Top Five Desert Island Series

This won’t really be mini-comic related (until the end that is), but I wanted to answer a colleague’s request. So, I’ll hope you’ll indulge me until tomorrow. To celebrate his 100th column, Marc Mason has listed his Desert Island Comics over at Movie Poop Shoot. Look around the blogosphere and you’ll see some other bloggers doing the same in honor of Marc’s 100th column. Marc, congratulations; here are my own Top Five Desert Island Comics in alphabetical order.

Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware
Repeated readings of these comics have unearthed little details that I must have glossed over the first time. With the complete series, you get Quimby, Jimmy Corrigan and other stories. Not the most uplifting stuff out there, I know, but they'd certainly help me pass an afternoon or two on the beach.

Darevevil Issue 1 to present
I knew I would pick one long running comics series for this list, I just didn’t know it would be Daredevil. There are some awful stretches of comics in this run, I’m sure, but I’ve probably only read half of them. But I’ve read all of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Batman and the other usual suspects. Besides in the DD run, there are the wonderful and gritty Frank Miller comics and, I know you’ll laugh, the Bendis/Maleev comics that I’ve enjoyed a great deal. There is the lengthy string of team-up issues with the Black Widow that took place somewhere around the century mark and the Born Again issues. I can do without Daredevil: Man Without Fear though, just give me the original series, warts and all. That should keep me busy for a long time.

Love & Rockets by Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez
This is a bit of a cheat really. Since I’ve read Palomar and Locas, I think of these as two distinct series. But I've still got all of the old magazine sized issues, so that would make for great reading. Since this is a game, I get to have the Love & Rockets issues from the current volume as well...

Starman by James Robinson and Tony Harris (and others later on)
Starman is my favorite super hero series and one of my favorite series of anything. It’s not a monumental or groundbreaking book, by any means. But it gets to the heart of what makes a super hero. Starman is first about the Knight family and second about Starman. It’s about what holds a family together and what drives a family apart. I liked Jack Knight a great deal as a character. I like the attention that James Robinson paid to the things that made Jack’s life so interesting. His love of old viewmaster reels, old LPs, old shirts and prints, and old cocktail shakers made Jack human; he wasn’t super human, but he was a hero, however reluctant. His love of the past was a way to connect him with his own family and his father’s past. Once he got past his initial revulsion of being Starman, he was able to appreciate where his father and his brother (very briefly) were before he went there himself.

Uncle Scrooge by Carl Barks
The original run of the Scrooge McDuck characters by Carl Barks has remained a favorite of mine since before I knew who Carl Barks was. As a kid I bought tons of Barks reprint comics without ever realizing why I liked his stories the best. Barks was a great storyteller and he knew how to make the art pop. His characters felt more alive and the stories themselves were more involving than those done by other Duck artists of the time.

Now, to bring this back to mini-comics, Five Desert Island Mini-Comic series:

Obviously King Cat Comics by John Porcellino
There are a bunch of his early issues that I haven't read, so that would be fun.
Supermonster by Kevin Huizenga I noticed that Graeme included these over on Fanboy Rampage.
Dirty Plotte by Julie Doucet. These were reprinted by Drawn & Quarterly thankfully.
Jennifer Daydreamer's complete set of mini-comics
Happy Town by Justin Madson

John Porcellino at Newsarama?

File this under… I can’t believe I’m linking to Newsarama from here. But I am and with good reason.

John Porcellino interviewed at Newsarama. They even have one of my favorite King Cat pages up.



The John Porcellino interview with Zak Sally in TCJ #241 was one of my favorite interviews in the Journal. I actually had a lot of trouble finding that issue locally and I wasn’t able to get to Chicago Comics that month for some reason. So, I checked it out of an unnamed library and never returned it.

Found at Fanboy Rampage, thanks Graeme.

John Porcellino's King Cat #64




I’ve written and raved about John Porcellino’s wonderful mini-comic many times before, but don't worry, that won’t stop me from doing it again today. The latest issue of King Cat is special in that it’s even more heartfelt than previous ones. Actually this one’s a heartbreaker. John’s father passed away this year and this issue of King Cat is devoted to him.

I don’t know John personally (although as a longtime reader I feel like I do), but as I read the stories in this issue, his loss affects me. I can feel the longing for his lost father in his words. And I don’t mean, “Wow, that’s really moving.” I had tears in my eyes as I read the memories of his dad and it made me think of my own father and how I would feel if I suddenly lost him. As you read this issue, there’s this sharing of grief, but also a celebration of the man that meant the world to John and the strength that it takes to deal with such a loss.

From a text composition in this issue:

"I'm standing in my Dad's bedroom - that's where he lay, that's where he stood, that's where he fell - he called out in the night. I can see the paramedic's feet, my Dad, my family, this world. The endless bright world, the darkness. The coming and going, again and again and again."

Think about it; the endless coming and going. People important to us, parents, friends, lovers, all coming and going. They come into our lives and they leave and we have no control. John's words remind us to appreciate the people that mean so much to us.



This issue is split almost evenly between pages drawn in John’s economical style and text stories and memories of his father. If you’ve never read an issue of King Cat, you might look at it and dismiss it outright because of John’s very spare line and compositions, but if you take the time to read an issue, or better yet a few issues in a row, you’ll pick up the poetic rhythm of his words and stories. John celebrates the tiny joys in life like no one else, and you walk away from his comics noticing the little details in your own life.

Visit John Porcellino's website to check out everything King Cat.