My Personal Best Of 2010

The end of the year usually brings with it all the "Best Of" polls, countdowns, and surveys from every comic book, movie, wrestling, MMA, and general entertainment website.  Whether it be a fan-based vote, or a staff writer selection, they usually lead to some kind of discussion from the reader(s), and maybe turn a fan onto something they've never seen/read before.  Well, who knows if that will be the case here, but I'm doing one of my own!  I've perused a handful of the various comic book websites, checked out their subjects & categories, and have decided to cherry-pick from all of them.  I also decided, since it is MY best of list, that it only matters if I discovered it in 2010, not when the thing was released...so there.  Let's get this underway:

BEST INDEPENDENT SERIES
The Walking Dead

- Well it's quite strange to think of Image as an independent comic book company when I've been reading books with that "i" logo on it since the inception, I guess techincally it still is considered an indy.  Anywho, The Walking Dead was a book that was introduced to me last year, and I voraciously tore through every trade that was available at the time.  It was a slow start to me, but by the second volume I was hooked.  And all the things that hooked me then have continued.  The excellent characterization and character growth, the story that is simultaenously unpredictable yet logical, the sense of urgency instilled in every issue no matter how slow that issue may actually be; these are all the things, and more, that keep me coming back to the book.  These are the things that cause me to essentially force the book on friends, and watch them get sucked in just like I did.  And that's with comic fans who hate Kirkman (I did), fans of the TV show who hadn't read the book, or better yet, fans of the show who didn't even know there was a comic book.  Maybe they should start advertising the book during the show next season, sales would go crazy!

BEST NEW SERIES
Uncanny X-Force

- Yeah it's only been around for three issues, but for me those three issues have left an impression like so few others this year.  In the span of less than 90 pages I have found the tone, characterization, and story of this new version of Marvel's Most Violent Mutants to be exceptional.  Remender's writing, in the same fashion as Jason Aaron's, is like an extension of the X-Men Grant Morrison brought to life.  And although I don't think I'd seen it prior to UXF #1, I've moved Jerome Opena into my favorites list as it pertains to artists.  He captures the characters perfectly and just makes even some of the most violent scenes beautifully (check out #3).  And well I'm certain there are other new books that are up there in quality (SHIELD for example), it's this book that I'm most looking forward to in 2011.  If you're a fan of Grant's "New X-Men" run, or Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men" I think this is the series for you.  They carry the same soul...

BEST LIMITED SERIES
Generation Lost/Thanos Imperative

- GenLost may technically be a maxi-series, Thanos Imperative may be a mini-series, but they're both still a limited series.  And they are my favorites for some similar, and dissimilar, reasons.  With "Generation Lost", I have been sucked into the world of a bunch of characters I generally didn't give a damn about when I read the first issue, Booster Gold being the only exception due to "52".  Still, I didn't follow Booster into his own book so how much did I really care?  What interested me in the book was Maxwell Lord...now I was not a follower of JLI, I didn't read the story that saw Wonder Woman kill him, but for some reason I was intrigued by his revival in "Blackest Night".  Maybe it was the concept of erasing memory of his existence from damn near everyone, I don't know, but whatever it was the story of Max Lord's secret, combined with the building tie-in to a "Kingdom Come" future has kept me coming back for more.  I want to see where this book heads, and I have found myself emotional invested in characters that I didn't think I would.  Thanks Misters Giffen & Winick.
- As for "Thanos Imperative", well to be perfectly honest, I hadn't read one bit of the cosmic Marvel books until earlier this year, but I'll get into that story in a different section.  Suffice to say I only recently discovered the cosmic family of books and found myself infatuated with a whole bunch of characters I didn't give a damn about here either.  So when it all came to a head with "Thanos Imperative", I was excited to read.  It started slow for me, I wasn't totally on board at first, but after a few issues, I was wrapped up and sitting down reading the story as a whole really drove that home.  This story truly felt like the final fate of the universe; the end of #5 had me infuriated, the sacrifices of #6 brought a tear to my eye, and now I'm truly scared for the future of the cosmic Marvel U.  I need to know there's a future for Nova & The Guardians of The Galaxy, and until I see solicits for some sort of on-going by the team of DnA, I'm going to worry.  When I'm sucked into a world that much....well that's powerful writing, and that's why I have two picks for this category.
- "Return of Bruce Wayne" gets an honorable mention, but I did not dig the "different artist for different eras" thing it had going on with it.  Loved the story though...just not the total package I thought the other two choices were.

