The Homies 2016
It’s that time of the year again, where comics blogs and podcasts do their obligatory look-back best-ofs, and that means it’s time for the House to Astonish Homies Awards!
As always, Paul and I will individually be choosing a winner for each category, but there’s the usual proviso – we want YOU to help, so you all name your picks in the comments, and Paul and I each choose our own, and we talk a bit about each of the three on our awards show.
We’re likely to be recording on the 30th of December, so we’re giving you until 8pm UK time (3pm Eastern, noon Pacific) on December 29 to make your choice. When you list your picks, don’t just name names either, because we’ll be reading out the best comments on the show, so let us know your thinking!
BEST NEW SERIES
This one’s pretty self-explanatory – any comic whose first issue was published between 1 January 2016 and the close of nominations (29th December) is eligible. What new series got your attention the most this year?
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
This one’s a little less self-explanatory – what series, again first published between 1 January and date of broadcast, did you think was best, with the proviso that it has to be something where the property wasn’t in existence prior to the start of 2012. We’re counting re-use of titles as well as concepts, so Lost Light or Doom Patrol wouldn’t be eligible, but (for example) Animosity or Another Castle would.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
The counterpart to the categories above, which covers books whose first issue was published in 2015 or before. They’ve been around the block, but they’ve still got what it takes.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
These are explaining themselves by this point, right? We’re looking for OGNs, one-shots and minis published in 2016 (or partially in 2016, in the case of minis).
FAVOURITE WRITER
FAVOURITE ARTIST
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Each of these three is pretty self-explanatory – whose name on the cover or credits box of a book makes you want to pick it up? Whose work do you most look forward to seeing?
MOST WANTED
This is for the comic, series or graphic novel that saw print this year which you’d want to see more of, whether that be a book that was cancelled before its time, a one-shot or mini that just begs for a follow-up, or an OGN that you’d love to see a sequel to.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
It may have seemed unappealing when you read about it online, and those preview pages may have looked unremarkable, but when you finally got the winner of this category in your hands you were ready to eat your words. What comic, series or graphic novel did you find yourself enjoying much more than you thought you would?
STIFF DRINK AWARD
This award will go to the comic or graphic novel that most made us gasp with surprise – an unexpected plot twist, a daring cliffhanger or a shocking denouement will stand a book in good stead here.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
This is exactly what it says – which creator, creative team, publisher or other contributor to the world of comics really knocked it out of the park this year?
Let us have your picks in the comments thread below, along with your thinking on each one – we’ll read out a range of the responses on our big end-of-year show. Happy nominating!
1. BEST NEW SERIES
2. BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
Faith (Valiant) – Taking the place of the much missed She-Hulk, Faith is the shining beacon of optimism in a dismal 2016. When even Ms. Marvel got a little dark thanks to the Civil War II tie-in issue this year, Faith was needed more now than ever. Add the fact that Faith is a new character, a type of representation for readers that hasn’t existed before, and Faith is my pick for best new and new-new series of 2016.
3. BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye/Transformers: Lost Light (IDW)
As if there could be another choice from me this year. This is the book that kept me interested in comics in 2016. I’d rage at IDW for not putting it on sale more often on Comixology specifically because I’m too poor to buy it every month but too invested in the characters and the story to do anything but wait until they’re on sale. I’ve recommended this book without hesitation to people whenever they ask what comic they should read.
4. BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
March (Top Shelf)
This three book graphic novel series about the U.S. Civil Rights Movement is timely. It could feel didactic or pedantic, but it’s gripping thanks to Nate Powell’s art and Andrew Aydin’s adaptation of John Lewis’s story.
5. FAVOURITE WRITER
Ed Brubaker
On the strength of The Fade-Out, I binged on Brubaker’s noir books this year. His books are consistently great.
6. FAVOURITE ARTIST
Erica Henderson (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl)
The perfect balance of kinetic dynamism and cute, Erica Henderson’s art on The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is peppy and one of the three big draws of one of Marvel’s consistently best books. Her faces are great, and the fashion choices she makes for the characters always feels true to the characters.
7. FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Rico Renzi (The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl)
Henderson’s great art is enhanced by Renzi’s coloring, which captures a bright, optimistic pop sensibility that meshes perfectly with Henderson’s art and Ryan North’s scripts.
8. MOST WANTED
Criminal (Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips)
The Criminal 10th Anniversary Special and the sixth trade came out in 2016, so I’m counting it. Brubaker’s noir work is his best work, and I’m fiending for more Criminal.
9. MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
The Legend of Wonder Woman (DC)
I feel like DC’s books aren’t made for me anymore, and I didn’t think we needed another telling of Wonder Woman’s origin. Nonetheless, Renae De Liz and Ray Dillon showcased the best of Wonder Woman’s potential as a symbol of hope. Naturally, DC canceled the book because they’ll retain an alleged sexual assaulter as an prominent editor but they won’t keep a great book on the shelves due to a “challenging” relationship.
10. STIFF DRINK AWARD
BPRD: Hell on Earth #147
Since I don’t follow comics news or solicitations closely anymore, I had missed that a) BPRD: Hell on Earth was ending and b) it’s pretty much the end of the Hellboy universe’s continuing story unless Mignola returns with another BPRD story.
11. OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Ryan North and Erica Henderson, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Remember how much we loved the issue of Hawkeye (bro) told from the dog’s perspective? Ryan North and Erica Henderson managed to one-up it by featuring an issue from a cat’s perspective. They also made an issue in the style of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, which should surely appeal to Al’s affection for Sorcery! It’s also consistently one of the funniest, best drawn, and humanist books published anywhere.
Just want to mention, Mignola is definitely returning with BPRD in the near future.
Chris Roberson is the new co-writer, replacing Arcudi.
Mignola made it apparent he sees the Hell boy Universe story being told in three phases.
#147 marked the end of “Hell on Earth”, which was phasetwo, and will now move on to the final phase in 2017.
Not sure if that information would change your pick.
I was highly disappointed by the ending of “Hell on Earth”, but won’t get in to all that.
BEST NEW SERIES
Nighthawk, a story about a black man who beats up racist cops in 2016, add in the best tech character since Oracle and some great art by Ramon Villalobos and you have an amazing book.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
Animosity, the best first issue of the year and while the next couple issues haven’t been that strong they’ve still been some of the best comics of the year.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
More Than Meets The Eye, I assume I don’t have to tell you two why this series was awesome.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
I haven’t read many this year but it’s hard to decide between Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up The Marvel Universe and the More Than Meets They Eye Revolution one shot. I think I’ll give it to Squirrel Girl because it being longer meant there was more to enjoy.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Warren Ellis, Injection, Trees, James Bond, Shipwreck were among my favourite comics of th year.
