Archive for the 'The Cuppies' Category

January 1st – The Cuppies part 2

Published on January 1, 2012 in Reviews-comics, Ronnie's Reviews and The Cuppies. 0 Comments

Holiday Shipping

It looks like comics won’t arrive until Wednesday morning.  There will be a slight delay.  Books should be out by 10:30am on Wednesday morning.

 

The Cuppies: Best of 2011

Ronnie is helping me, though, we agree on a lot of these.  He is up first:

Ronnie’s Top 5 of 2011

 

5. Animal Man. This title came out of the reboot in Sept and quickly became one of my favorite books at DC. The art by Travel Foreman is some of the creepiest/weirdest in the biz, yet draws the humans with perfect personality defining characteristics. This series, plus Sweet Tooth and Essex County makes Jeff Lemire one of my favorite writers. King of the cliffhanger. I haven’t read the Grant Morrison stories yet, but I’m told this is a worthy successor.

 

4. Dark Horse Presents. Every one of these issues has had at least two or three new stories worth the cover price. Add in new Beasts of Burden, Criminal Macabre and Hellboy (en Mexico!), plus knowing next year we get Brian Wood’s new series The Massive, that $8 begins to look like a bargain. Dark Horse just keeps doing it right.

 

3. Holy Terror. Written by Iowa native and Cup customer Jason Caskey, along with art by Iowan Phil Hester, this 3 issue supernatural luchadore story is a big fun ride. The first two issues were originally published by Image a number of years back, but were republished along with a brand new third issue this year. Look at the preview at the shop, then buy the issues. You will be supporting local creators and getting an awesome tale. Look for the trade in 2012. This has nothing to do with Frank Miller’s new reactionary agoraphobic xenophobe propaganda of the same name.

 

2. Scalped. We are reaching the end of quite possibly the best series in modern comics. This is Jason Aaron’s and RM Guera’s epic crime story set on a thinly fictionalized Lakota reservation. It features some of the most intense character development I have ever read, along with brutal plots that wont give in. As for Guera, his murky art has more storytelling in one page than most best sellers have in a 5 issue arc. It’s a tragedy that this book sells so poorly. I’ll take the blame for that, I apparently didn’t push it on you guys enough. But luckily, it’s being allowed to finish as intended by the creators. This series is number 1 on pretty much any list, however this year with the big upset…

 

1. Scott Snyder. Three Batman series, two American Vampire series, Swamp Thing and Severed – the best horror comic this year. This kid is kicking butt on everything he does. Unknown until American Vampire two years ago, he has now gotten to write the last, and one of the very best, stories for Detective Comics’ first volume, then relaunch Batman and Swamp Thing, two of the three best series to come out of the DC reboot. American Vampire is the only good vampire story in popular media (we’ll see how The Strain shapes up). I hope he doesn’t burn himself out though, he has set the bar very high.

 

Top 5 Old Standbys -

DMZ, BPRD (colored by Dave Stewart), Sweet Tooth, Tank Girl and Chew. All mighty fine series worthy of your attention.

 

Surprise of The Year

Black Panther    I picked this up for the incredible Francesco Francavilla art, and ended up being pulled into the story. I’m not a Marvel reader (or much of a superhero reader for that matter), but here I am loving this.

 

Reprint Collection of the year

Chimichanga   This absurd series by Eric Powell (The Goon) was quite possibly a perfect comic when published as single b&w issues last year. A hilarious story about circus freaks, evil pharmaceutical companies and a crazy monster filled with Powell’s knack for perfect dialogue and fully fleshed characters.  The hard cover collection upped the ante with Dave Stewart coloring, two extra stories and a cheap price. I bought my 5 year old daughter a copy too, its perfect for any age, but not a kiddie story… and it is also colored by Dave Stewart.

 

Honorary Mention

Joe The Barbarian HC   Grant Morrison at some of his most coherent best with art by the awesome Sean Murphy – it too is colored by Dave Stewart.

 

 

Now my turn:

 

Honorary Mentions

This is everything else that didn’t make the list and top award at the bottom of the page.

The New Discovery of the year is the Norwegian creator Jason.  He did two graphic novels over the past year and I have slowly found another half dozen plus to devour.   His style, art wise, is simple, but his stories he tells with it are some of the best I’ve ever read and range from comedy, to romance, to suspense.  If you ever need something new or different, you need to give this guy a try.

Best New Superhero Book is easy and I’ve said it a hundred times already, Daredevil is freak’n great.  I was already convinced of this, but was so blown away by the most recent issue (seven) – where Daredevil fights no villains, but saves a bus full of blind kids from freezing to death in the woods – I had to mention it again.  If you are not reading this title, for shame.  Please drop any one of the other much worse superhero titles you have on your list and get this, you will NOT be disappointed.

Best Horror Comic is also easily given and, somewhat surprisingly, it is the same as last year; Baltimore.  The second volume didn’t disappoint in the slightest and, in my opinion, only turned the overall fright factor up.  Much gorier than the first, and including much more in the occult department, this series is set to become one of the great horror series of all time. – also colored by Dave Stewart.

Now four overall honorable mentions:

Two Generals – by Scott Chantler   This is the true story of two Canadian officers and friends and their time during World War two.  One of the best examples of war comics I’ve seen in years.  The art, a very simplistic style, has amazing detail without over doing it.  The story centers around the battle of Caen, but is more about the day to day of the soldier in the early period of the war in Europe.  An absolutely fantastic war comic about a subject, the Canadian armed forces, you don’t hear much about (it is important to note the huge sacrifice the nation of Canada made to the overall war effort.)  If you are into war comics, I highly recommend this graphic novel.

