A COMIC THAT BLEW YOUR MIND | Day 9 of 31 Days of Comics
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- čas přidán 27. 11. 2023
- A Comic that Blew Your Mind - that is what Day 9 of 31 Days of Comics asks us for. This, of course, leads me on a little jaunt down the alleyways of my childhood memory. But it is all in aid to get to the pick for today, a comic that safety-pin-like attaches the reader I was to the reader I am today.
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#31DaysofComics - Zábava
Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, blew my mind.
A very close choice would be The Invisibles series by Morrison.
While I wasn't as enraptured by The Invisibles as some, Daytripper I will agree is peerless!
Gotta go with three picks:
1. 'It's a bird' - because it was one of the first times I read a comic dealing with such a heavy topic in such a beautiful way.
2. 'Logicomix: An epic search for truth' - because it's one of the first and only comics that actually helped me understand and teach certain philosophical topics.
3. 'Understanding comics: The invisible art' - because it really made me appreciate the way in which comics communicate their message to us as an audience.
Fantastic picks all around! And if you had to choose one from the three for the rules of the game? 😁
Haha, alright, 'Understanding comics' it is! I saw it was your pick for another day and your discussion just cemented my opinion ;) @@ftloc
My mind blows are every time I read Don Rosa’s Donal Duck stories. The gags and follow-ups in the background are gold.
Agreed!
A comic that absolutely blew my mind as a teenager was "Logicomix" by Greek authors Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou and artists Alecos Papadatos and Annie Di Donna. A biography of Bertrand Russell and an exploration of the phillsophy of mathematics, it blew my mind by belonging to the second and third categories you described. It was one of the first non-fiction comics I ever read and I was blown away that biography and science could be so wonderfully and accurately captured in the comics medium. Secondly, I was blown away by what the authors accomplished: these Greek authors who were not internationally known had made a smash hit comic which could be read by teenagers and their parents, but also by PhDs in mathematics or philosophy, and everyone could get something different out of it. The comic opened my mind to many concepts in philosophy and science for the first time and continues to inspire me from time to time to this day.
It's a terrific comic whose popularity and ubiquity really surprised me as well. There are so many memorable moments in it, wonderfully captured, yet it is the whole - meandering and digressing but paradoxically always with a purpose - that makes it enchanting. I'm so glad you mentioned this gem!
Building Stories. Redefines narrative, what's a comic, powerhouse design, plus plenty emotion... and gags!
Beautiful choice.
Another one of those books that could easily have been my pick if I wasn't going to 'the dawn of density' 😁
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud is my pick. Watchmen is right up there for this category too but UC kind of unlocked my mind for me. Being able to understand why I liked certain things in comics, being able to process and dissect panels while I'm reading them is something else. And it unlocked not only comics but other visual mediums too.
I discovered "Understanding comics" last year. this is really a great book which opens lot of doors in the imagination.
it's like to see the film "High Flying Bird" shot by Soderbergh with an iphone exclusively. it opens doors of what is possible.
if you understand French you can watch on youtube the serie of conferences by Benoît Peeters about comics at Collège de France. Benoît Peeters is a great artist who loves comics and speaks with passion about it. if you understand French you will learn a lot about lot of comics, BDs, graphic novels, mangas.
It is hard for me accurately gauge how much of a impact Understanding Comics had on me. I think it is safe to say that this channel would probably not exist without it 😁
I was in high school when Watchmen came out. I found out about it when it was on issue 2. When I read the opening of issue #4, my mind was blown. I felt the alienation of someone with godlike powers. I understood, and felt, how Dr Manhattan experienced time and came to the realization that he wasn't human anymore. Or at least that being a human was a fading memory!!! Just WOW!!!
I was a few years older than you were when I first read it, but my reaction was quite similar! 😁
Invincible head butting conquest like 100 times blew my mind
Double points for the literal connection! 😁
Berserk by Kentaro Miura absolutely amazing art and the story is one of the most mind blowing ( in my opinion ) but the mentioned Batman the killing joke is close.
Berserk is mind-blowing especially in the sense that it can stand as such a masterpiece even if it were to never finish. An incredible testament to Miura.
So damn many. But I'll go with Asterios Polyp - blew my mind with how it pushed the boundaries of how comic book medium can be used for storytelling.
Incredible stuff, you know I wholeheartedly agree!
"Concreate" blew my mind, ,,,,,the reveal issue
I love Concrete, and it has so many great scenes, of dialogue and action.
Mine's got to be V for Vendetta. Specifically, the start of 'Book 2', where V is at his Piano and singing "This Vicious Cabaret".
The lyrics, the imagery, the music - yes, the music because Alan Moore was nuts enough to include the sheet music for the singing under each panel - all just come together beautifully to create an immersive experience that I never knew was possible through the media of comics.
Although I cannot read music, I know exactly what you mean by the immersion of that scene. I was really struck by that song, and the multiple levels at which it resonated throughout the entire work. As my wife (who picked From Hell as her book for this day) and I were just discussing, Mr Moore seems to be quite a mindblower for many! 😁
The first issue of Watchmen I bought was #4 when it came out (it cost me 65p from the now closed Virgin Megastore in Piccadilly, London). This was the issue where Dr Manhattan left Earth for Mars. I'd never read a comic like it and I was completely spellbound. Being 15 at the time my mind was well and truly blown. To be honest it remains blown at the age of 54.