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Jamie McKelvie look at any page he drew of Wic Div and you should be able to see why I’m giving him this.
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Matt Wilson, same with McKelvie
MOST WANTED
Mockingbird both because it was awesome and because it’d be a great screw you to all the sexists who complained about that cover.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
I have this weird thing where I don’t pick up a book unless I think it’ll be good, is that not what everyone does?
STIFF DRINK AWARD
The ending to MTMTE 55.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
The MTMTE eye team for creating a massive cliffhanger that promised to completely change the seriees and it’s characters then revealing it was all a fake out and not having it feel like a cop out.
Best New Series
The Flintstones — The Flintstones! — was funny, poignant and whip-smart this year. Someday soon, someone’s going to realize what a creative asset Mark Russell is.
Best Actually New Series
The Fix. Two people very comfortable with each other producing consistently laugh out loud comedy.
Best continuing series
Demon by Jason Shiga. Utterly hilarious and deceptively well drawn.
Best mini/IGN/one shot
Batman Annual, because it made me get emotional about Ace the Bat Hound
Best writer
Tom King slayed it this year between Omega Men, Batman, Sheriff of Babylon and Vision
Best artist
If he did work in a given year, Chris Samnee is always the answer
Best colorist
Jordie Bellaire both for outstanding work overall and managing to really make David Finch’s line work palatable.
Most Wanted
The Prez backup story wasn’t enough. Damn you, DC, give us a full part two!
Biggest surprise
The Flintstones is a good comic, somehow.
Stiff drink award
The epilogue to The Omega Men is profound and heartbreaking.
Outstanding achievement
Nothing made me laugh harder this year than Tom King and David Finch’s segment of Alfred in the Batmobile/Batsuit in Batman 5 (or is it 4?).
Just realized that I need to change my outstanding achievement award to that time in Superman 5 when Lois Lane put on a Batsuit and fought the Eradicator on Batman’s moon cave.
Best new series: All Star Batman – Just a great action comic that’s been a huge amount of fun, really enjoyed the back-ups as well. Romita and Shalvey doing great work and Snyder is excellent as always. Super excited for the next arc being Poison Ivy focused and drawn by Tula Lotay.
Best Actually New Series: Generation Zero – super powered teens written by Fred Van Lente, yes.
Best continuing Series: Giant Days – if I could only afford to read one comic book it would be this. Funning, charming and lovely.
Best mini, one shot or ogn: Britannia – honestly this is probably because I’ve been getting into history this year and the back matter has been fascinating. Being written by Peter Milligan doesn’t hurt.
Favourite Writer: John Allison – Giant Days is the best comic and he writes it.
Favourite Artist: Erica Henderson – Squirrel Girl just looks fabulous and she draws such expressive faces. Also she draws great cats.
Favourite Colourist: Jordie Bellaire – there was an issue of Pretty Deadly that has stuck with my all year and it was all down to Bellaires colours.
Most wanted: More comics like Transformers vs GI Joe by Tom Scioli and John Barber, licensed properties that let creators just do whatever the hell they want. Like a Michel Fiffe Gummi Bears book.
Most Pleasant Surprise: Britannia – I just picked up the number one cause I was bored did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did.
Stiff Drink Award: Persephone’s come back in WicDiv #18 a great way to kick start the story after the character focus issues.
Outstanding Achievement: DC Rebirth/Young Animal all of a sudden I’m reading a lot more DC books.
BEST NEW SERIES:
Star Trek Waypoint.
Yes, it’s only two issues in, but those two issues have featured Captain Geordi La Forge and his crew of holoDatas, Uhura making friends with a weird alien, a story in the style of terrible Gold Key comics, and the reveal that Yeoman Thompson (the only female redshirt to die in TOS) was basically holding the ship together singlehandedly before her death. It’s pretty great.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES:
Ah, the annual point where I shamefacedly admit I don’t think I’ve read any…
BEST CONTINUING SERIES:
Probably Gotham Academy.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN:
Hmm. The only one-shot I recall reading this year was DC Rebirth. But not that, obviously.
Can I vote for Doctor Who: Third Doctor even though I’m waiting for the trade, because everything I’ve heard about it sounds great?
FAVOURITE WRITER:
Brenden Fletcher.
FAVOURITE COLOURIST:
Serge LaPointe. Honestly, the only colourist I even notice; Gotham Academy and pre-Rebirth Batgirl just look really distinct. And while I’m generally of the opinion you shouldn’t notice the colouring, in the same way as you shouldn’t notice the special effects, it works.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE:
There’s still the possibility that Rebirth is going to be a trainwreck once they start actually addressing it in comics not written by Dan Abnett, but it hasn’t happened yet, and I was really expecting it to happen immediately.
STIFF DRINK AWARD:
The strong hint that Two-Face is blackmailing Alfred into betraying Bruce at the end of All-Star Batman #1.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT:
Dan Abnett, who got handed Geoff Johns’s poisoned chalice and is actually getting it to more-or-less work.
Best New Series – Shade the Changing Girl. Probably the title I had the least expectations (or, at least, advance preconceptions) of from the Young Animal batch, and yet it’s turned out to be not only the standout of that imprint, but of what has generally been a really strong second half of 2016 for DC generally. It’s a beautiful, thoughtful, fascinating comic that makes expert use of the form, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next after an incredibly strong introductory few issues.
Best Actually New Series – The Fix. I mean, in as much as basically continuing the spirit of Superior Foes of Spider-Man with the same creative team can be considered “actually new”. I worry that being completely creator-owned and unfettered might lead this to start going a bit too over-the-top in a way that will become unwieldy, but so far it’s been relentlessly funny and gripping.
Best Continuing Series – The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. A shining beacon of joy in an otherwise cold world. I would buy it every month even if the pages were blank and you only got the footnotes. It narrowly defeats Giant Days for this title, incidentally.
Best Mini, One-Shot or OGN – The Vision. I doubt anyone needs to be told why it’s the comic of the year, but dear holy god is it the comic of the year.
Favourite Writer – Tom King. Vision, Omega Men, Batman. 2016 was unquestionably his year.
Favourite Artist – Tough call, as with artists it tends to be about one particular book rather than a wider body of work (unless they hopped over to something else partway through). So there’s strong shouts for all of Kenneth Rocafort, Max Sarin, Erica Henderson, Patrick Gleason, Doug Mahnke, Otto Schmidt, Sean Phillips, Fiona Staples, and probably loads more. But I think Jamie McKelvie has had one of his strongest ever years, even by his standards, so let’s say him.
