The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2024 - 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 and whatevers.

Favorite Writer of 2024
Bryan Hill (Blade, Blade: Red Band, Ultimate Black Panther) - I can't put my finger on it, but I think it's because I didn't expect to enjoy these Blade series as much as I did and that is a tribute to the writing. Truthfully, what do we REALLY know about Blade outside of his movies. He's a blank canvas for anyone to write on and I'm glad he's getting a little more love this year. Yes, he was also involved in that Bloodhunt Event you'll hear me mention below, but Bryan Hill wasn't writing that. The most important piece of work this year though, is his Ultimate Black Panther run. I railed in the past about who I think I should write the character, but with this book he has changed my mind. With the Ultimate Universe, it allows him to be free and not be constrained by 40 years of continuity. It's made the character feel fresh and all the interactions around him. Finally, I have a Black Panther comic I don't hate read.

Honorable Mention: Daniel Warren Johnson (Transformers), Rainbow Rowell (She-Hulk)

Pleasant Surprise of 2024
All GI Joe Books in the Energon Universe - Image has put out mini series for Duke, Scarlett, Cobra Commander and Destro. I ate them all up. Historically, I have hated GI Joe. As a kid, I grew up in a military family, so I didn't want anything to do with anything involving the military. In the year of our lord, 2024 I've finally embraced GI Joe. These books have been legitimately good and I'm glad I didn't come to them with any pre-conceived notions.

Worst Event of 2024
Bloodhunt (Marvel) - This event encapsulates just about everything I hate about events in comic books. The premise here is that Blade has turned full vampire and has lead a bunch of vampires in a plot to take over the world and feed on everyone. The sudden heel turn by Blade is sudden, but I go along with it because initially it's interesting. I've also been reading comic books long enough to know that they are going to find a way to undo this so that there is no lasting impact. Spoilier alert: Blade was being controlled by a vampire spirit. So now that one interesting hook you have is gone. There's nothing I hate more that a person was evil because they were controlled by something instead of just being straight up evil.

Favorite Mini-series of 2024

Batman and Robin Year One (DC) - Mark Waid and Chris Samnee! There's nothing I like more than a good, modern day tale of Batman and Robin (Dick Grayson) and this book scratches that itch. It's not finished yet, but it's already a lot of fun. Mark Waid knows DC history inside and out and can seemingly write any character he desires. Chris Samnee is one of this industry's best and it's good to see him working back in one of the big two. Highly recommend this story that talks about the early days of their partnership.

Honorable Mentions: The Boy Wonder (DC), Wolverine: Revenge

Favorite New Series of 2024
The Spectacular Spider-Men (Marvel) - I leaned with this book over Ultimate Black Panther because I don't think we've really had a consistent team up book with Peter Parker and Miles Morales. It's an idea that is so simple, I'm surprised they didn't do it sooner. For all the railing I do about Miles Morales (again, I have a post coming in a few weeks about that), I love how he is here. Having him bounce of his mentor has been great and it really does a good job showing the contrast between them. This book and the Spider-Man games on PS4/PS5 are the BEST portrayals of Miles (outside of the Beyond the Spider-verse) movies and it says a lot that the one place they aren't getting him right is where he originated, the comic books. This series has been a lot of fun and their interplay as they take on villains is a delight. 

Honorable Mentions: Ultimate Black Panther (Marvel)

Favorite Graphic Novel of 2024
Man, I didn't even read any to justify this category this year. Better luck next year.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Series/Mini-Series of 2024
Green Lantern War Journal (DC) - I think this book broke me. I love John Stewart and I'm glad to have a book with him again. But the subpar art and boring pace of this writing tested me. Although I didn't like it after my three issue rule, I stuck with it in hopes it would get better. It didn't and I hung on for way too long. This book tried to have it's toes in keeping GL on Earth and having space adventures. I feel like to have an effective GL comic, you need to have one arc on Earth another in space. Technically, they police a certain sector of the galaxy, so it can be done. This book just didn't and John Stewart keeps getting saddled with bad books, so he can never sustain a regular series. DC will trot this character out when it's black history month and then do nothing with him the rest of the year.

Honorable Mentions: X-Factor (Marvel)

Favorite Series of 2024
Transformers (Image) - Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would pick a Transformers book as a book of the year, but here we are. The reason I picked this book is because it changes things about the Transformers origins that my generation experienced in the early 80's. The action is kinetic, full of wrestling moves and laser blasts. The Decepticons are truly evil and Optimus Prime is always trying to do his best to do good, even more so at the detriment of his team. There is a lot of crazy stuff that is happening in this series. Megatron is missing (read GI Joe comics for that), Optimus Prime has Megatron's gun arm and other crazy stuff. This series is wild and has me on the edge of my seat with each issue. I cannot recommend this enough to my fellow 40-somethings. 

Honorable Mentions:  Fantastic Four (Marvel), Void Rivals (Image)

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2024 - Part I

 

Life got crazy this year, so I was consistently behind on my comic book reading. That's why this list is so late. I needed my recency bias to help me with some of these picks. There were a lot of good surprises this year though, which I will talk about in more detail. One thing I'll start adding to these reviews is how many 2024 books I bought and read this year. This total is not how many comics I read in total, because I have a backlog of older stuff I cycle through as well when I get caught up on the recent stuff. 

That official count is: 469.

Let's break that down. How do my numbers fall out in regard to publishers?

It's no surprise that I'm team Marvel, but I try to balance that with other publishers. DC is always my number two and then a toss up amongst the other indie publishers. What is surprising to me is that IDW has outpaced Image comics. But really, in looking at my numbers, that IDW number is inflated because those are 95% Ninja Turtle comics. My purchases from Image comics are primarily Transformers and G.I. Joe shit. I would LOVE to step out and get more indies, so I'm going to pay better attention this year.

Anways, Without further ado, here is part I of my review of 2024.