Casanova, the insane and trippy mature reader book by Ed Brubacker and Fabio Moon/Gabriel Ba.  The story is part James Bond super spy, part 60’s acid trip, part sci fi crazy, but I assure you the book is 100% great.  If you enjoyed Umbrella Academy and Day Tripper, you’ll dig on this.

Godzilla needs to be mentioned.  The Powell and Hester arc followed by the next five issues after Phil left were pretty damn good giant monster comics.  This book is – or at least was – an example of how good a writer Eric Powell is.  Think for a second how hard it would be to write a giant monsters attacking each other book.  Get pretty dull after issue three, so, Powell needed to create human characters and use the monsters as background while attacking the excesses and downright stupidity of our society.  I’ll get to more of Powell’s greatness in a bit.

I mention this next one because little made me laugh as hard as Shame Itself, the self mocking Marvel funny book about Fear Itself and comic in general.  Under ordered, I was unsure who would want this.  Thing is everyone who reads big crossovers should have read this as a sort-of palate cleanser.  The two page spread detailing how Marvel figures out and decides the flow of the next big crossover they do is worth the cost alone.  It is nice to see that Marvel has a sense of humor about some of the silly stuff they publish.

There are probably a dozen more comics and graphic novels I could list, the Green River Killer, Petrograd or the run up to and eventual  Death of Hellboy or the Hellboy Hard Cover, House of the Living Dead are a few more, but I’ll be here forever if I do, so… moving on.

 

Best Overall Comic Book of the Year

The best publication, the best new comic, the best of the best is Dark Horse Presents.  Not just because of the wealth of quality in each issue, but because of the value as well.  The book is an anthology of several different stories in each issue and now published on a monthly basis.  Over the last year we have seen everything from Criminal McCabe to Usagi Yojimbo to a Neal Adams story to Hellboy to Beasts of Burden to a Richard Corben story… you get my point that it is a vast variety of styles, both art and writing, character and genre.

It is easily the best value for your money too.  For only $7.99 you get 80 pages of comics.  Think about it for a minute… $2.99 for 20?  $3.99 for 22?  Even $3.99 for 32 or $3.99 for 40 WITH adds?  No, none of these add up to what you get with Dark Horse Presents AND it is published on the best paper, with the best coloring and best talent in the world.  IT IS THE BEST BOOK BEING PUBLISHED… and the stories inside are great too, but I’ll get to just one of those in a bit.

 

Top Five Stories or Series of the Year

5. Betty Saves the Day, in The Roceteer #2, by Darwin Cooke – with color by Dave Stewart (do you finally get why I said this guy is one of the artists of the year?)  This book overall was my runner up to best comic of the year, but this story was the best of all the stories in the four issue anthology series, which is really saying something, because there were a lot of great stories in this book.  I highly recommend just getting the collection if you were not on the ball and bought the series when it came out.  Here are just some of the other creators in the book: Mike Allred, Kurt Busiek, John Cassaday, Dave Gibbons, Gene Ha, Tony Harris, Michael Kaluta, Joe Lansdale, Ryan Sook, Bruce Timm, Mark Waid and many more.

4. Criminal – Last of the Innocents The latest of Ed Brubaker and Sean Murphy’s acclaimed crime series sees what ever happened to a group of kids that might or might not have been Archie and his pals.  The entire run of mini-series has been great, but there was something about this one I liked even more then minis in the past.  It might have had something to do with Murphy’s great art in the flashback scenes that looked so old school and contrasted with his dark sketchy style in the rest of the series.  Just fantastic atmosphere and again making for a very memorable read.

3. Atomic Robo – written by Brain Clevinger and art by Scott Wegener   “What issue, what collection,” you might ask?  All of them!!  I just discovered this fantastic Science based action adventure book this year and it is easily one of my favorite series of all time.  If you read Hellboy, you will immediately love this book and it is Hellboy that the book is most often compared to.  Yes, it is like Hellboy, if you drop all the occult stuff and replace them with science stories.  The plot of the book is the continuing adventures of a robot man, who was created by Nickola Tesla.  It is that simple, but the stories just resonate.  My best friend has read the series twice since I pushed the first volume on him – because he liked Hellboy.  I can’t say much more than that… it is that good.

2. All New Batman Brave and the Bold #11 – Written by Sholly Fisch and drawn by  Rick Burchett

This is what I wish all the New DC books were like.  Simple, designed to tell a single issue story and without the need or desire to try and be more than what they are… entertainment.  The entire run of Batman B and B was designed to be just throwaway kid’s books, but somewhere, someone lost the memo.  What was created is a throwback to the comics we read as kids.

In issue 11, an earthquake is devastating Gotham City and within a single page we know this and have found the cause.  We don’t need a fifteen issue set up in a crossover between all the Bat-books to tell us this.  We need one page.  We also don’t need another fifteen issues to get to how we are going to solve it.  Nope, just another single page.  What is that solution, well Time Travel of course and Batman knows just who can get this done, how it works and what to do when he gets to the time period he needs to get to.  This issue eventually becomes the first team-up of Batman and Jonah Hex and eventually a fight between the two heroes and Batman’s greatest villain… and there is a giant steam powered killer robot too.

I should hate this book.  Why you ask, because it shows the failure of every and all superhero books.  When you read something so simple and get such joy from it you begin to understand the core of what is wrong with the re-start at DC’s core.  Mr. Johns and Mr. Lee and the rest of DC’s fools should have taken a course in comic creating from those doing the “throw away” kids book.

 

And The Best Comic Book Story I Read Last Year:

Isolation, in Dark Horse Presents #5 – By Eric Powell – with coloring by Dave Stewart   There was a lot of good comics published last year, but this is the best of them all.

