Here we are again. It was a banner year for the medium in a lot of ways and in others (such as sales) it was something of a suicide run. I tried to branch out this year, and move beyond the capes and spandex that usually dominate my pull list but in the end I only have so much time and even less money than said time. Hopefully as I get older and my inclinations lean more toward talky stuff so too will my lists. In the meantime there's a heaping pile of superhero stuff on this list and rightfully so.
The work put out by writers like Ed Brubaker, Geoff Johns, Scott Snyder, Paul Cornell, Brian Michael Bendis, Judd Winick, Paul Dini, Robert Kirkman, Jonathan Hickman, Rick Remender... well it's career making for some and career defining for others. Artists weren't exactly taking a year off either. Amongst my favorites this years were Cameron Stewart, Tony Moore, Ryan Ottley, Mark Buckingham, Fabio Ba and Gabriel Moon, David Finch, Gary Frank and Darwynn Cooke. I'm sure I'm missing some in there.
This year I'll follow the formula of what I've done in years past and do this category by category. Some time in the next couple weeks we'll have up our "best of the year" podcast so be sure to hop over to iTunes or download off the link I'll be posting here on the blog. In the meantime enjoy my ramblings.
Disappointments: I'm going to go right ahead and get these out of the way so we can get to the good stuff. Sadly, I was disappointed by a lot of stuff that went on this year, not just in the quality of series' or creators work but in some of the things taking place in the industry. I'm not going to stick it on the list but the rise of digital comics and the eventual demise of printed comics is a disappointment to me. I realize it's the evolution of the art form and I am by no means a naysayer about comics on the iPad or iPhone or what-have-you. I'll just miss holding these books in my hands and hitting the local shop once a week...
Superman: World of New Krypton - What went wrong? We had guys like Greg Rucka and James Robinson writing and Pete Woods handling a lot of the art duties. How did this turn out so bland? Though the mini (or mega?) series started strong enough, by 2010 it was petering out. It eventually spiralled into the War of the Supermen which ended up undoing all these stories anyway making it even more irrelevant.
Captain America by Ed Brubaker - It's more of a tragedy than a disappointment that this series has fallen this far. I loved this book up until sometime late last year when it became obvious that, at this point, it's not going any where. It's sitting there spinning it's tires and that has never been more obvious than during Captain America Reborn (which by the way I'm including as part of this entry) and the aftermath of that mini. It may be time for Brubaker to depart and let someone else have a shot at the title.
Justice League of America by James Robinson and Mark Bagley - What happened to James Robinson? I recently wrote a review of an issue of Justice League in which I spent the first 500 words talking about how much I miss the guy that wrote Starman. How did he go from that level of quality in story telling and character building to this? Mark Bagley seemed to be trying to match the level of mediocrity in writing that Robinson was hitting with his art here. He's improving just in time to leave the book and head back to Marvel. Maybe it's time to bring on the dream time of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee finally?
Superman: Secret Origin - This book is solid. Across the board, the writing is good, the art is gorgeous, the story is... well it's a good story. The problem is it's a story we've already seen play out a thousand times in different titles across various forms of media. I guess Johns just wanted to put his stamp on the most famous origin story? Great, but this did very little for me.
Batman: This is a little more recent so it's fresh in my mind. Giving Tony Daniel this book to write as well as draw was a mistake. It's not terrible but it's hokey and it's a little sloppy. His art is noticeably better at times than others and one can't help but assume that this has to do with the fact that he's doing all this work himself. Because of that we're getting a book with decent art and some "okay" writing. It should be better, especially considering the heights the rest of the Bat line are currently reaching.
Worst of the Year:
Batman: The Widening Gyre - Someone needs to realize that Kevin Smith can't and therefore shouldn't write certain characters. Batman being chief among them. One can almost imagine Smith sitting back on a futon in his office, smoking a joint rolled in a hundred dollar bill and laughing at the idiots who will buy into his asinine vision of the dark knight. Seriously Smith? Batman pee jokes and immature, poorly written sex gags? Someone kick this guy out of comics for a while till he quits writing while high. It's truly painful.
