2013 Comics in Review - Part 5

Last night I dreamt I was reading Ms. Marvel #2, which is funny since I haven't read the first issue yet. There was an island lab, intelligent murderous monkey with an eyepatch and a flower in her hair, exploding volcano, stuff like that. But the art was horrible. I was so confused. "Where is Adrian Alphona?" I wondered. Ah well, just a dream, nothing to worry about.

This is the part where I list things and talk a bit about them. I took Best Anthology out because it would have been a category of one, and outside of the Batman Beyond  stuff, I didn't enjoy Batman Beyond Unlimited enough to feel it merited the distinction.

Best Ongoing Series (minimum 6 issues shipped):

1. Daredevil
2. Dial H
3. Avengers Arena

Daredevil wins for the 3rd consecutive year! What a surprise! I sure hope the impending cancelation, relaunch, and move to San Francisco doesn't throw it off its stride. Dial H's attempt to unseat it was undercut by the necessity of its rushed ending, and the fact I enjoy Chris Samnee and Javier Rodriguez' art more than Alberto Ponticelli's. Angel & Faith would have been 4th this year, but I felt the gap was sizeable between it and the Top 3. Hawkeye fell way off.

Best Mini-Series:

1. Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe
2. Rocketeer: Hollywood Horror
3. Atomic Robo: Savage Sword of Dr. Dinosaur

The top two are very close, but I think being set in the Marvel Universe gave Longshot a little bit of an edge. I care more about that fictional setting and its characters than the Rocketeer's.

Best One-Shot:

1. Empowered Special: Nine Beers with Ninjette
2. Atomic Robo Free Comic Book Day 2013
3. Justice League 23.3 - Dial E

I figured Dial E could count since it really has nothing to do with the title it's borrowing numbering from. As it is, the disjointed feeling of the story due to the constantly shifting artists hurt its coherence. Between the other two, Robo's story was nice, but slight and shorter, and Empowered had the advantage of Miyazawa's art.

Favorite Trade (purchased, not necessarily released):

1. Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin's Bandette Vol. 1: Presto!
2. Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba&! Vol. 12
3. Kathryn Immonen & Valerio Schiti's Journey Into Mystery w/ Sif Vol. 1: Stronger than Monsters
4. Tony Cliff's Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant
5. Doug TenNapel's Power Up!

I usually consider manga separate from tpbs and such. Not sure why, just one of those things. But, I figured what the heck. Since I don't normally do a Favorite Manga list, I needed to get Yotsuba&! in here somehow. Volume 2 of the current Deadpool title was what got bumped, though it was close between that, Power Up!, and Delilah Dirk.

Deadpool: [What?! I got bumped for some story about an adorable kid who is amazed by everything?]

Sorry, Wade. Volume 3 is our early frontrunner for Favorite Trade of 2014.

Deadpool: [Great, the one where I remember I had a daughter only to find out she died in North Korea. Thanks.]

I am almost certain she's not dead.

Favorite Writer:

1. Kathryn Immonen
2. China Mieville
3. Ann Nocenti
4. Mark Waid

I didn't buy anything Immonen wrote in single issue format, but I bought at least 4 trades of things she wrote, and really liked 3 of them. Even the fourth (Pixie Strikes Back) wasn't bad, I just don't particularly care about Pixie or her family history. Waid's in 4th because of how disappointed I was in Pulp Friction.

Favorite Artist (minimum 110 pages):

1. Chris Samnee
2. Kev Walker
3. Rebekah Isaacs

Honorable mentions (for artists I liked with less than the minimum page count): Javier Rodriguez, Scott Wegener, David Lopez, Emma Rios, Timothy Green, Amanda Conner, Norm Breyfogle, Cliff Richards

I have the page count because I figure it's one thing to draw 20 really nice pages, but the key is in the artist who can maintain the level of quality while producing work on a regular basis. I still feel weird putting Conner and Rios on there, since each is below 10 pages.