top 40

by

The Locust Moon Top 40: July 2014

40. THE WICKED + THE DIVINE

The new Image series from McKelvie & Gillen, a sort of bottomless bonus track to their dark-magic rock opera PHONOGRAM, is one of the most promising series to debut in 2014.

40 wicked divine

39. This NSFW Spider-Man Statue

This baffling statue, atop a South Korean shopping mall, gives new meaning to the phrase “web fluid.”

40 spiderbone

38. CHARLES SCHULZ’S PEANUTS: ARTIST’S EDITION

This beautifully designed collection of unaltered original Peanuts artwork brings us Charles Schulz’s earliest strips just as he made them — raw, unfiltered, and a little bit mean.

40 peanuts

37. OUTCAST

The world-weary horror of Robert Kirkman’s story is brought to life by the atmospheric, choking tension of Paul Azaceta’s moody, worrisome artwork. A promising debut for what looks to be a truly frightening series.

40 outcast

36. This Animated Lobster Sculpture

Very lifelike. Keep it far away from butter sauce.

40 lobster
35. THE LEFTOVERS

This off-beat, darkly funny, sprawlingly intimate HBO series, based on Tom Perotta’s novel of the same title, follows life in a small town in the years following the Rapture.

Continue reading →

by

The Locust Moon Top 40: June 2014 – Nemo Edition

This is the space where we usually spotlight 40 amazing things from the last month — adorable cat videos, cheesy songs we can’t stop listening to, and COMICS COMICS COMICS. For the month of June, we’ve decided to do something a little bit different.

If you’ve been anywhere in our general vicinity or exist within nine degrees of separation from us on Twitter, you are probably by now aware of the epic Kickstarter campaign we’ve launched for our insane, Quixotic, 16″ x 21″ hardcover Winsor McCay tribute LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM. This is one star-studded anthology — maybe the most star-studded comics anthology of all time — and there’s been a lot of press and attention on the big names who’ve come together to pay tribute to our favorite Sunday strip: the Paul Popes, John Cassadays, Michael Allreds, J.H. Williamses (and Yuko Shimizus and Bill Sienkiewiczes and Dean Haspiels and yada genius yada).

So we wanted to use this space to draw attention to 40 artists in DREAM ANOTHER DREAM whose names you may not know yet — cartoonists and illustrators whose work is stunning, beautiful, restlessly inventive, original and bold, but who haven’t yet achieved the name recognition of the people mentioned above. One of the things we love most about LITTLE NEMO: DREAM ANOTHER DREAM is that it combines the biggest artists of its day with the biggest artists of tomorrow. Here, in no particular order, are forty folks you should be hearing a lot about in the next few years.

Note: click on any artist’s name to get to his or her website and see more.

40. RAUL GONZALEZ. Raw and refined. Sweeter than sugar, harder than real deal moonshine.
raulgonzalez

39. BODIE CHEWNING is, quite simply, one of the most talented people out there. If only we could get him to draw more than six pages a year…
bodiechewning

38. Master of puppets JENNA TROST charms and creeps in equal measure.
jennatrost

37. DAVE CHISHOLM slings a pen and a trumpet the exact same way — like he invented the thing, and he’s gonna show you what it can do.
davechisholm

36. With a precise cartoonist’s eye, KATIE MOODY turns stories upside-down, inside-out and back again.
katiemoody

35. BISHAKH SOM‘s mind-bending architecture, gentle characters, and inviting colors can keep us staring for hours.
bishakhsom Continue reading →

by

The Locust Moon Top 40: May 2014

40. SECRET AVENGERS

Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Doop be damned — this may be the most fun book that Marvel is putting out. Come for the comedy, stay for the wild sci-fi ideas and propulsively energetic storytelling.

40 avengers

39. Alan Moore Interview on Robert Anton Wilson

Robert Anton Wilson has had an outsized impact on comics sci-fi as one of the prime influences of two of its major writers: Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. Now, as bonus content for the COSMIC TRIGGER theatrical Kickstarter, you can hear comics favorite curmudgeon spend an hour kvelling about the importance of Wilson’s particular brand of visionary oddball sci-fi.

