Last day is, as always, devoted to rankings. That's what everyone's on the Internet for, right? To shout their opinions about which things are better than which other things?
Favorite Ongoing Series (min. 6 issues):
1. Fantastic Four
2. Deadpool
3. Vengeance of the Moon Knight
That's it, that's the 3 options. Of those, FF was the pretty clear winner. I didn't love every issue, but there were a couple - Reed & Johnny's Halloween adventure, Ben & Johnny's grocery store competition - that I liked much more than any issue of the other two books. The other two books were probably a tie. If you asked me tomorrow, I might flip their order.
Favorite Mini-Series (>50% shipped in 2024):
1. Blood and Fire
2. Babs
3. Deer Editor
All told, there were 18 mini-series. Eliminate the ones that I didn't finish - Body Trade, Dazzler, Power Pack, Morning Star, Jackpot and Black Cat - that leaves 13. Eliminate the ones that shipped half their issues of less - Coda, Red Before Black, Calavera P.I., Midnight Western Theatre: Witch Trial, Dust to Dust - we're down to 8. Black Widow and Hawkeye isn't moving to the permanent collection, neither is Night Thrasher. 6 candidates remaining.
Avengers Assemble doesn't match up with the others on the art, and Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace had that dud of a 2nd issue. And I just didn't enjoy Blow Away as much as the other 3. Sami Kivela's art is excellent, but Deer Editor's story doesn't totally hold together in places. Then Blood and Fire has the advantage of having finished, so I know it stuck the landing. Whereas with Babs, that remains to be seen.
There were no one-shots, so moving right along to -
Favorite Trade Paperback/Graphic Novel (anything purchased in 2024):
1. Star Power and the Mystery of the Zel Gux Dynasty by Michael Terracciano and Garth Graham
2. Kid Eternity book one by Ann Nocenti and Sean Phillips
3. Total Suplex of the Heart by Joanne Starer and Ornella Greco
I didn't buy many TPBs or GNs last year, but these were my favorites of what I did get. Star Power volume 3 might be my favorite in the series, as it's sort of an Indiana Jones-style quest involving figuring out puzzles and passing trials to unlock an old secret. I didn't even know Nocenti wrote a Kid Eternity book until Googum reviewed an issue of Random Happenstance. There is a lot going on in that book, as usual for Nocenti's writing, but that makes it fun to try and dig through. Total Suplex of the Heart was a more personal book about someone trying to figure out what they really wanted and then trying to get it, while also coming to some sort of peace with themselves, but it pretty heartfelt and messy in good ways.
Favorite Manga (anything purchased in 2024):
1. Cross Game volume 7, by Mitsuru Adachi
2. The Crater, by Osamu Tezuka
3. One Piece vol. 43, by Eiichiro Oda
In contrast, I bought a lot of manga in 2024. Some of it better than others, some of it I'm withholding judgment until I see how things play out. For example, the first volume of Yakuza Fiance had a really cool moment that the book then undercut a few volumes later, which diminished my feelings somewhat.
But the 7th volume of Cross Game had plenty of the baseball action that reminded me what I like about the series, and The Crater offers a lot of different sorts of stories by Tezuka. I definitely don't understand all the historical context that informs a lot of them, but the stories still work even from my much-different temporal and cultural perspective. Volume 43 of One Piece is a major turning point in the Ennies Lobby arc, when it looks like the Straw Hats, having beaten what looked like the major antagonists, find out their troubles are really just getting going.
Favorite Writer:
1. Ann Nocenti
2. Eiichiro Oda
3. Ryan North
I would say think of these less as rankings, and more as me just selecting one writer each from new comics (North), manga (Oda), and the tpb/back issue stuff (Nocenti). North's very good at coming up with clever problems for his characters to confront and solve, Nocenti's work always has a lot of things going on with it to dig through, so even if I can't follow some of it, there's still plenty to hold onto. And Oda, for all that it's a story about a bunch of kids deciding to be pirates, can put a lot of heart into it about despair and the abuse of power and how sometimes you have to decide to break unjust laws to do the right thing.
Favorite Artist (min. 110 pages):
1. Mitsuru Adachi
2. Kevin Maguire
3. Adam Warren
I considered ditching the 110 page restriction, but deciding to simply stop restricting it to new comics. So any artist that I bought 110 pages worth of their stuff this year was fair game. With Warren, I've been tracking down his various Dirty Pair mini-series. I mostly got the earliest stuff, but it's nice to watch the progression of his art over time as the lines get thicker, things get more exaggerated and frenetic, the panels full of all sort of machinery and speed lines and everything else. Maguire is courtesy of all those Justice League International issues I grabbed at that convention last January. It's all about the expressiveness of his art and the comedic timing. As for Adachi, I love the way the action on the field is portrayed, the small panels focused on specific moments, while also being able to sell quiet moments and the funny parts.
OK, that's it. We're done with last year. Forward, to a most likely horrifying future!
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