THE BEST OF 2022 - The Best COMICS Of The Year

 

 

THE BEST COMICS OF 2022:

- Well, 2022 was an awesome year for comics. Okay, I'm clearly biased - I'll admit. Because 2022 was the year that my first ever comic book - HALLOWEEN TEAM - released its first two issues. Finally, after years of thinking about creating my own comic - this year, that dream became a reality. I teamed up with the talented artist Matt Shults, and we worked to create, release, and promote our very own self-published comic book. Easily one of my most exciting moments of 2022 - the release of Halloween Team #1 allowed me to finally transition from comic fan to comic creator. A lot of work went into it (obviously, a *ton* of work on Matt's part - especially given that he's penciling, inking, coloring, and lettering each issue!). But there were so many fun and rewarding moments leading up to and after the release. From giving away free physical copies of our first issue for Free Comic Book Day (at the legendary House of Secrets comic book shop in Burbank), to getting press coverage from top sites like Newsarama and Daily Dead, to doing interviews with outlets like Comic Crusaders, to getting awesome T-shirts made via Design By Humans ... it's been one heck of a ride. And it's not over yet! 2023 will see the long-awaited release of Issues #3 and #4, and hopefully even more cool news about the future of the book. So yeah, we did it - we made a comic book! In a year of so many ups and downs and so much craziness, this was my proudest (and coolest!) accomplishment.

Halloween Team aside, I read a lot of really great comic books in 2022. More than that, this was another year where the craziness of the ongoing pandemic - as well as several months (and counting) of Long COVID-related health issues - meant that my weekly comics haul again took on a special meaning for me. No matter how bleak things got - even if I couldn't get out of bed - I always had new books to look forward to each and every week. Clearly, I'm a huge fan of movies, TV, games, etc. - but there's something about cozy-ing up with a new comic book that is sort of, for me at least, the ultimate pop culture comfort food.

I'll admit, there were some much-hyped comic book events and storylines this past year that sort of landed with a thud. But I still managed to find a lot of exciting new stories in, at times, unexpected places. I also continued my recent practice of finding an older comic to binge-read through (okay, binge might be the wrong word, as I tend to do this at a pretty slow pace). In 2022, I read through DC's classic The Question series from the late 80's, written by the late great Denny O'Neil and with art from the talented Denys Cowan. What an interesting, thought-provoking, and unique series that was. 

As always, one of the things I love about comics is the way that, on one hand, I can always turn to old reliable favorites - creators and characters who I've followed for years ... but, on the other hand, there are always new discoveries to be made. In 2022, some of my favorite comics were from longtime favorite writers like Ed Brubaker and G. Willow Wilson. But then there were series like True Kvlt - a completely original concept from a writer, Scott Bryan Wilson, with whom I had zero previous familiarity. I hope that some people will take a chance on my name and on Halloween Team this year in that same way. 

So without further ado, here are my top comics of the year.
 

DANNY'S BEST COMICS OF 2022:


1.) Reckless

- Reckless has been near the top of my list in previous years, but in 2022 I can't help but give it the top spot. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips are simply the best in the biz, and reading each new Reckless graphic novel (of which we got two this year: The Ghost in You and Follow Me Down) is a complete joy. These books - gritty, hard-boiled pulp-noir adventures - tell top-tier, self contained mystery stories even as each volume dives deeper into the psyche of protagonist Ethan Reckless. "Your trouble is his business, for the right price" states the tagline. That said, this year's first new Reckless book, The Ghost In You, shifts its focus to Ethan's erstwhile partner-in-crime Anna - delivering a unique but no-less-compelling adventure. Then, Follow Me Down returned the spotlight to Ethan, taking his story through the end of the 80's and providing some tantalizing hints about his future. To sum up: the Reckless books are the best comics going today - brilliantly written, fantastically realized via Sean Phillips' art, and just the absolute gold standard for great crime fiction, period. Read them asap.

2.) Superman: Space Age

- Mark Russell has been one of my favorite new comic writers of the last several years, but I think he may have created his magnum opus with the superlative Superman: Space Age. The book follows a version of Superman who emerges as a hero in the 1960's, and proceeds to tell a complex, emotion-filled, and downright inspiring story that seamlessly mixes classic DC Comics lore with real-world history.