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:

• Incredible Hulk (Marvel)
• Daredevil (Marvel)
• Green Lantern: War Journal (DC)
• Batman and Robin (DC)
• Captain America (Marvel)

Favorite Comic Book Movie of 2024

Deadpool/Wolverine (Marvel) - This movie was woefully short of comic book movies and that was a good thing. This movie would have one anyway. It's the closest thing we've gotten to an X-Men movie in years. I went into detail about this movie already in my review, but it was a fun ride. As much as I like Deadpool movies, hopefully this is the end of solo films for him. They are fun, but Deadpool as a character is exhausting. He's Spider-Man with no filter. On anything.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Comic Book Movie of 2024
Well, I guess there is no one to take this spot because I didn't watch any other comic book that came out in 2024. I saw Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but that is technically a 2023 movie. If I had watched that Joker sequel or that damn Kraven movie, it would end up here. Instead, because I'm a maschoist, I will watch those and review them later.

Honorable Mention: N/A

Favorite Comic Book TV Show of 2024
X-Men 97' (Marvel) - On the other hand, there were a LOT of shows that came out this year and the one that came out back in March EASILY takes the cake. While in retrospect, that old X-Men cartoon was bad, this show was the exact opposite and was good. They were able to lose the illusion that this is a show for kids and have storytelling that was more mature and nuanced. I can't say enough good things about this show, but it is fantastic.

Honorable Mentions: Agatha All Along (Marvel), My Adventures with Superman Season 2 (DC)

Worst Comic Book TV show of 2024
What If (Marvel) - I haven't written a full post to rail on this show yet, but out of all the shows I watch, this is the one that feels like a chore. My problem is that the What If scenarios are boring concepts to begin with and the execution doesn't get any better. Yes, I really wanted to see what would have happened if Hela had the ten rings. The problem is the What If comics took a scenario and took it in the opposite direction of what happened. This show takes a scenario and goes in a direction that is completely unrelated to the premise. I could go on, but I'll save that rant for a longer post. 

Honorable Mention: Harley Quinn Season 3.

The “Oh you still come out and I buy you” of 2024
Gargoyles (Dynamite) - I honestly can't tell you why I still buy this book. I'm not really enjoying it that much. I loved the TV show and this is a continuation of that. The problem is, I never saw season 3, so I started at a deficit with this series. It makes no attempt to catch you up, so I'm just living in this world trying to follow along. Unfortunately, the art is just not good. It's cartoony, but feels off. And the writing is fine, but again, they don't explain anything in the past, they expect that you're already a super fan and up on everything. That is comic book malpractice. At least have a summary page or something. I seriously need to drop this book.

The "Oh, why don't I drop you because it would be so easy" of 2024

Miles Morales: Spider-Man (Marvel) - It's not that I forget this book comes out, it's more of a "Why do I still buy this book." To understand why I do this is to understand the economics of comics. Some of us have cried out for more diversity in comics. When the comic companies do that, no one buys them and then they have to go back to their old tricks. That is why you see race swapping of known characters. It's having your cake (using a popular established character as a crutch) and then doing something slightly different. I buy this book to help it's numbers so they can keep doing this.

Where I sit with this book is this: we have a black writer that has a more authentic voice for Miles. Black Writers tend to pull in other little used black characters and team them up. Now I get to see Misty Knight heavily involved as a mentor or Sam Wilson will show up or Black Panther, etc. So that is fun. The problem is this Spider-Man doesn't have a rogue's gallery on his own and any new ones that are created just don't feel interesting. The art is also all over the map and something about it is just not clicking with me. This is another thing I will expand on in a later post. 

Favorite New Artist of 2024
Belén Ortega (Wonder Woman) - She has been doing these back up stories in Wonder Woman throughout the year and I instantly fell in love with her art. It's a little anime-ish, but that would be too reductive in what she does. The facial expressions are on point, the art feels dynamic when there is action and her characters just look cool. I seriously hope DC gives her a push as a main artist on a series somewhere. 

Honorable Mentions: Vincenzo Carratu (Psylocke)

Worst Artist of 2024
Francesco Mortarino (Fantastic Four) - Within comics, you'll get fill-in artists when the main artist needs a break. That's where the disparity in art really comes through. I say all that to say that fortunately, I only had to deal with this person's art in one issue (Fantastic Four #16). His chracters had weird noses, Val looked the same age as Franklin and his rendition of the Thing is probably the worst I have ever seen. His head looked tiny in comparison to his body and he had a tin man looking jaw. He was not ready for prime time.

Honorable Mentions: Danny Earls - Incredible Hulk #11

Favorite Artist of 2024
Dan Mora (Justice League Unlimited, Absolute Power, Superman) - I should have had this man up here sooner. He's one of those rare artists that if I see his name attached to a book, no matter what it is, I'm getting it. He's got a cartoony art style that is full of character and energy. He's got the workman like output of a Mark Bagley. I honestly don't know how this man keeps up the consistency of his work and puts out so much in a year like he has. Modern day artists simply don't do this. Health issues pop up and I am legitimately worried that Dan is striking while the iron is hot before he inevitably falls to father time. 

Honorable Mentions: 

Favorite New Writer (to me) of 2024
Dan Watters (Destro) - It was  hard to find any writers I haven't already read comics by so I THINK this is my first time experiencing Dan. I thoroughly enjoyed his Destro mini series and this new thing they are doing with G.I. Joe. The fact he was able to turn me is a testament. This book was fun and I felt like it was well written. I'll be keeping an eye on him.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Writer of 2024
J. Michael Strazynski (Captain America) - Maybe I hold a grudge, but I've never forgiven this guy for a Spider-Man story about 15 years ago that had the return of Gwen Stacy in about the weirdest way imaginable. Since then, I have thought of him as a hack and his job on Captain American didn't change my mind. I had to drop it because I couldn't take it anymore and my time is valuable. I could give more details, but I don't want to. I don't like the guy's writing. Full stop.

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

The Oversaturation of 2024

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Same as the year before, we continue this year too. Again, I love the Turtles, but Jesus H. Christ. They are everywhere. (** Editors Note, I didn't change this section from last year because it was STILL true. ** )

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2023 - 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 and whatevers.

