Daily OCD: 1/18/11

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions:

• List: For The Economist, Picturebox publisher and our sometime editorial collaborator Dan Nadel names his picks for the best comics of 2010: "Tim Hensley’s Wally Gropius was maybe my favourite graphic novel of the year, and I’m still trying to figure out just what exactly it is. Drawn and written in the graphic idioms of throwaway 1960s comic books such as Richie Rich and Archie, Wally Gropius is about an angst-ridden, dumbfounded millionaire, looking for love in a lopsided modernist space fraught with emasculation, poverty, rock jingles and other things that make grown men cry."

• Review: "And after spending the last two days plowing through this majestic slab of crucial, comically informative reviews [Destroy All Movies!!!], part of me envies [editors Zack Carlson & Bryan Connolly] in having done it first, while some other part wants to thank them for taking a bullet the rest of us don’t have to. […] If you have any interest whatsoever in the topic you really cannot do without a copy of this book. If you’re like me, it will make you want to revisit some movies again, and search out some you’ve overlooked… In no uncertain terms, this book comes with my highest recommendations." – Jay Bodnar, Wednesday's Child

• Review: "The Littlest Pirate King is a strange and morbid comic. […] The beautiful drawings of David B., made with thick and shaky strokes, are beautifully expressive. …David B. did very well with this literary adaptation… [which] shows a mature and talented artist, exploring the versatility of his narrative." – Gustavo Guimaraes, Ambrosia (translated from Portuguese)

• Analysis: At Death to the Universe, Matt Seneca examines a panel of Rory Hayes's comics as exemplary of Hayes's work: "Rory Hayes is one of those artists, one whose sequences of pictures build stories out of their own bizarre alien logic, the consistency of their utter weirdness giving the reader just enough of a solid platform for understanding to take root in." (Via Spurge)

• Coming Attractions (Audio): Hosts Phil and Charlito preview some of our upcoming 2011 releases on the latest episode of the Indie Spinner Rack podcast