3.) The Human Target

-Tom King has been one of the biggest "name" writers in comics in recent years, but 2022 may have been his best year yet, pound for pound, as a writer. His stylized noir take on the DC Universe - The Human Target - might be my favorite thing he's written to date. It follows classic DC adventurer Christopher Chance (aka The Human Target) as he seeks to unravel the mystery surrounding his own impending death (after he consumes a poisoned drink intended for Lex Luthor). Somehow, King makes the bwa-ha-ha Justice League of the 80's into the perfect noir supporting cast (and list of suspects). What a cool series.

4.) Love Everlasting

- And here is Tom King again, with this crazy series for Image that's one part tribute to old romance comics and one part meta, mind-bending mystery with a decidedly Lynch-ian flair. The book follows a woman named Joan as she finds herself flung into all manner of melodramatic romance stories that evoke old comics from the 50's and 60's. But as Joan becomes more self-aware of her status as a romance story protagonist, she realizes she's trapped in some strange, hellish nightmare from which she can't escape. What's really going on here? I have no idea, but I'm eagerly reading each new issue to find out.

5.) The Department of Truth

- While it released a little more sporadically in 2022, The Department of Truth was once again one of the best ongoing comics going. Writer James Tynion just keeps getting deeper and deeper into the book's various mysteries and conspiracies - and I consistently can't wait for each new issue's latest twists and turns. And he continues to tantalizingly mix real-world politics with a far-out premise - one that posits that public belief in ideas is what actually manifests them into reality. In the age of conspiracy theory that we live in, it's a disturbing and fascinating train of thought.

6.) Eight Billion Genies

- I've read a lot of writer Charles Soule's work for DC Comics over the years, but I've been loving his latest original series. The premise is insane - one day, every person on earth suddenly gets their own magic genie that will grant exactly one wish. Somehow, Soule milks this premise for humor, horror, and real human drama - and it all works. Bursting with creativity and constantly going in unexpected directions, this is one of my favorite new comic book discoveries of 2022.

 
7.) Regarding the Matter of Oswald's Body

- This gripping miniseries is an action-packed, character driven conspiracy thriller, written by the talented Christopher Cantwell. It presents a fascinating story about a team of misfits, assembled by the US government, to cover up what "really" happened during the JFK assassination. The book's version of what happened is pretty fascinating, but the writing really shines thanks to its memorable characters. Ultimately, the potential fates of these outcasts proves just as compelling as the shocking truth behind the assassination.

8.) Rogues

- Speaking of stories about great characters in a tightly-written thriller, see also Joshua Williamson's crime-caper story Rogues - which presents aging versions of The Flash's classic rogues gallery who've reassembled to pull off one final score. Williamson combines his obvious love for the DC Comics pantheon with a real knack for writing a gripping, heist-movie-esque narrative. The Rogues have long been fan favorites, but this book gives them, perhaps, their most memorable misadventure yet.

9.) Poison Ivy

- After her long run writing Ms. Marvel, I guess I began to associate writer G. Willow Wilson with inspiring stories of true-blue heroism. This year, however, Wilson showed her dark side by penning a series about Batman villain turned antihero Poison Ivy - and I'm glad she did. Her Ivy series is a wickedly awesome character study about a woman filled with righteous anger, hellbent on doing things her way. It's arguably the best-ever story for this long-tenured character.

10.) Gotham City: Year One

- And one more great 2022 series from writer Tom King. What can I say, the guy's been on an absolute roll of late. His new Gotham City: Year One series sees King return to the world of Batman, but in a story set a few generations before Bruce Wayne ever donned the pointy ears. Here, the now aged and extra-grizzled private eye Slam Bradley relates to Bruce how he once helped the Waynes solve the mystery of their kidnapped baby. Slam's story is classic crime-noir fiction, and it's King at the height of his powers. 

 

THE NEXT BEST

 

- Okay, there were a few more comics from 2022 that I just couldn't leave off the list, so ...

 

 

11.) Nightwing

 

- For the second consecutive year, writer Tom Taylor has helped to make Nightwing, arguably, the best and most consistent ongoing book in the DC Comics stable. He's aided greatly by the incredible artwork of Bruno Redondo, which is pure poetry-in-motion.

 

 

12.) Batman (Chip Zdarsky run)

 

- It's still fairly early in the run, but ever since taking over writing duties on the mainline Batman book, writer Chip Zdarsky has been absolutely crushing it. His initial story arc - about a fail-safe anti-Batman android (created, of course, by Batman) determined to kill its creator at any cost - has been an epic instant classic.