Favourite Colourist – Man, colouring in general in comics is arguably the strongest it’s ever been – in terms of the wide range of people out there who are all among some of the best ever to have done it. You could stick a pin and choose any of Matt Wilson, Jordie Bellaire, Nathan Fairbairn, Matt Hollingsworth and Dave Stewart. I’m not even sure I want to put one above the others: they’re all amazing.
Most Wanted – The Criminal 10th Anniversary Special was maybe my favourite thing the series has ever done; and while Brubaker and Phillips are knocking it out of the park on Kill or Be Killed, I really want to see them back in this universe sooner than later.
Most Pleasant Surprise – New Super-Man. I hadn’t enjoyed Yang’s Superman run at all, so I didn’t expect very much from this. But by gum, it’s so enjoyable. The closest thing I’ve read in years to the spirit of Giffen and deMatteis’ JLI and Giffen and Rogers’ Blue Beetle.
Stiff Drink Award – The last issue of Chew was totally worth waiting for. “CHU!!!!!” Honourable mention to Vision #7, too.
Outstanding Achievement – At the start of 2015, I was buying mostly Marvel books and barely any DC. At the end of 2016, I’m buying mostly DC books and hardly any Marvel. I simply did not expect that a relaunch that started with that Watchmen moment would turn out to be as impressive as DC Rebirth has gone on to be. It’s a shame that the majority of the excellence is centred around a couple of characters/offices, rather than being spread across some more innovative concepts, but there are now five or six DC titles that I consider must-reads every month.
BEST NEW SERIES
Wonder Woman (Greg Rucka/Nicola Scott/Liam Sharpe). If I could just pick the Rucka/Scott “Year One” storyline, I would. It’s great enough. In a year with no fewer than four competing WW origin stories, that one’s an instant classic. The “Lies” storyline is basically shameless retconning, but at least it gave us a successful (and surprisingly gracious) revamping of Cheetah, a character who is always meant to be important to Wonder Woman (and the reader) but never really has been until now.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
SLAM! Wasn’t expecting much from this, but given the mammoth talent (Moana writer Pam Ribon and artist Veronica Fish), I should’ve. Perfect teen comedy comic set in a distinctive and interesting world.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love. More true to the spirit of Dark Shadows than the actual Dark Shadows comic Dynamite did a while back. Flawless ghost story camp.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Greg Rucka. Wonder Woman is his gold standard, but Black Magick also got a promising start. With Scott off WW for now, I hope they can get BM rebooted next year.
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Elsa Charretier. She’s like the Dodsons but less devoted to a single, cheesecake-y body type. I miss her Starfire.
MOST WANTED
Legend of Woman Woman needs that second volume. A fun, adventurous, all-ages take on the character with a deep knowledge of the character’s history and the best take on Etta Candy since Marston himself.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
(Who buys comics they think they won’t like? Comics are so pricey!)
STIFF DRINK AWARD
*Detective Comics spoilers*
The revelation that Batwoman’s father is a villain who has been manipulating her for nefarious purposes since the beginning of her career. No scene touched me more in Rucka’s original Batwoman run than Jacob Kane’s loving response to his daughter’s coming out/discharge from the military, and Jacob and Kate’s father/daughter act was always the heart of the book. To have that torn to shreds irreparably damages the character in my book.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Ryan North’s output picked up this year, and the quality didn’t suffer. USQ started the year great (with the Doctor Doom/time travel epic) and remained at a pretty high level throughout, plus an OGN for good measure, PLUS a solid start on Jughead.
Best Actually New Series: The Fix.
Best Continuing Series: 2000AD. It’s the strongest it’s been in years. A comic pushing 40 and still using some of the same writers and artists from then should not be this good, but it is – and it still makes room for new talent too. The antidote to the latest depressing DC or Marvel news.
Since Faith doesn’t count for Best Actually New Series, I will have to change my vote to Goldie Vance.
Best actual new series would be Another Castle, the only new comic I read and enjoyed this year.
Stiff drink would go to New Avengers when Cannonball showed up on the last page. Unless that happened last year.
That’s all I have. Mostly I’ve been reading old stuff lately. The original Defenders comic is great …
Best Ongoing – More Than Meets The Eye
For giving me the same feeling as I had as a child, dizzy with excitement at the prospect of going to Supasweet after school to pick up Furman’s TFUK and find out what happened in Time Wars, and for making me sympathetic to(and at times annoyed with myself for being sympathetic to) Megatron – hats off to the MTMTE team.
Best actually new series – Animosity
Best Artist – sorry Alex MIlne, Fiona Staples is still top.
Best Colorist – Joanna Lafluente makes MTMTE look absolutely gorgeous
Best writer – Roberts has nailed MTMTE, but Brian Vaughan for Saga and Paper Girls just pips him.
Pleasant surprise – I’ve been enjoying Vision, despite telling myself I really wouldn’t!!
BEST NEW SERIES
Rom (IDW written by Chris Ryall)
A labour of love – Chris Ryall dreamed of writing Rom,his favorite character,since he was a kid. The series thus far shows great character development and should get even better as it goes.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
New Super-Man (DC Comics by Gene Luen Yang)
A teenage kid with the powers of Superman? Meh. A Teenage kid with the powers of Superman with the personality of Flash Thompson and ego of Rob Liefeld? That’s a comic. The character may seem the DC Comics odd man out but tells a more engrossing tale beneath the surface. When you’re a manufactured superhero by a communist government,who are the ‘bad guys’? Super-Man’s boss says ‘terrorist’ but one could also say ‘patriots fighting for democracy’. A unique look at superheroes from a ‘non-western’ point of view- that not everything is always black in white.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Jughead (Archie Comics written by Chip Zdarsky/Ryan North) Jughead has the greatest super-power of all time: the power to consume any amount of food and contain it all and not gain any weight from it.Superman wishes he was Jughead.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
Clinton Cash by Chuck Dixon. Helped end the threatened Hillary Clinton presidency and stopped her from starting World War 3. Chuck Dixon achieved a high task indeed: he turned a dry political book into a funny ,accessible,engaging graphic novel,all the while selling out and helping comics find a broader appeal outside the regular audience.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Dan Slott (just for Silver Surfer!)
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Mike Allred (Marvel’s Silver Surfer)
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Laura Allred (Silver Surfer)
MOST WANTED
Vote Loki – Loki should have won…it was a rigged system! The DNC and George Soros hacked the vote and cost Loki the US election
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
Superman:Lois and Clark ~ DC Comics,Dan Jurgens. (Happily spun off into Action and Superman Rebirth)
STIFF DRINK AWARD
Clinton Cash by Chuck Dixon.
