I love Comics, often I worry a little too much. I like visual storytelling, I prefer plots shown with unique art. Since this is my first time blogging and this is the end of the decade I think it’s best to show the best comics I’ve read this year 2019 or not.
I feel kind of bad that I read mostly Marvel/DC comics this year. I take it upon myself to not read so many Cape comics and I encourage others to do the same as they are an oversatured genre. Cape can be really good and Watchmen-tier though even if it doesn’t look it, you be the judge.
Marvel Comics #1000-1001
A celebration for Marvel’s 80th birthday it ended up being one of their best books of the decade. Marvel keeps making many misses for me ever since the MCU became the defacto overlord of -well everything, so finding something good is a nice find. The book was a collection of one or two page short stories by various writers from Priest to Gaiman while also hinting at possible future events involving the Eternity Mask and a bunch of classic pulp marvel heroes. I really enjoyed the retelling of old Marvel events with modern art, it was very interesting to read. I also enjoyed the cameos with Darth Vader and MarvelMan though I doubt it will go anywhere, but it was cool to see MarvelMan being all meta.
Dial H for Hero
I talked about how I thought this was DC’s best comic in 2019, a real comic art love letter. Sam Humphries really went out of his way to make a fun unique story about escaping ones self and Joe Quinones really did his best work to give this comic its own art style that mixed everything. With every character and background character turning into a random super-hero tribute, there’s something for everyone here.
Freedom Fighters
After stopping comics for a time the only thing I read before DC’s Rebirth was Multiversity. My favorite issues was Mastermen and Pax Americana and I wanted them to expand them. I did get that for Earth-X kind of, there was this Convergence side story which was fun, but then came this. It’s a cliche concept, A world where Nazi’s won but THERE’s Super-Heroes. The Nazi’s won thanks to having raised Superman into their best soldier. The world created is dark and desolate and the Freedom Fighters are the only true heroes left as most of DC’s A-listers turn into Nazi scum. I think this book was good because of how good the core players and villains were written which is funny since Uncle Sam to me was the weakest of them, but it kind of suits him being he’s a symbol brought to life. The comics about to end and I hope it leaves an impact on the current DC mythos.
History of the Marvel Universe
Waid is a good writer even if I think he’s a but of a nut, I loved his short Captain America run and Kingdom Come is still my favorite Comic ever as well as one of the first I read. History of the MU is a text book in which Franklin Richards and Galactus explain the timeline and history of the Marvel universe while they wait for the universe to end, connecting it all and even sourcing the materiel. I always thought that the face value history of the Marvel world was very interesting, more then DC who constantly rebooted it all. This Comic explains each moment in quick and easy text boxes and at the end get into details about what comics had this information for dumb nerds like me.
Paper Girls
Brian K. Vaughn is one of the best modern writers, I love his original works but don’t care much for Runaways. Paper Girls is great, it’s the girliest comic I ever read, and that’s a compliment as the main characters personalities feel like legitimate real suburban Girls. Something I don’t think many writers really grasp when writing children and tweens. This comics really weird, they deal with time travel and it’s handled with lots of strange sci-fi ideas including Time Travelers riding Quetzalcoatlus and giant Water Bears. To be honest despite it all, I thought the final issue was a little weak in the middle but everything at the end was comforting.
also remember kids smoking is bad for you!
The Immortal Hulk
This is the best Marvel comic going on. Hulk always had an interesting mythos and Ewing is really digging deep to change the Marvel universe for the worse(or better). This is a horror comic where Bruce turns into a more sinister hulk and deals with constant body horrors and other gamma monsters all while fighting his inner demons. This is Hulk at his most though provoking, it’s fantastic.
Batman Last Knight on Earth
The final chapter of Snyder and Capullos long Batman trilogy, starting from New 52 Batman and continuing from METAL. The world had ended and everything is warped and fucked. Batman has to travel this world to learn whats going on and his only companion is the talking head of the Joker who cracks jokes at every opportunity. He fights giant monster Green Lantern babies and evil Superman robots, it’s still only at Issue 2 but there’s so much left for Snyder to do I hope it doesn’t let me down at the end(like METAL kind of did).
Ice Cream Man
Manga does horror way better then American comics. Something from Junji Ito would legit be hard to look at and picture but I could read any horror comic like anything else. Ice Cream man doesn’t do that but it certainly has some nasty concepts, an Ice Cream man goes around telling stories of sorrow, wonder, and redemption while delivering ice cream to kids. They are unique stories told with very nice art, I enjoy it a lot- I wonder if it even could be considered horror, it gives me the vibes, maybe the idea is meant to be grounded.
