Howard Wong’s top 10 go-to comic book and graphic novel list

True North Country Comics presents Howard Wong’s top 10 go-to comic books and graphic novels.

Howard is an award-nominated writer and creative development specialist with over two decades in corporate and creative industries experiences. His passion for speculative fiction and narrative-driven intellectual property development, creative and cross-cultural media content has led him to work in animation, children’s books, comic books, high-end collectible toys, intellectual property development, marketing and branding, mobile and web games, and transmedia story development. His collaborative works in comics have been nominated for the Joe Shuster Award’s Gene Day Award, Comic Book Buyer’s Guide Fan Award for Favourite Graphic Novel, and the Ghastly Award for Favourite Horror Anthology.  Howard has been nominated for the Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer and received Diamond’s Gem of the Month for his creator-owned work. His most recent work is Damned, Cursed Children.

Here’s Howard’s top 10 go-to comic books and graphics novels (in no specific order):

1. Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
   “I love the themes, motifs and tones it dives into. The reflection of the types of stories during that time versus classic ones, and how they are still relevant and have a place in superhero comics today.” 
   
   
2. Black Science by Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera
   “There is everything in this!”
   
    
3. Astro City by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson, and Alex Ross
   “Love the immersive stories in a world filled with characters that you get to see beyond their fantastical personas.”
   
        
4. Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
   “One of my most favourite Superman stories with a take that I did not expect and absolutely enjoyed. Wonderfully written by Kirk Busiek with art by Stuart Immonen. I use this to successfully get non-comic book readers into comics.”
   
     
5. Death: The High Cost of Living by Neil Gaiman, Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham and Dave McKean
   “There are so many wonderful moments in the story that embodies deep layers of themes and tones so well put together that it is timeless. You can read it again and again, and continue to fall in love with it.”
   
    
6. The Maxx by Sam Kieth and Jim Sinclair
   “This dark superhero, psychological fantasy story is something I never encountered before I picked it up when it was published through Image Comics. It still enthralls me today when I read through it from time-to-time.”
   
   
   
7. Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba
   “What’s not to love about the quirky, loveable and fun dysfunctional family of empowered oddballs with a story that was just a fun read with Gaberiel Ba’s amazing art!”
   
    
8. Moon Shadow by J.M DeMatteis, Jon J. Muth, Kent Williams and George Pratt
   “This far-out sci-fi, coming of age adventure with jerky aliens and quotes from William Blake is one of those series where you don’t quite know what you getting yourself into and that is why it’s so great.” 
   
   
9. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
   “A fun satirical story of relationships in a fantasy world where there is more going on in the story as you get deeper into it.” 
   
   
10. Nextwave by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen
    “This is one of the most fun comics I read with offbeat characters that you root for, but secretly want to see mess up to see what hilarious situation they will get themselves into next.” 
    

You can discover more about Howard on Twitter at @howardwong1 and online at howard-wong.blogspot.com