Yes, everyone loves lists, and Our Former Dread Lord and Master at CBR, Brian Cronin, loves putting them together! So he recently counted down the readers’ choices for “best comics of the 2010s,” and we’re going to take a look at it and I’m going to expound on it where I can. Such fun!
First of all, Here’s the master list. I haven’t read them all, but when one come up that I have, I’ll write a bit about them! So let’s get to it!
100. Deathstroke by Christopher Priest. I haven’t read this, but I’m confident it will be at least decent. I run hot and cold on Priest, occasionally within pages of each other, but he does tend to know what he’s doing. I can’t offer much more commentary than that.
99. Underwater Welder by Jeff Lemire. I thought this wasn’t as good as a lot of Lemire’s output, but because it’s Lemire, it’s still pretty good. It’s kind of become the “go-to” Lemire book, though, which is weird, as he’s done better stuff both before and since. But I don’t have a big problem with it being here.
98. Deadpool by Gerry Duggan (and Brian Posehn for a good amount of time). This is by far the best Deadpool comics I’ve ever read, and the first 15 issues or so are ridiculously brilliant. The arc that Brian spotlights, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” is actually (in my mind) where the book started to slide a little, not because it’s a bad arc, but Duggan and Posehn went too far to the serious, and lost some of the sheer COMICS! craziness of the first part of the run. However, it’s still a terrific series, and it’s fine that it’s on this list.
97. Bingo Love by Tee Franklin. I’ve never read this. Jenn St-Onge’s art is very nice, though.
96. Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka. This is fine, I guess. Liam Sharp and Nicola Scott alternating art (while Rucka told two different stories) was interesting, and they’re both great artists, but the story was just okay, nothing special. Rucka’s earlier Wonder Woman was better.
95. Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro. I’ve never read this, and I have no interest in it, because whenever I see any samples of it (including the ones Brian shows) or hear anyone talking about this series, it sounds like something I would hate. I don’t know why. It just does. So I doubt I’ll ever read this.
94. Patience by Daniel Clowes. I’ve never read anything by Daniel Clowes and I don’t really have much of an interest in it. It all just seems so boring.
93. Jem and the Holograms by Kelly Thompson. This is a terrific series, and I’m not just saying that because I consider Kelly a friend (I’ve never met her in person, but in the on-line world, that doesn’t matter as much anymore!). Some of her work hasn’t been as good, but this is just an excellent comic. It probably deserves to be higher!
92. The Manhattan Projects by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra. I really like this comic, but it still feels like Hickman abandoned it before he could get all he could out of it. This seems to be a problem with him, and I’m not sure if it’s him or if he picks artists that can’t keep up the pace and so he gives up (from what little I know about Pitarra, he’s not very fast). Anyway, this is a good comic but not a great one, so it’s probably good this low on the list.
91. Thor the Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee. This is one of the most fun Thor books ever, and Marvel had no idea how to promote it, so it died pretty quickly. It’s out of continuity, which Marvel always struggles with, and it was all-ages at a time when Marvel definitely struggled with that, so everyone reading it knew it would get canceled, but what we got was excellent. It’s just really good.
90. Dark Night: A True Batman Story by Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso. This is a graphic novel about Dini getting assaulted and recovering from that while working on Batman: The Animated Series. I own it, and it looks terrific, but I haven’t read it yet. So sad!
89. Animal Man by Jeff Lemire. This is the “new 52” version, and I read the first trade and thought it was fine, but nothing to make me get more. I guess I don’t have a problem with it here. Of the 52 initial offerings during the “new 52” launch, it was one of the better ones, which isn’t a very high bar to cross, but it’s not nothing.
88. Habibi by Craig Thompson. Back in 2011, I wrote a massive review of Habibi because I was so conflicted about it. I’d link to it, but it was caught up in the CBR churn and the images are gone, so it’s a mess. Anyway, it’s a complicated book and I had complicated reactions to it. I’m still not sure how I really feel about, despite putting it on my “Best Comics of 2011” list (man, I wish I still had time to do those – they were fun). Anyway, it’s certainly something, and I don’t have a big problem with it being on this list.
87. Daredevil by Charles Soule. I’ve read some of this, and it’s pretty good. Not quite as good as what immediately preceded it (Waid/Samnee), but still pretty good.
86. Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron. This is a surprisingly fun series, and one of the better X-Men titles of the past … two decades, maybe? It might deserve to be higher on this list, to be frank!
85. Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O’Malley. I read the first Scott Pilgrim book and did not like it (“not one bit,” as my daughter is currently fond of saying), so I haven’t read this and don’t want to. So there.
84. Here by Richard McGuire. The only person I’ve ever heard mention or talk/write about this book is Brian himself, so I don’t think it really exists.
83. Kim & Kim by Magdalene Visaggio. This isn’t bad, but it’s not that great, either. I probably wouldn’t have it on this list, but what do I know? It’s fine, I guess.
82. God Country by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw. This didn’t sound too interesting – a regular dude gets a weapon that turns him into a god – and Cates isn’t a writer I inherently trust, so I skipped this. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s not?
81. Batmam: White Knight by Sean Murphy. I will never say no to anything Murphy draws, and this is not bad. It’s about the Joker becoming sane and Batman questioning his mission, and it works pretty well. Of course, it’s absolutely gorgeous, too. I don’t have any issue with it being here.
80. My Friend Dahmer by Derf. I’ve never read it and I don’t really have much interest in it, but doesn’t this seem like it’s been around forever? How was this only published in the 2010s? Weird. Is that just me?
79. Lumberjanes. I eventually gave up on this title because it seemed to be losing steam, but the first 1-2 years or so are really, really good.
78. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki. This is a wildly overrated comic. It’s fine, but nothing great. Jillian Tamaki’s art is great, but the story is nothing special – a tween discovers that things change in life, oh no! Alert the media.
77. Fatale by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Anything Brubillips do is great, and this story of a seemingly immortal woman who drives men of different eras crazy is quite good. It’s not as good as Criminal – few things are – but it’s still an interesting mix of noir and horror. And it looks great, of course!
76. “Black Mirror” in Detective Comics by Scott Snyder, Jock, and Francesco Francavilla. This is an excellent story, one of the best Snyder has done, helped immensely by the amazing art (he’s telling two different stories, so each artist handles one). In true Snyder fashion, he doesn’t quite stick the landing, but man, the James Gordon stuff especially in this arc is terrifying and excellent.
75. Descender by Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen. I read the first … arc? of this (I think it was only the first arc), and it didn’t really grab me. Nice art, fine story, but nothing special.
74. Southern Bastards by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour. Despite liking the creators, this didn’t sound like my bag. It just sounded like a fairly dull crime comic. Maybe it’s not?
73. Kill Or Be Killed by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Another Brubillips tale, and another that probably belongs on the list, because it’s quite good. A dude believes a demon is telling him to kill one person a month, and things spiral from there. The protagonist becomes a vigilante, killing bad guys, but it’s not that easy, of course. Good stuff!
72. Wilson by Daniel Clowes. More Clowes, more interest I do not have.
71. Scalped by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera. Well, I wrote about these in Comics You Should Own, so I imagine I think it’s a good series! Obviously, I don’t have a problem with it being here. It’s very good.
