GHOST WORLD

Ghost World was originally serialized in issues of Daniel Clowes' Eightball comic book series (#11–18, 1993–1997). It was later published in graphic novel form in 1997 by Fantagraphics Books.

Ghost World chronicles the day-to-day lives of gal pals Enid Coleslaw and Rebecca Doppelmeyer, two cynical, funny, witty teenagers who fancy themselves pseudo-intellectuals. They spend their days doing nothing of value, criticizing people, friends and strangers. as the looming shadow of adulthood approaches closer and closer, the two friends might not come out unscathed. 

A poignant, funny and biting chronicle of teen years with characters that are at times infuriating but nevertheless easy to like. Clowes' writing gives a lot of depth with just a few dialogues and the art conveys the ennuie that the characters are feeling.  You truly find yourself wanting to scream at the two young women and tell them "enjoy yourself, you'll never have it as good!"

A worthy addition to any serious comics reader's library.

THE BRADLEYS

Written and drawn by Peter Bagge. Published by Fantagraphics.

One of comics' truly love-to-hate (pardon the soon to be evident pun) characters, Buddy Bradley has fascinated, infuriated and surprised fans from his creation in 1980 up until his last appearance in 2011. 

Most of his life was chronicled in the comic book series Hate, but he was truly introduces to the masses Peter Bagge's Neat Stuff magazine. In Meet the Bradleys, we are introduced to Buddy's dysfunctional family: Pops, Mom, Babs and Butch Bradley. This book collects all of Bagge's early Buddy tales from Neat Stuff. In it we witness him spending time with his friends Tom and Kevin, driving around, stoned, interacting with the rest of his family but the truly priceless moments are Buddy's constant fights with his sister.  There's a rawness to the early work that is extremely appealing for its immediacy.

Peter Bagge was a singular cartoonist voice in the 1980s, able to express the frustration and rage of a generation stuck in an modern society full of ennuis. His output has lessened over the years but each time a new work of his emerges, it is worthy of note

MARSHALL ROGERS-SHADOW OF THE BATMAN

                                                          MARSHALL ROGERS

The character of The Batman has inspired many fine interpretations by artists since his creation in the 1930s. One of these artist certainly has not gotten the respect and recognition in recent years that he deserves. Marshall Rogers (January 22, 1950 – March 24, 2007) came to prominence illustrating the Dark Knight in the pages of Detective Comics back in 1977-78. His collaboration with writer Steve Englehart was, for many years, held up as one of the shining moments in the character's history. 

While artists like Neal Adams presented a muscular Batman, Rogers' though was lanky, athletic, tall, but not bulky. His Joker, was as memorable: extremely thin, perfectly dressed, wide mouth revealing the whitest of smile. Perfectly creepy.

Not to be forgotten, Terry Austin's solid inking style gave Rogers' art an angular, precise quality that was integral to the look of the art. 

There is no currently available trade paperback or hardback collection on the market and honestly the production value on the latest incarnation was lackluster. I would urge you to seek out the last 4 issues of the reprint collection Shadow Of The Batman, published back in 1985. In those, Rogers had the opportunity to re-color the issues and the whole presentation was of high quality.

While Rogers continued producing work on a regular basis until his death in 2007, none of it quite achieved the high level of his Batman work.