The Best of the 10's - Danny's Best Comic Books of the Decade!

THE BEST COMICS OF THE 2010's:


1. Saga

- In  the oo's, writer Brian K. Vaughan gave us one of the best-ever comic book series in Y: The Last Man. In the 10's, BKV returned with an incredible follow-up that is already a classic - and it's still going. Saga is a sci-fi space epic- beautifully illustrated by Fiona Staples - that mixes family drama with wry social commentary and an incredible sense of imagination and sense of wonder. Read it!


2. The Walking Dead

- The Walking Dead's long run spanned well over a decade, but man, it was still going strong in the '10's. Early in the decade, writer Robert Kirkman shook up his zombie-apocalypse epic with the introduction of iconic psycho-villain Negan. At the end of the decade, Kirkman shocked fans by surprise-ending the book with a powerfully emotional, full-circle ending. A page-turner to the end.


3. Locke & Key

- Joe Hill's masterpiece, Locke & Key put Hill on the map as a gifted writer with a similar knack for mixing chilling horror with grounded characters as his sorta-famous dad (Stephen King!). The book started in 2008, but ultimately reached its incredible conclusion in 2013. In the end, it was one of the great comic books of the decade, if not ever.


4. Lazarus

-Greg Rucka's near-future, post-apocalyptic masterwork is still running (see one of 2019's top comics, Lazarus: Risen) - but it is, easily, one of the best books of the decade. The series imagines a scenario where mega-corporations rule all - and it feels like an all-too-plausible scenario given the world we live in.


5. Sweet Tooth

- Sweet Tooth made me a fan for life of writer/artist Jeff Lemire - multiple works of whom are on this list. But Sweet Tooth - a sprawling, coming-of-age sci-fi epic - is, I think, his magnum opus. It introduced us to Gus - an unassuming boy who's half human, half deer. Gus' strange journey of self-discover leads to an unlikely adventure that's an all-time comic book classic.


6. Ms. Marvel

- The best and most vital superhero fiction of the decade, G. Willow Wilson gave us the Marvel superhero we needed in the 2010's. Kamala Khan was and is awesome - a geeky teen girl, who also happens to be Muslim, who also happens to have stretching powers as a result of an encounter with Terrigan Mist. Kamala is completely ordinary, yet also unlike any superhero we've ever seen before. And her message of hope and unity is so important.


7. Alex + Ada

- Over the last ten years, I became a huge fan of the collected works of the Luna Brothers. I went back and read through their entire back-catalog (Girls, The Sword, Ultra, etc.), and excitedly picked up each issue of Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn's Alex + Ada as they came out. The series was a thought-provoking sci-fi story that covered similar ground to TV series like Westworld and Humans - but with that humanistic touch that the Lunas are so good at.


8. Hawkeye (Matt Fraction / Alex Aja)

- Even if you have no real interest in superheroes or Marvel, I'd still highly recommend this series. Matt Fraction took the least-powerful Avenger and recast him as a down-on-his-luck protector of a shabby New York neighborhood. The series was funny, innovative, and just incredibly well-written.


9. Southern Bastards

- Jason Aaron's southern-gothic crime comic is one of my all-time favorites. It skewers Southern culture while also paying tribute to it. The overarching story - about a folk hero who returns to his backwoods town to clean things up once and for all (targeting a gang led by the town's villainous high school football coach!).


10. Kill or Be Killed

-Ed Brubaker has been one of my favorite writers for the last 20 years or so. And he continues to be at the top of his game, putting out maybe his best work yet in the form of Kill Or Be Killed. This hard-boiled crime comic - with a possibly-supernatural twist - tells the twisted tale of a mentally-unbalanced man convinced he has to kill people, or else fall victim to a vengeful demon who controls his fate. It's weird, crazy, and something that only Brubaker could make work.


THE NEXT BEST:


11. Punk Rock Jesus

- This politically-charged series put writer/artist Sean Murphy on my radar - and he's since gone on to become one of my favorites.


12. Animal Man (Jeff Lemire / Travel Foreman)

- When DC rebooted itself early in the decade with the New 52, the early standout was Lemire's haunting, strange take on Animal Man. 


13. Batman (Scott Snyder / Greg Capullo)

- Speaking of the New 52, writer Scott Snyder gave us one of the definitive runs on Batman following the DC reboot - introducing such instant-classic villains as The Court of Owls.


14. Jonah Hex / All-Star Western

- Writer Jimmy Palmiotti began writing the adventures of DC's classic Western hero Jonah Hex some 15 years ago, but his extended run continued into this decade with many additional years' worth of classic stories.


15. Batgirl (Brian Q. Miller / Lee Garbett)

- I will always have a soft spot for this sadly short-lived run on Batgirl. It took the fan favorite, girl-next-door character of Stephanie Brown - also known as The Spoiler - and promoted her to Batgirl in a run that was a constant delight (and with awesome Lee Garbett artwork to boot).


16. Paper Girls

- Brian K. Vaughan's *other* great work of the decade was Paper Girls. This time-travel adventure took a page from 80's classics like The Goonies, transporting a group of street-smart paper-delivery girls on a time-spanning journey that looked back across the decades to tell us who we were then, who we are now, and who me maybe, just might, be in the decades to come.


17. Invincible

- As for Robert Kirkman's other long-running comic book epic, Invincible began well before 2010, but finished up its long, celebrated run in 2018. In that time, Kirkman used the creative freedom of writing an independent superhero book to age his characters - telling the story of how super-powered Mark Grayson went from awkward teenager to dedicated husband and father. 


18. Silver Surfer (Dan Slott / Mike Allred)

- Dan Slott's take on the Silver Surfer was a whimsical, inspirational cosmic odyssey and an unlikely love story. Mike Allred's one-of-a-kind artwork made the book that much cooler.


19. Multiversity

- In one fell swoop, Grant Morrison re-invented the DC Universe and left it forever changed. Only Morrison could introduce DC's 52-world multiverse with so much imagination, awe, and wonder.


20. Injustice

- One of the most unlikely awesome comics of the decade, to be sure. What could have been a cash-in videogame tie-in instead became one of the best DC Universe epics of the decade, thanks to the great writing of Tom Taylor. 


21. Black Hammer

- Jeff Lemire does it again. Lemire's superhero deconstruction led to an entire universe of stories that played with and subverted decade's worth of comic book tropes and cliches. Lemire's work was both homage and satire, and it was brilliant.


22. Fatale

- Another of the decade's many great Ed Brubaker books, Fatale was a supernatural noir that mixed a classic femme fatale story with Lovecraftian cosmic horror.


23. The Wake

- Scott Snyder writes. Sean Murphy draws. A comic book dream team if ever there was one. This underwater thriller combined Lost-like mystery with crazy monster-horror. 


24. Royal City

- One more from Lemire. This more grounded, personal comic tells the story of a family torn apart, and then reunited under difficult circumstances. Lemire tells a moving, haunting story that is among his best.


25. Mister Miracle

- Writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads take Jack Kirby's classic New Gods characters and reinvent them as ... regular people? Well, actually - what's brilliant about this series is how it deftly, sometimes hilariously, mixes everyday issues with the cosmic drama of Kirby's Fourth World.