It tells the story of an earth robot with artificial intelligence being sent to a newly found planet in a distant star system, a planet humanity hopes will be suitable for colonization.  The robot is given three things on his trip, Religion, Porn and a weapon to use when he gets there.  Along the way he understands what it is like to be human and the failings that religion, sex and drugs bring.  It is a great, fantastic story and perhaps the very best thing Eric Powell has ever done.  It also shows the power of our medium to tell a simple, yet very complex, layered story in only… eight pages!!

 

December 26th – The Cuppies part 1

Published on December 26, 2011 in The Cuppies. 0 Comments

Holiday Shipping…

I wish I knew one way or the other when books would be in this week.  Diamond isn’t sure when and if UPS can deliver them on time, so, I will update on Tuesday evening (with e-mail and a facebook post), when I think books will be out.

 

New Years Hours…

We will close a little early (at 7:00) on December 31st.

We will be open all day on New Year’s Day (8:00am to 6:00pm.)

 

Reminder to go Caucus…

I send this out with the Republican Iowa Caucus just a week away.  Consider going and caucusing.  It is an odd event, but something uniquely Iowan.  We have a huge ability to effect the direction the country takes with this and it rests in your hands.  Caucus night is January 3rd.

 

The 2011 Cuppies…

Each year I do a sort of awards “ceremony” and hand out the Cuppies, our Best of the Year Awards.  They mean nothing and are simply my (and sometimes a few others, this year Ronnie is helping) opinion.

This year I am going to break it into two weeks.  This week we will look at Best Writer, Artist and Company of the Year.  Next I will go through my thoughts on the ten best books of the 2011 and have some hopes for 2012.

 

Publisher of the Year

We will do this in two parts; Publisher of the year and Best Publisher of the year.  Publisher of the year is easy, that is DC.  No one in the history of the industry has done what they did in the last year.  I’m not saying good or bad, if you have read or talked to me, you know my thoughts on this.  I’m talking about the massive game changing move they implemented.

It was brought on by Flashpoint, a rather lack luster crossover that was an entirely alternate reality and then re-booted their entire universe.  It was at this point they started running ads on cable networks and promoted like no comic company has ever done… and it paid off.  Never has DC seen the kind of interest and sales like they got off their event.  The first month was big, but when the second month’s sales numbers came out it showed that retailers had purchased amounts of comics (in dollars) that totaled HALF of everything bought that month.  An insane number.

It is THE biggest thing ever attempted or accomplished in comic’s history.  However… Will it be maintained?  Will the extremely strong sales created by this event be held onto?  We will see and we will see with in the first couple months of 2012.  DC could already be going from darling to goat and this time next year we all might be laughing at them, condemning them and outright mocking them.

 

I needed to split this “award” this year, because no one can convince me our Publisher of the Year did what was best for the industry.  They did what was best for them and that can never make them the best of anything.  Sure, they might have made the biggest splash, but they are not the best.

The Best needs to include a healthy amount of improvement and no one improved their overall product line like IDW has, and did so in just a year’s time.  They are my choice for Best Publisher for 2011.

I still have issues with IDW as they continue to over publish their licensed products, however, they have become THE publisher of the highest in quality collections and made a major turn in the overall quality of their writing and artists work.  Once thought of as Steve Niles’s publisher, IDW is now a major mover and shaker and became this squarely in 2011.

You will see both of these later in the Cuppies, but The Rocketeer is one of the finest books published last year and IDW’s Artist Editions and the over sized collections they are putting out are the finest books being published in the industry right now.  They are still small, in comparison to the big two, but easily in quality they are out publishing DC and Marvel combined.

 

 

Artist of the Year

I had a hard time with this one.  Nobody really struck me as being THE overly dominate artist of the last year.  Maybe I’m just missing it.  I started thinking harder and could only come up with three names that over the last year did new work that was so mind blowing I really took notice more than anyone else.

 

First, I want to point out someone who deserves this as much as anyone else, then I’ll get to the others.  Dave Stewart, colorist on practically everything at Dark Horse and few DC, Marvel… hell, if it needs good coloring, Dave Stewart is the one to call.  He is THE best colorist in the industry and, should probably be considered as Artist of the Year.  The guy can now be recognized straight off by Kyle and me when we pull a new book out of the box.  There has been light movement on getting colorists listed with inkers on a book’s cover.  Thing is, when Dave Stewart does a book, you don’t need to list his name, you know it by looking.  …so, he is my pick for Artist of the Year, but because some jack ass is going to say some sh!t about colorists and not being the same and whathaveyou… here you go with two others.

 

So, here are two greats I thought of – other than Stewart – that I feel sell books simply by their work alone, Terry Moore and Richard Corben, and put out some of the best work of their careers last year.

 

Richard Corben has always been good and good for a long time, but if you look at his couple Hellboy pieces as well as his three issue story in Dark Horse Presents, he has gotten cleaner AND more detailed then I can ever remember.  His Hellboy, Being Human one shot and Hellboy, House of the Living Dead hard cover showed that a 61 year old can very much out draw any of these young hotshots any day.

 

Terry Moore is my other pick.  Have you been reading Rachel Rising?  If not, it is probably the best drawn book on the shelf, but you need to remember that Moore also writes it, pencils it, inks it, letters it, does the covers… oh, and freak’n SELF publishes it on a six week schedule!!!  So, when you see that cityscape in issue three and your eyes bug out of your head from all the detail, just remember the deadlines he is under and be amazed.  Side note, if you get to Chicago next year, you should stop and say hi.  He is a great guy who takes time for his fans.  One of the best artist (all round) working in the industry.

 

Writer of the Year

I thought and thought about this one too and then it became so clear I smacked myself for not thinking of it.

Comics are a strange medium.  They are very dependent on sales.  These sales obviously keep money flowing in.  If the money is flowing creators stay employed and when a creator stays on a book for an extended period, usually, fans are happier.