Favorite Writer of 2023
Ryan North - Fantastic Four (Marvel) - This was a toss up between Rainbow Rowell on She-Hulk and Ryan North. I went with Ryan because he's been having a great, inventive run on Fantastic Four. His writing has been very different than it was in the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. I figured he had range, but I didn't know it was like this. He is clearly a smart person, because this book has been infused with a lot of great science in how the Fantastic Four approaches problems and solve them. Everything this year was compelling, inventive takes on the characters as they tackle their issues. It sounds bad, but by removing the kids for the run so far (they got trapped in a building zapped one year into the future), he's been allowed to get back to the core of these characters to see why they mesh and what makes them tick. Everyone has had a chance to shine. His Reed Richards is almost likeable compared to how he's usually portrayed. We are in a renaissance of Fantastic Four stories.

Honorable Mention: Rainbow Rowell (She-Hulk)

Pleasant Surprise of 2023
Transformers (Image) - WOW. We're only three or four issues in, but this re-imagining of OG Transformers is fantastic. Darren Warren Johnson is putting on a master clinic here. He's taking what we've known from the 1980's cartoon and putting a different spin on it. His Transformers look really cool and he does great action scenes with hand drawn sound effects. We live in the era of the trade paper back, so the pacing is written with that in mind, meaning it takes like five issues for something significant to happen. However, I'm all on board and I'm glad so far they have kept things simple without mucking up things with too much mythology. 

Worst Event of 2023
Sins of Sinister (Marvel) - Look, the X-Men have always had complicated crossover events that occur because the writers get too cute. This was no exception. I swear, everyone keeps trying to go back to the well of "Age of Apocalypse" from the mid 90's, an event that was sheer perfection and full of shock value. Now every few years, they try a different spin on that with diminishing returns. They keep chasing that dragon. This time, we look at an alternate timeline where Mr. Sinister has "won". At this point, nothing is shocking and we know the status quo will be returned to in a few weeks, so why bother investing? As I was reading, I was like, "I don't really like this..." Can we not just have a character focused event that is small in scale?

Biggest Missed Opportunity

Predator vs. Wolverine (Marvel) - You knew that once Disney bought the rights to all the Fox properties, stuff like this would come to fruition. On it's face, this seems like a natural fit and would be a great series right? WRONG. This book seemed to have missed the memo on the basic premise of this book. Wolverine fighting a Predator. Instead, we get snippets throughout his history where they fight (for like five pages) then we spend the rest of the time pontificating on what may or may not have happened, cause you know, Wolverine has a bad memory, a thing comics seemed to have fixed years ago. What in the hell. You had one job, book. Just give us that. I don't want to see past versions of Wolverine encountering people. This is the problem with modern comics where they write for the trade. In the 90's this would have been one 64 page book where they would get to the point. Instead, you have to read maybe about 112 pages to get the story. UGH.

Favorite Mini-series of 2023
Clobberin' Time (Marvel) - At this point, it should be no secret that The Thing is one of my favorite Marvel Characters. He is number 2, maybe even 1b behind Black Panther on any given day. So this little team-up series was a lot of fun. Steve Skorce is a name I'm familiar with from waaaaaaaay back in the 90's during the Age of Apocalypse event with the X-Men. He drew "X-Man" for a few issues. His art fit with the 90's aesthetic back then, but thankfully he evolved. Along the way, he also became a fun writer and that was shown in this series. This was like a good ol' "Marvel-Two-In-One" with the Thing teaming up with a rotating cast of characters. The main villain was as comic booky as it gets, but the fun is in watching the interactions between Thing and his co-stars.

Honorable Mentions: Joe Fixit (Marvel)

Favorite New Series of 2023
Blade (Marvel) - I'm just as surprised as you are. I like Blade, but I don't love him. Something about this book though clicked for me. It didn't rely on any of the old stuff we know about Blade, it refreshingly introduced us to some new characters from his past that we never met before. It had super natural hijinks and in the most recent issues, Dracula get involved, but not in the way you think. Bryan Hill's writing combined with Elena Casandre's art made this my easy pick. I'm actually excited for a Blade comic. Didn't have that on my bingo card.

Honorable Mentions: Wonder Woman (DC)

Favorite Graphic Novel of 2023
Blacula: Return of the King (Zombie Love Studios) - I only read one graphic novel this year, but even if I had read more, it still would have been this book. In part one, I mentioned how Rodeny Barnes is my favorite new writer. Some of that is attributed to this book. It is a clearly a labor of love. He took a blaxploitation movie and infused it with more mythology and pathos than I thought possible. Combined with his frequent partner, Jason Shawn Alexander, this book was a lot of fun. I wish more Blaxploitation properties could get renewed life in comic book form.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Series/Mini-Series of 2023
Daredevil & Echo (Marvel) - Taboo from Black Eyed Peas co-wrote this in case that is a thing that interests you. Whatever pull he might have had with this book ended about ten years ago, but I digress. There's a very particular reason I wanted to call this book out. It's a problem throughout all Marvel comics in regards to Echo. She is a great character and I love that there is some Native American representation. However, one of the main parts of her character is that she is deaf. She can read lips though, so that is how she can know what people are saying. The problem is, literally every comic she is in has her doing dialogue side by side with someone and not facing them head on. So how does she know what people are saying? Also, how is she having perfectly normal conversations, when she is a deaf person. It's like anyone working on this character has never met a deaf person in their lives. She doesn't even use ASL with ANYONE, so they tell us constantly, "Oh she's deaf, but she overcomes her disability", but never showing or acknowledging it. So this book did that constantly and I was so annoyed by that detail, it overshadowed the dump story about fighting a demon or something. What are editors even there for? Ugh. Anyways, given how much I just wrote shows how pissed off this book made me.

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

Favorite Series of 2023
She-Hulk (Marvel) - This might come as a shocker, but this book has been really good. It stays consistently at the top of my stack when I pick up books for the week. The writer, Rainbow Rowell, has made a huge fan out of me. She had a great run on Runaways a few years ago and now she has taken over She-Hulk. This book has been low-stakes, but just focusing on everyday life of Jen Walters aka She-Hulk as she navigates her life with work and a relationship. This sounds so mundane, but Rowell deftly handles this with some super hero stuff that has worked really well. She's really humanized Jen in a way that makes you root for her. She-Hulk has been back and forth with her portrayal over the years, so I'm glad to see they are just keeping it simple. What gave this book the nod over the Fantastic Four is the wonderful art of Andres Genolet. Fantastic Four has had a who's who of nobodies filling in and there's no consistent style. This book has it. I will also state the obvious. Women write better characters than men do, because there are so many complexities that I can't fathom, that she presents in this book to an idiot like me that is easy to digest. I full endorse this book to anyone that is new to comics or just wants a good, fun read.