70. The Sculptor by Scott McCloud. I don’t have an issue with this being on the list, because it’s a gorgeous piece of work and McCloud does a lot of great things in it. Parts of it were dumb, and despite its massive length (over 500 pages!), I didn’t think he delved deeply enough into some aspects of it, but it’s still worth your time!
69. The Fade Out by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. All of the Brubillips collaborations have been terrific, but I think this one is not quite as good as Fatale and Kill Or Be Killed, but not by much, so it’s fine here. I assume Criminal will show up at some point!
68. Die by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans. Look, the first arc of Die was superb, and the second wasn’t too far behind. But it’s only 10 issues in, and while it certainly has potential, I’m not sure if I’d rank it this high yet. It’s the same thing I have when Brian solicits votes for the “best runs of all-time” – if it ain’t finished, it don’t count, because a bad ending can really ruin a good comic. But this is quite good so far!
67. Aquaman by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Ugh, the “Cool Aquaman” saga. I only bought the first issue, but Johns was trying sooooo hard to make Aquaman cool that it just rubbed me the wrong way. I have no idea how good this is, but considering my thoughts about every Johns comic I’ve ever read (with one exception), I’m going to give it a hard pass.
66. Gideon Falls by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. This is okay. It’s interesting, and I’ve bought the entire series, but it doesn’t make such an impression on my mind that I think of it when I think of great comics. It’s pretty creepy, and I don’t mind Sorrentino’s art here as I do on superhero comics, but like Die, it’s not done, so who knows if it will keep being entertaining?
65. Fables by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham. This deserves to be on a best-of lists of the 2000s, but not the 2010s. The best issues are #1-75, and by issue #100 it was slowly spiraling, and I dropped it around then. I don’t think the rest of the series recovered, but I guess I could be wrong.
64. Transformers comics by James Roberts. I have read about three Transformers comics in my life, and none from this run, so I have nothing to say about it.
63. All-New Wolverine. Beats me. I didn’t read it and no inclination to. I don’t read “real” Wolverine comics all that much, so why would I read a knock-off? (Oh, I kid. But I still haven’t read it, not because it stars icky girls, but because I have no interest in it whatsoever. Could be good, though. Maybe?)
62. Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates. I was planning on reading this, and then I read several reviews by people I trust who just didn’t like it, saying it was boring. So I never did get into it, but I did read the first arc of Coates’s Captain America, and boy howdy, was that a bad comic book. So I doubt if I’ll try this, but never say never!
61. Venom by Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman. I’ve never read it, but I’m going to take a flying leap and say it doesn’t really deserve to be this high. I mean, it’s Venom. But what the heck do I know?
60. Dark Nights Metal by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Well, it sounds stupid, but that’s mainly because I don’t trust DC these days, but I haven’t read it, so it could be amazing.
59. Exit, Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles by Mark Russell and Mark Feehan. This was decent enough, but it wasn’t as good as Russell’s work on The Flintstones. I haven’t looked ahead on this list, so if that doesn’t make it but this does, it will be sad. Anyway, this is fine. I’m not sure if it should be this high on the list, but it’s fine.
58. Wonder Woman by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang. Of the New 52 books, this probably got the best reception, and it was not bad. Again, it feels a bit overrated, but I didn’t read the entire thing (I read one arc), so it could be superb. The first arc was just okay, though, and didn’t make me want to read more of it.
57. Runaways by Rainbow Russell and Kris Anka. I’ve never read it, and I don’t have much inclination to do so.
56. Injection by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey. I really like Injection. I wish there were more of it.
55. Black Science by Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera. I wanted so much to like Black Science, because Scalera’s art on it is stunning. But there ought to be a Remender Rule in comics: Every issue gets progressively worse, no matter what, even if it starts with a really high point. Remender seems like a good idea man, and his first issues are usually excellent, but everything I’ve ever read by him gets progressively worse, so I eventually dropped Black Science. Maybe he bucked the trend with it?
54. Darth Vader by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca. I’ve heard this was good, and I really dig Gillen, but it’s still just a licensed property and I’ve really gotten to dislike Larroca’s art over the years, so I’ll pass.
53. The Sheriff of Babylon by Tom King and Mitch Gerads. This is a really good series. That is all.
52. Hellboy in Hell by Mike Mignola. This is a really good series. That is all.
51. Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Craig. Here’s another Remender series, and while I really like Wes Craig, I haven’t read it because I’m now so wary of the “Remender Rule.” It looks nice, but it’s set in the 1980s, something I’m thoroughly done with, and it sounds kind of … well, not great. The television show is pretty good, I guess, although I’m not sure if “criminal” is the way to describe its cancellation, as Brian does!
50. Batman, Incorporated by Grant Morrison. This is a terrific series, but Brian speaks of the problems with having it stand alone, as it’s a natural continuation of Morrison’s Batman run, which is in the previous decade, plus it was interrupted by the “New 52,” so it went wonky a bit. Still, I don’t have a problem with it being here.
49. The Flintstones by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh. Hey, here it is! This is a superb series, and it probably should be higher. If you’re avoiding it because it’s, you know, the Flintstones, you should get over yourself. It’s a savage yet amazingly humanistic story, extremely funny but incredibly pointed, and Pugh’s art is great. Check it out!
48. Ultimate Spider-Man/Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis. I dropped the book when Bendis killed Peter Parker off (in a different book, no less), so I don’t know if this is good or not. Probably, but I dropped it because it seemed Bendis was getting bored with the book. Maybe a new character revitalized him?
47. Multiversity by Grant Morrison. I have no problem with this being on the list. Yes, I’m a Whorrison, but this is still a damned fine comic book series.
46. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson. I didn’t like this quite as much as some of the gushing that accompanied it, but it’s still a terrific comic, and a worthy addition to this list.
45. Journey into Mystery by Kieron Gillen. This is quite good. I have no issue with it being on the list.
44. “Secret Wars” by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic. I haven’t read this, but man, it sounds unnecessarily complicated. For Hickman, there’s a fine line between “awesomely complicated” and “unnecessarily complicated.” I haven’t read this, so I don’t know where it falls!
43. Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory. Of course this deserves to be on this list! It might even be underrated here!
42. Harrow County by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook. For instance, Chew is better than Harrow County! But Harrow County is good, so sure, it can stay!
41. Moon Knight by Warren Ellis and Declan Shalvey. Most Moon Knight stories are good, but Ellis and Shalvey’s six-issue arc really stands out. Ellis really leans into Moon Knight’s insanity, and it set the stage for the terrific stories that came right after, while Shalvey’s art is, not surprisingly, great.
40. Injustice: Gods Among Us by Tom Taylor. I’ve heard that this is pretty good, but the art looks not great, and I just never really got into it. So sad!
39. The Omega Men by Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda. This was a good comic, although it didn’t seem to get much press when it came out, so I’m a bit surprised it’s this high on the list. Still good stuff!
38. Richard Stark’s Parker by Darwyn Cooke. Dang, these are great comics – occasionally, Cooke’s writing isn’t up to snuff, but generally, it’s good, while the art more than makes up for it. Man, it sucks that Cooke died, doesn’t it?
37. Justice League by Geoff Johns. I only read issue #1, and it wasn’t very good, and I’m not a fan of Johns, so I would probably not rank this very high. But that’s just me.
