Before the New Year gets too old, I wanted to throw in my picks for best and worst comic books of the year. The good news is that my top five were easy to select, as I only picked ongoing series. The bad news is that there was a lot of god awful crap to pick from on the worst list, and it was slightly difficult to narrow it down.
BEST
1. PVP from Image: My surprise favorite this year, PVP really caught me off guard. Scott Kurtz has created a world that is at times startlingly funny, and at other times tender and sincere, though he may not like to admit it. I love the world of PVP and eagerly await the day it comes out because I know I will enjoy every panel.
2. 100 Bullets from Vertigo: I have reread every issue at least six times because there is so much depth to them. Given a gun and 100 untraceable bullets what would you do? What happens when you realize that there is a much deeper conspiracy then you could have ever dreamed of? It doesn’t get better then this.
3. Wonder Woman from DC: Greg Rucka brought his “A� game to a title that has been underrated and underappreciated for years. Wonder Woman has truly taken her place as one of the top three and the decisions and drama she has had to undertake this past year have only strengthened the vision of her character. Insanely good stuff.
4. She-Hulk from Marvel: Thank God she’s back. Dan Slott gets it and he lets the readers in on it as well. She-Hulk has never just been about the exterior- there is Jennifer Walters to consider as well. The depth and breadth that Slott has brought to She-Hulk’s character is amazing. If you have been avoiding our green girl like the plague, it is time to reconsider now. Make it a New Year’s Resolution.
5. Captain America from Marvel: Who would have ever thought that bringing back Bucky could be so cool? Ed Brubaker obliterated expectations with top notch story telling and Steve Epting was right there backing him up with gorgeous art. Captain America is back where he belongs in reader’s hearts and it is about damn time.
WORST
1. Teen Titans #27 and 28 from DC: Giving Rob Liefeld the keys to the candy store is a dangerous thing as shown in his two part artistic take on an otherwise decent book. Gail Simone is right there with us, trying to figure out something Liefeld can draw, and it isn’t pretty. I shudder thinking about it.
2. Nightwing from DC: I normally like Devin Grayson’s writing a lot, but I couldn’t get into the last year of story telling on this book. Setting Dick adrift by tearing down his status quo is one thing; sending him to the mod and having hanky panky with a super villain is quite another. Taking on an apprentice in Deathstroke’s daughter Rose has helped, but hasn’t healed. It will be interesting to see what happens “One Year Later� and if that hunky Dick Grayson can come back to the top five.
3. Fantastic Four from Marvel: I don’t like what J. Michael Strazynski has done with the title since Mark Waid left. The art by Mike McKone is absolutely gorgeous, but to me the writing has a pretentious air to it that I would rather not breathe. The best thing about the book is that Ben Grimm has a spin off in The Thing.
4. Secret Wars from Marvel: The book that took so long to complete that when issue five came out, I didn’t care. Sure the art is supposed to be worth waiting for, but it was so late that it wasn’t topical and didn’t make sense. A big two thumbs down to Marvel for such a worthless effort.
5. Alias titles in general: I tried really hard to get into the Alias line. I pre-ordered all the new titles when they were featured in Previews. Not only were the books late, but they all came in the same week and about busted my bank. The last straw was that the only titles I ended up liking were Lions, Tigers, and Bears, and Lullaby. What a sad waste.
