By Zack Quaintance — Like I pointed out yesterday, current events have delayed this list a bit. That said, I’m still glad to share my picks for Best Comics of 2020, a year wherein singular and idiosyncratic titles really shone. That said, today’s list also starts to get into some more familiar IP, giving us a nice blend of new ideas with old ideas being executed in new ways.

Oh, and as I pointed out yesterday, I also used a set of rules last year to govern picks. I think they’re still pretty good. So once again, here they are:

• Check our other categories: We’ve written at length about many comics this year in our Staff Picks, Best Single Issues, and Best New Series lists. Also, later this week we’re posting Best Original Graphic Novels. So, check back for that one too!

• Monthly periodicals: We’ve got a webcomics column as well as a Kickstarter column coming this year, and we’re still looking for folks to cover manga (so hit us up if you’d like to write about manga for the site!). This list, however, is for monthly comics via the direct market.

• Longevity matters: Finally, choices here considered how many issues were published in 2020. This makes it harder to put debuts or series that wrapped early on our list, barring some exceptions. Basically, I’m looking for comics closely associated with 2020.

Best Comics of 2020 - #6 to #15 - Zack’s Picks

15. Billionaire Island
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Steve Pugh
Colorist: Chris Chuckry
Letterer: Rob Steen
Publisher: Ahoy Comics
Issues in 2020: 6
A savage satire reuniting the critically acclaimed team behind DC's The Flintstones, Mark Russell (Second Coming) and Steve Pugh (Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass), in an all-new creator-owned series! Welcome to Billionaire Island, where anything goes...if you can afford it. But the island's ultra-rich inhabitants are about to learn that their ill-gotten gains come at a very high price. Every AHOY comic also features extra prose stories and illustrations.
Why It’s Cool: This book saw two of the best (and funniest) satirists in all of comics reuniting after doing breakout work on a very smart, timely (I know!) take on The Flintstones. Where that book used the universalities of the past to make points about the way we live today, this one uses an extrapolation of the near future, driven to logical points by absurd wealth gaps. It’s a must read comic for 2020 and beyond.
Buy It Digitally: Billionaire Island

14. Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Tonci Zonjic
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Issues in 2020: 4
Spiral City finds itself trapped in a vicious cycle of crime, corruption, and violence. With the heart of the city at stake, a vigilante rises in Skulldigger. However, when the nefarious Grimjim escapes from prison, will Skulldigger and his ward, Skeleton Boy, be enough to save Spiral City?
Why It’s Cool: Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy had a big job to do when it’s first issue launched at the tail end of 2019. It was the first series to debut after the main Black Hammer storyline had sort of run its course, or at least concluded for a time. Without that driving force, Skulldigger had to stand on all its own. And in 2020 that’s exactly what it did, using the sheer excellence of Tonci Zonjic’s phenomenal artwork to sort of guarantee readers that the future of Black Hammer was still bright, and that the level of comics craft in these books would carry things forward.
Buy It Digitally: Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy

13. November
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Elsa Charretier
Colorist: Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer: Kurt Ankeny
Publisher: Image Comics
Issues in 2020: 2 oversized hardcovers
The lives of three women intersect in a dark criminal underground. As fire and violence tears through their city over the course of a single day and night, they find that their lives are bound together by one man—who seems to be the cause of it all.
Why It’s Cool: November was another phenomenal display of comics craftsmanship, releasing as it did not one but two over-sized hardcovers totaling almost 150 pages in brilliant comics. The story in this book is great, but what’s perhaps most for sale here is the visual storytelling chops on display at all levels of production from the script to the art to the colors and letterers. It’s a real tour de force in what our beloved medium is capable of, and it’s a must-buy for all who love strong graphic sequential stories.
Buy It Digitally: November

12. Far Sector
Writer: N.K. Jemisin
Artist: Jamal Campbell
Letterer: Deron Bennett
Publisher: DC Comics - Young Animal
Issues in 2020: 7
N.K. Jemisin, the acclaimed, award-winning author of The Broken Earth and Inheritance science fiction trilogies, makes her comic book debut with bestselling Naomi artist Jamal Campbell as they thrust you into a stunning sci-fi murder mystery on the other side of the universe!
Why It’s Cool: Simply put, Far Sector is unlike any superhero comic I’ve yet read. It’s more of a visual narrative experience that you sort of have to let just wash over you, taking its twists and tone-setting moments as they come while appreciating the big ideas from visionary sci-fi/fantasy novelist N.K. Jemisin and rising star artist Jamal Campbell. There’s no predictable trajectory to the stories in this comic, and that’s a very special thing in the world of corporate-held comics IP.
Buy It Digitally: Far Sector