When sales fall, you have options as a publisher.  You can change creators, cancel the book or even re-boot continuity.  DC wanted a bump in sales and threw out 70 years of continuity.  This is a harsh and, in my opinion, short sited way to rejuvenate sales and interest.

Marvel wanted a sales bump on the X-Men and turned to Jason Aaron.  In years past there has been some kind of crossover to help the X-books and move the story off in a different direction.

Jason Aaron has shown us how to “re-start” without “re-booting.”  He was one of the masterminds and primary writer behind the X-Schism that split in the X-Men into two “schools” of thought this last summer.  Not a huge crossover, but at the same time it effected all and every x-book being published and played to the anniversary of the first blue and gold teams.

Aaron then started Wolverine and the X-Men, a new book that takes the X-Men to its roots, a school to teach young mutants.  As Good as this book is his recent run on Wolverine is better.  Going for several years now, it is maybe the best run of the character I have read.  His “Wolverine Goes to Hell” and subsequent “Wolverine’s Revenge” really do redefine a worn out, over used and tired character… that just happens to be one of the most important characters at one of the biggest comic companies.

Also, don’t forget he relaunched the Incredible Hulk.  A great read setting Banner as the bad guy/mad scientist.  When you think of the Hulk, it isn’t an easy character to write.  A lot of people have tried and a lot have failed.  This relaunch looks to be going in a good direction.

Those mainstream books aside, Aaron also writes – and will soon end – one of the best comics ever published, Scalped.  Consistently one of the best reads month in and month out; I will be saddened when this book ends in 2012.  If you have not read this book, it is collected and in stock.  Do yourself a favor and get on it.

 

Two Honorary Mentions

Rick Remender needs to be spotlighted for his fantastic Uncanny X-Force run.  No one since Chris Claremont has crafted an x-story as long and detailed as the Dark Angel story.  He has written a team book that has more character development from month to month than nearly any in the industry.  He has made sad, rather worthless or forgotten characters like Deathlock and Deadpool, Fantomex and Psylocke interesting.  …and he did it with X-Force?  Really.  If you are not reading it, you should be.

 

Also, I could not finish this without mentioning Mark Waid.  I looked at last year’s “awards” and saw that Ronnie had mentioned Shadowland as one of the worst reads of the year.  It really was pretty bad.  But I think, for the most part, it is indicative of super hero comics in general.  Big non-story, non-character developing multi-part multi-expensive crossover laden crap.  Where has all the simple storytelling of superheroes gone?  Where are the stories we read as children?  Why can’t writers just write the character?  AH, thank you Mark Waid, you are one of the greatest of all time and perhaps the greatest character writer of superheroes ever and you have now come on a truly beloved character of Daredevil and made it a bonafide hit.  Resurrecting a –for all means – dead character WITHOUT throwing out all the continuity that has come before.  You are once again proven to be the man, Mark Waid.  You are the man.

 

Collection of the Year

After praising IDW, why not move right into this “award.”  I have a tie and both were published by IDW; Walter Simonson’s Mighty Thor Artist Edition and The Parker Martini Edition.

IDW started these Artist’s Editions two years ago with a Dave Stevens Rocketeer collection.  They are the finest reproductions possible of the pages that were used to do the original art.  You see the blue lines, you see everything before color and corrections were done to it and you get to see it as the editor saw it when it was handed in.  They are expensive, but they are a must for the hard core collector.  They are also becoming a sought after collection, going for much more in secondary markets only months after release.

Walter Simonson has THE greatest run on Thor in the character’s illustrious history and this is the best way to read two of those stories.  I can say this about the collection.  If there was a fire and I could only save four collections… This would be one.

Another would be IDW’s Parker Martini Edition.  It collects both The Hunter and The Outfit in one Absolute size book.  In the collection is also a new Parker story, a huge interview with creator Darwyn Cooke and a bunch of extra art and writing by the creator.

As you know, I loved the Parker novels and can easily say they are some of the best comics published in the last ten years, but if there was one thing that bothered me about them was that they were published small.  Well, no longer a problem.  The larger format is perfect for the beauty that sits on every page of these stories.

 

Next week we will look at some of the best books of the last year.

 

Week of January 3rd, 2010 Cuppies (Part 2)

Published on January 3, 2011 in The Cuppies and Wrestling. 0 Comments Tags: .

Last week we had the first half of our 2010 Awards, the Cuppies.  Stuff like the best artist, writer and series of the year.  Now we continue on into a slightly more specific area, the five best reads of the year.  What were the five best comics of 2010?  Stuff that individually you would want washed up on to the island you are stuck on or individual comics you would give to someone who doesn’t read to get them interested in this medium of literature.

If you read these lists and want to comment, please head on over to our Facebook site and leave a post.

But first, we need to talk some wrestling…

3XW Divide and Conquer, Friday, January 7th 7:30

Presale tickets are on sale at the shop right now.  The show has fewer matches on than normal, but looks are deceiving.  It is pretty stacked.  Two championship matches include Zach Thompson going up against Chap Brian Ash (good to see Zach get a shot at the title) and The Gentleman’s Club will defend against the Horndogs (could be time for a new tag champion?).  There is another tag team grudge match on the card surrounding the ever growing feud between Jimmy Rockwell and Ricky Kwong.  The Rockstar will have Sir Bradley Charles (this guy has some serious skills) in his corner and Kwong is joined by the mysterious Mauler.

I’m sure those matches will be great, but the match of the night will be the hour long Iron Man match between Jeremy Wyatt and Mark Sterling.  No one goes an hour anymore, NO ONE, though back in the day this was common place.  It will be nice to see some true iron men push their bodies to the limit, though both have shown in the past they will be up to it.  This will be THE match to see on the card.

Also, join us on Wednesday the 5th, for our monthly Pre-Party.  Last month, The Rockstar and I sat around and talked wrestling biographies we have read or are yet to read and reminisced about wrestling we watched and enjoyed as kids.  There will be free beer and a good wrestling time had by all.

