This was a pretty down year for comics, to be honest. Both company’s events spin on the side of total boredom to mind-blowing weirdness to the point its unclear exactly what is going on. Though what is funny is Secret Invasion seemed to try so damn hard, really hard, to make it very clear what was going on it got to such a point where all they did for a number of issues was repeat itself. Where in Final Crisis, next to nothing was explained. The fact that Grant Morrison wastes no time trying to explain a bit, which is down right Mamet like, according to Kevin Church. And it is scatter-brained, but that’s why I like it. Because Morrison is so weird and all over the place it makes you pay attention rather than be bored to tears and saying: we’ve covered this-we get it. Why is this series eight issues again?
So, let’s get this party started. The best mini-series was Umbrella Academy. I liked the series so much I decided to give writer Gerard Way’s music a try, and, yeah, he shouldn’t make music. Not while Billy Corgan is still alive and can claim plagiarism. Though his skills as a writer are fully formed, he borrows from familiar elements like Doom Patrol, but people have borrowed from other literary elements in comics to develop their own work. So if you don’t read the book because you think it’s a blatant rip-off of Morrison’s run on Doom Patrol, then honestly you’re a shallow person because you’re missing out on something that is really original and beautifully done. Dave Stewart colors Gabriel Ba in what is probably Ba’s breakout hit (if Casanova didn’t get people paying attention than this series definitely does and this is confirmed by his Eisner win). The art is just breath-taking with a weird, arcane, almost MTV Music video feel to the characters in their matching uniforms flying around and destroying living Eifel Towers and what-have-you. If anything that’s what I do not like about the series is it seems too much like a MTV music video, but that’s really small peas to be honest. Because of this series, Gabriel Ba is my artist of the year.
The best continuing series is Casanova. Seriously, the second volume of this series really broke wide open. Changing it up from Gabriel Ba to his twin brother Fabio Moon, and from the lush green colors to somber blue, this book could be the most fun and most original book put out there. Everything about it breaks new ground. From the 16 pages given to tell a story, to the expressive art that in no way feels restrained by the strict Slimline format. What really gets me is the growth on Matt Fraction’s part. I’ve been a fan of his since Five Fists of Science came out and when he broke out with this series I’ve been rooting for him to do well since. Marvel snatched him and he’s done work on Punisher War Journal, Immortal Iron Fist, Invincible Iron Man, Thor and now Uncanny X-Men. The thing about Fraction is he is such a kinetic writer, there is a boat load of energy in every word he puts on a page, and that works so well with kinetic artists like (Ba, Moon, and David Aja), but takes a big hit when you have very dry photo centric art that he’s been plagued with at Marvel (see: Greg Land, Ariel Olivetti, and Salvador Larocca). However, it seems now he’s managed to overcome that obstacle with Iron Man and his storytelling has been able to overcome the really boring art by Larocca. Because of this fact, Fraction is my writer of the year.
The best superhero book of the year is, overall, the Green Lantern books. What convinced me of this idea was the Sinestro Corps War event, which was the event of the year. Just downright fucking incredible, the scope and size of the Green Lantern universe is a universe within a universe in DC Comics. With all sorts of interesting characters with different belief systems and then you have your in with the human Green Lanterns: Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner. The four of them individually are fascinating: Hal is the beacon of human heroism, Kyle is the artist, John is the military man and Guy is the wild card. Think about an entire line of different alien species with such attention to detail with their characters, unique looks and a battle that spans the stars. Tack on Sinestro as a intergalactic Hitler out to cleanse the universe, recruiting the Anti Monitor, Superboy(man? Whatever)-Prime, and other notable bad asses made that entire event kick ass. Written by DC masterminds Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi, drawn by the excellent Ivan Reis who drew one of the best fist fights I’ve ever seen in a comic, combine it with Patrick Gleason who draws a space battle like no one can and you have a bad ass pair of books.
The team book of the year is End League. Starting with Rick Remender, who is easily one of the most prolific indy creators and someone who is going to bust open the mainstream comics line in 2009. But I feel like people write that about him all the time, in the kind of way that Matt Fraction did a year and half ago. Though I really truly believe that to be true, this year. This is a team book to end all team books, its like the final journey of the Justice League in a post-apocalyptic world where the bad guys have won and the good guys are dying in every issue. I mean, by the second issue they kill off the Superman archetype character and every issue since has been another nail in the coffin of this team of archetypes. Its like Remender’s commentary on mainstream superhero teams and their last battle. This series started out with the incomparable Mat Broome on art, and then moved to Eric Canete. The difference in style could have been really jarring, but these two artists do something so different, they manage to transform Remender’s mission and display a different things about this journey that Remender is taking us on in a time of no hope.
The best original series was Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly’s Local. This was an intensely personal series for me. We follow Meghan and a couple of others in her travels around the U.S. For someone who has lived and spent many years in many places with different crops of people, this series really spoke to that side of me. The side that still questions where I’m from. Am I from New York City? Or New Jersey? Or Connecticut? Or Lake Placid? I say Lake Placid because of the most good memories and good friends and this book spoke to that idea. Why I waited this long is because of that gorgeous hardcover collecting the entire series.
Happy New Year to all of you folks. Thanks for tuning into my little spot on the comics blogosphere. See you on the other side!