 

 

13.) Saga

 

- Saga returned in 2022, only to then begin another long hiatus after a several month run. And that's a shame, because Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staple's humanistic space-opera epic came back as good as ever. I'm eagerly awaiting the book's eventual return, because it's unquestionably one of the best comics of the last ten years.

 

 

14.) True Kvlt

 

- I mentioned above that True Kvlt was one of my favorite new-comic-discoveries of the year. I mean, how can you not sort of love a quirky crime comic about fast food employees gone rogue? The book's obsession with the inner workings of the fast food service industry prove just as fascinating as its crazy Satanic cult storyline. 

15.) Lazarus: Risen

- Okay, Lazarus: Risen only had one new issue in 2022 (granted, it was a huge, oversized issue) - but still, I can't help but include it here because, hey, Lazarus is one of the best comic book series ever - and in 2022 we got closure on a number of key storylines that have been building for years. Writer Greg Rucka is one of the best, and his future saga about a world ruled by warring corporations proves all-the-more-plausible (sadly) with each passing year.

OTHER FAVORITES FROM 2022

- GCPD: The Blue Wall

- Dark Ride

- Stargirl: The Lost Children

- The Nice House on the Lake

- Junkyard Joe

- Batman: Beyond the White Knight

- Batman: The Knight

- Flashpoint Beyond

- I Am Batman

- Detective Comics (Mariko Tamaki run)

- Batman - One Bad Day: Two Face

- The Closet

- The New Champion of Shazam!

- Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty

- The Joker

- Dark Spaces: Wildfire

- Fables

- Firepower

- Batgirls

- Captain Marvel

- Canary

- Superman: Son of Kal-El

 

WRITERS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Tom King (The Human Target, Love Everlasting, Gotham City: Year One)
2.) Ed Brubaker (Reckless)

3.) Tom Taylor (Nightwing, Superman: Son of Kal-El)
4.) James Tynion IV (The Department of Truth, The Nice House On The Lake)
5.) Mark Russell (Superman: Space Age)
6.) G. Willow Wilson (Poison Ivy)
7.) Chip Zdarsky (Batman, Batman: Knight)
8.) John Ridley (I Am Batman, GCPD: The Blue Wall)

9.) Joshua Williamson (Rogues, Dark Ride)

10.) Geoff Johns (Flashpoint Beyond, Stargirl: The Lost Children, Junkyard Joe)

 

ARTISTS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Bruno Redondo (Nightwing)
2.) Greg Smallwood (The Human Target)
3.) Sean Phillips (Reckless)

4.) Fiona Staples (Saga)
5.) Jorge Jiménez (Batman)
6.) Elsa Charretier (Love Everlasting)
7.) Phil Hester (Gotham City: Year One)

8.) Leomacs (Rogues)
9.) Sean Murphy (Batman: Beyond the White Knight)

10.) Martin Simmonds (The Department of Truth)

THE BEST OF 2020 - The Best COMICS Of The Year

THE BEST COMICS OF 2020:

- 2020 was a trying year for the comics industry. The pandemic put even more strain on already-challenged comic book stores. Major conventions like WonderCon and Comic-Con were cancelled - as were smaller cons around the country and around the world. And the early months of lockdown saw publishing schedules in disarray, as, for weeks on end, books were delayed or just plain MIA. 

But, man - was I ever thankful for comics this year. As we all struggled to cope with the new normal of the pandemic, logging on to Comixology each week (now on Tuesdays!) was a much-needed and always-exciting ritual and event. Eventually, publishing got back on track, and having that weekly dosage of escapism and storytelling was crucial. This was a year where we needed heroes - we needed inspiration, we needed imagination, and we needed art. And comics provided that in spades - from new takes on classic superheroes to mind-bending sci-fi to gritty crime stories - there was a great diversity of great stories this year. And in the absence of big superhero blockbusters on the big-screen, comics gave us the brightly-colored superhero epics we craved. We got heroes that were just plain fun and badass and awesome (Kelly Thompson's runs on Marvel's Captain Marvel and Black Widow), and heroes that dealt with current-day issues like bigotry and racism head-on (John Ridley's DC Comics magnum opus The Other History of the DC Universe, Gene Luen Yang's Superman Smashes the Klan). We got more riveting work from some of today's best writers - like Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker, Robert Kirkman, and Jeff Lemire. We even got movie and game tie-in comics - like Blade Runner 2019 and Life Is Strange - that were unexpectedly excellent. 