Honorable Mentions:  Strange Academy (Marvel), Fantastic Four (Marvel)

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2023 - Part I

This was certainly a year. I think the number of comics I buy in a year actually went down for the first time in a while. I have no explanation other than the obvious, I was just buying less. Why? The musical chairs of writers/artists on books and the slow output of creator owned projects left me with my normal pull list and I would MAYBE pick up a book or two outside of that. I also get behind on my comics all the time due to a kiddo, so I'm not in the shop every week grabbing what is new like I used to.

I have definitely pulled away from DC, as they have reduced their output and nothing much interests me over there outside of the big three. And even then, I buy based on the creative team, not the character.

Marvel is the same thing, but there is so much quantity, I have a lot more choices and I will take a little more risk. With all their movies, some characters got pushed more than others, for good or for bad. I didn't take good (any?) notes this year, so let's see how this goes. It's going to be a dumpster fire.

This year, I will do a few fun, superlative categories to fluff my content.

Without further ado, here is part I of my review of 2023.


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:

• N/A - I didn't actively drop anything. Stuff just ended!

Favorite Comic Book Movie of 2023

Spider-Man: Across the Multi-verse (Marvel) - Come on. I honestly almost forgot that this movie was THIS year because it was so early on, but this is easily the best comic book movie of the year. This movie had heart and fantastic visuals. It sucks to know that those visuals came at a cost of the poor people that worked long hours for us to get this. Even though the movie starts a lot with Gwen Stacy, it is still very much Miles' story and how he is adapting to things. I already wrote my review on this, so I will finish by saying, it was a great film.

Honorable Mentions: Blue Beetle (DC), The Marvels (Marvel)

Worst Comic Book Movie of 2023
Antman and Wasp: Quantumania (Marvel) - This was a hard choice between this movie and The Flash. The Flash was an absolute mess, but it had Michael Keaton as Batman, which is the only factor involved. This movie moved away from what made the other Ant-man movies so fun. You can argue it's still a heist movie, but this time it's on a much grander scale that doesn't serve this character. I'm sorry, but Ant-Man is NOT going toe to toe with Kang. No way in hell. But that is what we get here. Also, all the actors just seemed exhausted with this movie (probably not as exhausted as the poor SFX people) and bored, like we were. There were stakes here, but I never felt like they wouldn't achieve them. We knew this movie was only another step up the laborious tower of Marvel to get to the next big thing.

Honorable Mention: The Flash (DC)

Favorite Comic Book TV Show of 2023
My Adventures with Superman (DC) - I will be real here, this honor would probably have gone to Superman and Lois, if I wasn't a season or two behind, so I guess I have to pick something. So I will go with the next best thing, "My Adventures with Superman". I would say I'm a low-key Superman fan, but I think I've proven time and time again that he is one of my favorites ever since childhood. As an adult, I like seeing how they handle a guy who is clearly overpowered, dealing with something that could actually threaten him. In this show, since we're just starting out with him, just about everything is a threat to him. Underneath all that action is a sweet love story between brash and bold Lois and timid and meek Clark. Caught in the middle is Jimmy Olson who realizes he's becoming a third wheel. I loved the fun take on classic superman characters and the voice acting is superb. 

Honorable Mentions: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Marvel)

Worst Comic Book TV show of 2023
Secret Invasion (Marvel) - Hands down, the easiest choice I had to make here. And I don't take pleasure in doing this. This is a concept that should have been a slam dunk, but they fumbled this one big time and quite frankly, wasted Sam Jackson's time. Like Wolverine, Nick Fury is a character we don't really need to know much about his past, only what he's doing now. By trying to flesh him out, you made him less interesting. They would have been forgiven if we had like an episode of sad Nick Fury, but six episodes of him being a step behind and not proving why he's the best? That's a no from me, dawg. Let's also not forget the little nugget that dropped at the end about Rhodey having been replaced by a Skrull some undetermined amount of time ago.

Honorable Mention: N/A.

The “Oh you still come out and I buy you” of 2023
Immortal X-Men (Marvel) - I know I've been back on the X-Men train for the past two-three years, but for the life of me, I'm not sure why I still buy this book. It's about the last interesting X-Men characters (Douglock) and I guess what's left of the little government they set up.

The "Oh, why don't I drop you because it would be so easy" of 2023

Immortal Thor (Marvel) - Historically, I've never cared for Thor. Then I read Jason Aaron's Thor: God of Thunder run and I got into the character and I've stayed around for a few years. I've read spinoffs like Valkerye and Jane Foster. Now though, I'm so done with this character, but I keep buying the book. It's fine, but I don't enjoy it enough to keep spending money. I need to stop. I just have to remember to take it off my pull list...

Favorite New Artist of 2023
Elena Casagrande - Blade - (Marvel) - For years, Marvel has been running this "Young Guns" or "Stormbreakers" stuff that showcases "new" talent. I say "new" because they've been drawing for a while, but are newish to Marvel and they're getting put in the spotlight. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they miss. Elena was someone in the group and when I saw her work on Blade, I instantly became a fan. I'm going to go track down other books she's worked on (like Black Widow) to fully appreciate her. I hope she continues to get more high profile books.

Honorable Mentions: Can't think of none

Worst Artist of 2023
Carlos Magno - Captain America - Cold War - Marvel - Unfortunately, I'm basing this award on ONE issue that I saw drawn by Carlos, but it was igregious enough that I marked it down so I wouldn't forget about it, seven months later. So here we are. My notes on why I put it here were, "Low Rent Gary Frank". If you don't get that reference to well known comic book artist, that's fine. I also put, "People were all teeth." Which meant there were a lot of "Grrrrrr" faces, which is a cheap trick in comic book art. So there you have it.

