2010--The Year in Comics

I know that many of you don't follow comic books, but there are those that do.  So, every now and then, I'm going to talk about one my big loves--comic books.  If you haven't read comics in a while, or never did, stick around--you may find something to interest you.  I did get The Kid's kindergarten teacher hooked on Fables a few years ago.

My comic book addiction dates back to the summer before fourth grade.  I used to ride my bike to Hook's Drug Store and pick up comics any time I had cash.  I used to love going to The Grandma's house because she had a 7/11 nearby, and sometimes they had different books.

Comics were 50 cents a piece back then.  I can distinctly remember the jumps to 60 and then 75 cents.  They now cost $2.99.  But, as the price increased, so did the quality and the delivery methods.

Comics are not found in drug stores any more, instead you find them in specialty shops, libraries and even mainstream bookstores.  They come in the 100+ year old, "floppy" style (perfect for folding up and shoving in your back pocket thereby destroying the speculative dreams of nerds everywhere) or in trade paperback format (usually collecting six floppy issues in one bookshelf ready edition).  Sometimes, you can even find them in fancy-pants hard back editions (only for the true collector or super geek in us all).

I buy most of my books in the floppy format, especially the super hero stuff--and, yes, it is not all super hero stuff.  I buy trades for books that I come to too late, or if it is a smaller series I am having trouble tracking down.  There is also usually a lag time from when the last floppy is published to when it is collected in trade format.  Normally, I can't wait; so I'm reading lots of floppies.

So what were some of the best comics of 2010.....

Series of the Year--Batman and Robin by Grant Morrison, et. al.

Morrison has been on a creative high for a while with Batman.  In early 2009, he "killed" Bruce Wayne, and put Dick Grayson, the former Robin, in the Dark's Knight's underpants.  In late 2009, he paired the Grayson Batman with Wayne's only blood heir Damian (who is 12 years old and already a total dick) as Robin in this brand new title.  After getting the kinks out in the first few issues (which were still one of the highlights of 2009), Morrison and his rotating roster of artists hit their stride at the start of 2010 with Grayson trying to put together what actually happened to Bruce Wayne when he "died".  One of my favorite story arcs in any book this year was called Batman vs. Robin which led directly into Batman and Robin Must Die!.  This series has been Pop Art at its best this year.  Morrison has left this series to start a new series called Batman, Inc.  The premise:  Bruce Wayne is back, and he announces that has been funding Batman all of these years.  Instead of trying to just fight crime in Gotham, he's taking the Batman project worldwide.  Now Bruce will be travelling all over the world, giving monies and supplies to upstart Batmans everywhere.  The first two issues focused on the new Japanese Batman, Mr. Unknown.  Issue 3, out later this month, will focus on Argentina's El Gaucho.  Batman, Inc. may turn out to be the series of 2011.

Best Ongoing Series--Fables by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, et al.

I have been a huge fan of this series for a long time.  I even included the spin-off novel, Peter and Max, as one of my favorite book books of the year.  The first 50 issues of the series had such a singular focus:  who was The Adversary that forced all of our favorite storybook characters to seek sanctuary in New York City, and how would they defeat him.  I was concerned that the series couldn't survive once that fundamental goal had been realized.  There have been struggles since then (in 2009 the characters were a part of big crossover war with other books that left me cold), but in 2010, the mojo was back.  Mr. Dark (the literal spookable under the bed who likes to eat children's teeth) had taken over Fabletown, forcing the Fables to seek refuge upstate.  As we reached issue 100 just a month or two ago, Mr. Dark was in a one on one showdown that could restore the Fables to Fabletown.  And while I was sort of let down by the conclusion of that story, I cannot deny the ingenious way it set up stories for the next 100 issues.  This book should be a TV show already--preferably HBO.

Best Solo Super Hero Series--Zatanna by Paul Dini, Stephanie Roux, et al.

This book, about one of DC comics least recognized heroines, amazes me each month.  Credit goes primarily to Paul Dini who has crafted such a realistic, modern-day woman first, and a super hero second.  Zatanna is the magic-weilding, fishnet-wearing daughter of renouned stage magician Zatara.  Like her father she not only carries on the stage magician tradition (a great bit of the book is concerned with show biz), but she also is secretly, or in her case not-so-secretly, fighting crime.  To do this she must speak her spells sdrawkcab.  This is Zatanna's first on-going series, after decades as a second- or third-stringer.  Dini is taking his time fleshing out the supporting cast, which is good.  I sometimes feel with new series you need to create a scorecard to try to remember who is who.  The art work by Stephaine Roux is quite lovely and a perfect accompaniment.

Best Super Team Series--The Secret Six by Gail Simone, J. Calafiore, et al.