JUST MISSED THE CUT:

- Superman (Peter Tomasi)
- Batman Inc.
- House of X / Powers of X
- Criminal
- The Fade Out
- Trillium
- Sex Criminals
- Black Magick
- Jupiter's Circle
- Darth Vader (Kieron Gillen)

THE BEST OF 2018 - The Best COMICS Of The Year

THE BEST COMICS OF 2018:

- I read a lot of comics in 2018 - some of them pretty good, some of them really good, and some of them decidedly not-that-good. But sometimes, even not-so-good comics can be just what the doctor ordered. As I get older and (somewhat) wiser, I realize the value of comfort-food pop-culture. At the same time, I even more so understand the value of broadening one's horizons and continuing to seek out cool new stuff. Because while there is something to be said for the warm blanket that is checking in with old-favorites, there is something even more to be said for the rush of reading something brand new and realizing that you've hit upon something special. This is part of what makes the comics medium in general so unique - it's a breeding ground for new voices and new stories. So going into 2019, I urge you to do two things. One is to read comics if you're not already. If you like good stories, then read comics. If you like new stories, then read comics. If you appreciate amazing artwork, read comics. Second thing is to not just read comics, but seek out new ones. Figure out who your favorite writers are - track down their back-catalog (it's easy now, especially with digital stores like Comixology), and check out their new material too. Pick up something random, and see if you like it. Even in comics - where the new and interesting is celebrated more often than not, it's easy to be a part of the hive-mind. I fall into the trap too sometimes. But it's easier to discover and to do deep dives than ever before. So fall into it and tell your friends (or just shout at the internet!) about what you're into.

Case in point: for several years now, I've been a big fan of the Luna Brothers. They should be more well known than they are - they're ridiculously talented. The first thing I read by them was their series Girls, and then Alex + Ada (not technically Luna Brothers, but Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn) - which flat-out blew me away. This year, I decided to fill in the gaps in my Luna Brothers reading, and kept a watchful eye for Comixology discounts on their back-catalog. This led me to read what, I think, will end up as one of my favorite comic series ever - THE SWORD. As someone who loves serialized storytelling, I was somewhat in awe of the way each issue of The Sword ended with a cliffhanger so compelling that I literally *had* to keep reading. I definitely took copious amounts of mental notes from it that I then tried to apply to my own writing. But man, am I glad I finally read this one.

Anyways, there are TONS of great comics being published every month - and as with Peak TV it's almost impossible to keep up. So I'm sure there are tons of great books missing from my Best of 2018 list. But it's fun to share the books that I loved reading this year - hopefully I turn at least a few people on to some new favorite writers, artists, and comic book series. So let's get to it ...

WAIT! Before I get to the list, I have to acknowledge the titanic losses that the comics world - and indeed, the entire pop-culture universe - experienced in 2018. In June, Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko passed away. Ditko was a true one-of-a-kind. His art on Spider-Man was legendary - his sense of dynamism and design unmatched, and even today ... the original Spider-Man costume is as iconic and as cool as ever. Ditko also created enduring characters like The Question. His influence will be felt in comics and pop-culture forever.

Then, late in the year, the entire world mourned the passing of the one and only Stan Lee. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about Stan "The Man" - along with Jack Kirby, he was the architect of the Marvel Universe. And most certainly, he was its voice. Stan Lee became as much of a pop-culture character as the fictional ones he helped create. He was larger than life, and yet he was everyone's jovial, ever-enthusiastic grandfather. He was a champion of social causes, a creator of progressive characters, a one-of-a-kind writer, and in his later years, a king of Marvel movie cameos. I have fond memories of sitting down in front of the TV on Saturday mornings, watching Marvel cartoons introduced by Stan Lee. Nothing could get a kid more excited for some superhero action than Stan's alliterative, exclamation point-punctuated intros. How could one not be a True Believer? Later, I was lucky enough to see Stan speak several times at various Comic-Con events - as recently as last year, when he shared the stage with The Rock at LA Comic-Con. Every time he'd enter a room - even if that room was already filled with huge celebrities - the audience would light up. Stan lived and breathed comic books, and he made comics a cool club that welcomed any and all. His college campus lectures gave his Marvel comics a cult following among adults, and his Merry Marvel Marching Society made kids pledge their loyalty to "Make Mine Marvel!" Stan Lee was an ambassador for comic books and superheroes - but more so than that, for the morals and social justice causes that his heroes fought to uphold. In the 60's and 70's, Stan took to his Soapbox to talk to his readers about the evils of racism, bigotry, and inequality. Still, Stan knew that nobody was perfect - his heroes were flawed. Spider-Man and other Stan Lee characters faced everyday problems and anxieties, which quickly separated them from the "distinguished competition." And Stan Lee, too, was flawed in his own ways. But so are we all, and so are our heroes. And for me, and for many, Stan Lee was indeed a real-life superhero. A man who, even in his nineties, was never lacking in enthusiasm and goodwill. And even behind those trademark tinted glasses, there was always a palpable twinkle in his eye. Stan Lee meant so much to so many of us - and the world is a sadder and emptier and slightly less super place without him. But even as I despair about a world without Stan Lee, I can hear his distinctive voice urging me - urging us all - to carry on and continue to dream, imagine, and to fight the good fight. And so we must soldier on. We raise our fists, we yell "Excelsior!", and we work to honor the vision of Stan Lee as best we can. As the Man would say: 'nuff said!


DANNY'S BEST COMICS OF 2018:


1.) Paper Girls

Once again ... when I think about the best book going today, Paper Girls is the first thing that comes to mind. As Brian K. Vaughan's story about a group of time-lost girls rocketed towards its upcoming endgame - becoming increasingly epic, crazy, and emotionally charged - it also managed to hit a creative high-water mark. The book's narrative momentum led to several vintage Brian K. Vaughan holy-$%&# cliffhangers. At the same time - even as the story's gotten bigger and crazier and more of the book's enigmatic time-travel mythology has been revealed, it's warmth and humor and wit and spot-on characterization of its scrappy protagonists has never been more apparent. Late this year, Vaughan announced that Paper Girls' ending was nigh - it's sad to know that this new classic will soon be drawing to a close, but man, I can't wait to see how it ends. Finally: I've said this before but will say it again ... if you're thinking of trying out a comic book: try Paper Girls. If you like Stranger Things: you'll love Paper Girls. This is the best comic book going, so you've got to read it - trust me!


2.) Kill Or Be Killed

- My #1 comic of 2017 moves down a notch ... not because it wasn't as great as ever in 2018, but because, sadly, it ended in June. But what a series this was. I mean, I've been a huge fan writer Ed Brubaker for ... wow, it's been a couple of decades now. Nobody writes noir or crime books like he does. And Kill Or Be Killed, well, it might just be the best thing he's ever written. It's a dark but thoughtful story about a vigilante plagued by visions of a demon who urges him to find bad people and kill them. And as the series went on, the twists and turns piled up and things got very, very interesting. But through it all, we were kept guessing by the book's not-quite-reliable narrator - brilliantly given voice by Brubaker. If you like hard-boiled crime fiction, pick this one up asap.


3.) Black Hammer (and various spin-offs)

- For a few years now, writer Jeff Lemire has been working wonders with his ever-expanding Black Hammer universe. I think some were skeptical of this one at first - it was yet another superhero deconstruction that showed unexpected sides of various superhero and villain archetypes. But I trusted Lemire to deliver - he's written some of the best comics of the last decade. And deliver he did. Black Hammer is a unique, surprising, brilliantly-written take on superheroes and comic books and it's very distinctly Lemire. What's interesting is that the original Black Hammer book actually ended in 2017, closing the first chapter of the story. In 2018, Lemire started a new chapter with Black Hammer: Age of Doom - focusing on the daughter of the titular character entering the strange world that her father's friends have been banished to. We also got The Quantum Age - a look at a far-flung future inspired by the original series' characters, Doctor Star - a riff on James Robinson's classic Starman series, and Cthu-Louise - a darkly funny look at the daughter of a notorious Lovecraftian supervillain.


