RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books What are the best comics of the past three years?

Within the past three years, my life has been all swirly and shaky, and hurricaney, and marriagey, and moving, and the like. I feel like I've kept up with alot of the comic world the best I can. However, I'm certain some things have fallen through the cracks.

So, this I ask: What are the best comics of the past three years?

I can't even remember whether New Frontier came out within the past three years, or not. Even still, I'm looking for some of the best of the best stuff to read. Even if you think I've already read it, go ahead and suggest it anyway.

Sure, I know there will be some Joss Whedon suggested. And that's okay. I expect it. But, I'm honestly seeking "...and the rest!" of the past three years of comic books.

What are some of the best runs? Limited Series? One-Shots? Specials? Events? Trades?

Anyone?


P.S. Comic Mods, feel free to do your job and sticky this thread. Thanks.

Franklin Richards Son of A Genius
Identity crisis
Nova

Looking at my download folder...

The new American Splendor mini from Vertigo
JLA / Hitman
NextWave!
Secret Six
Morrison's The Bat-Man
All Star Bats
All Star Supes
Runaways
Ex Machina
The Boys
The Spirit
The Brave and the Bold

I beg to differ on AS Superman...

New Avengers
AllStar Supes
Marvel Zombies

Battle Hymn-B.Clay Moore pulls a "Watchmen" type tale of several "Invaders" analogues. much better than it sounds from that description. what would an actual super soldier act like? what kind of human would actually enter into a physical relationship with a humanoid that emerged from the ocean? what type of scientist creates an artificial being with the explosive potential of an atomic bomb and what lengths would the government go to to get their hands on it? Moore and co. give you their take and it's very good.

BPRD-honestly, I think you'd dig the hell out of this Hellboy spinoff if you'd give it a chance. there's a great deal of military style action and actual, real character development that goes on over the course of these minis since they began. the characters grow and evolve and develop over time. changes and death have meaning, and the weird elements and art are creepy as fuck and not cliche or cheesy.

Darwyn Cooke's Spirit-it's a perfect updating of the character without changing the basic, fundamental nature of the concept. no bullshit "reimagining" or whatever the trendy hollywood buzzword is today. easy to jump into. Cooke examines several genres (even satire) and handles them all well. shame it's about to end.

Godland-Casey and Scioli are pulling a 70's cosmic Kirby riff, but there's a lot of modern ideas and concepts thrown into the mix as well. Basil Cronus, one of the main villains, is a junkie who's been physically reduced a head in a bottle. he literally wants to get a buzz off of the cosmic power of the hero, Adam Archer. Cronus' dialogue is almost entirely made up of cliche phrases and catchwords. an intentional commentary on Casey's end. another villain, Friedrich Nickelhead is a complete bastard who steals Cronus' head and puts onto the body of a female villain named Discordia just to fuck with Cronus. it's a helluva lot of fun.

Brave & Bold-wasn't expecting much here, but Waid & Perez came out swinging! just, pure, solid super hero teamup fun. best work Waid's done in years and Perez maintains his form. classic spandex in the good way.

more when I remember.

Brave and the Bold - What Grimm said, the first arc was just fun superhero action.

Booster Gold - Fun straight up DC goodness.

New Avengers - I'm working on the second hardcover now. The first one was enjoyable, whether you believe Wolverine and Spider-Man should be on the team or not.

Walking Dead - Kirkman, zombies, not Marvel, GET IT!

52 - Infinite Crisis leave a bad taste in your mouth? This'll wash it out.

Twisted Toyfare Theater - So it's not an actual series, it's still good. While some of the strips may be boring, the trades make up for it.

52 was good.

7 Soldiers-you've read this. I don't have to tell you.

Agents of Atlas-fun little book bringing several characters from the 50's Atlas era into the modern marvel world and making them make sense while repositioning them and their roles in the post CW era.

Jonah Hex-I didn't like the first issue I read of this, feeling that it was too cliche and that they'd completely missed out on the character. but I got bored and wanted something to read a couple of weeks ago and began digging through a stack of Doc's comics read several recent issues. they must've read that Showcase edition or something because they really turned it around from the issue I first read and have put together a very good book, keeping the classic feel of the old series and character but written with modern sensibilities. it's also mostly one issue stories, so again, it's easy to get into.

Planetary
Y the Last Man
Carey's Hellblazer
Rucka's Adventures of Superman
Giffen/Demattis Defenders
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man
X-factor
Lucifer
Fables/Jack of Fables

• Nextwave
  Ex Machina
  Battle Hymn
  Jonah Hex
  Y-The Last Man

Those are the ones you guys have sold me with, so far. Cross already loaned me the first nine trades of Y-The Last Man, so I'm sure I'll read that first. I've been itching to try Nextwave and Ex Machina for awhile now. And, the Battle Hymn and Jonah Hex both sound really good.

