BEST COMIC BOOKS OF 2008

So this post comes in just about a month ahead of last year's "Best of" and also has the distinction of being the first post SINCE the 2007 list. Um, whaaaat? I liked reading comics and ranting about what I think, but the time for these blog things are just not there in a way that I would like. Kudos to all those that are timely with these things for years on end. Still, here I am talking about 2008, and who knows maybe I will post more in the upcoming year.

The geeky rules:

#1. Last year I had a strict at least four issues must come out of an ongoing series for it to make my list. Nothing of the sort this year, because that left really good books like Hine's STRANGE EMBRACE and Way's UMBRELLA ACADEMY off of the list. This year, its TWO ISSUES! Seriously, as long as you have a couple of books come out (ongoing, mini or maxi) you will be considered.

#2. This is for weekly floppies only. I read a gang load of OGN's this year, but in MY head, those belong on a different list.

#3. As always, these are my FAVORITE books. Yeah, I said "Best" up there, but it always rings false to me to make a list of the "best" of anything when who am I to make that kind of declaration. These are my favorites, and hopefully some of them are good.

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MY FAVORITE COMICS OF 2008
(in reverse order this year)

#10 MOUSE GUARD: WINTER 1152
(w/a. David Peterson)

You know what's bullshit about this series? Is that unless my calculations are wrong, we only got two issues of this wonderful series in 2008. Mr. Peterson's fantasy series about mice, is not just a great story and not just great art, its a fucking clinic on good comic booking. There is no doubt in my mind that it will move up the accepted canon as time goes by. (I hope that ASP being bought out doesn't delay the last two issues of this mini too much longer.)

#9 LOCAL
(w. Brian Wood, a. Ryan Kelly)

This book has been slowly trickling out over the last few years,releasing the final two issues in 2008 as well as the beautiful hardback collection of the entire series. The hardback got a lot of attention when it came out, and rightfully so: the series is pretty damn good. It follows our heroine Megan from ages 18-30 with each issue being a different year of her life in a different American city. This year's #11 was one of my favorites of the series, with Megan meeting a stand-in for her younger self, and we get to see how much this girl has grown over the course of the series.

#8 WASTELAND
(w. Antony Johnston, a. Christopher Mitten)

This book just keeps getting better and better. I fear that the floppies might be losing folks, but if that's the case, I hope its because they are reading it in (the far more friendlier form) TPBs. The fantasy series gets more complex with its religion and social structure with each arc, and the cast of characters that I care about only grows. The way the art shows flashbacks can be confusing at times, but Mitten is turning into a brilliant artist.

#7 100 BULLETS
(w. Brian Azzarello, a. Eduardo Risso)

You are either still on board with this book and loving it, or you long ago tossed it aside as too confusing to read in floppies. And both reactions would probably be right. I love this series, it was made for me. Azzarello is slowly bringing this series to a close and with only two more issues in 2009 (I've read one of em!) I am going to be extremely sad that this book isn't coming out anymore. Eduardo Risso is one of my favorite artists in comics.

#6 FABLES
(w. Bill Willingham, a. Mark Buckingham and a couple of others)

2008 saw the end of the best story of the series in "Good Prince" and then the series went and had the climactic battle between good and evil with "War and Pieces" and now we are in the aftermath. Its an odd place to be because the first 75 issues built to that climax, but Fables has proved that the cast of characters is too good, and the source material too great for it to lose any luster. The book is as good as its been with no real signs of letting up. (Now if only I could say the same about JACK OF FABLES.)

#5 CRIMINAL
(w. Ed Brubaker, a. Sean Phillips)

Or technically, CRIMINAL VOLUME 2. This series is as steady as they come right now in comics. When you open an issue, its just going to be good. This volume increased the page count, giving Brubaker and Phillips more room to do their craft and I'm not complaining. From the first three stand alone issues to the 4-issue "Bad Night" centered on a cartoonist, we got the best most compelling crime comic on the stands. And I fucking love the back matter, leading me to great Noir in book, film and television.

