I do know that my reading of Marvel Comics has continued to go up, while the number of DC titles have diminished to only really sticking with the Trinity of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Outside of Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin, I'm out of DC for now. I continue to read more and more independent comics from the other companies such as Image, IDW, Boom!Studios, TKO Studios etc.
I even found myself funding a number of Kickstarter projects this year to support black creators. This year, I even decided to add a few more categories. Favorite Graphic Novel and Favorite Maxi-series (series that go to 12 issues). This is so I can give some other books much needed love.
Anyways, without further ado, here is part I of my review of 2020.
Dearly Departed (The Comics I dropped this year)
Before I get into the rest of my list, a moment of silence for the number of comics that I dropped this year after giving a good go at it:
- New Mutants - Marvel
- Batman and the Outsiders - DC
- Undiscovered Country - Image
- Quantum and Woody Books - Valiant
- Excalibur - Marvel
Birds of Prey and The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (Warner Bros) - Because 2020, this was a pretty easy pick. At this point, there were only two comic book movies that came out. This movie and "The Old Guard" which is based on a comic book series written by Greg Rucka. The pandemic pushed everything else out to next year for all the major releases. Wonder Woman comes out December 25th, so we'll see if that changes my opinion. I doubt it though because this movie was really good. I will spare you my full review because you can find that here. It was a fun movie and shows the direction DC should head in with their movies.
Honorable Mentions: The Old Guard (Netflix)
Worst Comic Book Movie of 2020
Wonder Woman 84' (Warner Bros) - Oh man. On the flip side of DC movies, there is this film. What a way to end 2020. This came out in just enough time for me to watch it and come up with my opinion. It was not good. I had high hopes and this movie dashed them. This was an easy choice for worst comic book movie of the year. I won't say any more than what my fresh review says.
Honorable Mention: N/A
Favorite Comic Book TV Show of 2020
Harley Quinn - Seasons 1 and 2 - I realize these may not be new, but they were new to me and as I've stated before, it was slim pickings in 2020. Even still, this show probably would have won this hands down anyway. After backing into HBO Max (apparently having the HBO add in for Hulu is good enough), I quickly blazed through this series. Kaley Cuoco is perfectly cast as Harley Quinn. The rest of the cast is amazing, with special shout outs to Alan Tudyk as both Joker and Clayface and Lake Bell as Poison Ivy. The show is legitimately funny and surprisingly violent. They got this show just right and I can't wait to see more. I have not laughed this hard consistently in a long time.
Honorable Mentions: N/A
Worst TV show of 2020
The Boys - Season 2 - It's not that this show was bad, per se. I just didn't watch a lot of comic book based shows this year. I'm way behind in all of them. So this gets the spot. I will say, that I liked the first season better. The shock value in the first season was fresh. Here, they ramp up the shock value, but the escalation feels gratuitous. Also, the show felt a lot slower. I had more trouble taking the Boys seriously because our heroes spin their wheels doing a whole lot of nothing. Homelander is still just as menacing and I worry for any character that is in the room with him.
Honorable Mention: N/A.
The “Oh you still come out and I buy you” of 2020
Deadly Class (Image) - To be fair, I am still enjoying this book and I will keep buying it. However, it's schedule has been iffy all year and it comes out when it comes out. Problem is, I can't really remember what happened between issues most of the time. I'm glad I have this on my pull list, otherwise I would never remember to keep up. Sadly, the TV show didn't make it past one season and I wonder if that took some of the heat off this book. It hasn't made me want to drop it yet, so there's that going for it.
Favorite New Artist of 2020
Victor Bogdanovic (Superman, Wolverine) - In the spirit of this award, Victor is not new to comics, but I took notice of his work for the first time this year and really started to appreciate it. It is hard for me to describe his style, but it is a good mix of cartoony and serious. He has great panel layouts as well. I think of him as being a little similar to Art Adams. His is a name that will now sell me on trying out a book going forward.
Honorable Mentions: Joshua Cassara - X-Force (Marvel)
Worst Artist of 2020
Szymon Kudranski - Fallen Angers (Marvel) - Maybe he's better than this. I don't know. What I saw of the Fallen Angels series from Marvel was egregious enough that it was easy to put his name here. I saved it in my phone the moment I saw it so I would remember later. I don't plan to give any more oxygen to this argument.
Honorable Mentions: Dexter Vines - Batman and the Outsiders (DC), Mark Bagley - Spider-Man (Marvel), Neal Adams - Fantastic Four: Antithesis
Favorite Artist of 2020
Jorge Jimenez - Batman (DC) - Jorge has always been one of my favorite up and coming artists but he leveled up with his work on Batman this year. I don't have the words to describe it, but it is absolutely gorgeous. His cartooning is top notch and he draws a damn good Batman. Everyone looks good the way he draws it. I only hope that the amount of high profile books he gets only increases. There was a lot of good art this year, but this stands out the most in my mind.
Honorable Mentions: Dan Mora - Once and Future (Boom Studios), Chris Samnee - Firepower (Image), Pepe Larraz -X-Men (Marvel), Jamal Campbell - Far Sector (DC)
Favorite New Writer of 2020
Christopher Cantwell - Doctor Doom, Fantastic Four: Road Trip (Marvel) - I never heard of Christopher Cantwell, but I picked up the Doctor Doom book because he is one of my favorite villains. What I found fascinating about the story was how it humanized him, but also dealt with a little of behind the scenes stuff with how Latveria works. Also, this felt VERY Doctor Doom. He is the hero in his own story and they lean into that here. Also, a few weeks ago, one shot horror story of the Fantastic Four came out from Cantwell and that was also surprisingly good. Apparently he is a co-creator of the show, "Halt and Catch Fire". It's good to see a TV guy come into comics and actually do it right. You'd be surprised how the comic medium vexes some would be writers. You're not writing prose here.
