THE FOUR COLOR GRIMOIRE
MEDITATIONS ON COMIC BOOK DAEMONS
This is part of No Gods But My Own, Volume 2. Read this if you’re just joining in.
BOOKS OF MAGIC
READING BEYOND THE GRIMOIRE
After spending so much time talking about superheroes and the folks that work in that genre, I wanted to cover some of the work outside of that confining sector of the medium. Comics and sequential art cover just as broad a spectrum as movies and literature so I wanted to highlight some of my personal favorites.
In keeping with the theme of The Four Color Grimoire I want to focus on the more esoteric side of things. This list is far from exhaustive but I think these are some of the most magical works in the medium.
The Metabarons by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Juan Gimenez
Before the Incal, The Incal, and Final Incal by Alaejandro Jodorowsky, Moebius, Zoran Janjetov, and Jose Ladronn
(Humanoids Press 2014, 2015)
It’s hard to encapsulate the pure creative insanity of these books. The stories and concepts are so kinetic and novel.
The Metabarons explores a lineage of warriors across centuries. Their stories are symbolic and esoteric, pregnant with hidden meanings and spiritual tributaries. If you want to know how Jodorowsky's Dune would've looked and felt then this book is for you.
The Incal Trilogy follows a detective as he investigates a relic in a dystopian future. Again, the book is pure symbolism and beauty. It centers around the detective John Difool (The Fool, for the Tarot minded out there) and his personal and spiritual evolution.
The Cage by Martin Vaughn-James
(Coach House Books, 2013)
A masterwork of surrealist sequential art. It feels as though there's a narrative buried somewhere in the disparate threads of art and text but it's hard to know for sure.
Beanworld by Larry Marder
(Dark Horse Comics, 2009)
Originally published in 1985, Larry Marder’s Beanworld isn't a story about characters. It's a story of an ecosystem, all about ecology and evolution colliding to create a world. The depth of Beanworld transcends the simple storytelling and art style.
Big Questions by Anders Nilsen
(Drawn and Quarterly, 2011)
What starts as a silly story about birds slowly turns into a deeply human fable of man against nature and death. Nilsen is one hell of a draftsman and this book is his masterwork.
Promethea by Alan Moore and JH Williams III (Wildstorm/DC Comics, 1999-2005)
A Disease of Language by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (Knockabout/Top Shelf Comix, 2005)
From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (Top Shelf Comix, 1999)
Three of the best books by one of the most talented magicians in comics. Not going to waste words on these when you really should just read them and pretty much anything else by Moore.
Awaiting the Collapse: Assorted Works 1974-2014 by Paul Kirchner
(Editions Tenibis, 2017)
Words fail to describe the stew of artistic influences that swirl around the work of Paul Kirchner. You can see shades of Bosch, Escher, and even Jack Kirby in the short works contained in Awaiting the Collapse. A highlight are the Dope Rider strips, previously published in High Times magazine, starring a skeletal cowboy that transcends the layers of existence in stories that ring far more like a Jodorowsky film than any Clint Eastwood joint.
Om by Andy Barron
(The Mansion Press, 2021)
Lush and surreal, Barron's comics ebb and flow through psychedelic landscapes while telling sometimes brutal pantomimes of expanding consciousness and reality breaking profundity.
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison and various artists
Flex Mentallo by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly
(DC/Vertigo, 1994-2000 and 1996)
I would honestly suggest almost anything by Grant Morrison but these are some of my personal favorites. If you're into the occult and comics you've no doubt already heard all about them and their work so there's no need for me to go on about it.
The Maxx by Sam Keith and William Messner-Loebs, issues 1-20
(Image Comics, 1993-94)
The Maxx sometimes looks like a superhero story but it's also a story of trauma and the depths that pain affects us all. The series goes off the rails in the later issues but it is absolute perfection in the beginning. Sam Keith is one of the best artists in the medium alive today. He doesn't work often but it's always beautiful and totally singular in scope and style.
Scud, the Disposable Assassin by Rob Schrab
(Firemen Press/Image Comics, 1994)
In a future where you can buy mechanical hitmen from vending machines, one robot betrays his programming and goes freelance to stop himself from self-destruction. This was one of my favorites while it was coming out and it's one of my favorites now. Schrab no longer does comics but you can see his work in shows like Creepshow and Rick and Morty. He also co-wrote the animated film Monster House with Dan Harmon.