4.) Saga

- After some fits and starts, Brian K. Vaughan's superlative Saga was back in full force in 2018. Running monthly from February through July, Saga picked up the pace this year, before going out on a shocking cliffhanger prior to the book's year-long hiatus. For those not in the know, Saga is Vaughan's most ambitious and long-running story since Y: The Last Man - since launching in 2012, it's told us an epic sci-fi story of forbidden love in outer space. But what's so brilliant about Vaughan's work is that he never gets too caught up in sci-fi minutiae - he focuses on characters first, and even amidst a backdrop of cosmic war and far-out alien planets, everything feels real and grounded and very much derived from the world we live in. Pair that with the always-amazing artwork of Fiona Staples, and you've got a book that is legendary in its own time. And: you've got a book that has legions of fans counting down until next summer when Saga finally returns. It went out on a jaw-dropping twist that will change the story forever - so you can bet that Saga's return will be one of 2019's can't-miss comic book events.


5.) Captain America - by Mark Waid

- Coming off of Nick Spencer's controversial run on Captain America last year, which chronicled an alt-universe evil Cap who was raised by Hydra and took over the Marvel Universe - fans, I think, were ready for some more traditional tales of classic Cap heroism. Now I actually was a big fan of Spencer's run. But man, old hand Mark Waid came onboard for a short-term run and just absolutely killed it. Things started off solidly, with a few stories about a Cap - traumatized after coming to terms with the whole Hydra thing - traveling across the country and restoring his good name. But then, things took a crazy turn leading up to the landmark Cap #700, with Cap finding himself - again! - frozen in ice, and waking up in a dystopian near-future where Marvel's heroes had been vanquished. This then led to another story-arc about another future - hundreds of years later - in which an ancestor of Steve Rogers has to find a way to vanquish his world's authoritarian regime. It's all just great, clean, classic storytelling from Waid - one of the best straight-up runs on a mainstream superhero books in years.


6.) Royal City

- Even as he was deconstructing superhero universes with Black Hammer, Jeff Lemire was also putting out a very personal project with Royal City. No capes, no monsters ... okay, some ghosts ... maybe. But mostly, this was a moving story about a bunch of adult siblings returning to their rundown factory town after their father's health takes a turn for the worse, and uncovering and coming to terms with various long-hidden family secrets. This was quite simply a great story about families, about home towns, about old ghosts. It was tragic and heartfelt and brilliantly drawn by Lemire - whose dreamlike art style was a perfect fit for this story.


7.) Lazarus

- Lazarus has been one of my favorite comics for several years now - with the only real knock against it being its sporadic publishing schedule. That said, writer Greg Rucka delivered some great stories in the Lazarus universe this year. What is Lazarus, you ask? Imagine Game of Thrones-style warring kingdoms, except in a near-future dystopia where governments have fallen and corporations rule all. The corporations are ruled by families. Those who directly serve the families live comfortably. All others are "waste." Oh - and each family has a "Lazarus" - their symbolic military leader, crafted via genetic engineering and cloning tech, designed to be a human war machine. Anyways, in 2018 Rucka gave us a fantastic story about Jonah Carlyle - presumed-dead member of the all-powerful Carlyle family - who finds himself near death in faraway enemy territory. Jonah creates a new identity for himself, falls in love, and begins a road that could lead him towards direct opposition of his own family.


8.) Hawkeye - by Kelly Thompson

- In 2018, writer Kelly Thompson wrapped up her brilliant run writing the Kate Bishop version of Marvel's Hawkeye. When Thompson first began on the book, it was coming off of Matt Fraction's classic run on Hawkeye, during which he helped make Kate into a beloved character - more so even than the original Clint Barton version. But Thompson did great things with Kate, too. Her take on Hawkeye was funny, witty, action-packed, and just plain cool. It was modern and fresh but also evoked old film noir and made great use of its LA setting. Kate Bishop, as written by Thompson, was flawed but incredibly likable. She was the dorky girl-next-door who could also slay with a bow and arrow. When Marvel announced the book's cancellation, I was genuinely bummed out. But if nothing else, it made Thompson a writer I'll now follow through thick and thin. But man, I hope that, someday, she gets to write more Hawkeye.


9.) Skyward

- This was my favorite new comic of 2018 - a high-concept sci-fi adventure from Lucifer TV series showrunner Joe Henderson. It's about a near-future where physics have gone haywire and gravity has all but disappeared. People float, fly, and soar. There are new dangers, new evolutions of tech and surprising side effects on mother nature. Amidst this backdrop, one girl discovers the conspiracy to keep things as they are and prevent the restoration of gravity - and is on the run from those who want to keep her knowledge hidden. This is all gorgeously rendered by one of my favorite artists, Lee Garbett - who brings both a sense of humanity to the characters and a sense of awe and wonder to the sci-fi setting. Highly recommend.


10.) Mister Miracle

- DC Comics' best book of 2018 was undoubtedly Tom King and Mitch Gerads' Mr. Miracle. They took the classic Jack Kirby New Gods character and made him and wife Big Barda a regular, relatable couple faced with problems both mundane and cosmic. They told a story about marriage and parenthood and relationships and responsibility, but also about crazy Fourth World gods and going into battle against the evil forces of Darkseid. They did this all with humor and heart and more than a bit of trippiness thrown in for good measure. Gerads' art humanized Kirby's cosmic characters and King's writing made them more than just colorful space gods. This was one hell of a series.


THE NEXT BEST:


11.) Ms. Marvel

- G. Willow Wilson's groundbreaking run on Ms. Marvel - now confirmed as coming to an end in 2019 - continued to be one of the best things in comics this year. Wilson writes Kamala Khan with such warmth, humor, and heart that it's no wonder that this relatively new hero has become arguably the most beloved in the modern Marvel pantheon.


12.) Silencer

- This one was a real sleeper from DC Comics. Imagine the DC Universe version of John Wick, except this time you've got a former assassin for Talia Al Ghoul's secret Leviathan organization - forced back into action when she's hunted by her former employers. Writer Dan Abnett (truly one of DC's MVP's this year) has made this a consistently fun book month in, month out.


13.) Batman - by Tom King

- Aside from Mr. Miracle, Tom King was also busy writing the continuing adventures of The Dark Knight. Now, I'll be honest - King can be a hit-and-miss writer for me, and there are times where he's lost me during his run on Batman. A story-arc this year involving Booster Gold and alternate realities, for example, really fell flat for me (and this coming from a die-hard Booster fan). And yet ... just when I become frustrated with King's take, he does something that really wows me. Case in point: a phenomenal story-arc from late this year in which Bruce Wayne has jury duty, and has to help decide the guilt of Mr. Freeze in a crime that he may actually not have committed. King's take on Batman can at times be frustrating - but man, when he hits a home run, he really is the best in the biz.


14.) Snotgirl

- Scott Pilgrim creator Bryan Lee O'Malley's oddly endearing comic Snotgirl continued to surprise me in 2018. O'Malley somehow takes characters that should be completely unlikable - a clique of self-absorbed, self-loathing twenty-something fashion bloggers - and makes them into characters who, well, maybe you don't *like* them per se, but you do find yourself becoming absorbed into their strange and vapid world. It helps that our main protagonist - green-hairedm runny-nosed Lottie - finds herself wrapped up in a surreal murder mystery. And it helps that Lottie - full of insecurities - is rendered with funny and self-effacing nuance by O'Malley. Snotgirl is definitely not quite like anything I've read before. but it's fascinating and funny and uniquely O'Malley. Check it out.


15.) Mera: Queen of Atlantis

- For the last couple of years, writer Dan Abnett has been doing a bang-up job with DC's Aquaman. He's taken a character who's had precious few memorable stories in his long history, and really crafted a long-term epic that nicely set the stage for the character's high-profile big-screen debut. Picking up on some of the world-building that Geoff Johns had done previously, Abnett has been telling a pretty kick-ass story about an Aquaman who's been removed from the throne of Atlantis and forced into anonymous exile. But I think the high point of Abnett's run was actually his spin-off Mera miniseries, detailing the warrior from Xebel's quest to restore peace to Atlantis in her husband's absence. This was just great stuff - and awesomely illustrated by Lan Medina to boot. Abnett gave us twists, turns, betrayals - and he made Mera truly badass in a way that not even the recent movie could match.