Honorable Mentions: N/A
Worst Writer of 2020
Tini Howard - Excalibur (Marvel) - I honestly can't tell if my intense dislike of this book was due to Howard's writing or my lack of care of the content. I'm not a fan of magic in the X books and I definitely don't care for Captain Marvel. I really picked this book up because I like Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and the art of Marcus To. What I got instead was a mess of a book in the writing department. She may be a great writer, but this book was not a good reflection of that.
Honorable Mentions: N/A. (I can't remember anyone else that should be on this list)
Honorable Mentions: The Old Guard (Netflix)
Worst Comic Book Movie of 2020
Wonder Woman 84' (Warner Bros) - Oh man. On the flip side of DC movies, there is this film. What a way to end 2020. This came out in just enough time for me to watch it and come up with my opinion. It was not good. I had high hopes and this movie dashed them. This was an easy choice for worst comic book movie of the year. I won't say any more than what my fresh review says.
Honorable Mention: N/A
Favorite Comic Book TV Show of 2020
Harley Quinn - Seasons 1 and 2 - I realize these may not be new, but they were new to me and as I've stated before, it was slim pickings in 2020. Even still, this show probably would have won this hands down anyway. After backing into HBO Max (apparently having the HBO add in for Hulu is good enough), I quickly blazed through this series. Kaley Cuoco is perfectly cast as Harley Quinn. The rest of the cast is amazing, with special shout outs to Alan Tudyk as both Joker and Clayface and Lake Bell as Poison Ivy. The show is legitimately funny and surprisingly violent. They got this show just right and I can't wait to see more. I have not laughed this hard consistently in a long time.
Honorable Mentions: N/A
Worst TV show of 2020
The Boys - Season 2 - It's not that this show was bad, per se. I just didn't watch a lot of comic book based shows this year. I'm way behind in all of them. So this gets the spot. I will say, that I liked the first season better. The shock value in the first season was fresh. Here, they ramp up the shock value, but the escalation feels gratuitous. Also, the show felt a lot slower. I had more trouble taking the Boys seriously because our heroes spin their wheels doing a whole lot of nothing. Homelander is still just as menacing and I worry for any character that is in the room with him.
Honorable Mention: N/A.
The “Oh you still come out and I buy you” of 2020
Deadly Class (Image) - To be fair, I am still enjoying this book and I will keep buying it. However, it's schedule has been iffy all year and it comes out when it comes out. Problem is, I can't really remember what happened between issues most of the time. I'm glad I have this on my pull list, otherwise I would never remember to keep up. Sadly, the TV show didn't make it past one season and I wonder if that took some of the heat off this book. It hasn't made me want to drop it yet, so there's that going for it.
Favorite New Artist of 2020
Victor Bogdanovic (Superman, Wolverine) - In the spirit of this award, Victor is not new to comics, but I took notice of his work for the first time this year and really started to appreciate it. It is hard for me to describe his style, but it is a good mix of cartoony and serious. He has great panel layouts as well. I think of him as being a little similar to Art Adams. His is a name that will now sell me on trying out a book going forward.
Honorable Mentions: Joshua Cassara - X-Force (Marvel)
Worst Artist of 2020
Szymon Kudranski - Fallen Angers (Marvel) - Maybe he's better than this. I don't know. What I saw of the Fallen Angels series from Marvel was egregious enough that it was easy to put his name here. I saved it in my phone the moment I saw it so I would remember later. I don't plan to give any more oxygen to this argument.
Honorable Mentions: Dexter Vines - Batman and the Outsiders (DC), Mark Bagley - Spider-Man (Marvel), Neal Adams - Fantastic Four: Antithesis
Favorite Artist of 2020
Jorge Jimenez - Batman (DC) - Jorge has always been one of my favorite up and coming artists but he leveled up with his work on Batman this year. I don't have the words to describe it, but it is absolutely gorgeous. His cartooning is top notch and he draws a damn good Batman. Everyone looks good the way he draws it. I only hope that the amount of high profile books he gets only increases. There was a lot of good art this year, but this stands out the most in my mind.
Honorable Mentions: Dan Mora - Once and Future (Boom Studios), Chris Samnee - Firepower (Image), Pepe Larraz -X-Men (Marvel), Jamal Campbell - Far Sector (DC)
Favorite New Writer of 2020
Christopher Cantwell - Doctor Doom, Fantastic Four: Road Trip (Marvel) - I never heard of Christopher Cantwell, but I picked up the Doctor Doom book because he is one of my favorite villains. What I found fascinating about the story was how it humanized him, but also dealt with a little of behind the scenes stuff with how Latveria works. Also, this felt VERY Doctor Doom. He is the hero in his own story and they lean into that here. Also, a few weeks ago, one shot horror story of the Fantastic Four came out from Cantwell and that was also surprisingly good. Apparently he is a co-creator of the show, "Halt and Catch Fire". It's good to see a TV guy come into comics and actually do it right. You'd be surprised how the comic medium vexes some would be writers. You're not writing prose here.
Honorable Mentions: N/A
Worst Writer of 2020
Tini Howard - Excalibur (Marvel) - I honestly can't tell if my intense dislike of this book was due to Howard's writing or my lack of care of the content. I'm not a fan of magic in the X books and I definitely don't care for Captain Marvel. I really picked this book up because I like Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and the art of Marcus To. What I got instead was a mess of a book in the writing department. She may be a great writer, but this book was not a good reflection of that.
Honorable Mentions: N/A. (I can't remember anyone else that should be on this list)
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