Last week this came in the mail:
Atomika is a 12-issue series that came out in 2005 through about 2011 (I can’t remember the exact dates, sorry!). It’s drawn and conceived by Sal Abbinanti and scripted by Andrew Dabb, and while it was coming out, I always said it was one of the best comics out there. I was fairly certain it would never get collected, but Abbinanti put together a Kickstarter that easily cleared its goal, and now I have a very fancy hardcover of the book. It’s about the Soviet Union creating their own god, essentially, and the battles he fights. It’s awesome. I didn’t feel like scanning it, so I took some pictures of what the interiors look like. Forgive the quality:
It is ridiculously epic, and double-page spreads dominate, and it’s the best kind of bombastic, and if Walt Simonson had written the exact same script and laid it out in the exact same way, people would think it’s a classic. And it got me thinking: Is it still one of the best comics of the young century? I haven’t re-read it, so my memory might be a bit spotty (I read a lot of comics, y’all!), but I thought that would be a good Question of the Week. Usually critics do this after 25, 50, 75, or 100 years, but we can get the jump on them, right? I began thinking about the best comics of the 21st century, and quickly realized what a Big Question that is. So I decided to ignore graphic novels. It’s not that I don’t think they’re any good, but there’s a difference between serialized storytelling and putting it all down as one complete work. I might ask what the best graphic novels of the centuries are at a later date, and heck, if you want to include them, feel free. I’m just telling you that I’m not including them. That narrows it down a bit, but dang, there are still a lot. I went through the Comics You Should Own archive and found a bunch. Sheesh. There are plenty that I haven’t gotten around to writing about, too, so it’s hard to narrow it down, is what I’m saying.
I go back and forth a bit with this, but if I had to commit to just one, I’d say … Chew? See, this is hard! Chew is a wonderful comic, with a great hook, and strong overarching plot, many excellent short plots, brilliantly realized characters, more funny stuff than almost every other comic you can name, but some absolute emotional gut punches throughout, mainly because Layman did such a good job with the characters. Guillory’s art is perfect for the somewhat goofy vibe, but he’s good enough to handle the serious stuff, too. It’s really a wonderful comic, and I would probably, nine times out of ten, say it’s the best comic of the 21st century.
But then, if you catch me on a different day, I might say Westward. When I wrote about it, I said it was one of the great comics of the century, and I stand by it. It’s a superb examination of what it means to be human, what it means to create, how people overcome their pasts, and what capitalism does to the world. It’s also a great adventure story, it’s not afraid to go to dark places, and there’s some nice humor in it, too. And the art is stunning. It’s too bad it has not been collected like Atomika has been, but if Atomika can be, I hold out hope for Westward!
But then … I wonder if it’s Phonogram. I’ve written about that, too, although I haven’t written about the third mini-series yet, but it’s very good. The plots of Phonogram aren’t great, but the characters are wonderful, and they feel real, and Gillen gets to the heart of what it means to be young and alive, and it’s just brilliant. McKelvie’s art is excellent, and it’s very cool to watch him improve as the series goes along. It’s just a great comic.
Those are the three I would answer if I had to. Atomika is in the second tier, I think, and if I were doing a Top Ten list, it would probably fall somewhere in the 4-10 spot. But, I mean, dang, that would be hard filling out a Top Ten. If we even ignore the comics I’ve already written about that are 21st century comics (the archive is here, and some of the comics I’d have to consider for a Top Ten list would be – in alphabetical order, mind you: Alias (2001 – 2004); Automatic Kafka (2002 -2003); Daredevil #26-50; 56-81 (2001 – 2006); Detective Comics #801-808, 811-814 (2005 – 2006); I Kill Giants (2008 – 2009); Local (2005 – 2008); Planetary (1999 – 2009); Secret Six (2005 – 2011); Seven Soldiers of Victory (2005 – 2006); All Star Superman (2006 – 2008); Wasteland (2006 – 2015); The Wicked + The Divine (2014 – 2019); The Winter Men (2005 – 2009)). And then what about all the comics I haven’t had a chance to re-read, but I remember them being great? From Marvel, we have Squirrel Girl and Wilson’s run on Ms. Marvel. Both excellent comics! A bit earlier, Pak’s and van Lente’s run on The Incredible Hercules was the most fun comic Marvel was doing at the time. Brubaker’s Captain America holds up pretty well. From DC, The Flintstones is a superb satire. I loved Hickman’s and Dragotta’s East of West, and while Hickman’s Marvel work has been less than excellent, S.H.I.E.L.D. was a shit-ton of fun. I know there are a lot more I’m forgetting, which is why I’m glad I’m not doing a Top Ten list!!!!
