Here's the list:
Bendis Alias -- This isn't actually a mini; I'm cheating again. But it is a short series because Jessica Jones and Luke Cage were drawn into the Avengers, another Bendis book. It is REALLY good. For a time in the early part of the decade, it was my absolute favorite book. I recently re-read every issue and they stand the test of time. Don't worry about continuity or knowing the characters. Jessica is new and she's the focus of the book and Luke is updated and reinvented. The villains are largely reimagined or reinvented for this gritty PI book.
Remender Fear Agent -- This book blew me away because it was a combination of familiar and wholly new concepts. If you're a Preacher fan (and I am -- big time) it's "Jesse Custer in space". If you're a sci-fi fan, you'll love it. If you're a western fan, you'll love it. If you love big action and plot twists, ditto. The art is excellent, the writing is top-notch, and it never takes itself too seriously, which, in a world of hot shot writers, is at a premium these days. LOVE this book.
Brubaker and Fraction Iron Fist -- Another instant classic. I suspect that this book will form the basis for many future Marvel editorial meetings, "Let's give Nighthawk the Iron Fist treatment." (which sounds vaguely dirty) I love Ed Brubaker. While Bendis is the most significant creator of the decade, Brubaker may be the best. Literally everything he touches is gold. Iron Fist is a loser. That's a certainty. This book gave him a backstory, a stable of friends and villains, and a purpose in the Marvel U. I haven't read much of the old Power Man/Iron Fist stuff, but that's because terrible comics aren't really my thing. But I will tell you if you like kung-fu, ninjas, intrigue, and awesome comics, you HAVE to read this. Oh yeah, this also got the both of them on Uncanny X-Men, so I'm not the only one that noticed.
Brubaker Criminal -- Shockingly, more Bru. This book is the sine quo non of high-minded comics today, imho. It's classic noir, The Wire style. If you thought Sin City was something you were into, read a real writer doing similar things at the next level. Frank Miller is a turd, and I make no apologies about that. He peaked with Robocop. Bru writes crime fiction like Picasso paints, skillfully, creatively, and always excitingly. I would read one million of these stories. I hope he never, ever quits doing this book.
Brubaker Sleeper -- My favorite book of the decade, for sure. Sleeper is loosely based on some n00bs from one of those terrible 90's Image series, but Bru doesn't seem to care much about that. He starts there, basically, and then creates what is a way better story by ignoring everything about the known image universe and writing a really good combo crime/spy/superhero story. It's really everything Powers wants to be in 24 issues. It's hilarious. It's evil. It's awesome. I was shocked like every issue by something that happened and honestly, never saw a way for the protagonist to win. The conflict is so tightly wound in this book that you seriously feel the tension the characters experience. Other books today are still stealing from this concept (see Incorruptible, Irredeemable -- although I do enjoy these Mark Waid romps).
Millar Red Son -- Spasibo, Mark Millar. Superman crashes in Soviet Russia. He's a commie. Do I actually have to say more about this book? The few major DC heroes that are featured in this book are changed in ways that are relevant to the plot, but true to the characters. Few Elseworlds characters have the same "real" feel to them that this book does. And, man, how cool of an idea is this? So cool. I like this book for the geek factor, mostly. I've read it like a million times.
Morrison X-Men -- Seminal is the only way to describe this run on the X-Men. None of these changes has been retconned yet (although we're dangerously close to returning Jean or at least the Phoenix, I'd guess). Frank Quitely's art is simply gorgeous, and Silvestri is no slouch either. I won't spoil this runs secrets for those of you that haven't read it, but secondary mutations, the big secret of Weapon X, Professor X's sordid past, and a whole lot of Cyclops, Wolvie, Jean, and Emma make this stuff must-read material for any X-Men fan, casual or otherwise. And, don't worry -- it's far more digestible than anything else Morrison has ever done (because Marvel has editors unlike DC).
Morrison We3 -- Watership Down. The Incredible Journey. Bunnicula (siiiccckkk). All rolled into one. This is a really good, really short, heart-wrenching book. The military is training animals to be cyborg killers but they haven't quite gotten the program down. The animals remain sentient. It's hard to explain what the story does and says that makes it so good, but after reading it I felt like I'd been through something really significant. Highly enjoyable despite its tragedy. I give Morrison a hard time, but only because I suspect he would do the same to others when there work isn't up to snuff, and some of his work has been ill-conceived (Sea Guy, The Filth, Final Crisis). This is not one of those pieces. It's excellent in every way.
Millar Ultimates -- Series II is better than Series I (although the payoff of Series I is great -- Ultimate Hulk going ultimately batshit crazy), but I like both. It's possible the reveal at the heart of Ultimates Series II was my favorite single comic of the decade. I was stunned. I didn't at all see it coming, and it's rare that a capes and cowls comic gets one over on me like that. This one did. Hurrah for Millar because he often does so much right. I wish his writing was a little tighter. His story-telling just misses out character motivations in big ways at times. But he's otherwise adept with great dialogue and huge ideas. I very much enjoyed the early parts of this series (then Jeph Loeb cut a hole in it and made sex to it; fu Jeph Loeb).
Ellis Planetary -- Prolly my second favorite book of the decade in spite of averaging only a whopping 2.5 books a year. It's fine. It's worth it. Warren Ellis is an enormous pain in the ass. Maybe he racked up some credit card debt or something, but he will sell a book to anyone. And he doesn't seem to care if most of them are worth a shit. Most of them it would be an insult to your ass to wipe with. But, BECAUSE of Planetary, I buy every.single.one. That's how sick this book is. It doesn't hurt that the world's greatest artists, John Cassaday is the series artist. I can't even describe how perfectly this man illustrates a book to someone who has never seen his art. Just check it out http://www.johncassaday.com/. I've bought entire books because he did the covers (hello, Lone Ranger re-launch). This book is extraterrestrial goodness at its best. Every issue is like an episode of the X-Files wrapped up in 1970's Dr. Who with Jack Kirby, on acid, drawing the pictures. I am going to drop the approximately one million dollars that the ultimate slipcase edition of this book costs even though I own every issue because I want more, scripts, sketches, back story, everything. It's one part commentary on classic comics, one part classic fiction tropes, one part classic tv, one part Fantastic Four, and 100% bad ass.
Cornell Captain Britain and MI:13 -- I wrote this list yesterday and had to go back and add this title. It fits here even more appropriately than many of the others because it is truly a tiny series, a mere 15 issues and an annual (probably collected into two or three trades and a maxi-edition). I really like Paul Cornell. His Wisdom mini-series earlier in the decade paid homage to the perpetually mismanaged but permanently etched in my memory Excalibur series from the 90's, but didn't let that whacked out continuity determine where it could go. Cornell did his best to recreate and envision a functioning UK in the Marvel U., something most of us on this side of the pond had no idea was conceivable. Every serious Marvel fan knows about Captain Britain because of the significant work Alan Moore did on the book (collected and in-print finally for Marvel in this decade), but most of the rest of these folks are all new to us. The characters are fresh but well-defined, the stories are clearly written but expansive, the art is excellent, and the action is big. The vampire war is a classic marvel story. Hopefully Cornell and Kirk bring this series back and soon. It wasn't worth it to do Dark X-Men and end this book. If you know someone at Marvel, beg and plead for this one to relaunch soon.That's it for now. Hope you enjoy the lists. Feel free to comment and argue about them. I'd love to hear others' opinions.
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