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!

Black Panther (Vol 9) #1

As any one knows, I'm a huge Black Panther fan. As far as the comic books, I have all the issues from each volume of his solo series. This may exclude a mini-series here and there. This book and the Fantastic Four are the only books I buy, regardless of the creative team. Other books I drop in and out, but these two are my constants. 

Before I dive in, let me say this about the Black Panther comics and I will be honest. They are hit and miss. There is no consistency because each writer wants to put their own spin on him. Sure, some grand ideas may carry over, but that is it. I will say that the Christopher Priest run is the definitive run of Black Panther and it was that run that made me love the character. I didn't care about Black Panther before reading that run in the mid-2000s.

The past few years, Marvel has done right by the Black Panther by having black writers handle his solo series. The last couple of years were written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It started out as an intriguing look into the politics of Wakanda and was actually really interesting. He had a problem of overwriting for about the first twelve issues until he settled in. He built a fascinating world and I think if I re-read his run, it will stand up over time.

Then he took a wild swing and created an intergalactic empire of Wakanda, which seems like it is here to stay. That arc also lasted a while, kind of overstaying it's welcome, but it was also equally interesting and ambitious. I liked that he took risks. We were also blessed with some good artists such as Brian Stelfreeze and Daniel Acuna.

Now we have this issue, which is starting a new volume written by John Ridley, a black screenwriter that has a lot of notches on his belt. He's also been writing the "I Am Batman" series over at DC. Or to simplify it, "The Black Batman". That series has been good, so does that translate to the Black Panther series? Was it everything I hoped and wanted for?

No. No it was not. There have been times in my life where I tried to make myself like a comic because I thought I should. Over the years, with so much out there, I realized that I don't have to like everything and that is okay. I like what I like.

Let me get into what I didn't like about this comic. Keep in mind, it is the first issue and it can only get better. First off, T'Challa is not like many other black characters in Marvel or DC. He is a king of an entire country and he should be written as such. Yes, he hangs out with super hero teams, but he needs to have an heir of detachment from them. He is a king hanging out with a bunch of knights. The way Christopher Priest wrote him, he was kind of an asshole, which worked. He is a guy that is five steps ahead and always planning. 

In this issue, we're dealing with the fallout of the Coates run, where Wakanda is moving to become a democracy. So now T'Challa is Wakanda's protector, but not necessarily it's king. Given how he's been the leader of the Avengers for the past few years, it makes sense that Wakanda would want someone to actually be there to lead them. I don't have a problem with this and will see how long we go before we revert back to him being the king.

With that being said, first and foremost, the dialogue in this book feels off. I mentioned before how you can tell who's a black writer by what and how people say things. To go a step further, you can also tell who has researched or experienced African culture and those that did not. Past writers I feel like had a feel for the rhythm of the language without sounding like Americans. This is what I'm referring to when I say the dialogue doesn't sound right. It is the the equivalent of an American trying to do a foreign accent. They say stereotypical things they think fits the accent, completely missing the mark. Ridley does not have a handle on T'Challa's voice yet. He does not sound indistinguishable from any of the other characters in the issue.  I can't hear Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa with the way this dialogue is written. Given time, I'm sure this will get better.

Over the past few the years, Shuri has seen a lot of progress. In this issue, she seems locked into the version of herself that appeared in the movie. That does her a huge disservice in the comic books. She has since risen past being merely T'Challa's sister and his "man in the chair." I don't know if this choice falls on editorial because they want to remain as close to the movies as possible or if Ridley simply didn't do his research on the past few years of Black Panther. It could go either way.

I don't know what Steve Rogers is going through, but in this issue he comes off as a condescending asshole. He continuously questions T'Challa's heart when it comes to leading the Avengers as if that is the most important thing in the world. His self-righteousness was dialed up to an 11 and it is extremely off putting. T'Challa is still essentially a king and doesn't have to answer to Captain America. Cap spent the entire issue talking down to him. That doesn't line up with their relationship at all. It's disrespectful. 

The cold open of this book is also uninspiring. I don't care that they are fighting a nameless foe. It was this scene that set the tone for the book and made me feel like it was going in the wrong direction. A team of Doctor Strange, Thor, Black Panther and Captain America feels weird. None of them sounded like themselves either.

To me, this book feels like Marvel wants to get away from the political intrigue of the past few years and just make this a good ol' super hero comic. However, it starts off clumsily. This is the book where Marvel could go Afro-futuristic, but they have chosen not to. It could push that concept more into the mainstream, so this is a continued, missed opportunity.

Let me comment on the art real quick. Juann Cabal is supposed to be one of the rising artists at Marvel. His work here was competent, but not spectacular. I'm holding judgement until I see more in this book from him.

Of course, I will keep reading. You saw what I said at the top of this post. However, this book will not be immune to whatever daggers I want to throw it's way. I demand better and we deserve better than a half-assed effort.