Amazing the criminal Clinton family could be so blatantly criminal and self-serving in their actions and get away with it. Chuck Dixon does a great job scripting their complex web of deceit into a readable comic form.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
The Black Hood by Duane Swierczynski (Archie/Dark Circle) the most under rated and under selling comic on the market. A great modern telling of what a vigilante would look like in the real world. Sad to see it the lowest selling comic on Diamond’s ranking! Deserves more.
BEST NEW SERIES:
Ahhhh…. Transformers: Lost Light I guess (can I count the Revolution one shot)
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES:
Kim & Kim – ) the art is still not quite up to the challenge of the craziness depicted in the script but even so this series is fun as fun can be with strong leads shooting their way through the multiverse
BEST CONTIUING SERIES:
TRANSFORMERS VS G.I.JOE
A massive achievement, not likely to be equaled and certainly never surpassed. Tom Scioli’s tour-de-force takes two toy brands and transforms (yep) them to cosmic pop-art. No, it’s not as human as More than Meets the Eye – but for what it lacks in terms of small scale drama it more than makes up for GRAND SCALE SPACE HHHHYYYYPPPPEEEE! This as “comics” as comics can before they transcend the paper they are printed on.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
Giant Days: Holiday Special – GD is already the dictionary definition of joy, but once they brought in Lisa Treiman back (not that Max Sarin is bad, it’s just… she’s not Treiman; noone is) I just felt a wave of goodness all around me.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Hail to the (Tom) King baby. Really can’t see this swinging any other year in a year that gave us THE VISION, SHERIFF OF BABYLON and the end of OMEGA MEN.
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Michel Fiffe – regular COPRA is good enough as is, but the structural stuff he pulled on COPRA VS #1 takes him to 1980’s Miller level.
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Dave Stwart – HELLBOY IN HELL because is very pretty.
MOST WANTED
TRANSFORMERS VS G.I.JOE – gone but never for…. ohhh – they’ve just announced a special in March. Hallelujah.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
All New Wolverine – a writer I never read on a character I never cared for in the middle of a pretty terrible creative period for Marvel…. and yet this works.
STIFF DRINK AWARD
The visit to past in CHEW
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
2000AD – for forty zarjaz years
BEST NEW SERIES
Superman, love reading about Superman and his Super Son by Peter J. Tomasi who is doing work and why not since he did the same story about Batman and his son not long ago.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
Faith from Valiant has been wonder to read, but she is just like us expert she can fly!
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Saga, the best book by the best Brian K. Vaughan!
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
DC Universe: Rebirth (2016) #1
The DC Universe was dead and I was about ready to quite then this one book got me back!
FAVOURITE WRITER
Dan Jurgens has done Super work bring back Superman in both Action Comics and Lois & Clark
FAVOURITE ARTIST
super-star writer/artist Francis Manapul has done some amazing work on Trinity (2016-)
MOST WANTED
Velvet by Ed Brubaker amazing Spy comic that has not seen a new issue since July.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
DC has made a amazing come back with Rebirth!
STIFF DRINK AWARD
DC Universe: Rebirth (2016) #1 who ever thought the WATCHMEN would the big bad guys?
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
DC Universe: Rebirth (2016) #1
The DCU is back enough said!
I do hope the inevitable one-volume edition of Vision is titled Do Androids Dream of Electric Green Terriers?
The only comic I’ve read this year–new or otherwise–has been Saga, and it get all my nominations.
We’ll, I guess I’m always re-reading the Claremont-Cockrum-Byrne X-Men in a state of perpetuity. But there you go.
Best New Series
The Vision
Best Ongoing
Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye.
Stiff Drink Award
Rewind discovers something awful in 52 or 53 of MTMtE that atill has me astounded at how well it was set up.
Most Pleasant Surprise
The Flintstones is wry and unexpected. Honorable mention to Future Quest, also from DC’s new Hanna Barbara line.
I’m glad to see someone else enjoys the new Flintstones comic.
It’s one of my favourites too, and quite a pleasant surprise.
I never expected to ever write that a Flintstones comic ranks highly on my list.
Also, I love the original Defenders comic book. It was great.
I’m only going to do votes for a few categories.
BEST ONGOING
More Than Meets The Eye. Season 2 had been a little disjointed (lots of two parters with rotating artists) and self-indulgent (indie dance party) but the final volume (trade-waiter) managed to tie it all up as pleasingly and with as many surprises as “season 1” had. Some truly beautiful moments.
BEST WRITER
James Roberts, natch.
BEST COLORIST
I wasn’t too keen on him when MTMTE launched, but Josh Burcham’s work on Sins of the Wreckers was lovely and I think MTMTE is suffering a little for his absence (despite LaFuente being very good).
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
I’ve only dipped my toes in it so far, but I’d have to say DC Rebirth being actually fairly good on the whole. I’m especially impressed by how entertaining the Superman books are, given I care little for that character.
STIFF DRINK AWARD
As I said, I read in trades, so I may have the date wrong on when this came out in singles, but I’d have to say Optimus Prime annexing Earth in Transformers: Formerly Known As Robots In Disguise.
BEST NEW SERIES
Greg Rucka’s “Wonder Woman”
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
N/A
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Giant Days
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
Sonic Mega Drive. This was not a great year for the Sonic comic books, but this series of one-shots / mini has been really quite fantastic, thanks in large part to Tyson Hesse’s art–he’s really become one of the top five artists to have tackled Archie’s Sonic.
FAVOURITE WRITER
John Allison
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Leila Del Duca
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
N/A
MOST WANTED
Mega Man. The series went into indefinite hiatus this year after January’s issue, and given how great it was at making the games into comic books, it really didn’t deserve to.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
Josie and the Pussycats, insofar as it is not at all what I expected, which is essentially Archie’s answer to IDW’s Jem and the Holograms. What it actually is
STIFF DRINK AWARD
Jem and the Holograms + The Misfits team-up concert (Jem and the Holograms). The actual issue isn’t perfect, with a resolution that feels largely unearned, but the actual concert bits managed to do as good job of replicating one of my favorite story climaxes–the videogame “Elite Beat Agents” final stage–as one could without actual music or sound. Sophie Campbell is an absolute gift.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Boom. Between Lumberjanes, Giant Days, and Power Rangers, they’ve been the source of consistent awesomeness this year.