Honorable Mentions: Caio Majado - Incredible Hulk Annual

Favorite Artist of 2023
Khary Randolph - Sirens of the City (Boom Studios) - I did some soul searching and followed my heart. I see a lot of good art, but there isn't always a lot that moves me and makes me go, WOW. Randolph's work in "Sirens of the City" did that for me. His art crackled with a creative freedom I hadn't seen from him in a while. He clearly was enjoying himself on the book and when I heard about this book, I bought it solely for his art. Definitely recommend picking it up.

Honorable Mentions: Andres Genolet (She-Hulk), Daniel Sampiere (Wonder Woman)

Favorite New Writer (to me) of 2023
Rodney Barnes - Killadelphia (Image), Blacula: Return of the King (Zombie Press Studios) Gang War: Luke Cage (Marvel) - Rodney Barnes has been in the game for a while and has written for a number of tv shows. I'm still behind in his book, Killadelphia, but I started to read it this year and I instantly became a fan of his work. I also picked up his graphic novel, Blacula: Return of the King and that is also excellent. I always want to support black writers and he's starting to gain steam in the comic world, so I want to continue to support him. He trends towards more horror, but it's always from a black person angle, which we don't get enough of in horror. He's definitely worth checking out.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Worst Writer of 2023
Joe Madueria - Battlechasers (Image) - What is this, the 90's all over again? I honestly don't know why I picked up this series which had been on ice for about twenty years. The writing definitely didn't improve in that time. Picking on this feels like low hanging fruit, but it was so egregious, I had to put it here. His art is great, but his writing is definitely not. This book is about as generic fantasy as it gets.

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

The Oversaturation of 2023

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - It mains me to say this, but there was a lot of damn Ninja Turtle stuff this year. I love them, you all know this. But when I list out what came out this year in addition to their mainline title, you'll see what I mean. I'll even use a numbered list to hammer home my point.

1. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Power Rangers II"
2. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Stranger Things"
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Usagi Yojimbo: Wherewhen
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Street Fighter
5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin - The Lost Years.

Could it be that there was a movie coming out? Couldn't tell ya. But also, damn. Look at that list. That's too much. I am also guilty of having read EVERY SINGLE ONE. I can tell you that the Street Fighter one didn't need to happen. The Stranger Things was better than you would think because they used the Eastman/Laird original turtles from the 80's since Stranger Things takes place in the 80's. Get it? Cute. The Power Rangers one was built for me and I loved every damn issue of it's nonsense. I'll do a separate set of reviews for these later. I need to re-read them because honestly, they run together.

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)

Marvel Voices: Identity #1

I'm back again to talk about a book that covers an identity I am not a part of. Look, I read things and I want to talk about them. My hopes is that they will interest you in them too. With that being said, let me talk about "Marvel Voices: Identity #1". There has been a number of these kind of issues and there will be more. I will attempt to talk about each of them.

So this particular issue focuses on characters of Pacific-Asian-Islander descent. Let's not ignore the fact that Shang-Chi is out in theaters, so the time was ripe to do something like this. Understandably, he gets the opening story in this book.

There are other books I need to pick up in this Marvel Voices line, but at least with the Pride on and this one, I feel like they are getting better curated. My main complaint about the Pride issue was how many characters they packed in and how it felt like Marvel was going to pull a muscle in their shoulder from patting themselves on the back so much.

The entire package for this issue is so much better. In addition to the stories, there is an excerpt of an interview from the great Larry Hama (who wrote Wolverine for YEARS and was the writer when I got into comics) that is a great read. He's done many other things, but it is Wolverine that is near and dear to my heart. There are also an open question posed to a number of creators about "What does identity meant to you?" and you get to see a wide array of answers to this question. Finally, the start of the book has a heartfelt note from the cartoonist, Rina Ayuyang. All of this helps to really sell the idea behind this book.

Now I will say this, Marvel does not have a wide array of characters to choose from historically. The past few years have seen a large uptick in these characters, which is a welcome change. The problem posed for some old school fans like myself is this: If you have not been reading in the past ten years, you will not recognize any of these new characters.

What we have here though is very good. Good writing and great art. We get stories about Shang-Chi, Jubilee, Jimmy Woo, Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Wave (newer character), Silhouette (Deep cut if you read the New Warriors in the 90's), Armor and Brawn/Silk. If you don't know any of these characters, don't worry. You get a little bit about them through each story.

I want to give a shout out that it is great to see Whilce Portacio (old school 90's artist) drawing a story here.

As you can see, I didn't have any bad things to say here. I think it is refreshing and I'm glad I could learn a little bit about some other characters I may get more interested in. I wholeheartedly recommend picking up this book and giving it a shot.

Milestone Comics Returns

This is another post that is going to feel very dated because this is already happening. The imprint, "Milestone" is back at DC and after years of talking about it, they have finally brought it back. In a nutshell, Milestone was created back in 1993 by a couple of black artists and writers as a way to diverse comic books, which was severely lacking at the time. I had a long post talking about my complicated history with Milestone. I have scrapped that and will spare you all of that. In summary, as a kid getting into comics, I didn't give it a chance because while I wanted more black super heroes, I wanted them in one of the big two, Marvel or DC. To me, they were not legitimate enough. So I never gave them a chance until I was much older. It is something that I regret. 

As an adult, I got into them and realize how special it truly was. I could also trust that because it was created by black creators, what I was getting was authentic. Not some white guy's interpretation of black people based on a movie or two he just watched. There are obvious influences from where they came from, but as a whole, I thought they were all good. They will feel very dated, because they are very rooted in the culture and language in the mid-nineties. The themes, however, still play well today.

Taking us to the present, I was excited when DC was finally going to actually have this happen and announced creative teams on the books. It was a mix of some of the creators that were part of the original launch and up and coming or established black creators from today.  We still had to wait a while for them to come out and right now they are happening as "seasons". This is comic book talk for limited series. I don't like this approach because I feel like it gives you too easy of an out to cancel them.