Gail Simone and  J. Calafiore have created one of the warmest, funniest and scariest team books ever.  Every issue contains something that demands that you never read another comic book, but then you realize that if you stop reading comics, you will miss where this book might go next.  Plus, it's the only book on the stands that proudly announces that there are six members when in fact there are seven, sometimes eight (2 months ago ten).  Essentially the team is 6 (7) villains that hire themselves out to do whatever job needs to be done and they (mostly) don't care what that job is.  Many come from Batman's rogue gallery (Catman, Deadshot, Bane), while others are Simone creations that are either second generation villains (Ragdoll, Scandal Savage) or new entirely (Black Alice, Jeanette).  Now why should you want to follow a book about villains?  Simply because they are entirely human.  There is a strong moral code within them (sure at times that may mean an occasional murder) and really all they want to do is to live and love better.  This book is ultimately about the good in evil men and the evil in good men.  This book is the best example of the fraternity that can arise out of the shared good in "evil men."

Best Trades I Read--The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Aldard, et al.

As you may know, I didn't start reading The Walking Dead until after the debut of the television series.  I was sure that this was something not for me.  I was wrong.  I really, really like the television series, but I absolutley love the comic books.  Whereas I previously have found that television series flesh out novels more (True Blood vs. the Sookie Stackhouse novels), the reverse is quite happily true here.  Granted, a lot of stuff has happened in the comics, and all of it is far more earth-shattering than just a zombie plague.  But it is the quiet moments in the comics that really sing to me.  The comic books threw a lot at the reader very quickly because Kirkman was sure that the book would be cancelled quickly.  The television show only had 6 episodes in its first season for the same reason.  Fortunately the premise and execution of both are strong enough to survive.  I am anxious for the TV series to return and start taking its time with the characters and letting them grow, as the comic series has.  If it turns out half as good as the books, a lot of people are going to be very happy.

Best Marvel Series--Uncanny X-Men by Matt Fraction, Greg Land, et al.

I am an unapologetic DC nut; it's just in my DNA.  But I do keep apprised of the Marvelous competition.  One of the greatest things they have done in recent years (and they do many things that are great) is hire Matt Fraction as a writer.  I had been in Brian Bendis overload with them and a fresher spin was much welcome.  Fraction's work on Uncanny X-Men has gone from a bit interesting to me to one of my favorite reads of the month.  It's a big sprawling soap opera of persecution and fun.  If you lost interest in the X-Men in the past, this is the title to get you hooked again.

Best Cancelled Book--Hawkeye and Mockingbird by Jim McCann, David Lopez, et al.

Another Marvel book?  It's a conspiracy.  Actually the only conspiracy is why one of the most fun reads (when really it shouldn't be) is stopped after six issues, and then the entire creative team takes their story to a new book called Widowmaker, which will be a mini-series.  All I know is that it stinks.  Jim McCann and David Lopez took two knock-offs of popular DC characters (Green Arrow and Black Canary) and created two of the most wonderfully rounded people in the Marvel Universe.  It also had some of the best action sequences and the cleverest espionage to be found in the funny books.  It's a shame.

Best Crossover Event--War of the Supermen from DC Comics

I am a little event fatigued.  I really thought Blackest Night (Zombies in the DC Universe) would be a lot of fun.  And it was but it got bogged down in the middle telling the same story in every DC book for three months.  I really enjoyed Second Coming with Cable and the "last" mutant baby returning to our time from the future in the X-Books.  But there were too many high costs for the characters and too little return.  For me the best cross-over event was War of the Supermen in all of the Super-books.  The story was the culmination of a 2-year storyline which saw the em-bottled citizens of Kandor released and enlarged, creating thousands of Superman-powered aliens first on our world and then on one of their own nearby.  Now how long would a war last between our planet and one where everyone had the abilities of Superman?  If you said 100 minutes, you'd be right.  While I had problems with many of the Super-books during the run up to the war (no Superman in a book called Superman?), I thoroughly enjoyed every issue of the payoff--grand storytelling told succinctly and with style.

Best Series for Girls--A Tie:  Supergirl and Power Girl from DC Comics

This is a cop out, only to be reinforced if you know the convoluted history of these two female characters.  But actually both of these books were really good and ones I am happy to keep back for The Kid when she's ready to read them.  Supergirl has struggled since Jeph Loeb left the title five years ago.  But with Sterling Gates, DC finally found a writer who understood what it was to be a young woman struggling to fit in while still living up to the high standards she and others set for her.  The alternate universe version of this is Power Girl.  It's about a woman in her 20's who has had much success as a superhero, and should be seen as a true powerhouse, but is best known for her ample cleavage.  Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and especially Amanda Conner took what was one of the biggest jokes of the DC universe and turned her into one of the most believable women in comics.  Most encouraging:  she refuses to use her sexuality as a weapon.  The only bad thing about both of these books is that these creative teams have left the titles.  While I look forward to the creators' new projects, I will miss them on these characters.

Favorite New Series--Superboy by Jeff Lemire, et al.

Superboy has just started (issue 3 was on the stands last week), but I was immediately taken by how much fun this book can be.  Following a path set down by Geoff John in the Superboy starring Adventure Comics in 2009, Lemire is settling the young Superman clone in Smallville and giving him an interesting supporting cast of his own.  The show has already taken some of the traditional comic book conventions (like no one recognizing the her in his secret identity) and turned them on their ear (already two people have recognized Conner Kent as Superboy).  I am most excited to see where the story goes next.