36. “The Love Bunglers” by the Hernandez Bros. As you might recall, I’ve never been a big fan of the Brothers Hernandez. I don’t find their writing all that great, and their art is boring. So I’ve never really gotten into their stuff (and I have tried, more than once!), so I can’t really say anything about this, as I haven’t read it.
35. Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark. I read several issues of this, and it just didn’t grab me. It’s not a bad comic, but I wouldn’t have it this high.
34. Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. This is a terrific series, and I don’t have a problem with it being this high on this list. The story does meander just a little, but Gillen is so good with character work it almost doesn’t matter, and I don’t think McKelvie gets enough credit for the way he designs the pages of the comic, which is inventive and clever and just danged cool.
33. Hark! a Vagrant by Kate Beaton. This is in the running for funniest comic ever, so yeah, I have no problem with it being here. You should read it – it’s so freakin’ funny.
32. Silver Surfer by Dan Slott and Mike Allred. I’ve read some of this, but then I got behind, and then it started over again, and I just ended up getting the big ol’ omnibus that Marvel put out … and I never finished it. What I read was pretty good, though, so sure, here’s fine.
31. Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. I read the first arc and wasn’t all that impressed. Takeda’s art is excellent, but the story was just kind of standard fantasy fare, and it just wasn’t that interesting. Oh well.
30. Invincible by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley. I got sick of Invincible after a while – the violence just seemed pointless and cruel, and the fun of the early issues seemed to be gone, so what’s the point? So I wouldn’t have it on this list, because for me, the good issues came in the previous decade.
29. Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang. This is a perfectly fine series, although it feels a little high. It’s better than the other series of Vaughan’s that I’m sure will be in the top 2-3 of the decade, I’ll tell you that much!
28. Daytripper by Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon. This comic is amazing. It’s probably too low!
27. Building Stories by Chris Ware. I’ve never gotten into Ware, and while I own this, I’ve never read it – like I have time to “assemble” the stories myself! Come on, Ware! Anyway, Chris Ware is a genius blah blah blah. Maybe it belongs here, but I might never know!
26. Spider-Man by Dan Slott. This is another comic I just didn’t feel like diving into, and it’s kind of a convoluted mess, so I’ve never gotten into it. Marvel needs streamlining, yo!
25. Smile by Raina Telgemeier. I’m not an 11-year-old girl, so Telgemeier’s charms don’t work on me, but my daughter has dug her stuff, including this, and millions of other 11-year-old girls can’t be wrong, right? I’m sure this deserves to be here!
24. Giant Days by John Allison. Travis probably thinks this is too low, but I’ve never been all that interested in this series, so it might be great, but I can’t speak to its placement here.
23. The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard. Nope. Not even a little bit. Let’s move on!
22. Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett. Look, this is a superb comic, one of the best Marvel’s published this decade, sure, but it’s also not done yet, so I’m not sure if we can count it. Moving on!
21. Locke and Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. Eh, this is fine. I read one trade and didn’t think it really warranted any more, but I guess a lot of people like it. Number 21? Probably not, but such is life.
20. Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender. This is the perfect example of a Rick Remender comic, so I’m not surprised it ranks this high. Remender had a superb idea – some X-Men kill off a boy Apocalypse so he doesn’t turn into Mutant Hitler – and then … nothing. The rest of the series was about the team either feeling bad about killing Boy Mutant Hitler or not feeling bad about killing Boy Mutant Hitler. Remender had one good idea, shot his shot by issue #4, then spent 20+ issues spinning his wheels. I’m not surprised it’s this high, but I am disappointed.
19. Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman. I got the first giant omnibus of this run, so I read quite a lot of it, and it’s trash. Hickman dresses it up all pretty, but it’s basically a rehash of the two great runs in FF history – the first one and Byrne’s – with, if possible, extra Reed douchiness. Hickman tries (and fails) to make Reed less douchey, and compared to the other dimensional Reeds he meets, he is, but he’s still a dick. We also get boring retreads of FF villains through the ages. Again, I’m not surprised this is this high, but I am disappointed.
18. Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky. I read a few issues of this book and hated it. It was just so stupid, yet a lot of people love it. I have heard that it’s gotten better, but I’m still not interested in it!
17. House of X/Powers of X by Jonathan Hickman. This is extremely recent, as it came out this year (probably while Brian was conducting at least part of this poll!), so recency bias is in play here, but people seem to really love this. I read the nice hardcover that collected the entire 12-issue launch, and boy howdy, it was bad. You might think I hate Hickman because I’m shitting on his Marvel work here, but I don’t – I really like Hickman, and I liked him before it was cool, man (#hipster)! But this is hot garbage. The Krakoa thing is stupid, the isolation of mutants is stupid (and it’s not the first time it’s been done, and it’s always been stupid), Moira MacTaggert’s power is stupid … man, this deserves an in-depth look at how stupid it is, but I don’t have the time to waste on bad comics. Oh well.
16. March by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. Powell is a superb artist, and it kind of bums me out that the stuff he does on his own doesn’t get more recognition, but a comic by a sitting member of Congress who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. is probably going to get more press. Anyway, I still haven’t read this. I should get on it.
15. Avengers by Jonathan Hickman. I’ve never been all that able to get into the Avengers – I’ve sampled them here and there, but for some reason, I just don’t feel like diving in head first – and so I didn’t read this when it was coming out, and I don’t really have much interest in it. Given my thoughts about some of the other stuff Hickman has done for Marvel, I’m not sure I should read it.
14. The Wicked + The Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. I love these guys, and I don’t really have a problem with this being as high as it is, but it’s been very difficult for me to really get into the story. I like it, but for some reason, something is holding me back from loving it. I haven’t read the final arc, though, and I’m going to re-read the entire thing soon enough, so maybe I’ll change my tune. Technically, it’s a wonderful book – McKelvie’s art is staggering, and Gillen’s actual writing is quite good, but something hasn’t clicked yet. Maybe when I re-read it?
13. Black Hammer by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston. Uh, no. I like Black Hammer, but Lemire had one good idea – a group of superheroes living on a farm who don’t remember that they’re superheroes – and stretched it out over, what, 18 issues (if we include the Justice League crossover), and it couldn’t sustain it. It’s not a bad book by any means, but 13th on this list? Not even close.
12. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris. This is still sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. I got a lot of things to read, people, don’t judge me!
11. East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta. I haven’t read the final three issues of this, but I don’t have any issues with it being here, because the previous 40+ issues were so good. See? I still like some of Hickman’s work! This is a terrific series, and I really ought to power through the final arc, oughtn’t I?
10. Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson. This might be a little high (depending on whether another Marvel comic starring a young female hero appears higher on the list, which it should), but this is still a terrific series, as Wilson gives us old-school superheroics combined with a new-school sensibility, as Kamala Khan has to deal with being a girl and a Muslim as well as being a teenager. Wilson writes it really well – very rarely does it feel preachy, but it’s so few and far between that it can be forgiven.
9. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North, Erica Henderson, and Derek Charm (which Brian weirdly calls “Unbreakable”). I guess I should have looked down the list a bit, because if this didn’t finish ahead of Ms. Marvel, I would have been peeved. Ms. Marvel is good, but Squirrel Girl is one of the best Marvel comics of the century (so far). It’s hilarious, but it’s also exciting, and North does a superb job putting interesting spins on long-established Marvel characters (why wouldn’t Ultron be a dinosaur?) while also allowing Doreen to figure out better ways of resolving things than just by fighting (although there’s plenty of action in the book). This is definitely a fine place for this comic – in fact, it might be a bit underrated!
8. Daredevil by Mark Waid. Sure, I guess so. Squirrel Girl is better, though. Waid put some fun back into Daredevil, and he got great artists to work with (eventually Chris Samnee stayed the longest), and these are very good comics, but they feel like just really good Daredevil comics, you know? Like, great, but let’s not make them more than they are? I don’t know, but #8 seems a bit high.
7. Batman by Tom King. Gaaaah, I hate this. I have the first two trades, and man, they’re a dumpster fire. I know a lot of people like this run, but I’m not waiting around for the dumpster fire to go out so I can maybe enjoy the comics. Sorry, Tom King!
6. Thor by Jason Aaron. Here’s another book that I’m sure is pretty good, but Marvel kept renumbering it and changing names, so I haven’t even gotten the trades. In a few years there will be a “Thor by Jason Aaron Omnibus,” and I’ll probably buy that. I have no idea if it should be this high.
5. Vision by Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta. This is a wonderful series, and fully deserving of being this high on the list. It’s one of those series, along with The Sheriff of Babylon and The Omega Men, that makes me interested, at least, in everything Tom King writes. Too bad he chose to write Batman!
4. Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Well, this isn’t as bad as Tom King’s Batman, but it’s still pretty bad. I tried, guys, I really did, but Snyder’s “Death of the Family” story almost broke me and almost ruined my love of Batman, who’s my favorite comic character (I know it’s boring, but I don’t care!). That was kind of the epitome of bad Joker stories, the apotheosis of the bad Joker stories we’ve been getting since Frank Miller ruined the character in 1986. The previous issues of Snyder’s run were not good, but they weren’t all-time awful. It bums me out, because Snyder can obviously write, and he seems like a nice guy (he posts nice pictures of himself and his family on Facebook), but man, one day people will wake up and realize his Batman run was terrible, and then they will gather around me and ask me how I knew it so early in life and they will call me “Prophet” and send attractive women my way! Wait, where were we? Oh yeah, this isn’t a good comic.
3. Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja. I really like this series, I love Aja’s art, Fraction does nice work with both Clint and Kate Bishop … and it’s not the third-best comic of the decade. Part of the problem is that, ultimately, the plot is pretty weak. Now, I don’t focus on plot as much as some people, but if you’re going to be the third-best comic of a random 10-year period, your plot should be better than this. Second, because the plot is weak, the series meanders a bit. As much as we all love “Pizza Dog,” it’s part of something like six consecutive issues that tells the same story from slightly different points of view. It grinds the series to a halt, and it never really recovers the momentum in the latter half of the series. It’s very good, don’t get me wrong, and I don’t have a huge problem with it being here, but it feels slightly overrated.
2. Mister Miracle by Tom King and Mitch Gerads. Speaking of plot, while again, I don’t care about plot as much as some, if you’re going to have a complex plot in a book, you absolutely must stick the landing, and had King done that, I would have no problem with this being #2. That being said, unless I completely misread the final issue of this comic, he completely whiffed on the ending, almost invalidating the superb work he did on the previous 11 issues. Maybe I don’t know what happened in that final issue, in which case either I’m dumb (a very distinct possibility) or King isn’t as good a writer as everyone thinks, but if I’m right, this book is kind of annoying. It deserves to be on this list, but if I’m right, it definitely doesn’t deserve to be the second-best comic of the decade.
1. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. I suffered through 18 issues of Saga before I decided it was lousy, so I don’t want to hear that I didn’t give it a chance! Saga is the comic for people who don’t like comics and want to feel clever, but it’s not really clever. Saga is the book that thinks it’s edgy, but it’s not edgy in the least. It’s Vaughan turning the universe into a hipster paradise, with characters spouting oh-so-smart dialogue that feels like it’s been run through a committee a dozen times just to get the right zing to it, and it’s a comic where a cat that only says “Lying” is the most complex character in it. As you might be able to tell, I don’t think Saga is anywhere close to the best comic of the decade. It’s certainly not as bad as I’m making it out to be – I’m having some fun with this – but if it needs to be on this list, it probably should be on the bottom half somewhere. Staples is superb, but Vaughan is indulging in his worst instincts. He’s a good writer, but this is just a fair-to-middling comic. Oh well. I am not surprised in the least that this is #1.
So what would I have on my list? Gadzooks, I don’t know – I can barely remember last week, much less comics that came out in the 2010s. Westward is a superb comic, so that would be high on my list. Most of Bryan Talbot’s Grandville graphic novels came out in the 2010s, so those should be on the list somewhere. A decent chunk of Casanova came out in the decade, and Casanova is brilliant (it’s not finished, so I might keep it off, but if everyone else makes an exception, I might too!). I will always ring the bell for Vietnamerica, a truly excellent book that was published in 2010, so it would be on there. Butcher Baker probably doesn’t make my top 10, but it definitely makes a top 20-30. Speaking of Joe Casey, Gødland finished up in the decade, so that should be on the list. Jason Lutes’s Berlin also finished in the 2010s, and that deserves to be on the list. Elephantmen definitely should be on the list somewhere. With all these Brubillips comics on the list, you’d think Criminal – which was more of a 2000s comic, but which has had plenty of stuff come out in the 2010s – would have gotten more votes. I’d have to think about it more, but those are just off the top of my head.
No matter what you think should be on the list, I love lists like this, mainly because it reminds of things I might want to check out. The omissions and inclusions make me angry, but not really in a significant way – it’s just fun to rant a little bit on the internet. This isn’t a bad cross-section of comics from the 2010s, though, so argue away why some shouldn’t be here and why your favorite comic isn’t on the list or isn’t higher on it!
“64. Transformers comics by James Roberts. I have read about three Transformers comics in my life, and none from this run, so I have nothing to say about it.”
A) You’re dead to me now.
B) It should be much higher than 64.
Ha! Yeah, I figured I’d be dead to you, given your love of the books. I’ll have to deal with it, I suppose. Maybe some day I’ll get around to reading them!
I have only read a little under 50% of the stuff on this list (and that’s counting some stuff – like Aquaman or Saga – that I read only a couple of issues of before deciding it wasn’t my bag), but it’s not a bad representation of 2010s comics. Pretty heavily skewed toward superheroes and “genre” comics, but my tastes skew that way, too.
It’s interesting to see the relative rankings of some popular creators’ works… for instance, I think that Mister Miracle was pretty well-done, but I agree the ending was weak. Nowhere close to being as good as the Vision, in my opinion, and also inferior to Sheriff of Babylon and Omega Men. I’m not surprised to see Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman so high, but I *hated* that Joker story so much that I stopped reading, and I can’t imagine it turned out better than Snyder’s Detective run. It’s also a pity that more people didn’t read/vote for Snyder and Lemire’s “AD.” That was a really cool book.