House of X/Powers of X
I haven’t followed an X-Men story in a long while, but put Hickman on anything and I’d read it. This is a prequel to what is his X-Men run and its been real fun so far. Hickman does good on insane Sci-Fi concepts and has a whole living island that Prof X and Magneto turned into a Mutant nation with their own language that Xavier projected into everyone’s mind. A lot of this ties to events in the future which I feel like Marvel has been emphasizing a lot lately.
Guardians of the Galaxy(2019)
Donny Cates really made my most watched writer list with how much I loved Redneck and Thanos. With how insane Thanos was a Guardians of the Galaxy book was up his alley. It took me a bit to get into but once I bit I got hooked. It starts off with Thanos trying to resurrect himself then to Peter stopping his Dad from forming a insane Adam Warlock cult, I also dig the lineup- honestly Beta Ray Bill should be in every team. Cates is great at having fun with his books, so things always go insane and hammy which under most writers end up being messy but under Cates it almost always hits.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch(2019)
Sabrina dealing with more folkloric and sinister magic isn’t anything new with Chilling Adventures still lingering in my head. But I think the brighter art, design and fun characters give this a bit more ground to stand on. I think I just really like Sabrina as a character and concept and I want more moments that feel like her time meeting Hellboy.
Black Hammer
The most original idea I’ve seen so far, these super-heroes that represent different genres in that field are stuck on a farm in a small town and will die if they leave within a certain distance. I can tell Lemire is writing a comic about old creations of his with how detailed this world and its lore is in its side stories and tie ins. but the original comic is good on its own, these characters have to deal with living in a small world that has never heard of their super-hero exploits and have to succumb to simpler farm life. Some take it better then others, and others are on their breaking point.
The Boys
Garth Ennis is what people think Alan Moore is, and like Moore he’s a passionate writer. I read this to watch the show which I still have yet to see. But the comic is fantastic, Garth is mad about capeshit and is finally letting out that rage but with lenience and understanding. The Boys is about Hughie working in a CIA group that deals with rowdy Super-Heroes who cause trouble as almost all are corrupt celebrities. It’s a story that constantly pushes boundaries as you should expect from Ennis. It has a lot of tense moments and everything in the comic ends on a bittersweet note it’s compelling.
Milk Wars
Milk Wars was weird, it’s combining DC’s alternative imprint Young Animal that’s been metaphsyical, and spiritual, and arthouse-y with the strict corporate established canon rules of the regular DC World. A strange Metaphysical Megacorportation is tampering with the DC Universe turning the JLA, Batman and Wonder Woman into strange parodies of themselves. The Doom Patrol are the heroes for the most part and team up with the other Young Animal characters and the JLA who at the time despite being a Batman lead generic (to an extent) super team have been dealing with the weirder side of DC like Ahl the God of Super-Heroes and Promethea. It’s a fun read with great art, you might need to re-read it a few times to figure it out a bit.
The Green Lantern
Honestly I want Grant Morrison to write every super-hero ever, at the very least every major DC hero. Green Lantern by Morrison is a DC comics Judge Dredd. He’s going around Space fighting stranger then strange alien creatures, disguising himself as a villain slave, and has an adventure inside his own ring. This comics feels very 2000’s both the year and the A.D.comics and the art reflects that. Green Lantern is a personal favorite and I hope Morrison can deliver more with even crazier ideas, for Christ sake he pulled God over for a vehicle violation.
Crisis on Infinite Earths
I’m dumb and never read this before, but it was fantastic. In essence the first ever comic event and they did their best to make it feel gigantic and giving the feeling of what may leave an impact. The Monitor is collecting Heroes from other worlds to help stop the Anti-Monitor who seeks to destroy the Multiverse. It’s big without feeling cluttered and small time characters all have a moment to shine. This is honestly George Perez at his best, only he could draw so many characters together and mesh it all without error. It could be a lot to take in per page but it’s still gorgeous. COIE is a classic and is genetically engineered to not be bad, I only hope the CW special is as good.
I’m ending it here, I’ve said so much. There was lots I’ve read this decade that I might talk about later. Like I said, too much cape is never good but good is good doesn’t matter where. It feels like Marvel under Cebulski keeps working towards new and new events and events are ehhhhhhhhhhhh, It could be cool but I have trouble trusting Marvel’s comics when the Movies keep shadowing over it possibly making plans to change them to be MCU like. DC has Didio fever, Didio is a cool guy er sometimes or never. That said who am I to make judgments on them. I actually did enjoy a lot of Secret Empire and METAL was cool except when it ended like every other event does, becoming an ad for upcoming titles that may or may not live on. I love comics and I love DC/Marvel but sometimes corporate scares me but I think most writers wouldn’t take shit if it really bothered them.
I love comics, I hope they love me back.
Cartoonist's Man-Cave 