At this point, three issues of "Static" and two issues of "Icon and Rocket" and an issue of "Hardware" have come out so far. Static feels very much rooted in today and gives a more updated take on the character. The backdrop for all of this is with racial protests and how experimental gas was used on the crowd. That is how the various characters will develop powers. It is something that feels very relevant while trying to be socially conscious. In this respect, I think the series has been good so far. I think the dialogue is authentic, the characters feel real enough. Vita Ayala (writing) and Nikolas Draper-Ivey and ChrisCross (artists) did a great job. I have found myself reading more and more of Vita's work and I will now actively search out more of what they have been working on.

"Icon and Rocket" on the other hand feels a little dated. It feels exactly like the original "Icon" series, even if some subtle changes were made. That is not a good thing. This is supposed to be an update that is modernized for the now. Not a series that is just drawn differently, but still essentially the same. As first issues go, it was kind of dull. The second issue did get better. It's a disappointment to me, given the team that is on it. Reginald Hudlin and Doug Braithwaite are industry pros, so my bar was set a little higher. I think there is still a chance to turn it around, so I'm not giving up on them just yet.

I was probably looking forward to Hardware from Brandon Thomas (who I have recently discovered over the years) and industry vet and original artist, Denys Cowan the most. With the first issue, it didn't disappoint. I will say that as a first issue, it is only setting up the status quo.

I will definitely write again when all the series have concluded.

Here's my hot take though. I am afraid that the books will not do well enough to warrant more coming out. DC will get to say, "Well we tried" this diversity thing and that will be that. I just don't have enough faith in the fans of the big two to actually support diversity in comics with their dollars. So I hope people go out and buy these books so that we can get more. I think having books like these in the big two will help the creators get noticed more and then they can get more opportunities to work on their own creator owned, passion projects. It can only be good for the business in the long run. I do recommend giving these a shot.

Representation Matters

 

I think it goes without saying, that representation matters. We all like to see ourselves reflected in the media we consume. Whether that is movies, music, comic books, novels, etc. For me, since this is a comic book blog after all, I'm going to go with comic books. In the past, I've immediately written a post about a comic that impacted me in a specific way that I felt I should share with people. This happened last night and this morning as I read two different offerings from DC.

I know historically, people see me as a DC hater and a total Marvel fanboy. Those descriptions aren't completely invalid, but the misconception is that I somehow hate DC. I like DC a lot. I just prefer Marvel more. The books I'm going to talk about that I have pictured above are some of the reasons why I like DC.

Now they eternal cynic in me would want to dismiss such offerings because a savvy company will have their finger to the pulse of a moment in history and try to capitalize on it. It's no mistake that DC pulled together some of it's writers/artists to put out a book during Pride Month. Nor is it not unnoticed that after the George Floyd murder, they wanted to get a book out there by black creators as well. 

I feel like that kind of dismissiveness is found in the normal comic fan. I'm not immune to that, as I alluded to above with my cynical hot take. However, for me, I will still at least give books like this a chance because they DO matter. I know that the more people buy them, the more likely they will be to publish something else. They are stories that should be told and coming from one of the big publishers means there will be eyes on it. 

So what did I think? Well, the fact that I'm writing this post now means they affected me in some way. I'll start with "Represent". Apparently this is just a physical copy of a digital first series that DC had late last year. It says this on the cover, but I missed that when I picked it up. I never said I was perfect. I realize now why some of the stories felt dated in that they reference stuff that happened in 2020. That is not to take away from the impact of these stories. There are no super heroes here. These are just stories about regular people told from many different black writers. There is an authenticity to the stories that I can relate to as a black person. A lot of the fears and the stories that are told here are things I and many of my community have had to grapple with all our lives. 

I mentioned before how we gravitate towards something where we can see ourselves. I can see myself here. I also can appreciate that this book exists and I only wish that something like this would have been available when I was a kid. I may have talked about it before, but finding representation, true representation when I started reading comics was hard. Also, back then, you wouldn't get a lot of non-super heroic stuff from mainstream comic books. 

So each story is different and has a different feel to them. As I am about to become a father, I empathize especially with the ones about teens or small children. These stories are difficult to read. They may reintroduce trauma, but they are good tools for starting discussions with people. The way the book is laid out, you also get a little bit of information about the writers and I recognized some of the names of the artists that were attached to it. My favorite story was the third one, "Food for Thought". The fourth one, "Believe You" is something that black women have to deal with regularly and is heart wrenching. There are some joyous stories here, but I think the general mood of the material is mostly somber. I highly recommend you check this book out.  If you do not want to buy a physical copy in comic book stores, it is available for about 0.99 for each of the seven stories on Amazon. The first one is free.

Now let's move on to "DC Pride". Where I could see myself in "Represent", I am here to learn more with "DC Pride". I am not a member of the LGBTQIA community, but I would like to think I am an ally and I always want to see what more I can do to help. I hate to pull this card, but a lot of my closest friends are part of this community. Unlike "Represent", this book is completely about super heroes in the DC Universe. I will also say that this book is upbeat and uplifting. So tonally, it is very different than "Represent". 

There's a wonderful foreword from Marc Andreyko, the "gay elder statesman" as he refers to himself, describing why a book like this exists. It's only a page, but I think it is a good precursor to what you are about to read and why a book like this is important. This book is a collection of short stories from a number of different writers. I didn't look up all of them, but I know some of them are openly gay creators. The cover gives you an idea of the characters that are featured here. 

I honestly can't say how true some of these experiences are because they are not my experiences. I would think that since it was in the hands of members of the community and not your typical straight white guys, that it probably is pretty accurate and reflective. If it is, then I feel like I can come away having learned something. Some of the things I read here are not so dissimilar from what I've learned from the important people in my life. There is wonderful art here from some industry mainstays. My personal favorite was probably the story about Renee Montoya, appearing as "The Question" here. As I think about it, I am struck by how "Day of the life" they are. There are super hero things happening, but also very normal things. As the opening says, these are tales about people.

To wrap up the issue, there are a couple of snippets of interviews with some of the actors that portray LGBTQIA characters in some of the CW DC shows. They each talk about how they know they are representing that which they do not normally see on tv and how important it is. One of the stories is even written by Nicole Maines, who portrays "Dreamer" in the Supergirl show. These interviews were a nice bow on the package.