BEST NEW SERIES
• Captain Kid – Aftershock
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
• Doom Patrol – DC Comics/Young Animal
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
• Lazarus – Image Comics
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
• The Vision – DC Comics
FAVOURITE WRITER
• Kieran Gillen – The Wicked + The Divine, Darth Vader, and Doctor Aphra
FAVOURITE ARTIST
• Jim Lee – Suicide Squad/DC Comics (for hanging in there and getting job done)
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
• Alex Sinclair
MOST WANTED
• Black Beetle (new series is currently being seralized in Dark Horse Comics Presents)
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
• Green Arrow – post DC Rebirth
STIFF DRINK AWARD
• The Vision #11
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
• DC Comics – for righting the ship (at least in the comic book and TV arenas)
Oops – Best mini-series should be The Vision from Marvel (not DC Comics)
BEST NEW SERIES
Vision: This one topped out just about everyone’s best of the year list, and for good reason. Following the until-now extremely flat robot superhero the Vision, as he literally builds a family and moves to suburbia, Tom King’s amazing series managed a lot with a little. A claustrophobic suburban horror book that managed to redefine its characters while still being very, very faithful to their histories is an impressive feat and to do it so stylishly is better yet. In twelve issues Walta and King created a bizarre little world for their tortured protagonists to slowly be destroyed in, and it was impossible to look away.
Runners-up: Doom Patrol, Wonder Woman, and Headlopper
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
Black Monday Murders: Another urban fantasy book, this one replaces haunted artificial intelligences with ancient bloody cabals of…economists. On paper that doesn’t sound like a great idea but in practice, the mixture of magic and money let Hickman and Coker excel in their respective wheelhouses. Hickman returns to the cultural critique by way of crazy, entertaining conspiracy theories he began with Nightly News while Coker illustrates it all with stunning, shadow artwork and graphic design. A book that could have fallen on its face in terms of sheer density, Black Monday Murders is a surprisingly fun, addictive read that knows exactly how to pace itself.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
East of West: I did say I love series that develop over time, and Hickman’s sci-fi Game of Thrones has taken its sweet time building up momentum, but this year’s issues proved it all worthwhile. Jaw-dropping action and character beats made East of West my most anticipated read each month, and the payoff to long-gestating plotlines served as the icing on the cake. As the horseman death eases towards the apocalypse (dragging the overtly divided states of America with him), the book found a perfect balance between pulpy adventure and nihilistic bombast (a Hickman specialty).
Runners-Up: Prophet, Lazarus, Injection, and Giant Days
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
OGN: Dark Night A True Batman Story
Mini: Prophet Earth War: The first of two big endings this year is the finale to Brandon Graham’s Prophet which died in much the same manner it lived: very oddly. Prophet has always been a book that brimmed with big ideas and the ending continued this, pitting heroes against cults of parasitic crystals, gigantic re-imaginings of 90s superheroes, and ghost-like psychic warriors. Wisely, Brandon Graham recognizes that part of Prophet’s strength came in hinting at a much larger, stranger history than is ever seen (though what we do get is plenty large and strange), and ends his tale on a note that feints at finality before once again plunging into immense spectacle and enigmatic history. It will all be sorely missed.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Tom King: Ignoring his polarizing Batman run, the man had a crazy good year and earned all the accolades he’s getting.
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Andrew Maclean: I don’t know how to describe Headlopper without making it sound like a lesser book than it is. It’s a hybrid of comedy and high-fantasy that manages to do both justice without ever stooping to parody or cliche. The book follows to ridiculously stoic eponymous warrior and his traveling company/arch-nemesis, Agath: the evil but oblivious severed head of a blue witch. While this concept could be taken to absurdist extremes, Maclean has a light touch both in terms of his streamlined storytelling and his mignola-esque stylized art. Headlopper is a light book but one that has stuck with me.
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Jordie Bellaire
MOST WANTED
More Wild’s End: This book is so under the radar that I’m not sure anyone even noticed when it’s second arc ended amazingly early in the year. Abnett and Culbard have never been sharper and I am fully invested in their Wind in the Willows by way of War of the Worlds setting. More Please.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
Doom Patrol: was not particularly impressed by DC’s superhero books this year (the next entry being an exception), but the decision to give an individual creator his own mini-imprint of titles paid off nicely in the form of Gerard Way’s Young Animal. While I have yet to try all the titles, I think Doom Patrol is one of the most creative, enjoyable books coming out of the big two. While Way is respectful of Grant Morrison’s work with Doom Patrol, his book is less absurdist and more madcap. While the amount of sheer unexplained weirdness could be a turnoff, the charm of the dialogue and art make the book too charismatic to ignore. I still hope there’s a good explanation for any number of bizarre events, but for the moment, I am enjoying just watching the madness unfold.
STIFF DRINK AWARD
Hellboy In Hell: Hellboy finds peace in the most depressing of places in the final issue. This ending on a first read left me a little unsatisfied, but it has stuck with me like little else has. That final image of Hellboy, finally at peace but so devestatingly alone feels heartbreaking in a way I can’t fully wrape my head around just yet.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
This was a year where, surprise of surprises, the endings worked. We got the end of Hickman’s Secret Wars which surpassed my expectations for an event series by having a cohesive arc and resolution. We got the end, for the moment, of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy which was poignant and fitting. We got the gut-wrenching but ultimately hopeful end of Tom King’s Vision. And we got the strange, perfect ending to Brandon Graham’s Prophet series. I’ve not read the endings to certain other books like Chew and Tokyo Ghost, but I think it’s safe to say it’s been a surprisingly good year for resolutions (and not just the New Years kind).
BEST NEW SERIES ~Red Hood and the Outlaws DC
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES ~ Mickey Mouse Shorts IDW
BEST CONTINUING SERIES ~Street Fighter Unlimited Udon Comics
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN ~Clinton Cash by Chuck Dixon
FAVOURITE WRITER James T Tynion IV
FAVOURITE ARTIST Katie Cook -My Little Pony IDW
FAVOURITE COLOURIST ~Udon
MOST WANTED ~Mega-Man !!!!! Archie Comics Blue-bomber forever!!
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE ~ Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles mini series from DC/IDW
STIFF DRINK AWARD ~Jughead Archie Comics
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT ~Udon comics for releasing their comics on time and for avoiding a Ken / Ryu love affair.
I’ve just done the ones where an answer immediately comes to mind.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES – The Vision
I’ve put this one here, since it started last year, and I don’t believe it qualifies as a miniseries. Without a doubt, the gem of Marvel’s 2015-2016 output. Breaks my heart they didn’t sign Tom King to an exclusive on the strength of this. Had this been a Vertigo book, it would be considered one of the best all-time Vertigo books. Somehow, instead, it was a Marvel superhero comic book. Extraordinary.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN – Clone Conspiracy
Dan Slott boldly goes into the muck of one of Marvel’s worst mistakes, and has thus far made it a good time. I think he understands Spider-Man more than most writers have, and this series is putting Spidey through the ringer.