Phew. Anyway, that’s my answer. It’s the slightest bit wishy-washy, I know, but that’s life. Comics are awesome, after all, so of course I’m going to have a lot of great ones! What’s your best comic of this century, good readers? You know you have something in mind!
This is a toughie; not being able to count “graphic novels” is excluding my shoo-in pick of Asterios Polyp. That’s one of those comics that is extremely well-executed from a technical standpoint, makes full and unique use of the medium, and also remembers to be an engaging, fun read. I would like to take a crack at a graphic novel top 10, because I can think of some essential Gene Luen Yang, Ezra Claytan Daniels, and Matt Kindt works that I would also want to mention.
For continuing series… my tastes are admittedly rather mainstream, and I don’t know if there are as many serialized stories that I’ve read from the 00’s and beyond that struck the same balance of ambition and sheer quality of storytelling. Promethea or League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Highly ambitious, but sometimes more like the vegetables you have to eat if you want dessert. Ultimate Spider-Man? Not formally or thematically ambitious, but honestly I do think it was an extremely enjoyable book for most of its run and was hugely influential on the way mainstream comics were written in the century so far.
Honestly, All-Star Superman might be my pick. I have seen some people dismiss its overall significance by saying it’s just a Silver Age pastiche, no matter how well it’s executed; I’ve seen others use some antimetabole and say it’s extremely well-executed no matter how much of a pastiche it may be. I still think it’s a fairly ambitious story because it really tries and succeeds at distilling the appeal of basically all superhero comics into 12 issues. No small task. Plus, the visual storytelling is on another level – every page is straightforward and easy to read, but there’s so much communicated through the art. I think it will be a popular, influential comic for a long, long time.
Some honorable mentions:
G0DLAND – a highly ambitious but wildly entertaining saga
Super Spy – I think this was largely serialized as a webcomic before being collected, so it probably counts? Matt Kindt rules, and this is probably his magnum opus. Does some great stuff that only comics can do.
X-Statix – hugely effective as a satire of the celebrity era of the 00s, but I still care about nearly every character!
Locke & Key – it’s a buzzword I rarely care about in most sci-fi or fantasy works, but the “worldbuilding” here is really fantastic. And the worldbuilding doesn’t come at the expense of characterization at all! What started as a fairly good horror miniseries ended up as an all-timer in my book.
Casanova and Daytripper – cheating a bit, but Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon did some great stuff in the 2000s with and without Matt Fraction. Both these comics are great; I just hope Casanova actually concludes one day.
Ugh, I’m so mad I forgot Casanova. I actually thought of it while I was typing, but before I got to a spot where I could throw it in, and then I forgot. But yeah, that would be really, really high on my list. Godland would be too, more than likely.
You can include graphic novels if you want! 🙂 I just didn’t want to, but feel free! I will definitely do a different question about GNs, though, because there are so many good ones these days – I feel like we’re in the Golden Age of graphic novels, because there are so many more outlets for them. American Born Chinese and Super Spy (which I count as a GN!) would definitely be on the list, and Kindt’s Red Handed might be there too.
I just finished X-Statix recently (it will be my next new Comics You Should Own when I get around to it), and it’s very good. I’m not sure it would be in my Top Ten, but it’s definitely a very cool comic. And I read the first trade of Locke & Key and it didn’t grab me. I really should try it again, because it does get a lot of love.
