By Nick Couture — Good vibes. Bright colors. Hangin’ with the buds. This feels like No One Left to Fight at its core. It’s a pleasant romp through a gorgeous world heavily inspired by Saturday morning cartoons and anime. No One Left to Fight #2 smartly allows the relationships and dialog to take center stage as we learn more about Vale and the complex relationships with his friends.
Read MoreBy d. emerson eddy — There's been an interesting resurgence of stories recently that endeavor to tell the story of what happens after the happily ever after (or the opposite) at the end of a tale. Basically, filling in the what's next after the end of a story. Not as a sequel or a deconstructionist take on a particularly genre, but an attempt to explore what happens once the big fight, the big world-saving struggle, is over and there's seemingly a jarring absence of purpose. No One Left to Fight #1 embraces that literally in its title, as we're treated to the beginning of the story of what happens when a hero who has saved the world countless times realizes that there's no one left to fight.
Read MoreBy d. emerson eddy — There are many different kinds of horror. Some horror stories are straightforward monster tales, with a slasher out to get you. Others are more insidious, doling out terror via psychological means. Recently, there has been a push towards mixing the sub-genres, working through ideas and themes that are common across them, and presenting a more cerebral kind of horror, utilizing the things that go bump in the night to make you think about more of the existential terrors in your everyday life. Last Stop on the Red Line #1 appears to be one of those things.
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — This is a nice week for new comics, one in which the releases are mercifully a bit smaller in volume. This can perhaps be attributed to Free Comic Book Day taking place on Saturday. Publishers wisely got as much of their product as they could on shelves last week, so the hordes of FCBD attendees could scope it out and (hopefully) buy it.
Nevertheless! There are plenty of great choices for our Top Comics to Buy for May 8, 2019. This week’s group is headlined by…
Read MoreBy Zack Quaintance — She Could Fly, a four-issue miniseries that ran last year via Dark Horse Comics’ Berger Books imprint, had a somewhat tidy ending. At least in terms of the emotionality of its story arc. The premise of the book was very very good from the start: a mysterious woman flies through the sky randomly for weeks (like, legit flies), captivating the nation before one day bursting into flames. The series then follows the world’s reaction as filtered through a set of adjacent characters, including a…
Read MoreCalamity Kate #1 is out 3/13/2019.
By Zack Quaintance — Calamity Kate #1—from Magdalene Visaggio, Corin Howell, Valentina Pinto, and Zakk Saam—has a fantastic first page. You’ll see it should you decide to read this comic (which, I think you should), and you may have already seen it in previews, but I still want to take a moment to talk about how much I liked it here. The creative team does an excellent job pulling the audience’s gaze down through a set of five page-spanning horizontal panels, each one of which unveils a new detail about the titular heroine, Calamity Kate.
It gets the always tricky business of info dumping out of the way in a quick burst, in a way that doesn’t bog down its narrative once it gets going while still telling us most everything we need to know about our character, where she’s at now, and what she seems to want out of life. We learn she’s leaving alone, she’s been eating takeout, her dark apartment is covered in posters of monsters, she was married, she’s been divorced, she has swords, she has a leather jacket. Then at the very bottom, we get her mind state: I’m not dead, far from it.
By page three she’s jumping, teeth gritted and sword drawn at a giant monster, we know pretty much everything we need to be oriented as an audience, and the only reasonable reaction becomes, hell yes, let’s do this!
The intro was perhaps what stood out to me most, but the rest of the comic goes on to be great too. Between this book and Morning in America, writer Magdalene Visaggio continues to make a strong case that she’s one of the best (and most complex) dialogue writers in comics right now. When her characters talk to each other, there’s always a sense that what’s being communicated is a great deal more than what’s being literally said. You can feel strains in friendships, complex histories, and tiny agendas. It makes for well-realized characters and tons of additive interactions.
And it’s not always about the interactions. Sometimes the lines crackle with interesting juxtapositions (this one jumped out at me, I packed up, left my job, left my apartment, and drove west in an old continental and started hunting monsters). Another bit of very solid writing here is how the emphasis of the plot stays on Kate’s emotions. The opening was about her loneliness, first and foremost, with the book (wisely) waiting a bit longer to establish that she’s a famous monster hunter in a world where monsters have become a too-common disaster, not unlike wild fires or mass shootings. It’s a bold move, and it pays off excellently, grounding a genre story in the feelings of real people (my favorite).
Corin Howell, the artist for the series, is also having an ascendent year as a creator, having drawn other notable books like Girl in the Bay and Dark Red. On Calamity Kate, Howell is joined by colorist Valentina Pinto, and the result is what in my opinion is her best artwork yet. The lines are clean and sharp as all get out, and the visuals oscillate seamlessly from anguished quiet moments of honesty to a woman combating scaly drooling creatures with a katana. It all slows super well, and the flourishes really pop, driving the action and big emotional beats in equal parts.
Overall: A really well-done first issue, Calamity Kate is a tight and well-told story with a solid concept and great characters. Come for the famous monster-hunter living in Encino premise, but stay for the quiet look at honesty, friendship, and feeling alone. 9.0/10
Calamity Kate #1
Writer: Magdalene Visaggio
Artist: Corin Howell
Colorist: Valentina Pinto
Letterer: Zakk Saam
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
Astro Hustle #1 is out 3/6/2019.
By Zack Quaintance — Astro Hustle #1 from writer Jai Nitz, artist Tom Reilly, colorist Ursula Decay, letterer Crank!, and publisher Dark Horse Comics is the latest entry in already-crowded science fiction comicbook market. It’s a cosmic story, rather than the sort of sci-fi that hems closer to near-future or body horror or any other number of relatively more feasible concept. Within the broader segment of space-faring sci-fi comics, it’s more of the madcap variety, versus something more realistic, like, say Relay, a favorite of ours around these parts.
What’s perhaps most noticeable about this comic from the cover art on is the lush and vibrant color-palette deployed by Ursula Decay over Tom Reilly’s linework. This series is only four issues, so it may be around long enough to carve out this title, but if I had to guess, I’d say there’s a somewhat significant change that among its sci-fi comic breathern, Astro Hustle #1 could come to be known as the colorful one, at least as it pertains to the artwork.
The story is perhaps another matter. The sense of humor and the pacing of the action are both perhaps more like Wasted Space (another major sci-fi comic favorite of this website’s) than anything else on the shelves, although Astro Hustle lacks the philosophical bend of that book. One of the more distinctive story interests in Astro Hustle is a definite and apparent interest in being sexy, although Lion Forge’s Infinity 8 probably lays a more direct claim to the title of sexiest sci-fi modern sci-fi book (jeez, there are a lot of sci-fi comics!). Indeed, right on the first page this comic has major shot of booty and one lover summoning another (both of them scantily clad) to bed. It doesn’t work out well for them, but it does set a bit of a tone.
The final quality that works to set Astro Hustle apart somewhat from the horde of sci-fi competition is a 17th or 18th century aesthetic, distinct and shinier than the one to be found in the soon-to-conclude Cemetary Beach (seriously, there are a ton of sci-fi comics these days...and all the ones we’ve named here have launched within the past 12 months!). I thought the character and vessel designs in this book were among the top-tier most imaginative, so much so that I intend to finish the rest of this series based on the merits of the visuals alone. They’re interesting and eclectic, and I really don’t think I can get enough of them.
Anyway, so those are the elements I found (relatively) unique to Astro Hustle. The question for a review then becomes, how well do they all come together? And, perhaps more importantly, is this comic worth picking up amid the sea of other science fiction titles vying for consumer dollars and the all-important free reading time? For the first question, the seemingly-disparate elements at work in Astro Hustle do cohere nicely. Nitz’s script is confident in the way it calls for them all to exist in the same world together—the pirates and space lovers and oppressive robots—portraying it all in a way that never once begs a question about whether they can or should all exist. It’s effective.
As for the second question, well, I think it depends. I’ll be reading the entirety of this series (to be above aboard, I’ve read Astro Hustle #2 and Astro Hustle #3, and the series keeps improving), and I have no issue recommending it in full to someone looking for a fairly uncomplicated space opera romp. The introduction to the book’s protagonist is a little less than ideal (it comes almost halfway through the first issue), but once you get yourself oriented within this world, it’s hard not to find it charming.
Overall: Astro Hustle #1 is yet another solid entry in an already-crowded sci-fi comics market. Colorful and kinetic and even a little bit sexy, this book should offer a great time to folks in search of a relatively uncomplicated space opera romp. 8.0/10
Astro Hustle #1
Writer: Jai Nitz
Artist: Tom Reilly
Colorist: Ursula Decay
Letterer: Crank!
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
By Zack Quaintance — At the risk of sounding repetitive, this first Wednesday of the month has really morphed into a monstrosity of great new comics. So much so that I’ve once again extended our usual top five picks to six. Hey, more content’s a good thing, right? Anyway, I could have also easily extended it to seven or eight or nine. It really pained me to cut great titles for this upcoming Wednesday like Doomsday Clock #9, Immortal Hulk #14, and Justice League #19.
But I figure pretty close to most everyone has their mind made up about those comics at this point, so why not shed some light on lesser-known books that are still in their early stages? I’m thinking specifically here of the creator-owned comic Self/Made, which continues to shock me with the high quality of both the its stories and ideas. It’s really turning into something special, the type of book I find myself reading toward the top of the stack each week and coming away shocked at where the story seems to be headed.
Anyway, on to the comics!
*PICK OF THE WEEK*
Die #4 (read our full review!)
Writer: Kieron Gillen
Artist: Stephanie Hans
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
"FANTASY HEARTBREAKER," Part Four-Our heroes reach the civilization of Glass Town and do what heroes have always done upon reaching civilization. As in, go to the pub. As it's DIE, you can guess people don't exactly get happy drunk.
Why It’s Cool: We’ll have a more detailed and thoughtful review of this comic later this week, but let me just say here that this is the best issue yet of a series that has been fantastic from its start. This is the smoothest and most immersive issue of Die so far, which I attribute to the previous three issues having done such great work toward familiarizing us with these well-realized characters. With so much of that work behind the story now, the creators are free in this comic to really hit some deep (and troublesome in the best way) emotional beats. Don’t miss this issue; don’t miss this book.
Age of X-Man: Prisoner X #1 (of 5)
Writer: Vita Ayala
Artist: German Peralta
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $3.99
ENTER THE AGE OF X-MAN!
In the Age of X-Man, when you break the law, you aren't sent to just any prison. You're sent to the Danger Room...a penitentiary filled with the roughest and meanest mutants that don't fit into X-Man's utopia. They each have a reason for being there. And they're all ready to kill each other. But that's about to change, because the newest prisoner just arrived...Lucas Bishop!
Why It’s Cool: It’s a great combination of concept, creators, and character, with those respectively being the well-conceived and intricate Age of X-Man alternate universe, writer Vita Ayala (one of our favorite rising stars within the industry), and Bishop, always an underrated (if convoluted) X-Man. Seriously, Ayala has just been doing fantastic work lately, be it their superhero book for Valiant Livewire, the creator-owned Submerged, or the installment of the recent Marvel Knights mini-series that focused on T’Challa. These have all just been stunning comics, and we’re expecting nothing less from the Prisoner X miniseries, which follows Bishop into the underbelly of what is shaping up to be an Orwellian faux-utopia of an alternate universe.
Green Arrow #50
Writers: Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing
Artist: Javier Fernandez
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Andworld Design
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $4.99
Spinning out of the events of JUSTICE LEAGUE: NO JUSTICE and HEROES IN CRISIS! When a black ops organization discovers Green Arrow's long-held secret-a mysterious weapon in the form of a box, given to him by the Justice League-they'll deploy their top undercover agent: Black Canary! On opposite sides of this festering secret, Green Arrow and Black Canary will clash as only two lovers can-by aiming straight for the heart! A mystery six months in the making, the box that can destroy the Justice League will be opened...and the Emerald Archer's world will be forever changed. This extra-sized anniversary issue of Green Arrow's life isn't just ending...it's burning to the ground!