I am very glad to have read this and I would highly recommend this to others as well. I know that for some, a comic book about super heroes will seem to be so basic. Of course a comic book would feature characters in capes and tights, you may think. My hope is that someone will find themselves in this book. Nothing can substitute the feeling you have when you know you are seen.

I'm glad to see comics like this being made and I only hope that they can continue to do so. Comics like these are always a hard sell to the rank and file comic book fan, so I hope there is enough of an audience that is willing to learn or new fans come in that can help support these books. Like any business, if the product is not selling, it won't get made any more.

My intention was not to try and draw such stark comparisons or sow division between people in how I talked about these books here. I did read them back to back on purpose so that I could try and give a little bit of insight into how I felt. I hope that you will give one or even both of them a chance. The more we can learn about each other, the better conversations we can have.

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2020 - Part I

I think we can all agree that 2020 has been a crap year. I don't think I have anything else to say that could more accurately capture that. Instead of focusing on all of that, let's get to my Best and Worst List of 2020. There was a pause in the comic industry at the beginning of the pandemic and then things picked back up. So even in the industry it was unprecedented. In trying to think back on this year with my old man brain, I will try to summon up my memories to capture them here.

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

Favorite Comic Book Movie of 2020 

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)

The Inevitable Best and Worst List of 2019

Thanks to double shipping by Marvel AND DC, I probably bought the most comics I ever have in a calendar year to date. I am reading all kinds of comics now and the double shipping is the bane of my existence. However, that is a discussion for another post. Now is that time where I try to recall stuff from this past year from my old man brain.

Anyways, without further ado, here is my review of 2019.

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:

• Catwoman - DC
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers – Boom Studios
• Young Justice – DC

Favorite Comic Book Movie of 2019

Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios) – There was a lot of comic movies that came out this year, but I will go with Endgame, simply because it closed the door on an era. Was it perfect? No. Three hours is a lot to ask of anyone. However, it gave enough comic book nerd moments that I was perfectly happy. I just haven’t watched it since cause it is three hours!

Honorable Mentions: Spider-Man: Far From Home (Marvel Studios), Captain Marvel (Marvel Studios)

Worst Comic Book Movie of 2019

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (Fox) – This was the easiest choice on this list. I had forgotten this movie had happened and with good reason. I gave my thoughts on this in a past review, but this movie is really bad. I don’t think I need to spend any more time on it than that. Probably the easiest choice I will make here.

Honorable Mention: Joker (Warner Brothers)

Favorite Comic Book TV Show of 2019

The Boys - Season 1 (Amazon Prime) – This came as a surprise. People kept hounding me to watch it and when I did, I couldn’t stop. It was a nice and tight, 8 episodes. The actors were enjoyable, the story was easy to follow and it was an all around good show. Not appropriate for kids at all, so if you value yourself as a parent, don’t show this to them!

Honorable Mentions: Watchmen (HBO)

Worst TV show of 2019

The Punisher – Season 2 (Netflix) – Look, I loved the first season of the Punisher. For some reason, I really disliked this season. Frank Castle is a bullet sponge of cartoonish proportions and I just can’t deal. To me, he’s at his best when he is giving more than he gets. In this season especially, people are beating the crap out of him left and right. The only super power he has (and they establish this with flashbacks) is he’s really stubborn. I think that is it. I didn’t watch Jessica Jones season 3 yet, so this show takes the dubious spot.

Honorable Mention: N/A. This show sits alone.

The “Oh you still come out and I buy you” of 2019

Saban’s Go Go Power Rangers (Boom Studios) – After the huge crossover they had last year with all the other Power Ranger characters I know nothing about, I dropped the main book. I kept this book on the list because it stars the original team of Power Rangers. However, I don’t know it’s place in the timeline or what they are doing now. I just now I have it on my list and haven’t dropped it yet. I think more out of laziness and so I can keep getting the discount at my comic book for the number of titles I subscribe too. I will drop this and add something else, because my time on this book has come…

Favorite New Artist of 2019

Javier Garron – Miles Morales: Spider-Man (Marvel)  - This category is misleading. I don’t mean this artist is new, they are just new to ME. When I saw the issues of Miles Morales: Spider-Man that started with a new number one, I could tell this guy has it. He draws the teenagers in the appropriate style for the times, including their haircuts. It may not sound like a lot, but that is a big deal. For this kind of story, you did an artist that is at least aware of popular culture. His layout and action pages are also something to behold. He narrowly edges out Jamal Campbell, who also put in some great work this year. I think Garron has been tagged as Marvel’s new wave of “Young Guns”, so that only means we will see more of his work over time.

Honorable Mentions: Jamal Campbell – Naomi, Far Sector (DC), Luciano Vecchio - Ironheart (Marvel)

Worst Artist of 2019

Lalit Kumar Sharma – Daredevil (Marvel) – Lalit filled in for Marco Checchetto for a few issues on Daredevil and the drop off was extremely noticeable. There was some bad art this year, but this stood out to me because everything just looked off. One of the main characters (Mindy Libris) goes from being skinny to fat within a couple of pages. So that shows the artist is not consistent. The big two are guilty of just getting artists to fill in at times, but it was very glaring in this book. The art for this arc almost made me drop the book completely.

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite Artist of 2019

Pepe Larraz – House of X (Marvel) - I only saw a few issues of art from Pepe, but it was definitely worth it. It speaks volume that the guy who only put out a few issues was far and away my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, there are now a lot of artists out there that I like, but Pepe is my new favorite right now. I can’t wait to see more from him and I hope he ends back up on an X-book.

Honorable Mentions: Khary Randolph - Excellence (Image), R.B. Silva - Powers of X (Marvel)

Favorite New Writer of 2019

Brandon Thomas – Excellence (Image) – This is another guy that has been around for a while, but Excellence is my first exposure to him. I was compelled enough to write a specific write up about this series after two issues because of how it impacted me. He has set up a fantastic world in Excellence. Also, being a black writer, his dialogue feels appropriate for all the characters. I’ve started to go back and look for other books that he has written so I can experience more of him. I will keep an eye out.

