The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2021 - Part II

Let's carry on with Part II of my year in review. Now we get on to favorite writers, mini-series, events and favorite series. I have also started to read more graphic novels, so I now have a category for that as well.

Favorite Writer of 2021
Gene Luen Yang - Shang Chi (Marvel) - I have absolutely loved what Gene has been doing with his Shang Chi series that started in the middle of the year. I won't act like Marvel put this book out with good intentions. It was to coincide with their movie. I get that. However, Gene has taken his obvious love of the character and is doing something meaningful with him. I've said it before somewhere, but for characters that are non-white, it makes sense to have someone of that similar background write their stories. I'm not saying that white people can't, but there is a lot of nuance that they can never capture. This book has been a fun ride as Shang Chi interacts with the larger Marvel Universe once more. For years he's been relegated to the side, but now he is getting a push and I think it's past due. Put Iron Fist in the back and elevate Shang-Chi to the front. I think this is a good jumping on point for new readers. 

Honorable Mention: Brandon Thomas (Aquaman: Becoming (DC), Excellence (Image), Hardware (DC)), Donnie Cates (Thor)

Pleasant Surprise of 2021
Planet Size X-Men - The X-Men have been on another level lately and this was the culmination of some bonkers stories under the Hickman era. This book goes into painstaking detail (in a good way) detailing how the X-Men terraform Mars and then give that planet to someone else! The skill involved to tell this tale and make it believable is a site to behold.

Shocker of 2021
Runaways being cancelled - This was probably my favorite volume of this series since the original. Rainbow Rowell really had a feel for these characters and her spin on them was fresh. It was chugging along and right at issue #100, it was unceremoniously cancelled. Off all the books that come and go, I never suspected this would be one of them. It's a true crime. I'm still in shock that it happened.

Worst Mini-series of 2021
M.O.M (Image) - I talked about this before and I was not kind. I was so put off by it, that it affected me more than I thought. It was well intentioned, but very poorly executed. Maybe it got better, I don't know. However, it was the only thing that got to me in a negative way, so that is why it ends up here.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite Mini-series of 2021
Fantastic Four: Life Story (Marvel) - Yes, my Fantastic Four bias is real. But hear me out. This book follows the Fantastic Four in real time, which is unheard of in comics. They've been doing this with a few other characters (i.e. Spider-Man) at Marvel. So each issue takes place in a different decade, so you see how people age. The through line is that Reed Richards saw that Galactus is going to come and devour the Earth, he just doesn't know WHEN. So he starts trying to plan to save the Earth and to the normal world, he comes off as a crazy, crack pot conspiracy nut. This has an obvious effect on his family and we see how it plays out. This has been a fascinating book about a whole different series of what ifs. I highly recommend this book to see how things play out if you are somewhat familiar with the Fantastic Four.

Honorable Mentions: Bermuda (IDW)

Favorite New Series of 2021
Shang-Chi (Marvel) - I sung my praises for writer, Gene Luen Yang up above already. So I think I said there what I would have to say about this book. It has a great writer and a great artist. It's been a fun series, but it is tinged with some seriousness and interpersonal workings that are going to come to a head. If you can get over your cynicism about why this book even exists, you will find that you can enjoy it.

Honorable Mentions: Robin (DC)

Favorite Graphic Novel of 2021
N/A - Unfortunately, I have not read any graphic novels this year. Anything I read was from the last year, so that technically cannot count. I have to be fair!

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite Maxi-Series
Far Sector (DC) - Since this series ended this year, I can put it on this list and consider the totality of it all. The art from Jamal Campbell was excellent. Jemisin's voice for Sojourner feels like it is coming from an authentic place. When she's appeared in other books, it hasn't been the same. They should give Jemisin an ongoing title (provided she has the time) to let her flesh it out more. I'm assuming that DC can't afford her. Also, why would a novelist that is doing well, come do comics unless they REALLY enjoyed it. Sorry, the book. It was fascinating and really good sci fi/political intrigue. I recommend checking it out.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Series of 2021
Amazing Spider-Man (Marvel) - It kinda pains me to put this here, but it's here for a few reasons. There was a lot of issues this year. They went to a weekly format almost, had a bunch of .X issues (where you have an issue like #80.BEY instead of just GOING TO THE NEXT NUMBER) and previous writer Nick Spencer killed me with his long in the tooth arc about Kindred. It was exhausting and I realized I was not having fun. Spider-Man is one of my favorite characters, but his book is one I pick up and drop a lot more than I should.

Honorable Mentions: N/A - I can't think of any others that made me dislike them.

Favorite Series of 2021
Fantastic Four (Marvel) - I tried my damnedest to pick any other book for the year. When it came down to it though, no book made me feel joy or just got me all up in my feelings like this book. It has continued to be good old fashioned story telling and the stories with this group has only gotten better, as we've settled into their lives. We're starting to see more with the children and how they are dealing with things. A lot of real world scenarios have crept in to go with the Fantastic nature of their travels. It has felt very grounded and Dan Slott is doing some great work here. I can't gush about this book enough.