Man, so many choices, but for me it comes down to : East of West and Chew. Other titles come close like Manhattan Projects, Ultimates, All-Star Superman, Planetary and Secret Six and some more I forget.
I’m about 6-10 years behind on my comics reading, and my memory ain’t what it used to be.
The first things that come to mind are All Star Superman, New X-Men, Seaguy, We3, The Filth (I’m sensing a pattern), Daytripper, Atomic Robo, Kate Beaton’s webcomics, Punisher MAX (Ennis and Aaron runs), Simonson’s Orion (well, it started in 2000 so maybe doesn’t count).
Thanks for reminding Atomic Robo. A really great comic.
Ugh, Atomic Robo – another one I thought of before I sat down and wrote this and then forgot about while I was writing it. Dang it! 🙂
I’m going to go with
1. Dungeon by Trondheim and Sfar. An incomparable saga with so many amazing characters, and also very, very funny. I guess it started in the late 90’s but not in English so I’m counting it.
2. Squirrel Girl. Pure genius and the triumph of Millenial earnestness over Gen X irony.
3. Ultimate Spider-Man up through and including Bendis’s Miles Morales stuff. The best stories ever written about the best super-hero ever created.
Dungeon is just a delight. It’s weird as no one talks about it, but anytime I pick up a volume from the library, it’s unparalleled.
I’m going to go with Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja.
I enjoyed that run so much on its original release.
I like Hawkeye quite a bit, but more for the design sense and the way it was told rather than for the story, which spun its wheels a bit. It made it a bit frustrating for me. But it’s certainly a candidate, but I’ll have to re-assess it when I re-read it. Who knows when that will be!
My initial thoughts … I may come back to it later
From Marvel 2 strong contenders are Matt Fraction and David Ayja’s Hawkeye series and Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s Vision series (building on the strong foundation created by Roy Thomas)
I really enjoyed Twilight Guardian written by Troy Hickman (art by Reza and Sid Kotian)- if you are not familiar with it – a quick summary
1) it’s about a comic fan who decided to be a super-hero for real
2) it is not in any way remotely similar to Kick-ass
and Mercy Sparx by Josh Blaylock with art by Matt Merhoff and Patrick Shand (about a teenage girl from the outskirts of hell [or something like that] on a mission from God to hunt renegade angels) has been great fun.
and, while starting in the 20th Century, Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai has been going for more years in the 21st Century and remains one of the best comics ever.
Bryan Talbot’s Grandville has been an excellent series of graphic novels
and Brubaker and Phillips’ Reckless has had a good first 4 volumes
Yeah, stuff like Grandville and Reckless are why I didn’t count graphic novels. There are so many good ones!
I remember flicking through an issue of Atomika when it came out and found it pretty incomprehensible. I wouldn’t mind checking it out again.
I’m not sure about the greatest comic of the 21st century but The Walking Dead is certainly one of the biggest.
Atomika is very dense and odd, and if you’re not with it from the beginning, I can see it being incomprehensible. Heck, even if you were there from the beginning, it took so long to come out I had to skim the issues to remember what was going on. It hangs together nicely as a whole, though, which is nice.
For my money, it’s Blacksad.
Beyond that, pretty much take your pick, from Alan Moore’s ABC line, especially Tom Strong and Top Ten.
Planetary had nice ideas; but, I didn’t think the story always welded them together well.
Ministry of Space was a fine alternate history piece. Velvet was a great throwback to things like Modesty Blaise and the whole spy-fi genre.
Blacksad is very cool, I agree.
So was Velvet. I wish it had gone longer.
Really difficult question. So my answer is based on whatever I devoured first upon getting new books in the last twenty years and that was always whatever Brubaker and Phillips had just released. Greg Rucka deserves an honourable mention.
I’ll only consider comics that started in the 2000s, otherwise my pick is Stray Bullets.
I see a lot of great suggestions on the thread so far: New X-Men, All-Star Superman, Atomic Robo, Casanova, Daytripper, Chew, everything by Brubaker & Phillips, Vision, Granville, Kate Beaton’s comics, etc. In the interest of not repeating previous answers, I’ll add:
Mister Miracle by Tom King & Mitch Gerards: an emotional journey and formalistic experiment wrapped up in some top-notch art.
