This is going to be a countdown. Prepare for the suspense. Brace yourself. Ok, go.
10. Saga – Brian K. Vaughn writes great comics. He has an
enormous imagination, a very fresh image of new worlds that are deftly filled
with interesting and colorful characters. If you haven’t read Y: The Last Man
and Runaways, you should; they’re great. Saga is also a very good comic book,
beautifully illustrated by Fiona Staples. The premise is familiar – star-crossed
lovers on the run from their families and a few intergalactic empires and
bounty hunters who are out to halt their forbidden love. The execution is
excellent in most parts, although prone to ham-handedness (the hugely-endowed
giant was a bit much). Fan favorite extras (Lying Cat, the walrus boy, etc.)
make the book feel like a Star Wars tribute, which I’m sure it is. It’s hard
not to like this extra solid book, one of 4 notable Image titles on the top 10.
9. Batman – OMG! Batman at NINE?! Yes. Batman is a very good
book, although prone to Scott Snyder’s B-level writing and clunky dialogue.
Batman is boring, I get it. He is obsessive so often you don’t care much what
he has to say. BUT, Snyder’s Bruce is chatty and, well, sort of annoying. That
said, this IS a good book. The plots are masterfully woven, something Snyder
excels at doing. His Riddler story – Zero Hour – is a great mystery reminiscent
of the old laser shark pit days of the 60’s TV series. His newest story, only
just starting, is a Joker story featuring the Justice League that promises to
be excellent too. But, the real drawing power of this book is Greg Capullo, a
top 5 artist doing unparalleled pencils on this book. It’s hard not to be
impressed with the detail and precision that goes into every panel. His art
reminds me of a cleaner Frank Quitely, an admirable comparison to say the
least. In spite of its flaws, this book has so many draws it’s certainly a
great read.
8. East of West – The second Image title and first of two
Jonathon Hickman books on the list, East of West is an uncategorizable end of
times romp through the great civilizations of modern history. The countries of
today have devolved into clans defined by their cultural archetypes and they’re
engaged in war, intrigue, magic, and future-science to jostle for power.
Dragotta’s pencils have grown up enormously since his Fantastic Four and FF
days; he appears to be born to draw this book. The art is clean, powerful, and
kinetic, a perfect complement to Hickman’s heavy writing style. I think fans of
Preacher, Bladerunner, and Dune will all appreciate this fascinating book that
features one of the best writing/art tandems in comics today. If I had to
provide one piece of criticism – and I’m loathe to do because this book is so
good – I’d say that the narrative is a bit frantic causing major plot pieces to
be buried or under-featured. This can make following the story difficult in
places. It’s not damning, but can be bulky on the reader.
7. Hawkeye – Matt Fraction’s skill at writing B-level (no
offense, Hawk-Guy fans) into real people that deserve serious attention is
impeccable. He and Brubaker wrote the hell out of Iron Fist, an also ran that
made Luke Cage seem like a living, breathing character by comparison. Hawkeye
has always just been a low-rent Green Arrow, the guy that hassles Captain
America and hustles around Avengers Mansion trying to get with all the ladies.
He’s a nobody. Fraction turns this into great writing. This book is gold. At
this stage, the book is less Clint Barton and more of the new Hawkeye, Kate
from the Young Avengers. She’s written well, sort of a precocious Juno-type,
but with badassey under her belt rather than just a mouth. The art by David Aja
and Brian Pulido is second to none, perfectly displaying the introspective tone
and the tongue-in-cheek moments of this book. Clint’s dog and the Russian Bros
are great co-stars to fill out a cast. This book has been Eisner nominated each
year for a reason. It’s superb. The only knock on it is that it’s slow and
sometimes just not delivered. Unclear why, but this is a frequent Fraction
issue, especially at Marvel.
6. New Avengers – The last year I’d have reversed this and
listed the main Avengers title as the better book. No longer. Simon Bianchi and
Steve Epting on art is a powerful advertisement. They’re two or my favorites –
and both will be mentioned again on this list – and they do amazing work on
this book. But, the more compelling portion of this book for the time is the
fallen heroes of the Illuminati. Reed Richards, Beast, Iron-Man, Namor, Black
Bolt, Black Panther, and Dr. Strange came together (with Charles Xavier) to
keep the Infinity Gems guarded from Thanos, but have stayed together to pile on
their secret governance – mostly, to hide their dirty work from Cap). Today,
they’re confronted by the mysterious (and very, very cool) Black Swan with the
ultimate responsibility: they decide if they’ll destroy entire planet that
threaten the Marvel 616 universe. Earths from multiple universes are colliding
and the only way to save their world is to wipe out competing Earths. There’s a
lot of hemming and hawing. Dr. Strange wipes out a planet of fake Justice
Leagues by selling his soul for much enhanced power. This move to sell his soul
is scary and sure to have enormous ramifications on the 616 universe overall. Even
after this, the rest of the Illuminati is all sad about having to do the right
thing and Namor just goes behind their backs, forms a thing called the Cabal,
and stocks it with people who couldn’t possibly care, like Thanos, Black Swan,
that crazy Inhuman, Terrax, and some of Thanos’s goons from Infinity. They kill
a boatload of other Earths, awesomely, and the Illuminati is all “Wut!? You can’t
just do that! Namor, you’re a good guy!!”. To which Namor replies, “Am I?”