Why It’s Cool: This if the finale of one of the quintessential Rebirth books, and it’s also what is quite possibly the last book headlined by the Emerald Archer that we’re likely to get in sometime, what with DC Comics very public intent to keep its publishing line at the slightly reduced level we’ve seen in recent months. The writing team of Kelly and Lanzing are perhaps the best choice for this job too. As I believe Kelly outlined fairly recently online, the duo had a fairly elaborate plan for a 50 issue run that would get to the core of one my personal favorite characters. We’re obviously not getting that, but look for them to give us a truly epic send off that packs in as much action and as many of their ideas from that outline as is feasible. Savor it, too, I know I will. Also, we’ll (sort of) get an answer to the question from No Justice, the natural one that came up when J’onn gave Ollie a box he said was capable of stopping the entire league...
The Green Lantern #5
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Liam Sharp
Colorist: Steve Oliff
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
"Blackstar at Zenith!" Hal Jordan has abandoned the Green Lantern Corps to join the Blackstars! But to do so, he'll need to convince their leader, Countess Belzebeth, and pass an initiation test. Which means he must survive a series of trials on the vampire planet Vorr, whose entire population wants to feast upon him! It's cosmic goth at its bloodiest...with a cliffhanger that's even bloodier!
Why It’s Cool: This run has been fantastic from start to finish, and this issue keeps it going. As promised by the creative team before the book even launched, The Green Lantern has been a series of quisi self-contained space cop procedurals. This issue builds on all that has come before while telling yet another compelling story built upon some of the key qualities and continuity bits that define Green Lantern. Also, as anyone who follows artist Liam Sharp will surely attest, the detail and imagination in the artwork he’s previewed for this comic has just been astounding, somehow even better than the tremendous heights he’s reached in earlier chapters. Think about it too long, and it will blow your mind as thoroughly as Morrison and Sharp seem hell-bent on doing.
Self/Made #4
Writer: Mathew Groom
Artist: Eduardo Ferigato
Colorist: Marcelo Costa
Color Flats: Mariana Cali
Letterer: A Larger World Studios’ Troy Peteri
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
"THE 'TA-DA' MOMENT": Amala has made it to our world-and she is distinctly unimpressed. What's a girl with a new robot body and some pent-up rage to do? Paint the town red.
Why It’s Cool: Simply put, because this is the best comic I’ve read in I don’t know how long that rushes head first at the central questions of life itself. That’s maybe being a little dramatic, but this really has quickly turned into a story with a lot to say about creation. In this issue, we also get some really clever interplay between characters that’s analogous to that between child and parents, plus a tour de force visual journey through a near-future version of Sydney, Australia, along with the now-standard breakneck plotting that’s come to define the book. This is yet another major surprise from Image Comics in the past year or so that more readers should be talking about. I get that you might not be familiar with these creators, but you’re doing yourself a disservice by sleeping on this book.
Astro Hustle #1 (read our full review!)
Black Hammer ‘45 #1 (read our full review!)
Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History #1
Domino Hotshots #1
Meet the Skrulls #1
Morning in America #1 (read our full review!)
Ronin Island #1
Six Million Dollar Man #1
A Walk Through Hell #8
Batman #66 (read our full review!)
Blossoms 666 #2
Cemetary Beach #7
Doomsday Clock #9
The Dreaming #7
Eclipse #13
Giant Days #48
Immortal Hulk #14
Justice League #19
Killmonger #5
Paper Girls #26
Red Sonja #2
Uncanny X-Men #13
Vindication #2
Young Justice #3
Check back to the site later this week for reviews of Astro Hustle #1, Batman #66, Uncanny X-Men #13, and more!
See our past top comics to buy here, and check our our reviews archive here.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
Invisible Kingdom #1 is due out 3/20/2019.
By Zack Quaintance — Invisible Kingdom #1, the new comic coming next month from writer G. Willow Wilson and artist Christian Ward, is perhaps the next evolution of the ongoing creator-owned sci-fi comic boom. A complex and weighty piece of work, the book uses Ward’s unique (and absolutely stunning) brand of psychedelic space art in tandem with Wilson’s ideas about societal foundations ranging from religion to commerce to forge ahead into new thematic territories. It’s not alone in doing this—Wasted Space and Relay both come to mind as close cousins to this comic—but in its debut issue, Invisible Kingdom seems to offer a new and perhaps more realistic sort of take on this genre.
Realistic is maybe not the right word, given the aliens and intergalactic travel and all of that, but there’s a level of intellectual seriousness here that makes this book stand out from other space epics. To be sure, there are plenty of serious sci-fi comics on the racks today, so that’s maybe also not the best word. There’s actually a panel on the second page that can maybe get this point across much better than I can struggling here with prose. In it, a crew on a space ship are attempting a trick maneuver in the service of some sort of cargo delivery and in weighing the merits of a tricky move, one character notes, But your company-sponsored liability insurance won’t cover—
There’s always that character on distressed sci-fi vessels, the C-3PO who’s fretting is designed to remind the audience exactly how implausible the heroics of braver protagonists are. That character, however, is usually exclaiming some sort of bonkers world-specific jargon or a quick throwaway joke. In Invisible Kingdom, that character reminds us of the ever-looming presence of economics. The book doesn’t apply this plausible lens to just economics, either.
Within its intriguing and aesthetically-powerful world, it gives us similar glimpses into religion, governance, and the way different species react to/treat one another. The end result is a relentlessly thoughtful comic, as well as a sense of narrative confidence that makes it easy to trust these uber talented creators from the book’s earliest pages.
Also, I’ve peppered compliments to Christian Ward’s artwork throughout this piece, but, and excuse me for this, I don’t think I’ve come anywhere close to doing Ward’s contributions justice. The best comics are such an alchemy of creative collaboration it can be tough to evaluate individual elements. This is certainly one of those books. Everything comes together seamlessly, and the end result is greater than the sum of its pieces. Ward’s artwork, however, is—to borrow an Internet phrase—next level good. There isn’t a bad-looking segment, page, or even panel in this entire comic. On the contrary, there are actually several that left me absolutely stunned (that word again!) when I passed over them.
The colors, the character designs, the facial expressions, the panel sizes and composition...it’s all so mind-bendingly luscious and just plain good. Ward has long been a talented psychedelic artist, lending massive talents most recently to Marvel’s Black Bolt. This book, though, has the trappings of a sequential art masterpiece. And for every smaller, detailed panel with a green-skinned character gritting their way through a challenge, there’s a subsequent splash that could be framed and hung on a wall somewhere in a hip loft apartment.
Story-wise, this is an advanced review so we have to tread carefully here, but I think it’s okay to divulge that there are a pair of plot concerns: one related to joining a religious order and another to embezzlement. This is a dense first issue that has to work hard at world-building, so the characters are a bit lightly-defined at the start. That’s OK. Comics like this need to progress further to, to set up world rules and concerns before they can really show us who are central figures are, what they most care about, and why. We do get some great philosophy here and there, enough to draw us into the story further. My only real regret is I’ve read this book so far in advance, it’s going to be a painful long wait for Invisible Kingdom #2.
Overall: Invisible Kingdom is a heady comic you’ll want to read twice to get a better grip on its ambitions and ideas. Fortunately, the artwork in this book is so vibrant and imaginative, immediately re-reading will feel less like a redundancy and more like a second helping of an impossibly-spectacular visual treat. 9.5/10
Invisible Kingdom #1
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Christian Ward
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics - Berger Books
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 20, 2019
For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
Black Hammer ‘45 #1 is out 3/6/2019.
By Zack Quaintance — Black Hammer ‘45 is something wholly new for the burgeoning Black Hammer Universe at Dark Horse Comics, created slowly over the course of the last few years by writer/artist Jeff Lemire and a host of talented collaborators. Indeed, this is the first comic in a stable that now numbers roughly half a dozen, including the ongoing main story, a host of minis, a one-shot, and Quantum Age, which I don’t even know the scope of—ask me, it can and should run two dozen issues.
Black Hammer ‘45, however, marks the first of these comics that (at least in its first issue) has very little to do with superheroes. It is also the first of these books in which Jeff Lemire is not named as the lone writer, having only a story by credit instead. The actual writing of the comic falls to Lemire’s good friend Ray Fawkes. The art, meanwhile, is provided by another of his friends, Matt Kindt, who like Lemire is a writer slash artist of considerable talent and renown. This comic, in other words, has a mightily talented—if a bit insular—pedigree to its creative team, and that much is evident in its pages. Readers will find no shortage of craft nor ideas in this book. It looks and reads as wonderfully as one has come to expect.
The genre, meanwhile, is a step outside the superhero fare that has largely marked the Black Hammer Universe to date. See, Black Hammer is an extended homage as filtered through Lemire and his collaborators’ sensibilities. We get characters that are at once recognizable and novel, reminding of us old favorites while simultaneously pushing into new (and often more somber) territories, be it an approximation of James Robinson’s Starman or a facsimile for the Legion of Superheroes.
Black Hammer ‘45 is that same sort of homage, yet it pushes outward from the superhero genre, instead drawing its inspiration from Golden Age World War II comics, perhaps most specifically from The Blackhawks. Although, like all of the Black Hammer books, other influences find a way of creeping in. Those range from the real-life story of the Tuskegee Air Men to stories about steampunk mechs. There’s a lot, and it’s all good, and like the rest of these books, it all coalesces into something fresh and unique.
This debut issue itself is also well-crafted, everything from Matt and Sharlene Kindt’s artwork to the way flashback pages looked yellowed and old (even in the advance review PDF...I imagine in the physical copy the effect will be even more noticeable). Fawkes rights it well, too, doing a nice balancing act between action in the past and present, and also finding interesting ways (ways that I won’t spoil) to connect to other parts of the ongoing Black Hammer narrative.
Overall: Fans of the main Black Hammer series will be thrilled the book is branching off into new and interesting territory. Jeff Lemire has said he loves his Black Hammer books because they allow him to do pretty much any kind of comic he wants. This book is proof positive of that. 8.8/10
Black Hammer ‘45 #1
Story By: Jeff Lemire & Ray Fawkes
Writer: Ray Fawkes
Artist: Matt Kindt
Colorist: Sharlene Kindt
Letterer: Marie Enger
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 6, 2019
For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
Wyrd #1 is out 1/30/2019.
By Zack Quaintance — Dark Horse Comics’ new original series Wyrd is a pastiche of classic comics ideas used to uncover deep truths about country, contentment, and feeling out of place in a harsh world. Wyrd is a dash of Mignola, a healthy serving of the most twisted Captain America you’ve ever seen, and a foundation of a main character whose attitude has more than a little in common with John Constantine from Hellblazer. But in between all the homage, a unique writer’s perspective shows through.
That writer is Curt Pires, and in this comic he spins some of the best writerly dialogue in recent memory. There are nice turns of phrases throughout, usage of prose that would hold its own in grad school level creative writing workshops (as much as any prose ever does in those cruel things). Two examples stuck in my mind most clearly after reading. And I’ll get to them both, but first a brief summation of our plot.
Our main character is Wyrd, a freelance monster hunter/weird shit handler for the U.S. government. In this first installment, we learn that he’s troubled, maybe even suicidal, before seeing him shipped off overseas to hunt a super soldier out of control. It’s a relatively simple story in setup but not in execution. Within this solid framework, Pires and his artistic collaborators Antonio Fuso and Stefano Simeone do some seriously heavy lifting with mood, aesthetic, and tone.