Superman: Grounded - Dull. Pretentious. Pious. Horrible. I didn't jump on the hate bandwagon with this one, but rather feel as if I was invited kindly onboard, took a pass, then realized moments later I was making a mistake and chased it down. Upon cracking open the first issue of Straczynski's Grounded arc I thought "hey this isn't that bad". By the time I'd put it down I couldn't figure out why it was receiving so much flak. However, by the time we recorded our first podcast later the same day I read it for the first time I couldn't help but mock it. The unintentional racism, the third grade philosophizing, the art missteps, the complete lack of a coherent story... this became my second favorite comic-to-mock of the year. Right behind...
Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal - It's so bad it's good. Or at least entertaining. Sure there's the whole "dead cat/hobo beating" scenario that goes down as one of the most unintentionally hilarious moments in any form of entertainment ever, but there's so much more to enjoy and/or find appalling about this book. There's Roy Harper's awkward foreplay with Cheshire followed by one of the strangest inclusions of impedance into a major superhero comic ever, or Roy's prosthetic arm being essentially one giant analogy for a needle (hinting at his past addiction to heroin) or the bit where Roy tries to beat down Batman because his dead daughter picks a fight with him while he's locked up in a straight jacket by the Justice League... It's kind of unbelievable this book even exists but I'm so glad it does.
The Good Stuff:
As mentioned earlier, there were a lot of great books out this year. Rather than break things down into "best single issue" or "best graphic novel" like I have in past years I'm just going to throw it all together and let you sort it out.
Daytripper: I have a confession to make and that is that I've only read two issues of this comic. I'd heard so much about it that I gave in and picked up an issue one day and ended up reading it in the parking lot of my comic shop. I loved it. Adored it even. It hit me on an emotional level way beyond what any other comic this past year managed to. I'm eagerly awaiting the trade paperback or hardcover. It should also be noted that issue #8 is the only single issue of a comic I've ever handed to people in an effort to show them what the medium is capable of. My mother, in particular, was a huge fan.
Dark Avengers: The best Avengers title out there has sadly come to a close. Thankfully we have 16 issues to return to whenever we need our violent, blood soaked, supervillain-as-hero fix. Bendis wrote what was essentially the spiritual successor to Warren Ellis' amazing Thunderbolts run and some how managed to up the ante. It could have ended up just another Dark Reign tie-in but Bendis created something wholly it's own while contributing in a major way to the overall crossover. Also, Mike Deodato turns in really good work here and that's coming from someone who isn't a huge fan of him on average. By far the best villain-centric book this past year. Maybe ever.
Fantastic Four: Jonathan Hickman blind sided me this past year. I'd never heard his name before he showed up on the Dark Reign FF miniseries (which ended up being the best of those tie-ins) and when he took over Fantastic Four I was a little concerned. See, for whatever reason, Fantastic Four is the ONLY Marvel title I buy month-to-month no matter what. It has been for seven years. I adored Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo's run, really enjoyed what Dwayne McDuffie did with it and downright loved Mark Millar's run. I'm a fan of the characters, and the thought of some no-name indie darling running roughshod all over my favorite superteam (at Marvel anyway) was scaring me.
Turns out Hickman gets the FF better than anyone who's written them since Waid. Best of all, he not only knows what makes these people tick, he knows how to write the most ridiculously convoluted (in a good way), involving, epic, universe spanning stories I've seen in an FF book since Kirby was going all Galactus on everyone's butt. If you want the best non-Grant Morrison-but-still-crazy-as-balls sci-fi story look no further than Fantastic Four. Thank you, Mr. Hickman. Thank you.
Locke & Key: I don't believe I've had a chance to talk about this title. I may have mentioned it in passing on a podcast once but I can't remember. Anyway, it's good. It's so good in fact that while on vacation in the Smokey Mountains this past summer I managed to power through the first three hardcovers in a matter of hours. Why? Because it's really freaking good. The art by Gabrielle Rodriguez is gorgeous, the story is constantly evolving and the world building Joe Hill is doing here is second-to-none. The mythology behind the book is so involving that it's hard to explain. After loaning the book to a friend at work, every time we'd see one another we'd find ourselves drawn into another discussion about which key does what and what each character is going to do next to screw what up. It went on for weeks. Did I mention this book is really, really, incredible and quite good? It is. Go read it.
