The "New" Comic Medium

insomnia #1
You guys -- comics are the hot new thing, okay? They are the new source of infinite indie cred. Drop a few artsy comic titles in your next conversation at a concert, and people will be impressed ... here are some new ones to start your collections off!
Fantagraphics is now doing this joint project with the Italian comic book company, Coconino. Some cool stuff, looks like to me!
Check out their first three titles (Baobo, The Innocents, and Insomnia) at the Fantagraphics website!
This other comic,
Night Fisher, is also getting a lot of press. It was written by an up and coming comic writer, R. Kikuo Johnson, who also created Project: Superior. I have not yet read either book, but Night Fisher deals with isolation and coming of age (in Hawaii!) ... supposed to be very good, and well paced, too, which is always one of the most important aspects of comic writing!
conversation #2I never quite "got" James Kochalka, but maybe you will. And he is certainly a very respected artist, so it will do you no harm to read some of his stuff ... he recently released Super F*ckers #2 (but it here), and a sort of "duo" comic with the [chronically depressed, heir to the Chris Ware legacy] comic writer, Jeffery Brown, called Conversation #2 (but it here).
Lastly, although they are not comics, the Ganzfeld books are very important to comic readers. The newest issue, the Ganzfeld 4: Art History?, is a beautifully produced "art history book" of sorts. It focuses mostly on comic artists, but also has a section on record covers and plenty of paintings and other modern art forms. Looks good!