Fuso and Simeone’s artwork gets pretty gruesome at times. I’m not always one to appreciate a violent comic, but I had no issue with the way harsher visual storytelling was deployed here. In other words, the proceedings never tipped into gratuitous or repulsive. There are in-set panels a plenty showing the damage Wyrd incurs as he fights, but all of them are necessary to establish his regenerative abilities (add Wolverine to our pastiche, btw). Simeone’s colors push the visuals a step further, especially in the flashback scenes that use a duller set of shades without deploying the sepia cliches. Wyrd #1 is by design a grizzly and rough-looking comic, and that’s good, it should be.
The forlorn beauty of this book is in its language. Let’s get to those promised bits of writing that really stand out. The first is the monster at one point telling Wyrd, I can see through you. Transparent. You’re a ghost in a man suit. A black hole covering memory. It makes sense in the plot but one also gets the impression that Pires might just feel that way period and is using this as a chance to express it. It’s these little gold coins that lead readers throughout the comic.
The second is the gorgeous soliloquy at the end about the joy and hope a child represents in the world. It’s a subtle moment. I might even call it understated if it didn’t serve as a coda for everything that came before, and I absolutely loved it. Wyrd’s self-destructive drinking and sarcasm would run the risk of feeling too familiar if it wasn’t bookended with the poignant reason for his discontent. A great decision by the storytellers that sets up a fascinating series moving forward.
Overall: Wyrd #1 is one part deep comics pastiche and one part introspective look at a troubled man, likely at a point in his (too long) life where he’s lost any belief in the systems. This is a solidly-constructed comic that might just grow into something really special. 8.2/10
Wyrd #1
Writer: Curt Pires
Artist: Antonio Fuso
Colorist: Stefano Simeone
Letterer: Micah Meyers
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
For more comic book reviews, check out our review archives.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
By Various — Earlier this week, we posted our Most Anticipated Comics of 2019. While there are quite a few great comics on there, the reality is that any Most Anticipated list published at this time of year is primarily a Most Anticipated Between Now and April list. This is due to the deadline-driven nature of monthly comics limiting publishers from announcing plans that extend past the next three or four months. Nobody wants to announce an exciting new title before having it get cancelled or delayed.
With that in mind, today we’d like to share a 2019 Comics Wish List. This is the piece in which we dream big, listing hopes and ideas we’d like to see become a reality between now and December. These range from specific—broader availability of digital comics content—to the more general, things like publishers embracing legacy (an evergreen wish), altering marketing tactics, or striking line-wide tones that rely more on hope than aggravation and denial.
Enough! Let’s get to the good stuff, our top comics wishes and dreams for 2019…
Big Big Big High-Profile Work for the Following Rising Creators…
Artists:
Joshua Cassara
Laura Braga
Marley Zarcone
Nick Robles
Ramon Villalobos
Nick Robles KILLED it on Euthanauts from IDW - Black Crown, and we’d love to see him get more high profile work in 2019.
Writers:
David F. Walker
Leah Williams
Tini Howard
Tom Taylor
Vita Ayala
Black Label Projects from Greg Rucka
Greg Rucka has been very quiet lately, and I hope that changes in 2019. In fact, we haven’t heard much about either his creator-owned work or his projects for DC’s mature reader line, Black Label. When the imprint was announced, a book titled Wonder Woman: Diana’s Daughter was to be written by Rucka...but no artist was announced. A few months later, rumors started swirling of him doing a book starring Lois Lane for the imprint. The latter seems to have been semi-confirmed by Rucka’s good friend Brian Michael Bendis in a teaser in Action Comics 1006. Here’s hoping Rucka can get a Batwoman or Renee Montoya Question book in 2019 as well. -Taylor Pechter
Here’s hoping Marvel Comics has some new Dakota North stories coming in 2019.
Dakota North
Marvel released a collection of her mini-series and most of her appearances in Dakota North Investigations: Design for Dying last year, which suggests that I'm not the only fan of this character, but I'd love to see her reappear somewhere in the Marvel Universe. Sure, she's basically Modesty Blaise and Black Widow, but her stories were always fun. -d. emerson eddy
Daughters of the Dragon and/or Heroes for Hire
A Daughters of the Dragon Digital Original continuation would be wonderful. Marvel's street-level titles are looking a little sparse (though I expect to see some announcements soon, ahem) and all of Marvel’s Digital Originals besides Jessica Jones seem doomed to single seasons. Jed MacKay and Travel Foreman’s Daughters, which kicked off as a Digital Original in November, has been an absolute delight, so my pipe-dream is that we get a season two of that. If it does have to end, though, just give me a series where Misty Knight and Colleen Wing retain the spotlight (a la a new Heroes for Hire, ahem). And hell, put MacKay back on it too! -Allison Senecal
DC Pop-Up Imprints
I loved the concept of Young Animal and what DC has been doing in regards to The Sandman Universe and Wonder Comics. I'd love to see that kind of curated mini-line from other creators, editors, and properties. Like a renewed focus on The Fourth World, Steve Orlando spearheading some exploration of Kamandi, or Gail Simone drawing up plans for a new Birds of Prey initiative. DC has shown that these small, tightly-focused initiatives have led to some highly-interesting stories and creative drives. I'd like to see more experimentation. -d. emerson eddy
More pop-ups from DC Comcis—including one for Jack Kirby’s Fourth World characters—would be a wonderful gift in 2019.
Embrace Digital Formats with Classic Material
One joy of comics is experiencing older runs. Much older material has been reprinted in recent years, allowing newer fans to experience it and older fans to return to see how stories have evolved. Still, many older stories need to be made available, including runs from the Golden Age never reprinted by Marvel or DC. And I’m not sure print is the answer, not entirely. What I’d like from the Big Two in 2019 is more reprinting of older materials with increased digital availability to coincide. Marvel is ahead digitally with Marvel Unlimited, but both companies could do so much more. It’s past time for the comics industry to really embrace the digital age, giving customers more options to buy, experience, and support product. -Jack Sharpe
It would be nice to get some more clarity about the future of DC’s Earth One line of graphic novels.
Earth One News from DC Comics
DC Comics’ Earth One line of graphic novels has had a pretty rough history when it comes to release schedules. There have also been many rumored projects that seem to either have not gotten off the ground or are just forever going through development trouble. Hopefully, this year we get good news, ideally on Francis Manapul’s Aquaman Earth One and Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s third volume of Batman. -Taylor Pechter
Jeff Lemire’s Teased Projects
During 2018, Jeff Lemire (aka Mr. Insanely Prolific) teased a few really interesting projects that are yet to be formally announced. And you know what? I’d like them all. They are:
A 12-issue Black Hammer series written and drawn by Jeff Lemire
An Inferior Five comic for DC written by Lemire and drawn by Keith Giffen
A DC Comics/Black Hammer crossover, which was a BC rumor that Lemire RT-ed, presumably so lost in creating an absurd amount of comics that he didn’t realize it hadn’t yet been formally announced. -Zack Quaintance
The Justice Society of America’s Return
The Justice Society of America is my favorite team at DC Comics. The main universe version of the team, however, hasn’t been seen since before 2011’s Flashpoint. Hopefully, with events happening in the ongoing Doomsday Clock maxi-series (especially if the covers of issue #10 are any indication), it seems we might get some answers about them in 2019. My best guess is that a relaunched JSA book will be a part of Geoff Johns’ Killing Zone imprint. My dream creative team is either James Robinson or Peter Tomasi writing and Rags Morales on art. -Taylor Pechter
Legion of Superheroes
I’ll see Taylor’s Justice of Society comic and raise him Legion of Superheroes. Based on current Superman scribe Brian Michael Bendis’ social media, I think it’s pretty to safe to say the Legion is on its way back. So, yeah, can’t wait. If I had anything to add, it’d be to find the write creators. Hmm, isn’t there a big rumored Brian Bendis and Ryan Sook project on the way? Hmm….-Zack Quaintance
If one item on this list seems all but certain, it’s the return of the Legion of Superheroes.
Marvel Stays the Course
What I’d like to see from Marvel in 2019 is basically nothing. By that, I mean I hope they stay the course, avoiding the renumbering gimickery, unnecessary line wide initiatives, and creative team switches that have disrupted the publisher’s coherency and upended runs with great potential (ahem, Power Man and Iron Fist) constantly in recent years. I wrote about this in 2018, but last year Marvel did a great job extracting some prestige and rewarding titles from its usual cash-grabbery. I know linewide crossovers are a reality of the business now, but I hope Marvel doesn’t suddenly renumber everything and move around its artists and writers for quick sales bumps this year after War of the Realms. Stay the course, you all, you’re doing just fine. -Zack Quaintance
Here’s hoping Hellboy will find himself punching his way through some new anthology stories in 2019.
New Hellboy Anthology Series
We've got the finale to the major Hellboy narrative arc running right now in BPRD: The Devil You Know and a new film coming out in March, so it's another big year for Mike Mignola and his baby. While we know that the Hellboy and the BPRD stories will be continuing to fill in the gaps in time, I'd love to see different creators today put their own spin on HB. Although I wouldn't mind it taking the same format as Weird Tales, I think it could be interesting to see what they could do with longer form arcs. -d. emerson eddy
Saga Returns
This one is pretty straight forward. Last year Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples sci-fi family drama Saga went on an extended hiatus (following super traumatic Saga #54). The creators estimated it’d be gone for a year, while leaving the door open to it being gone more. In the meantime, we’re doing a weekly Saga re-read. That said, I’d still like to see my favorite comic back in 2019. -Zack Quaintance
Wild Storm Spin-Offs...More Please
The Wild Storm is one of the best books on the shelves right now. With Bryan Hill’s Michael Cray mini-series ending last year, 2019 would be a great time to launch more WildStorm spin-offs. Writer Warren Ellis, the mastermind of the new book and the best WildStorm comics historically, has been on record saying he’s been trying to spin out both WildCATs and Zealot, but it just hasn’t happened. With The Wild Storm scheduled to end in June, hopefully those books can get rolling so the new Rebirth of the line doesn’t die on the vine. -Taylor Pechter
...You’ve Got to Be Kind (God Damn It)
What if instead of heroes constantly being in crisis, murdered, traumatized, raped...you name it, comic book stories in 2019 pivoted on how difficult it is to be a good person doing good things in an increasingly chaotic world? It’s a messy narrative thread (and a little quixotic of me to assume it can be applied to these stories in one year), but it’s also a (semi) new idea in a world increasingly struggling to avoid re-treads. So yeah, I know, dream on...but just think how motivational superheroes could be for these times if their central ethos moved closer to doing what’s right because it’s right, rather than constantly looking for atonement and revenge. That’s a big dream of mine. -Zack Quaintance
Read about our Most Anticipated (Announced) Comics of 2019!
For more writing about comics from the Batman’s Bookcase contributors, check out our comics analysis, lists, and reviews pages!
By Zack Quaintance — For a certain type of comics fan (which is, indeed, most of us) part of the fun of the hobby involves looking to the future. We ogle distributor solicitations the way some folks plan vacations, vicariously living out our forthcoming book purchases months in advance. Essentially, the excitement is as much in the anticipation as it is in the actual consuming of the story. This isn’t just a comics thing (people freaking love movie trailers and speculation these days, if you hadn’t noticed), but this is a comics site, so we’re going to go ahead and focus on that.
To that end, today we’d like to take a look at some of our Most Anticipated Comics of 2019. This is inherently tricky business. Books that have been teased but not solicited are liable to drop right off a publisher’s radar (remember that Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jen Bartel Storm comic? Yeah....). Meanwhile, some of the most prominent titles for 2019 are yet to be announced. Just think, Heroes in Crisis, Wonder Comics, and Immortal Hulk were all just glimmers on some whiteboard in Manhattan or Burbank at this time last year.
