Capture Creatures

Pokémon Go is the biggest phenomenon of 2016, and everyone is getting up and going out and about in search of a Pikachu --- and likely coming home with armfuls of Drowzee and Ratatta. Niantic Labs have perfectly replicated the wishes of every child of the early 2000s and reminded us all why the world went crazy for Pokémon. If you love Pokémon Go and want to read some comics in a similar vein, we've assembled a list of five of the best comics to read while you're sat at a Pokestop waiting for your phone to buzz. Love that? Try this!

'Cute' is sometimes an under-valued concept. 'Adorable' as a word can seem dismissive and diminishing. But there are times when these are not only the right words to use, but perhaps the highest compliments one could offer, because cute and adorable can be great. In the case of Becky Dreistadt and Frank Gibson's Boom Studios series Capture Creatures, "cute" and "adorable" are words that shine with a clear and exalting purpose; for this series is cute, and it is adorable, and it is great! If you don't believe me, check out this exclusive preview to issue #4, on sale next week.

Frank Gibson and Becky Dreistadt have established themselves as a creative team who excel at making a lighthearted, adorable comics with their work on Tiny Kitten Teeth and their Little Golden Book-esque publication of Tigerbuttah. In 2013, they were part of a crowdfunding campaign with Benign Kingdom for an art book titled Capture Creatures, which is launching this week as a new comic book series from Boom! Studios. After giving the first issue a read, I had a quick chat with Frank about the book to learn more about the inspiration and thought behind Capture Creatures.

It is a matter of public record that I love Pokémon in all its various forms, to the point where my biggest problem is that even with 700 of them in the official games, there just aren't enough. That's why I really love Becky Dreistadt and Frank Gibson's Capture Creatures, which started on the web as a project for the team behind Tiny Kitten Teeth to design their own pocket monsters, complete with evolutions. Now, with 143 entries in their Creaturedex and a successful Kickstarter-funded art book under the creators' belts, Boom! Studios has announced an ongoing series based on Capture Creatures,where Gibson and Dreistadt will take their creations from the designs and stats of the website to a brand new story.

Here at ComicsAlliance, we love Pokémon. Part of it, of course, is that we fully endorse the idea of dropping out of elementary school and wandering the country alone at the age of 10, fighting massive gangland conspiracies with the aid of a trained animal that can shoot lightning out of its face. But t...