That is a comic, and an issue, that blew my mind each time I re-read it! Quite a feat!
I was 4 or 5 years old and 'read' Suske & Wiske De Mottenvanger. Woke up in the middle of the night and the headless 'The Mothcatcher' stood at the end of the bed. Ran to my moms bedroom, she walked back with me and there it was again, hanging in the air near the stairs. Mom didn't see it of course. But I still remember it now as an adult, been printed on my lenses as if it was real, probably from dreaming. Still, mindblowing how this comic came to life, never to be forgotten 😁 As an adult: yes Watchmen.... mindblown yes. Masterpiece.
That sounds chilling, even in a comment section!
How I wished, when I was younger, that those Asterix banquets would just come to life! 😁
This one is easier than some: Ed Subitzky's comics from National Lampoon and other magazines have been collected in Poor Helpless Comics!: The Cartoon (and more) of Ed Subitzky (2023) from New York Review Comics. Subitzky may not be the best artist but he rethought the form in ways that were mind blowing. Subitzky's legacy carried into the work of Robert Leighton and Chris Dufy in Nickelodeon Magazine, Games Magazine, and some Spongebob Comics. Subitzky interviews and text pieces are included in the book too. Subitzky says he was inspired by Mad Magazine, which makes sense, but I haven't found anything quite like his. Reading them inspires me to try new comics on my own. I can't read Subitzky's comics before bed because it keeps me awake at night trying to figure out how to think beyond the traditional panel strip.
That sounds very intriguing! Very intriguing indeed...
Dawn: Lucifer's Halo. So many things in this comic blew my mind. I'd say it changed my views on art, life, religion, relationships... I don't want to spoil anything but it is a great introspective read.
I read Watchmen after seeing the movie, so I kind of knew what was coming.
The thing about Watchmen, as I try to express in this video, is that it really isn't the plot or any one thing that makes it what it is for me, but rather the act of reading and unpacking and layering understanding in me that it manipulated. The density of its elements and their connections, the craft of weaving.
Glanced around my bookshelves to determine the response. Fixing it to Rusty Brown by Chris Ware. Was absolutely not ready for what was to follow when reading it for the first time.
Edit: Must appreciate the nuance that you have highlighted in all these videos. I have decided to follow a first instinct based approach to the 31 day challenge but perhaps an acute understanding which respects the layered nature of these challenges is also the way to go.
More than one work by Chris Ware could easily have been my pick here, I just went a bit further back, to find the inflection point, as it were.
And thank you so much for those kind words! I do love the conversation aspect, and am thrilled to see the comments sections of each video become a treasury of recommendations. I suppose my blabla is just a feature of this channel at this point, but i also like to think of it as perhaps encouraging discussion over just a list of titles.
Read Rusty Brown recently, it was my first Chris Ware experience and it is indeed incredible. He does things I never imagined a comic could do
The first issue of Preacher I ever read, it’s the one where Jesse and Tulip are tied up by Jesse’s family and he uses the time to tell her about his insane history with that psychotic family. I had no context for Preacher, was trying to catch up on the plot as I read, hadn’t read a comic like that before, and I was totally gripped and it did indeed…. Blow my mind
I very nearly had Pracher here or for 'Plot twist'. Turning the page on Issue 1 to see the small corner panel captioned 'Heaven'...I still remember the impact that had on me😁
I've really struggled with this one! So many of the greats I read before I really understood the language of comics, and so when I came to re-read them later my mind wasn't quite as blown as it would have been on a first read.
I think I'll go with We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, because I think that's the first comic that made me realise that a comic could break your heart while also just telling a cool sci-fi action story.
Yes, I absolutely empathize with that idea of reading before fulling grasping what was going on in the medium!
The way I look at it, having your mind blown is a matter of context. When you are older, you have so much context that the frequency decreases. BUT it is equally true that when you are a very young reader, you are just starting to create context. You can't see subversions of reality because you just absorb it AS reality. So having ones mind blown (at least in a limited sense) has a sort of bell curve 😁
And I believe I am on the record as saying We3 is my favourite Morrison book, and it still stands.
Comics is a story telling medium that depends on the art. If a story does not use art for the story it's a book, not a comic. Todd McFarlane in Spiderman or Tim Sale in Challengers of the Unknown did some inventive artwork crossing the panel borders to create a total new lay-out. That's a mindblowing experience. My pick however is Age of reptiles. This book tells stories of dinosaurs without the use of any words. It's pure visual storytelling with some compelling stories.
Age of Reptiles is a great favourite of mine; a completely mesmerizing comic!
A truly mind blowing comic for me during my adulthood was Goodnight Pun-Pun by Inio Asano. And during my childhood it was Maus by art spiegelman
I've heard a lot of wonderful things about Pun-Pun but am yet to get my hands on it alas!
I had your same experience with Killing Joke and Watchmen. Thiugh since i already picked Watchmen, i will have to go with Deathray by Daniel Clowes, which also used comics form to onlybtell its story. Everything from the way the death ray is shown to the use of specific type font and non diagetic backmatter of kids comics to tell the story. Its just a lot and i love it.