38. SHE-HULK

Charles Soule & Javier Pulido continue making us smile with their latest issue of She-Hulk, taking the jolly green she-giant over to San Francisco to see Daredevil — making for an obviously perfect crossover. The two super-lawyers wonder why they never went up against each other back in NYC, and so do we…

shehulktop40

37. THE AMATEURS

Conor Stechschulte’s graphic novel debut is a strange little incantation, a quietly funny nightmare in black & white — the sort of book that lingers in the back corners of your mind.

40 amateurs

36. KIRBY NEW GODS ARTIST’S EDITION

The unadulterated tiger-force, delivered straight from the tiger-source.

40kirby2

Continue reading →

by

The Locust Moon Top 40: April 2014

40. ALL NEW X-MEN #25

An all-star line-up of creators beautifies this anniversary issue of Brian Bendis’ goofily fun stab at adding to the X-mythos.

top 40 all new

39. Compendium of Comic Maps

Every comic (and every book) should start with a map. Delving into this wealth of literary cartography, it’s easy to imagine that they do.

top 40 map

38. DARKSEID MINUS NEW GODS

top 40 darkseid

Remember Garfield Minus Garfield? Imagine that, juiced with the Anti-Life Equation.

37. SEX CRIMINALS

Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky bring an oddball eroticism to this supernatural sex-caper comedy, a generally gleeful creativity that springs from their ultimate turn-on: the expressive freedom of creator-owned comics.

top 40 sex

36. MoCCAFest 2014

Another MoCCAFest, another inspiring celebration of comics & craftsmanship, this one presided over by a Staypuft-Marshmallow-Man-Scale Charlie Brown balloon, and featuring well-deserved awards for Locust Moon contributors and our pals Alexandra Beguez & Dave Plunkert.

top 40 mocca

Continue reading →

by

The LOCUST MOON TOP 40: February 2014

40. UNDERTOW

With an intriguing premise from Steve Orlando and moody, expressive artwork from Artyom Trakhanov, we can’t wait to see where this new Image title takes us.

undertowfeature

39. SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN

Following Hawkeye’s mix of humor, character-driven realism, and gleeful formal experimentation, SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN has quietly become one of Marvel’s very best books. Don’t let the secret out, but it almost seems like somebody over at the House of Ideas got it in their head that superhero comics are supposed to be fun…

38. This Shirt

Yeah, what if??

What-if-Zelda-was-a-girl-T-Shirt

37. THE BUS

We detect some of the spirit of Winsor McCay in Paul Kirchner’s quietly masterful surrealist comic strip.

thebus_paulkirchner

36. B + F

We were pleased to play host to Greg Benton and his huge, beautiful nightmare of a graphic novel. Greg is one of our favorite cartoonists and one of comics’ most righteous dudes, and we can’t wait to see what he does next.

B+F-COVER-wrap©2013gregory-benton

35. INSECT BATH

True to its title, this new alt-zine style anthology series feels like a submersion in the creepy, underfoot world.

insect

34. SPRING TRAINING

Baseball beckons, and with it a world made new.

Continue reading →

by

The LOCUST MOON TOP 40: January 2014

40. AURORA WEST

Yeah, there’s a bit of a wait. We’ll be standing in line over here.
aurora

39. DEADLY CLASS

Between BLACK SCIENCE and DEADLY CLASS, Rick Remember is on a roll, launching wild new mythologies at what looks like the speed of thought. His tantalizing story is perfectly matched by Wes Craig’s stellar art, and we can’t wait to see where this one takes us.
comics-deadly-class

38. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AN ELDERLY SUPERHERO

These richly detailed oil paintings detailing the adventures of a hero who we have dubbed GRANDPAMAN are surreally funny and a little bit heartbreaking.
englund-10elderly

37. SUPERZELDA

With the manic, propulsive energy of a Gatsbian lawn party, this beautiful two-color bio details the graphic life of a fascinating woman whose story too often gets folded into her husband’s.
superzelda

