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Top five comics of the year (not 2000ad or Meg)

Started by Colin YNWA, 31 December, 2017, 07:30:59 AM

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Colin YNWA

So I don't go to as many Nerd sites as I used to so I'm missing any sense of what comics are drawing praise from the masses... of the small number of foilks that inhabit our particular nerdisphere. So rather than face CBR and the like I thought I'd ask you lot - what are the top five titles from this year. Oh and lets exclude 2000ad and the Meg, cos you know they are always no. 1.

I've gone for 2 categories comics that have had at least one new issue come out in the year and comics that I've read for the first time this year:

Top five Comic Titles of 2018

1.  Rock Candy Mountain
2. Flintstones
3. Mage
4. Angelic
5. Copperhead

I'm trying to work out how I add Ragnarok and HillBilly on this list as the fact that they aren't there is a travesty based on the fact that they didn't have many issues out this year!

Top five comics I've read for the first time this year:

1. Locke and Key
2. The Goon
3. Barefoot Gen
4. Love and Rockets (most of was new to me)
5. Four Faces of Eve

Again wishing I'd made this a top ten to include Scalped and Y the Last Man in this list!



Mardroid

I've finally made the transition to iPad (it literally arrived yesterday morning)* so I've been downloading my main comic apps. (Namely, 2000 ad and ComiXology.)

On looking through my books on the latter, I came across a comic forgot I'd purchased: East of West.

I've only just started it, but it's certainly interesting stuff so far as a kind of alternate world future sci-fi/supernatural horror/western. It feels a bit like I've been chucked into the deep end as it throws quite a lot of world-building stuff at you at the start. So far there's been an odd macabre fantasy bit with some weird kids, a quick rundown on alternate American history with prophetic stuff, a not entirely standard bustup in a bar and a big reveal [spoiler]it's actually the future. A pale hard-case, who I think might be a personification of Death, gets on a headless robot horse.[/spoiler]

It's not that hard to follow, though. I'm interested to see where this goes.


*After years of using Android devices, I feel a bit guilty, but the deal from the eBay seller was so excellent and coupled with eBays recent 20% discount.....

Its a nice beastie for sure. Nicest tablet I've owned, although the Amazon Fire HDX 8.9 is a major contender. I think I still prefer the Android OS but that might just be due to my familiarity with that platform.

IndigoPrime

Mardroid: download Chunky. Best iPad DRM-free comic reader by some margin.

Smith

I cant really make a list,Superman titles were great,TMNT is strong as always,there was Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,Youngbloods were a nice surprise...and Im probably forgetting a ton of things...

Jim_Campbell

Quote from: IndigoPrime on 31 December, 2017, 10:06:15 AM
Mardroid: download Chunky. Best iPad DRM-free comic reader by some margin.

Seconded. I like it a lot.
Stupidly Busy Letterer: Samples. | Blog
Less-Awesome-Artist: Scribbles.

JamesC

I couldn't make a list but Kill or Be Killed by Brubaker and Phillips has been great and Grandville: Force Majure is probably my favourite thing I've read this year.

Fungus

Chunky is indeed great - recommended.

Can't contribute otherwise... non-Tharg material doesn't get a look-in these days. The Hachette pile grows by fits & starts all the while, even though cherry-picking.

Eamonn Clarke

Looking at what's on my iPad:

1. Black Hammer.
2. Kill or be Killed
3. My favorite thing is monsters
4. Sherlock Frankenstein and the Legion of Evil.
5. Royal City

That's all I've got.

Magnetica

The only non Tharg stuff I have read this year are Rok of the Reds and Iron Maiden Legacy of the Beast.

Not counting the occasional Ulimate Spider-man or Lego Star Wars with my seven year old son.

So clear winner is Rok.

Trout

The Abominable Mr Seabrook (the weirdest comics biography I have ever read);
Mister Miracle ongoing;
Boundless (short stories by Jillian Tamaki);
Dead of Winter (yes, a licensed comic based on a board game);
Rok of the Reds.

Plus about 20 other things I could have mentioned. Argh.

Trout


Professor Bear

#11
I seem to have fallen out of love with mainstream comics lately, seemingly only popping in to heap scorn upon the lazy Hanna Barbera reimaginings of DC comics, but they have their fans, so best of luck to them.

Tillie Walden's Spinning is a semi-autobiographical tale about ice skating and coming out, and is what UK girls' comics would be if they were still going.  Highly recommended for anyone looking for a comics gift for younger female readers.
John Allison's Giant Days vol 1 is a print debut for newcomer Allison, who transplants some background characters from his 20 year-old webcomics Bobbins and Scary Go Round to the printed page for an unusually gentle bit of Brit humor compared to the usual fart and wanking gags one expects from cultured limeys.  Lands somewhere between Mork and Mindy and Joey on the "true to the original" spin-off scale, as it features none of the surrealism, occasionally jarring art style changes or variable lettering quality of the originating webcomics, but retains Allison's unmistakable non-sequitur humor and characters.
Mariko and Jillian Tamaki's This One Summer was a great coming of age tale about two young girls who have formed a lasting friendship in the summers their families spend in rented lakeside chalets, and how it's strained by family dramas and the soap operatics of the local townies.  This is what American manga should be by now, rather than the furry hellhole of homoerotic Sonic fanart it's become.
Marney the Fox - by page 10, Marney's mum has been gunned to death, his brothers and sisters dragged off to be fed to hounds, he's been mauled by a badger, an otter protecting her babies has been ripped apart by dogs, Marney is locked in a burning shed, and an older fox tears a weasel's throat out shortly before being kicked to death by a deer.  So basically it's just like The Wind In The Willows.
Misty Vol 2 - before The Man In The High Castle and its countless knock-offs ran the premise into the ground, Nazis winning WW2 was a reasonably fresh yarn to spin, and while The Sentinels spins it well without having the weight of expectation upon it that would weigh it down were it appearing today, it still starts to fall apart near the end.  Same with End Of The Line, a decent story that seems to be going to familiar Death Line territory via some The Shining elements before eventually going a bit off the rails (no pun intended).  One criticism I will lay is that the blurb on the back of the book blows the twists of both stories, which seems like an odd thing to do, especially when the second story kind of relies upon its leftfield turn to get a second wind.

Honorable mensh: The Great Disaster is a DC Showcase title that is kind of like a tpb collection of a DC crossover event, in that it centers on DC's post-apocalyptic era properties like The Atomic Knights, Kamandi, Hercules Reborn, and even has some appearances from Superman and Rip Hunter.  Great pulpy storytelling and cracking black and white art from the likes of Kirby, Ditko, and Walter Simonson.

Colin YNWA

Arh can't believe I forgot Rok of the Reds - damnit. I need to make this a top ten!

Mardroid

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 31 December, 2017, 11:15:37 AM
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 31 December, 2017, 10:06:15 AM
Mardroid: download Chunky. Best iPad DRM-free comic reader by some margin.

Seconded. I like it a lot.

Thanks for the recommendations, guys. I'll have a look for it. And apologies for posting the above in this thread. I honestly thought I was posting in the comic book day thread. Just realised coming back here. Not sure how I managed that.

The Adventurer

#14
Rather then do a top 5, I'm going to break it down this way...

Favorite Comics of 2017

Favorite New On-Going - Extremity
Favorite New Mini - Mister Miracle
Favorite On-Going Monthly- Savage Dragon
Favorite On-Going Weekly - My Hero Academia
Favorite Reprint - The Legion by Abnett & Lanning Vol 1
Issue of the Year - Mister Miracle #4




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