The 2010 Cuppies (part 2)

Five Best Reads of the Year and the worst…

The usual suspects of Ronnie and I are joined by the X rated reviewer Miss Tia and the insufferable Will G. as well as a long friend and customer Jimmy P. with some selections from left field (which is good, ‘cause left fielders can win you World Series when you least suspect it, just ask the Chicago White Sox and Scott Podsednick.)

However, there is a flip side to this greatness, it is the worst read of the year.  One of the great things about comics is reading bad comics too.  It helps us remember what is great by reading some terrible too.  Will will star us off by being wrong like usual…

Worst Read of the Year

Will:

MARVEL, cough… Anyway….

Brightest Day — Ahhh! What’s happening here, my brain is failing to care about this mess of a comic book. Geoff Johns is totally ruining anything that I could’ve possibly loved about Blackest Night (I didn’t like it that much) and throwing it in the cellar and attempting to let it get better with age. From the START, Brightest Day has been an absolute mess, without organization. Honestly, it’s just bad storytelling, and hard to digest. We’ve had 16 issues to try and understand what the hell is going on, and so far, we have a prophecy. 16 ISSUES! The real reason I read this book and buy it every other week: Ivan Reis’ three pages of artwork. Thanks, Ivan make sure you are getting most of that $2.99.

“Honorable” mentions – Walking Dead, one shots and limited series designed to steal our money and did I mention Marvel in general?…

Miss Tia:

Generation Hope — This was a tough one because there were a cubic sh!t ton of bad X-Men books flooding the shop this year.  Every single “Forever” title seemed to combine and create a garbage monster of awful stories….but I’m going to have to give my Worst Read of 2010 to Generation Hope.

When those 5 little lights popped up in the last issue of Second Coming, I was completely overwhelmed. I’m talking joyous, tears-in-the-eyes excited. The possibilities were ENDLESS with the set-up of 5 brand-new mutants from all over the world!

And what do we get? A Mystique look-a-like who can fly, a whiny girl who says her powers are a curse, an Akira knock-off and a….dog boy? Oh, and a witty, handsome speedster, who doesn’t even count on my “dumb characters in Generation Hope” list.

I hate Hope Summers, I don’t get her what her powers even are and she’s got a ridiculous background cast. This was a HUGE fail by the X-team at Marvel and a MASSIVELY wasted opportunity. I doubt there’s any way to salvage what they’ve done here, and all I can hope for is that it just gets ret-conned and they kill off Hope Summers.  Try again and this time do a better job.

Ronnie:

Daredevil’s Shadowland Crossover Event Thing’s first issue — Other than Rise of Arsenal (which had Arsenal kill a guy with a dead cat), probably gonna have to go with that Daredevil – Shadowland arc thing.  It was supposed to be my re-introduction to Daredevil and the street characters of Marvel, but I could barely choke down the first issue.  After the last page , I never bothered with the second.

Matty J:

All and Every Comics (no just kidding, sort-of)– OH, where do we start?!!?  There is so much to dislike… um, gosh, I feel like a kid in a REALLY bad candy store.  This is my blog, so, I’m going to list some horrible mentions first.  And what better company than Marvel: All and every one of the restarted Avenger titles.  They are garbage.  I truly feel worse about this industry every time I read one of Bendis’s issues of Avengers or New Avengers (how can you even have a New Avengers volume two?) and Secret has Mike Deodato and the perpetually shaded half face, I guess that makes them MORE secret.  There was Siege, sorry Ronnie, Shadowland wasn’t great, but Siege might be the worst written big event crossover of all the times.  The characters sounded like they were written by a soccer mom.

There are the terrible and horrible and unreadable torture porn rape books of Avatar too.  Crossed Family Values and Neonomicon are foul and terrible stuff.  I will never ban a book (like some fascists have), but I can’t stomach this stuff.  You “enjoy it all you like, but I question your sanity when you purchase it.

Superman Earth One is the SECOND worst Superman book ever written (don’t worry, I’ll get to the first.)  I can not tell you how much I hated this thing.  See previous blog posts for a review, but this is what is wrong with the industry.  But the worst thing I and my esteemed business partner Kyle read this year is…

War of the Supermen – We’ve both read Superman consistently week in and week out for nearly two decades and I’ve read backwards from there by another two.  This is the worst Superman story EVER told.  That is over 70 years of storytelling.  Congratulations DC on your failure or is it success, because to make something that bad takes… something.

What made this SO bad?  It was immediately forgotten in Superman’s history.  It has not been specifically mentioned by name after it was finished, only in fleeting shamed hushed exchanges.  You know you did wrong when no one will talk about what you did.

In the story, anyone who understands basic science sees the huge flaws in the storytelling.  There are two reasons and I haven’t even got to specifics, which I could go on and on and on with, but I won’t.  I will only mention on over arcing one related to the story.  The War was supposed to take place over only an hour and four issues.  An entire war of a planet (well, it was a small planet) full of Super-man like peoples in full assault on planet earth or just Metropolis (not really explained) and it started and ended in less than the time an episode of the Walking Dead disappointed us?  Really?

But the number one reason it sucked, James Robinson’s Pod Person wrote it.  If we had an award to give out for worst writer of the year (or is it decade) it would be for everything this Invasion of the Body Snatcher pod person of James Robinson wrote.  Wow, how the mighty have fallen.

I feel dirty after diving into that toxic swamp (maybe I’ll get super powers?)  But that will only make our next awards that much better.  I present to you The Best Reads of 2010.

