By Zack Quaintance — The first month of the year has been a bit of a comedown for the direct market, which rushed out all the product it could for Christmas/the end of the year, with December 18 ranking as the busiest day for new release comics I can remember in many many years. It was, to be quite frank, a nice laid-back way to start the year. That said! There was quite a bit of good stuff, with strong continuations for the new line of X-Men comics as well as plenty of creator-owned excellence.

Let’s check it out!

Quick Hits

First things first, a number of the new Dawn of X comics had their best issues since they debuted. Marauders #6 and X-Force #6 both delivered mightily on those series’ potential. Meanwhile, X-Men had a pair of great issues, each as disparate as every entry in this series has been to date. We’ll get into #4 lower, but for now, I’ll just say that I loved how X-Men #5 so directly referenced ideas from Powers of X. 

Oh, and every time we get a Jonathan Hickman/Rod Reis New Mutants in space issue, it’s wonderful. That was certainly the case with New Mutants #5.

Speaking of wonderful, Legion of Super-Heroes #3 continues that book’s ongoing delivery of the promise of that franchise. I’ve written this up and down the web, but a franchise with a bunch of wacky powered teens making quips is just such a perfect fit for writer Brian Michael Bendis. And artist Ryan Sook is amazing as always.

Meanwhile, the best fantasy book in all of comics returned with Monstress #25. This is one of those stories I’m already excited to revisit, even though it’s not done yet. 

I was curious what would become of Black Hammer after the main farm story ended, but Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy #2 is further proof it’s just fine. Also, Tonci Zonjic is one of the best artists working in comics today.

Speaking of the best artists in comics, Jenna Cha has been a revelation of late. See, specifically, Black Stars Above #3.

Wonder Twins #11 has an ending montage with a shared soliloquy that is among writer Mark Russell’s best work in a superhero comic, so good it reminded me of his breakout book, The Flintstones.

Finally, Wasted Space #13 was just excellent (and would have cracked our main list if not for a pair of excellent finales plus another title penned by writer Michael Moreci). I continue to marvel at how this book has established such a versatile tone, one capable of humor, deep philosophy and very personal honest introspection. 

Best Comics of January 2020

5. X-Men #4
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Leinil Francis Yu
Inkers: Gerry Alanguilan & Leinil Francis Yu
Colorist: Sunny Gho
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: X-Men
Through its first three issues, X-Men was a lighter set of anthology stories, tied (of course) to the HoX/PoX mini-series that upended and rebuilt the X-Men status quo. They gave us the Summers Family Adventures, with clever concepts such as a green terrorism group based in a retirement community called Hordeculture. Each chapter has had a singular plot and tone, as if the creative team were just having fun playing in the House of X that the 12-issues this summer built to much acclaim. Well, in X-Men #4 matters get a bit more serious. In this issue, we see the newly-established mutant order meet with the rest of the world, complete with tense negotiations, a background battle to get at them, and a clearer indication of the conflicts that we can expect the main narrative of these new X-Comics to explore moving forward. It’s a bit of a tense thriller and a bit of a mission statement for those books overall, and it’s a great read.

4. The Mask: I Pledge Allegiance to the Mask #4
Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Artist: Patric Reynolds
Colorist: Lee Loughridge
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
As I wrote when recommending this book the week it came out, I had never read a Mask comic until a few months ago and was only vaguely aware of the franchise as something that had sprung from the comics medium. This series, however, blew me away from start to finish, and the finale cements it as one of the best pieces of satire in any medium about our current political, um, situation, laying bear core ugliness of this presidency by drawing a connection between it and the Mask character, who does exactly what he feels like at all times...and loudly. It’s a great connection, and I’ll close by sharing this link to a favorite panel from the book.

3. Ether: The Disappearance of Violet Bell #5
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: David Rubin
Colorist: David Rubin
Letterer: David Rubin
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
This issue marks the finale for its third and final series, and it’s incredibly satisfying. Ether has been one of the most consistently imaginative comics since its first season (so to speak) made its debut back in 2016. The artwork is consistently rich with imaginative aesthetics and concepts, which is perhaps fitting given that the Ether of this story is the actual land from which mankind’s creativity and imagination springs. While I’ve found the wanderings of main character Boone Dias through this land fascinating enough on an episodic basis, for me the beating heart of this book has long been the idea that Dias sacrificed his life as a normal human (as well as his relationship with his family), in order to be lost in this land, almost as if it were an addiction he was helpless to kick. I won’t spoil what happens here, but I will say the end was perfect, as tragic as it was moving, and both writer Matt Kindt and artist/colorist/letterer David Rubin should be quite proud of all they accomplished with this comic and this story.

2. The Plot #4
Writers: Tim Daniel & Michael Moreci
Artist: Joshua Hixson
Colorist: Jordan Boyd
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Vault Comics
I often get asked what I’m reading, comics-wise, and I often stumble around and don’t have a good answer. This year, however, I’ve just straight up told people that my favorite new thing I’m reading is The Plot, which is 100 percent true. This comic arrived last year fully-formed and confident, and it has proceeded to take readers on a deliberate journey through a creepy old house that serves as a metaphor for family history and the dark baggage we all carry with us, for the parts of our past that we think we’ve outrun, only to see it return and torment us a new. This issue was perhaps the best individual chapter since the debut, although I should note that this all flows together so well that it’s hard to qualify that.

1. Ice Cream Man #17
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Old Neon
Publisher: Image Comics
FULL REVIEW
This was yet another masterful issue for the best series in comics, just a notch below Ice Cream Man #6, the neapolitan issue. In this issue, the creative team delivers what on the surface looks like a straight-forward Superman parody, but below the surface, readers find one of the sharpest modern commentaries I’ve seen in any medium, one that involves superheroes, messianic hero worship, and questions about why we all want to find an individual hero to embrace so badly. Read. This. Comic.

Read more great comics best of lists here!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.