16.) Descender

- Okay, so Jeff Lemire killed it this year with Black Hammer, and with Royal City. And somehow, he also found time to wrap up his epic space-saga Descender (evocatively drawn by Dustin Nguyen) in grand fashion. Descender - the story of a future world in which humans and robots wage war following a mysterious invasion - was a somewhat Spielbergian take on a Mass Effect-like sci-fi setting ... focusing its story on a child-like robot named Tim 21 and his quest to figure out the mystery at the center of the human/robot conflict. Lemire really went for broke with the ending - which, in a surprise twist, set the stage for an upcoming sequel series titled Ascender. Bring it on.


17.) Gideon Falls

- But wait, there's more! Lemire did one other really cool comic in 2018 - this one brand new! - that I feel obligated to mention. Gideon Falls is his take on Twin Peaks-esque existential horror. It's about a group of seemingly unconnected people who have nightmarish visions of a mysterious Black Barn - and about how these people gradually come together to understand the nature of the Barn and the evil it portends. Moodily rendered by Andrea Sorrentino, Gideon Falls was another new favorite in 2018 - and yet another feather in the cap for one of the best writers working today.


18.) Batman: White Knight

- Sean Murphy is one of those unique voices in comics whose work I'm always curious about. He's a writer/artist who always brings a dark, punk-rock, rule-breaking tone to his comics - matched by art that's at once retro and cutting-edge cool. Anyways, his take on Batman, "White Knight," kicked off in 2017 and reached its thrilling conclusion in 2018. This was one hell of a Batman story - it told of an off-the-rails and hardened Bruce Wayne, suddenly confronted with a reformed, cured Joker who usurps Batman as Gotham's most beloved hero. It's a great read, and one of the best Batman stories of the last few years.


19.) The Walking Dead

- I may have officially dropped the TV series a while back, but I still look forward to each new issue of The Walking Dead comic. Why? Because Robert Kirkman still knows how to craft a page-turner. And while the nature of the comic occasionally forces him to slow the pacing a bit in order to set the stage for the next big conflict, you can always count on Kirkman to ratchet up the intensity at just the right moment. Case in point: the current story arc, which sees Rick and company visit the seemingly utopian community called The Commonwealth. At first, Kirkman takes his time - giving us some interesting commentary on the hidden cost of forming a society with a comfortable upper and middle class. But after some slow-build, Kirkman finally blows things up and sets the stage for another of his trademark, ultra-intense epic. Bonus: Carl is still alive in the comics.


20.) Oblivion Song

- This is a new comic that launched from Robert Kirkman in 2018, and I've been really digging it. It's about a world in which a reality-bending science experiment went wrong, opening up a portal to a Lovecraftian universe and trapping large segments of the populace within. Now, years later, a man tasked with rescuing survivors still trapped in the monster dimension has to come to grips with the full scale of what happened and his role in it. It's compelling stuff, and Kirkman has me very curious where it's all going.


21.) Penny Dreadful

- So I was a huge fan of the too-short-lived Showtime series Penny Dreadful - but like many, I was thrown by it's abrupt ending following its third season. Surely, there was more story to tell and numerous dangling plot threads still to resolve. Well, the recent Penny Dreadful comic - a continuation of the series from some of its writers - helped give some much-needed closure to the events of the series. If you were at all a fan of the show, you 100% owe it to yourself to check out this comic - a de facto Season 4 that, thanks to it being a comic, gets to go to some pretty crazy and epic places with no TV budgets to limit its scope. Just beware: there were some earlier, not-very-good Penny Dreadful comics - don't bother with those. Seek out the most recent, 12-issue series and enjoy!


22.) Jimmy's Bastards

- From Garth Ennis, the man who brought you Preacher and The Boys, comes Jimmy's Bastards - and if you liked those series, you will very much also like this one. It's Ennis taking the piss out of James Bond - that's the short version. But if you like Ennis, you know that behind his over-the-top humor and ultraviolence usually lies some astute commentary on politics and pop-culture - and that is definitely the case here. The book's also got fantastic art by Russ Braun, whose work I loved on comics like Jack of Fables. His cartoonish, expressive art is a perfect match for the story Ennis is telling. This one is a quick, addictive read and any fans of Ennis should immediately check it out.


23.) Eternal Empire

- I wrote above about my love for all things Luna Brothers, and Eternal Empire (which kicked off in 2017 and wrapped up in 2018) was the latest from the Alex + Ada team of Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn. Truth be told, I don't know if this one 100% matched the quality of their previous work. Still Luna and Vaughn's latest was a really interesting take on the epic fantasy genre - telling the story of two long-lost siblings blessed with mysterious powers, destined to help overthrow their kingdom's tyrannical queen. And as per usual, they give us big, high-concepts made palatable thanks to grounded characters. Well worth a read. And of course, that Jonathan Luna art is always striking with its elegant simplicity.


24.) Darth Vader

- I didn't really read most of Marvel's Star Wars line of comics in 2018, but I carved out time for Darth Vader. Why? Because following a great run on the title from Cullen Bunn, writer Charles Soule carried the torch and delivered great story after great story - skillfully filling in gaps from the films, drawing new connections between the original trilogy and the prequels, and just giving us some really badass Darth Vader stories in the process. Soule is a reliably great writer, and he worked his magic again with Vader, seemingly channeling the full powers of the dark side to give us a truly notable run. Sadly, the recent issue #25 served as the series' grand finale. But if you missed it and are in any way a Star Wars nerd, definitely track these issues down.


25.) Sex Criminals

- This one was right on the line between being included here and being relegated to my "Great Comics With Too Few Issues In 2018" category below. But writer Matt Fraction and artist Chip Zdarsky's surreal sex-comedy-caper series churned out just enough new issues this year to make the cut. And the fact is, Fraction is so good that, when this book does come out, it's always a must-read. And I know, the name is a bit daunting, perhaps. But trust me, Sex Criminals is so great. It's a funny, weird, endearing. Give it a shot.


HONORABLE MENTIONS

- Justice League Dark
- Mystik U
- Deathstroke - by Christopher Priest
- The Flash - by Joshua Williamson
- Aquaman - by Dan Abnett
- Hit-Girl
- New Super-Man
- Suicide Squad - by Rob Williams
- The Magic Order
- Deathbed
- Detective Comics by Bryan Hill


GREAT COMICS WITH TOO FEW NEW ISSUES IN 2018:

- Southern Bastards
- Black Magick


ONES TO WATCH IN 2019:

American Carnage

- Writer Bryan Hill's dark crime thriller - about a light-skinned black man who's gone undercover in a white supremacist organization - just kicked off late in 2018. But it's off to a fantastic start, and I'm telling anyone who will listen to get onboard with it now. This one is going to be one of 2019's best, no question.

The Fantastic Four - by Dan Slott

- This is another one that's just revving up, but I can already tell that Slott is going to bring the same sort of whimsy and wonder and adventure that he's brought to other Marvel books (like his sorely missed Silver Surfer) to Marvel's first family. He's started things off with a bang - returning the FF to the Marvel Universe proper and finally giving us the wedding of Ben "The Thing" Grimm and Alicia Masters. I still felt like it was too early to include this in my official Best Of list above ... but it's likely a sure thing for 2019.

Doomsday Clock

- And then there's Doomsday Clock. Geoff John's ambitious maxiseries is both a pseudo-sequel to Watchmen, a massive DC Comics continuity-reshaping crisis event, and a dark, ominous commentary on current political and social issues. It's A LOT. And honestly, halfway though, I still have no idea what to make of it. There've been some really great standalone issues, and some that felt like feet-dragging. But it still feels impossible to tell what the endgame of all this will be. But because so much of the final judgement of this series will rest on its conclusion, I'm holding off on assessing it until I can see the forest for the trees. To be continued ...