Honorable Mentions: Bryan Hill (American Carnage)

Worst Writer of 2019

Matthew Rosenberg – Uncanny X-Men (Marvel) – I realize that Matthew was in a tough spot. He had to drive the X-Men ship before the big reboot that Hickman was going to be spearheading. That means the stakes are low and you can do anything because it will probably be undone anyway. That gives no excuse for how dull and boring his run was. I hate to say it, but I was actively bored each issue. It just didn’t feel like X-Men. That combined with the Resurrection of Phoenix he did last year only shows me that these were not the right projects for him. This just left a bad taste in my mouth.

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

Favorite Writer of 2019

Brian Michael Bendis – Superman, Event Leviathan, Naomi, Young Justice (DC) – I wanted to pick someone else, because I gave this title to him last year, but he has been so rejuvenated at DC that I can’t ignore it. I’m loving his Superman run and loved the mini-series, “Event Leviathan”. He has also put out other titles such as Naomi, Young Justice and Legion of Super Heroes. He has been very prolific and continued to expand his reach within DC. He also brings in top artistic talent, so I have to give it to him. He has really gotten to the core of Superman, while also making it enjoyable to read. We ended the year with Superman revealing his identity to the world. I can’t wait to see the impact this has on future stories.

Honorable Mention: Saladin Ahmed (Magnificent Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales: Spider-Man), Rainbow Rowell (Runaways)

Pleasant Surprise of 2019

Assassin Nation (Image) – Throughout the year, I read the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and got fully caught up in the art of Erica Henderson. She had a great eye for comedy and I couldn’t get enough. Then I saw that after Squirrel Girl, she was working on this book.  It took me a while to get the title (it’s a book about assassins). This was just a mini-series, but it was chock full of humor and gore, in a comedic way. There are double and triple turns. What would you expect from a bunch of assassins? The book shows you a ranking system to show who is the top assassin. All the characters had wonderfully cartoonish personalities. It surprised me how fun it was and I wished that there had been more.

Honorable Mentions:  Excellence (Image)

Shocker of 2019

Walking Dead (comic series) Ends! - I created this entry solely to express my absolute shock that the Walking Dead series ended. Also, that it just ended out of nowhere. It took a huge pair of stones to just end your cash cow so suddenly. As is Robert Kirkman's way, he had a plan, he just didn't let us know about it. Nor did he have to. I really respect that. For a book that constantly kept you on your toes, this was the biggest surprise yet. He also ended this book at the right time because it had grown stale for years. He had just created the biggest shocker of all and that is killing the series main character, Rick Grimes. His death was issue #192 and then issue #193 was the end of the series with no indication that would be the case. We had just started to wrap our heads around what the book would look like going forward and that was taken out of our hands. I meant to talk about this earlier in the year when it happened and never did. So I just did it now. Because it's my blog.

Worst Mini-series of 2019

Heroes in Crisis (DC) – This was a pretty easy pick too. I get what Tom King was trying to do here. Also, DC trying to tie this into their line of Crisis events probably doomed this book in my eyes. This is supposed to be a book about super heroes dealing with PTSD, which I can imagine they would. However, it got billed as a book that would change things in the DC Universe. If it had been simply about PTSD and let us see heroes at their most vulnerable in a case study, this would have been great. Super hero comics are going to be super hero comics, so you had to have a murder mystery and involve a bunch of people and then have a convoluted answer to everything. I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t. That’s why it gets this dubious honor.

Honorable Mentions: Contagion (Marvel)

Favorite Mini-series of 2019

House of X/Powers of X (Marvel) – The X-Men are BACK, baby! Well, let me dial it back a bit. It was nice to see the X-Men get a real push from Marvel and handing over the reigns to Jonathan Hickman. I think he can get too smart for himself in some of his stories, but he has a style and he sticks to that. I can appreciate it. The man is who he is. He worked wonders with the Fantastic Four. I didn’t care for his Avengers stuff, but I knew with the X-Men, he could do some good. X-Men haven’t been that good for years. In this series though, he pushes out some bonkers ideas with the X-Men and I love it. It also actually changes their status quo in the Marvel Universe. Trade paperback is out now, so you should pick it up.

Honorable Mentions: Event Leviathan (DC), Assassin Nation (Image)

Favorite New Series of 2019

Bitter Root (Image) – This technically started last year, but this was probably my favorite new series of 2019 and there was a lot of stiff competition. This is the book that stood out the most to me though. I loved David Walker and Sanford Greene’s work on Power Man/Iron Fist over a year ago, so I gladly followed them on to their next project. This is a series that is ambitious and sets up a cool world. I don’t like monster stuff that much, but I still liked what they do here. The art is kinetic as always. The dialogue feels authentic. The only problem is that we only got a few issues this year, as they are on hiatus to get more in the can. I think it is also being picked up for a movie or TV show, so I guess they must be really busy.

Honorable Mentions: Excellence (Image)

Worst Series of 2019

Batman and the Outsiders (DC) – I hate to put this here because I really do like Bryan Hill’s writing. Something about this book has just felt off. The art of Dexter Vines really hasn’t helped either. Everything about this book makes it feel like a third tier book, which is a shame. We get Black Lightning leading his own team and it is interesting. It just feels so rote and most of the cast is the most boring of castoffs from the Bat Family (excluding Cassandra Cain).

Honorable Mentions: N/A

Favorite Series of 2019

Outer Darkness (Image) – Given how I have reaped praises on other books, this may come as a shock, but I really liked this book. I loved John Layman’s work on “Chew”, so I gladly picked up this new series that he has been working on. That combined with Afu Chan’s art has made this an enjoyable series. There has been a lot of world building that has happened and it continues to get more and more bizarre. I love it. We have characters turning on each other, a space captain that is a major a-hole and great art. Also, it combines ghosts and sci-fi in a mashup of genres that work here.  Yeah, I’m all in on this book and the more I write about it is why I consider this my favorite series of the year over my normal super hero fare. I would recommend checking this out.

Honorable Mentions:  Fantastic Four (Marvel), Runaways (Marvel), Ironheart (Marvel), Superman (DC)