What an excellent pick. Clowes is wonderful at that level of minutae. I've seen a handful of people who make it work go to that level with every element in their works, and I always love it!
You really did great with this pick and your reasons for it! For myself it would be Animal Man #26, a book that blew my mind when i was young with the way the writer decided to announce he was leaving the book...and a book that still chokes me up when i read it today.
I still remember that whole ending arc so painfully! Were you very young when you first read it?
Lol i thought i was younger but i just did the math and i was 17 when i read it the very first time. Having older and experienced more of life I think has added to its impact.
It has to be Sandman. At the time I hadn't collected comics since childhood and Sandman blew my mind in that it allowed me to see what comics were capable of.
My choice too and for the same reason - though I did have quite many comics gathering dust in my closet at the time.
Sandman was another that could easily have been my pick. It's definitely in the body of work I refer to that came after Watchmen for me and continued the journey into Category 3!
Friday by Ed Brubaker and Marcos Martin. Brubaker writing a YA detective story, you know what you're getting into, mostly. But then the genres start shifting. It's no secret that I'm a fanboy of M/S Brubaker and Co. And even after all these years he has some aces up his sleeve.
I remember your enthusiasm for this book, but now you have convinced me simply by picking it here. Off to BW I go...
berserk. any volume. i was pissed/mind blown at the end of the golden age, but it wasnt enough to make me stop reading
You consistently manage to come up with brilliant categories for this challenge! I really love how you use every one of the days to motivate me to going back in time, back into all the readings I've done in my life, and sift through them with a particular and reflexive lens.
Like you said, I think there are many ways in which a comic can blow your mind. Most do it by surprising you at one or more points in their story. They can surprise you through their writing or their art, presenting you with something you hadn't thought or encountered before. But I also think a work can blow your mind as a "whole"... the work, not the mind... mind you... I believe there are works that don't necessarily blow your mind at one specific point during the reading, but after you're done, when you close the book and think "wow, what the hell did I just go through?!". Of course, no category is pure, and things that blow your mind tend to... well... not fit neatly in boxes.
When thinking back, especially about works that I think back and keep on blowing my mind, I definitively would need to mention The Sandman. The problem is that it blows my mind as a complete opus, as individual stories, and even onthe level of many panels. But to narrow it down, I think World's End keeps on living rent-free in my mind because it manages to tell so many different stories so elegantly, without ever loosing its central plot, turning and twisting, only to bring it back together and tying it all together with the incredible secuence of the procession in the sky.
Now... let me cheat a bit and bring up two more comics here. Another one that blows my mind to this day for the sheer audacity of making a comic that reads and feels in many, many ways like a song... playing along the edge of two arts that differ so much in so many ways... is CLAMP's "Clover". Iv'e read many good comics with music, about music and that integrate somehow music into their story and art, but Clover "feels" like music. The outline of the pages, the flow of the panels, the weird poetic use of emptiness... It just blows my mind that a medium that is visual, physical and where the pace is a negotiation between the author and the reader can get this close to a medium that is immaterial, vanishes in time and dictates its own pace.
And finally (yeah, cheating), I couldn't live with myself if I didn't mention Inio Asano's "Solanin". I can't really talk much about why this one blew my mind without giving away major things and spoiling it for people that haven't read it (so I won't), but let's say that what Asano does here with the story, the characters and with you, the reader, didn't just blow my mind but my heart. This comic really hits hard because you don't really know where it's going untill it's too late to turn back... and there you are, wide open and vulnerable getting the full blow of a story that is honest, that builds all of its foundation on empathy and humanity.
Man... comics is such an incredible medium.
What a lovely write up and I really can feel your passion for these works. Both Clover and Solanin have been added to 'the list'
I appreciate The Calculus Affair way more now then i did when i was a kid. My favourite volumes as a kid were the sea adventures like Red Rackhams Treasure, The Shooting Star and The Crab With The Golden Claws. Now i appreciate volumes like The Blue Lotus, Seven Crystal Balls and The Calculus Affair a lot more
Apart from tintin, my pick is a manga called Pandora Hearts. Its a Gothic Fantasy loosely inspired by Alice in Wonderland with amazing plot twists. The story reveals just enough information to lead you towards a certain conclusion only to completely flip the entire script by disclosing one crucial information that wasn't explicitly revealed. That makes the story you've been hinted at take a complete 180 in a way that makes perfect sense
Pandora Hearts sounds interesting! How many volumes are there?
@@ftloc 24 vols
Who are you? From thumbnail to style of presentation, editing, jumps, length, restrain...you are like a different CZcamsr all together....was this intentional man? with the choice of doing it this way to do justice to the video on 'blowing your mind', you surely did. But, please do a deeper 1.5 hour lengthy chat on top 10 comics that blew your mind with honourable mentions, et al, like the FtLoC of yonder years that I love, please....! Oh and the comics that blew my mind would be 'Rurouni Kenshin'. I never experienced the full force of how manga can elicit emotions out of you and make you deeply care about the character's trials and tribulations, before I came across that gem. Please do that deep dive you mind blowing comics, am serious man....I liked this, but seeing you in this format is so, giving me the vibes that somehow you have been replaced by a different version of you. ;)
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@@luccaesp it's meant as a compliment, I think.