FAVORITE WRITER – Tom King
I hadn’t heard of him before the Vision, and now he’s one of my favorites in the business. I guess it’s the new-to-me factor that put him over the top, which means I’m officially taking Brian K. Vaughan and Mark Waid for granted now. Sad.
FAVORITE ARTIST – Chris Samnee
A true modern master. It’s as though Alex Toth or Samm Schwartz was putting out a monthly book again. The quality of line! Holy smokes. Can’t wait to see what’s next.
FAVORITE COLORIST – Muntsa Vicente
Everything she does for Panel Syndicate makes her the best at the coloring game. She’s their secret weapon.
STIFF DRINK AWARD
The guy who commented above about Chuck Dixon helping to end the threat of a Hillary Clinton presidency (and World War III)! Good God, man. A strange visitor from an alternate earth.
BEST NEW SERIES
Star Trek: Boldly Go. Yeah, I was shocked too, but it’s currently one of my favorites. The big problem with a Trek series that’s entirely confined to film is that the audience misses all of those liminal moments that helped flesh out the TOS and TNG crew. Happily, Johnson and Shasteen are doing a great job with giving the crew adventures that extend beyond the limited scope of the movies and, in some cases, feel a lot more like Trek than the movies could hope to.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
Animosity. Bennett’s done a great job with her world-building in this series, both with the more whimiscal aspects of animals gaining sapience and the horrific ones. And the worst emotional sucker punches never seem to come from the corners you’d expect.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Monstress. Hands down the best book I’m reading right now. Takeda’s art is absolutely beautiful. Liu has done a marvelous job populating and fleshing out a world that’s refreshingly unfamiliar. Her characters are well-developed, and there’s enough mystery to intrigue without getting annoying.
Honorable mention to de Campi and McNeil’s No Mercy. Probably the most realistically fucked-up series I’ve read in forever.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
The Spire, by Spurrier and Stokely. This one was going to be a fight to the death between Si Spurrier and Steve Orlando, but Spurrier just edges it out by virtue of his projects having wrapped. Yeah, it’s another “people with weird powers are an oppressed minority”, but Spurrier gets a lot more into the guts of how that sort of thing would be likely to play out. Grimy, anger-inducing, heartbreaking, and occasionally funny as hell. Loved it.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Greg Rucka. The man is just disgustingly talented. I’m buying an absurd amount of on-goings and trades with his name on them. How dare he?
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Sana Takeda. Monstress would have such a different feel if not for her art.
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
And Takeda can have this one too, for the same reasons as above.
MOST WANTED
I’d like to see Christos and Ruth Gage doing an Alpha Flight series spinning out of their Captain Marvel run. They really seemed to have a good handle on those characters and gave Aurora some of her best moments in over a decade.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
Midnighter and the Midnighter & Apollo follow-up mini by Steve Orlando. I was really turned off by some of Orlando’s comments leading up the book’s release and didn’t pick it up until the first trade hit. Man, I was missing out. These books have some of the best character work to come out of the Big Two in quite some time.
STIFF DRINK AWARD
Giving this one to Bennett for the abusive relationship between Sandor and his master in Animosity. The psychology of it makes a wretchedly painful amount of sense, but it still breaks my heart.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
I was quite impressed that Aftershock comics has managed to elbow out as much room as it has for itself, given how crowded the marketplace is right now. But they’re putting out some good books and just letting their writers do their thing. Thumbs up.
BEST NEW SERIES
There are many DC Rebirth titles in contention for this, and picking one above all other is really challenging. In the end, I’m plumping for Wonder Woman. The ‘current day’ stuff with Liam Sharp is arresting stuff, but it’s the ‘Year One’ issues, with Nicola Scott that just take my breath away every time I get one. The second part, with the Amazons discovering what a gun is and using it in a tense and terrifying way, was utterly astonishing.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
I’ve only read one that qualifies for this (and if Limbo hadn’t published in the last weeks of 2015, it would have run away with the prize) , and that’s The Fix. An amazing first issue, with subsequent ones falling foul of the law of diminishing returns without ever becoming bad.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Saga. Saga Saga Saga Saga Saga Saga Saga oh my God how is this series still beating my emotions?
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
Aha, partially published – this one goes to Limbo from Image.
FAVOURITE WRITER
I’m giving this to Peter J. Tomasi, who may just be the most underrated writer in the big two. I don’t know why this is – is because he’s an ex-editor? Because he played second fiddle to Geoff Johns on the Green Lantern franchise for so long? Who knows, but he’s failed to write a bad comic in a very long time, and his achievements this year – making us care about the death of the New 52 Superman, and giving such life to the relationship between the pre-Flashpoint Superman and Jonathan Kent – make him more than worthy of this award.
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Bilquis Everly / Elsa Charretier. Both artists arrived in fairly nondescript ways – Everly on Sugar and Spike in the terminally under-purchased Legends of Tomorrow anthology, Charretier replacing Emanuela Lupacchino on Starfire – but both astounded from their first issue and are poised to make huge leaps in the comics world.
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Nick Filardi. Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye is the best-coloured book on the stands.
MOST WANTED
Rob Williams’ Martin Manhunter. Whoah-oh here he comes, watch out Mars, he’ll hunt you down! Also, his Martian Manhunter book was absolutely brilliant and after the shitstorm that was 2016, we all need more Mr Biscuits in our lives.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
The Flintstones. Just… how has this book happened?
STIFF DRINK AWARD
Superwoman #1. A rare double-dip in digital and print for me, the end-of-issue twist is one of the most surprising and assured since the original Thunderbolts book, but that’s just the cherry on the cake,. The preceding issue is a fantastic romp as both Superwomen reluctantly come together to save Metropolis from a runaway battleship. The panel of both heroes back-to-back, pushing against the ship and bridge is my moment of the year.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
DC. How can Rebirth be this good? How can the Hanna Barber aline produce quality like Flintstones, and attract Garth Ennis to write Dastardly and Muttley? How can Superman be this good? How can Trinity #1 be published with only one name on the cover? Oh, because DC have remembered their strengths and played to them. It can’t last, can it?
I would second the calls for 2000ad’s achievement of reaching 2000 issues to be recognised in the awards. It really is an incredible milestone to pass.
I’d also nominate Darth Vader for best continuing series. Brilliant writing and art that really adds to one of the greatest characters ever.