Anyone with half a brain will remember the 50 or so years where Namor was at
least morally ambiguous and often a literal villain. He sure did remember that.
This book is awesome. Hickman loves the Avengers. He loves the power. He loves
the Marvel “flawed” hero. He seems to write Black Swan to tell the heroes what
they can’t admit about themselves, things he can see as a writer but the
characters can’t see on the other side of the wall. It’s great listening to
Reed Richards be told about himself (and not just because I hate Reed, but
because clearly his single-minded pursuit of truth without regard for what’s
right is his biggest problem – he’s all brains and no heart). Brilliant,
must-read book.
5. Guardians of the Galaxy – Some people will say that this
is a stretch. That it’s just another Marvel book, nothing special. I disagree.
Several really great things are going on in this book. For one thing, the art
is spectacular. The alien worlds and space battles have never appeared so beautifully
illustrated in a Marvel book. If I had one knock on the old Abnett and Lanning
series of GotG books, it was that the art rarely stood up to the writing. This
does. In fact, it greatly enhances the narrative. Second, Star-Lord is Bendis.
Bendis is Star-Lord. He’s born to write these characters. Star-Lord is a Peter
Parker-esque man-child and Bendis kills at that sort of thing. Quill is dating
Kitty Pryde, it’s adorable, and I love it. Sorry, I just do. But everything
Star-Lord does in this book is fantastic. I’d read Bendis just writing a Quill
diary. It would be glorious. Third, Flash Thompson as Venom. I really like
this. I know Dan Slott gets the credit for it; he invented this in Superior
Spider-Man, but I just think it’s wonderfully executed here. The Angela
introduction I couldn’t care less about. I don’t know that character. But I
know Flash Thompson. I love that Flash is getting a chance to be something. I love
that it’s him struggling – literally and metaphorically – with his demons. It’s
cool. Finally, the Original Sin tie-in that explains the Richard Rider Nova’s
last days is amazing. While the Trial of Jean Grey (one of my all-time favorite
characters) was good, this is the best arc. If you didn’t read this and you
only read two issues of GotG to see if it’s for you, read those issues. Bendis
is so good at making heroes look heroic that I don’t know if there’s anyone
else, ever, who has been better. Maybe Claremont on the X-Men, but that’s some
great company. This book is not that much better than, say, All-New X-Men, but
I gave it the nod literally because of that Original Sin tie-in, my favorite
comic arc of the year.
4. Mind MGMT – Matt Kindt is a god among men. A lot of
people can write a book a month; a lot of them can’t, especially some of the
most talented writers in the industry. Some of the best comics writers (Kevin
Smith, for instance) have suffered from failure to deliver books on time and a
ton of artists (Ed Benes, Dale Keown, notably) have moved on because they can’t
deliver a product consistently. It’s rare that someone draws and writes their
own book. Matt Kindt does it all. Mind MGMT is always on time. It’s shockingly
consistent. It’s chock full of content, including on every inside cover and in
the margins of every book. KINDT EVEN DOES THE COVERS. The paint is moody and
clearly detailed to match the ideas being presented. Mind MGMT is enormously thoughtful,
brilliantly illustrated, and impossible to categorize. If I told you it was a
spy book, I wouldn’t be wrong, but I wouldn’t be totally right either. If I
said it’s about secret societies, the same. It’s about the brain, imo, and that’s
a subject I’m very interested in so I naturally love it, but it’s not about
brains like how we know things, but about how we feel them, about how we feel
deeply. It’s important, I’d say. This might be the most significant of the
comics on this list over time. The collected editions, if you haven’t seen
them, are wonderful, very sharp looking, and if I didn’t have every loose
issue, that’s for sure how I’d read this book.
3. Thor – The best superhero book on the shelves, the last
title from the Big Two in this top 10, and a seminal work on the Asgardian
Odinson. Jason Aaron was special from the day he walked in the door. His war
stories in The Other Side were wonderfully detailed and gritty. His early
Marvel work on Ghost Rider, of all things, was memorable and weird. Scalped is
one of the greatest things Vertigo ever produced. It’s no small wonder that
Aaron has become prolific and powerful as a writer. I honestly never expected
him to become a major superhero writer like he did on this book. I’d have
predicted he’d do some Brubaker-type big company work and then venture back out
into the Indie world to write screenplay-esque comics and make his millions. His
Wolverine, for instance, was medium. Wolverine and the X-Men was pretty bad.