BEST FIND OF 2010
Cosmic Marvel

- So in the vein of the above category, let me tell you why reading the Cosmic Marvel books was the best find of 2010 for me.  Prior to 2009, I had never touched any Marvel cosmic books during these 20+ years.  No Infinity Gauntlet/War/Crusade, no Kree/Skrull War; if it weren't X-Men alien, it weren't part of my comic book vocab.  Well in recent years, my interest was piqued because of The Inhumans and their involvment with Quicksilver in "Son of M".  It carried over into "Secret War", "SI: Inhumans", and into "War/Realm of Kings".  I picked up the original Paul Jenkins/Jae Lee 12-ish "Inhumans" series, and desperately need to get the other Marvel Knights Inhumans books. So, since I was reading those, I decided to check out the other cosmic books as well since the whole "War of Kings" tied them all together.  Damn am I glad I did!  Annihilation, Nova, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Annihilation: Conquest were all amazing reads and the development of the characters in each was phenomenal.   Quasar, Moondragon, Nova, Groot....all awesome characters that I found myself wanting more of, and now hope that the Cosmic Marvel line doesn't fade away with the finish of "Thanos Imperative".

BEST INDIVIDUAL ISSUE
The Walking Dead #79

- Do you have any idea how hard it is to pick out one issue from the hundreds of comics I have read this year??? Hell, how hard it is to remember every comic I read this year?  Thankfully the internet saves the day!!!  So why did I pick this issue of Walking Dead?  Read the story, read the last two pages, the last two pages damn near sum up the feeling of the entire series, especially the last panel of Page 23.  The way the two running stories of this issue slam into one another in the end amazed me, the conversation between Aaron & Douglas going along with the zombie culling, all the interpersonal action between various characters, (Rick & Carl for example), and the way the issues sends you off into "No Way Out", this was one comic that stuck with me this year like few others did.  A special mention goes out to Amazing Spider-Man #617 & #625 as well as Batman & Robin #14.

BEST STORY ARC
Batman & Robin: "Batman & Robin Must Die" (Issues 13-15)

- As a fan obsessive with anything Grant Morrison-related, and also obssesive with Batman-related material, it shouldn't come as a surprise that something Grant wrote for Batman is my favorite story of the year.  "Must Die" was a culmination ALMOST every major plot thread Morrison had been laying out since "Batman & Son" started several years earlier.  There's still a lot left for the fallout story in #16, as well as "Return of Bruce Wayne", but with the Joker and his meeting with Damian, Dr. Hurt, Prof. Pyg, the whole Mexican Train deal, the mystery box, hell even how it ties back in to "Dark Knight, Dark City" from 1990, this story arc is a wonderful example of Grant's writing.  Even the art by Frazer Irving, someone I didn't like much before this, was something to behold...perfect for this arc.  Some complain that Morrison's stories can be too dense, but I like his philosophy of challenging the reader and the "why should it be easy" approach he takes to these elongated story arcs.  Hardcover collection comes out May 11, 2011......

BEST SERIES
Batman & Robin

- May as well keep it going with the Grant love.  This was, without a doubt, the series I looked forward to the most every month...or rather, every 6-8 weeks with the schedule it kept.  But seriously, as soon as we got thru the "Red Hood Returns" arc, it was smooth sailing.  "Blackest Knight" laid the foundation for the rest of 2010 by officially stating that the corpse found in "Final Crisis" was not that of Bruce Wayne, rather a clone, and the search was on!  "Batman vs. Robin" set Dick, Damian, and Alfred on a quest to find the clues leading them to Bruce's location as well as established Oberon Sexton's arrival, saw Talia try to play Damian like a literal puppet, and the last page reveal of Sexton's true identity left me with my jaw on the ground.  Didn't see it coming, but it made perfect sense and all the clues were there when I read it all back.  And finally the concluding "Must Die" arc that I addressed above brought a sense of closure to this volume of Grant's Batman run as well as laid the foundation for the future of the line.  Unfortunately, B&R isn't closing out the year quite as strong as it spent the rest of it, Paul Cornell & Scott McDaniel aren't setting my world on fire by any means, but that may be in large part to the act they had to follow.  It's not bad necessarily, but it's hard to follow Grant's run .

BEST WRITER
Grant Morrison

- "Batman & Robin", "Joe The Barbarian", "Batman Inc.", "18 Days"....that's quite a year for the man who's brain spawned "The Invisibles", the best "Doom Patrol", "The Filth", and "New X-Men", among other ground breaking books.  A year spent steering the direction of one of DC's flagship characters, a maxi-series centered around a kid with diabetes and his amazing fantasy world, and a hardcover book detailing the Hindu creation myth (this one I just picked up, haven't read yet).  I may have missed something, but the Batman work is what defined 2010 for Grant and, while confusing for some, set a new standard for HOW a Batman story can be told.  "Batman Inc." seems to be steering the Bat-verse into a whole new world, and a whole new style of writing for Grant as well, so I can't wait to see what 2011 brings for someone who has quite possibly become my favorite writer of all-time.  Special kudos go out to Geoff Johns & Matt Fraction!

BEST ARTIST
Ivan Reis

- Damn did I want to put JH Williams III down there!  Then I realized that, aside from the Batwoman #0 issue, there was no book in 2010 that I could use to justify it.  And it's not like I just discovered his art so I can't use that excuse either.  Well then here comes Ivan Reis who has completely tore it up on "Green Lantern" since "Blackest Night" ended.  This is definitive stuff as far as I'm concerned, and his depiction of characters (Atrocitus for one, Larfleeze for another) will be the standard by which every future depiction should be judged.  Hell, he made The Black Hand look like a badass!