As for total omissions: kind of surprised that there’s nothing at all by Matt Kindt here, as I think he’s one of the best creators of the 2010s. Mind MGMT is probably his best work of the decade, but he could justifiably have one or two more in the top 100. Upgrade Soul is one of the best sci-fi graphic novels I’ve read in years, it would definitely be in my personal top ten of the 2010s. I agree that Casanova should be somewhere on the list – the couple of arcs we got constituted Matt Fraction’s best writing of the decade. Also relatively surprised that nothing from Gene Luen Yang or Nick Spencer made the list. Besides being really prolific over the past decade, each of those guys made at least one real gem (in my opinion, Boxers & Saints and Superior Foes of Spider-Man). It seems like the Prophet and Glory revivals that seemed pretty big a few years ago aren’t as well remembered as I thought.
Re: your opinions on the list – I’m glad to find there’s someone else out there who isn’t too hot on Hickman’s FF. I definitely think it’s better than “trash,” but it’s not consistently good, either. There are a few issues that I thought were outstanding, but there were also some incomprehensible bits about extraterrestrial Inhumans and most of the characters outside of Reed and Doom were superficially written… and even then, they seemed frustratingly mischaracterizes.
Lastly – I’d highly recommend the second volume of Locke & Key. The first volume was well-illustrated but not super-engaging, but the rest of the series really takes a great leap after the first outing. Well-deserving of a top 30 spot.
Peter: I’m not incredibly surprised that Kindt didn’t make the list, but it is disappointing. Red Handed is absolutely superb, and Mind MGMT is great, too. I agree with you about A.D. – currently my favorite Snyder comic, and I also am surprised that Prophet or Glory didn’t make the list. Weird.
Maybe I’ll have to dive into more of Locke & Key. I’m going to read some of Joe Hill’s new line, so maybe if I really dig those, I’ll circle back around to it.
I feel obligated to be furious about the lack of Ennis…but he really didn’t do anything mainstream enough this decade to make the list.
That said…the latter volumes of War Stories are better than anything Snyder’s ever done, as are his last two Anna Kharkova stories. I know you hate The Boys…but the 2010s issues start the plot, and they stick the landing.
Also…READ BENDIS’S MILES MORALES RUN!
I’ve never made it through the Peter section of USM, but the Miles books stand up with Daredevil, Alias, and even Goldfish.
Carlos: Well, dang. Am I going to have to hunt down Bendis’s Miles Morales comics? Sheesh, more stuff to read!!!! 🙂
Fun post! I agree – these lists are always great for reminding me to check out some runs I may have forgotten about.
One thing this list brought to mind was just how far Vertigo fell in it’s last 10 years of life. Aside from Fables (which I also dumped around issue 75) and Dini’s Batman OGN I don’t think there any Vertigo titles on the list and I agree with the omissions. Had this been a 90s or 00s list you’d definitely have found more than a few Vertigo titles in the top 5. A rough ending to a once great imprint.
I think I might have included some of Gerard Way’s “Young Animal” books on this list somewhere. Doom Patrol and Shade The Changing Girl come to mind. They were both quirky fun. Shade was my fav of the whole Young Animal bunch.
Whoops…forgot King’s “Sheriff of Babylon” was Vertigo. I never read past the second issue.
I very much like Doom Patrol, as well as Cave Carson (I didn’t really take to Shade), but I wonder if the poor sales on the line affected the placement, as perhaps not enough people read them? I would also probably find a place for Wacky Raceland, because it was so bizarre and weird. But that might be just me!
I read the first trade of Saga and there were just too many “wait, how does that work?” and “why would it be like that?” things in it and then they go to the wooden space ship and I was done.
Similarly, I just got Black Hammer’s first trade from Hoopla through my local library and was like, “Surely by the end of the trade they will get them off the farm or at least explain what is going on?” nope. I’m done.
I like Hickman’s stuff well enough but he is certainly much more interested in big ideas than he is characters or actual stories.
I thought the whole DC Metal thing was dumb.
I have become a Geoff Johns hater so anything he does should be off the list in my mind.
I’ve never been a fan of Johns, so I agree with you there. But he’s popular for some reason, so I’m never surprised when his stuff makes lists like these!
The insanely high placing of King’s Batman and Snyder’s– Snyder chased me off the Batbooks after FOUR DECADES, not even Judd Winick’s did that– and the total lack of Batman ’66, as well as James Tynion’s terrific and totally overlooked run on Detective, confirms that the current crop of Bat fans hate fun. The more morose and glacially slow it is, the better they like it. And this disease has spread to other DC books as well over the decade. How the hell did the Johns Aquaman make the list and not Parker’s?
For that matter, the lack of humor books overall is telling. The only really high-placing ones that bring the funny are Squirrel Girl, Deadpool, and Hawkeye, and they mostly derive their humor from fannish inside-baseball stuff.
Dang, I was going to mention Batman ’66 in my final thoughts, but I thought of it a day or two ago and then it slipped my mind. But yeah, it’s ridiculous that it’s not on the list.
Humor books just don’t do well anymore, it seems. Humor is pretty difficult, after all, so they’re probably harder to do, and people don’t take them seriously, unfortunately. It sucks, but that’s the way it is. I’m just glad some funny stuff is on the list, as little as there is!
I’m forever fighting a losing battle on this but… the proper title for CBR’s rundown should probably be “best mainstream genre comics of the 2010s by big US publishers” because that’s pretty much what it amounts to (admittedly, with a number of exceptions but still…)
As we were invited to argue, allow me to add to the chorus of “whatabouts?” with a list of stand-out genre series to which I’d give high rankings, not because I’m a snob (your results may vary) but because the more people who get behind them, the more likely it is they’ll continue to be published or, in some cases, revived. So here goes:
Atomic Robo, Resident Alien, Beasts of Burden, Animosity, Wild’s End, The Autumnlands, Blacksad, Stray Bullets, Stumptown, The Fix, The Old Guard, Black Magick, Britannia, Trees, Brink, Southern Cross, The Massive, Alex & Ada and Revival.
I could go on almost indefinitely naming standalone (mostly) non-genre fiction titles that deserve prime spots on any bona fide list of the best comics of the 2010s but I’ll stick with: Killing & Dying, Last Look, The Ruins, Sin Titulo, Beverly, Sabrina, Tumult, Our Expanding Universe, Josephine, Lulu Anew, The Property, Wrinkles, Blackbird Days, James Robinson’s Airboy, Mooncop, Sexcastle, Happy Stories About Well-Adjusted People, Athos in America, Home After Dark, Paul Joins the Scouts, Off Season, Once Upon a Time in France, Tyler Cross, The Attack, Nanjing: The Burning City, The Reprieve, Matteo, Godhead, Highwayman, Daybreak, Forbidden Harbor, Land of the Sons, The Twilight Children, Niourk, Clyde Fans, Stay, Burmese Moons … well, I’ll cut myself off there because I’m pretty sure I lost the (if I’m lucky) one reader I had left about 11 titles ago…
All of the above is not meant to suggest CBR’s readers got it wrong. I’m familiar enough with the site — before and after “churn” — to be aware of its focus and I read and enjoyed about 25% of the titles CBR named. It was more of an excuse for me to compile an ad nauseam list of my own faves from the past decade and maybe even pique the interest of readers who may have overlooked a few things on their trips through the ’10s … I’d actually be grateful if others returned the favor so I could add to my own mental TBR stack…
I agree about Atomic Robo, and while I haven’t read everything on your list, it’s not bad – some I would agree with, and some I think are just okay, but it’s definitely interesting. CBR’s stuff is always going to be mainstream genre comics by US publishers, and that’s okay, as long as people realize it going in!
