Popgun, Vol. 1

Popgun #1

by D.J. Kirkbride (Editor), Erik Larsen, Joe Keatinge (Editor)

Image presents a groundbreaking trip into the inspired minds and talents of the industry's top writers and artists. From giant monsters to burning satire to period piece epics and everything in between, PopGun crosses the protected borders of every genre, fulfilling the desires of all hungry for the pungent taste of creativity. Deviating from the tired mold of abstract anthologies, PopGun places entertainment on the front lines, reinforced with unique storytelling and an incredible array of art.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Anthologies, Comic Book, Short Stories, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics

420 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 2007

About the author

D.J. Kirkbride is the co-writer and co-creator of AMELIA COLE, an ongoing digital comic book series from Monkeybrain Comics (published in print by IDW), as well as the Dark Horse mini-series NEVER ENDING. He won an Eisner and a Harvey as an editor and a contributing writer for the POPGUN anthologies from Image Comics and has also contributed stories to TITMOUSE MOOK volume 2, FIRESIDE MAGAZINE issue 1, and OUTLAW TERRITORY volume 3. In addition to his comics work, D.J. went and wrote a book of ninja poetry called DO YOU BELIEVE IN NINJAS? (Creative Guy Publishing).

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

You'd think Image would be a natural home for anthologies, but unlike Dark Horse Presents, somehow they never quite seem to stick. This one's a hefty bugger, to be sure, but even coming out annually it was only able to manage four volumes. And it's curious to see how different Image looked a decade ago. The legacy of a publisher founded by artists is still apparent: there are plenty of stories where I remember the eye-popping visuals, fewer where I remember the stories. But the specifics are also curious: those visuals are in many styles, but generally far more obviously 'alternative comics' than either nineties or modern Image. And the stories...well, the first one which sticks in my mind is the purportedly autobiographical one where the guy's really into this girl, and only upon asking her out realises she has a girlfriend. At which point he storms out and never speaks to her again. Not a storyline I can see going down too well with the modern Image audience.

Of the rest, too many feel like Future Shocks without a twist, and some aren't even that - there's one starring 'Tiger-Man' which seems to think that swapping a new animal in and then telling a painfully generic and hokey Batman yarn will do, and it really won't. Two stories start from the exact same premise (a racer has an accident, after which his girlfriend wants him to quit), and while they take it different directions, neither is terribly interesting. Even when creators who've since got very good pop up, there are often only faint inklings of what they've since become (honourable exception: Rob Guillory, just as finely poised on the line between hilarious and grotesque here as he was in Chew). My favourite thing in the whole 400+ pages was 'Mexican Wrestler Funnies', which is just two guys trash-talking each other, but my word they do it well. Whatever happened to Andy Kuhn?

[Speedtribes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This massive brick was definitely much better made/printed than the DC Archive reprint line (paperback; I hear they went to Hardcover now). The art in this collection of stories was brilliant, though I found myself confused at times over where one person's story ended and the next person's began. This was not helped by the way, despite each story's short length, several stories seemed to change styles halfway through. Mike Allred seemed to be the only person in the entire tome that understood how to properly work the comic short story, with his little ditty about Madman's foray into the world of record buying my favorite, hands down. Most of the works feel unfinished, as if the writer was trying to squeeze an epic into 8 pages, and ended up with a prologue to a much greater story. Most often, I felt as if it was just a lot of mindless violence I wasn't sure I could summon enough emotion to care about.

Still, I think this volume is very much worth its money. Indispensable to artists - It's an excellent showcase of a huge mix of styles, from the very illustratory to the more animated looking styles, pretty much is everything that I think Flight Volume 1 had promised in the early days and simply failed to deliver with consequent volumes. Perhaps the pages were too short for the, in many cases, relatively new or recently established writers/artists to really dig in. But, as a short retinal blast to wet the appetite - fitting for something advertised as a 'mix tapes' of comics - it does what it needs to do, and then some.

[Pewterbreath · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since this is a visual mix-tape, the quality ranges from item to item in this book. However each section is of high quality, and sort of like reading a book of short stories in comic book form. The worst bits are really advertisements for the artists' other projects (why pay money to see an advertisement?) the best---well there's many---surprisingly the best are generally the ones that either have a sense of humor, or are more realistic (instead of superhero fighting some thing)---The Bikini Vampires were a hoot as well as the nun-gang (and CREEPY!) there's a couple of really touching short vignettes. Cutting edge? not so sure about that----left of mainstream of course, but there's a heavy cartoon/anime influence that pervades about half the items--and it seems that this is much more white-bread than you'd initially respect. In a way popgun is the perfect title--- because all of this stuff is very pop---even if the gun occasionally is unloaded.

[Damon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gets five stars in a large part because it just looks so damn nice - one of the best looking collections I've maybe ever seen. The contents are hot or miss, like most anthologies, but there's more hits than misses, and a lot of work from creators I've never seen or read before, which is always something I like a lot (well, at least when they're good).
Oddly it also had an Allred pre-Madman story from like 15 years ago.
I'm excited for the other 2 volumes.

[Kenisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of short comics, fake ads, posters/stand alone art, etc. I really enjoyed it, although thematically many of the stories are a toss up, so going from one genre to another wildly different one is a bit jarring. Still, I enjoyed most of the comics in here, which either caught my attention through their art or through the messages they managed to convey in a few short pages. Looking forward to getting the next few volumes.

[Mike Cassella · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first heard about this book, I was mildly intrigued. The more I read, though, the more I became very excited. It's a collection of short comics from various independent talents with stories ranging from relationship drama to intergalactic sci-fi to action to... well... some are just plain hard to describe. Well worth the price and perfect for gifts or roadtrip "brain food."

[Imogen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ray gave me this. I liked it but I wanted most of the stories to be longer, except for the stories I didn't care about, which I wanted to be shorter. But mostly I liked them. Ellie saves the world!

Does it really say "What I learned from this book" at the top of the goodreads 'enter your review here' field? Has it always? How second grade!

[Jamil · Rating 2 out of 5]

i was really disappointed there wasn't a brandon graham story in here despite all the prepub press hype. toby cypress, dan hipp, rey's pinapl story, deadeye, supertron & aqua leung(!!!) were the highlights for me. the rest was alright.

[Chadwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

By themselves the short comic pieces that make up this "graphic mixtape" are mostly slight, and some of them just plain bad. However, as a mass, they work really well, just an avalanche of disposable pop fun.

[Matt Shaqfan · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good anthology. it's like the FLIGHT anthologies, only POPGUN is more action-oriented i guess...still artsy and stuff at times tho...and it's a great bang fer yer buck at like 500 pages for $30. looking forward to volume 2.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The size of this book helps make up for any story I didn't care for. There is a wide variety of short stories to be found here.

[Hannah Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthologies can really be hit or miss with the stories and I'm happy to report that there were more hits than misses happening here.

[Christian Lipski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly awesome collection of comics from all arenas!

[Gord · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im a sucker for anthologies. Great collection of art and great short stories from various artists/writers. It makes for a fantastic patio read in the sun. Loved it.

[Yongyoon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many bad ones to sift through to read the great bits.

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two standouts that I would love to read more of:
Sanz Pantz: Ninja Platypus by Chris Moreno
They Shoot Ponies, Don't They by Mark Sable & Rob Guillory

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this collection of graphic novel shorts was fun to read different stories and see different artwork. Often stories were almost identical.

[Kris Ivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

a crazy good collection of strange short graphic stories. the favorite of mine is of the Creature on the cover.

[Variaciones Enrojo]

Primer tomo de la antología Popgun.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enormously varied, mostly worth having a look at.