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

- I have no idea how this was critcally accepted, I know it didn't make a whole lot of money, but damn it was a fun movie!  I hadn't read the source material prior to checking out the movie, so this was all new to me, and my immediate reaction was WHOAH!!!!  This is what happens when a comic book movie doesn't take itself too seriously, this is what happens when it doesn't feel like it has to play in some real world context...or rather, hyper-reality...like the Iron Man or Nolan Batman movies. Those play in a world as real as it can be when there's dudes flying around in suits of armor or crazy face painted guys somehow planting bombs on everything in sight, but Pilgrim doesn't give a damn about any of that.  People turn into money, there's extra lives when you die, and sub-space tunnels in your head that serve as highways.  To hell with Watchmen....THIS is the most "true to source" comic book movie I've ever seen.  I can't wait to go buy the blu-ray if it doesn't show up in my stocking.

BEST COMIC BOOK BASED TV SERIES
The Walking Dead

- Like there was another choice.  From the "straight from the comics" first episode to the giant explosion in the 6th episode, I felt like this series was a perfect capture of the general tone of the comic.  The hopelessness, the fear, the slowly eroding sense of civilization, it's all encompassed in the 6 episodes thus far.  Some people complain about certain comic book smoments not happening yet (Shane still breathing for example) or TV moments that didn't exist (The CDC visit for example), but I feel like everything has made sense given the pacing of the show.  If Shane had died already on the show, his "snap" would have seemed  abrupt and not naturally occuring.  Just as it makes perfect sense for the crew to go to the CDC in hopes of finding answers.  None may have been forthcoming, but that only enhances the feelings of despair as we head into a second season.  No one knows why this happened, not even the smartest people alive, and that is a scary fucking thought!  Season 2 can't come fast enough...

BEST ANIMATED MOVIE
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths/Batman: Under the Red Hood

- I couldn't pick one...I love them both!  As a huge mark for Jason Todd and Judd Winick's story, I was the most excited for Red Hood, but was blown away by the high quality of Crisis, especially the AWESOMENESS of James Woods as Owlman!  I think the overall excellence of the DC Animated Movies is exemplified by these two features so if you haven't seen them, go pick them up.  You won't be disappointed.  All Star Superman may steal the show in 2011 though...


BEST TOY OF 2010



MOST IMPROVED SERIES OF 2010
Red Robin

- There was a point where I seriously considered dropping this book. Now it has become my favorite of the tie-in books (BoP, Batgirl, and the like).  I wasn't feeling it in the beginning with the "Bruce is still alive" overtone because Tim's characterization seemed...out of character...but as the series progressed, and Fabian Nicieza dug his teeth in, it has become an top-shelf example of why Tim Drake is such a grand character.  He is the best of his predecessors all rolled into one...Dick, Jason, Bruce, Jack Drake, Ra's Al Ghul....he has learned from all the above and molded it into a character as hardcore as Bruce/Al Ghul but still with the capacity for fun that Dick holds close to his heart.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF 2010
Shadowland

- Read my blog about it...suffice to say: BLLLLAAAAARRRGGGGGHHHH!!!! 

BEST PUBLISHER
DC Comics

- I think that rates a DUH looking over everything I wrote above.  I don't think there was a single Marvel thing mentioned besides disappointment. Oh wait, I did give a nod to Fraction as one of my fave writers, and Uncanny X-Force as best new series...and the whole cosmic thing, so I guess I did bring up Marvel. 

Anyway, my deference to DC is not to say there's nothing good at Marvel, it's just that most of it is so average.  Nothing really blows my mind right now, nothing make me long for the next issue, even Uncanny X-Men which is the backbone of my comic book reading isn't on par with the DC books when it comes to excitement.  The books I loved the most (Captain America & Daredevil) did not have strong a 2010 to me, "The Trial of Captain America" is that books last chance for me honestly, and I'm not sure what my future with DD entails yet.  DC has put out great books in the GL world, in the Bat-World, Action Comics, The Flash, and more. 

Marvel feels like one never-ending company-wide crossover to me, further exacerbated by today's announcement of "Fear Itself".  They claim it's been a year since the last one, but what do you call "Chaos War"?  Maybe not line-wide, but there's a half-dozen mini's and one-shots that tie into it.  It's like saying "World War Hulk" or "House of M" weren't Marvel-wide crossovers.  Anyway, I'm also more excited about the future of DC comics with Batman Inc, Flashpoint, and War of the Lanterns.  Still, knowing comic book companies, Flashpoint & War of the Lanterns will somehow turn into DC-wide crossovers...


So there's my general thoughts on 2010 in comics.  Please feel free to leave me some feedback, I'm curious as to what others think about the year in comics!