I’ve had a hard time with making picks this year. So much of what stood out to me has been continuing series or work released before 2016. This current golden age of comics may be plateauing. In any case:
BEST NEW SERIES
Many titles relaunched in late 2015 after Secret Wars and hence probably were too late for 2015 but not eligible for 2016. So I’m going to give it to Mockingbird. A really fun series, the first arc in particular was structured beautifully. And echoing the comment above, a big middle finger to the misogynists out there.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
Kill or Be Killed. Brubaker and Philips, nuff said. (But I love the way they are able to integrate various genres into the Criminal formula with each new title, from romance comics, to horror, to fantasy. The moral questions raised by this series seems particularly well-timed.)
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Shutter. I love this series for so many reasons and Keatinge and del Luca (with colours by Owen Gieni and letters by John Workman!) have maintained a high quality throughout the run and continue to surprise. What seemed at first as an homage to classic genre fiction and comics has gradually revealed itself to be far more subversive and deep without ever feeling heavy handed.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
I’m a bit behind on new OGNs, having not yet read The March, Moon Cop, Patience, Rolling Blackouts, and others that have received critical acclaim this year. Instead I mostly caught up Aama (Frederik Peeters is simply one of the best), reprinted collections like Corto Maltese and The Eternaut, and Concrete Park and others published in past years. I also really enjoyed the stories by Simon Roy and Matt Sheehan & Malachi Ward serialized in Island, but I’m not sure if those count or if they should count once they’re collected or what. Both highly recommended.
So, I’d say BKV and Marcos Martin’s Walking Dead: The Alien deserves a nod for a one-shot, while MIchael DeForge’s Big Kids gets my vote for best OGN.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Nick Spencer’s work on both Captain America titles and Ant-Man show a writer capable of working with current events and politics, and integrating contemporary communications media (twitter, cable news, “sharing economy” apps, etc) into a story in ways that feel organic and unforced. And in a different register, but just as modern, The Fix has been one of the most enjoyable books out there.
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Leila del Luca has excelled in clear and distinctive visual storytelling, while incorporating a pastiche of influences that the story is playing with and paying homage to, from Herve’ to Richard Scarry.
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Owen Gieni’s work on Shutter #19 alone deserves this nod. Gieni separated his colors out into cyan, magenta and yellow to tell three stories on a single page, allowing the issue to be read in multiple configurations. An example of a colourist who augments the pencilist’s work, really adding something to the art.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
I had low expectations for a Vision series, but like everyone else who has read it was blown away. King and Walta show how to use existing characters to tell complete fresh and affecting stories, devastatingly so.
STIFF DRINK AWARD
This could go to Deadly Class, to Chew, to any number of scenes in any number of books, but I’m going to go with Shutter #22. Didn’t see that coming, though nothing should surprise us about this book.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
BKV, Marcos Martin, and Muntsa Vicente’s Barrier has only released 3 issues but this bilingual comic is really something special. Yet it was the third issue, completely without dialogue, that stands out as the year’s most outstanding achievement.
Of course Montress, Lazarus, Saga, Paper Girls, Squirrel Girl, The Spire, All-New Wolverine, Silver Surfer etc have all continued to be just great books.
BEST NEW SERIES
Shade the Changing Girl
It’s been a rough year for me and new comics, nothing new seems to be sticking. There seem to be lots of comics that are “just ok” but not “$4 an issue ok”. I’ve never read a Shade the Changing Man comic, but in only 3 issues Cecil Castellucci’s fantastic and emotional story has put this comic right on the top of my pile. Marley Zarcone and Kelly Fitzpatrick are by far my favorite part of this book, it looks absolutely beautiful.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
Black Hammer
Kind of feel like I’m cheating on this one as all the characters are pastiches of existing superheroes. Deconstructed superhero stories are a dime a dozen in this day and age. This one however, is the character driven story with a gut punch to the feels in every issue that I needed. I’m not the biggest Jeff Lemire fan, but his work here really shines and Dean Ormston is the perfect artist for this book, masterfully conveying intimate and personal moments in every issue.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Deadly Class
This book was already amazing, and the last arc has just elevated it even further. Out of what feels like a deluge of Rick Remender Image books this one stands out the most to me. The introduction of a new cast has given this book a massive second wind (the book was already great, now I feel it’s fantastic). Wes Craig is really getting to stretch his artistic legs in the new arc, his art continues to be consistently amazing.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
Vision
Tom King knocked this one out the park, and there could not be a more suited artist than Gabriel Hernandez Walta for this book. A haunting tale of suburbia, horror, family and inevitable tragedy. It was the best comic Marvel published this year.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Brian K. Vaughan
I sound like a broken record at this point, but Paper Girls, Saga and Barrier continue to be absolutely brilliant. At this point, I look forward to reading his letter pages more than I do most comics. I love this man.
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Mike Del Mundo
I really enjoy how non-traditionally beautiful his art looks, it’s like nothing else on the stands these days. It’s great to see Marvel giving him such a strong push on a flagship title, he earned it.
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Kelly Fitzpatrick
This is always a difficult category for me. But when you find yourself googling “who is this Fitzpatrick person and why is her name all over my comic shelves” you know it’s because someone’s doing quality work. The colors in Shade the Changing Girl are especially wonderful.
MOST WANTED
Wild’s End
Dan Abnett’s and I.N.J. Culbard’s second volume was even better than the first. The character work in this, even in the back matter, is just stupendous. I really hope we get to see this series continue into further story arcs.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
The Flintstones
I’ve always avoided licensed comics. But when every comics podcast I listen to kept coming back to this book it was time to go back and take the plunge into the first couple of issues I’d missed, and boy, it did not disappoint. Had I known it was Prez’s Mark Russell writing I would have probably given it a shot right off the bat, and Steve Pugh is the perfect match to render this satirical (and terrifyingly accurate) version of society. VOTE FOR THIS COMIC OR I’LL PUNCH YOU IN THE BEEF.
STIFF DRINK AWARD
The Flintstones has many of these moments. I’m going to pass on the genocide reveal (hey kids! comics!) in favor of issue #6’s near end of the world scenario, it hit a little too close to home for my comfort.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Tom King reigned supreme in 2016. He had a most deserved and meteoric rise this year, giving us many quality comics on the way to the top.
Late addition to my votes for
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
DC’s collected editions department. For years DC’s trade program was a bit naff: slow, would abandon archival series part way through, rubbish paper, would always strips covers and shove them at the back, would even chop issues to bits without telling you where the material was from.
They’ve been getting much better lately though and this year (and going by solicitations for next year) they’ve been fantastic and exploring their 90s back catalogue, revisiting all the secondary Bat-books, fleshing out the big events like No Man’s Land, tackling fan-favourite series like Waid’s Flash and David’s Supergirl (and next year, Young Justice! Huzzah!).
