By Zack Quaintance — While the debut issues in October probably got more attention, there were also some significant conclusions last month, too. First of hall the Jonathan Hickman-mastermined House of X / Powers of X combo finished its drastic and visionary reinvention of the X-Men line of comics (you know, the one basically everyone is talking about), which paved the way for all those Dawn of X reviews.

But more significantly, among our Best Comics of October 2019, you will find These Savage Shores #5. We’ll talk more about this below, of course, but few comics have left a stronger impression on our committee (of one) in recent years. These Savage Shores ending put an exclamation point on one of the most artful series in recent years, and we can’t wait for more readers to discover it via trade.

But more on that with the rest of our picks below...

Quick Hits

Once and Future #2 and Something is Killing the Children #2 are two very different comics, but they are both representative of the great creator-owned stuff happening at BOOM! Studios right now.

Juan Doe’s Bad Reception #3 continues to impress with its mix of timely ideas and experimental storytelling. 

DCeased #6 ended yet another mini-series where writer Tom Taylor takes a truly terrible idea and turns it to absolute gold, largely in this case through his excellent understanding of DC’s characters.

Yet again I am just utterly blown away by the visuals in Tommy Gun Wizards #3, courtesy of Sami Kivela and Dee Cunniffee (who gets a color assist from series writer Christian Ward). 

Everything #2 gets this month’s award for comic that did the most things to my brain that I liked but don’t quite understand (incidentally this is the first time I’ve given out that award). 

Few comics this year have felt as fully-formed upon arrival as The Plot, and I was happy to see this month that The Plot #2 felt as strong as the debut issue.

No One Left to Fight #4 sets the stage for all the relationship drama threads in this joyous romp to explode. This book is a strong candidate for sleeper hit of the year, too.

Queen of Bad Dreams #5 wraps up a great comic about the nature of dreams and reality, complete with alternatingly fantastical and scary artwork to compliment.

And Usagi Yojimbo reminds us yet again that this book is the solid rock of comics, always so so reliably good.

Best Comics of October 2019

5. Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #4
Writers: Gerard Way and Jeremy Lambert
Artist: Nick Pitarra
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: DC Comics - Young Animal
Oh, this book is just such a treat, even more so when the guest artist is a towering visual talent like artist Nick Pitarra, complimented here wonderfully by colorist Tamra Bonvillain. This issue was a blast, taking place as it did on a muscle beach planet, which allowed the creators and the story to play with ideas of masculinity, vanity, and ego in such a cheeky and entertaining way.

Really, this whole second series of Young Animal Doom Patrol comics has felt like it’s being made by a bunch of folks who are having a ton of fun (a great thing in comics when the levity of the medium starts to show through in the work). The concept behind this title since it came to the Gerard Way-helmed Young Animal imprint was to sort of modernize usual Doom Patrol weirdness and take it to unpredictable places. In the new series, it feels like a decision has been made to not even think about how the work is received and just do whatever strikes the involved parties’ creative fancies, which is great and I love it. 

4. House of X #6
Writer: Jonathan Hickman
Artist: Pepe Larraz
Colorist: Marte Garcia and David Curiel
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Jonathan Hickman and co. really stuck the landing with the big mutant Yay we got a cool new status quo! party in House of X #6. Another way to say all of that is maybe, Come for the high-concept sci-fi reimagining but stay for the fireworks and post-arc mutant sex party! This whole HoX/PoX thing has been really impressive and welcome, but I think my favorite part of it is how the creators are keenly-aware that it hasn’t been all that easy to be an X-Fan in the past decade or so.

With these new comics, they are pretty clearly setting out to reward us for the however many years we spent in the X-Wilderness, wondering if our favorite teams and characters and ideas would ever escape the corporate Marvel doghouse. Well, now they have, and everyone involved with the characters is clearly working hard to make up for lost time. One of the best parts, to me, is that this is just the very beginning of a multi-year plan with several phases. And very few phrases really gets comic fans going like multi-year plan with several phases.

3. Ice Cream Man #15
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Old Neon
Publisher: Image Comics
I don’t mean to spoil any of our site content for later in the year (because I know everyone reading this is such a big fan of this blog that they’re already anticipating future posts...right?), but when it comes time to make our Best of 2019 lists (and that time is night, let’s face it), Ice Cream Man will do very very well. Issues like this are the reason why.

Like basically every issue of Ice Cream Man, this tell a self-contained horror story. At the same time, though, it also raises a number of existential questions through a vetting of very real fears about modern life. The end result is as honest and compelling of a long-form story (coherent mostly through ideas and tone) in any medium. I’ve heaped praise upon praise on this title, and I don’t plan to stop any time soon.

2. Immortal Hulk #25
Writer: Al Ewing
Artist: German Garcia with Joe Bennett and Ruy Jose (inker)
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran with Paul Mounts
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
There are a lot of strengths that have made Immortal Hulk the surprise breakout hit of the superhero comics world over the past two years, even at times improbably out-selling DC Comics’ Batman, which generally dominates sales charts. The concept is new yet true to the character, the writing and artwork feels perfectly in sync, and the story has done a wonderful job of pacing by patiently introducing the Hulk’s supporting players and traditional antagonist. However, one quality feels the most responsible for this title’s success, at least to me, and it’s on full display here in Immortal Hulk #25.

I’m talking about escalation. Every issue has methodically topped the one before it, giving this book a sense of building momentum. And it has been topping itself in really thrilling ways, deftly avoiding the trap that some comics (and many movie franchises) fall into where they just keep going with more and bigger things that the audience has already seen. October’s Immortal Hulk #25 is just such a perfect encapsulation of how this book tops itself in surprising ways, going to — I guess — an entire new plane of reality to give this story advanced meaning and stakes and impact. The superhero audience is largely well aware of how good this run is, but what still remains to be seen is how lasting its impact and influence will be in the years to come. 

1. These Savage Shores #5
Writer: Ram V.
Artist: Sumit Kumar
Colorist: Vittorio Astone
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Publisher: Vault Comics
These Savage Shores #5 is the finale of one of the most satisfying and artfully-told stories in recent comics history. This story was built on a passionate vision of the colonized reclaiming worlds and stories and mythos. It’s powerful powerful stuff, and the high level of craftmanship really lends it the gravitas it deserves. 

On its surface, These Savage Shores is a horror comic, but really it’s so much more. It’s a story about history, and love, and power structures, and intruders, and traditions, and doing what’s right, and confronting it all in a way that can spare you the vast damage inherent to conflict. There’s just so much going on in this story. I think the highest compliment I can pay it, however, is that I’ve rarely been so anxious to get a collected edition of a story that I can hold in my hands and read again and again and again. Kudos to all involved on a true storytelling achievement. 

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.