Shazam! - by Geoff Johns

- Meanwhile, Geoff Johns just kicked off a new Shazam! series - his first regular DC ongoing in quite some time. This is the kind of things that Johns excels at, and his previous Shazam stories (backups in the pages of his Justice League run) were really great - so I've no doubt that this will be at minimum really good and at best amazing. Or maybe I should say "marvelous." No doubt, Johns and all of DC are motivated to do right by Captain Marvel (not the Brie Larson one) prior to the Shazam! movie's release in the Spring.


Wonder Woman - by G. Willow Wilson

- Lastly, it will be interesting to keep an eye on Wonder Woman. G. Willow Wilson - who's put Ms. Marvel on the map over the last several years - is now the writer of DC's flagship Wonder Woman book. So far, it's hard to exactly gauge where Wilson is going with the character - but I have faith that, if nothing else, it will be a unique and different sort of WW than we've seen before at DC. We'll see if Wilson can bring the sort of fun and sense of, well, wonder, that she brought to Ms. Marvel to the iconic Amazonian hero.


WRITERS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Brian K. Vaughan (Paper Girls, Saga)
2.) Jeff Lemire (Black Hammer, Royal City, Descender, Gideon Falls)
3.) Tom King (Mister Miracle, Batman)
4.) Mark Waid (Captain America)
5.) Ed Brubaker (Kill Or Be Killed)
6.) Dan Abnett (Mera, Aquaman, Silencer)
7.) G. Willow Wilson (Ms. Marvel, Wonder Woman)
8.) Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible, Oblivion Song)
9.) Kelly Thompson (Hawkeye)
10.) Joe Henderson (Skyward)

ARTISTS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Mitch Gerads (Mister Miracle)
2.) Cliff Chiang (Paper Girls)
3.) Sean Phillips (Kill Or Be Killed)4
4.) Lee Garbett (Skyward)
5.) Fiona Staples (Saga)
6.) Leslie Hung (Snotgirl)
7.) Lan Medina (Mera: Queen of Atlantis)8
8.) Gary Frank (Doomsday Clock)
9.) Sean Murphy (Batman: White Knight)
10.) Ricardo Federici (Aquaman)

THE BEST OF 2014 - The Best COMICS Of The Year

THE BEST COMICS OF 2014:

- It's amazing how much the world of comics has changed in a short time. Digital comics have opened up the medium to a whole new readership - and the ease of availability of new and classic books - along with the continued proliferation of comics-based movies and TV shows - made this a banner year.

What's amazing now is the sheer diversity of content that's out there. If you look at, say, the 90's, the major publishers all sort of leaned in the same direction. Most of the books from DC, Marvel, Image, and others were all, stylistically, pretty similar. Now, it's a whole new ballgame. I look at Image alone - the way they've become a breeding ground for creator-owned, creator-driven series - and it's amazing. They've come a long, long way from the early days. Many others are now following their lead - IDW, Boom!, Dynamite, etc. Even Marvel and DC have more books now that feel less bound to some giant connected universe, and more accessible to people who are simply fans of those characters. Marvel in particular drew tons of buzz in 2014 by putting out books that felt like they were made less for the fans who'd read every Marvel book since 1973, and more for the influx of new fans who hoped for the sorts of stories and characters that spoke to them, a more modern audience. Case in point is Ms. Marvel - one of the year's most interesting and applause-worthy success stories. The book stars a new character, Kamala Khan, a young Muslim-American teen who gets superhuman powers and becomes an unlikely hero. It's written by G. Willow Wilson, a woman who converted to Islam and who, I might add, is a fellow BU grad. Wilson has been an up-and-coming writer for a while now, and it's great to see her enjoy this sort of success - Ms. Marvel, as it turns out, became an unlikely top seller - something that, I'm guessing, was in large part thanks to the way that digital comics have broadened the traditional audience. But there's something that's just plain cool about this new Ms. Marvel becoming a fan favorite. Comics have always been about celebrating those that are different, but diversity has sadly not always been something that mainstream comics have done well. But Kamala Khan is, in her own unassuming way, breaking down barriers left and right. Here's a character that diverges from the idea that Islam's teachings can only lead to evil. Here's a strong female character who *isn't* the stereotype of what a strong female character should be (i.e., she's not just a guy with boobs). And here is a character that can be a hero to girls, women, Muslims, and everyone else. Hell, I'm a white Jewish male and I think she's pretty damn awesome.

Kamala Khan, to me, represents what's great about comics. Unlike the high-stakes, big-money world of movies, comics are not focus-tested and franchised-out to the nth degree - at least not all of the time. Comics are a place where barriers can be broken, where new, original, and oftentimes crazy ideas can be tried out. Comics are where anything goes and the sky's the limit. I think that's why Guardians of the Galaxy was such an exciting movie in many ways. To date, most superhero films have played it safe, to an extent - giving us more grounded, real-world versions of our favorite characters. But Guardians is one of the first modern superhero movies to fully embrace the sort of cosmic craziness that made me love comics in the first place.

Putting superheroes aside though, I'll take a step back and talk again about the diversity in storytelling in 2014's best comics. One of the year's best books was Sex Criminals, about a couple that can stop time whenever they get busy. Sounds insane, I know. But writer Matt Fraction made it into a book that's at once completely out-there, yet at the same time has some of the most authentic-feeling characters in anything I've read this year. It's a similar story with my favorite new comic of 2014, Alex + Ada. It's a type of story we've seen before: man meets robot, man falls in love with robot, man and robot have to go into hiding because human-like robots that can think and feel are outlawed in this world. But what makes it work so well here are characters that seem authentic, and storytelling that keeps you guessing. That's not to say that I don't also love stuff that's just flat-out out-there. In other words, thank the comic gods for Grant Morrison's continued output. One of my favorite books in 2014 has been Morrison's Multiversity for DC, which is a tripped-out celebration of all the wonderful weirdness of DC's past, present, and future, with a meta twist that only a guy like Morrison could dream up.

Despite everything I've said, I still miss old-fashioned paper-and-ink comics. I miss going to the comic store and coming home with a stack of crisp comics begging to be read. I miss the tactile nature of holding the pages in your hand. When I do buy a new comic or trade paperback and read it in the traditional manner, I can't deny that that, to me, is the superior experience. I think the benefits of digital outweigh the negatives. What's been so cool about the digital experience is how easy it is to discover more material based on an existing favorite. This year, I got hooked on Alex + Ada, and quickly decided I needed to read more from the Luna Bros., whose work I'd somehow not familarized myself with far. Soon enough, I was knee-deep in the series that put them on the map, a Stephen King-like horror/thriller called Girls. Now I'm on to another work of theirs, The Sword - pretty cool. Still, I hope that we don't have to wait long for someone to come out with a better reading alternative than an iPad. Amazon, I'm looking at you. Amazon this year purchased the primary digital comics retailer, Comixology, so I suspect there may be some interesting developments still to come as a result.

But here's to the great year for comics that was 2014. And here's to an even better one in the year ahead.


