Sometimes when I am working at Comicopolis, and one of my bosses leaves for the bathroom, I walk over to the shelf, open a graphic novel and I smell the bindings. It’s not that I anticipate the smell of action leaping off the pages, I just like the smell of newly printed comics – mostly because I am a giant geek, or maybe it’s inherited. In any case, it’s time to hunker down on a couch or in your bed with a glass of whiskey and an exciting new graphic novel. We all need something to keep us warm when the heat dish breaks.

The Usuals
For me, and many of my comic reading friends, there are certain authors who I can always go to and read something astonishing. These authors, nine out of ten times, have the ability to pull me out of reality and into a world of fantasy. Below is a list of these aforementioned visionaries and a few of their finer titles.

Alan Moore

Swamp Thing (9 trade paperbacks), League Of Extrordinary Gentlemen (3 TPBs), From Hell, A Small Killing.

Warren Ellis

Freak Angels, The Authority (5 TPBs), Fell, Transmetropolitan (11 TPBs), Planetary (3 TPBs).

Grant Morrison

Invisibles (7 TPBs), Kill Your Boyfriend, Animal Man (3 TPBs), Sebastian O, WE3, Filth.

Neil Gaiman

Sandman (11 TPBs), 1602, Hellblazer.

Help From The Gods
While those previously listed authors may serve as my comfort food when I need to satiate my hunger for fantasy, other times I like to take a chance and branch out. The following are some tips and tricks to finding those hidden gems that lay buried at your local comic shop.

1. Look at the author of the introduction. With the above list of radical writers, look to see if they speak highly of a new book. For example, Alan Moore wrote the intro for Sam Keith’s Zero Girl – damn good read.
2. Find a long lasting series, because if they’re still making it, then it’s probably good. As a note, and a suggestion, Hellblazer is the longest running Vertigo series.
3. Look at the art! Do you like what you see?
4. Ask the totally awesome and friendly staff at Comicopolis, located at 829 Front St, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060.

So whether you already read a ton of comics or have never pushed a paneled page before, this article can only help. Whether your fancy be super heroes, crime fiction, mystery, science fiction, blah blah blah, there’s always something for YOU!

Austin Hartman

I trust that everyone has had a fun-filled summer full of misadventures and bouts of missing or unaccounted-for time. Now that fall is here with winter biting at its tan-to-brown-colored heels, all of us here at Vitamin C4 have compiled a checklist we hope will help prepare you for the harsh times ahead of us in our sleepy little coastal town. Good luck and godspeed.

Canned Food
We cannot stress this enough. Nothing will brighten your day more than eating fresh-out-of-the-can, two-year-old pineapple slices to remind you of the almost tropical days of summer here in Santa Cruz.

Whiskey
To cheer you up after being reminded that you wasted your summer sitting in a bar that smells like cat urine and Dan’s feet. It also keeps you warm, I guess.

A certain special someone
Hopefully you’ve had your fill of summer flings and romance. But now it’s time to settle down with that special someone and hunker down for winter. Nothing sucks more than being cold, drunk, wet and alone.

Post-Apocalyptic Novels
World War Z is a good start. Nothing is quite like curling up on a couch with a blanket and a baseball bat dreaming of a world consumed by the living dead.

Firearms
You never know.

Coffee & Cigarettes
When you don’t feel like braving the rain to go to your local bar/liquor store, sleep deprivation is the next best things. Try to read Infinite Jest in one sitting, disassemble household appliances, whatever. The sensation that you are walking on the moon at around eight in the morning is the real “good shit”.

Salad Dressing
Adds valuable calories to lettuce. Cheap, cheap lettuce.

Towel
I think this goes on every checklist.

Chicken Soup
Your house does not have insulation. This is Santa Cruz, and that is a fact. Every moment spent with your head bent over a steaming pot of awesome is another reason to drag yourself out of bed.

The new BATTLE /MTN\ record
Cause it’s off the mother fuckin’ hook! Uh, I mean chain. Yeah, chain!

Facial Hair
I can’t grow any personally, neither can Ethan. We tried once but we ended up looking like preteens.

Strobe Lights
C’mon guys. It’s about time we bring back the dance party. YEAH!

A second job
Less free time, more tattoos. Woo!

Little pocket-sized moleskines
Being able to read your palsy-drunk chicken scratch is marginally more realistic than being able to remember where you were, what you did, who she was & that one great idea you promised never to let yourself forget.

Sit tight guys! More to come on Vitamin C4.