Anyway, knowing what we know now, here’s a list of the Most Anticipated Comics of 2019. Enjoy!
Age of Conan: Belit
Writer: Tini Howard
Artist: Kate Niemczyk
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: March 13, 2019
Why It’s Cool: Tini Howard is a rising star writer, earning her way to more interesting/higher profile comics and consistently making the most of them, and Kate Niemczyk is dynamic an artist as I’ve seen of late. It’ll be interesting to see how she handles slightly more serious IP, given that her two most recent books (Man-Eaters and Mockingbird) essentially featured a pop art aesthetic.
Assassination Nation
Writer: Kyle Starks
Artist: Erica Henderson
Publisher: Image Comics - Skybound
Release Date: March 13, 2019
Why It’s Cool: This book brings together two of the funniest visual storytellers in all of comics, with Kyle Starks (Rock Candy Mountain, Sex Castle, Mars Attacks) doing writing duties while Erica Henderson (Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) does the art. This concept is also really funny...the former greatest hitman in the world hires the 20 other greatest hitmen in the world to be his bodyguards/investigate who’s trying to kill him. Expect laughs, and lots of ‘em.
Black Hammer ‘45
Writers: Jeff Lemire & Ray Fawkes
Artists: Matt & Sharlene Kindt
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: March 6, 2019
Why It’s Cool: As noted in our Top Comics of 2018, Jeff Lemire’s Black Hammer line of comics is one of our favorite ongoing graphic sequential stories. Part of what we like about is that it’s enabled him to apply his sensibilities to so many different comics concepts. This one sees Lemire teaming with his friends Ray Fawkes and the Kindts to homage classic war comics like those of Joe Kubert.
Female Furies
Writer: Cecil Castellucci
Artist: Adriana Melo
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: February 6, 2019
Why It’s Cool: It’s a Fourth World book written by Cecil Castellucci, whose last DC project was the artful Shade, The Changing Woman. She’s teamed here with rising star artist Adriana Melo, who most recently collaborated on a Plastic Man mini-series with writer Gail Simone.
G.I. Joe: Sierra Muerte
Writer/Artist: Michel Fiffe
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 6, 2019
Why It’s Cool: Hate to be simplistic about this, but this book is freaking Michel Fiffe (Copra) writing and drawing G.I. Joe. Instead of typing that again, I’ll just go ahead and refer you to my previous sentence. Michel Fiffe!
Invisible Kingdom
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Christian Ward
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics - Berger Books
Release Date: March 20, 2019
Why It’s Cool: It’s such a great mix of talented creators and high-minded sci-fi concept. It’s also being published by Dark Horse’s Berger Books imprint, which is one of the most thoughful imprints in comics.
Outsiders
Writer: Bryan Edward Hill
Artist: Dexter Soy
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: TBD
Why It’s Cool: Originally slated for late 2018, this book looks great. Dexter Soy is a fantastic artist, and Hill is fresh from doing career work on Marvel’s Killmonger.
Second Coming
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Richard Pace
Publisher: DC Comics - Vertigo
Release Date: March 6, 2019
Why It’s Cool: This book envisions Jesus returning to Earth and rooming with a Superman analog, exploring the idea that few of the world’s problems can be truly be fixed with superpowers. The opportunities for killer satire abound.
Sentient
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta
Publisher: TKO Studios
Release Date: Spring / Summer 2019
Why It’s Cool: These two creators have a sympatico sensibilities, and I can’t believe they’ve never before worked together. Also, I dig TKO Studios distribution/printing format.
War of the Realms
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Russell Dauterman
Colorist: Matthew Wilson
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: April 2019
Why It’s Cool: Jason Aaron has spent more than six years writing Thor, with a significant part of that building toward War of the Realms. Through in Russell Dauterman and Matthew Wilson—hands down one of the best art teams in comics—and you’ve got one highly anticipated comic.
Wonder Twins
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Stephen Byrne
Publisher: Wonder Comics - DC Comics
Release Date: February 13, 2019
Why It’s Cool: Mark Russell has risen to prominence taking quirky and discarded (and sometimes lame) characters and then using them to tell powerful stories rich with meaning. Stephen Byrne is also arguably the best artist he’s work with to date.
Are You Listening
By: Tillie Walden
Publisher: First Second
Release Date: September 10, 2019
Bad Gateway
By: Simon Hanselmann
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: July 16, 2019
Black Canary: Ignite
Writer: Meg Cabot
Artist: Cara McGee
Publisher: DC Zoom / DC Comics
Release Date: October 2019
Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America
By: Box Brown
Publisher: April 2, 2019
Release Date: First Second
How I Tried to Be a Good Person
By: Ulli Lust
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: June 11, 2019
Is This How You See Me?
By: Jaime Hernandez
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: March 27, 2019
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me
Writer: Mariko Tamaki
Artist: Rosemary Valero-O’Connell
Publisher: First Second
Release Date: May 7, 2019
Mister Miracle TPB
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Mitch Gerads
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: February 13, 2019
My Favorite Thing is Monsters Vol. 2
By: Emil Ferris
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Release Date: September 24, 2019
Superman Smashes the Klan
By: Gene Luen Yang
Artists: Gurihiru Studios
Publisher: DC Zoom / DC Comics
Release Date: TBD 2019
Detective Comics #1000
Writers: Peter Tomasi, Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, Kevin Smith, Christopher Priest, and more
Artists: Becky Cloonan, Doug Mahnke, Dustin Nguyen, Greg Capullo, Jim Lee, and more
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: March 27, 2019
Doomsday Clock #12
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: July 2019 (maybe)
Saga #55
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: TBD
Seeds #3
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Artist: David Aja
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: March 6, 2019
The Wild Storm #24
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Jon Davis-Hunt
Colorist: Steve Buccellato
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: June 2019 (maybe)
Ascender by Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen
The Banks by Roxane Gay and Ming Doyle
Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Jordie Bellaire & Dan Mora
Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky & Marco Checchetto
Dial H for Hero by Sam Humphries & Joe Quinones
Eve Stranger by David Barnett & Phillip Bond
The Forgotten Queen by Tini Howard & Amilcar Pinna
GLOW by Tini Howard & Hannah Templer
The Grand Abyss Hotel by Marcos Prior & David Rubin
Guardians of the Galaxy by Donny Cates & Geoff Shaw
Heathen Vol. 2 by Natasha Alterici & Ashley Woods
Incursion by Alex Paknadel, Andy Diggle, & Doug Braithwaite
Lazarus: Risen by Greg Rucka & Michael Lark
Little Bird by Darcy Van Poelgeest & Ian Bertram
The Magnificent Ms. Marvel by Saladin Ahmed & Minkyu Jung
Marvel Action: Black Panther by Kyle Baker, Vita Ayala, Juan Samu & Arianna Florean
Naomi by Brian Michael Bendis, David F. Walker & Jamal Campbell
Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt by Kieron Gillen & Caspar Wjingaard
Red Sonja by Mark Russell & Mirko Colak
Thanos (and Gamora) by Tini Howard & Ariel Olivetti
Tomorrow by Eleanor Davis
Under the Moon: A Catwoman Tale by Lauren Myracle & Isaac Goodhart
What’s the Furthest Place From Here by Matthew Rosenberg & Tyler Boss
When I Arrived at the Castle by Emily Carroll
Wyrd by Curt Pires & Antonio Fuso
Check out more great lists about comics!
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
By Zack Quaintance — We’re approaching the end of our 2018 coverage, with only one more list to come (next week) after this one. As such, today we’d like to take a relatively brief look at some of the creators that made this such a special year for comics. The artists, editors, and writers below have not been chosen because they are the best at what they do, not entirely (although they are all excellent and many certainly fit that description), but instead because all of them did work that demands to be mentioned in any conversations about the past year in comics.
So, below you will find 10 favorite artists, 10 favorite writers, and six incredibly talented folks who can do it all. You will also find some names we fully expect to see on the bigger lists at this time next year, as well as a pair of editors who helped shepherd so many of our favorite 2018 books into the world. It is, simply put, an incredible time to be reading comics, and all of these lists could have been twice as long. But the hard decisions had to be made.
Without further adieu, here our the Batman’s Bookcase Top Comic Book Creators of 2018!
*SPECIAL NOTE: Deep apologies to our friends who are colorist and letterers; we didn’t have the bandwidth this year to take a deep dive into your work, but, rest assured, next year we plan to rectify this!
Bilquis Evely.
Bilquis Evely
Currently Drawing: The Dreaming
Fiona Staples
Currently Drawing: Saga (on hiatus)
Jon Davis-Hunt
Currently Drawing: The Wild Storm
Jorge Jimenez
Currently Drawing: Justice League
Juan Ferraya
Currently Drawing: Killmonger
Leslie Hung
Currently Drawing: Snotgirl
Sana Takeda.
Mitch Gerads
Currently Drawing: Unannounced collaboration with Tom King (which is probably Sgt. Rock)
Raul Allen & Patricia Martin
Currently Drawing: Livewire
Sana Takeda
Currently Drawing: Monstress
Stephanie Hans
Currently Drawing: Die
Artists to watch in 2019: Jorge Fornes, Kate Niemczyk, Laura Braga, Lisa Sterle, Nicola Scott, Nick Robles, Ramon Villalobos, and Sean Izaaske.
Adrian Wassel of Vault Comics
Comics Edited: Deep Roots, Fearscape, Friendo, Submerged, These Savage Shores
Shelly Bond of IDW Black Crown
Comics Edited: Assassanistas, Euthanauts, House Amok, Lodger, Punks Not Dead
Jason Aaron.
Al Ewing
Currently Writing: Immortal Hulk
Ann Nocenti
Currently Writing: The Seeds
Brian Michael Bendis
Currently Writing: All things Superman
Jason Aaron
Currently Writing: The Avengers, Conan the Barbarian, and Thor
Marjorie Liu
Currently Writing: Monstress
Nnedi Okorafor
Currently Writing: La Guardia, Shuri
Steve Orlando
Currently Writing: Dead Kings, Electric Warriors, Martian Manhunter
Tini Howard.
Tini Howard
Currently Writing: Age of Conan: Belit, Euthanauts, Rick and Morty
Tom Taylor
Currently Writing: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Unannounced DC Comic
Vita Ayala
Currently Writing: Livewire, The Wilds
Writers to Watch in 2019: Alex Paknadel, Leah Williams, Mariko Tamaki, Magdalene Visaggio, Mark Russell, Michael Moreci, Stephanie Phillips, and Zac Thompson & Lonnie Nadler.
Jeff Lemire.
Daniel Warren Johnson
Work: Extremity, Murder Falcon
Joelle Jones
Work: Catwoman, Lady Killer
Jeff Lemire
Work: Black Hammer (writer only...so far), Essex County, Royal City, Sweet Tooth
Liam Sharp
Work: Brave and Bold - Batman and Wonder Woman, The Green Lantern (artist only)
Mirka Andolfo
Work: Hex Wives (artist only), Unnatural
Tillie Walden
Work: On a Sunbeam, Spinning
Check out Best Comics of 2018, #1 - #5, Best Comics of 2018, #16 - #25, and Best Comics of 2018, #6 - #15! Also, Best Single Comic Book Issues of 2018!
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
By Zack Quaintance — It is, perhaps, telling that the majority of picks for our Best Single Comic Book Issues of 2018 list are essentially self-contained. Six, to be exact, with a case to be made that at least one of the others could stand on its own, too. In an industry where many creators put out installments best consumed as part of a collected trade, a truly well-done story with a real beginning, middle, end stands out.
