Best Comics

100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso
Things are heating up and people are getting killed left and right. The deeper plots are unfolding and the book has the pedal all the way down. Still the best comic produced today, no status changed.

All Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
This is what all super-hero comics should aspire to. Morrison understands how much of the old to put into his re-imagined vision of Kal-El and the result is the most accessible Superman comic in years. There are no delusions of whether the story revolves around Superman or Clark Kent, this is 100% Kal-El, descendent of scientists, protector of many and is everything what DC had hoped of with its All-Star line.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight and Angel by Joss Whedon and Various
We weren’t done with you Buffy Summers. Not then and not now. Joss Whedon has opened the door for every successful TV show that ends too early to find another life in comics. But unlike the first run at Buffy and Angel comics, these come out when there is no television show. We miss them, we want to see them in action still and both titles are being done very well, with art that captures the essence and flavor of the television series.

Captain America by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting
Would there be any justice to have a best of 2007, without Cap? Brubaker constructed a two-year story that climaxed with a fatal bullet. But what made it so damn hard to see, made it so damn good to read. And despite Cap not even being around for most of the year, and I still cared for the surrounding cast, made me a lifelong Brubaker fan. Whatever he’s writing folks, pick it up. I told you a year or two ago that it’s Brubaker, not Bendis that’s going to take Marvel somewhere big. I had no idea though it’d be this good.

Fables, Jack of Fables, and 1001 Nights of Snowfall by Bill Willingham and Various
Fables is the biggest franchise Vertigo Comics has seen since Sandman and each book cleverly builds on the last and like working on a massive jigsaw puzzle with no edges. Despite none of the characters being original, this may be one of the most creative rides in the last decade of comics and there’s no sign of mediocrity or slowing down.

Iron Fist by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and David Aja
Finally someone put together a great martial arts comic. While I was hoping Jae Lee would be involved somehow, David Aja draws the gorgeous yellow and green costume like no other; while the story that Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker have put together is the most exciting thing to happen to Danny Rand since teaming up with Luke Cage in the 70’s.

Worst Superhero Comics

Event Comics
DC and Marvel turned me off with event comic after event comic. The exception to this is Ed Brubaker’s turn on Captain America where everything important to that character and its cast happens in the main title. Instead the majority of the capes and tights titles lead us to the next crossover, or the next mini-series, or the next crossover event. I finally got fed up with all of it and found Civil War, 52, World War Hulk, Countdown and all of their aftermaths and spinoffs provided better jumping off points than jumping on points.

Best Original Graphic Novels

Acme Novelty Library #18 by Chris Ware
Just getting in before year’s end, and what a way to end on such a down note, but to regular readers or the Acme Novelty, know that it’s a bittersweet trip worth taking. Ware’s ability to suck you into this cynical and hysterical world so easily makes you wonder what else he can convince you to do. Just a gorgeous hardcover book that’s crafted like no other. It’s probably another year before we see the next issue but it never disappoints, well at least in terms of satisfaction.

Sentences: Life of M.F. Grimm by Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly
From child actor on Sesame Street to Hip-Hop recording star Sentences tells the unflinching autobiography of a man’s rise to the top and how his other world of violence and drugs brought him down. He is painfully reminded everyday of the fragility of life and tells it from a perspective not seen often in comics. One of the strongest releases Vertigo has put out in years, Sentences is a honest graphic novel that speaks as loud as it looks, in stark black and white.

Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon (see Best Use of Animals)

Best Breakout Talents

Fabio Moon & Gabriel Ba – Artists
Casanova is a huge hit because of these two guys and The Umbrella Academy’s dark tale would be bare of any substance if it weren’t for Ba’s art. I’ve come to really enjoy the art that’s come from South America with Eduardo Risso and Marcelo Frusin in Argentina, and now these two guys from Brazil. Ba’s art reminds me of Eduardo Risso but more cartoony, Mignola but with a little more curves. Moon has a more fluid and playful pen but I love all the black ink he uses! While it’s vogue to fold the influence of manga, it’s refreshing to see the South American talent just hit it out of the park at every at bat by being simple yet distinct. Or should I be saying that they score a goal with every kick? If you’re looking for new artists to follow, track down everything these two guys do.

Jason Aaron – Writer
While I’m thrilled that Aaron has been able to land a gig at Marvel writing Wolverine regularly in the new year I hope that people don’t overlook his incredible monthly crime book, Scalped. This comic shot through the floor of my penthouse level of monthly reading and firmly planted itself as another hard-hitting story with all the essential elements superhero comic readers hope for but never find. Aaron has created a vast world, that rolls in like a violent storm that whips and rips through you from start to finish. I urge anyone who will pick up Aaron’s Wolverine work to first read Scalped and The Other Side.

Jonathan Hickman – Writer/Artist
Image puts out a ton of books so it’s easy to miss some of the great talent there but it was really difficult to pass up the Nightly News for half the year. Hickman’s slick page designs and provocative narrative stuck out and the trade collections don’t allow for readers to lie the art flat to see those gorgeous splash pages. He followed that right up with the beginning of Pax Romana right before the new year and by Spring 2008, Red Mass for Mars will be another highly anticipated release. Everything he does is unconventional (the way he tells a story, layouts, and coloring) and that helps push the boundaries of comics upward and outward to a better place.