Haha, I take it as a high compliment! The medium of video and the CZcams platform have a lot to explore and experiment with, and while I'm not a fan of a lot of the side effects, there's also things that I would love to learn and get better at.
From that point of view, I do want to keep trying to improve the videos, and hopefully learn what people value most in videos like these. Thanks for the appreciation, it really means a lot.
(Longer, unedited videos will probably take the form of livestreams, there's just too much work and not enough time for me to try all the things I do in small videos on longer ones. If this 8 minutes takes me three days, imagine what 20 minute videos would do!) 😁
Absolutely, this was amazing...Will wait for that livestream
I'll pick Decorum by Jonathan Hickman but not because of the story. What blew my mind about this comic is the astonishing range of art styles that Mike Huddleston uses and how the story is tuned by that juggle of art styles.
This sounds like something I would be quite curious to check out!
@@ftloc I strongly recommend it.
I didn’t remember that hollow seat detail. That’s a good sign as for re-reading forgetting is sometimes needed. And I haven’t read Tintin for quite some time now.
The Calculus Affair is the greatest of the Tintin adventures.
While its cool you have gone with the definition you have - its your game after all. For me that's getting a little too close to best, or favourite. So I think I'll go with the earlier definitions, the idea that some that shocked and suprised BUT I'll throw in a touch of the wider ideas of blow your mind and go with 2000ad Prog 1807. Why this particular comic and spoilers ahead but its (gulp) over 10 years old.
This comic reminded me that even as an older reader a brilliantly crafted story could remind you that you've not seen it all. Can shake those jaded eyes back into the wonders of comics. 2000ad is an anthology with typically 5 different stories a week. The first (these days) is always Judge Dredd and in the strips leading to 1807 folks in 2000ad fandom had been complaining that there was 2 other strips set in the world of Dredd, Lowlife and Simping Detective. Little did we know.
The three strip where running their stories until the end of Dredd in 1807, he kicks down a door to burst into a perp's (criminal) appartment and kicked his way into the next strip, Simping Detective. At the end of the Prog we'd all realised the three seperate strips where in fact telling the three strands of the same carefully crafted story, but three completely different creative teams. 2000ad very very rarely has this crossover as the strips typically live in different worlds, but with that action the brilliant and entire unexpected 'Trifecta' was born.
There was no warning, no publicity. The creators, editor (Tharg to us!) and publisher were brave enough to let it play out and all we got was the turn of a page, and Dredd bursting into the next strip. Just brilliant.
Is it the best 2000ad or even Dredd story. No, not at all. But the way it brilliantly used the anthology format, the turn of a page and then weaved another story in with such guile and allowed it to happened without fuss to blow the surprise. Well that was using the comics format to blow my mind.
That sounds fantastic! And you've done such an excellent job capturing this in your comment that although it can never compare to the experience, I got a thrilling jolt reading your description! Cheers!
I agree 100% that as an older reader it is the brilliance of the craft (more than the plot twist, the experiment, or the technical mastery by themselves, but definitely using them as ingredients) that is unique, therefore new, therefore the new mind-blowing.
And you're absolutely right - categories like these can often seem to have overlap with 'best' or 'favourite'. But I think it is because all these things make up *why* something is the best or favourite. Not always, but one's favourite movies will also feature somewhere on the lists of 'favourite sci fi' or 'favourite cinematography' or 'favourite actor' and so on 😁
Universe! By Albert Monteys. It’s a shame he only did 6 issues. There’s always a chance he’ll come back and do more.
It’s a kind of comedy/scifi anthology series but each story shows you more about the world and slightly ties into each other.
I really enjoyed Monteys' work on Slaughterhouse Five and I've been hearing about and meaning to get to Universe for a while now!
I agree with Watchmen but also Vigilante (specifically #50).
I think the biggest factor of these being my choices, are due to when I my life I read them, how I came across them, and what my preceding reader list was at the time
Absolutely, that's exactly what I was trying to say, I think. It is impossible to pick a comic without also picking a point of time...
- My favorite comic: Nausicaa of the valley of the wind by Hayao Miyazaki
- A comic to reccomend to anyone: Peanuts by Charles Schulz
- A great adaptation: 1984 by Fido Nesti
- A great love story: A taste of chlorine by Bastien Vivés
- My first comic pursued: Dampyr (various artists - italian comic series)
- Nonfiction comic: Pyongyang by Guy Delisle.
- Confort comic: Tin Tin by Hergé
- Gorgeous comic: Castle in the stars by Alex Alice
- A comic that blew my mind: V for vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
I was a young teenager when I bought this masterpiece. I was really thrilled by the story and the characters. There were also some part of story that really surprised me and blew my mind like for example the interrogation part. It was really a new experience for me 😉
I love getting your list in the comments each time! There are one or two others who do it, and it just gives me a thrill to see the list get bigger.
Also, great pick. I guess there's a lot of Moore in this area! 😁
I just wrote down a list for myself. I found having to go back to check previous choices too often@@ftloc
@@ftloc I guess it's my turn to start a list too!
Once more I was torn between choices.
Of course Dredd's stark politics was a shock
and the relevation in Judge Dredd America blew me away,
Watchmen for all the reasons you mentioned changed my view of how comics can work
as did Acme Novelty Library.
