Picks & Pans - Best of 2007

The Picks & Pans crew are taking their holiday break, but David Brothers & Katherine Dacey-Tsuei are here to round up their best (and the worst) of 2007. Happy New Year everyone!

BEST COMIC FOR MANGA LOVERS: Wonton Soup (Oni Press)
If you love Iron Wok Jan or Yakitate!! Japan, you may well cotton to this goofy tale of a space trucker with an iron chef’s knack for transforming icky ingredients into tasty dishes. Groan-worthy puns and pop-culture references galore keep the book humming along even though there isn’t much plot to speak of, while James Stokoe’s detailed, energetic artwork gives the eye plenty to feast on. -Kate

BEST CONTINUING SERIES (NON-SUPERHERO): The Red Star: Sword of Lies (Team Red Star/Weta Workshops)
The Red Star: Sword of Lies is one of the sharpest-looking titles on the market right now. The artwork has a cinematic feel, with an attention to detail, lighting, and perspective that would have impressed Sergei Eisenstein. And, thanks to the addition of some seasoned screenwriters to Team Red Star, Sword of Lies at last has a storyline as compelling as its visuals. Highly recommended for fantasy and sci-fi buffs, as well as college history majors, Slavophiles, and Condolezza Rice. -Kate

BEST DEATH: Ralph Dibny in 52 (DC)
Say what you will about the current era of DC Comics, but 52 was basically 99% on point. The death of Ralph? Definitely in that on point area.

Ralph’s wife Sue died in Identity Crisis. This did a pretty good job of unhinging him, so he was portrayed as a nervous, suicidal, drunken wreck early on in 52. Fans complained about how their new (?) favorite character was being treated and did the fanboy thing. And then, right before the end of the series, Ralph Dibny had one of the best moments in the series.

Over the course of one issue, Ralph reveals that not only has he been playing along with a villain who thought he had Ralph fooled, but he’s set a trap that will forever lock away both the villain and a major demon in Hell. It costs him his life, but that’s no big deal– he gets to be reunited with his wife in the afterlife.

And after that? Ralph and Sue get to live on as ghost detectives. Wonderful. -David

BEST MANGA FOR COMIC LOVERS: Naoki Urasawa’s Monster (Viz)
Forget the much hyped Death Note–Naoki Urasawa’s Monster is the must-read manga for the curious comic lover. The series boasts sharp artwork, crack pacing, and a humdinger of a conspiracy theory about what really went on in East German orphanages. Yes, it can be a little talky, and yes, its hero is as saintly as Dr. Richard Kimble, but Monster is never less than entertaining even as it borrows liberally from the Brian De Palma and John le Carré playbooks. -Kate

BEST NEW SERIES: Glister (Image)
When he isn’t tasked with writing a graphic novel for the YA market (and yes, I’m referring to the very ho-hum Clubbing, one of the weakest titles in the underwhelming Minx line), Andi Watson still knows how to spin an engaging yarn. Glister wins high marks for its appealing artwork, highbrow humor, and plucky protagonist, who handles run-on sentences and ghosts with equal aplomb. Perfect for the English major or Anglophile in your life who thinks that comic books have nothing to offer the discerning reader. (Bonus points if she/he can name the Victorian novelist who inspired the character of Phillip Bulwark-Stratton.) -Kate

BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVEL: SENTENCES (DC/Vertigo)
Sentences, by MF Grimm and Ron Wimberly, is a book that I have been waiting basically all my life to read. It’s a comic that mixes sharp writing, awesome and varied art, and an authentic portrayal of life as a black guy in America. The fact that Grimm came up with the musicians I grew up on is icing on the cake.

It’s a book about black people that isn’t about Issues. It’s just about one man’s life, the wrong choices he made, his guilt over the past, and his hope for the future. It’s a compact litle book and moves along at a fast pace. There are some parts that could’ve benefitted from a longer page count, but that’s barely a complaint. The book is awesome as-is, and I just want more of it.

The little character touches are the best part of the book. Grimm’s description of his mother was a special delight, as was the page or two about how he was afraid of disappointing his grandmother. I am unabashedly in love with this book and its creators. -David

BEST SUPERHERO LIMITED SERIES (NON-EVENT): Fantastic Four: The End (Marvel)
Fantastic Four: The End was one of my favorite series to come out this year. It flew in a little under the radar, as Civil War was wrapping up as it was getting started and was quickly overshadowed by the World War Hulk hype.

FF:TE felt like a story unlike almost anything else Marvel was publishing at the time. Civil War had pounded distrust into our heads, World War Hulk was pushing oncoming doom, and Spider-Man was Back in Black. FF:TE eschewed the usual “Everyone dies” formula of the other The End books and gave us a fun, uplifting story about Marvel’s First Family.

The series was a breath of fresh air in what felt like a bitter comics landscape. Rather than being about how life sucks, or heroes suck, or Earth sucks, it was just about a family doing their best to do right by each other and the things that pop up to get into their way. Throw in special appearances by Marvel’s greatest heroes, The Bug Squad (please bring them back!), and Davis’s awesome art, and you’ve got a great little story that nobody read. -David

WORST COMIC OF 2007: Drain (Image)
Drain reads like something an artistically precocious, sexually inexperienced fifteen-year-old boy might write. Who else would dream up a gorgeous, man-hating vampire who cosplays as a sexy nurse?! (Or a pirate, for that matter?!) Time to drive a stake through this stinker’s heart before someone decides to collect the entire run in a trade paperback. -Kate