DANNY'S BEST COMICS OF 2014:

1.) Locke & Key

- This one is fudging things a little, because technically Locke & Key wrapped up in 2013. However, the collection of the series' final chapters - Alpha & Omega - wasn't released until 2014, and I suspect that many were, as I did, reading this one via the hardcovers and trade paperback collections. In any case, Locke & Key has been one of the seminal works - comics or otherwise - of the last decade, in my view. It's something that, I suspect, will always be a defining work for author Joe Hill, and for artist Gabriel Rodriguez. Hill has the uncanny ability, like his father Stephen King, to write incredibly-realized characters that feel tangible and wholly authentic, and to then place them in absolutely insane situations tinged with horror, fantasy, and the supernatural. As I said in an earlier post praising the series:  in many ways, it feels like vintage King: a rustic New England setting, a distinctly slice-of-Americana vibe, and an existential horror that creeps its way into these characters lives and starts profoundly changing their worlds. I felt a profound sadness as I read the book's concluding chapters, both for the characters and what they'd endured, and also because this was the end of one of the great comic stories. I can't wait to see what Joe Hill does next.


2.) Alex + Ada

- Written by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn, with art by Luna, Alex + Ada is my current must-read monthly comic. The work of Jonathan Luna (as well as earlier work done with his brother) reminds me a lot of that of Brian K. Vaughan. The characters are so well-realized that all the craziness that happens around them feels plausible. The Lunas, like Vaughan, tend not to write about traditional hero characters. Their protagonists are regular dudes, relatable and not all that extraordinary. Often, these types of sci-fi stories are about a guy who's the best at what he does, etc. Not here. Alex is just a regular, slightly disaffected young adult who's trying to figure out what he's doing with his life. That said, this is riveting storytelling - each issue ends in a cliffhanger that leaves you clamoring for more. Sci-fi stories about robots are a dime a dozen, sure. But this one has the potential to be one for the cannon.


3.) Sex Criminals

- Sex Criminals has such a great voice, and that's thanks to writer Matt Fraction, who has become a real favorite over the last few years. He blends real human drama and pathos with a wicked sense of humor. Sex Criminals shouldn't work, but it does, because it's as much about people trying to figure themselves out as it is anything else. And by the way, best letters page going by a long-shot.


4.) Hawkeye

- More Matt Fraction. I fully caught up on Hawkeye this year, and am now suffering because of the long gap between new installments. But Fraction's Hawkeye is just plain awesome - it's like Coen Bros' doing superheroes - funny, irreverent, moody, and yet oddly insightful about the human condition. In 2014, the book took an extended detour to LA, to follow Kate Bishop, the female Hawkeye, as she delves into a neo-noir mystery. Such great stuff, can't recommend it enough.


5.) Lazarus

- Lazarus continued to wow me in 2014, with some serious world-building going on that continued to fill in the puzzle pieces of the book's post-apocalyptic dystopia. Writer Greg Rucka has been taking his time in putting all of the building blocks in place, but there's a great sense that this is all leading to big things, world-shaking things. As I've said before, imagine a Game of Thrones-esque society where, instead of houses, warring corporations vie for control of a collapsed world.


6.) Multiversity

- As I said above, Multiversity is just a treat for fans of DC, fans of Grant Morrison, and fans of the weirder, sillier, more out-there side of superhero comics. This is Morrison's roadmap to DC's multiverse, with each issue taking place on a different earth. So far, one issue has told a Watchmen-like conspiracy-thriller with the Charlton characters on which that story was based. One issue has told a whimsical Captain Marvel story in the spirit of the original comics. Another imagined the sons and daughters of iconic superheroes in a crime-free world where heroes prefer starring on reality TV to battling evil. Great stuff from the ever-fertile mind of Morrison.


7.) Saga

- Saga's release schedule has been intermittent in 2014, but when it's come out, it remains one of the true must-read ongoing series out today. Brian K. Vaughan is taking us on an adventure here, and I honestly have no idea where things are going month-to-month. As Y: The Last Man was to surviving your 20's, Saga is to the later part of adulthood - a star-spanning tale of two parents drawn together and now, drawn apart. But what's cool about Saga is that this story seems destined to expand well beyond its current scope. Who knows where it's all headed? But in BKV we trust. And man, that Fiona Staples art is as amazing as ever.


8.) Fatale

- Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Fatale came to a close in 2014, and it will go down as a recent favorite. The book was a unique mix of noir and Lovecraftian horror, and the scope of the narrative just kept expanding and going in interesting directions. The femme-fatale protagonist, Josephine, finally confronted her otherdimensional tormentors in the big finale, and the result was a satisfying conclusion to one of Brubaker's best books to date.


9.) The Walking Dead

- The Walking Dead as a franchise is so ... everywhere ... that praising the comic seems almost unneeded. But I want to give props to Robert Kirkman, because while the Walking Dead TV series' quality fluctuates wildly, the comic is consistently excellent. Following the ultra-intense conclusion to the "All Out War" storyline, the book did a bit of a re-set, time-jumping ahead and introducing a new status quo. It was just what the book needed, and a reminder that what's great is that this is a story that truly keeps evolving. Kirkman is writing the zombie story that never ends, but that's a good thing - especially if it remains this compelling.


10.) Injustice

- How is Injustice possibly as good as it is? The best-selling weekly digital comic is a spin-off of a videogame. That should mean it's crap. But Injustice is actually the best ongoing superhero book that DC is putting out - it's a book that seems downright giddy at getting to play with the toys in the sandbox, pitting the DC characters against each other in ways that are surprising and downright fun. This is the superhero book that most gives me the feeling of being a kid again and discovering the joy of comics. And in bite-sized digital form, it's the perfect quick-read.

THE NEXT BEST:

11.) Batman

- Scott Snyder continues to do great things with the core Batman book. His "Zero Year" storyline was an unexpected epic, and his current "Endgame" arc is page-turning, blockbuster storytelling at its finest.

12.) Invincible

- Robert Kirkman's other big book is still one of my favorite reads. This is a book in which anything can and will happen, and Kirkman seems to love changing up the tone of the book on a whim, just to throw readers off. If Walking Dead is the zombie story that never ends, Invincible is the superhero story that never ends. And again, that's a good thing.

13.) The Silver Surfer

- Dan Slott's whimsical take on the Surfer has been a treat - especially with the added bonus of stunning Mike Allred art. The book is a trippy, funny, cosmic riff on sci-fi in the vein of Dr. Who, but Slott has made this its own thing - a book that feels wholly unique in the Marvel pantheon.

14.) The Wake

- The Wake was my 2013 book of the year, and it remained strong in 2014 - though the conclusion did not have quite the punch of the first half of the book. Flashing to a future where the world is overrun with water, the book became less horror and more apocalyptic fantasy-adventure. Still fun and intriguing, but not quite as awesome and badass as what preceded.

15.) Ms. Marvel

- See above. But just to add, Ms. Marvel feels like the book we needed in 2014, the book that felt like it was a long time coming, and the book that made us wonder how we did without Kamala Khan and characters like her for so long.

16.) Swamp Thing

- Charles Soule's run on Swamp Thing has been stellar. The book is a strange mix of horror, adventure, and trippiness - very much in the spirit of the classic Alan Moore run. Soule has introduced some intriguing new supporting characters, and expanded the mythology of the Green to include new enemies and allies.

17.) Batman '66

- Batman '66 was a weekly pleasure in 2014, building on the success of the previous year. Writer Jeff Parker so skillfully and so hilariously captures the wry humor of the Adam West TV show, cranking the absurdity up just a notch to make sure we get that he's in on the joke. Visiting with the classic TV Batman - both in the '66 series and in the great Green Hornet crossover - was some of the most fun I had reading comics this year.

18.) Red Lanterns

- Charles Soule again. Even as the Green Lantern franchise struggled to maintain consistent quality in 2014, Red Lanterns was the one book of the bunch that consistently brought its A-game. In 2014, the book told a pretty epic story - showing us the transformation of the formerly-villainous Red Lanterns into a group that was a force for good, albeit in their own unique, rage-filled, blood-spewing way.