Honorable Mentions:  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW), Shang-Chi (Marvel)

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2021 - Part I

I think we can all agree that 2021was ALSO a crap year. I had some big personal changes in my life during the year. I also read a TON of books. Probably more in a year than I ever have. Good thing I use a service to track my collection and I made a conscious effort to track all my books this year, specifically. Looking over the list, I forgot half of this stuff came out and I read it. For instance, DC had this Future State event that I completely forgot. I forgot that Marvel had it's King in Black mini-series as well!

This year did feature a return of movies to movie theaters, so I did venture out to see a few. As you can guess, they were all Marvel movies. There were also a lot of TV shows. I have been crushed under the weight of them, specifically DC. So I am way behind all of them except for Superman & Lois.

Overall, I probably picked up the same amount of DC books, if not a little more due to more Bat Family stuff. I still buy an insanely high volume of Marvel comics. My Image books have dropped off actually and I have been buying more from Boom Studios to make up the difference. I don't think I really added any new ones, but did sample more independent stuff.

So let's get into it. What did my old man brain come up with? Without further ado, here is part I of my review of 2021.


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:

• Wonder Woman - DC
• Challenge of the Super Sons - DC
• Anything Captain America - Marvel

Favorite Comic Book Movie of 2021 

Spider-Man: No Way Home (Marvel) - I already praised this movie earlier, but in a year that had a bunch of comic movies come out, this one wins out. Before this, I would have said Shang-Chi. It was a respectful treatment of the past couple of decades of Spider-Man. It was also surprisingly emotional and full of heart. Don't think I've been able to say that about any of the Spider-Man movies before this.

Honorable Mentions: Shang Chi (Marvel)

Worst Comic Book Movie of 2021
Zack Snyder's Justice League (DC) - I originally had Eternals in this slot, but then I remembered that this movie happened earlier this year to great fanfare. This is technically an old movie, but this new uncut version was treated as a new movie. It could be argued that it was so different that it WAS a new movie. However, this movie only proved why you need an editor on a movie or have someone to tell a director no. There is creative freedom and then there is just an unchecked ego that makes art that is fulfilling only to the creator. This movie was excessive in just about every way. It's greatest crime was that it did it all poorly. This movie has it's fans, I'm clearly not one of them.

Honorable Mention: Eternals (Marvel), The Suicide Squad (DC)

Favorite Comic Book TV Show of 2021
Superman and Lois (CW) - Marvel had a lot of shows this year and they were all good. However, I have to pick one show and this show wins, hands down. I have fallen off practically all the other CW shows, but this one I actively watched. This is the best interpretation of Superman on the small screen. I would dare say that behind Christopher Reeves, this is the best Superman, period. I go into more detail here.

Honorable Mentions: Invincible (Amazon), Falcon and Winter Soldier (Marvel)

Worst Comic Book TV show of 2021
Don't got one - My time was limited and thankfully what I watched and made it through was good. Now I wanted to do worst anime tv show, it would be that new Cowboy Bebop. But if I make it through the rest, I WILL have thoughts.

Honorable Mention: N/A.

The “Oh you still come out and I buy you” of 2021
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. Editor's Note: Yes, this is word for word what I said last year. This holds for this year too.


Favorite New Artist of 2021
Dike Ruan - Shang-Chi (Marvel) - Not only has this series been an absolute delight, it's been paired up with stunning visuals from Dike Ruan. I never heard of him before, but I hope he gets more work after some time on this series. His anime-ish, cartoony style is a look that real looks. He's a better looking Leinil Francis Yu to me. Has the same kind of scratchiness, but his art is dynamic too. It has to be given that it is a book about a martial arts character. Everything is rendered so well and all the Marvel Characters he has drawn so far are fantastic. I will be keeping an eye on him.

Honorable Mentions: Luca Maresca (Marvel)

Worst Artist of 2021
N/A - Unfortunately, I read so much this year, I didn't mark down the bad art I saw. I know it's out there, I just can't remember any of it, so this will be unfilled for now. Next year I will mark it down so it is easier to remember.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite Artist of 2021
Dan Mora (Detective Comics (DC), Once & Future King (Boom Studios)) - He wins for his sheer body of work and consistency between TWO different titles. I don't know how he does it. Not only is he doing two different books, but it's also extremely good. He is a name that sells a book for me, despite the characters in it.

