Chrismidweeker
12-05-2008, 04:38 AM
I registered specifically to post this, as I was somewhat depressed, and more than a litle mystified by Steven's assertion that this year was an incredibly dreary one for comics.
All year, I've been marvelling at what an amazing year it was for comics. I started the year working for the biggest comics retail chain in the UK, and finished it working for the main distributor, so I've seen the vast majority of what was released this year, and read a good chunk of it.
Certainly towards the end of the year, there were more great books coming out than I could possibly have been able to get.
Anyway, I thought I'd go through some of that stuff here, and see if it'sjust a taste thing...
Marvel & DC
Okay, so the big events of the year, Secret Invasion and Final Crisis were underwhelming to say the least (I enjoyed SI more, but it wasn't up to Bendis' usual standards). Despite that, at Marvel, Iron Fist, Thor, Daredevil, Avengers Initiative and Marvel's cosmic books (Nova, Annihilation & Guardians of the Galaxy) were all immensely good fun. There were some excellent arcs on Amazing Spiderman (Romita Jr & Marcos Martin's work stood out, and Dan Slott proved to be one of Marvel's best writers). Also from Marvel, Brubaker & Phillips' Criminal was incredibly satisfying, and their 2 Stephen King books were very well done.
DC's superhero books were a bit of a mess, noe more so than Batman and it's familty of books, but there were gems in there - Manhunter, JSA, Green Lantern Corps were all solid books. Vertigo was the real star there - Northlanders, DMZ, Fables, Army@Love, Scalped & Madame Xanadu were all thoroughly enjoyable, and Hellblazer seems to be back on track after a horrible couple of years. Also, the Minx imprint, despite it's end, produced some great books, in particular Ross Campbell's Water Baby & Brian Wood's New York Four. I've bought my girlfriend the last four books they produced as a Christmas present, and look forward to checking 'em out once she's read them.
Image & Dark Horse
For Image, Invincible & Walking Dead went from strength to strength, and I'm also really enjoying I Kill Giants, Guerillas, The Sword, with Phonogram 2 to come. They also produced some excellent collections - Popgun, Comic Book Tattoo and American Flagg in particular.
Dark Horse are still very much beholden to their licenses, but Buffy has been a fine continuation to the TV show, and the Conan collection Born on the Battlefield was very good indeed. They also continue to reprint some very good Manga, Gantz, MPD Psycho, Blade of the Immortal being the standouts.
Independents & book publishers
Now this is where most of the real gems came from this year, with the book trade continuing it's love of GN's (sadly I suspect the economic climate will significantly reduce that next year).
This year we had (deep breath): Bottomless Belly Button, the (almost) complete Zot, Petey & Pussy, Enrico Casarosa's Venice Chronicles, Too Cool to be Forgotten, Mesmo Delivery, Swallow Me Whole, Skim, the new Wet Moon, the long awaited complete Journey, Berlin Bk 2, the beautiful Local HC, the first annual Love & Rockets, Locke & Key, four wonderfull books of Mome, Jeff LeMire's Country Nurse, Tim Lane's Abandoned Cars, Ed Piskor's Wizziwig, Guy Delisle's Burma Chronicles, Hideo Azuma's Disappearance Diary, Jeff Brown's Little Things, a new Acme Novelty Library (or was it two?) and my personal favourite of the year, Josh Cotter's stunning Skyscrapers of the Midwest..
There were also some very good books on the genre side of the independent publishers. Garth Ennis & Warren Ellis both had decent years, with Ennis's Boys, Crossed and Battlefields, & Ellis's Freakangels, Miranda Mercury & No Hero all being very good reads. Jeff Smith & Terry Moore both started new series, RASL & Echo respectively, and both have been very solid so far.
I know that I'm forgetting a load of stuff, but even with what I've mentioned above, if you can't find more than 2 books that you think are good, then the problem is not with comics, it's with you.
All year, I've been marvelling at what an amazing year it was for comics. I started the year working for the biggest comics retail chain in the UK, and finished it working for the main distributor, so I've seen the vast majority of what was released this year, and read a good chunk of it.
Certainly towards the end of the year, there were more great books coming out than I could possibly have been able to get.
Anyway, I thought I'd go through some of that stuff here, and see if it'sjust a taste thing...
Marvel & DC
Okay, so the big events of the year, Secret Invasion and Final Crisis were underwhelming to say the least (I enjoyed SI more, but it wasn't up to Bendis' usual standards). Despite that, at Marvel, Iron Fist, Thor, Daredevil, Avengers Initiative and Marvel's cosmic books (Nova, Annihilation & Guardians of the Galaxy) were all immensely good fun. There were some excellent arcs on Amazing Spiderman (Romita Jr & Marcos Martin's work stood out, and Dan Slott proved to be one of Marvel's best writers). Also from Marvel, Brubaker & Phillips' Criminal was incredibly satisfying, and their 2 Stephen King books were very well done.
DC's superhero books were a bit of a mess, noe more so than Batman and it's familty of books, but there were gems in there - Manhunter, JSA, Green Lantern Corps were all solid books. Vertigo was the real star there - Northlanders, DMZ, Fables, Army@Love, Scalped & Madame Xanadu were all thoroughly enjoyable, and Hellblazer seems to be back on track after a horrible couple of years. Also, the Minx imprint, despite it's end, produced some great books, in particular Ross Campbell's Water Baby & Brian Wood's New York Four. I've bought my girlfriend the last four books they produced as a Christmas present, and look forward to checking 'em out once she's read them.
Image & Dark Horse
For Image, Invincible & Walking Dead went from strength to strength, and I'm also really enjoying I Kill Giants, Guerillas, The Sword, with Phonogram 2 to come. They also produced some excellent collections - Popgun, Comic Book Tattoo and American Flagg in particular.
Dark Horse are still very much beholden to their licenses, but Buffy has been a fine continuation to the TV show, and the Conan collection Born on the Battlefield was very good indeed. They also continue to reprint some very good Manga, Gantz, MPD Psycho, Blade of the Immortal being the standouts.
Independents & book publishers
Now this is where most of the real gems came from this year, with the book trade continuing it's love of GN's (sadly I suspect the economic climate will significantly reduce that next year).
This year we had (deep breath): Bottomless Belly Button, the (almost) complete Zot, Petey & Pussy, Enrico Casarosa's Venice Chronicles, Too Cool to be Forgotten, Mesmo Delivery, Swallow Me Whole, Skim, the new Wet Moon, the long awaited complete Journey, Berlin Bk 2, the beautiful Local HC, the first annual Love & Rockets, Locke & Key, four wonderfull books of Mome, Jeff LeMire's Country Nurse, Tim Lane's Abandoned Cars, Ed Piskor's Wizziwig, Guy Delisle's Burma Chronicles, Hideo Azuma's Disappearance Diary, Jeff Brown's Little Things, a new Acme Novelty Library (or was it two?) and my personal favourite of the year, Josh Cotter's stunning Skyscrapers of the Midwest..
There were also some very good books on the genre side of the independent publishers. Garth Ennis & Warren Ellis both had decent years, with Ennis's Boys, Crossed and Battlefields, & Ellis's Freakangels, Miranda Mercury & No Hero all being very good reads. Jeff Smith & Terry Moore both started new series, RASL & Echo respectively, and both have been very solid so far.
I know that I'm forgetting a load of stuff, but even with what I've mentioned above, if you can't find more than 2 books that you think are good, then the problem is not with comics, it's with you.