Baby Bjornstrand, H day, The Ticking, and Hagelbarger and That Nightmare Goat by Renee French
(Various publishers and years)
Of all the books here, these may be the hardest to describe. Renee French's work sits somewhere between childhood nightmares and visionary fever dreams. French also illustrates children's books and that style is reflected here as a twisted doppelganger of innocence. These four books only scratch the surface of her oeuvre. I recommend finding everything you can by her.
The Marvel by Richard S. Carbonneau and Robin Simon Ng
(Cellar Door Publishing, 2010)
Unlike most of the books on this list, The Marvel is actually ABOUT magic. It's a well researched and intriguing biography of Jack Parsons that started out as a webcomic during the boom of that particular form of the medium. Both the book and the webcomic are currently out of print and otherwise unavailable.
The World of Edena by Moebius
(Dark Horse Comics, 2016)
Originally created as a promotional comic for Citreon, the epic stories in The World of Edena are among some of Jean `Moebius' Giraud's best works. It’s a spiritual allegory that centers around a pair of planetary mechanics as they’re called to work on Edena. What starts as a simple repair job evolves into an exploration of identity and purpose. Moebius is an absolute master of the art of comics and The World of Edena is only one comic out of many of his that should be read and absorbed.
Beta Testing the Apocalypse by Tom Kaczynski
(Fantagraphics Books, 2013)
Kaczynski’s work falls somewhere between William S. Burroughs and J.G. Ballard in that it’s a surrealist utopia of architecture and alienation smothered in existential dread. It’s the dissection of the urban and how life in a city changes a person. It’s neurotic, antiseptic, and rattled my reality tunnel.
The Wrenchies by Farel Dalrymple
(First Second, 2014)
The Wrenchies falls somewhere in the greater story Dalrymple seems to be telling in all of his work but easily stands alone. The book feels like a puzzle box in all the best ways and Dalrymple’s immediate, raw art style and fanciful characters create a lush world you want to get lost in.
The Frank Book and Jim by Jim Woodring
(Fantagraphics Books, 2003 and 2014)
This pairing is all about the psychic landscape that exists between creation and creator. The Frank Book collects a large cross section of Woodring's most famous creation, the silent cartoon cat the book is named after. It's a volume full of unknowable symbolism and a constantly dissolving sense of what's real and what's dream.
Jim is Woodring's idea of autobiography. Much like the adventures of his feline creation, Jim's comics verge on a dreamtime that exists only in his mind and the art that emerges from its torrents and tides.
Schizophrenia by Vaughn Bode
(Fantagraphics, 2001)
Bode was an androgynous street artist most well known for his stage shows and the character Cheech Wizard who has been tossed up on walls all over the world by scores of graffiti artists as one of the most recognizable symbols of the street art movement. While those things are what he's most famous for, Schizophrenia collects what was probably the most emotionally honest and deep of his published works. It's a small but incredibly potent distillation of a truly individual artist.
Making Comics and Syllabus by Lynda Barry
(Drawn and Quarterly, 2014 and 2019)
Marketed as a couple simple instructional books on how to make comics, these books turned out to be invaluable resources for how to break open individual creativity. It feels like Barry knows all the techniques on jailbreaking your brain and letting the inner child back out to play. The techniques in these books have so many more applications, especially for those of us who are more magically inclined.
Enigma by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo
(DC Comics/Vertigo, 1993)
An exploration of identity, sexuality, and individuality wearing the mask of a metatextual superhero story, Enigma was one of Milligan’s best works of the 90’s. Paired with his work on Shade, the Changing Man with Chris Bachalo, Milligan was possibly one of the best esoteric voices in comics in the nineties and early aughts.
CUSP, GONGWANADON, White Clay, and North Star
(Alternative Comics, Adhouse Books 2003-2021)
Thomas Herpich is far more well known for his work as a storyboard artist on the show Adventure Time and being part of the comic collective Meathaus. Herpich’s comics are lyrical and phantasmagoric. He focuses on the short story and fairy tale, creating tapestries of rich allegory and lush brushwork. Most of these books are out of print at this point but are all worth hunting down.
So that’s that for The Four Color Grimoire! I want to thank each and every one of you for indulging me on this journey through my fanatical devotion to the medium of comics. It was one of best experiences I’ve ever had as a writer and I’m glad you were all here for it.
There will be a third volume of No Gods But My Own but it’s still in the early stages of gestation. My plan is to take some time off but I’ve never been good at giving myself a rest. I’m hoping to use the next couple months to regroup and recharge before making moves on whatever comes next. Rest assured that I won't leave you hanging for too long. I don't think I could, even if I wanted to.
Until then,
EJM