Best Use of Animals

Mice Templar by Mike Avon Oeming & Bryan J. Glass
Mouse Guard by David Petersen
Pride of Baghdad by Brian K. Vaughan & Niko Henrichon
The books that leave an impression make me almost forget the novelty or unique spin. That’s good storytelling. I’m the furthest thing from being an animal lover, yet three reads captured my imagination without featuring any humans. Two star mice, and the other lions. There is no reason to say which is better between Mouse Guard and Mice Templar as each has its own take on a noble knighthood of heroic mice, but that’s where the similarities end. David Petersen’s Mouse Guard made you believe the threats to mice are plentiful. The unique size of the book made the mice appear larger than life as each panel was painstakingly detailed. Perhaps my favorite moment of the series was the second issue’s battle with sand crabs and I found myself cheering out loud for the crustaceans to meet their doom. Mice Templar on the other hand is like a medieval gang war and the tribes are out for blood. I don’t know how it works but swords in the tiny hands of mice seem are just as acceptable as Conan or Thor. Oeming is no stranger to characters with a code of honor to them, having written Bastard Samurai and Thor, but he’s really in his element with the Mice Templar experimenting with coloring techniques and extremely dark panel work. And the boys pack so much extra story for your money, if only every comic was this robust with their page count! Pride of Baghdad showed the pointlessness of the war, but unlike similar stories which try to get us to relate to the people wielding guns, we see what we’ve made the world into through the eyes of a pride of lions escaping from a zoo. In what is one of the most beautiful looking books produced this year thanks to Niko Henrichon, it is also one of the most powerful stories of the year.

Best Debut

Umbrella Academy – Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba
The best debut for my money was Gerard Way’s Umbrella Academy where he created a twisted version of the X-Men who meet Lemony Snickets and Hellboy . Dark brooding siblings with chips on their shoulders make the best protagonists. The series was for the most part pretty light affair but the end of the fourth issue left me with a gaping mouth. It’s off-beat and deliciously twisted enough to stick out with everything else coming out (assisted by those lovely James Jean covers).The Academy kicked ass this year and all the attention is well-deserved.

Best Finale

Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore
This title has been in my life for nearly half my life clocking in an amazing 100+ issues in 14 years, self published, and done the way Moore wanted to. He gave us real characters we know or can relate to, took us through emotional turns and giving each character their proper conclusion. Whether you read it in single issues or in bargain-priced pocketbooks, Strangers in Paradise deserves to be spoken in the same breath of the best this year. I was excited to hear the news of Moore taking over Runaways after Joss Whedon, but nothing delighted more than Moore announcing his next self-published saga, Echo, a story about a photographer who’s at the wrong place at the wrong time and is guaranteed to be surrounded by another cast of many who we’ll gladly take into our lives.

Best Collections

Absolute Sandman Vol. 1 & 2 by Neil Gaiman & various artists
Ed Brubaker/Captain America Omnibus by Ed Brubaker & Steve Epting
Frank Miller/Daredevil Omnibus by Frank Miller & Klaus Janson
Black Hole Collected by Charles Burns
Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Peanuts Hardcover Collection by Charles M. Schulz
Terry & the Pirates by Milton Caniff
The Escapist
The above is a shortlist of dozens worth owning! Just buy anything that’s being collected, for yourself or for someone who doesn’t read comics. What began in 2006, exploded in 2007. Massive collections of entire series or mini-series, some printed in oversized, others on glossy pages, the bottom line is we couldn’t get enough. It didn’t matter if you had the single issues and the trade paperbacks, you bought them all over again. While comics are supposed to be rolled up in your back pocket and to be read over and over, I’m blown away by the effort to make these collections beautiful while remaining considerably affordable. Unfortunately some are printed better than others, so be careful about the durability of those massive books. For folks who have dedicated libraries in their houses or rooms devoted to their love of sequential art, these handsome books treat the story and the art in the best way imaginable. One smart move by indy houses has been the back-breaking work of archiving newspaper strips like Dick Tracy, Peanuts, Little Nemo in Slumberland and Terry and the Pirates. It makes up for those random published indy comics and keeps them in book stores and libraries.

Another observation I’d like to make is how DC carefully chooses which archiving format for which stories. In it’s Absolute line, its most celebrated line, nearly the complete line is made up of books that are NOT from the DCU. There are mini-series like Batman: Hush and Crisis of the Infinite Earths, but Planetary, Dark Knight, Authority, Kingdom Come, The New Frontier, Sandman, and early 2008, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will get the Absolute treatment. They obviously don’t want to step over previous collections like the DC Archive Hardcovers, unlike what Marvel is doing with the Omnibus negating any purpose of buying the Essential trades or Visionary trade paperbacks or other hardcovers. This supports the thought that the most talked about DC comics are the ones that lie just outside the main universe or have nothing to do with it at all. The first DC Omnibus collection starts in early 2008 with Starman which has been long championed as quintessential 90’s comic reading but is also far from being a major player in the DCU. They’re all great comics, but quite telling of DC’s strongest work.