Best of 2021 - Comics

Ongoing Comics:

Last year I read between 250-300 comics, in part because of the pandemic. This year there were a lot more comics, and I read about 400. 

Last year I could only manage a Top 8 ongoing and new and a Top 7 miniseries. This year I had a harder time cutting it down to a Top 10 ongoing and miniseries, and got to Top 10 new series, but mostly by cheating a few miniseries that will span into 2022.

There were three more ongoings that didn't make the cut (Venom, Thor, and Chu, two of which were on my Best Of new last year, which is an indication of how many really great ongoing series there are right now) and three more miniseries too (Beasts of Burder Occupied Territory, MODOK Head Games, Justice League The Last Ride). Seven Secrets, one of my best new series last year, didn't make the cut because I switched over to reading it in trades, and Fire Power moved to reading in hardcovers, but it's still great, Getting It Together ended, 

Last year five of my top 8 were on last year's list. This year, nine of the ten were on one of the three lists (new, ongoing, miniseries).

1. Daredevil #26-36, Devil's Reign #1-2 (Last year #1)
Like the previous occupant of my #1 spot, Ms. Marvel, this one stuck around for a few years. Chip Zdarsky's Daredevil hit #1 on my list in 2019 and stayed there up until it ended this year, and I'm fairly certain the follow-up, Devil's Reign, will wind up in my top minis of 2021 if the first issue is any indication. Zdarsky did some really interesting stuff with Daredevil in prison (as Daredevil, not Matt Murdock, this time), Elektra trying to be Daredevil, and Kingpin as Mayor of New York, which lead into one of my favorite miniseries of the year and also into the premise for Devil's Reign, which looks so far like Civil War done right.

2. Savage Avengers #17-27 (Last Year #5)
This series got better and better as it went along, and even though it started off with a Conan/Deadpool team-up during King in Black, it recovered nicely with a story of Conan joining Rhino on a heist, a Ghost Rider and Shuma Gorath story, and then finally a vision of Kulan Gath controlling the Earth that was like a post-apocalyptic version of the classic Kulan Gath X-Men story, which clearly informed a lot of what Duggan was doing here. It also features Conan in Doctor Doom's armor, which is all kinds of fun.

3. Black Cat #2-10, Giant Size #1 (Last year #2)
Last year this moved up a notch, this year it moves back to #3, bumped by Savage Avengers. But Jed MacKay's second go at Black Cat, taking place first as a King in Black tie-in, worked really well, even as he kept the scope of things pretty big, from stealing infinity gems to getting involved with the supernatural thanks to her old mentor The Black Fox. It was a niche series, so I think a hardcover omnibus is unlikely, but if they make one, I'll buy one.

4. Batman #106-118, Fear State Alpha & Omega 

I didn't expect James Tynion IV to sweep in and become my favorite writer in 2021, but that definitely happened. The post Infinite Frontier DC gained a bunch of spots in my favorites this year, and this was a big one, as he built up a story about Batman a little lower on resources, working with an interesting anarchist collective called The Unsanity Collective to take on a corrupt fascist quasi law-enforcement agency, The Magistrate and the Peacemakers. It's a lot better than beating up street thugs, and I appreciate the new take on Batman. Also, the artwork, most of it by Jorge Jimenez, was spectacular.

5. Shang-Chi #1-6 (Last year #4 on Mini-Series)

I don't know how much Gene Yang had seen of the movie, but he introduced the Five Weapons society and Shang's sister in his previous miniseries, and this return miniseries, with art by Dike Ruan, pitting Shang up against a series of Marvel heavy hitters, was a whole lot of fun.

6. Amazing Spider-Man #75-81, #79.Beyond, #80.Beyond) (Last Year #7)

Nick Spencer grabbed my attention with Sins Rising but lost it again with his finale, but when he left and we got the new Spider-Man Beyond more or less weekly, I got interested again. It's got a variety of writers, from solid to great, a variety of artists the same, and while I'm not a huge Ben Reilly fan, the notion of the Beyond Corporation making him the new Spider-Man, as a tragic accident takes Peter off the board, turns out to work really well. It feels more like a continuation of Dan Slott's run than a refutation of it, which Spencer's run kind of felt like. And the use of Misty Knight and Colleen Wing is particularly great. 

7. Crossover #3-10 (Last year #2 New)

As Crossover rolls on, it's getting increasingly ambitious but also increasingly uneven. I love a lot of it, particularly the meta gags, and I loved the swerve with Madman, but it also feels super self-indulgent, and not as focused as Cates and Shaw's God Country. But what it does well, it does really well, and sits high on my favorite books list.

8. Stillwater #5-11 (Last year #6 New)

Reminiscent of what I liked about Revival, a zombie book that's not about zombies, and something about the sociological implications of not being able to die and what that does to a society, Stillwater adds in the notion of what happens when you have to keep a really big secret. It also has stunning artwork by Ramon Perez, and it's another reason why Chip Zdarsky is on my top writers list this year.

9. Immortal Hulk #42-50, Gamma Flight #1-5 (Last Year: #6)
This series slid a bit down just as it has in previous years, but it still ended strong, and with a nice companion miniseries focusing on Gamma Flight to boot. This was an ambitious and different take on the Hulk, and I last remember Bruce Jones being the guy to do that, but while Jones really dropped the ball on his development and ending, Al Ewing really brought it home. There was spectacular art throughout, but unfortunately a lot of it was by Joe Bennett, who turns out to be kind of an anti-semitic jackass, and that's going to color the legacy of this book, the same way it colored my final opinions. Which is a shame, because Ewing and everyone else involved did phenomenal work here.

10. Department of Truth #5-14 (Last Year #1 New)

Like Crossover, this one is uneven at times, but it's so ambitious and so different from everything out there that it remains high on my best of list, and is one of those books I recommend to everyone. I think it's the least of Tynion's work, not as good as Something Is Killing the Children, Batman, or Nice House on the Lake, but it's still pretty great.

Best New Series:

1. Nightwing #76-86, 2021 Annual #1

2. Superman Son of Kal-El #1-5, 2021 Annual #1

3. The Joker #1-10, 2021 Annual #1

4. Dark Ages #1-3

5. Dark Knights of Steel #1-2

6. The Nice House on the Lake #1-6

7. Robin #1-8, 2021 Annual #1

8. Moon Knight #1-6

9. Star Trek Mirror War #0-3

10. The Death of Doctor Strange #1-4, Amazing Spider-Man, White Fox

Miniseries:

1. Shadecraft #1-5

2. The Me You Love in the Dark #1-5

3. Batman The Detective #1-6

4. Mazebook #1-5

5. King in Black Thunderbolts #1-4

6. Transformers Back to the Future #1-4

7. Stray Dogs #1-5, Dog Days #1

8. Beta Ray Bill #1-5

9. Spider-Man: Spider's Shadow #1-5

10. Taskmaster #1-5

First Issues:
In general, this is a list of single issues that started off strong but led to series that fell off for me, or single issues where I can't judge enough of the series yet. Last year there were 25, this year there are 18.

Alien #1

Catwoman Lonely City #1

DC vs. Vampires #1

Hawkeye Kate Bishop #1

House of Slaughter #1

Hulk #1

King in Black Amazing Spider-Man #1

King in Black Wiccan and Hulkling #1

Last Flight Out #1

The Last Session #1

Magic #1

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #1

My Bad #1

Newburn #1

Robin & Batman #1

The Silver Coin #1

Spider-Man Life Story Annual #1

Stargirl Spring Break Special #1