At least, that’s definitely what we found this year in evaluating our picks. We’re pretty happy with about it too, in part because it makes re-visiting these issues all the easier. Anyway, the below list contains stories about iconic characters like Wonder Woman, the existential horrors of decisions in life, the writer’s ego, and recovering from trauma. I hope you’ll see some favorites on here and also find new comics, regardless of whether you’re caught up on a book or have plans to continue forward.
Let’s check out this year’s list!
Action Comics #1004
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Ryan Sook
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Inker: Wade Von Grawbadger
Letterer: Josh Reed
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 10/24/2018
Why It’s So Good: It’s about the most iconic romance in comics: Clark Kent and Lois Lane. It’s also the first time Bendis gives extended play to the relationship during his current (and excellent) Superman run. What Bendis is doing is breaking down Superman’s central characteristics and building them back up for 2018. That’s definitely what he does here, giving us Lois as an aspiring author and Clark as the supportive (if occasionally long distance) husband. Cards on the table: this whole thing hits close to home with me. My wife is a reporter for the LA Times, and we’ve spent roughly three months total apart due to work in recent years. The reunion in this story felt true-to-life and romantic as all get out. As such, I absolutely loved it.
Batman Annual #3
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artist: Otto Schmidt
Letterer: A Larger World’s Troy Peteri
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 12/12/2018
Why It’s So Good: I haven’t said this in a week or so (what with the holidays and all), so I’ll say it now: Tom Taylor is the most underrated writer of corporate superhero comics today. It continues to boggle my mind that neither DC nor Marvel has locked this massive talent up with an exclusive deal and given him the keys to a massive franchise. Not the fourth Spider-Man, third X-Men, or alternate Batman hates Superman comic, but an honest to goodness flagship comic. He really is that good, and comics like Batman Annual #3 show why. This one-off is a stand-alone story that thematically ties to an exploration of fatherhood taking place in the main title, and Taylor absolutely crushes it. There’s a re-telling of the Batman origin through Alfred’s eyes that had me in tears within three pages and an ending that depicts the Alfred-Bruce dynamic in a way that had never occurred to me, suggesting that the stubbornness of Batman’s war on crime is a byproduct of Alfred setting such a noble example of necessary servitude throughout Bruce’s childhood. Put simply, it’s brilliant heartrending stuff.
Batman: Creature of the Night #3
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Artist: John Paul Leon
Letterer: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 4/18/2018
Why It’s So Good: This series is a spiritual and conceptual successor to Busiek’s seminal 2004 Superman: Secret Identity, in that Batman: Creature of the Night essentially tells the Batman story on our Earth, where Batman is a ubiquitous comic book character. Plot-wise, Creature of the Night is a bit trickier than Secret Identity. Superman was easy to get going, because Supes got his powers inadvertently and surprisingly. Batman’s heroics, however, were born of tragedy and an obsessive, steely response. Creature of the Night got the tragedy aspect right from its start, as well as things like the protagonist’s personality and his supporting cast, or at least Alfred. What was missing until now was a believable way to have Batman as a crime fighter. This book gives us that, dark and surprisingly, as it should be. Overall, Creature of the Night is one of the best Batman stories in years, a pure distillation from veteran creators of the lessons learned throughout august careers, specifically Busiek’s penchant for layered and complex stories, the sort more common in award-winning novels than in comics.
Fearscape #1
Writer: Ryan O’Sullivan
Artist: Andrea Mutti
Colorist: Vladimir Popov
Letterer: Andworld Design
Publisher: Vault Comics
Release Date: 9/26/2018
Why It’s So Good: Simply put, Fearscape #1 was the single best debut issue of a series I read all year. In it, writer Ryan O’Sullivan and artist Andrea Mutti use the graphic sequential medium to create a character and story that basically obsesses over the literary and genre fiction medium, thereby also reflecting back at the audience what it must feel like to be a comic book creator. It’s heady stuff, and it succeeds wildly. Perhaps the greatest strength of this debut issue is the protagonist’s narrative voice, which bounces violently from wild fits of looming ego to sobbingly insecure...as one imagines the creative process for great writers must feel like, oscillating from unchecked creation to solemn revisions.
From here, Ice Cream Man #6 splinters into three timelines, and structural comics greatness ensues.
Ice Cream Man #6
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Old Neon
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: 8/15/2018
Why It’s So Good: This comic somehow tells three self-contained stories in a single issue, doing so with little to no dialogue in a way that not only makes sense but will almost certainly haunt the vast majority of readers for weeks (at least, that’s been my experience). The craft is so impressive that I don’t want to think about it too hard, lest I lose motivation to ever attempt anything creative of my own ever again. Moreover, I have a strong predisposition against stories steeped in cynicism—and this issue is most certainly that—yet this book is so well-done I was able to get past all that. Ice Cream Man was one of 2018’s best explorations of what’s possible with this medium in terms of form and structure, and as such, I can’t recommend it enough.
Saga #54
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Letterer: Fonografiks
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: 7/25/2018
Why It’s So Good: Because nothing will ever be the same. If you’ve read the issue, check out Why Saga #54 Hurts So Bad. If you haven’t, please read the issue and then click that link. There’s just no good way to discuss this without spoilers. Simply put, though, I’ll just note that this is the most consequential issue yet in the best series in comics (as well as our Top Comic of 2018).
Secret Weapons: Owen’s Story #0
Writer: Eric Heisserer
Artist: Raul Allen & Patricia Martin
Colorist: Patricia Martin
Letterer: Patricia Martin
Publisher: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: 3/14/2018
Why It’s So Good: Secret Weapons: Owen’s Story is a tour de force of narrative craft, a tight balancing act that involves a series of complicated decisions (all of which have an emotional charge) that add up to a satisfying climax. It plays with structure and form while never losing the rightful focus on the characters at its core. The titular Owen is a Psiot who manifests seemingly-random objects, and his story here consists of vignettes based on objects he’s selling at a yard sale, objects he manifested, objects with stories telling us more about our characters. The concept is risky, but writer Eric Heisserer and the team of Raul Allen and Patricia Martin (one of the best art duos in all of comics) handle it supremely well, creating the type of book that reminds you why having a publisher like Valiant is such a benefit for the industry.
The Seeds #2
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Artist, Letterer: David Aja
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: 9/12/2018
Why It’s So Good: I wrote about this a bit in our Top Comics of 2018 list, but The Seeds second issue was so good that it elevated this book as a concept in my head, ultimately landing it (despite publishing a scant two issues last year) among my annual favorites. I found the first issue filled with promise, heavy with intriguing concepts. I wondered, however, how thoughtful the title was and worried a bit that the power would be lost if it wasn’t connected to great meaning. Those worries were dispelled and then some in a second issue that showed this book to be among the deepest near-future disaster concepts in stories today (and there are a ton of near future disaster concepts in stories today).
What If? Magik #1
Writer: Leah Williams
Artist: Filipe Andrade
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: 10/31/2018
Why It’s So Good: Writer Leah Williams and artist Filipe Andrade use the What If? concept to tell a story that sees the X-Men’s Magik tapped to be Doctor Strange’s replacement as sorcerer supreme. Her history, however, is the same: as a young girl she was kidnapped and taken to hell. To be sure, this is not handled lightly in the normal X-titles, but it also, to my knowledge, has never been extrapolated to a serious place where it reads like the supremely traumatic incident it would logically be. The villain in this story is Magik’s demonic kidnapper, cast as a manipulative human trafficker. This issue takes the character through a gauntlet of physical, mystical, and psychological tests, never discounting her trauma as the creative team shows us the Magik’s full strength, her stubborn optimism, her refusal to let a past ordeal limit or define her. That hard work and optimism (complete with expected setbacks) makes for a truly beautiful comic.
Wonder Woman #51
Writer: Steve Orlando
Artist: Laura Braga
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 7/25/2018
Why It’s So Good: With Wonder Woman #51, Steve Orlando and Laura Braga tell a stand-alone story with a deep and nuanced understanding of this character, one that shows exactly why she’s been relevant all these years. It’s the type of small-scale story that plays to a hero’s essence, done ad nauseum with Batman and Superman but not nearly as much with Wonder Woman. This comic, however, helps to fix that. It’s just so perfect. Aside from the adept characterization, it features an engaging and emotional narrative that speaks to Diana’s core values. It sounds cliche, but I teared up here at the drama and I smiled at the jokes. This is, to me, an issue we’ll be hearing new creators talk about on podcasts 10 years from now, citing it as an influence for the way they write/think about this character.
Check out Best Comics of 2018, #1 - #5, Best Comics of 2018, #16 - #25, and Best Comics of 2018, #6 - #15! And check back later in the week for more year-end lists, including our Top Creators of 2018!
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
By Zack Quaintance — A difficult thing about a strong year for comics (like this one) is doing a retrospective Best Of list. Now, to be sure, no one mandates websites do rankings. That would be a clear violation of civil liberties. There is, however, a part of the pop culture blogger brain that goes wild for it, whispering all year long...where does this one rank...and if you don’t satisfy that beast—well, bad things happen.
So, here we our with ours, freshly formulated for 2018 by our committee of one. Before we dive into the third and final and (let’s face it) best part, which features in descending order selections #5 to #1 (Top Comics of 2018, #16 - #25 and Top Comics #6 - #15 are also up now, btw), let’s rehash our ground rules:
No trades or OGNs: Building out our OGN coverage is a priority for 2019. We’re just not there yet. So, while I absolutely loved work like Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam, Box Brown’s Is This Guy For Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman, and Ryan Lindsay and Eric Zawadzki’s Eternal, you won’t find them here. Ideally, next year’s we’ll have an entire post dedicated to OGNs.
No webcomics, manga, or newspaper strips: Again, our site is a bit deficient covering these (if you are into these things, we’d love to chat about you writing for us!). I should, of course, mention that in 2018 someone under the pen name Olivia James took over the long-running Nancy strip and did amazing things with it (Sluggo is lit), but, again, you won’t find it on our list.
Longevity matters: New this year, you will find what I consider a key stat—how many issues were published this year. Late debut series like Die, Electric Warriors, and Bitter Root have tons of promise. They just haven’t been around enough to be a definitive comic of 2018. Ditto for comics that ended in April or earlier.
There you have it: guiding principles of our Top Comics of 2018. Now, without further adieu, let’s finish this bad hombre!
The Immortal Hulk by Alex Ross.
5. Immortal Hulk
Writer: Al Ewing
Artists: Joe Bennett
Inker: Ruy Jose
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Issues in 2018: 10
The first of the Big 2 titles to make my Top 5 Comics of 2018 is the Al Ewing and Joe Bennett-driven Immortal Hulk, a startlingly-blunt take on a long-time hero that reads more like a creator-owned book than a shared universe corporate story. We’re late in the superhero trajectory, with comics having constructed, deconstructed, and exported the concept to other mediums plenty. Our best modern stories are those that get closest to capturing a character’s core, and rarely has a title done this as well as Immortal Hulk.
At the same time, this book has found a darker place that was always there, taking existing elements and extrapolating them so thoroughly they feel novel. It’s found ground not possible for the sensibilities of the 1960s, Hulk’s heyday. Both artwork and audience have evolved, becoming more sophisticated and thereby allowing Ewing, Bennett, and others to push Hulk further into monster territory while at the same time making Banner the emotional blank slate he was perhaps always meant to be. In this book, Banner is backgrounded, standing in for humanity at large as darker base impulses drag him places no one wants to go (ahem, hell). The Hulk is not the hero—that honor goes to anyone who can live a contented and peaceful life.
On the surface, this comic has also benefited from consistent artwork from Bennett who has needed few guest replacements, plus early chapters that provide satisfying narratives independent of what came before or will come after. This is a bit of a lost art, but still very much welcome, and it’s something that Immortal Hulk did expertly.
This gem by Ryan Sook and Brad Anderson from Action Comics #1006 is quite possibly the comic book page of the year.
