figure character, along with an SASE.

Well, I took him up on that offer, sending in my illustration of “The Amazing Cynicalman in 3-D” (yes, in red and blue ink) along with my SASE. Some time later, I came back from my first day of college to find two envelopes from Mr. Feazell! As it turns out, the SASE I used was too small, so Feazell used another envelope to send me my mini-comic. The envelope I did send he filled with photocopies of sketchbook material and a personal letter (mostly just to explain why he had to send another envelope!). Well, that was very cool, I thought, and even though I had been a fan before, I was even more of a fan now…and even 16 years later(!), he’s still one of my favorites.

Anyway, I found out just recently that he has a new book out, and I placed an order for it late Sunday evening. Today, Friday, I have it in my hands. Now that’s some fast shipping, especially for Christmastime! And it’s even signed, with a Cynicalman pencil sketch.

He’s still a cool guy, and I recommend that everyone visit his website and buy his stuff.

Two true stories:

1. When I first joined AOL (way back in the dark ages) I almost used “cynicalman” as my username…good thing I didn’t, because Feazell is using it now!

2. The very first issue of Scott McCloud’s Zot! I bought was the mini-comic Zot! in Dimension 10 1/2 drawn by Feazell in the stick-man style. That got me to read the regular Zot! comics and become a McCloud fan…so I have Feazell to thank for that as well.

Don’t end your Hulk comic (that’s based on a video game) with a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson.

I mean, honestly:

No matter what you think of Cerebus, its 300-issue run is certainly an achievement…though creator Dave Sim encouraged some small amount of consternation with his attitudes on gender relations (among other things), it’s hard to ignore his commitment to telling the life of his lead character for the last quarter of a century. Sim gives his goodbyes to his life’s project here. (His regards to Jeff Smith did strike me as a little odd…wasn’t Dave challenging Jeff to a fight at one point?)

Other good Cerebus links and info can be found at the Cerebus Fangirl site…one of my favorites is this one, providing early fan-produced radio show adaptations of the first six issues.

Former Swamp Thing artist and Taboo mastermind Steve Bissette moderates his own message board, and unlike most comic creator boards, it’s readable, enjoyable, and informative. Most of the discussion centers around Bissette’s passion for horror movies, but comics do get brought up once in a while as well.

I’ve been seeing references to it on various comic sites, but it took an e-mail from pal John to finally get me to take a look at it.

Doomworld…featuring artwork by Tom “Gallows” Grindberg. It is quite possibly the most brain-damaging comic you’ll ever read.

The first word balloon on page two is almost like poetry.

Supertalk: The Movie – superheroes (and their loved ones) call in to radio psychologist “Dr. Flora” for help with their special problems. Downloadable in Window Media Format and Quicktime here.

(thanks to JP)