The Incal

I recently came across an article on NPR with their top 100 graphic novels and comics. What a treasure trove. As someone who is relatively new to reading comics, having a list that isn’t just the latest published work is so great. I immediately proceeded to put a bunch of things on my own list and some I put on hold from the library.

The Incal was the first book to become available and I sped my way through it this week. Via twitter I learned that the artist, Moebius, is well known, but prior to this I didn’t know the work of either Alexandro Jodorowsky or Moebius. The Incal is an insane, wonderful adventure that ends exactly as a comic of its nature should.

We meet John Difool as he’s being hurled off a balcony and the action doesn’t let up much until the end of the series. We meet rat queens, powerful warriors, and a talking cement bird. The story, like most great stories, is good and evil going up against each other. As the evil starts to assert itself a small band of warriors and misfits comes together to fight. I don’t want to give away too much because you really should read it, but I loved the way in which a comic written in the 1980s was completely applicable to the world today.

And this week, with the absolutely tops turvy events in the US government, it was perfect to read something that took me away from it all.