Amazing Spider-Man: The Gauntlet arc (mega-arc?) got me onboard with Brand New Day. Sure I'd bought some trades here and there but I hadn't really loved any of them. Well written and drawn beautifully, they still lacked something. I think the something was Rhino. Or maybe Electro. Or the Lizard. Sandman? Doc Ock? Moebius? They're all here. Though the arcs contained within the overall Gauntlet story are short they manage to pack a punch. Want to know what I mean? Check out the Rhino story and tell me that isn't a knife to the guts of your emotions.
Siege: Bendis took what normally would have been a drawn-out, overwrought "event" and condensed it into a fun, action packed story about good guys punching bad guys in the face... Or in Iron Man's case, dropping a 40 ton hellicarrier on their head. There isn't much to say about this book. It's well written but kinda predictable. Olivier Coipel does beautiful work. It's just a heck of a lot of fun to read this book.
Justice League Generation Lost: DC's best bi-weekly series isn't the one that their entire universe seems to be hinging on right now but rather it's sister (and less-hyped) title Generation Lost. Though I was extremely skeptical at the start due to the involvement of Judd Winick I was almost instantly won over by the title. The writing is fantastic (probably the best of Winnick's career) and the art has been spot-on. What I love is the mix of action, character, and humor. It's in the vein of the old JLI days... which is fitting since it stars pretty much the same characters. Though Brightest Day is no where to be found on this list in any capacity, at least one of it's spin-offs made it.
Action Comics: Paul Cornell is writing the most fun comic put out by either of the big two. The story of Lex Luthors quest for, well, something, is essentially a series of interconnected one shots about what happens when DC's best villain faces off against legions of the rest of the bad guys. There's an issue where Lex takes on Gorilla Grodd in particular that stands out as one of the best single issues of the year. It doesn't hurt the title at all that Nick Spencer is writing a hilarious Jimmy Olson back-up story. Well worth the current $3.99 price point.
The Unwritten: Smartly written and tailor made for English majors with a penchant for literature of all kinds, Unwritten is the book that shouldn't work for me. But it does. The first story arc starts as a weird hybrid of character study and story set-up before devolving into a bloody mass murder in an old mansion like something out of an Agatha Christie novel. The second arc is all over the place with issues set in a dream state version of Nazi Germany and a story involving a foul mouthed version of Peter Rabbit. There's also an issue involving the death of two recently introduced characters that just about rips your heart out. All the while we're slowly learning more about our lead Tommy Taylor and his quest to clear his name of not only fraud, but now murder as well. At least that's what its about on the surface. There's also the possibility that the story centers around whether or not the characters created in fictional stories are living beings in a world created by their authors... Either way I'm onboard.
The Best Book of 2010: Grant Morrison's Batman & Robin
Anyone who has tuned into the podcast is aware of my love for this title. I honestly don't think there has been a single issue I haven't loved. What Morrison did here was something astounding; he managed to meld his more, well, out-there means of story-telling with what is the most mainstream of characters and make it completely accessible to everyone. This isn't confusing Morrison or Big Idea Morrison (though there are big ideas at play here), but rather a Grant Morrison who is writing for the masses without dumbing down or "selling out" who he is as writer. All the while he's contributing HUGE, stories that will affect the character of Bruce Wayne and his mythology for the foreseeable future.
The art has been gorgeous from issue one but the real stand outs of the series have been Frazier Irving and Cameron Stewart who contributed some of the most beautifully rendered work I've ever seen in a Batman comic.
It should also be noted that the last couple of arcs were essentially tie-ins to The Return of Bruce Wayne but some how managed to set up, stand apart and contribute heavily to that mini series. In fact you could have easily skipped that series entirely and followed along easily. Some are calling this the point where Morrison sold his soul to corporate superhero storytelling. Frankly I think it's the point where he evolved enough as a writer to take something mainstream and make it completely his own.
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