So like I said last year: read comics. We need them now more than ever. 

Here are some of my favorites from this past year.


DANNY'S BEST COMICS OF 2020:


1.) Pulp

This year, writer Ed Brubaker - aka arguably the best comics writer working today (or, arguably, the best writer - period ...) decided to eschew weekly comics for standalone graphic novels. The results, predictably, were pretty spectacular. His first, Pulp, was a flat-out masterpiece - an incredibly-crafted story about a former Wild West outlaw turned small-time thief. Now an aging, past-his-prime relic in the late 1930's, the man once known as The Red River Kid must pull one last score, with an unexpected target. Pulp is, as the title suggests, pulp fiction of the highest order. It's a masterclass in pulp-noir writing - with stunning and atmospheric art from Brubaker's frequent collaborator Sean Phillips to boot. This was the comic of the year, and further evidence that Brubaker and Phillips are the best in the game.


2.) Reckless

- And here we have Exhibit B of Brubaker and Phillips' undisputed greatness - their second graphic novel of 2020, Reckless. I mean, look - I wanted this list to be diverse - but when you have a creative team putting out two stone-cold classics in one year, you've got to give them their due. Reckless is classic Brubaker/Phillips - hard-boiled crime-noir storytelling about a broken man in a hard-edged world seeking justice. The difference here vs. Pulp is that Reckless is designed to be the first in a series of stories about the book's star - former FBI agent and former undercover Weather Underground member Ethan Reckless. It's gloriously pulpy - with its 80's LA noir setting, colorful cast of characters, and twisty mystery story. And man is it good. I can't wait for more.


3.) The Other History of the DC Universe

- As 2020 comes to a close, we're only one issue into screenwriter John Ridley's multi-part DC Comics epic - but already, it has the makings of a new classic. Ridley's conceit is that he's mixing real-world and DC Comics history to tell a story about America and about superheroes, from the perspective of characters who are of color, who are LGBTQ, who have often been relegated to the fringes of the DC Universe. The first issue gives us a biographical story of Jefferson Pierce - aka Black Lightning - and takes us through the decades as he comes up as black superhero in a world where such a thing is rare. Ridley pulls no punches here, taking aim at everyone from Ronald Reagan to Superman - and the result is an ultra-compelling, thought-provoking read. Bring on the next chapters.


4.) Black Magick

- After long gaps and delays between issues, in 2020, we finally got a sustained run of writer Greg Rucka and artist Nicola Scott's amazing supernatural series Black Magick. The story of modern-day witch Rowan Black, the comic combines real-feeling characters with a sprawling mythology that spans centuries. And the art by Nicola Scott is incredible - stunning black and white, peppered with the occasional burst of color. While it looks like, sadly, we're headed for another hiatus for the series in 2021 ... I'm so glad we got more of this book this year. 


5.) Superman Smashes The Klan

- Writer Gene Luen Yang gave us a deceptively powerful Superman story for the ages with this one, which concluded its multi-part tale at the beginning of 2020. The story, based on a classic episode of the old Superman radio show, sees Superman take on the KKK in the 1940's. This felt like the Superman we needed in 2020 - even if the book is set decades ago. It's a Superman who stands up for the oppressed, who speaks out, and who attacks hatred and bigotry head-on. 


6.) Black Widow

-  Kelly Thompson continues to be one of my favorite writers. I was a big fan of her work writing Hawkeye, and this year she's been killin' it on two of Marvel's best ongoing books - Captain Marvel and Black Widow. Black Widow got a reboot this year, in theory timed to the ultimately-delayed movie. But who needs a movie when you've got an incredible BW comic coming out every month? What Thompson has done here is brilliant - giving Black Widow a husband, a kid, a regular job, and ... no memory of her life as a super-spy/superhero. The ongoing mystery of what the heck is going on has been a joy to watch unfold, made all the better by Thompson's knack for quippy dialogue and fast-paced action.