American Born Chinese: I haven’t read every Gene Yang comic (will get to Boxers & Saints someday), but this coming of age story was enough to make me a huge fan. This comic was another experimental comic with great art that packed an emotional punch. Huh, let’s see what else I come up with, see if a pattern emerges…
My Favorite Thing is Monsters: Emil Ferris’s coming of age story is visualized with detailed pen drawings (great art) and is super emotional, while the format and sure is experimental. Um, yeah, I think I’ve narrowed down what I’m looking for in a comic.
Parker adaptations & DC New Frontier: RIP, Darwyn Cooke. Your work is sorely missed. His art was excellent, he sure did made interesting, experimental storytelling choices, and his loss gives the comics a greater emotional weight… ok, that last point is true, but even I know it’s a stretch.
I thought Mister Miracle biffed the ending, or it would be a good contender.
American Born Chinese is excellent.
Dang, I still haven’t read My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. It mocks me from the shelf!
Mister Miracle did give us the greatest single page in all of comic book history: Darkseid eating carrots.
That’s a question that I could spend all day trying to answer. On the manga side of things, I would love to say Vinland saga and chainsaw man, but they’re not quite finished yet. Vinland Saga is an action adventure comic that centers on Thorfinn Karsfelni, the Viking who followed Leif Ericson ‘s path to North America, or Vinland as it’s called in the book. The story starts off well before that though, in Thorfinn’s teen years where he travels working with a band of Vikings so he can defeat the man who killed his father in a duel of honour. It’s equal parts action, philosophy, comedy, history, and just beautifully illustrated, and explores the question of trying to live a peaceful life in a violent world, among many other themes. It’s only now entering its final storyarc, but I would argue the start of the series to the end of what fans call the ketil’s farm arc to be the best long form story in the century. Chainsaw man is still ongoing as well, and I don’t know how close to complete it is, but I think I can cheat and say the first eleven volumes make for a good story about a dirtbag teen with a heart of gold who turns into a chainsaw monster Todd McFarlane wished he drew to fight demons. It hits the same vein as Chew in alot of places, where the humor is gross out, but there’s a lot of good character work, and solid action. For comics written stateside, my list would probably look a lot like yours. Chew would be pretty high up there, as would be a lot of Grant Morrison’s work from the mid Aughts such as all star Superman, final crisis or we3 There is a number of great image series I would like to list such as Lazarus or east of west, but I am too behind on those. Joshua drystart’s unknown soldier is a diamond in the rough and just my type of story, as well as the Xombi series from 2011. Garth Ennis’ my war gone by is the best book marvel has done, and it has no superheroes ironically enough, and phonogram is top tier comics. I think I’ll stop myself there!
I read the first big volume of Vinland Saga, and I enjoyed it. I have to catch up!
Burgas: I had to think about this for awhile and came up with 3 personal favorites:
RONIN, CAMELOT 3000, and DESOLATION JONES.
There you go.
Tom, you know that two of those comics did not come out anywhere near the 21st century, right?
I DNFed the Tom King Mister Miracle. So distorted Kirby’s characters it amounted to In Name Only.
Atomic Robo, Vision, I Kill Giants, and Phonogram are all great pulls. I’d specifically go for volume two, The Singles Club, for Phonogram. Tom King may have one of the widest quality swings of any working comics writer.
Other stuff that popped into my head:
Assassination Nation
Rocket The Blue River Score (Rocket Raccoon and Technet do an Ocean’s 11 written by Al Ewing, yes please)
Journey Into Mystery, the Young Loki run
Siege (a little remembered, but delightful, Battleworld mini written by Kieron Gillen)
On any given day, my choice of best 21st century Ed Brubaker/Sean Phillips collaborations would change, but those two creators and their work definitely are at the top of my list.
Take your pick: Criminal, Kill or Be Killed, Incognito, Fatale …
Just stellar stuff!