19.) The Manhattan Projects

- Jonathan Hickman's monthly dose of insanity is almost always at the top of my must-read list, and this year, the book closed its current run, with the promise of further stories down the line. But man, the stuff that happened in The Manhattan Projects in 2014 ... this story about America's secret cabal of scientists went to even more far-out places than normal. Where else can you see twin Alfred Einsteins hunting aliens, or a gun-toting LBJ kicking ass and taking names? Nowhere, that's where.

20.) The Twilight Zone

- J. Michael Straczynski's update on the classic TV show was a real surprise this year. Over multiple story-arcs, the book told Twilight Zone-style stories that felt true to the issues and concerns of 2014. I enjoyed that the book didn't try to 100% ape the format or the stories of the show, but instead went for something different. All the while, it stayed true to the spirit of the show.


RUNNERS UP:

Batman & Robin
Batwing
Fables / Fairest
Batgirl
All-Star Western
Action Comics
The X-Files: Season 10
Batman: Eternal
Starlight
Velvet

SPECIAL MENTIONS:

- I'd like to give a special shout-out to ALL-STAR WESTERN. Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti wrote the character of Jonah Hex for years and years - since 2005 - both before and after DC's New 52 reboot. Over the years, I always looked forward to the writing duo's gritty, weird, engrossing tales of the Old West, and I loved their take on Hex and DC's other Western heroes (in particular, I really dug their introduction of new character Tallulah Black, a badass female gunslinger who could match Hex's attitude and guts). The series finale of All-Star Western was a fitting closer to this storied run, although I also hope that the pair have a couple more Jonah Hex stories left in the tank.

- I'd also like to mention another long run that came to a close in 2014, that being Gail Simone's tenure writing BATGIRL. Simone, a longtime fan-favorite, was intimately linked to Batgirl and Barbara Gordon, having written her for years - pre-New 52 - as the star of Birds of Prey. When the New 52 reboot began, Simone was in the tough position of having to undue one of the defining traits of the modern Babs Gordon - the fact that she was confined to a wheelchair after having been shot by the Joker. But Simone endeared fans to the re-tooled Barbara Gordon Batgirl, and wrote some fantastic issues of the book. A 2014 highlight was the "Future's End" tie-in that imagined a five-years-later version of the character - it was an epic and emotion-packed issue that felt like the end of an era.


WRITERS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Matt Fraction (Hawkeye, Sex Criminals)
2.) Ed Brubaker (Fatale, Velvet)
3.) Brian K. Vaughan (Saga)
4.) Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible)
5.) Greg Rucka (Lazarus)
6.) Tom Taylor (Injustice, Earth 2)
7.) Scott Snyder (Batman, The Wake)
8.) Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn(Alex + Ada)
9.) Joe Hill (Locke & Key)
10.) Charles Soule (Red Lanterns, Swamp Thing)

ARTISTS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Chip Zdarsky (Sex Criminals)
2.) Fiona Staples (Saga)
3.) Mike Allred (Silver Surfer)
4.) Michael Lark (Lazarus)
5.) Greg Capullo (Batman)
6.) Jonathan Luna (Alex + Ada)
7.) Sean Phillips (Fatale)
8.) Ryan Ottley (Invincible)
9.) Adrian Alphona (Ms. Marvel)
10.) Gabriel Rodriguez (Locke & Key)

Danny Says THE AVENGERS is a SMASHING Success!

THE AVENGERS Review:

- The fact that The Avengers turned out the way it did ... the fact that it even exists ... is sort of a minor miracle. The Avengers might be the most purely comic-book-y, most geek-friendly superhero movie of all time, and yet it's a mega-blockbuster, a box-office record-setter, and is coming off of a $200 million dollar plus opening weekend. If The Avengers was a comic book series about the first mission of The Avengers, it would be hailed as one of the greatest Avengers comics ever written. This is a movie jam-packed with over-the-top action and cosmic scope, and yet, overflowing with great character moments, humor, and sharp dialogue. I mean ... are you kidding me?! This isn't supposed to happen. But it did. Joss Whedon and co. pulled it off, and pulled it off big time. But let's face it: for anyone in the know, there was never any question that Joss could write and direct the hell out of an Avengers adventure if given the chance. What was and is surprising is that Marvel and Disney had the balls and the bravery and the intelligence to go ahead and let him do it. The result is a modern classic of superhero cinema. Finally, we've moved beyond the ritualistic retelling of secret origins. Finally, we've moved past the formulaic structure of and limited scope of so many superhero flicks of the last several years. With The Avengers, we finally and truly get a movie that captures the feeling of opening a Marvel comic and experiencing sensory overload from the sheer number of colorful characters and cool, far-out concepts. This is, finally, the Marvel Universe on the big-screen. And my god, it is good.

There are a lot of elements that help make The Avengers feel like it's playing on a different quality level than most other superhero movies. To preface that, I know everyone has their favorites, but personally I'd say that, prior to now, Spiderman 2 and Captain America were my favorite Marvel movies, though I've enjoyed all of the precursors to The Avengers to varying degrees. That said, what instantly makes The Avengers stand out to me is THE SCRIPT. In typical Whedon fashion, the dialogue zings by with a snappiness that is a joy. The movie's got dozens of instant-classic, memorable, quotable lines - and man, is that refreshing or what? To me, that is a MUST for a comic book movie, yet so many have had relatively flat scripts sans truly memorable dialogue moments. And I probably don't need to tell you this, but Robert Downey Jr. and Joss Whedon's dialogue are a match made in heaven. Hearing the fast-talking Tony Stark rattle off Whedon's snarky put-downs, funny pop-cultural references, and taunts-in-the-heat-of-battle ... well, it's a thing of beauty. But the thing is ... *everyone* has great lines in this movie - the Hulk ("puny god!"), Captain America ("I get that reference!"), and so on. And everyone has great characterization to boot.

And there is the other amazing thing about The Avengers. Every. Single. Character. has their moment in the sun. The balancing act that the film pulls off is astounding. I mean, going in, I thought it was a given that there'd be some great back-and-forth between Downey's Stark and Chris Evans' Steve Rogers. But I never expected that Scarlet Johansson's Black Widow would have so many kickass scenes. I didn't anticipated that The Incredible Hulk would be a complete scene-stealer and in one fell swoop become awesome again. Tom Hiddleston's Loki is a great villain - more engaging and compelling than in Thor. Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye is badass and singlehandedly just raised the bar for what a TV or bigscreen Green Arrow would have to measure up to. I mean, hell, freaking Agent Coulson kicks ass in this movie! In every other Marvel movie, he's just been "that guy who's in every Marvel movie." But here, he's the man!

Sure, Whedon had the benefit of being able to play off of the characterizations established in the previous Marvel films. But still - one could go into this one not having seen 'em and still totally get it. A lot of it comes back to the script. Whedon brilliantly structures the film so as to deftly re-introduce us to each major character. He also layers in plenty of dialogue that's textured with characterization and character-building moments. He remembers that we love these heroes because of the characterization and because of their interactions with each other. He gets that that mix of clashing personalities is what makes superhero team-ups (and the inevitable infighting that results) so fun in the first place. So yes, Avengers has got balls-to-the-wall action, but the action is that much better and more satisfying because the characters are treated with such care and respect, and because the action is all predicated on their conflicts, teamwork, and personal choices. Like I said, each character has their major "whoah, watch me kick ass!" moments - but those moments are made all the more satisfying by the slow builds that lay the foundation for the epic battles. This is, quite simply, a new template for how to do superheroes right.