36. THE SAVIORS

James Robinson’s low-key sci-fi-stoner shaggy dog story is presented in J. Bone’s enviably crisp, energetic black & white.
saviors

Continue reading →

by

The Locust Moon Top 40: September/October 2013

40. DOGS OF WAR

Nathan Fox and Sheila Keenan’s heart-wrenching, half-century-spanning tale of soldiers and soldiers’ best friends is old-fashioned in its storytelling and forward-looking in its gorgeously sleek illustration.
titlePage_dogs_of_war2

39. Will Laren

It is… unsettling how funny we find these inexplicable and off-kilter comic strips.
will laren drool sweat

38. Z2 Comics

We can’t wait to see Paul Pope’s ESCAPO and Dean Haspiel’s BILLY DOGMA collection from Josh Frankel’s ambitious new imprint.
escapo

37. TURMOIL IN THE TOYBOX

7 and 1/2 minutes of the gospel truth. The toys, comics, cartoons, and games of the ’80s turned our entire generation into satanists. Watch this as you perform your daily sacrifice.

36. INHUMANS

One of the finest stories Marvel Comics has ever told is back in print. Jae Lee and Paul Jenkins explored the artful outskirts of what is possible in a superhero comic.
Inhumans-JENKINS-LEE

35. TEOTFW

Chuck Forsman’s dark, opaquely frightening story of two broken young people on the run plays like a Gus Van Sant version of BADLANDS. It gets under your skin.
teotfw

Continue reading →

by

The Locust Moon Top 40: August 2013

40.  Simon Stålenhag’s Sci-fi Suburbia

A Sweden turned inside out by science, yet still recognizably, nostalgically human.
fokaltorn_verge_super_wide

39. MARK SHULTZ’S XENOZOIC TALES ARTIST’S EDITION

Dinosaurs, dino-sized. Thanks yet again, IDW.
xenozoic_tales

38. LEGO Delorean

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads! Because LEGO cars are not street legal.
legodelorean

37. Patton Oswalt trolling Twitter

“Eat the poor, disabled and hopeless. It’s the only way we can insure our future.”
I think he’s really onto something.

36. THE ANIMAL MAN OMNIBUS

Grant Morrison’s mind-bending genre-smasher is finally as heavy as it ought to be.
animalman

35. Real-life Patlabor

Because one real-life giant robot was not enough for Japan. Thank god.
patlabor-poster

34. Suggestions for Street Harassment

Hey HollabackPHILLY, let’s get on this:

holla(and so on)

Continue reading →

by

The Locust Moon Top 40: June 2013

40. This Killing Joker Statue

killing joker

Say cheese.

39. Our July 4th Drink & Draw & BBQ

To celebrate our great nation we will draw in only red, white, and blue. However, as usual, we will be drawing only penises.

38. Lady Thanos

Our favorite costume of a lot of great efforts at Heroescon.

H P1000180

37. Master Month

Every day this month we will be spotlighting a creator whose name alliterates with a day of the week. Wally Wood and Winsor McCay will be duking it out for control of Wednesday.

36. HOW TO SPEAK POETRY

Are you trying to suggest that you love butterflies more perfectly than anyone else?

‎

35. ADVENTURE TIME vol. 3

Because everyone should get the chance to choose their own Adventure Time.

chooseyerownAT Continue reading →

by

The Locust Moon Top 40: May 2013

40. Copra Compendium
It’s finally here, courtesy of Bergen St. Comics. With a voice all his own Fiffe swipes liberally from Miller & Kirby, then high-tails it for the border.copra

39. Electric Light Orchestra
If there’s a better album to make comics to than ELO’s NEW WORLD RECORD, please tell me about it.



38. This Commencement Speech by Joss Whedon
Because YOU HAVE ALREADY BEGUN TO DIE.



37. Poutine
When this stuff finally breaks in the states, dozens of organic locally-sourced poutineries will start popping up all over Williamsburg & Silverlake.

36. Inky
We got a new cat. He’s a little monster, but also a kitten so we are legally and morally obligated to love him.

inky

Continue reading →