#4 NORTHLANDERS
(w. Brian Wood, a. Davide Gianfelice, Dean Orstron and Ryan Kelly)

This book has catapulted up my favorite books, because like 100 Bullets this is another book that was just made for me. First "Sven: The Returned" wrapped up, with a surprising yet well crafted final issue, then Wood hits us with a little two-parter before rocking me with the first issue of my favorite arc to date, "The Cross + The Hammer." All these arcs star different characters and are in different time periods. Yeah, an anthology book basically, which so far so great. Wood's LOCAL co-hort Kelly comes on board and shocks the hell out of me with a gritty in your face style, which you can obviously make as the same artist that did LOCAL; but who the fuck knew that his art would be so perfect for THIS series!

#3 ALL-STAR SUPERMAN
(w. Grant Morrison, a. frank Quitely)

The genius series closes out its run with the last three issues in 2008. #10 was argueably the best single issue of the series, and in fact of 2008, period. Simple enough, these two guys made a classic. Far better brains than mine will go into the details of how-where-why, but things I do know: it will go down as one of the best Superman stories ever, and yeah, one of the best Super Hero stories of all-time. Quitely is a master comic book artist at the top of his game, and although Morrison's other super hero work this year was muddled and confusing (BATMAN, FINAL CRISIS) this series was near perfect. I miss it, and I want more.

#2 LOCKE AND KEY
(w. Joe Hill, a. Gabriel Rodriguez)

How is it that more people are not talking about this book? Seriously. Joe Hill (son of some guy) and Gabriel Rodriguez are doing a pretty fucking awesome comic. In fact, its the only book that got my "Book of the Week" every single week that it came out. The plot of this thriller, with the spooky house and the keys is great, but Hill gets this right by making the characters so damn good. You hear it every once in a while about a guy that comes in from another medium, but Joe Hill gets comics. His use of panels, the turn-of-the-page and cliffhangers is like a seasoned comics pro.* Gabriel Rodriguez's art is the shit. His people have a distinctive style and his choice of camera angles is always dynamic and fitting. Something must also be said about the presentation of the book itself, because the covers are all brilliant, and the quality of paper is top. So it's not just the story, the entire package is great. The new series has already started in 2009 and it's already taking names too.

*At ComicCon he talked crap about his only other comic work, an 8-page Spider-Man story he did for Marvel. I tracked it down and read it; he is way to harsh on himself. The story was fun and perfect for Spider-Man as well as perfect for the late, GREAT Seth Fisher.

#1 SCALPED
(w. Jason Aaron, a. R.M. Guera & others)

Another year, another #1 from me for Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera's SCALPED. This is only the third year I've ever done a Top 10 list, but my guess is this would be the first time a series has gotten #1 on back-to-back years since the TRANSMETROPOLITAN or PREACHER days. Who the fuck knows. What I do know, is Jason Aaron conitnues to kick all sorts of ass on this book. He got the Marvel bug this past year working on GHOST RIDER, WOLVERINE and a short run on BLACK PANTHER,* but that didn't affect this book any, accept I hope, the sales from some of the Marvel zombies taking a glance. As for the art, its funny to think that at the start of this series the one thing I wasn't sure about was the art, and now 20-some odd issues in, when its not R.M. I'm really bummed. He's critical for the book. Anything else I say here would be repeating what I said last year, but the powerful stories make this my favorite book of the year.

*Just thought this should be noted on a year with SECRET INVASION and FINAL CRISIS dominating everything, but Black Panther #39-41 witten by Jason Aaron was the coolest thing to come out of SECRET INVASION by far. No contest. Awesome superhero story.

BOOKS FROM LAST YEAR'S TOP 10 THAT MISSED:

#3 Y: THE LAST MAN - This book only had one issue come out in 2008, and that was the fantastic final issue. One issue, even as good as this one was, doesn't have enough weight for me to let it on.

