Total Nerd Ranked: Non-Super Hero Comics

Sometimes it's just really hard to know what to read

So here are the top 10 non-superhero comics as voted on by you, the viewer

Welcome to Total Nerd Ranked, the show where we rank nerdy stuff. Eh, not really

These are mostly just books that I like that I think you should read. Have you ever wanted to attend an art school

and be friends with a large cast of diverse and idiosyncratic illustration students

Well, that's kind of what Sophie Campbell's long-running romance soap opera comic, Wet Moon is like

If you like character explorations, David Lynch, and people talking about their emotions

this book is for you. Sophie has been writing and drawing Wet Moon since 2004

recently concluded with a long-awaited volume 7. So now's the perfect time to get

into this intricate character drama. What if a small town in the middle of nowhere

outlawed comic books? Would you care? Well, Macon, the protagonist of Teenagers from Marswood

he's an aspiring cartoonist, and he lives, eats, and breathes comics. So what does he do when comics are outlawed

He takes up arms and defends free speech and fights back against the system

If you like things like Taxi Driver, Bonnie and Clyde, or American Splendor, this is a comic for you

You talking to me? It's written by Rick Spears and illustrated by Rob G

Rob, he left comics a while ago and is now a pro chef

But we're still out here waiting for that Teenagers from Mars volume 2. Come on, Rob, make a Kickstarter

This comic will get you riled up and rekindle your passion for the illustrated page or it just make you hate that small town you from even more Either good with me Just please buy the comic Have you ever wondered what a David Lynch comic would look like if Jack Kirby drew it Might look something like this

Kankor follows a speechless being as he drifts through space and contemplates the act of creativity

He then fights duplicate versions of himself, also named Kankor, but they're all just spelled differently

I don't know. It's a weird metatextual fever dream about the act of creation and if we can ever escape our influences

or how life as a creator is just extremely lonely and solitary

I'm not even remotely doing this justice. It's something you kind of have to read for yourself, which

is honestly the highest endorsement I can give any comic. Cobra is the brainchild of Michel Fife

It's ostensibly his remix on modern day superhero culture. But like in an art house way

I don't know. Think about maybe Lars Montrier directing a Suicide Squad

movie, which doesn't even begin to communicate how awesome the book is

It's all produced by Fife, meaning colors, inks, letters, and publishes everything monthly

Yeah, he's a workhorse. He's self-published over 30 issues himself. The collections are now going to be put out by Image Comics

So, you know, our boy done good. You done good, kid. This One Summer by Jillian and Marco Tamaki

is a deeply moving and emotionally resonant story about a young girl's summer vacation

at her family's lake house. The story focuses on the awkward phase in everyone's life

where you're trying to navigate the gap between being a child and being an adult. You're being exposed to these new and scary ideas

and you're not emotionally equipped to handle any of them. Jelena Tamaki's dynamic yet subtle artwork really

pulls the book together. She builds such a cohesive sense of character and setting with this work It really impressive It also won the Prince Honor and the Colicott Honor Awards as well as the Eisner and the Inits Awards So you know if it good enough for all these awards

it's probably good enough to pique your interest, right? Everyone has some sort of crazy, one day I'll do this dream

Well, Eleanor Davis basically lived out hers. She rode her bike across the country

Every night she'd stop and make diary comics, and just about the general stuff that she saw over the course of the day

Riding a bike across the U.S., that's hard. Making comics while riding a bike across the US

That's just adding insult to injury. Jim Rugg is the cartoonist behind Street Angel

along with his co-writer Brian Maruca. He's crafted a charming story about Jesse Sanchez

the eponymous protagonist of this series of books. We follow her as she scourges for food in trash cans

fends off roving gangs of ninjas, and attempts to befriend stray dogs

This all-ages comics have been published by a few companies over the years, Slate Labor Graphics, Ad House, and most recently, Image

It's definitely worth a look if you're into intricate line-based illustrations, cool young protagonists, or skateboarding

Are you a fan of comics about anthropomorphic deer people? What about fantasy books

What about comics about anthropomorphic deer people in fantasy books? Well, then Temi, the psychedelic mashup of awesome 90s anime

that you used to love, The Hobbit, and more than one furry book is definitely something you should check out

The writer and illustrator of Temi, Opal Pence, is just out of this world. Look at the way she draws deer people

Look at that deer person. It's awesome. It's so cute. And also, when was the last time you said dear person

I've never said dear person this much in my entire life, ever. Like dear person Dear person Dear person Dear person Dear person Dear person Kelly Quang is an illustrator and fashion designer based in Toronto She has a super cool fashion line called Space Youth Cadet

If you're into anime or video games, it's probably a safe bet you'll dig her work

However, that's not why we're here today. We're going to talk about Frontier number 12. Frontier is an anthology, zine, and comics project that gives artists a space to create new works

Kelly was given number 12. This book is an in-world exploration of her space youth

cadet characters. From her hallmark pixelated pencil style to her amazing character designs

this book is a wonder to behold. It's one of my favorite pieces of sequential work I've seen produced in the last decade

I honestly don't know how to sell you on this anymore. If you're not interested in this or her work

after me yammering on it for five hours, you might be dead inside. I don't know what's more frustrating

about Super Mutant Magic Academy, that it's pure, undiluted brilliance, or that it's

Jillian Tamaki's throwaway doodles, literally. She posted it page by page on Tumblr as a cool-down thing

while working on this one summer. I know what you're thinking. Yes, Tumblr used to be a place

Oh, that was so long ago. Super Mutant Magic Academy is kind of like if you crossed

Harry Potter with the X-Men. So it's about a school of misfit weirdos that all have powers

and are kind of just really sad all the time. We follow them as they try and figure out life, love

and existing as a seemingly immortal being. Poor everlasting boy. The book was inspired by Tamaki's time as an art teacher

and dealing with teenagers. And honestly, the highest compliment I can pay this work

is that you could hand it to someone who's never read a comic before, and they would read the first five pages

and instantly fall in love, and then subsequently be really depressed