Best of 2019 - Comics

Ongoing Comics:
I read less comics this year. About 100 less comics, and last year it was 100 less comics than the year before. If that progession continues, I'm going to be reading a lot less new comics, which wouldn't be terrible, given how many hardcovers and graphic novels I have waiting on my nightstand for a read or reread.

Marvel lost quite a few steps for me, DC didn't regain, and Image hasn't produced a lot of new series to replace the ones that have ended or gone on hiatus. There's still a lot of good comics, but it definitely felt like a down year for me, and it doesn't help that the big hype books of the year, the X-Men relaunch fronted by Jonathan Hickman, were not at all for me. So I'm not doing my usual Top 10 New and Top 10 Ongoing comics this year, instead I'm just combining into a Top 10 ongoing comics and a Top 14 Miniseries and some thoughts on first issues and notable one-shots.

There's only one book on here that was also on last year's top 10 (Immortal Hulk). And of the books listed here, one is on hiatus and the other is ended, so we'll see what next year looks like.

1. Daredevil #1-14
The Daredevil run by Chip Zdarsky, Marco Chechetto, Julian Totino Tedesco, and others started with the exceptional Man Without Fear miniseries by Jed McKay and a series of artists. Zdarsky has proven that beyond his comedy chops, he's a damn solid storyteller capable of darker, more real stories. The story of Matt Murdock struggling with the violence of being Daredevil is not new, nor is the dichotomy of his role as a vigilante and an agent of the court. For that matter, neither is Daredevil being hunted by the police, or the Kingpin deciding to go legit. But somehow the elements here really work, whether it's Kingpin struggling with discovering that being the Mayor of New York comes with more restrictions, less respect, and less power than being a crimelord, and Matt's turn as a parole officer being a neat twist on his usual legal profession. Throw in Cole North as a fascinating example of the driven Lawful Good cop who runs up against corruption in the ranks of the police and you've got what could be another legendary run for a character who's had several of them over the past few decades.

2. Criminal #1-10
Man, is it good to have this book back. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips haven't lost a step, and if anything have just gotten sharper since they left his book to do a variety of other series. It's great to see favorites from the previous arcs, notably the Lawless family, in both shorter and extended stories, but the highlight was probably "Longest Weekend," a crime story set in the world of comics that was collected into a nice hardcover earlier this year.

3. Black Cat #1-7, Annual #1
From my top three, it's probably pretty clear that my heart belongs to crime comics. Jed McKay impresses by taking Black Cat, a Spider-Man femme fatale who I didn't think could sustain her own series, adding a crew of other crooks, and making a pretty much note perfect series about what it must be like to be a professional criminal in the Marvel Universe. Mixing in Thieves' Guild elements from Gambit's backstory, the perfect choice of patron in elderly gentleman thief Black Fox, and throwing in a heist at Dr. Strange's mansion made for a great first year. As with so many off-beat books, I expect this one will get cancelled soon, probably before 2020 is out, but it made for a nice replacement for the similarly fun and heist-y Domino.

4. Immortal Hulk #11-28 (Last Year: #3 spot)
After a pretty astounding first year, Al Ewing and Joe Bennett continued to impress with year two of Immortal Hulk. Tying in the supernatural with government agencies hunting the Hulk, they told a story that culminated in the Hulk and Banner being left in charge of a shadow base with near-unlimited resources, and after a weird cosmic mis-step in issue #25, returned with a story of what it looks like when someone with the intelligence of Banner and the power and lack of respect for social nroms of the Hulk decides to use those resources to try and change the world. It's a fascinating and very different take on what the Hulk is and can be, and I can't wait to see what year three looks like.

5. Blade Runner 2019 #1-5
I never expected a licensed comic from Titan to be this good. But the tale of a former Blade Runner turned P.I. hunting down the estranged wife and child of a powerful corporate bigwig is everything you want from a story set in this world. Solid noir cyberpunk with quite a few twists and turns, and a very satisfying ending. The first issue back, a sequel of sorts that takes us to the off-world colonies for the first time, is off to a shakier start, but I'm hoping it will regain its footing, because those first four issues were pretty great.

6. Die #2-10
I have often said that despite how much I love Kieron Gillen as a person, his work rarely resonates with me. So I didn't expect Die would be any different, but then the first trade came out, I read it and fell completely in love with it. This tale that combines the D&D cartoon, Jumanji, and a Stephen King generational tale is powerful, emotional, imaginative and, in the hands of Stephanie Hans, absolutely beautiful.

7. Lazarus Risen #1-3
The return of Greg Rucka and Michael Lark's dystopian future comes in a new format, and it's every bit as bleak, well-imagined, and captivating as it has always been. With two of the big families at war, the whole narrative has shifted, and now that Forever's odd history has become more publicly known, Rucka and Lark are free to explore the f'ed up family dynamics of the Carlyles.