DMZ - No judgment on this series that was so high last year, but off this year (it barely missed). I just had other favorites (including two other Wood books).

IMMORTAL IRON FIST - This book made me sad this year. So damn good under Brubaker/Fraction. Their last storyline fizzled a bit, but was still good. The final issue was one of my favorites of the series, but then the creative team change gutted the book. Shitty. I tried to stick with the new team, but just this week I finally stopped getting the series. The magic was just gone.

POWERS - The series that barely comes out, just misses the ten despite closing out its big storyline in style. Really good stuff, and broken record time: this is still my favorite Bendis and/or Oeming production (MICE TEMPLAR got unbearable, and was dropped.)

USAGI YOJIMBO - The long-eared ronin is still one of my favorite books of all time, but slipped a little this year for me. Though the December issue centered on Gen was classic Sakai. Awesome, and didn't even have the bunny in it.

OTHER BOOKS THAT MISSED, THAT I REALLY LIKED:

WALKING DEAD - And man, did it JUST miss. For the frst 20 issues of this series, it was easily one of my favorite books. The middle part of the series dragged, and Kirkman's clunky on-the-nose expository dialogue stood out a bit more. The climatic showdown at the prison in issue #48 was much needed, and breathed new life into a series that was fumbling . The cast has been sliced in half (thank you!) and the post prison-era is responsible for possibly my favorite issue in the series: Issue #51 with Rick and the surprising phone call. It was one of my favorite single issues of the year in any comic.

FOUR EYES
I KILL GIANTS - Two indie books done by a sorta of "renaissanced" Joe Kelly. I KILL GIANTS was a touching story of a kid, dealing with her mother's sickness. But for me, FOUR EYES, the story of a depression era kid getting a job at the underground dragon fights was the biggest surprise of the year for me. Excellent comic. Too bad there was only one or it might be above.

OMEGA: THE UNKNOWN - Written by novelist Jonathan Lethem, this was almost on the Top 10 as well. I think some of it went over my head, but what didn't go over my head is that it was BAR NONE the most original and interesting thing that Marvel has published in as long as I can remember. Too bad it didn't sell very well in floppies, but Marvel was committed to the book and the collected edition should get more notice in book stores. In fact, I've already given it as a gift!

THE TWELVE - I really love the pace and style J. Michael Straczinski is handling this series with. Just coming out too slow. Curious to see how these characters are treated in the Marvel Universe post this series. And there is no doubt that this series will get a lot more love once it is eventually collected.

ECHO - This is moving up my pile with each issue. Terry Moore is a master storyteller. Great art. Fun story.

PAX ROMANA
TRANSHUMAN
RED MASS FOR MARS - All three books by Jonathan Hickman deserve to be mentioned. They were all well written, drawn and most importantly original comic works. TRANSHUMAN was one of my girlfriend's favorites of the year while PAX was probably the one closest to the Top 10 for me. Hickman is a unique comic talent and one to watch, especially with some Marvel work coming his way.

YOUNG LIARS - I don't know what is going on most of the time, and I really don't care. It moves up my read pile, just because its engaging me. Dave Lapham's Vertigo series was a surprise just because it is so odd.

And oh yeah, don't Marvel and DC publish Super Hero comics?

ACTION COMICS - My favorite in-continuity DC super hero book. Johns did a great job with the studly Gary Frank drawing the best Superman out there. The highlight of the year was the Braniac story.

THOR - My favorite in-continuity Marvel super hero book. The pace is slow, but I'm loving Straczynski's take on the character. And the art has been great. I fear what happens to this title when J.M. leaves, but I do know that Matt Fraction (based on the one-shots) kind of HAS TO BE the new writer.

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For my comic-reading friends, girlfriend and 2 guys unlucky enough to have googled their way here some how, thanks for reading.