Baru, Tour de France (1986)

 

"Tour de France" by Baru (RAW #8, 1986).

Kawashima Norikazu, Her Frankenstein (1986)

 

Her Frankenstein by Kawashima Norikazu, 1986.

A bullied boy in a Frankenstein mask becomes the pawn of a disabled girl and the pair form a symbiotic relationship that feeds on the terror of their victims in this classic of Japanese psychological horror manga. 

The critics: Visually, ‘Her Frankenstein’ is light on gore compared to similar works from the same period, but heavy on dark psychological themes. Abusive and coercive relationships, bullying, revenge, power, and innocence are explored through the childhood relationship of the main characters and the lifelong consequences for the protagonist. -- A.J. Dinsdale, The Aither

Charles Burns, Big Baby: Curse of the Molemen (1986)

 

Big Baby: Curse of the Molemen by Charles Burns, 1986.

Burns' scalpel-like ink lines dissect the dark underbelly of suburbia in this short horror tale published as RAW One-Shot #5 in 1986. The story, which did for comic books what Blue Velvet did for film, tells the tale of a strange child who may or may not have seen a subterranean monster digging around in his backyard. 

Hergé, Tintin and the Alph-Art (1986)

 

Tintin and The Alph-Art by Hergé,1986.

Hergé's last unfinished masterpiece!

Mark Newgarden, Love's Savage Fury (1986)

 

"Love's Savage Fury" by Mark Newgarden, 1986.

Not many experiences can compare to the thunderclap of reading Mark Newgarden's deconstructive examinations of the gag comic format for the first time. In this famous strip, first published in RAW #8, Bazooka Joe and Nancy are forcibly dragged into the netherworld of the New York City subway system and experience a "missed connection" that reconfigures our understanding of sequential narrative.

The critics: “Newgarden’s dense, formally experimental work began appearing regularly in RAW from the publication’s first issue. ‘Love’s Savage Fury,’ a narrative about the failure to find love on the subway, is based on a personal advertisement Newgarden read in a newspaper. The characters who Newgarden chose to star in this story were also drawn from mass culture: the lead character of Ernie Bushmiller’s comic strip Nancy and Bazooka Joe, the main character in a series of comic strips printed on bubble gum wrappers manufactured by the Topps corporation. More than an act of détournement, ‘Love’s Savage Fury’ intensely deconstructs the visual appearance of Bushmiller’s Nancy as a meditation on heartbreak, memory, and the iconic precision of those widely known fictional characters who exist within the public imagination.” – Bill Kartalopoulos, Formula Bula 7, Paris.

Alberto Breccia, Mort Cinder (1963)

 

Mort Cinder by Hector German Oesterheld and Alberto Breccia.

Breccia's art is the real star of these philosophical, dreamlike tales of an immortal soldier who dies a thousand times and is reincarnated throughout history as a key participant in some of the most tragic battles and apocalyptic events.

Joe Brainard, Nancy Collages (1963)

Nancy Collgaes by Joe Brainard.

In 1963 poet and artist Brainard began cutting up Ernie Bushmiller's classic Nancy into new assemblages, recombining and detourning the comics into profane, looking-glass versions of themselves. Brainard was one of the first to incorporate comics and appropriation into a large part of his artistic practice. (He also adapted his friends' poetry into comics form in his C Comics magazine, but those will have to wait until 1964.)