11. Action Comics / Superman
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: Ivan Reis, John Romita Jr., and others
Inker: Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, Klaus Janson, and others
Colorists: Alex Sinclair and others
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: DC Comics
Issues in 2020: 20+
A bold new chapter for the greatest superhero of all time begins here as the superstar team of writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Ivan Reis begin their run on the all-new SUPERMAN! The fallout from the Man of Steel miniseries has Clark Kent looking at the world through new eyes...with new ideas about what Superman could and should do for the city of Metropolis and the planet Earth.
Why It’s Cool: I have absolutely loved writer Brian Michael Bendis’ time on the Superman family of titles from start to finish, and this year saw that run, sadly, come to a conclusion. Still, it ended in a fun and satisfying way, one that felt like both new ground for the character as well as true to his true tenants. I’ll miss Bendis’ Superman, although I’m excited to see what the veteran superhero writer does in 2021 with his forthcoming run on Justice League.
Buy It Digitally: Superman

10: The Dreaming - Waking Hours
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Nick Robles
Colorist: Mat Lopes
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: DC Comics - Black Label
Issues in 2020: 5
A new chapter in the Sandman saga begins with an all-new miniseries populated by faces both familiar and new! The Sandman Universe is changing-and Hugo and World Fantasy award-winning writer G. Willow Wilson (Wonder Woman, Ms. Marvel, The Bird King) and breakout artist Nick Robles (Euthanauts) are here to welcome you!
Why It’s Cool: How good was The Dreaming - Waking Hours? So good that it got extended from a miniseries to an ongoing during a time when that’s the last thing in the world DC Comics seems to want to do. So good that it made it into the Top 10 of my Best Comics of 2020 list, despite only releasing 5 issues this past year. So good that I think all of you out there who read and loved the classic series Sandman, owe it to yourselves to read this book as well. It’s that good.
Buy It Digitally: The Dreaming - Waking Hours

9. John Constantine - Hellblazer
Writer: Dan Watters
Artist: Aaron Campbell
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Publisher: DC Comics - Black Label
Issues in 2020: 10
John Constantine is back in London, back to his old tricks-and just in time, as things have become very dark indeed in his old stomping grounds.
Why It’s Cool: I know I know, I just made a point in the last entry about a comic being so good that it’s run was extended. Now, I’m about to tell you that John Constantine Hellblazer was the best run on its titular character in many many years, and yet it was still ended unceremoniously at issue 12, thereby noting that comics is rarely a meritocracy and undoing part of what I argued above. Sigh. I don’t know what to tell you, but just know that this really was a phenomenal run of 12 issues about Constantine, 10 of which came out in 2020 making both its existence and unfortunate ending a big part of the year’s story.
Buy It Digitally: John Constantine - Hellblazer

8. Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Steve Lieber
Colorist: Nathan Fairbairn
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: DC Comics
Issues in 2020: 6
Jimmy Olsen must die! Wait, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Jimmy Olsen lives! Superman's best friend and Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen tours the bizarre underbelly of the DC Universe in this new miniseries featuring death, destruction, giant turtles and more! It's a centuries-spanning whirlwind of weird that starts in Metropolis and ends in Gotham City. And then we kill Jimmy.
Why It’s Cool: Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen is a towering, triumphant tribute to superhero comics irreverence, played out across page after page of razor-sharp witty humor from two of the best in the business — writer Matt Fraction and artist Steve Lieber. It’s a love letter to the goofy Silver Age of Superman comics played out in a way that makes sense for 2020. It’s amazing, and all deep superhero fans (especially those who are well-aware of the business-heavy cyclical nature of the stories) should read it.
Buy It Digitally: Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen

7. Wasted Space
Writer: Michael Moreci
Artist: Hayden Sherman
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Vault Comics
Issues in 2020: 6
"Billy Bane is a prophet who got it all wrong, and the galaxy has been burning ever since. All he wants is to waste away in the darkest corner of space with his best pal Dust, a supercharged Fuq bot. But when a new prophet comes calling, Billy is summoned to save the galaxy he's at least partially responsible for destroying. Too bad he couldn't care less."
Why It’s Cool: Wasted Space remains the best space opera in comics, but more than that, it’s a versatile good time that really takes advantage of all the medium has to offer, from imaginative visual storytelling to platforms for witty dialogue writing, be it in the service of a philosophical monologue or a hilarious back and forth. This book is now well into its run, and it just keeps getting better. The issues the team put out this year are among some of the finest comics Vault has published, which is really saying a lot.
Buy It Digitally: Wasted Space

6. Lazarus Risen
Writer: Greg Rucka
Artist: Michael Lark
Colorist: Santi Arcas
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: Image Comics
In a dystopian near-future government is a quaint concept, resources are coveted, and posession is 100% of the law. A handful of Families rule, jealously guarding what they have and exploiting the Waste who struggle to survive in their domains. Forever Carlyle defends her family's holdings through deception and force as their protector, their Lazarus. Shot dead defending the family home, Forever's day goes downhill from there.
Why It’s Cool: Quite honestly, Lazarus Risen was one more issue away from landing a spot in the Top 5. We only got two over-sized issues from the creators this year, both of which were excellent, as the rest of the series has been since it’s start. What I’ve come to admire more as the book has gone on is how Rucka and Lark have made this story of near-dystopia and fighting machine assasins so intensely character-driven. With all the visionary sci-fi going on, it would be easy to rest on that, but they continue to make it so much deeper and more engaging.
Buy It Digitally: Lazarus Risen

Check out my picks for the Best Comics of 2020, #16 to #25!

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