This book, however, is a neat fit for him because he seemed to embrace the
tragic nature of Thor. The Norse are tragic. They’re doomed, right? Ragnarok
and all. Aaron gets this. God-Killer and the God-Bomb draw on it. The Last Days
of Midgard is all about it. He’s really hitting the right notes there. His
writing on Malekith is exceptional (and the origin of Malekith at the end of
this run is enormously well-done). The father, son, and kid Thor are amazing,
differentiated, and fun. The ladies are well-written, human, and respectfully
done, unlike most Marvel ladies (and, especially, Thor ladies – is any
character more disrespected historically in the Marvel U. than Sif?). Issue #18
is one of the absolute best stand-alone comics in an on-going superhero book I’ve
ever read. I won’t spill the beans, but you absolutely must read it. This book
is illustrated by Ron Garney and Esad Ribic, two giants of comic art, and even
they don’t stand up to the truly inspired writing Jason Aaron is pouring out in
these pages. Honorable mention goes to Bianchi for his work on the Thor and
Loki 10th Realm spin-off from Original Sin, which was penned by
Aaron. Always a pleasure to see his work and he really added some dimensions to
this Angels vs. Norse gods book.
2. Lazarus – The 3rd of four Image books in the
top 10. The final two are actually a pick ‘em. I think they’re nearly too close
to call. Both writers are phenomenal. Both artists are top talents. The plots
are spectacular. The execution is masterful. It’s hard to find a single knock
on either book. I think it’s possible that the color work on one puts it very
slightly ahead. But, I digress. This book is written by Greg Rucka and
illustrated by Michael Lark and features a unique, post-apocalyptic world divvied
up to clans who live in a cold peace with one another of shifting alliances and
political and military intrigue. Each family is protected by a Lazari, a sort
of totemic warrior that represents the families’ strengths (and often
weaknesses). The mystery of what the
Lazari are is hard to understand because they appear to be different from family
to family – maybe a cyborg, clone, genetically augmented family member, drug
enhanced fighter, etc. The central Lazarus, Forever, is the main character of
the story and the narrative is drawn around her, her family, their feuds
internally and with the other clans, and her love interests and relationships
with the other Lazari. I hope this book gets a good, long run. It feels like it
has a ton of gas in the tank. If you haven’t ever read Rucka, he tells very
clean stories, he writes simply and clearly, and he doesn’t waste dialogue.
Lark’s pencils really bring out the starkness of this world without skimping on
style and detail. I think this book has a lot to offer and hope to be reading
it for many, many years. Fans of Saga should definitely be reading this book.
1. Velvet – Ed Brubaker is my favorite current writer. I’m
not sure he’s the best – I think that’s probably Hickman – but Brubaker doesn’t
ever do anything I won’t like. I even tried not to like Fatale; I really pushed
at it and still ended up loving it in the end. His pairing with Steve Epting is
wonderful. They seem to be in one another’s’ heads. They make it look so good.
Velvet is the story of a disillusioned aging secret agent out to make things
right. The story is a beautiful period piece, reminiscent of a Mad Men with a
soul (and a cohesive narrative, but I’m not here to bash Mad Men). It’s a flash
forward/flashback story no unlike what Bru and Epting did with their run on
Cap, to my mind one of the best superhero runs in the history of the business. The
story feels perfectly paced, with each piece of the mystery revealed only when
the reader needs it. There’s no long Bendis-esque monologues, no Stan Lee type
editorializing (I guess that’s not really even done anymore, but whatever). The
grit and danger is apparent, but the protagonist never feels like they’re doing
anything unbelievably heroic, humanizing the story. I think Brubaker gets that
better than most writers of modern comics. The characters need to feel
intrinsically motivated, not simply motivated by their archetype. He produces
these full-fledged people, these fictional humans that are relatable, and then
he puts them through the wringer. I love what he’s doing here. I will be right
there until the end. You should come along.
1. Velvet
2. Lazarus
3. Thor
4. Mind Mgmt
5. Guardians of the Galaxy
6. New Avengers
7. Hawkeye
8. East of West
9. Batman
10. Saga
So, in all, 4 Marvel books, 4 Image books, a DC book, and a
Dark Horse book, with Image holding the top 2 spots and DC breaking the top 10
by the skin of Greg Capullo’s poised drawing hand. I think Dark Horse has a
better shot at a second book in the top 10 – new Hellboy on-going next year –
than DC does. Their closest is probably Aquaman at around 25-30. I’ve
considered cancelling nearly all of my DC books over the last year. Image, on
the other hand, I almost always want to try their new titles and often drop
their books only to pick them up in trade later (or miss them and pick them up
in trade anyway). It’s amazing what Image has put together, honestly. Marvel
probably has more top 25 books than Image by a good range (a lot of the new
Women of the Marvel Next books like Black Widow, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel would
be in that area), but the absolute highest quality is coming from Image at the
moment. What, if anything, will stop the tale-spin at DC? Will there be any new
talent in editorial? Will Geoff Johns start writing well again? Will there ever
be a good Wonder Woman book (certainly not the next one, basically written by
David Finch, a man who couldn’t even make a readable Batman book)? DC has a lot
of problems at the moment. I’d recommend basically cleaning house, abandoning
the New 52, and trying to just tell some good stories instead of pushing
gimmicks and hoping something sticks.
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