And of course, so much of the credit goes to the actors who make this film really come alive. I think that's another thing that makes The Avengers so remarkable - they actually pulled off the impossible dream of getting all the major A-list actors from each Marvel franchise back for this one. Egos were put aside - from both the actors and from the directors who willfully tied their films into the larger creative vision - and now we get *this.* Okay, sure, Edward Norton was out and Mark Ruffalo was in as Bruce Banner. And I did think that, man, it would have been really, really interesting to see Norton in the mix here. But Ruffalo is quite good, and he does a smart thing in that he really makes Banner his own. He's less Norton's twitchy, on-edge, version of the character. Instead, he reminded me a lot of Raylan Givens on Justified ... smiling, friendly, wryly funny ... with the anger luring underneath the surface. And it's that duality that gives us one of the film's most memorable moments, the revelation about the true nature of Banner's anger - which Ruffalo plays perfectly. But seriously, everyone is great here. Robert Downey Jr. is fantastic - he just owns it as Iron Man, as good as ever if not better. How awesome is Chris Evans as Captain America? Evans blew me away with his Christopher Reeves-esque performance in the Cap movie, and he carries over that same earnestness here - and it's all the more fun now that he's in our time and part of this bigger team with a more cosmic scope than his WWII adventures. Seeing Evans' natural charisma and sense of duty slowly evolve his role into team leader is a highlight of the film.

Similarly, Chris Hemsworth as Thor continues to be awesome. The dude *is* Thor. And he 100% pulls off what is surely one of the goofiest Marvel heroes and makes him a badass. Whedon lets RDJ and others poke some fun at the guy (calling him "Legolas", among other things), but still, Hemsworth is just uber-believable. So when Thor's mighty hammer crashes into Cap's unbreakable shield, it's just a moment of pure ownage that will give fanboys chills. Jeremy Renner has only made cameos to date as Hawkeye, but look, when you get one of the best actors working today to fill the role of - let's face it - one of the more B-list members of the team, you know that the cast of your movie is stacked. Nonetheless, Renner's natural badassery is key, because Hawkeye has to work as both a believable adversary and eventual ally and equal to the other Avengers. And even though Hawkeye is ultimately just a dude with a bow-and-arrow, Renner makes him a standout and a powerhouse in his own right. Same goes for ScarJo's turn as Black Widow. Johansson always seemed a little wrong for this part to me, but by god, she's great here. She makes the Widow a strong character (thanks in no small part to Whedon, who as we all know can write the hell out of kickass female characters) - a badass combatant who also has some serious personal baggage. Did anyone going in expect that arguably the film's two best action sequences would be centered around Black Widow? No? Well, they do.

And as I alluded to, the movie is just so jam-packed with fun characters and performances, it's insane. Samuel L. Jackson is one bad motha' as always as Nick Fury, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. And yes, I'd like that S.H.I.E.L.D. movie now please. Meanwhile, Tom Hiddleston is really, really good as primary villain Loki, carried over from Thor. While Loki is less the mastermind, and more the emissary for a giant-ass alien armada that plans to invade, Hiddleston gets all the meaty badguy lines and does a great job with 'em. I was worried that Loki wouldn't be a good enough villain, having already appeared in and been defeated in THOR. But as it turns out, the combination of a cackling, scheming Loki and an evil alien army with jet-bikes, giant snake-like ships, and legions of foot-soldiers is a formidable combo indeed. Loki sort of sets things in motion, but when business picks up and the aliens invade New York, the ensuing battle is epic and just nonstop mayhem - expertly choreographed and full of momentum. I think that speaks to the fact that, hey, Joss Whedon can do action. He stages some of the most purely fun and exhilarating action sequences we've seen in a big movie like this in quite some time. I'd say that Star Wars would be an apt comparison - the level of childlike glee that Whedon clearly takes in staging the big action and maximizing all of his characters within them - it took me back to the kind of sheer immersion and kinetic energy of the OT Star Wars trilogy.

By the way, back to that cast for one minute - when you've got minor roles filled out by the likes of POWERS BOOTHE, Harry Dean Stanton, Stellan Skarsgard (reprising his role from Thor), and Gwyneth Paltrow (back as Pepper Potts), again, you know you're playing with a stacked deck. If only Mr. Boothe could have been given a bit of a bigger role ... he is just such a badass (watch Deadwood to see what I mean).

Finally, Whedon and co. just have a sense of geek-love that makes the movie feel more fun and more joyous than so much of what we've seen before in the genre. Rather than run away from the movie's colorful comic book roots, Whedon embraces them. None of that X-Men everyone-wears-matching-leather stuff here. This movie is comic book colorful, and it's great. It oozes Marvel magic. And even though the film is accessible to all, it also revels in the stuff that comic geeks love - callbacks to past continuity, the sense of a larger shared universe, the mash-up of different genres (sci-fi, fantasy, espionage) into one messy whole, and yes - the cliffhanger ending. Stay through the credits and you'll see a bonus coda that promises that future Avengers adventures may get infinitely more cosmic and grand (and stay until the very end to see a hilarious glimpse at what happens in the hours *after* the Avengers have saved the day).

So is this the perfect Marvel superhero film? Almost. It's very close. The movie does so many things right that you almost don't want to pick apart what it does wrong. And the movie is, in so many ways, a template for how to make an awesome superhero flick. And yet, narratively, I think there are a couple things that are lacking.

- As great as The Hulk is in this movie (and make no mistake, he rules it), the movie glosses over some of the character's major evolutions throughout the course of the film. Yes, it's there between the lines. But the great line that Banner says towards the end of the movie is a great line, but also doesn't explain much. It feels like a scene was cut that gave some more insight into The Hulk's eventual ability to be more in control of his rage. With a little more explanation, I think The Hulk's major behavioral shift would have felt a little less out-of-nowhere and a little more satisfying.

- I know that there's a Captain America sequel on the horizon, but I felt the movie missed a big opportunity to show the impact of America's greatest WW2 hero suddenly reappearing - and still kicking ass - in the year 2012. I kept waiting for some senior citizen (Stan Lee?) to express amazement at seeing their childhood hero back - alive, kicking, and still youthful. The movie even sets up this moment near perfectly with a great little scene where two NYPD cops ask why they should take orders from Cap.

- More fleshing out of the aliens. I loved the look and design of the alien armada - but who are they exactly and what's their deal? I know some things may carry over into a sequel, but it did feel a bit odd to have this big alien invasion be so random and seemingly motiveless. A little more backstory would have potentially gone a long way.

- Nick Fury. Sam Jackson is indeed a bad m-f'er, but probably the one character that gets a bit slighted in all this is Mr. Fury. We still haven't gotten even a glimpse of his backstory. And - I wanted at least one memorable Fury-kicking-ass moment.

- The music. Man, one of the key things that keeps this from being a true classic might just be the music. Sure, the themes are okay, but there's nothing truly iconic or memorable here. Nothing that you'll go home humming, except for the pretty-catchy Soundgarden song that accompanies the closing credits. You can't overstate how crucial the scores of franchises like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Superman, or Batman are to the success of those series - and Avengers deserved a score on par with those films.

At the end of the day though, THE AVENGERS is quite simply a game-changer in many ways. Even if it isn't in and of itself a stone-cold classic (and maybe, over time, it will indeed be regarded as such), it personally changed what I want out of superhero flicks. It moves up past the same ol' origin stories and takes us to the next level - capturing the fun and sense of anything-can-happen wonder of the big Marvel team-up and event comics of the past and present. It's got that Lee/Kirby sense of wonderment, but also a modern slickness laced with some of the best, snappiest, and funniest dialogue we've seen in a big action blockbuster. Honestly, The Avengers makes me look at other superhero movies and movie universes and desperately want them to follow this model. As cool as it is to see director-driven movies that make serious dramas out of superheroes, ultimately they *are* superheroes - and I don't see why there's any need to be ashamed of that. The Avengers has no shame, and I say that in the best way possible. It's ultimately, in that sense, a personal movie. Because even though it's 100% mass-market pop entertainment, it's also not toned down or made more palatable for the mainstream. On the contrary, it's Joss Whedon showing us these comic book icons and saying "see, see - *this* is why these guys are so cool!".

My Grade: A-