If You Love ‘Pokemon Go’, Try These Comics Next
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 Rattata. 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!
Pokemon Adventures: Red & Blue
Hidenori Kusaka & MatoThis may seem like an obvious choice, but Pokémon Adventures is a wildly underrated manga that a lot of fans haven't taken the time to read, and is well worth checking out.
It follows the basic plot of the first generation of games, and is surprisingly more grown-up and hard-hitting than its animated counterpart. If you have a soft spot for the Pokémon of your childhood, this manga is a great way to relive those stories.
Capture Creatures
Becky Dreistadt & Frank GibsonCapture Creatures started life as a design challenge to create new pocket monsters complete with stats, type advantages and evolutions, and it eventually blossomed into its own comic book.
Although inspired by Pokémon, Capture Creatures takes a different approach, as the cute critters suddenly appear one day, and two teens decide to get to the bottom of the new mysterious animals that now call Earth home.
Kaijumax
Zander CannonKaijumax is exactly what it sounds like; it's about a prison for giant monsters, but it's also a surprisingly human and affecting story. The series focuses mainly on Electrogar, recently incarcerated and learning his way around the prison. However, his children are still out there, and while he'll do anything to keep them safe, the humans will do anything to find them.
Birthright
Joshua Williamson & Andrei BressanOne of the oddest things about Pokémon is how cool everyone is with all these ten-year-olds going off on unsupervised adventures into caves, forests and the likes. It's a well-worn fantasy trope, and Birthright turns it on its ear in a creative way.
The series shows the aftermath of what happens to the chosen child after the adventure is over and he returns home, while contrasting it with scenes from the magical quest he was sent on. With a killer twist at the end of the first issue, there's no way you won't be dying to read more.
Kaptara
Chip Zdarsky & Kagan McLeodWhile some of the comics on this list skew a bit more PG-13, Kaptara is definitely one for the older readers, and while it might not seem like an obvious choice for Pokemon fans, they both share a creative streak when it comes to the weird and wonderful creatures that populate its world.
Trapped on an alien planet and thrust into an eternal conflict, Keith Kanga must find his place in this new world where everything he encounters is stranger than the last. Whether it's cat tanks or a floating silver ball that offers trite affirmations, there are few comics that are as gleefully bonkers with their designs.