BEST COMICS: 2014

M I R A C L E M A N,
The Only Band That Matters

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>Best Graphic Novel
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>Graphic Novels
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B E S T
G R A P H I C
N O V E L :

-STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONIST, by Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag⇧

An indie triumph, challenging the conventions of superhero comics, gender perceptions, and social constrictions with impish humor and wry insight.

Read the continuing webcomic!

B E S T
C O M I C S :

I M A G E

-SAGA, by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan⇧

The smartest and most sophisticated Space Fantasy being made.

-ROCKET GIRL, by Amy Reeder
Her flights are rare but always a fine trip.

-BLACK SCIENCE, by Rick Remender and Matteo Scalera
Cross-dimensional realignment.

-SHUTTER, by Joe Keatinge, Leila del Duca, and Owen Gieni
Script-flip adventuring.

-GENESIS, by Nathan Edmondson and Alison Sampson
First thought, next chaos.

-PRETTY DEADLY, by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios
Spaghetti western gothic.

-FATALE, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Hardboiled horror.

-SATELLITE SAM, by Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin
Erotic mystery.

M A R V E L

-MIRACLEMAN #1-13, by Alan Moore, with Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Chuck Bekum, Rick Veitch, and John Totleben⇧

After impossible and treacherous delays,

the series that solely created
the postmodern adult superhero

returns to print, remastered for a new audience to catch up on

where absolutely everything important
since 1982 came directly from.

-MIRACLEMAN Annual #1, by Grant Morrison and Joe Quesada; Peter Milligan and Mike Allred

Plus you get an all-new Annual by star creators!

-THOR, by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman, +⇧
She is Thor, and she will stomp all.

-SHE-HULK, by Charles Soule and Javier Pulido
Acerbic fun.

-MS. MARVEL, by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, and Jake Wyatt⇧
The most charming new hero continues her winning streak.

-CAPTAIN MARVEL, by Kelly Sue Deconnick and David Lopez
One of comics' best new writers, Deconnick brings Carol Danvers to the forefront with full force.

-BLACK WIDOW, by Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto
Solid spy intrigue with sharp graphics.

-SILVER SURFER, by Dan Slott, Michael Allred, and Laura Allred
With the Allreds involved, you'll always find the Mod fun in the modernism.

D C

-WONDER WOMAN, by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang
The duo finish their three-year run redefining the Amazon in fine stead, with tricky plots, bold graphics, and a solid ensemble cast.

-TINY TITANS: Return To The Treehouse, by Art Baltazar
ART BALTAZAR puts all the fun back into comics that we first loved them for in the first place.

V E R T I G O

Cover art by Yuko Shimizu
-THE UNWRITTEN Apocalypse, by Mike Carey and Peter Gross⇧
A finale miniseries to cap off the magic boy's story.

-ASTRO CITY, by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson, + Alex Ross
Quietly and steadily, the series has reinvented the Golden and Silver Age forms just as smartly and powerfully as affirmed classics like WATCHMEN, MARVELS, and KINGDOM COME.

B O O M

-LUMBERJANES, by Noelle Stevenson,Grace Ellis, and Brooke Allen
This contemporary retake on scout troops is always a fun blast from the word go.

S E L F - P U B L I S H E D

-THE HANGING TOWER, by Sam Bosma
An historical fantasy one-shot by the creator of FANTASY BASKETBALL.

B E S T
G R A P H I C
N O V E L S :

-SUGAR SKULL, by Charles Burns⇧
The third chapter of the X'ED OUT trilogy, Burns' punk reconstruction of the conventions of Tintin.

-NEMO: The Roses of Berlin, by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
The second book in a trilogy focusing on Janni Dakkar, the daughter of Nemo from THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN.

-BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS, by Fabien Vehlmann⇧
Fairy tales get turned inside out with this deceptively gorgeous warning allegory.

-THIS ONE SUMMER, by Mariko Tamaki and Jilllian Tamaki
Two friends at the beach on the cusp of growing up.

-SECONDS, by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Following SCOTT PILGRIM, O'Malley goes for bold color and emotional depth.

-HIPHOP FAMILY TREE 1981-83, by Ed Piskor⇧
"...and you don't stop!"

-THE LATE CHILD And Other Animals, by Marguerite Van Cook and James Romberger
A deeply personal generational saga of surviving war, bureaucracy, and time's challenges.

-SERENITY: Leaves On The Wind, by Zack Whedon, Georges Jeanty, and Karl Story
With this volume, the SERENITY sequel comic finally recaptures the ensemble chemistry and dialogue of the FIREFLY TV series along with its frontier adventurism.

-TOMBOY, by Liz Prince
You are who you say, not who they say.

-HILDA AND THE BLACK HOUND, by Luke Pearson⇧
The beloved and smart HILDA series continues to bound full apace.

-BLACKSAD Amarillo, by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido
Hardboiled detective yarns in a talking animal universe, with excellent art.

-THE SHADOW HERO, by Gene Luen Yang
Both perspectives of a war clash, 'East and West', humanizing all caught between.

LITTLE NEMO, by Yuko Shimizu
-LITTLE NEMO: Dream Another Dream, by Various Artists (Locust Moon Press) ⇧
An all-star cast of creators pays tribute to the wild dreamscapes of Winsor McCay's eternal comic strip masterpiece.