Kim Deitch's Boulevard of Broken Dreams could also have been my pick as a mind-blowing comic that tranceded any of my expectations or assumptions of what can be done on a comic (and is a close second choice).
However my absolute pick would be From Hell. It blew my mind away being a challenging read a mind altering experience an almost physical attack to my reasoning that forced me to take apart and restructure the way I understood the world. From Hell was constantly pushing all the boundaries of my understanding of the way I perceive the world, history, art or what readin a comic book can be
9 - comic that blew your mind: From Hell - A.Moore and E.Campbell
8 - gorgeous comic : Acme Novelty Library HC - Chris Ware
7 - comfort comic : Peanuts - Charles Schultz
6 - nonfiction comic to recommend to people who don't do nonfiction : Andre The Giant: Life and Legend - Box Brown
5 - first comic series pursued : Asterix
4 - great love story : Ethel and Ernest - Raymond Briggs
3 - great adaptation from another medium : City of Glass - David Mazzucchelli and Paul Karasik
2 - comic to recommend to anyone : Fred The Clown - Roger Langridge
1 - favorite comic : 2000AD
Terrific stuff.
From Hell could easily have been my pick here, as could have been so much Ware. Those are some of the works I am referring to towards the end of the video, those that followed the inflection point of Watchmen for me.
(p.s. my wife tells me that From Hell is her pick for this category too!)
Nice to have you back! I'm going to pick three comics, from two very different periods of my comic-book reading. First, there's Green Lantern/Green Arrow 76: my first comic comic book purchase as a (college age) adult. I don't remember the art as particularly special, but the whole concept of 'throwing away' the super-heroism, and the dealing with current social issues, struck me deeply, and gave me cause to look for more comic books, though I don't remember others from that time which weren't 'undergrounds' as memorable. I don't remember WHY I first bought Starlin's Warlock, possibly because I very much liked his Captain Marvel, but I do remember being very much impressed with Starlin's artwork, of course, but even more so, that he was dealing with 'religious' themes, and at more depth than I remembered any comic delving any other subject prior. Until Howard the Duck appeared. Timely, wry, caustically assailing society with a depth of writing, and beautifully drawn. So THIS is what comics could be. A standard rarely met for me, even today.
Thank you so much - glad to be back and good to see you! And I really need to find a way to read some Howard the Duck, eh?
Watchmen is the answer for me. Having just finished it for a second time a couple of days ago (in light of the current Middle Eastern war), it's amazing how significant the story and themes are to this day. Issue 4 - Watchmaker has GOT to be the single greatest comic book reading experience I've had. Richly realized, morally complex characters with a masterfully crafted plotline that is engaging from the first page to the last. Love your channel and your content!
Thank you so much, and yes, it is so easy to talk about Watchmen for ages - there's just such wonderful density and resonance. Even the Einstein epithet at the end of Watchmaker is placed to create a shiver through echoes. Masterful.
OK, I give up skimping Sandman. Sandman is my choice. I will gladly offer it at the altar of " A comic that blew your mind". That is a title worthy of its sacrifice. I did find very fitting comics from my childhood for this category. However - as mentioned here already - getting your mind blown gets more rare as you get older. Maybe it is because those moments are closer or because their rarity makes them feel more precious, like a surprise that you´re still capable of having that feeling, I decided to go with Sandman rather than some childhood stories.
Sandman just happened at the right time. Growing to adulthood with sports, girlfriend, army, work etc. made me focus less to comics. Many European comics felt too childish and American comics repetitive and empty. Sandman was given to me as a present. It blew my mind. I had never thought comics medium would attract anyone so talented at writing. Art of original Sandman series never blew my mind. I just grew to accept and sometimes even love it. Sandman is like a window into the world behind the wall of sleep. And it´s still the best description of god-like beings I have experienced in comics. Part of it´s power comes from Gaimans realization that you shouldn´t explain things unexplainable. Let the mysteries live which is to say to keep them as mysteries. Just think if he would´ve had to explain all the powers and abilities of Endless and other powerful beings in DC superhero-style...Well, in that case I would´ve just picked some other comic book:)
There's really no reason why it should be saved for any other category really, so well done.
I read it many years after I read Watchmen, but even then I felt a giddy rush from The Sandman as if I was reading something new. In spite of the at times unappealing art (although I have also grown to appreciate much of it over time, and there's a fair amount in the series that is genuinely beautiful) and the odd pacing, the sheer storytelling ambition and execution was indeed mindblowing.
V for Vendetta because i think it is Alan Moore's multiperspectivity expertise at its best.
Also extremely close second:
The Dark Knight Returns (F. Miller) because i started reading it expecting it to have been overhyped, AND i did not particularly like the art style... and i still finished it thinking, "wow, that was hella good".
I have to agree that both of those comics achieve a density that casts a giant shadow !
@@ftloc well said
Last week I went with Vinland saga, but I feel like that would be my pick for today as well (but I don't think I have 31 different comic series anyway). More specifically a singular scene I won't spoil here, in book 4. When I read it, I have to admit, I was so shocked and impressed, that I actually went ahead and shared it with one of my friends who never even read Vinland saga😆
Don't worry about the number of comics and repeats etc. The most important thing is sharing and being honest! Cheers!