I'm already reading Booster Gold, Brave and the Bold, and AS Superman. Booster Gold has been the most fun so far. B&B is good Perez, but something isn't quite hitting me just right with it yet. I'll still give it some time, though. And, contrary to Jeremy's stuck-on-Jurgens-and-Smallville views, I think AS Superman is some fantastic stuff!

Didn't like New Avengers. I think I'm burning out on Bendis. Bendis and Johns need to let other creators do some of the books for Marvel and DC for awhile. I'm tired of their "voices" on books.

I'm waiting for the Absolute Planetary to come out so that I can actually read the entire series. I stopped somewhere around issue 16 I think.

And, I could care less about Kirkman and his Zombies, Marvel or not. Zombies are about as interesting to me as vampires and gangsters. Which are all about as interesting to me as wet pavement. Not interested.

Any others?

Those are two of the most entertaining, brilliant, funny and engrossing comics out there on the market. Ex Machina is very interesting and you get to read about the political machinations of a fictional NYC Mayor who runs NYC in the aftermath of a 9/11 where one tower survived; though Mayor Hundred's super hero persona did not. Vaughan is one of my favorite writers and you should throw in his run on Runaways (he created that too) on your reading list. Currently, Whedon has taken over the writing for Runaways (only one or two issues into his run) and I know how much you loathe him, so I will not try to sell you on that, but the Vaughan written stuff is collected in trade and you can pick those volumes up.

Y: The Last Man, as I'm sure you know, answers the question: what if the world was run by women? The sole surviving man finds out that its not all sugar and harmony as one might expect. It is one of the few comics that I have bought the TPBs as well are buying the ongoing issues. Its just that damn good.



Ah, that's a shame. Wet pavement can look pretty when the light hits it right. I don't know if your aversion is just because it takes place in a zombie filled world, but the truth is, the zombies are not even secondary in this story - at best they are background. The real story is about the struggle to survive; the emotional toll of loss; the relationships developed between the survivors and the other factions that are discovered along the way. There is love, hope, despair, and betrayal and it is beautifully done by Kirkman. You're missing out if you skip it.

A few more that are definitely worth your time:

Fallen Angel by PAD - this one completely flew under the radar while at DC and DC cancelled it after 18 or 19 issues IIRC. Supposedly, it was about the tale of the Linda Danvers version of Supergirl and what happened to her after the PTB booted her for the infinitely blander - but fan fave - vanilla Kara/SG. Though I understand PAD hinted that FA was the fallen Linda, it was never officially stated as such, and when FA moved to IDW that rumor was dropped for a different - but no less entertaining - storyline/origin. PAD is a consistantly excellent writer and this is worth a look.

Gotham Central - by Rucka and Brubaker - a Batman book without Batman. The story about the GCPD that dealt with criminal cases that Bats was too busy to deal with, but more importantly, it made human the cops of this deranged city and showed how they felt to be a cop working in Batman's shadow. Too short lived a series, IMO.

You mentioned that you are not big on gangsters, but I"m not clear as to whether you meant the "Godfather" kind of gangster, or if you included criminal noir stuff in their ranks. If you are open to the latter, I highly recommend Sleeper and Criminal, both series by Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips. Vol. I of Sleeper is much better, IMO, but both volumes of Sleeper are engaging and it was one of the few comics that I constantly looked forward to during its run. Criminal deals with bullets, broads and booze and if stories about heists gone bad and hard boiled noir is your type of thing, you would be remiss not to pick this series up.

Harley's right with The Walking Dead. It's about the zombies for several issues, then it becomes a story about survival. Ever wanted to know what may happen after the end of Romero's Dawn of the Dead? That's your title.

Y-The Last Man is ending soon (issue 60?). I briefly looked at the first softcover but didn't invest much time into it.

Disney's Gargoyles- Essentially season 3, this comic is awesome 'cause they can do stuff they couldn't do on the show. Like have Goliath get stabbed in the gut by his evil twin.

Identity Crisis- A superhero murder mystery? Dig it.

52- Solid.

Walking Dead- For the reasons every one else said.

Astonishing X-Men- Now, I know not everyone dig's Whedon, but I liked. He really built on what Morrison had established, and added some nice touches of his own.

I agree with harly on Fallen Angel. Pro, I dare you to pick up the first issue of the IDW series and not get hooked. It doesn't matter if you've read the DC book or not: I hadn't when I read that issue and I still don't do it.

And if you like BKV's Y and Ex Machina, you should definitely pick up his Runaways. I think the first volume (18 issues) is avaliable in a single digest collection. It's one of those rare superhero books that are both cleverly original and honest to the genre.

I forgot to mention Alias by Bendis - don't know if it was in the last three years, but it was superb and the entire 28 issue series is collected in trade. The follow up comic, Pulse was not nearly as good though.

Damned DC gutted it after Bru left for Marvel, making Crispus Allen the new host for the Spectre and Montoya the new deisel femme Question. GC was my favorite Bat-title because the superheroics were incidental and not the focus of the title. I know Rucka's on record as saying he didn't want to continue GC without Brubaker, but Didildo really screwed the pooch with those fiascos. (fiasci? whatsda plural there?) We really didn't need a new Question, or Crispus as the Spectre's new host.