7.) Dark Knights - Death Metal: The Secret Origin

- DC's sprawling Dark Knights - Death Metal saga is finally reaching its long-time-coming conclusion in January. The epic story chronicles the final battle between DC's biggest heroes and their evil, mirror-universe counterparts from a sinister "dark multiverse," led by the all-powerful Batman Who Laughs - a nightmarish mash-up of Batman and The Joker. Along the way, there have been numerous side stories and spin-offs - the strongest of which has, easily, been The Secret Origin. Written by Geoff Johns - the DC writer who quickly rose to fame (and an executive position within Warner Bros) over the last two decades - The Secret Origin actually marks one of the only comics written by the once-prolific Johns over the last several months (I'll cut him some slack - he's been writing movie scripts and showrunning the fantastic series Stargirl). But The Secret Origin lets Johns provide a final chapter for one of his most memorable characters - the once-innocent, now-evil villain known as Superboy Prime. In this awesome story, Prime gets one final shot at redemption - and Johns makes the character's final fate both moving and epic.


8.) Lazarus: Risen

- Another year, another spot reserved for Greg Rucka's long-running masterpiece Lazarus on my Top 10 list. Lazarus started out as a monthly comic book - a grimly bleak near-future dystopian tale about a world ruled by ruthless corporations locked in Game of Thrones-style perpetual conflict. A few years ago, the book evolved to become Lazarus: Risen - releasing oversized quarterly issues that feature extra pages of prose stories to compliment the main comic. And man, with each passing year, our own reality seems to inch closer to that of the one in Lazarus. Rucka even writes mini-articles in the back pages that discuss how our real world and his fictional one seem to be converging. But Lazarus remains top-tier comics. A must-read.


9.) Blade Runner 2019

- A comic that hit my radar in 2019 became one of my full-fledged faves in 2020. This new entry in the Blade Runner canon is damn good, giving us an entirely new story in the world of the films - one that gives us a great new lead character in the form of a blade runner (and, eventually, ex-blade runner) named Aahna "Ash" Ashina. Ash is a great new protagonist - a morally-conflicted, hard-boiled badass in the grand Blade Runner tradition. And the comic does a great job of throwing her into the deep end, in a story that mixes the familiar with the new in pretty brilliant fashion If you're a fan of the franchise, this one is essential.


10.) Fire Power

- Robert Kirkman, the maestro behind The Walking Dead, hit it out of the park with the oversized #0 issue of his latest series, Fire Power. That first issue gave us a mini martial arts epic - the story of a young man who travels to a distant mountain monastery, to train with a secretive clan of kung-fu warriors who've mastered the use of fire as a weapon. Awesome, right? Well - twist! (Kirkman is pretty good at those ...) It turns out that was just a prelude - the series then flashed forward decades, and our hero now lives a quiet suburban life with a wife and kids ... until his past comes calling. It's great, page-turning stuff - made even better by the ultra-fluid, cinematic art of Chris Samnee. 


Other Favorites from 2020:

• Rorshach
• The Department of Truth
• Captain Marvel by Kelly Thompson
• Hawkman by Robert Venditti
• The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage
• The Boys: Dear Becky
• Justice League Dark by Ram V
• Batgirl by Cecil Castellucci
• Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy
• Lois Lane
• Batman and the Outsiders
• Basketfull of Heads
• X-Men by Jonathan Hickman
• Sweet Tooth: The Return
• Ascender
• Oblivion Song
• Nightwing by Dan Jurgens
• Teen Titans by Robbie Thompson
• Detective Comics by Peter Tomasi
• Ms. Marvel
• Captain America by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Gideon Falls
• Fantastic Four by Dan Slott
• Doctor Doom
• Life Is Strange

WRITERS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Ed Brubaker (Pulp, Reckless)
2.) Greg Rucka (Black Magick, Lazarus, Lois Lane)

3.) Kelly Thompson (Black Widow, Captain Marvel)
4.) Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth: The Return, Ascender, Gideon Falls, The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage)
5.) Robert Kirkman (Fire Power, Oblivion Song)
6.) John Ridley (The Other History of the DC Universe)
7.) Gene Luen Yang (Superman Smashes the Klan)
8.) Mike Johnson and Michael Green (Blade Runner 2019)
9.) Peter Tomasi (Detective Comics)
10.) Ram V (Justice League Dark, Catwoman)


ARTISTS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Sean Phillips (Pulp, Reckless)
2.) Nicola Scott (Black Magick)
3.) Chris Samnee (Fire Power)
4.) Fernando Pasarin (Hawkman)

5.) Russ Braun (The Boys: Dear Becky)
6.) Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth: The Return)
7.) Elena Casagrande (Black Widow)
8.) Jorge Fornés (Rorschach)
9.) Andrea Sorrentino (Gideon Falls)
10.) Carlo Pagulayan (Batman)