We’ll start off with Will’s list which isn’t in any discernable order:

Batman Detective Comics #871 by Scott Snyder and Jock — This was one of the best single Batman issues of the year (and it wasn’t written by Morrison!) When you combine the excellent artwork of Jock and mix it with Snyder’s supreme storytelling; you get a dark, cynical, amazing Batman book. Most people haven’t quite taken Dick’s transition into Gotham’s protector seriously yet, in my opinion, this book makes you forget about Bruce Wayne and requires you to be afraid of Dick.

The Return of Bruce Wayne #5 and #6 by Grant Morrison and different artists — Grant Morrison knows how to tell a story, simple as that. These two issues were innovative, and brought this limited series to an excellent close. I have to admit, early on, I was a bit underwhelmed by the first three issues and struggled to see an endgame. However, Grant never fails and continues to be DC’s architect of their universe. It was a nice change to finally see a limited series become relevant. (Take note, Marvel, stop the one shots!)

(Editor’s Note – Will is insane.  He must be to have understood what the hell went on in issue six.  I still have a migraine from it, but that is cool. Continue sir…)

Batman and Robin: Batman vs. Robin Vol. 2 Deluxe Hardcover Edition by Grant Morrison and art by Cameron Stewart, Andy Clarke, Frank Quitely — An outstanding hardcover collection of issues 7-12 in Grant terrific run.  In this hardcover, you get more bonus features continued in the first volume.  Some of the features that I personally enjoyed were the Quitely sketches (dude can draw!) and Grant’s explanations of character interpretations and influences. If you were living on Jupiter when this series came out, I highly recommend picking up the first two deluxe hardcovers and enjoy one of the best books of ever!

Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire – He is the man.  I couldn’t possibly pick just one issue!  This entire series is consistently on the top of the read pile, and each issue continues to out-do the previous one.  It was recently brought to my attention that Jeff’s planning on ending to the run at issue #30, which is a total heartbreaker. So, I think we should all take a minute and realize how unbelievable it is that this book has been able to come out on time, especially with Jeff literally doing all the pencil work and all the storytelling and writing a couple things for DC as well.  I beg you to give this series a chance if you haven’t.

Thor recent run by Matt Fraction and Pascal Ferry — This fifth choice was mighty hard for me, so I decided to be nice and pick a Marvel title. Although only four issues long thus far, I’ve really come to enjoy Matt Fraction’s run on Thor, and I don’t even really care about Marvel or Thor, so there’s something to be said.  If you’re thinking about seeing that crappy Thor movie, give Fraction’s hilarious and ‘world-eating’ run on the book a chance instead.

Honorable mentions: Anything else by Grant Morrison – Did I forget anything he did, No, oh, okay.  Why? Because he’s Grant Morrison.  Duh.

On to my friend Jimmy P:

Captain Blood –  (SLG Press)  Matt Shepherd does a fine job of retelling this classic yarn that has been the subject of books and films for decades.  He gives it a surprising freshness and historical authenticity that really grabbed me.  But it is Michael Shoyket’s art that brings it to life.  The highly detailed pencil sketch illustrations rendered in a sepia tone, give each page the look of an old sea-faring map.  It’s an exciting read and just beautiful to look at.  Only two issues have been released.  Future unknown.

Captain Swing and the Electric Pirates of Cindry Island –  (Avatar Press)  I have to admit a total ignorance of the “steam punk” genre, of which this tale is firmly entrenched, but I sure loved this story.  The sci-fi/victorian age setting has always appealed to me, whether in the novels of Jules Verne or H. G. Wells, or such comics and graphic novels as “Gotham By Gaslight”, or “Victorian Undead”.  Warren Ellis’ writing and Raulo Caceres art just rocks this adventure and really gives it that sooty, gritty feel of old Victorian London.  Two issues released.  Future unknown, too.

Cuba My Revolution GN –  (Vertigo)  Inverna Lockpez’ memoirs of Fidel Castro’s revolution and takeover of Cuba should be required reading for many.  It demonstrates both the power and value of the medium of graphic novels.  I have rarely been as affected by a story in ANY medium as I was with this.

Revolver GN –  (Vertigo)  Hey, mention a story of time-travel or travel between dimensions and I’ll be checking it out!  This story definitely did not disappoint.  I absolutely HATED the art work, which just goes to show how really GREAT the writing was!  It leaves the reader with the question (that’s always the big one in tales of this genre) which life would you choose if you could see one from another dimension?  Just a brilliantly well-written story by Matt Kindt.

Luna Park GN –  (Vertigo)  Keven Baker’s story and Danijel Zelelj’s art explodes together in this seamy and gritty noir epic of immigrant dreams and brutal crime lords spanning a century across the backdrop of the Coney Island Amusement Park.  A story you can really sink your teeth into and art that is just beautiful on the page!

Honorable Mention: Scott Pilgrim Volume Six — (ONI Press)  Bryan Lee O’malley’s HILARIOUS story wrapped up with the final book and a motion picture.  I’ve never just outright belly-laughed while reading a comic until I started reading these volumes.  The manga-style art adds to this wildly funny and wonderfully weird story of a young “everyman”.  If an old geezer like myself can enjoy these books this much, that really says a lot about the quality of O’Malley’s work to span generations.

Now, we move on to Miss Tia, who didn’t quite get the concept of single issues, but that is fine because none of the presenters really gave anything to Marvel, so… what the heck, I’ll let hers slide:

Sweet Tooth — Bet you didn’t expect to see a non-X-book on my list?  Sweet Tooth was recommended to me by everyone – some even said it was required reading to work at the shop….and I really am glad they did.  I fell instantly in love with Gus and the animal children, and each issue leaves me nervous and hopeful at the end.  Sweet Tooth is gritty, heartwarming, tense, inspiring and devastating all at once, and it truly has earned its place as a top comic of the year.  I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Uncanny X-Men #524 – Comics that illicit a strong emotional response from me will instantly stay in my memory…and this one hit me hard. Nightcrawler has always been my favorite X-man, and his funeral turned me into one weepy, bawling little baby.  True, most of the issue is filler, generally just recapping and rehashing what was lost during the Messiah War, and annoyingly focused on the bratty exploits that insufferable Hope Summers, but Kurt’s funeral, and ESPECIALLY Wolverine’s response to his death made this issue one of the best of the year.