B E S T
C O L L E C T I O N S /
R E I S S U E S:

-MIRACLEMAN, Book 1: A Dream Of Flying, by Alan Moore, Garry Leach, and Alan Davis (Marvel) ⇧

-MIRACLEMAN, Book 2: The Red King Syndrome, by Alan Moore, Alan Davis, John Ridgeway, Chuck Beckum, and Rick Veitch (Marvel)

M I R A C L E M A N
In 1982 a new writer named Alan Moore entered British comics and immediately began revolutionizing and advancing the entire industry.

Just as Punk was driving Do-It-Yourself indie bands and labels to upend the music industry, indie creators and start-up publishers likewise expanded the horizons of the graphic storytelling medium. For the iconoclastic Warrior magazine Moore co-created V FOR VENDETTA with artist David Lloyd, challenging the repressive Thatcher regime with an anti-dystopian allegory for the ages. But also, he resurrected a Captain Marvel knock-off from the '50s called Marvelman.

Rather than the light kids fare of yore, in one genius stroke Moore reimagined the hero from the perspective of modern maturity, grounding the series with unparalleled realism, psychology, and social comment. O'Neill and Adams had first ushered the dawn of 'The New Relevancy' in comics with the political realism of their 1971 Green Lantern/ Green Arrow stories, and now Moore illuminated the next level. With the taut and detailed art of Garry Leach and then Alan Davis, Moore brought a new depth and breadth of sophistication in craft and subject matter to comics with this stealth series. This only increased exponentially with time across three arcs (Book 1, 2, and 3), where he deconstructed, reconstructed, challenged, and expanded the entire potential of superheroes specifically and the comics medium by extension.

All 'postmodern', 'deconstructed', and Mature comics since 1982 ripple directly off of the big bang of those Marvelman stories. No matter how removed you may feel from it, it is the star-stuff that composes nearly everything you have read and are now reading.

Moore was so successful so fast that DC Comics poached him in 1984, where his new masterpieces -SWAMP THING and WATCHMEN- changed everything universally. Many have heard of V FOR VENDETTA because DC kept it in print. But Marvelman -rechristened MIRACLEMAN in the United States- was out-of-print for decades because of greedy legals. (Looking at you, Todd.) Now, Marvel Comics has rectified this, with remastered art, new color, and the deluxe treatment it deserves.

That's your cue. Quality is timeless... it's time to catch up.

__________

-TREASURY OF AMERICAN PEN & INK ILLUSTRATION 1881-1938, by Various Artists (Dover)
The Golden Age of Illustration is the wellspring of all comics creators.

-THE ART OF THE SIMON AND KIRBY STUDIO, by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby (Abrams)
Simon and Kirby are the original power team of the Golden Age, inventing Captain America, Green Arrow, dynamic action, double-page spreads, Romance comics, and many more of the basics of the comics vocabulary.

-CREEPING DEATH FROM NEPTUNE: The Life and Comics of Basil Wolverton, Vol. 1, by Basil Wolverton (Fantagraphics) ⇧
Similar to Fletcher Hanks, Wolverton was a touched genius no one knew how to use (until MAD magazine later channeled his brilliance).
These early stories are Exhibit A.

-The Complete ZAP COMIX, by Various Artists (Fantagraphics)
The epicenter of the Underground Comix quake, all here in your shaking hands.

-THE COLLECTOR, by Sergio Toppi (Archaia)
Every page by Toppi is a master class.

-TARZAN: Burne Hogarth's Lord of the Jungle, by Burne Hogarth (Dark Horse)
Generations of artists learned anatomy from Hogarth's figure drawing books. Here's why.

-THE INCAL, by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius (Humanoids)
The entire series, which spanned the '80s, is compiled in this fine volume.
Jodorowsky. Moebius. Nuff said.

-ALIAS Omnibus, by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos (Marvel)
The entirety of where Jessica Jones began.

THE COLLECTOR, by Sergio Toppi

-ZENITH: Phase 1; and Phase 2, by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell (2000 AD)
A young Scottish upstart named Grant Morrison got his start, and DC's attention, here.
His metatextual mindtrip through multiversity began here, too, and he's been rewriting it ever better ever since.

-THE WALKING MAN, by Jiro Taniguchi (Ponent Mon Ltd)
Taniguchi's meditative stroll through the quiet joys and surprises of suburban Japanese neighborhoods.

-GUARDIANS OF THE LOUVRE, by Jiro Taniguchi (NBM) ⇧
Beautiful watercolors and draftship.

_______________

WHERE WE COME FROM, Dept
Explore the past to map the future.
Get with, get going.

-AMERICAN COMIC BOOK CHRONICLES: The 1970s, by Jason Sacks (TwoMorrows)
An ongoing series detailing each decade of hte comics revolution/re-evolution.

B E S T
M O V I E S
a n d
T V:

Graphic art by Tym Stevens

-CAPTAIN AMERICA: The Winter Soldier
>Four Color Films review

-X-MEN: Days of Future Past
>Four Color Films review

-AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2
>Four Color Films review

-SNOWPIERCER
>Four Color Films review

-GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
>Four Color Films review

-THE FLASH, season 1

-CONSTANTINE, season 1

See also:
>BEST MOVIES & TV: 2014

B E S T
W E B C O M I C S :