I got the new redux volume of Sandman Mystery Theatre for Christmas and it’s great. A thick 12 issue trade, on better paper, with (some) back matter, none of the censorship of the old version, all the original covers in the right places and, best of all, the next two volumes are already listed on a six monthly schedule, quickly catching up with where the previous run of trades took years to get to.
On top of this, trades for Rebirth series are coming out quicker, they’ve seemingly abandoned the silly little hardcover format and are scheduling 12 issue Deluxe OHCs for the main titles (Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Flash etc) to drop with the third volumes, which even gives me more confidence in the stability of creative teams long term.
Best new series – moon knight. Crazy book for a crazy character.
Best Actually new Series – the black monday murders. With vision and chew over, arguably my favorite book at the moment. Hickman great at conspiracy stuff.
Best continuing series – vision. Best book of the year. Sad its gone so soon.
Best mini – future quest. Just old fashioned fun. If all you kids can mass vote for your talking robot comics, the old folks can stump for jonny quest and space ghost. 🙂
Fav Writer – at the moment, King.
Fav Artist – michael lark for lazarus.
Fav colorist – Jordie Bellaire, for all her stuff, particularly the rerelease of Blue Monday.
Most Wanted – Untold Tales of Chew
Most pleasant surprise – like everyone, rebirth. I had mostly given up on DC after 35 years w nu52, but a number of strong books in rebirth (batman, tec, flash, …).
Stiff Drink – almost every issue of vision
Outstanding Achievement- master of kung fu omnibi. Never they would be reprinted. So happy to have them.
Not sure where i would have put it, but hat tip to scooby doo team up for some amazingly obscure guest stars while still beinG a fun read.
BEST NEW SERIES
Action Comics (DC)
It’s hard to justify it as a “New Series” starting with issue 957, but this book is a lot of damn fun. The initial Doomsday arc may have run an issue too long, but the stories since — Including a second (third?) Clark Kent, Post-Crisis Lois Lane getting back to work at the Daily Planet, and the rivalry between Supes and no-really-I’m-a-goodie-now Lex Luthor have me coming back for more. It’s easily my favorite Rebirth title.
BEST ACTUALLY NEW SERIES
Kim & Kim (Black Mask)
“This looks like the kind of comic you’d like,” said my co-worker, as we flipped through PREVIEWS. “You think so? Maybe. I’ll give it a shot when it comes out.” And dang, was she right. I’m not entirely sure what it was about it, but that first issue REALLY hit me hard, and I just fell in love with this series. At just four issues, it’s an easy enough to pick it all up in one go. Good on Black Mask for putting this one out.
Shout-out to Motor Crush, which may have taken this spot if more than one issue had come out this year.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Transformers: MTMTE/Lost Light (IDW)
When IDW launched two ongoing Transformers books back in late 2011, I was definitely more interested in the Transformers-As-A-Politcal-Thriller theme of Robots in Disguise, because it was something Transformers had never really done before. But as the two series went on, more and more people kept going about how good its sister title, More Than Meets the Eye was. And that became astonishingly clear to me when RID dropped its subtitle and just became adventures of Optimus Prime & Co., having relatively mundane adventures on Earth, while MTMTE seemed to just get wackier and more interesting as that series progressed, until it really did become one of my favorite titles, and one of the best bits of Transformers fiction probably ever.
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
Kim & Kim (Black Mask) See above.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Terry Moore (Abstract/Motor Girl)
Maybe a bit unfair, given that Motor Girl only has two issues out, but the amount of revelation in the second issue, after the amount of setup in the first, had me questioning everything about the title. And I can’t wait to see where it goes next — A thing that Moore had me doing during Strangers in Paradise, too.
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Sophie Campbell (Jem & The Holograms)
I didn’t realize how much Ms. Campbell’s work on IDW’s Jem & The Holograms really MADE that book, until she was off the title. Gorgeous linework, interesting character (re)design, and solid storytelling totally pulled that book together in a way that other artists haven’t been able to.
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Joana LaFuente (Transformers: MTMTE/IDW)
Oh my god, COLOR! And it’s not all browns and oranges, or pinks and turquoises! Honest-to-goodness, diverse COLOR! More comic colorists could learn from this.
MOST WANTED
X-Men ’92 (Marvel)
I know a lot of people didn’t like the book (and obviously sales reflected that), but a light-hearted, out-of-continuity X-Men book was exactly what I needed, after how dreary the X-Books have been since House of M, which was like a decade ago. I want to continue liking the X-Men, but Marvel keeps making it hard for me to do that.
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
G.I. Joe #1 (IDW)
Historically, I was always more of a Transformers guy than a G.I. Joe guy, but the announcement that Skywarp would be in this title really caught my attention. Sure, it’s just been out for a day, but I really enjoyed that one issue, which had a solid definition of the book’s premise, introduction to characters, and a setup for issue 2 — Everything you’d really want out of a first issue. I’ll be adding it to my pull list.
STIFF DRINK AWARD
Ravage’s Fate (Transformers: MTMTE #54 + 55)
It’s hard for comics to make me sad. I’ve been reading them for nearly three decades, and I often keep my brain pretty disconnected from fictional stories. But the way that Roberts & co. had (somehow!) made Ravage one of the most likable parts of MTMTE is surprising enough. But what Tarn did is unacceptable. And the quick cutaway to Soundwave’s reaction totally sold it. Outside of David’s death in Strangers in Paradise, nothing in comics has ever hit me that hard. Which surprises even me.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
DC Rebirth
I had completely written DC Comics off, with how badly the New 52 was handled. There may be an audience for dark, gritty, overly-serious comics, but I am not part of it. But when they announced a renumbering, I thought I’d give it a chance. I’m only reading a handful of the Rebirth titles, but only because I can’t afford any more of them.
BEST NEW SERIES
Patsy Walker aka Hellcat. Really fun book.
BEST CONTINUING SERIES
Giant Days
BEST MINI, ONE-SHOT OR OGN
Patience by Daniel Clowes.
FAVOURITE WRITER
Tom King
FAVOURITE ARTIST
Chris Samnee
FAVOURITE COLOURIST
Jordie Bellaire
MOST WANTED
The Legend of Wonder Woman. 🙁
MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE
The Legend of Wonder Woman
STIFF DRINK AWARD
The end of The Fade Out.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Boom did some great stuff this year.
I can’t vote for Vision as the best series, because good as it is, I can’t get by how much energy that flying mailbox must use just to hover in place exactly like a normal mailbox.