X-Force: Sex & Violence – A fantastic little 3-part mini, debuting at the end of the Messiah War.  I’m going to let my freak flag fly a little here and (not surprisingly) admit that I’m totally into sexy comics that involve mutants, and this absolutely did NOT disappoint.  Domino and Wolverine have crazy mutant sex on a bed covered in millions of dollars….then Wolverine gets shot to bits.  Craig Kyle and Chris Yost are my long-standing favorite X-writers, and as always, they are the best at what they do.  Also, having Gabriele Del’Otto do the artwork was essentially a dream come true.

Deadpool MAX — I don’t give a hoot if you think Deadpool is for kids, or dummies with low-brow humor. I don’t care if you hate him and think he has too many books out….(it’s true – he does).  I love Deadpool, but I didn’t realize just how much I loved him until Deadpool MAX. In my opinion, a completely insane, sadistic mercenary-for-hire can only truly shine if the writer is afforded the opportunity to include a bit of ultra-violence, curse words, gay/racist/womanizing jokes and dialogue, and maybe a bit of nudity for good measure. Nevermind that the artwork by Kyle Baker is freaking glorious.  David Lapham is taking the character to a whole other level by cleverly using the lack of censorship that a MAX title allows, and not carelessly using shock value to drum up readers.  Everything he’s done has been calculated brilliantly, and executed flawlessly.

Uncanny X-Force – You knew I’d put this as my #1.  After the original X-Force sadly grew stagnant and muddled during the Messiah War, this was an unbelievably brilliant re-invention of the team. Fantastic story, fantastic team, clever dialogue, and amazing artwork combine to be my favorite X-book of the entire year.  Additionally, this book allowed my secret, mega-creepy crush on Angel to be revealed…to either the delight or horror of everyone.

(Editor’s Note – We are seeking a financial award and increased tax breaks for employing Tia and are currently trying to get Tia some mental help.  She is not a danger to others, just herself.)

Ronnie:

Our next presenter is possibly the best employee I’ve ever had in any job I’ve managed, but more than an employee he is a someone I call a good friend.  He has also become a quite the purveyor of quality in his comic reading.  His wife is a hell of a tattooist as well, check out her site, mollyfree.com.  Ronnie, your choices:

Batman & Robin issues 10-12 — This arc tied into the Return of Bruce Wayne miniseries so tightly, I think they should be collected and published together.  The main plot is that Dick and Damian begin to understand that yes, Bruce is alive, and that he is leaving them clues from the past.  This might be the first Dick as Batman story where we see him become the master detective that Bruce hoped he would be. Which, to me, proved his worthiness to remain in the costume.  Him piecing together clues throughout the mansion, while time itself is possibly changing as we watch, and the Joker playing his biggest ‘joke’ yet, made for a frantic and terribly fun arc.  Many plot threads laid out from Morrison’s years long run start to tie together, and we begin to understand the bigger picture that he has been laying out for us.   At the end of each issue, I would close the comic, say Yes!, and try to convince anyone near me to read it right then.  My poor wife….

Sweet Tooth #16 — Another incredible issue by master writer/illustrater Jeff Lemire.  Less than two years ago, I had never heard this man’s name, but he has quickly become an important comics creator to me.

This issue brings to a head a slow simmering arc that began with issue #1.  The explosive events of this issue had irreversibly changed each of the characters, and ended with a cliffhanger as nail biting as you dared wish they all were.  This series’ first year and half were very strong, but this issue makes it clear that there will be no fizzling out.  From art to pacing to plot and character development, everything in this book is done right.  Everything.  This series will be remembered decades from now.

Essex County — I’m not sure what I can add to the ubiquitous praise universally given to this volume written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire, but I will say that anyone I have convinced to buy or loaned it to have never had a single negative comment about it.  Hell, it was even voted as one of the top 5 best Canadian literature pieces (Canada Reads Competition).  That was for any form of literature, not just comics.  If you haven’t read it, you are missing out on a chance to see a masterpiece of what else comics can do.  (Editor’s Note – not technically released in 2010, but I’m letting it go because everyone needs to read this… when they finally get the thing in stock, I’ll have copies available.  And a note – Canadians are super humans, so, Ronnie’s comment on their praise means much more than some mere mortal from the US.)

Detective Comics #871 — Being the first published Batman work by Scott Snyder, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Following on the tails of an experimental, polarizing year for Detective, and a few years of the other Batman titles being guided by Grant Morrison’s sci-fi deconstruction of the entire Batman mythos, this issue stood out for it’s simple story telling and a return to Batman’s pulp roots.  We get Dick Grayson, the Gotham Batman, operating under the new bat universe rules.  But, unlike the other titles, it’s not just him reacting to these new rules, it is him effectively navigating within them.  The art by Jock, along with Francesco Francavilla’s neo-noir in the Commissioner Gordon back-up, are as iconic and violently beautiful as just about anything else out there.  The Gordon backup seems less like an extra, and more like a coda.  Part two of the arc in ‘Tec 872 was just as strong and gives me high hopes for this title.

Scalped #35 — This incredible done-in-one was immediately memorable with the beautiful cover by Jock, using high contrast and simple images to tell the tale of love and loyalty, no matter what hardships.