8. Savage Avengers #1-8, Annual #1
This could easily have just been a novelty project, a fun idea for images that someone could airbrush on the side of their van, but putting together Conan, Punisher, Wolverine, Venom, and a few other Marvel stalwarts (Brother Voodoo?) and putting them up against Kulan Gath in the Savage Land has resulted in a really fun read. And once the initial storyline closed, Gerry Duggan wisely put Conan on a road trip through the Marvel Universe in search of his sorcerous foe. While some have not loved his take on Doctor Doom, I have found the mix of Doctors Doom and Strange with magic-hating Conan to be a delight so far.

9. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1-14
The consolation prize for Tom Taylor fans like myself saddened at the loss of All-New Wolverine and then X-Men Red was that he was going to tackle Spider-Man. Unfortunately, it only ran for 14 issues and, to be honest, it wasn't his best work. Aunt May having cancer was an overly melodramatic story that lacks weight because she's been so near death so many times, and the story of a secret city underneath New York was kind of weird and outlandish to start with. That said, amidst a couple of plot elements I wouldn't have hung a story on are the usual hallmarks of Taylor's writing, notably a great sense of humor and a strong sense of these characters, with a particularly nice bit of work on the all-important Spidey/Human Torch friendship. I can't say I'm super sad to see it go, but it was a fun read, especially since Spencer's Amazing Spider-Man has been such a disappointment.

10. Fairlady #1-5
I'm not sure if this is technically a miniseries, but what the hell, it fills out the top 10. This story, which is best described as a gender-flipped Magnum P.I. set in a fantasy world, is aimed squarely at my interests, and the single issue stories here just barely scratch the surface of the lead character's history and the shape of this world. I hope we'll get more soon.

Miniseries:
1. Spider-Man Life Story #1-6
Chip Zdarsky is at the number one spot in both ongoing and miniseries for me this year, and this was definitely my favorite thing I read all year. Taking Peter Parker and telling his story as if his life moved on in real-time after the spider bite, incorporating elements of the stories over the past few decades, with each issue taking place in a new decade, Life Story does the kind of alternate world history and legacy building that I love and never get enough of in superhero comics. I would honestly love to see more series set in this world, or a Life STory variant done for other characters, although it seems an easy thing to get wrong, and I love that Zdarsky avoids the potential pitfalls to give us an emotionally satisfying, dark at times, fun at times story. To be honest, I think Mark Bagley was an odd choice for the art, but he acquits himself fairly well, even if I found myself thinking that someone like Stuart Immonen might have elevated the material more.

2. Man Without Fear #1-5
As has become a tradition, Charles Soule backed the next writer of Daredevil into a corner before taking his leave. Matt Murdock was near-death, broken by a speeding truck in a nod to his origin, and suffering from all the trauma he had put his mind and body through over the years. Jed McKay took this chance to explore Matt's psyche from the point of view of several supporting characters, including but not limited to Foggy Nelson, Kirsten McDuffie, the Kingpin, Elektra, and Matt himself. With a rotating cast of artists, each one very impressive in their own right, he told a tale of Matt Murdock, not Daredevil, and set up a good baseline which Chip Zdarsky used as a fantastic launching pad.

3. DCeased #1-6
Tom Taylor has a talent for taking premises I should hate and turning them into something great. He and Trevor Hairsine did that here, starting with a zombie apocalypse caused by the Anti-Life Equation and telling a story of both desperation and hope. There are some very effective tear-jerking moments in this story, some inspiring heroic moments, and as always, Taylor proves that he gets Harley Quinn, Green Arrow, and Black Canary better than most.

4. Black Hammer Age of Doom #8-12
It was probably time to wrap up the main story of Black Hammer, as Lemire and Ormston have done several twists and turns and finally revealed the true nature of the farm, and I thought they brought things to a nice conclusion, allowing the heroes of the Black Hammer saga to face their foe Anti-God again and find a new resolution to his threat. It seems we'll still be seeing new projects set in this universe going forward, which is great, but it was the right time to bring the main saga to a close, and it was done very well.

5. Spider-Man City at War #1-6
An adaptation of a videogame, even a great videogame story like Spider-Man, shouldn't be this good. But Dennis Hopeless and Michelle Bandini explore the nooks and crannies of the story from the videogame, while telling the story for those who didn't play it, and they're writing my favorite version of Mary Jane, and as a result they captured the same sense of fun and freshness that the videogame did.

6. Beast of Burden Presence of Others #1-3
Always a delight to have Beasts of Burden back. I don't have a lot new to say about it, but this was another fun miniseries set in the world where cats and dogs battle the supernatural.