4. Action Comics / Man of Steel / Superman
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artists: Patrick Gleason, Yanick Paquette, Ryan Sook, Ivan Reis, w/Doc Shaner, Steve Rude, Jay Fabok, Kevin Maguire, & Adam Hughes
Inkers: Wade Von Grawbadger, Joe Prado, & Oclair Albert
Colorists: Alejandro Sanchez, Nathan Fairbairn, Brad Anderson
Letterers: Josh Reed
Issues in 2018: 5 / 6 / 6
In 2017, Brian Michael Bendis—a leading voice at Marvel Comics for almost 20 years—announced a jump to the distinguished competition, leaving fans with questions that ranged from whether Bendis could thrive there to which titles he would take over. Some suggested this would spark a creative rejuvenation for Bendis, a chance to recapture energy from bygone days. Here’s the thing, though: Bendis had quietly been doing some of his best work at Marvel. Following the stumble that was Civil War II, his Infamous Iron Man, Jessica Jones, and Defenders titles were all excellent.
This is my way of saying I predicted Bendis at DC would be successful. He’s generally praised most for early work on Daredevil, as well as for creating Jessica Jones and Miles Morales (who’s having a moment with new film Into the Spider-Verse). What gets lost is that Bendis is likely the most prolific comic writer of a generation, consistently producing three to five monthly titles and rarely (if ever) suffering delays. As I’ve written, part of what I love about comics is the deadline-driven schedules force creators to just do the damn work, to put forth ideas without belaboring them as one must in film or prose writing. When it comes to embracing child-like excitement, love of comics history, and just doing the damn thing—Bendis is the best.
Still, even I didn’t predict what he’s doing with DC’s Superman titles. Flanked by the best artists to work on the character in decades, Bendis is telling a story that breaks this hero and his mythos down to its core before (seemingly) building it back up with slight tweaks for 2018. His Action Comics, Superman, and Man of Steel miniseries have all felt both classic and progressive as he revels in iconic stature while viscerally having a blast using the DC Universe that’s been off limits for so long. The end result is that both Action and Superman continue to rise, as satisfying as they are epic.
From Monstress #18. Artwork by Sana Takeda.
3. Monstress
Writer: Marjorie Liu
Artist: Sana Takeda
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image Comics
Issues in 2018: 6
This was the year of Monstress, with Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s expansive creator-owned fantasy hitting big at the Eisner’s and (presumably) finding a much larger audience. For fans of the book from the start, it was incredibly rewarding to see this story get its due. Liu’s world-building is phenomenal, drawing loosely from traditions while first and foremost exploring original elements. Takeda’s artwork, meanwhile, is second to no artist keeping as regular a release schedule (save for possibly the great Fiona Staples), with an intricate manga-influenced look that makes every panel of Monstress feel like the product of months of design work.
This year saw Monstress play out its third arc, a grandiose story heavy with confidence. The world-building continues, but it’s not as noticeable as it was in earlier arcs (both of which were also phenomenal, btw). The real focus of the story now is the journey of the main character. Given this is a fantasy comic (the fantasy comic of the decade), we wouldn’t have it any other way.
What started as a revenge story in 2015, has grown into a powerful young woman reckoning with a range of life: her relationship with her history, with her mother, with the mysterious power inside her, with the most responsible way to use it, and with the repercussions for noble actions that grew out of a simple desire to escape oppression and survive.
Black Hammer: Age of Doom, Quantum Age, Doctor Star, and Chtu-Louise.
2. Black Hammer
Black Hammer: Age of Doom / Doctor Star and the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows / Quantum Age: From the World of Black Hammer / Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artists: Dean Ormston, Rich Tommaso, Max Fiumara, Wilfredo Torres, Emi Lenox
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Todd Klein
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Issues in 2018: 7 / 4 / 5 / 1
This past year also saw the establishing of a new superhero universe: Black Hammer. Technically, this homage-heavy universe was created back in 2016 with the advent of Black Hammer #1 from writer Jeff Lemire and artist Dean Ormston. That issue was the start of a specific story. The wider universe grew later, doing so with an adjacent miniseries that broadened the plot in 2016 (Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil from Lemire and artist extraordinaire David Rubin).
In 2018, however, we got an even broader expansion. This past year, the Black Hammer universe continued with its main title, while adding two more miniseries and a one-shot. Add to that all kinds of rumors about what’s coming in 2019—from Lemire himself writing/drawing a 12-issue series, to a crossover between Black Hammer and DC Comics—and all signs point to this universe being here to stay. I had a chance to interview Jeff Lemire at San Diego Comic Con, and he agreed, saying as much.
I point this out as a way to note Black Hammer is so well-done that it has found a strong foothold in a market over-saturated by superhero concepts since basically 1970 (if not sooner). This is Lemire in all his brilliant Lemire-ness, following his deepest ideas and tragic lonesome sensibilities. He’s created a tone that allows him to write a few pages of funny before lapsing into full-blown meditations on the nature of generational comic book stories. Shared superhero universes function best with a strong guiding voice or perspective (see Marvel in the ‘60s). Black Hammer is doing just that, and I for one feel lucky to experience it in real time.
Saga #50 (cover by Fiona Staples) finds the family in happier times.
1. Saga
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Letterer: Fonografiks
Publisher: Image Comics
Issues in 2018: 6
I’ve written about this often, but it’s easy to take long-running creator-owned comics for granted, forgetting what a rare thing it is to have talented writers and artists string together wholly original stories with only their keyboards and pencils. For many of us, our lifetimes have been marked with a mainstream comic selection dictated by corporations and distributors, plus whatever experimental work was on the fringes. In recent years, this has changed, and, leading that change, has been Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ familial sci-fi epic, Saga.
This year, however, was one in which we were all but forced to stop taking Saga for granted. The first reason for this was Saga’s latest story arc (which ran in issues #49 - #54, and wrapped up in July) was obscenely consequential. I don’t want to give anything away, but $@#% goes down and it’s bad, so bad I wrote about why it hurts, partially to make sense of why I was so devastated. It’s a testament to this story that it can hit such intense emotional beats so far into its run.
Second, the book announced it would be going on a year-long (minimum) hiatus. Obviously, you can’t take something for granted once it leaves you. Kind of bummer (we’re compensating with a year-long Saga re-read), made all the more bumming (is that a word? ah well) by how good the comic got before the announcement. There really is, quite simply, nothing else like Saga, not in terms of the scope of the story, the artful thematic explorations undertaken within, or the industry-best action and design graphics generated a whopping six times a year (or more!) by the massive talent that is Fiona Staples.
This site is dedicated to discussing comic books in thoughtful and analytical ways as the medium enjoys a new golden age. To us, Saga remains the leader of an ongoing renaissance, and a big part of the reason we think it’s so important to volunteer time to cover the artform. It is an absolute honor to give the book and its devastating 2018 story (kind of fitting, in sooooo many ways) our Top Comic of 2018 honor.
Check out Best Comics of 2018, #16 - #25 and Best Comics of 2018, #6 - #15! And check back later in the week for more year-end lists, including our Best Single Issues and our Top Creators of 2018!
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
By Zack Quaintance — The most difficult thing about a strong year for comics (like this one) is doing a year-end Best Of list. Now, to be sure, no one mandates websites do rankings. That would be a clear violation of civil liberties. There is, however, a part of the pop culture blogger brain that goes wild for it, whispering all year long...where does this one rank...and if you don’t satisfy that beast—well, bad things happen.
So, here we our with ours, freshly formulated for 2018 by our committee of one. Before we dive into part 2, which features in descending order selections #15 to #6 (Top Comics of 2018, #16 - #25 is up now, with the Top 5 due later today), let’s rehash our ground rules:
No trades or OGNs: Building out our OGN coverage is a priority for 2019. We’re just not there yet. So, while I absolutely loved work like Tillie Walden’s On a Sunbeam, Box Brown’s Is This Guy For Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman, and Ryan Lindsay and Eric Zawadzki’s Eternal, you won’t find them here. Ideally, next year’s we’ll have an entire post dedicated to OGNs.
No webcomics, manga, or newspaper strips: Again, our site is a bit deficient covering these (if you are into these things, we’d love to chat about you writing for us!). I should, of course, mention that in 2018 someone under the pen name Olivia James took over the long-running Nancy strip and did amazing things with it (Sluggo is lit), but, again, you won’t find it on our list.
Longevity matters: New this year, you will find what I consider a key stat—how many issues were published this year. Late debut series like Die, Electric Warriors, and Bitter Root have tons of promise. They just haven’t been around enough to be a definitive comic of 2018. Ditto for comics that ended in April or earlier.
There you have it: guiding principles of our Top Comics of 2018. Now, without further adieu, let’s keep this bad hombre going!
15. Seeds
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Artist, Letterer: David Aja
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Issues in 2018: 2
The second issue of this series absolutely blew my mind. So much so it was enough to land this comic in our list, and at no. 15 too! I’m going to struggle to articulate why this is not only one of the best comics out today, but also the comic with the most potential to be an all-time great series. But here goes…
Writer Ann Nocenti and artist David Aja have clearly thought hard about the state of the world, dwelling on current trends, struggles, challenges, \and even a few victories to extrapolate a future the likes of which we’ve never seen. There are (as noted in yesterday’s list) many near-future disaster stories running through comics. Many of them do admirable jobs extending a fear or concern to logical places. Seeds encompasses much more with its predictions, in a way that feels impossibly novel yet so obvious you wonder why its ideas hadn’t previously occurred to you. If you start listing story elements—failing planet, media corruption, alien love story/menace—they sound a little rote, but the way these talented creators bring them together is nothing short of remarkable. Now, if only they could get a handle on the delays...
14. Doomsday Clock
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Publisher: DC Comics
Issues in 2018: 6
Speaking of delays (hey! would you look at that transition), next we have Doomsday Clock. Writer Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank were as good as their word this year, mostly sticking to the every-other-month schedule they promised following Doomsday Clock #3. We got six new issues in 2018, and the last three were straight up killer comics. This series has, to be blunt, massive ambitions.
Indeed, the intentions of this comic are starting to crystalize, and if Johns and Frank can pull this off, they could end up with a story that speaks to the current rise of authoritarian governments across the globe, the reactions of the media and the populous, and what it means to be a public hero today, to take a strong position. It’s heady stuff, with potential to shape DC’s line and maybe even the stories the aging company does for the next decade.
13. Ice Cream Man
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Martin Morazzo
Colorist: Chris O’Halloran
Letterer: Good Old Neon
Publisher: Image Comics
Issues in 2018: 8
As I’ve noted throughout, ranking the many many many excellent comics this year has been no easy feat. There were a ton of tough choices, but as my friend Rob from Panel Patter noted, at a certain point you have to choose, otherwise there’s no purpose to the endeavor. For me, placing Ice Cream Man was the most difficult decision. An anthology horror comic linked only by the titular (and hella creepy) ice cream man, this book has been a tour de force.
The reason it lands at #13 is twofold. No. 1, 13 is creepy and it seemed fitting, because aside from one other selection (we’ll get into that later), this is the highest-ranking horror comic on our list. No. 2, I’m trying to rank series for holistic reading experience. Ice Cream Man being made of vignettes makes that trickier. This book is easily one of the best comics of 2018, and we’ll heap more praise on it in future posts, specifically the Best Single Issues of 2018, coming later this week. For now, I’ll just note everyone should read this comic, just pick up random issues (they’re all self-contained) and go. The rate of success is high enough I’m confident you’ll all find flavors (sorry) you like.
