the years best comics (in my opinion) part 1

right out of the gate with a caveat: where possible i will be talking about the best comics i've read that have come out this year. there might be a few collections or graphic novels that came out last year but im gonna include them anyway as this is MY BLOG TOUGH GUYS! now hit the showers.....

done?

good. right, secondly i apologise for spelling mistakes and long rambly passages.

ok lets do this:

Casanova : Avaritia

Casanova is a story about everything. 

Love, betrayal, sex, being an asshole, death, morality, trying not to be so much of an asshole....

and in a broader sense it is about capital 'E' Everything...the Multiverse type of everything.

The titular Casanova, Casanova Quinn, is kind of an asshole, serial womaniser, James Bond mixed with Mick Jagger. He has a twin sister, Zephyr, apple of their fathers eye (the same father that is director of the supersecret spy organisation they work for. think a fat Nick Fury) and pretty much the exact opposite of Casanova. obviously ill try and avoid spoiling the finer points of the story but in the first volume Casanova (from here on; Cass) is stolen from his universe By Newman Zeno, bandaged face leader of W.A.S.T.E and super crazy evil scientist type. also he looks like this:

Cass is then forced into a double agent type scenario, working for his father and Xeno. i know right! you are gripped already!

Avaritia is the third volume of Casanova written by Matt Fraction and drawn alternately by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba (who are also twins). The story is too hard to explain and too much fun to read without some asshat like me spoiling it for you so i wont bother, what i will do is tell you why Casanova : Avaritia is good comics. its quite simple:

1) Matt Fraction clearly loves writing this comic. Its sexy, sexual, cool, horrifying, funny...it comes off like a more pop culture version of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles.

ok, i chose the above page because it has one Cass hitting an alternate universes version of his nemesis, Newman Xeno whilt shouting 'GIVE ME THE THINGY!' 

Fraction is a former alcoholic. He talks about his recovery a lot in the back matter of the monthly issues at times. He writes the nihilistic side of the characters in Casanova so well, obviously channelling the despair he felt. Casanova is also a very funny comics. The two examples i have posted above both illustrate the wise guy humour that Fraction weaves into all his work but its most prominent in Casanova. Their are moments of great emotional heft (Cass discovering his mother is still alive and their subsequent reunion) and silent beauty (there is a funeral in Vol 2 of this series that genuinely moves me every time i read it). What im saying is Fraction pours himself into this comic. Every page has something cool on it; a witty line, a cool action scene. Only two issues of this came out this year but they were both AMAZING examples of why i love comics so much.

Gabriel Ba illustrates this volume of Casanova. he is amazing as you can see:

Fuck me, i don't even know where to start on this. just look at it again for a bit.

we have some Kirby-esque crackle going on, simple but devastatingly effective line work. A dash of Mike Mignola here a bit of Chris Bachalo there. It suits Fraction's writing perfectly...it bright, arresting and really fucking cool. still not convinced. look at this and weep:

I KNOW!!!!!!

This is the third volume of Casanova of a proposed seven volumes (one for each of the deadly sins) and i cant get enough. 

what are you doing??!?! go and buy the first collection and thank me later because Casanova : Avaritia is good comics!!!!!