Watchmen was the first comic, given by my brother, that I've read as an adult.
Definitely blasted some synapses and raised the bar so high, that made me very picky on comics.
After a couple of years and creation, Transmetropolitan brought back that feeling, at least on some level.
And yeah, very well said by you, the story is the first and foremost but also depending on the consumer.
I'm a little worried about returning to Transmetropolitan - I enjoyed it so much, what if it doesn't hold up? 😁
9 - comic that blew my mind : The hunting accident - Carlson & Blair
8 - gorgeous comic : Tales from the Inner City - Shaun Tan
7 - comfort comic : Sempé in New York - Sempé
6 - nonfiction comic to recommend to people who don't do nonfiction : Springtime in Chernobyl - Emmanuel Lepage
5 - first comic serie pursued : Blast - Manu Larcenet
4 - great love story : A sea of love - Lupano & Panaccione
3 - great adaptation from another medium : 1984 - Xavier Coste
2 - comic to recommend to anyone : The arab of the future - Riad Sattouf
1 - favorite comic : Rules of summer - Shaun Tan
I chose "The hunting accident" mostly because of the stunning artwork. before reading that book and "My favorite thing is monsters" I had never thought it would be possible to draw this way.
I can only imagine the kind of magic it may produce if young children see what one can draw with only one pen!!! it's like the proof that every child can produce art with his pen while sitting at the back of a classroom.
so there are 2 proofs that such art is possible in the back of a classroom:
one in colors : "My favorite thing is monsters"
one in black & white : "The hunting accident"
to this day I still don't understand why "The hunting accident" is not as popular as "My favorite thing is monsters". I love both.
That book is breathtaking, and in waves, over and over again. One of my all time favourites and I think the writing matches the astonishing art, and together they create something almost indescribable (although I will keep trying!)
Akita. Not only my first proper exposure to anime but manga. The detailed artwork, realisation of environment and story from Otomo did blow my mind.
I remember when I first read Akira, and I had seen the anime first, I thought the anime had skimped on the detail! 😁
@@ftloc 😄😄Yes, it was the cliff notes version
I also had that same childhood mind blowing experience with Tinin. It definitely made me love the traditional comic medium though I can't remember a specific moment, I just devoured every Tintin I could get from my school library. As for manga, further into teenagerhood, having being initially obsessed with more typical shonen like Naruto, I randomly read the first volume of Pluto by Naoki Urasawa and that really blew my mind in how manga could be far more visually refined and symbolic, as opposed to flashy and pulpy.
You know how some works diminish the more times you return to them, so it may have been best to leave them alone after a great experience? Pluto is the opposite of those. 😁
Love this 1956 tintin adventure A masterpiece.
I agree wholeheartedly😁!
My comics journey started off with collecting trade paperbacks of serialized characters from the "Big Two" like Spider-Man or Batman. I enjoy them than (and still do) but was often left with a bit of unsatisfaction either due to the feeling of missing context from the hundreds of issues that came before the story, or the lack of character development from following the story for an extended period. Reading Superman: Secret Identity completely blew my mind. The story both IS and IS NOT a Superman story in equal measure - an idea that's crazy when you hear it but makes perfect sense after you read the story. But what really blew my mind was for the first time seeing the entire life story of a serialized character from childhood to old age, and being completely and totally satisfied at the conclusion. I didn't feel like I needed additional context, nor was their a need to continue following a story as it wraps up neatly. My favorite comic to this day.
I love Secret Identity and honestly feel that its sincerity and earnestness often disguises how complex and dense it is. There's something about hiding such complex machinery under a pleasing, seamless hood that is a wonderful type of mind-blowing!
The second book in the original The Obscure Cities series, The Fever in Urbicande (NBM in 1990 in black-and-white) by Francois Schuiten and Benoit Peeters, is the book that blew my mind by being so different from anything that I had read.
Even the IDW books are hard to get, the NBM editions are nigh impossible, alas!
@@ftloc IDW books have colors. I may have to buy one.
a comic that really blew my mind growing up was meanwhile by jason shiga :) its effectively a choose your own adventure story in the comic medium, however the mechanics of the "game" interleave so well with the narrative it feels much more than that
I love Meanwhile, it is fantastic! Have you watched my Jason Shiga video? And have you read Leviathan, very similar to Meanwhile?
@@ftloc i havent read leviathan yet! im mostly excited for his next book, the box, cus aparently he built an actual calculator in it :0
Mind MGMT by Matt Kindt. This blew my mind intellectually, I remember getting the first hardback collection reading it and walking to the comic shop the next day to get the second volume. I was already a seasoned comic book reader but the planning of the story and the introduction of characters just had me hooked. A real smart book and feels like a labour of love for the creator.
Three cheers for a Mind MGMT mention. I love that comic, and with that, Super Spy, and Red Handed, among others, Kindt established himself as my favourite 'mind blowing writer' since Alan Moore!
@@ftlocyou should do a video about them. I really enjoyed his Apache Delivery service this year. Nice quick read. The Kickstarter Cosmic Detective what’s the artist is it Dave Rubin, that was class. Also a mind melter made me go back and look at a lot of Kirby stuff just placed the fourth absolute on order.