12. The Wild Storm
Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Jon Davis-Hunt
Colorist: Steve Buccellato
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: DC Comics
Issues in 2018: 8
It’s pretty amazing this far into a celebrated career, Warren Elllis is doing his best work, writing a slow-burning epic that strips down characters he’s handled for years before building them back into something searingly-relevant for 2018. This new The Wild Storm has a few familiar names, while remaining entirely accessible for first-time readers of this universe. And what Ellis is doing here is exploring the vast influence wielded by long-standing (and hard to comprehend) power structures.
He’s joined by Jon Davis-Hunt, one of (if not the) most underrated artists in comics. Davis-Hunt comes fresh from career work of his own on Gail Simone’s Clean Room, and as good as he was there, he’s hitting a new level, crafting graphic sequential storytelling both kinetic and real, capable of disrupting any visual laws of reality yet photorealistic and engrossing. As intellectual and nuanced a comic as we’ve seen, this is a must-read story.
11. The Mighty Thor / Thor
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artists: Russell Dauterman, Mike del Mundo, Christian Ward, Jen Bartel, Various
Colorists: Matthew Wilson, Marco D’Alfonso
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Issues in 2018: 4 / 12
Jason Aaron’s ongoing run on Thor is the best long-form story happening in superhero comics, and it’s really not even close. Aaron and Esad Ribic’s Thor: God of Thunder #1, which essentially marked the start of this current run, hit stands in November 2012, a vastly different time in the world and industry. Marvel has no other run close, with Hickman and Bendis gone from the company and Dan Slott off Amazing Spider-Man. Invincible has also ended, and DC’s main challengers—Batman and Deathstroke, for my money—date back to summer 2016, which is hardly a challenge at all.
Thor, however, keeps going strong, landing this year’s 16 issues (and a Jane Foster one-shot) at #11 overall on our list. Our committee of one suspects it will be higher next year, what with the War of the Realms coming. The Jane Foster finale was certainly a high point his year, but it felt like more of a pause than a proper finish, setting the table for what is sure to be some damn fine comics to come. In summation, 2018 was another great year for Aaron’s Thor run, but we all but guarantee 2019 will be even better, possibly the high water mark for this story.
10. X-Men Red
Writer: Tom Taylor
Artists: Mahmud Asrar, Carmen Carnero, Roge Antonio
Colorists: Ive Svorcina, Rain Beredo
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Issues in 2018: 11
What a surprise this comic was. I’d tapped out on X-Men: Blue and X-Men: Gold, deciding to wait for whatever next big X-thing. Then comes an announcement of a third color, part of the Marvel Legacy line, which, let’s face it, was dead on arrival. But here’s the thing: Tom Taylor and Mahmud Asrar’s X-Men: Red was good. Like, really really really good. Taylor’s scripting understood the franchise better than any writer I’ve read in I don’t know how long, casting the team as equal parts superhero high-flyers and common defenders of the oppressed, all with a geopolitical angle.
It made Jean Gray the face of Xavier’s continuing dream, a brilliant move given her legacy (ahem) and similar skill set, and it faced the X-Men against threats essentially derived from the messages of hate coursing through the modern media landscape, be it reportage or social posting. It was a brilliant stretch of 11 issues that ended way too soon, and, in my opinion, it was the first real hint how the X-Men can be made relevant for 2018, 2019, etc., taking them out of their long-standing continuity mire. It will be missed, and I hope this new generation of X-writers draw from its example.
9. Vault Comics: Fearscape / Friendo / These Savage Shores
Writers: Ryan O’Sullivan / Alex Paknadel / Ram V.
Artists: Andrea Mutti / Martin Simmonds / Sumit Kumar
Colorists: Vladimir Popov / Dee Cunnife / Vittorio Astone
Letterers: Andworld Design / Taylor Esposito / Aditya Bidikar
Publisher: Vault Comics
Issues in 2018: 3 / 3 / 2
Okay, so this one is cheating, but of the three new Vault Comics launched by British writers with clear literary roots in the fall, I couldn’t pick any one to elevate above the others. They’re all incredible, and so I built myself a loophole (it’s my website, afterall), and included all three on the list. I heard Vault editor Adrian Wassel on a podcast earlier this year, saying comics could swing to a literary place that incorporates both recent cinematic storytelling trends and their unique ability to synthesize words and pictures. All three of these titles reflect that viewpoint.
You can read more thoughts about each on our Reviews Page, but let me run through them quickly. Fearscape is a look at pretense, literary culture, and how the nature of creative writing often sees authors bouncing violently between bouts of outsized ego and crippling insecurity. The voice is pretentious and incredible. Friendo is a meditation on the decline of late-model capitalist countries, specifically the United States, casting apathy, ceiling-less corporate greed, and the marginalization of government checks as truly terrifying villains. These Savage Shores is a gorgeous and deep commentary on imperialism, using misdirection to to create an engaging and tone-heavy narrative. Basically, all three of these are well worth your time, and I highly recommend them all.
8. Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Mike Feehan
Inker: Sean Parsons
Colorist: Paul Mounts
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: DC Comics
Issues in 2018: 6
Speaking of literary comics, Mark Russell and Mike Feehan’s Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles (improbably) falls in that bin as well. Last year we highlighted Russell’s work on Flintstones. Another year and another smart take on a Hanna-Barbera property, and here we are again. In Russell’s re-imagining of this mythos, Snagglepuss is a basically closeted playwright during McCarthy-ism, trying to stay true to his values without running afoul of the federal government and staid societal interests.
Russell uses this premise to tell a sophisticated story that dances with ideas about life, art, politics, group think, and conservatism. The emotional core to this thing is the Huckleberry Hound character, whose tragic story beats brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. If reading a comic about Snagglepuss doesn’t sound appealing, don’t worry—you’re not alone in that thinking. But Russell also uses the legacy of the character to do work toward the satirical points he’s making, to help drive them home.
7. Wasted Space
Writer: Michael Moreci
Artist: Hayden Sherman
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Vault Comics
Issues in 2018: 6 (counting the holiday special)
Phew, now we’re getting into the comics that I can’t imagine my 2018 without, the first being Michael Moreci and Hayden Sherman’s Wasted Space. I have heaped my fair share of praise on this book over the past 12 months, and I’m not alone. In fact, Nerdist has called it “easily the best new series to hit comic shops so far this year.” For my money, it’s without question the best wholly new property of 2018, and I’m going to quote myself to elaborate on why...
Wasted Space to me feels like Star Wars by way of 2018, determined to honor the hi-jinx & high adventure of space opera while fearlessly exploring the central conflict of our times: where should one’s desire for comfort end and their obligation to combat oppression begin? I’ve compared Moreci’s absurdist, idea-heavy writing to the late David Foster Wallace and I stand by that, noting that Sherman’s chaotic high-energy art style brings the world to life in a special way. This is maybe the highest compliment I can give: in a day and age where i buy fewer paper comics than ever before, I still have a pull list and on it near the top is Wasted Space.
6. Thanos Wins
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Geoff Shaw
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Issues in 2018: 6
Toward the end of 2017, Brian Michael Bendis left Marvel, dealing the publisher as significant of a writing void as I’ve seen in the past two decades, dating back to before Bendis established himself as the company’s prime writing voice. The thing about voids like that is they force publishers to take bigger risks and bring in younger, newer talent. For Marvel in 2018, that meant Donny Cates (among others).
One of Cates’ first charges at Marvel was to takeover Thanos in the wake of another essentially departing writer, Jeff Lemire, who seemed from the outside to be off to focus on the superhero universe he owned and created, Black Hammer. What Cates and past collaborator Geoff Shaw did with the final six issues of this run was absolutely remarkable, telling what is not only the best Thanos story of all-time, but the best end of the Marvel Universe tail this side of Jonathan Hickman. It’s called Thanos Wins, and it’s exactly what it sounds like.
Thanos Wins is as bold a statement as a young writer doing his first work at Marvel could have made. Aided by the out-of-this-world Geoff Shaw artwork and Antonio Fabela colors, Cates seemed to put all of comics on notice here, not being content to just decimate the very futures of these decades-old beloved characters, but insisting on doing so with wild grin viscerally affixed to his face. You might wonder, how do I know he was laughing and smiling as he wrote all of this. I think the better question, is how could anyone who’s read Thanos Wins doubt it?
Read our analysis of Thanos Wins here!
Check back later today for our Best Comics of 2018, #1 - #5! Check out Best Comics of 2018, #16 - #25! And check back later in the week for more year-end lists, including our Best Single Issues and our Top Creators of 2018!
For the history-minded readers, you can find our Top Comics of 2017, Part 1, 2 and 3 online now!
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise is out now.
By d. emerson eddy — For a few years now Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston, along with a host of other talented collaborators, have been building a universe at Dark Horse in Black Hammer, founded on a deep love for Silver Age comics, paying homage to many of the characters and characteristics of that era. The series began as a kind of mystery about the disappearance of a Justice League analogue, but quickly spiralled out into spin-off series, including a far-flung future with teen heroes and a focus on one of Black Hammer's arch-enemies and his legion of villains. It was in this spin-off, Sherlock Frankenstein & The Legion of Evil, that we first met Chtu-Lou, and his cute little daughter, Cthu-Louise.
While the homages to the Silver Age Justice League, Legion of Super-Heroes, Legion of Doom, Vertigo, and beyond are wonderful, reading through The Quantum Age #5 this week as well got me wondering if the Black Hammer universe would work as well without the pastiches and homages to DC Comics. For my money, yes. I actually find that the non-homage, original characters and story elements are even more impressive. Such is Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise, a one-shot from Jeff Lemire, Emi Lennox, Dave Stewart, and Todd Klein.
This story plays hard into one of Lemire's favorite themes, the importance of family, but it does so from a unique perspective. Louise doesn't have a loving family. Her father, Lou, was a super-villain, and now is just a lazy, abusive father taking out his frustration on his relatively innocent daughter, who is only looking for love and acceptance. Her mother is absent most of the time, working, but is equally emotionally abusive to Louise. When you add the problems she has at school due to her monstrous appearance, Cthu-Louise doesn't have an easy life. But she does have her “grandfather”, the elder god who granted her father his powers and thereby hers, and it's interesting how Lemire massages this into an “Eye of the Beholder”-type story.
Lemire's Plutona collaborator, Emi Lenox, handles the line art for this story and, combined with the greens and purples of Dave Stewart's colors, presents a fairly light-hearted, cartoon-like style. It works well for Louise's age, giving it a colorful, deceptively-simple appearance, covering the darkness beneath the surface.
On top of that, the lettering from the legendary Todd Klein adds overall to the feel of the story, giving us some unique fonts and word balloons for Cthu-Louise, Cthu-Lou, and her grandfather. It's particularly interesting the gradation of the word balloons that the style of Cthu-Louise and Cthu-Lou's is about halfway between the normal human balloons and that used by her grandfather. It's a subtle way of showing that Cthu-Louise is an intermediary between normal and the beyond.
Overall, this is an excellent comic that shows the possibilities of the Black Hammer world outside of the main narrative, that the universe itself has legs of its own, and that the characters within it can carry a story without necessarily working within the meta-narrative of Silver Age homage and nostalgia (even if Cthu-Louise herself is a twist on a Lovecraftian pastiche). Lemire, Lenox, Stewart, and Klein give us a story that stands on its own tentacles.
Black Hammer: Cthu-Louise
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Emi Lenox
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letters: Todd Klein
Publisher: Dark Horse
Price: $3.99
Check out past Comic of the Week selections on the list page.
d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on twitter @93418.
By Zack Quaintance — It’s a rare week that has a hands down winner for our most exciting book. We are, admittedly, quite pleased with what’s happening in comics right now, and that tends to show via indecision over which series ranks as a weekly favorite. This Wednesday, however, our choice is clearly Black Hammer: Age of Doom #6, which pairs writer Jeff Lemire and his frazzled, acid flashback of a character Colonel Weird with artist Rich Tommaso, who has been teasing some of the artwork from the comic for months. It looks—in a word—fantastic.