I read Resident Alien, Beasts of Burden, The Autumnlands, Blacksad, and (formerly) Black Magick (Rucka and Scott screwed themselves by deciding to go crap out a year of Wonder Woman instead). Pretty sure I read Mooncop also though I think I got that one via library.
As for your “I need titles to check out” request, fit2print… Best to just go to YouTube and look for QuothTheRaven Louis Bright-Raven and just watch my podcast. I review about 85-95% creator owned and indie titles each week.
Wow, given the vintage of the comics on the list, I’m surprised to say that I’ve read a few of them, i.e.:
Thor the Mighty Avenger – yep, I agree, it’s really, really fun. All ages (mainstream) superhero stories should be the rule not the exception (that’s my old curmudgeon rant for the day…)
Scalped – yep, most excellent (incidentally, I met R.M. Guera here in Zagreb back in 2013; he drew me a sketch of Festus, which is now framed)
The Fade Out – so far the only thing I’ve read by the much-lauded Brubaker-Philips team, and I was a bit underwhelmed (as you were, too, apparently). I thought it was a perfectly fine noirish set-piece, but it didn’t rock my world or anything. It made me wonder what all the hoopla surrounding these guys was about. I guess, some day, I’ll have to get around to reading Criminal or Fatale, etc.
Flintstones – yep, very well done across the board. Thoroughly enjoyed it. (Even though I can’t help wondering that it might have been even better if the art had been done in the style of the original cartoon – I think the contrast between the kiddy-cartoon visual style and the often weighty themes would have made the stories even more jarring and impactful.)
Some stuff on the list I would really like to read includes Cooke’s Parker books, March, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl.
And, echoing Greg Hatcher’s comment above about the absence of Jeff Parker’s Batman ’66 (another thing I *really* want to read) and Aquaman (ditto), I have to express surprise and a bit of dismay that there’s apparently no love for any of Parker’s work on this list. Everything I’ve read by him, like Agents of Atlas and the Avengers and X-men: First Class stories reprinted in the recent Marvel/Archie digests, is simply outstanding. And he does all-ages superhero comics (see curmudgeon rant above) so well. It’s hard to believe that anything he’s done in the past decade didn’t pass muster for a list like this.
And yeah, I’m also surprised that there’s no Atomic Robo here – I’ve read a smattering of those and they are pure, unadulterated fun distilled onto a comics page.
Criminal is a terrific comic, and if you don’t like it, I don’t know if you’d like anything else Brubaker and Phillips have done. But that’s just my opinion! 🙂
Parker’s Thunderbolts is another crazy fun series that doesn’t get any love on this list. Parker’s a hell of a nice guy, too, so he should have something on this list!
Lists! I love lists and the debates surrounding them, too!
I know sales matter, because without sales you don’t get exposure, and that’s in part why there’s a lot of meh Big 2 books on there. My list would most definitely include a few Valiant books – Joshua Dysart’s Harbinger and Imperium titles, Fred Van Lente’s Ivar Timewalker and Archer & Armstrong (which both bring the funny), and Kindt’s XO Manowar run.
A great book from Image was Rock Candy Mountain by Kyle Starks.
Fit2print, thank you for your list – I’m going to check a bunch of those out!
I’m surprised there’s not more Valiant here, either. They seem to have a decent-sized following, and while I haven’t read a ton of their books, some of them (like the van Lente stuff) is quite good. Kind of weird.
Totally agree with you. Valiant has put out some excellent books this decade. Dysart’s Harbinger was fantastic. I’ve been meaning to catch up on Valiant, I should try and do that this year.
Alrighty, time for Randy’s Thoughts That No One Asked For! I haven’t read a truly depressing number of these, because I am never able to read as many comics as I’d like, because I’m a blue collar schmoe with limited spending money. But I will discuss what I can!
99. Underwater Welder: After producing what is unquestionably a Great Canadian Novel in Essex County, I have kind of run hot and cold on Lemire ever since. Haven’t read this one, but I’d like to. I think my Dad has it, have to see if I can borrow it.
88. Habibi: I too had deeply conflicted feelings about this one. I found it at the library one day, sat down to flip through it, and didn’t stop until I’d read the whole book, four hours and 700+ pages later. In the end, I don’t think I could say I enjoyed it, but I think it was an experience worth experiencing. I don’t think I’ll ever read it again, but I’m glad I read it once. I would VERY cautiously recommend it, to the right people.
86. Wolverine and the X-Men: Great series. Agree completely.
85. Scott Pilgrim was a defining book for my generation, but it was definitely more of a 2000s book than a 2010s one. The best of the series was book 4, Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together, which came out in 2007
65. Fables: sounds like you dropped the book juuuust a little too early. It really regained its feet with the “Cubs in Toyland” arc (#114-121) and the remainder of the series was quite good (though you’re right, probably not as good as the earlier stuff.)
63. All-New Wolverine: this series is phenomenal and you should absolutely give it a chance. Tom Taylor is a severely underrated genius.
53. Darth Vader: This book is actually ideally suited to Larroca’s peculiarities. He’s much better at drawing armours, robots, monsters, aliens, etc. than he is at drawing human beings, and this book is filled with things like that. I thought he did a surprisingly good job of making Vader’s mask feel expressive.
44. Secret Wars: the first issue is dedicated to wrapping up plot threads from the preceding Avengers run, but the remainder is surprisingly standalone (and frankly, much more enjoyable than said Avengers run.) I think one could probably read just Secret Wars and follow along just fine.
34. Young Avengers: I LOVED the Heinberg/Cheung Young Avengers, but just couldn’t connect with this run, despite some cool moments and lovely art. Too bad.
32. Silver Surfer by Slott & Allred: Possibly my personal favourite comic of the decade. Allred remains my all time favourite comic artist.
28. Daytripper: Agreed that this is excellent.
21. Locke & Key: one of my favourite comics ever.
19. Hickman’s FF: I think it’s good, but not “Top Twenty of the Decade” good.
17. HoXPoX: I liked this, with reservations. Definitely shouldn’t be this high.
15. Hickman’s Avengers: I really didn’t care for this. It takes a single story and stretches out to nearly a hundred issues, and frankly it’s not an interesting enough story to justify it. The tone is needlessly dark and pessimistic, the final resolution doesn’t come close to making up for all the nastiness we had to slog through to get there, there are SO many missed opportunities for characterization (he adds tons of interesting new characters to the roster and the promptly ignores most of them.) This is just, like… the exact opposite of my platonic ideal of an Avengers run in most imaginable ways.
10. Ms. Marvel: Terrific series. I was initially thinking that it placed just *slightly* too high, but when one takes things like cultural influence into account, that’s probably about right.
9. Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: I have heard nothing but excellent things about this series, but will probably never read i because of my irrational aversion to Erica Henderson’s art style. Curse my dumb brain!
