Best Comics of the Decade

I've read some best of the decade lists that made my head spin because they put such lame books on their lists and left out some truly great work. It seems like every one of those lists is some fancy English grad student's homage to French nerds or someone you've never heard of. I like comics, ones with superheroes and crime and spandex. I also like smart books. This list isn't biased against either group nor does it suffer from underdog syndrome or the "overexposure paradox" where comic fans hate everything that's popular and well-known. It's a dork out of the best stuff for the last ten years in comics. Enjoy. Oh and they aren't in order, but they're pretty close. Fables is the best series of the decade, Sleeper the best short series, and Ultimate Sandman (which is cheating, I know) is the best graphic novel (the Fables novel is second, so get that if you already have Sandman, nerd).

Up first, the best on-going series of the decade:

100 Bullets -- One of the few books on this list that features art that surpasses the writing, and Azarello's writing is good. Eduardo Risso is a virtuoso. I just got the shivers thinking back to my favorite images from this series. He's going to be a well-known storyboarding and advertising artist one day, mark my word. This book features a tangled conspiracy, gritty crime stories, and universally morally troublesome characters. I honestly don't entirely understand what happened in the series but I know that I enjoyed every instant of it.

Fables -- The best, period. Bill Willingham must have planned this series for at least a decade and probably conceptualized it for 25 years. It's exceptional. The knowledge of the associated stories combined with the wit, humor, emotion, and intelligence displayed by his characters has truly combined for the most consistently exceptional book of the decade. I want everyone to read this book. It will be looked back at as something as significant as Sandman and the Watchmen. It's extraordinary. Pay extra close attention to how awesome Pinocchio is from the minute he appears. God I love this book.

Walking Dead -- Made zombies cool again. Launched the career of an industry-leading creator. And has outlasted nearly any original indie publication in existence. Walking Dead has refused to go for the big payoff and reveal the meaning behind its disaster. It's stuck to the essence of what drives the book: characters. There are a few zombies every issue, but they're only one of the many struggles for survivors after the apocalypse. Dealing with one another and their selves seems to be the defining problem for most of this odd bunch. I hope I'm still reading Walking Dead ten years from now.

Daredevil -- An unbelievable stroke of good luck drove this book for the decade. Kevin Smith, Brian Michael Bendis, and Ed Brubaker. I could make the Animal Avengers book a best seller with that writing staff. But, unlike some other top creators looking to salvage marginal books, this one worked. Smith went back to the basics, Bendis did the unthinkable, dragging Matt Murdock through hell, and Brubaker took him to the next level. As much as the Ben Affleck film tried to ruin Daredevil, these writers saved him for real comics fans who follow the stories. David Mack and Sean Philips also do some epically good work on runs in this series.

Flash -- I never cared much for DC books, save Batman, until I read this series. Johns reinvented the characters, starting with the Rogues and his supporting cast, in a way that only intense planning can account for. And Scott Kolins was his perfect complement. This book would be closer to the top if not for the Flash babies interlude. Blech. Johns is primarily known for his team books, but it's The Flash where he cut his teeth. He made the Rogues a team that seemed to have a chance against the Flash. The Captain Cold stand-alone issue is a tour de force that marks his signature on the series.

Powers -- Bendis is the creator of the decade, bar none. This creator owned series that migrated from Image to Marvel's creator imprint is a superhero crime book with a twist. It's not Bendis's finest writing (in fact, lots of issues are short on Bendis talk and long on splash pages), but it's a great collaboration. Oeming can capture a lot of what Bendis is thinking and saying better than most of his other co-conspirators. The book's delays and idiosyncracies are far outweighed by the positives -- a strong plot, great writing, excellent synergy, and the finest letters and rec's page in the history of the business (I started watching The Wire on Bendis's recommendation).

Avengers/New Avengers -- The mainstream book of the decade, for sure. Bendis, again, doing it live. This book brought a franchise back from beyond the dead. I can honestly say that I never had any interest in reading the Avengers, even when I was a kid. The heroes were lame. The villains were worse. The stories were beyond disjuncted. Enter Avengers Disassembled. Jack of Hearts? Who the hell is that? You blow up. Everyone gets put through the ringer. And we bring it back together in the toughest way possible. Part of the problem is of course how you test a group of heroes so powerful. But DC has done a better job with their uber-team, the JLA (especially with the Morrison relaunch, fresh on the minds of Marvel at the time). This series put the Avengers back at the center of the Marvel universe, driving the major cross-overs that defined the decade. A series of great artists. Plot twists and turns. Interesting first-time character interactions. And the return of some old team-up favorites seen only a few times. Great book. Geek fest.

Y: The Last Man -- What's there to say that hasn't already been said? Great concept. Skillfully executed. A beautiful ending. Everyone loves Y. I will say this: the book is very good. It meanders at points around issue 50. It was matched up in time for me with Fables, which overshadowed it in my mind rather consistently. And it ended a bit abruptly, even if well. We're all going to hear a lot more from BK Vaughn, even though it will probably not be in comic form very often. Just like the Rock left WWE for the big screen, Vaughn seems destined to do the same. But we'll always have this great series, one of the very best Vertigo's done.

All-Star Superman -- This should be in the short series, but I am so hopeful it's not really over that I'm listing it here. Anyone who doesn't love Quietly and Morrison's work together isn't a comic fan. There, I said it. You can fault Morrison for doing too much acid. You can say that Quietly makes everyone look like Betty White. But you can't try and argue that they aren't magical when they get together. This series is an homage to every major Superman character and story ever told. The action is big. The concept is huge. The detail is aplenty. Please, for the love of god, more Frank Quietly. Morrison can stay too.

Gotham Central -- My underdog series. Canceled by DC because of low sales, this series was the only good Batman book being written at its time. Let's be honest: we all loved Hush not because Loeb can write (he can't), but because Jim Lee was doing pages again. But this book was a Batman book without being dominated by the cape and cowl. It was all of the grit and grime of Gotham City, all of the villains and intrigue, but without gadgetry and superheroism to overshadow the people on the streets. It was Marvels in an on-going, in-continuity series (and the coolest comic book background ever). And it was Ed Brubaker getting us ready for the stories he loves and would tell for the rest of the decade: crime noir. Greg Rucka doesn't get nearly enough credit either. Love that guy.

Up next: runs/short series: highlighting the best of the decades individual story arcs and limited series.