7. Invisible Woman #1-5
In my time writing a shared universe Marvel fanfic series of Fantastic Four (I think I wrote three "issues"), one of the things I enjoyed writing was a Sue Storm who had done work with SHIELD, given that her invisibility powers seemed so perfectly suited to espionage. I was delighted to see Mark Waid take that premise and do a spy story set in the modern day, where Sue Storm's past allies and enemies from her time doing spy work comes back to haunt her. It will no doubt read better in a trade format where the twists, turns, and character development are a little easier to connect the dots on, but this was a fun ride, and I hope that we'll see more of this version of Sue Storm in the future.

8. History of the Marvel Universe #1-6
As it went on I grew less interested, but all in all, Mark Waid and Javier Rodriguez's History of the Marvel Universe is a fun look at the characters and events of Marvel. Waid makes a valiant attempt at making all the retcons and weird stories fit into a cohesive narrative, and while there's not really much of a plot here, it's a beautifully-illustrated rundown of the big events and even some of the smaller ones for fans new and old. It's probably more comparable to something like Official Handbook or Marvel Saga than standard comics storytelling, and it won't be for everyone, but when the treasury size trade comes out collecting it, I have a feeling it will wind up on my bookshelf.

9 Punisher Soviet #1-2
There are only two issues so far, so it's possible this book might not stick the landing. But so far, Garth Ennis's return to the Punisher, alongside Jacen Burrows, has reminded me of why he wrote some of my favorite stories of the character. He manages to humanize Frank without ignoring that he's basically a sociopath, and introducing his Russian opposite number in the first issue, and then having the two of them meet up for conversation and alliance instead of the typical "two protagonists fight each other" trope made for a promising opening to this miniseries.

10. Chrononauts Future Shock #1-4
It is super weird that Mark Millar and Image decided to release all four issues of this on the same day instead of just putting out an original graphic novel. That said, this take on why time travelers to a utopian future might not choose to stay there, and how time travel could be weaponized and perverted, was just as fun as the original Chrononauts series. And happily, you don't need to remember much of the first series to enjoy this one on its own.

11. Catalyst Prime Seven Days #1-3
Delayed by the Lion Forge/Oni Press merger and probably doomed as an ongoing concern given the antipathy toward superheroes at Oni, I'm still glad Gail Simone's re-invention/event focusing on the diverse heroes of Catalyst Prime saw the light of day. It's an interesting look at doomsday storytelling, the kind of thing Hollywood does well but has rarely applied to superhero storytelling, where doomsday devices and the end of the world are de rigeur. The last thing I can think that appraoched this at all was Final Night at DC, which was a couple decades back and honestly, not this good.

12. Star Trek Q Conflict #1-6
The godlike aliens of Star Trek get together for a cosmic game of chess using the crews of the Enterprise-A, Enterprise-D, Voyager, and Deep Space Nine as pawns. It's full of fun Easter Eggs and character crossovers, and can be forgiven for running out of plot steam about halfway through because of how much fun the premise and the mash-up of characters is.

13. Killmonger #3-5
I enjoyed the first two issues of Killmonger's origin from last year, and thought the three issues finishing it up were just as good.

14. Clue Candlestick #1-4
Delightfully weird, Dash Shaw's take on Clue is very different from the beloved movie, applying indie sensibilities and a few meta narravite tricks to a murder mystery world that we're all familiar with. Fans of Knives Out will definitely want to check this one out, because while the two properties are very different, they share a kinship in weirdness and in a love of the tropes of murder mystery along with some fun subversion of those tropes.

First Issues:
In general, this is a list of single issues that started off strong but led to series that fell off for me, with the exception of Klaus, Conan 2099 and Star Trek Voyager Mirrors and Smoke, which are both one-shots, and American Jesus, Superman Smashes the Klan, D&D, 20XX, Star Trek Picard, Suicide Squad, and Undiscovered Country, which haven't had more than one or two issues to judge by yet, and might wind up on my Best of 2020 list depending on how they turn out.

Conan the Barbarian #1
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1
Savage Sword of Conan #1
Incredible Hulk Last Call #1
Superman Smashes the Klan #1
Star Trek Voyager Mirrors & Smoke #1
Dungeons & Dragons Infernal Tides #1
20XX #1
Safe Sex #1
Marvel Zombies Resurrection #1
The Low, Low Woods #1
Joker Killer Smile #1
The Old Guard Force Multiplied #1
Basketful of Heads #1
Family Tree #1
The Dollhouse Family #1
Undiscovered Country #1
American Jesus the New Messiah #1
Excalibur #1
Marauders #1
The Last God #1
Assassin Nation #1
Grendel: Devil's Odyssey #1
Star Trek Picard #1
Star Trek Year Five #1
Suicide Squad #1
Conan the Barbarian 2099 #1
Klaus and the Life and Times of Joe Christmas #1
Crone #1