I have a lot of Kindt to catch up on! I, too, enjoyed Cosmic Detective with the terrific Rubin (have you read Ether?)
To be honest, as great as the artists are that Kindt collaborates with, I do miss his own more ''amateur'' sketchy style alongside his writing. Those early comics have a strange intimacy and surrealism to them that brought something unique.
Daniel Clowes latest release “Monica” definitely blew my mind.🤯
That sounds very promising, I have yet to check it out!
Yes it was Watchmen for me too! I was around 16 years old when I first read it, up until that time I had ingested the saccharine content that image had been putting out which was great when I was 12/13 but when I read Watchmen I felt transported to another place completely. It felt sophisticated ( because it was ), layered, gripping, compelling and of course it did not hurt being masterfully illustrated by Dave Gibbons. This was the first comic reading experience that made me realise how powerful the medium could be, totally arresting my senses and provoking my thoughts on such a deep and profound level. It continued to do this with every subsequent read and will forever leave its mark on my reading experience.
So well said - and so similar to what I, and thousands of others, have also shared over the years!
My mind blowing comic is the one-two punch of Miracleman 15 and 16, by Alan Moore and John Totleben. Issue 15 blew my mind because of the sheer level of violence perpetrated by Bates on the English people, while 16 did the same because of the idea of the utopian society built upon the ruins of the world left at the end of 15.
I've only read the first four issues! The other volumes went OOP or something...
I read the first vol of the dragon ball Z manga at a friends house and words cannot describe how I felt whislt reading it. Truly a must read to any comic/manga fan
One Piece by Eiichiro Oda is mind blowing purely as a logistical feat in storytelling. I can't think of many stories that have had one singular continuity for 25 years, adding to the story, characters, and world on a near weekly basis, and is as good as it's ever been to this day, even though the stuff written years ago still holds up today. It's intimidating to get into for some, but the thing that intimidates them is the thing that blows my mind!
There's a special magic that long, dense, consistent-yet-inventive stories have that you've encapsulated brilliantly. It's extremely difficult, and in many ways can only be appreciated by the reader who has seen every piece move. I've heard what you say about One Piece echoed by many many readers, which speaks very highly of it indeed!
Out of the many comics that blew my mind I'll mention the most recent one which is a 7 volume series called "Julius Corentin Acquefacques, prisoner of dreams" by french cartoonist Marc Antoine Mathieu. Not sure if it has come out in english. It's about the title character who lives in this dreamlike, super bureaucratic, dystopian world where the rules of comic book narrative are constantly bent or broken. What blew my mind was how the author played not only with narrative structures but the books themselves so the only way these stories fully work is by reading them in their original physical format. An experiment in the comic book medium like I've never seen before.
Thank you so much for sharing that, and for making it sound so enticing! I would definitely be interested to know if it is available in English.
Akira.
Oh boy, this is really difficult for me to answer. I think your pick is very interesting as usual, but this one is tricky as I very much suffer from what you described - I don't "have my mind blown" that easily anymore. It's not like I don't enjoy comics of other mediums as much as I've done in the past, I just don't find myself having my jaw dropped as the bar for that is frankly very high nowadays. With that said I went back and looked though what I've read in my adult years and I think I'll have to go with Saga of the Swamp Thing by Alan Moore, for the simple reason that it was one of the very first comics I read as an adult and it very much showed what a comic can be. An epic story winding through several extensive arcs with intricate character development and relationships, it is indeed a rather distant relative to the Duck books I read as a kid (and still love none the less).
Very good stuff my friend, I'll catch you at the next one at the latest. Tally ho!
Swamp Thing *still* could blow my mind, I feel. I should reread it to check...
The Music of Marie by Furuya, Usamaru. A beautiful manga about humanity's relationship with god and technology.
How many volumes does it have?
15 plus the prologue. It's a quick read; I highly recommend it.@@ftloc
I would say that the first comic that blew my mind was the first collection I read of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant. Also reading Asterix, Spirou and Lucky Luke for the first time. Then after that all the usual suspects. Also The black order brigade by Christin/Bilal.
And if you had to pick just one from all of those? 😁
@@ftloc If I had to pick one it have to be The black order brigade, but Prince Valiant made an everlasting impression on me! Now I am so lucky that I have collected that series from the start in 1937 until late 1990. Mind you it was only a sunday page series.
One of the best story from Tintin
As it turned out, my all time favourite! 😁
Agree with you that getting your "mind blown" as an adult is not that common. Tintin Prisoners of the sun blew my mind as a kid. The plot, the panels... amazing. Preteen me got my mind blown by GI Joe: The Battle of Springfield and Best Defense. The violence and the meaningless of war made an impact on me.
Springfield was a cool concept in GI Joe comics. It's cooler than the Pitt.
Instead of just keeping the definition restricted to the 'volume' of first time and nostalgic experiences, I like adding the dimensions of 'texture' and 'density' to ''mind-blowing'' 😁
Oh boy, I've taken a few sanity blowing hits from comics, the relentless killing symbiote from a parallel earth laying waste to a world of superheroes and then unleashed on Captain Britain, that was heavy. Crisis on Infinite Earths. New Teen Titans the Judas Contract. What Alan Moore did with Swamp Thing. Marvel Man. Detective Comics 526 .. so many villians in one comic.