Close behind Black Hammer: Age of Doom, however, are a number of other enticing books, including the Brian Michael Bendis and David Mack creator-owned collaboration, Cover, which is quickly rising to the ranks of our favorite titles, as well. This is also just two Wednesdays out from Halloween, a holiday comics folk tend to bring their A games for, and this year that’s taken the form of some really great novelty comics, including this week’s Marvel Zombie one-shot from sinister Ice Cream Man mastermind creator W. Maxwell Prince. There is, of course, more info on all these books below.
Let’s take a look!
Black Hammer: Age of Doom #6
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Rich Tommaso
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $3.99
After the shocking revelations in the last issue, Colonel Weird finds himself as a stranger in a strange land, where reality is ever changing!
Why It’s Cool: Black Hammer is easily one of our favorite ongoing things in comics, and recent issues have really pushed its plot forward, bringing some new light to some of the series long-running mysteries. This book features a guest artist as well as a plot that’s presumably a bit of a diversion. Still, with artist Rich Tommaso coming aboard for a quick arc, we’re super excited to see the results.
Cover #2
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: David Mack
Letterer: Carlos M. Mangual
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $3.99
Nazi-hunters? Escape artists? Some M.I.A. for decades? Exactly how long have comics creators been part of the intelligence community? Follow the latest recruit from the Comic-Con circuit as he falls in with this mysterious crowd. The secrets he uncovers about its legacy will shock and delight, well, just about everyone.
Why It’s Cool: The books in Brian Michael Bendis’ creator-owned Jinxworld imprint are all love letters to craft that pair the veteran writers with uber talented artists he’s been collaborating with for years. The standout of the bunch so far, however, has been Cover, which sees an A List comics pro being recruited as a cultural attache for the CIA, which turns out to be a bit more dangerous than he expected. There have, of course, been comics about making comics in the past, but this one seems to have the greatest potential to become an iconic work. The second issue makes good on the promise of the debut, too.
Gideon Falls #7
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Steve Wands
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
"ORIGINAL SINS," Part One...After the mind-blowing events of the first arc, Norton digs deeper into the mystery of the Black Barn, and secrets of his past begin to come to light. Meanwhile, Father Fred does some digging of his own and learns the hard way that some secrets should just stay buried.
Why It’s Cool: Of all the top-tier new horror comics launched in 2018—and, indeed, there have been more than a few—Gideon Falls is easily the most fully-formed. Credit that to Lemire and Sorrentino having worked together so well on past projects with the Big 2, including Green Arrow and Old Man Logan. Anyway, the point is this book is back for a second arc, and you better believe we’re excited about it.
Marvel Zombie #1
Writer: W. Maxwell Prince
Artist: Stefano Raffaele
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $4.99
Years after an incurable zombie virus ravaged the world, a small colony of survivors is protected by the Marvel U's few remaining heroes, including Spider-Man, Daredevil and the Falcon. But when their last chance at salvation arrives, will they be willing to sacrifice their own humanity in the process? From the twisted minds of ICE CREAM MAN writer W. Maxwell Prince and Stefano Raffaele (Generations: Hawkeye) comes the next macabre obsession for fans of The Walking Dead and The Road!
Why It’s Cool: W. Maxwell Prince has been writing one of our favorite creator-owned comics for some time, that being Ice Cream Man over at Image. Ice Cream Man is a varied and excellent horror anthology, one just as adept at focusing one month on body horror as it is on existential crisis the next. As such, it seems like this one-shot return of Marvel Zombie will most certainly be something to pick up.
Skyward #7
Writer: Joe Henderson
Artist: Lee Garbett
Colorist: Antonio Fabela
Letterer: Simon Bowland
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
"HERE THERE BE DRAGONFLIES," Part Two...Willa's alone in the middle of the forest, surrounded by giant insects that want to make her dinner. But here to the rescue comes a badass group of sword-wielding... farmers?
Why It’s Cool: Come to watch humans in a minimal gravity world do battle with giant over-evolved insects, stay to enjoy the world-building and the slow evolution of this story into an odyssey that also looks at issues of extreme capitalism and inequality. This is a seriously great book, one I can’t keep recommending highly enough.
Captain Ginger #1
Exorsisters #1
Lucifer #1
Shuri #1
Venom Annual #1
What If? Ghost Rider #1
X-Men: Black - Mystique #1
Archie 1941 #2
Aquaman #41
Batman #57
Black Badge #3
Cemetery Beach #2
Daredevil #609
Justice League #10
Justice League Dark #4
Low Road West #2
New World #4
Patience Conviction Revenge #2
Pearl #3
Quantum and Woody! #11
Submerged #3
Thor #6
See our past top comics to buy here, and check our our reviews archive here.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.
By Zack Quaintance — This month is one that has the potential to be infamous, in that it ended with an event—Heroes in Crisis—that saw one of the Big 2 (DC) embrace a sort of grit and darkness that feels outdated. Word is now coming out that in addition to being a viscerally uncomfortable book, Heroes in Crisis also undersold expectations. Really, it almost feels to me as if the larger line itself is working like an antibody to reject Heroes in Crisis, purging its anachronistic themes from a shared superhero universe that is now bent on being brighter.
But, hey, this isn’t a piece about Heroes in Crisis! This is, instead, a piece about the comics from last month that I really liked, and within it you will find talk of some of my usual favorites—Wasted Space and Immortal Hulk—as well as some discussion of comics I haven’t written as much about, including The Seeds and Supergirl. And because I can’t help myself: yes! Okay, fine. I found Heroes in Crisis disappointing, but I still enjoyed September holistically as another great month for comics.
Let’s take a look at why!
Snotgirl #11. I’m just so happy this book is back. The art is phenomenal, even if the story has seemed to search for direction. Still, there’s nothing else quite like this comic, one of the most singular today. It’s like reading a guilty pleasure Instagram feed.
While I thought the opening arc of Jason Aaron’s Avengers run was maybe two issues longer than it needed to be, Avengers #7 & #8 are two of my favorite standalone Avengers stories in years, Avengers #7 for its biblical qualities and #8 because of its deep focus on team dynamics.
Relay #3. I’ve been enthralled by this book from its start. It’s, to be reductive, mind-expanding sci-fi brought to life with illustrations that oscillate from detailed and realistic to totally psychedelic. It’s a complex read, one I’m doing my damndest to analyze via reviews.
I’m all in on the SuperBendis run these days, and I liked Superman #3 and Action Comics #1003 quite a bit. Supergirl #22, however, was a fantastic surprise. This is a smaller title, but it’s bringing a welcome additional depth to Bendis’ larger aspirations.
September’s Wonder Woman #54 & #55 teamed one of my favorite rising comics writers, Steve Orlando, with one of my favorite underrated art teams, Raul Allen and Patricia Martin. The results were (unsurprisingly) to my liking.
DC Comics is in a bit of holding pattern in a couple places, waiting for new superstar runs to start (Aquaman, The Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, etc.), but Justice League #8 & Justice League Dark #3 continue to establish its team-up book as a true flagship.
In Black Hammer: Age of Doom #5, some of this series’ mysteries become clear, and the team of Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormstron have more than built a satisfying resolution.
I continue to be impressed with the world-building going on in Skyward, a charming comic that’s clearly lasting for a long haul. Check out our review of Skyward #6.
Not to give too much away, but the last panel in The Wild Storm #17 is well worth your time, provided you’ve read The Authority...
Tom King and Mitch Gerads work in Mister Miracle #11 is once again excellent, featuring action, a future classic nine-panel grid of Darkseid double-dipping a carrot, and a promise that mysteries will be unraveled next month (maybe).
5. Wasted Space #5 by Michael Moreci, Hayden Sherman, Jason Wordie, & Jim Campbell
This month saw the conclusion of Wasted Space’s first arc, and what a doozy. What I find most compelling about Wasted Space is that it lives a double life, both as a slapstick space opera and as a deep ideological exploration of culture and society. I’ve said this before but it’s worth reiterating: there’s a David Foster Wallace-esque quality to the ideas and concerns in this book, one that is especially evident in some of the lengthiest bits of dialogue as well as in the intelligence woven throughout.
Aesthetically, it’s a bright and vibrant comic with a quick plot and jokes that feel surprising yet never inappropriate. I’m a vocal proponent of Vault Comics, and, as such, I’m often asked where new readers should start. After this issue (and arc), my answer is now Wasted Space.
4. Doomsday Clock #7 by Geoff Johns & Gary Frank
This issue caught me off guard. In Doomsday Clock #7, there is more plot and action than in the first half of this maxi-series combined. Indeed, the first six issues here were almost introspective in nature, carefully building the individual concerns of different Watchmen characters as they moved from their world into the proper DCU.
In Doomsday Clock #7, our principals start to slam together, with a good deal of direct involvement from usual DC heroes as well. The result is a comic that almost serves as a mission statement for this entire event. It’s an entertaining read that has me more excited for the final five issues. There is a little bit of a bittersweet tinge to it, in that one can only imagine what it would have been like had this book kept to a monthly schedule, as well as what it would have meant for the larger DCU, too. Sigh.
3. Immortal Hulk #5 & #6 by Al Ewing & Lee Garbett
September brought us two new issues of my favorite Marvel comic, Immortal Hulk, and so I’m including them here together. It seems to me like these two books together took a deeper turn into the supernatural, opening the door for the titular undead Hulk to explore some darker, perhaps even supernatural spaces.
The glowing red visage of Banner’s demon father is the MVP of this new scary turn. Designed to horrific perfection by usual series artist Joe Bennett, the face is memorable and terrifying, a fitting personification of this book’s ambition to be a different, unnerving sort of Hulk story. I also like that this book is seemingly separate from the usual cash-grabby fray of crossing over Marvel titles. Indeed, it’s starting to feel like the publisher is actively separating prestige titles from gimmicky cash grabs, and discerning readers are better for it.
2. Batman #54 by Tom King, Matt Wagner, Tomeu Morey, & Clayton Cowles
Batman #54 was a comic that made me emotional. As I wrote in my Batman #54 review, I found this issue to be an all-time great Batman story, a father-son take on one of the most famous duos not only in comics but in the entire world. It’s also largely indicative of what I’ve liked most about King’s run so far: its humanity.
I think I’m far from alone in saying King’s Batman has been one of peaks and valleys, and I attribute this to a two steps forward, one step back journey he has Bruce on. King is trying to slowly humanize and grow a character whose owners have everything to gain by keeping him static. His solution seems to be a series of small pushes in lieu of any major leaps. This issue is one of the most blissful small pushes forward so far.
1. Seeds #2 by Ann Nocenti & David Aja (read our review of Seeds #1)
I didn’t know what to make of Seeds’ first issue. It was a blatantly creative comic, one that intrigued me and seemed to have something much deeper to say beneath the compelling visuals that made up its veneer. The first issue, though, withheld much about what the book intended to be about, and, as such, I withheld a bit of enthusiasm. After reading the second issue this has changed. I’m all in on The Seeds, to the point I now suspect that when the four-issue series concludes, it is likely to be praised as one of the best comics of the decade, if not longer.
This is a story that feels both impossible and real, that feels of our moment and also forward-looking. It’s thematic interests are disparate at first glance, ranging from sex between humans and aliens, the environmental death of the earth, and the bludgeoning impact of human reliance on technology. Look closer, though, and you’ll find a creative team that is almost unnervingly prescient. This is a comic book story that in my opinion is clearly laying out what should (or soon will be) easily the most pressing concerns of our time, and doing it with some of the finest art in the industry. Simply put, if you’re not reading this comic, you are making a mistake.
Check out our Best New #1 Comics of September 2018 plus more of our monthly lists here.
Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as BatmansBookcase.