3. Hawkeye: Totally agree that this is great but way too high on this list.
1. Saga: I have fallen very behind in this series, but always very much enjoyed it. In terms of its penetration of the collective comics reading consciousness, this feels like an appropriate choice for #1.
Final thoughts: I feel like Astro City should be on here. Maybe it’s mot quite as stellar as it was in the Nineties, but it’s still Astro City, dammit!
I haven’t read it in a while, but I remember thinking at the time that Avengers A.I. by Sam Humphries and Andre Lima Araujo was an excellent and insanely underrated comic. That would probably make my personal “Best of Decade” list.
My favourite comic of 2019 was Humphries and Joe Quinones’s Dial H for Hero, which I also feel like I saw very few people talking about. I hope it gets its due in the future.
That’s all for now, I suppose. We’ll see if I come up with anything else later.
Ooh, just remembered another omission: I would definitely have included Ben Percy’s Green Arrow run. Half the run was illustrated by Juan Ferreyra, people! It doesn’t get better than that.
Agreed about Secret Wars – I tried a few issues of Hickman’s Avengers and wasn’t really enthused, but then I was browsing quarter bins at a comic shop a year or so ago and saw a full run of Secret Wars and figured why not. It was actually really enjoyable and fairly easy to follow!
I also agree that Astro City probably deserves a spot on the list, too. I do think it was significantly more inconsistent in quality compared to its heyday in the 90s, but the worst issues from this decade were never bad and the best issues could be excellent (like the one issue about the transgender teenage Lex Luthor analogue – sounds like a bad joke when I type it out, but that was such an outstanding story). It’s not top 10 material for me, but top 100? Sure.
Good thoughts about some things I haven’t read. Maybe I’ll have to track down more Fables, possibly …
I liked Green Arrow, but I’m not too put out by it not being on the list, despite the marvelous art by Ferreyra and even Otto Schmidt’s, which I liked. If I’m looking for a Ferreyra comic on the list (and despite his amazing art, the comics he’s worked on for DC and Marvel haven’t always been great), I’m bummed that Colder with Paul Tobin and Gotham by Midnight didn’t get a mention. Such is life!
Astro City probably fell off people’s radar with the waiting and “The Dark Age,” which it seemed a lot of people didn’t enjoy (I did, though). But it still deserves a spot!
I do own Dial H for Hero – the first trade, anyway – and I will get to reading it when the second one comes out! I have to assume it was just too recent and it wasn’t, you know, an X-book. Maybe it will make the 2020s list! 🙂
I voted for some of them (maybe 6), haven’t read some, tried some and didn’t like them and have never heard of some (I’m not saying which fall in which categories as I don’t want Greg to hate me)
so instead I’ll list some things I voted for or considered voting for that didn’t make the list
Grandville (a great series – the first part was in the previous decade but all the sequels are valid)
Orbital (European series – part 8 due next month – I think that’s the big finale)
Usagi Yojimbo (Stan Sakai has been incredible with his stories and art)
the Boys (I had to vote for one Ennis series and enough of his falls in the correct decade – I did wonder about Red, Rover and Charlie as an alternative Ennis series)
Twilight Guardian (a great 4 part series about a comic fan who decides to do it for real – but it’s not remotely similar to Kick Ass)
I haven’t read all of the things in this list, but I haven’t read anything Hickman has done that I liked. FF? nah. Secret Wars or whatever? meh. Same with Remender, I despised deadly class because as you say, first issue good, rest of the trade I read? not even close.
But I like seeing this type of “mini-reviews” from you, because even when I don’t like everything you do, I enjoy what you write and I see that we agree on others(I read 2 big ass trades of Hernandez stuff and I just shrugged, and I despised Ghost World from Ware and didn’t enjoy at all Jimmy Corrigan)
The newest comic I loved was Through The Woods from Emily Carroll and thats it. I have a lot to catch up and reading the reviews from all of you here help me to allocate my meager hobby spending. What I mean is that I have some comics you recomended(Finder Library) in my pile of shame that I should be reading instead of posting a comment in the internet
Thanks for the nice words. Yeah, Emily Carroll’s absence from the list is a bit surprising. It’s probable that not enough people have read her work!
Working my way through —
100 — Black Panther’s the only thing I’ve read by Priest that I didn’t tink was crap.
97. Bingo Love has some problems with one big reveal but overall it’s charming.
96. Agreed.That it took five issues to retell what’s essentially the Perez reboot origin and five issues to retcon out the Azzarello/Chiang is a lot of wasted paper.
95. Enjoyed Bitch Planet.
92. Read one TPB. Confirmed my feeling Hickman’s over-rated.
85. Scott Pilgrim didn’t impress me either, though compared to the author’s “Snotgirl” it’s DKR.
77. I read one middle volume of Fatale and found I wasn’t even curious about how it would make sense in context. Plus one historical story had a bunch of inaccuracies.
65. I agree about Fables’ slow decline. The final arc really flopped with what Willingham apparently thought was a clever twist.
62. I think part of the problem for Coates was that he took Wakanda getting hammered in several crossover events seriously, so we get Wakanda as Failed African State. And way too much Serious Political Discourse.
61. Read the collected origin of the alt.Batman. It’s the kind of thing a Bronze Age story would have assigned one paragraph too (“This Batman stole Green Lantern’s ring, this one stole the Speed Force …”). At full length, it was boring.
59. Snagglepuss as Tennessee Williams wasn’t a bad idea but the execution just didn’t work. Too much name dropping for one thing: there’s no reason to have Peter Pottamus as the stage manager at Snag’s theater.
58. The Azzarello/Chiang Wonder Woman would have been great if it was it’s own thing (demigoddess daughter of Zeus gets dragged into Olympian power struggle). As Wonder Woman, it just didn’t work for me. And I really hate Wonder Woman Daughter of Zeus, though the movie seems to have cemented that (trivia point, the powerless Diana Prince period of the late 1960s has a story where Ares is identified as WW’s grandfather).
56. Warren Ellis just doesn’t work for me.
55. Yep, you pretty much summed up Black Science for me.
49. Yes, Flintstones!
47. There are good bits in Multiversity but ultimately not enough to overcome the bad bits.
46. Love Nimona, though her She-Ra on Netflix is better.
37. You didn’t miss anything with Johns’ Justice League. When his pre-launch interviews described how his book would have characterization unlike that Silver Age stuff, as if we hadn’t had forty years of material in between, I kind of expected that.. And his handling of the New Gods is worse.
34. I just don’t get Hark!
31. Monstress isn’t bad in small doses, but the backstory of who’s fighting who over what refused to take root in my brain. I don’t think it’s my fault.
30. Invincible lacked the magic Kirkman puts into some of his other work. Completely lacks it. Walking Dead i like much better than you.
29. Loved Paper Girls a lot.
18. I do enjoy Sex Criminals, but I wouldn’t put it this high.
13. Black Hammer is way too high, but it is good. I fully expected the final volume to be a disaster, but they pulled it out.
4. So with you on Snyder’s Joker.
3. Hawkeye was … it just never clicked with me. Partly because Clint doesn’t seem to do anything but just stand around to be the butt of the joke.
1. Saga deserves to be on the list more than anything by Hickman, Remender or Snyder but I wouldn’t rate it as number one. Probably below Paper Girls. I like it a lot more at the start, but by vol. 9, it felt pretty pointless.