The story follows an elderly couple in the badlands of South Dakota, and a few of the trials they face trying to live honestly and simply in our modern world.  The writing is almost entirely inner monologue going back and forth between the couple, and reveals an emotional depth rarely seen in comics.  Jason Aaron shows once again that for Scalped he writes characters, not plot device vessels.  The art, by guest artist Danijel Zezelj, is as stark and emotional as anything you will find in modern media.  He approaches the panels more like an expressionist painter than a traditional comic illustrator.  I would welcome him to any issue in the future.

This masterpiece of a comic was not only hands down winner for best single issue read of 2010, but may possibly be the best I have read, period.

Honorable Mentions:

Scalped 39-42 – Possibly the most intense story i have ever consumed.

Unwritten #17 – Choose Your Own Adventure!

Tank Girl Mini’s and One-Shots – The triumphant return! Leaving dead heads of state and beer cans in her wake!

The Sixth Gun – Very strong start for this new ‘BPRD in the wild west’ series.

And now me:

BPRD King of Fear #5 – the culmination of 13 years of stories, one shots and mini-series and the launching point for many, many more.  The near stand alone issue followed a major cliff hanger in issue four, but pulled the many months later without telling us such.  This can be good or bad and in this case, just builds on the suspense of you not really knowing what is going on.  There is a double page spread of a monster that left me frightened and concerned like nearly nothing I’ve read recently.

Guy Davis’s art is one of the cappers of what makes this so great.  He draws monsters better than anyone in the industry.  His Marquis is more art book for me than comic.  However, it is writers Mike Mignolia and John Arcudi that give the character’s such depth and the book such over reaching atmosphere.

The BPRD is my favorite comic being published, this is the best issue they have ever put out.  I think you get why it is on this list.

Unwritten #17 – This was the “choose your own adventure” issue.  Something I thought would be impossible was pulled off with amazing perfection.  This is one of the ten best books on the market right now, but this single issue is a must, simply for the innovative story telling technique used.  Thing is, all the possible options in the book, if you read it regularly you understand any of them could be the real storyline making this even better.  If you do not read Unwritten you do yourself and your collection a disservice.

Unknown Soldier #21 – This too was a one shot, but worked so perfectly into the story of what Josh Dysart was trying  to tell.  (I say trying as this book was tragically cancelled this year after poor sales.  You MUST support quality or we will only get shadow-siege-chaos wars.)  In this issue you learn the history of one AK-47 and learn of all the tragedy it brings to everyone’s hands it inhabits.  Easily one of the most important issues of the year.

Hellboy in Mexico – Mike Mignola and Richard Corben deliver the best Hellboy story I’ve read.  What makes it so good, well, let me give you a list: Hellboy, Richard Corben Art, Evil Turkeys, Vampire-Zombie guys, Luchadors, Bat Gods and Pro-Wrestling!!  That is a bloody check list of quality right there!

The story is funny, scary and sad too.  It really shows what happens when two masters of storytelling get together and are not tied down by conventional comic constraints.  This, like all the quality published by Dark Horse each year, shows what it takes to make good comics.  Quality art, quality writing, quality editing and a company that cares more about that quality then about overall dollars and cents.  The day this book came out was Cinco de Mayo and was the single most fun I’ve had in the shop.  I thank Scott Allie (one of those top notch editors at Dark Horse and hell of a good guy) for getting me moving on the idea for the party.

The Best Read of 2010…

Chimichanga #3 – Easily the most fun comic of the year and frankly, what I wish more comics were like.  Silly and child like, socially forward thinking (sort-of) and just a damn funny read.  When a book makes you giggle, that is a good thing.  Grim and gritty can go to hell, I like a good laugh every now and then.

Eric Powell (Goon) is one of the greatest creators in the comics and he went back to his roots of self publishing (Albatross Exploding Funny Books) to release this, but just because it doesn’t have a big publisher on it doesn’t mean it is inferior in anyway.  The black and white art is so well done that I dare say it has more quality per panel then twenty big two comics combined.

Story-wise it has a little bearded girl imprisoned by a heartless and uncaring corporation with poor googley eyed Chimichanga set to be euthanized.  What will our heroes do?  How will they escape?  Will they save the circus?

This is children’s literature done right, with enough for adults to make us buy it.  I’ve read the issues to my best friends kids and enjoyed every minute, probably more than they did.  In a year without the Goon, this was a saving grace.  PLEASE, Mr. Powel, Big Mr. Comic Book Man, Please do more comics like this?  Please?

Honorable Mentions:

Scapled #35 – I can not top Ronnie’s review and though I don’t think it was the “best of all the times” it was certainly one of the single best comics I read last year.

Batman Hidden Treasures – Why can’t more comics be better, be like this?  That is how I felt after reading the lost story by Ron Marz and Bernie Wrightson.  A single one shot, lost to time and an editor’s filing cabinet, it highlights Batman and Solomon Grundy hunting a killer, with some of the most stunning art I’ve seen this year.  A MUST read for fans of graphic storytelling.

Jonah Hex #50 and The Outfit – Darwyn Cooke is one of the best artists in the industry and tells a story with just his pictures as well as anyone.  Both are must reads to see a master storyteller at work.  Palmiotti and Grey are pretty good on Hex every month, but #50 was exceptionally good.

N – the Steven King story turned into four issue mini was one of the best mood/horror stories missed by most.  When it comes out collected in trade in a month or two, You MUST read it, if you dare.

Baltimore Plague Ships – any single issue had more scare and atmosphere per square panel than 90 percent of all horror comics released in the last decade.  A top flight must read for horror fans.

Terminator 2029/1984 – best licensed property from the company that does their licensed properties proud.  THIS set of two mini-series is SO much better than the last two horrid movies.

Superman/Batman issues #78 or 75 – both are one and done stories and remind us why we like superheroes.  Issue 75 was absolutely packed with extra stuff in back including a great piece by Brian Azzerelo doing a Calvin and Hobbs-esque Luthor and Joker story.