Honorable Mentions: Chris Samnee - Firepower (Image), Pepe Larraz -X-Men (Marvel)

Favorite New Writer of 2021
Jed Mckay - (Moon Knight, Death of Doctor Strange, Black Cat) - Now the spirit of this category is not that this is a brand new writer. They are just new to ME. I didn't read much of their work before this year and now I'm kicking myself for not jumping on the Jed McKay train a lot sooner. He also wrote one of the few GOOD Amazing Spider-Man issues this year and it featured one of my favorite teams of Misty Knight and Collen Wing, the Daughters of the Dragon. There is a sense of fun to the delivery of his dialogue in all his books. He is now a name that will move books for me.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Writer of 2021
Nick Spencer (Amazing Spider-Man - Marvel) - It pains me to put this here, because Nick Spencer is a good writer, but some things miss with me. I didn't like his Captain America or the Standoff Stuff he did. I liked this book at the start when it was a fun, classic Spider-Man feel. Then he had to go and decide that he also had a spin on Norman/Harry Osborne and we ended up with Kindred for like 40 issues. The fact this book moved to a more bi-weekly schedule and we started to get more exposed to this. This Kindred stuff, his sinister six, Kraven, all of it had classic Spider-Man elements, but it got too dark and overwrought. I wish him luck on the next thing he does, but I was close to dropping Spider-Man again.

Honorable Mentions: N/A. (I can't remember anyone else that should be on this list)

Hawkeye

Read past this point at your own peril. There will be spoilers

When this show got announced, I was like, "Okay. Thanks Marvel. Give us a series that literally no one asked for." I like Hawkeye in the comics just fine. I hate him in the movies. He's just this bland ass, flat character and Jeremy Renner's performance hadn't changed my opinion. I also feel like Marvel has, to use wrestling terms, tried to get him over. "Look, he's got a FAMILY. He's a family man." "Look, he's lost his family and now he is RONIN". Side note, Ronin is a character only the most hardcore of fans would even know or care about. So using him seemed to be throwing a bone to fans or something. In Avengers: End Game, when it came down to him and Natasha, I was actively mad it wasn't HIM that died. So yeah, not a fan of this guy. I was not excited about this series, but I am resigned to my fate to watch every Marvel Cinematic Universe offering. I'm flawed in that way.

All that being said, I loved THIS show. If I'm being honest, it's because of all the characters around Hawkeye, not Clint Barton himself. Haliee Stenfield's Kate Bishop's enthusiasm for everything was infectious and was the engine that drove this show. This is more about her journey than Clint's, mercifully. I was completely invested in her journey to try and do right. Just like many other well-meaning young characters, she always thought she had the best idea and ability.

I think this show had the best title sequence I've ever seen. I say this because they blow through Kate's origin to prepare us for the rest of the show. We don't need to see training montages, flashbacks, etc.  Her hero worship of Hawkeye also makes sense and they lean into that throughout the show. 

Another thing I liked about this show, was the scale. It was over a few days period, centered around a couple of crimes in the city and lost items. No world ending threat. No plot to take over the city. Just a threat central to our characters. There was not an abundance of stuff blowing up all over the place. I said an abundance, I didn't say there wasn't stuff that doesn't get blown up.

This show also goes deep into Marvel's cast of characters to pull out Maya Lopez, aka Echo. She's become more prominent lately, so I won't act like this wasn't a strategic move. They even stayed true to most of her origin by even bring in a surprise character from another Marvel show. So those Netflix shows now matter! Woo hoo!

Anyway, Maya. I like that they have her communicate using sign language here and is mute. In the comics, she's also deaf, but can read people's lips and talk to them. It is a conceit that is completely stupid in the comic books. People don't write her like she can't read lips, so she is chatting up people like it is completely normal. Only when she says a line like, "I can't read your lips to know what you are saying, but...". It personally annoys me. Make the artist learn sign language and have her do it in the books. It is also a visual medium, you know.

I also loved that we get some payoff to what we saw in the Black Widow movie, with Florence Pugh's Helena. She was the best part of that movie and her appearance for a few episodes here also elevates the show. She is fantastic and I am happy to see her take on the Black Widow role going forward. Every scene she is in, you worry for the other character in what she is about to do. I can't wait to see more of her going forward.

Finally, we get the return of the Kingpin by Vincent D'Onofrio who showed up in the Daredevil Netflix series. I'm so glad that they are bringing back characters and actors from some of the shows. While I am glad, he felt like an odd fit here. He is clearly powered up here versus how he was in Daredevil. I read that he is now up to his levels in the comic book, so it was a deliberate choice. It does make him too overpowered for the heroes in this show. He'll be back, so I will hold my judgement.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this show. The more grounded nature made me like it more and it is why I personally put it over WandaVision and Loki, if I am mapping out my ranking of the Marvel TV shows this year. It felt less like a set up for another movie and more like a setup for future seasons. This grounded sensibility is more of what I want from these shows.

Spider-Man: No Way Home

I wanted to sit with this for a few days. Mostly because I didn't want to let my rose colored glasses color my opinion of this movie. Now that I have waited and thought on it... It is still a great movie!! I'm still wrestling where it sits in my list of Spider-Man movies and Marvel movies as a whole because let's face it, Marvel's hand in these movies is what has made them great.

Let's dive right in. I want to warn you, there will be spoilers! I can't talk about some of the things in this movie without spoiling things. So if you haven't seen it yet, stop right here!