I have no idea whether “compared to Snotgirl it’s DKR” is meant to be praise or criticism.
Criticism of Snotgirl. I thought maybe it’s just that I’m too old to be interested in a “new adult” story, but a twentysomething friend of mine said she couldn’t stomach it either.
Scooby Doo Teamup is better than a number of books on this ist.
That’s another one I’d really like to read some day; I’ve heard only good things about it.
It’s a great deal of fun, partly for the sheer amount of Easter Eggs and in-jokes. The weakest issues are crossovers like Secret Squirrel where there’s not much to work with.
Oh, and sign me up as one of those who thinks Astro City and Beasts of Burden deserve a slot.
Read or in possession:
The Manhattan Project
Thor the mighty avenger
Fatale
Black Mirror
Black Science
Hellboy in Hell
Deadly Class
Batman Incorperated
Multiversity
Chew
Moon Knight (by Ellis)
Parker by Darwin Cooke
FF by Hickman (which I still have to read)
East of West
Daredevil by Wade
Vision by King
Batman by Snyder
Hawkeye by Fraction
Greatly missed in the list:
Atomic Robo
The Fix
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Astro City
The Cape by Joe Hill
Copra
Secret by Hickman
I imagine that most people gave up on League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but I could be wrong. I’m also a bit surprised that Copra didn’t make the list, but it’s such a DIY book that I imagine the readership is too small. I would also imagine that The Fix, as good as it was, didn’t make it because of the delays in publishing and the way it just vanished. I miss it!
I tried the first volume of Copra. It read like Suicide Squad fanfic, and not in a good way, which left me baffled why it has such a cult status.
Fraser: Oh, it’s definitely Suicide Squad fanfic. I can’t speak for others, but I like it because it feels like good old-school superhero stuff, nothing more or less. And I really like Fiffe’s art.
How could I Forged Secret Avengers by Ellis and Thunderbolts by Parker??
Silly me 😉
I’ve read exactly two things on this list – My Friend Dahmer and My Favorite Thing is Monsters. I recommend both very highly.
My Friend Dahmer is great even if, like me, you’re not that interested in Jeffrey Dahmer.
My Favorite Thing is Monsters is sui generis. I hope the sequel comes out soon.
Oh hey, it’s me–that guy who used to regularly comment on your stuff at CBR and has been MIA on your writing since it restructured! I’d like to change that, starting now.
Okay, so this list. I voted in it! Here’s what I voted for:
1. Silver Surfer (Slott/Allred)
2. Locke & Key (Hill/Rodriguez)
3. Stray Bullets (Lapham)
4. Airboy (Robinson/Hinkle)
5. Wolverine & the X-Men (Aaron/Bradshaw/Bachalo)
6. Daytripper (Moon/Ba)
7. Parker (Cooke)
8. The Fade Out (Brubaker/Phillips)
9. The Manhattan Projects (Hickman/Pitarra)
10. Black Hammer (Lemire/Ormston)
A few other things I considered voting for:
Hawkeye (Fraction/Aja)
March (Lewis/Powell)
My Favorite Thing is Monsters (Ferris)
Scalped (Aaron/Guera)
Velvet (Brubaker/Epting)
Kill or Be Killed (Brubaker/Phillips)
Sculptor (McCloud)
Chew (Layman/Guillory)
Three things I’ve read since I voted in November that would probably make my top ten now:
Sabrina (Drnaso)
X-Men: Grand Design (Piskor)
Mister Miracle (King/Gerads)
A few notable things that I just haven’t read yet (but will soon!):
Vision (King/Walta)
Sandman: Overture (Gaiman/Williams III)
Berlin (Lutes)
Mind MGMT (Kindt)
Wicked + Divine (Gillen/McKelvie)
Multiversity (Morrison)
Monstress (Liu/Takeda)
Hellboy in Hell (Mignola)
A few scattered thoughts:
*Silver Surfer is not only my number one, but nothing else was even close. Greg, I implore you to finish this. It’s consistently great throughout, but the last few issues in particular are among the greatest comics I’ve ever read. I honestly can’t think of any run ever on a superhero comic that stuck the landing as perfectly as this one did. Maybe Morrison’s Animal Man? Moore’s Miracle Man? Anyway, please read this.
*Regarding Locke & Key, I hope you give it another chance. The first collection is by far the most pedestrian one, and the one that leans the hardest into being a normal, palatable horror comic. The first collection is the equivalent of a new show that throws gratuitous nudity in the first episode to try and get people watching, and then never really has any gratuitous nudity after that (Mrs. Maisel, Sex Education, Glow, Euphoria, etc.). The second collection of Locke & Key is where the series becomes truly original and great, and then it keeps getting better from there. Also–there’s a scene in the final issue that’s one of only a few comic moments to ever make me cry.
*Have you read Airboy, Sabrina, X-Men: Grand Design, or Stray Bullets: Sunshine and Roses? Those are my four biggest surprises/disappointments at not making the list. I think you’d love all four! (Note that I’m gonna try to catch up on a lot of your writing on this site, but if you have written about your thoughts on any of these four books, I’d love it if you sent me the link to them!)
*Glad to see you see still think highly of Wolverine & the X-Men. If I remember correctly, I played a part in talking you into giving it a try back in 2012 or so!
*It really, really does suck that Cooke died. Not to diminish any other deceased comic creator, but he was the first comic creator to die that I would say I had a very current relationship with their contemporary work. It felt like he was still at his absolute apex. It was tremendously sad.
*I don’t dislike Saga with nearly the same vehemence as you do, but I do basically agree with all of your thoughts on it. I still got it all the way to the hiatus (partially because I liked reading the letter column and participating in the reader surveys, partially because I like supporting a comic that maintains a $2.99 price tag), but I’m not sure if I’ll stick with it when it returns. It’ll be a game-time decision.
Okay, that’s it. I’ll get to more of your stuff soon! (And comment on it!)
Hi, sir! Glad you’re back!
Your list is pretty groovy, I must say. I don’t really object to any of it.
I will read Silver Surfer some day, but I don’t know when. But I will!
You’re not the first person to tell me that about Locke and Key. Maybe I will check more of it out.
I’ve read Airboy, but I plumb forgot about it. Whoops! I liked it very much, though. I read a bit of X-Men Grand Design, but I’m not as enamored with it as many people, because it’s just a recap – nicely done, but the heavy lifting was done decades ago. It’s fine. I missed an issue of Sunshine and Roses, so I stopped reading there (issue #33, I think?), but I recently got it, so I’ll have to catch up. I agree that it’s very good. I have not read Sabrina. It sounds keen. I’ll have to go get it!
Yeah, I think you did talk me into Wolverine and the X-Men. Good call!
So I read the King Mister Miracle. Only confirms my opinion King is not a very good writer. While I’m open to a non-continuity Not Your Father’s New Gods, the idea of Orion as ruthless dictator, Lightray as ruthless dictator’s killer — nope (from seeing other writers try to work with the New Gods I think people just can’t buy the premise of New Genesis as a place of good — it has to have a serpent in Eden). And as I mentioned in the Least Favorite Trope comments, “It’s all in his head!” gets automatic hate from me.