So many great moments but I'm going to go with Legion of Super-Heroes and the fantastic masterpiece, The Great Darkness Saga. Imagine a future with a youthful generation of heroic heroes defending the galaxy from pirates to crazy people and invading armies. Great times, fun reads, then one issue has this odd final page that is a little strange .. a ruined world and a shadowy figure .. then its back to heroic futuristic fun of the 31st century. And then it begins .. weird heists, myth and magic, unstoppable strange beings like shadowy granite trashing Legionnaires as if they were rookie science police. Very menacing .. it just gets darker from there, weirder, and mindwarping until just when you thought things couldn't be worse .. the big reveal .. ground zero, my mind, utterly blown. And worst of all .. scary, knowing what I knew from other comics, this story took a scary turn and a completely unforseen, mind blowing twist.
Legion of Super-Heroes : The Great Darkness Saga .. the number one pick for me for this catagory. I'd tell you more but I would hate to spoil it.
I actually have a copy of this somewhere! Someone sent it to me ages ago, but I never read it because I really didn't know anything about it and the art didn't look like my childhood favourite Legion from the old Superboy comics.
Now that you have given it such a write up, I just may have to go see where this is...
@@ftloc Oh my .. giddy excitement, let me know if you find it, I hope so, ignore the back, ignore the cover .. dive in!
My first thought was Lucifer by Mike Carey. It's really clever and his ideas there are amazing and mind-blowing. But then I remembered Imbattable by Pascal Jousellin. If you didn't read it, try it. All those ways how he is breaking fourth wall are… just mind-blowing.
OK, another one added to what I have to take a look at! And I really enjoyed Lucifer, and have always thought it doesn't get as talked about as it should, especially compared to how many other Vertigo titles from the title still are.
Quite possibly the hardest day so far, I'm dreading what you'll think of next! I think I'll put Mister Miracle by Tom King and Mitch Gerads as my final decision. It made me re-evaluate what a mainstream modern superhero comic could be, both in terms of the use of the medium, and in the grounded yet absurd handling of the titular hero and his struggles, especially at a time where things were getting a little stale across the big two (imo). I've always thought of Mister Miracle as almost a spiritual successor to Watchmen in this sense, so it seems quite apt!
I think Mister Miracle is a great pick and I agree with it working as a spiritual successor as well. One thing MM may even surpass Watchmen is in humour, which I was certainly not expecting, and which is wonderful without ever breaking the tone of the story. Quite a feat!
Oh, and although I make a few minor tweaks, I am not responsible for the categories, at least not thus far. The origin is in Episode 0 if you're interested 😁
I have seen the episode, I must've just forgotten! @@ftloc
Rat Queens vol 1 Sass and Sorcery. Charlie's angels meet Tolkien's fellowship of badass sisters!
Any specific reasons why it blew your mind?
Dark, rowdy yet hilarious storytelling by writer Kurtis Wiebe who masterly pens the diversity in personality of each main character which artist Roc Upchurch skillfully is able to bring to life through awesome facial expressions
Rat Queens started really strong. It was a refreshing mix of fantasy tropes and table game shenanigans. I enjoyed it for quite a while. I was surprised when the last issue hit my pull box recently. I had thought it was already dead and gone.
Land of the Lustrous
I will look that up while steering clear of any descriptors! Thanks!
Meskin and Umezo by Austin English
I don't know this comic, what makes it so mindblowing?
The artstyle is just this insane looking expressionistic way of drawing. If you are interested I highly recommend you watch Earl Grey's video on him that's how I found out about Austin English.
It did sound familiar, that must be where I have heard that name. Any reason to go watch Earl Grey is a good reason!
I’m only here to make sure Off My Shelves doesn’t pick Hellboy again…
Doesn't the hall monitor submit their homework before everyone else?
@@ftloc Hellboy would be a great pick btw. As would be my pick for previous video🙈I can already feel the screw tightening and this game becoming so much harder. I need to have an inner conflict first. I come back after I’m over it.
that's funny! 😂😂😂
Real by Takehiko Inoue
Tell me more about why! 😁
The art is amazing, the characters are great and the way he portrays disability especially paraplegia is stunningly realistic. As a paraplegic I can relate to most ofthe emotions and trauma displayed in the manga.
@@ftloc
Thank you for sharing! I really want to check this out now!
@@ftloc You should. It's amazing.
Attack On Titan
I'm definitely a fan!
American Born Chinese
What a lovely book that is! Why was it 'mind blowing' for you?
I will resist the temptation to mention all the “firsts” I have seen in comics that blew my mind, because they’re usually just a scene or a panel that were never seen before by my young, unexperienced mind.
I will ignore Watchmen and Understanding Comics, because I’m mostly in awe of their technical and didactic achievements.
So the comic that utterly blew my mind because of the totality of the comic: it’s subject matter, style, visual attraction, sequential artistry, complexity, character interaction, multi-interpretableness (?), uniqueness and originality is Panther by Brecht Evens.
What more to say. If you’ve read it, you understand. If not, you should.
I have loved every Brecht Evens book I have been able to get my hands on, but always falter on how to describe or praise them to others. I see you taking the same approach as me 'if you know, you know, if not, read!' 😁