I'm too burned out on Bendis right now to even want to try Alias. I might give it a shot in the future. However, I've heard some wild things about Fallen Angel. And, since it's PAD, it might be worth my time to check it...

Yeah, Alias was clearly the best thing Bendis ever did. I'm not a fan of his superhero work but Alias was definitely one of the high water marks of the past ten years.

'Cause Jess let Luke fuck her IN THE ASS!

( )

Of the last 3 years, the books I had to read in the Pub before leaving the smoke were;

Young Avengers - I can't wait to see what they do with them, shortly!

Daredevil - over 100 issues of greatness - I never thought DD would see the peaks of Miller and Nocenti again!

Cap - Whilst I really enjoyed the first half of Grunewalds run(Rogers quits - becomes The Captain and the mental Walker becoming Cap! Both Walker and Battlestar have never been used well since, I thought they both had potential), I wouldn't say it was a classic, I just liked it!

Young Avengers!

Boy did this sound like a piece of shit to me.

I was really interested to see how they were going to link the characters to their senior Avengers counterparts - I think I thought that this would be its major failing but as it happened, I thought it was one of its best concepts!

They all had links to the Avengers, just not the ones expected!

As a sidenote, Winnick could learn a lot from Allan Heinberg about how to portray gay characters in books!

I dig all of the books that Harley mentioned...though Y:The Last Man has lost much of its cachet as it winds down. I'm also really digging The Boys, Jack of Fables, the current run of Legion of Suoer-heroes (Last 10 issues or so), Teen Titans and Powers among others.

Even though it finally came to an end, I still highly reccomend checking out Strangers in Paradise. It's simply the best comic produced in the last 10 years, IMO. I am enjoying Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey but, I would have lived to see what Terry Moore would have done with that title when it was rumored that he'd be taking it over a few years back.

last night I read the first trade of Stormwatch: PHD and enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. the characterization is really well done for the most part and Mahnke's art has grown a bit and reminds me of a more reigned in Bisley. I think for that reason it feels kind of like an old school Wildstorm book from the mid to late nineties. that's a good thing in this case.

but at the same time, it's a book that could only have been conceived post-Authority. kind of a paradox, but eh. Wildstorm has revived the characters that Ellis killed off, but only one of them plays a major role here, Fahrenheit, and she's used pretty well and still has a strong dislike for "aliens." haha. she's also lost her powers due to a mistake made in combat and this leads to some interesting plot threads for her.

the villains are full on villains who simply enjoy doing what they do and attempt to live up to their names. it's kind of a nice change of page after so many recent self righteous, ultra serious, villains. though some might see them as a bit shallow, but I thought it added some fun to the book.

probably my favorite characters out of this are Callsign Paris, just a soldier with a knack for determining people's weak spots and a truly horrific origin (Pro, I think you'd dig this guy a lot), and The Machinist, a former villain who's now middle aged, balding, and lives with his mom. Fahrenheit was also handled pretty well in the book.

the other characters were a bit hit and miss for me.

did I mention it's Grant Morrison's favorite comic?

the BPRD/Hellboy universe books are probably my favorite titles on the market right now. solid, characterization from Mignola and John Arcudi. excellent art by Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy), Guy Davis (BPRD), and Jason Armstrong (Lobster Johnson) all brilliantly colored by Dave Stewart (who keeps finding ways to work with my favorite artists-Mignola, Cooke, Powell. . .and make them look even better!). just good, well crafted books with solid stories and art.

each mini series manages to pull off progressing the overall arc, while slowly revealing new secrets about the characters and world and making you ask new questions about them. the ramifications of Hellboy quitting the team are still being felt years later with the characters having to force themselves to adapt and try to grow into new roles and face new challenges.

I'm a little surprised to read that Fallen Angel has become good. The DC version was shite.

Thanks for the tip on Godland. I'll check it out.

Really? I like Fallen Angel so much I've been meaning to actually BUY the DC version. Should I not bother?

you should follow your heart in this and all purchases over $14.95 (USD).

My heart wants to know if it sucks before buying it. I have a greedy heart.

your greedy heart should buy it. as much as I like the series now, I thought it was better when it was at DC - it focused more on FA then. Now it focuses more on her son, which is still entertaining (especially now that he's begun to accept his role as magistrate), but I kinda feel like Liandra has become a supporting character in her own title. Oh, and I miss Juris too.

I gotta admit that Astonishing X-men is impressing me as of late...may have to start picking it up

It's been good for the better part of its run. Cassiday's art is phenomenal too.

I'm actually excited for Astonishing's next issue and the Giant Size that closes out this arc. I heard that Simone Bianchi's doing the art for the next...storyline? Series? Whatever...does anyone know who will have writing chores?

Simone Bianchi's is doing the interior art? Sweet. His covers are beautiful - bout time he got more than that. Don't know who is gonna be the scribe though.

Jeph Loeb!!

LIES!!!