- Acme Novelty Datebook Volume 2: 1995-2002 by Chris Ware. Part of me wants to tuck this into the next list, dedicated to reprint collections, but any new Ware should be celebrated as quickly as possible.
- All-Star Batman And Robin, The Boy Wonder by Frank Miller, Jim Lee, and Scott Williams. The comic that gave us Batman asking if Robin was a retard got more entertaining this year.
- All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison, Frank Quietly, and Jamie Grant. The best superhero comic being published now.
- Angry Youth Comix by Johnny Ryan. America's premiere gross-out gag cartoonist hit new lows with the latest issue of this series.
- Apollo's Song by Osamu Tezuka. While not Tezuka's best work, the brutal imagery and inventive storytelling showed exactly why he's so revered.
- Army@Love by Rick Veitch and Gary Erskine. Blackly hilarious with the same sledgehammer satire that made me love Catch 22 and Dr. Strangelove. Veitch's art has never looked better thanks to Gary Erskine's inks.
- Ask For Janice by Jim Mahfood. The comics artist most associated with hip-hop made this little minicomic about the recording of Paul's Boutique. I think it's probably sold out by now. Sorry.
- Atomic Robo by Brian Clevenger and Scott Wegener. Pure fun that uses the same playbook as Hellboy without slavishly imitating Mignola's series.
- Awesome: The Indie Spinner Rack Anthology by Various. Some very strong entries (and the beautiful Jonathan Adams cover) lifted this mishmash into "recommended" territory.
- Batman by Grant Morrison and Various. Even with the spotty art choices - Tony Daniel, really? - Morrison made the Batman comic I've been wanting to read: global adventure similar to the 70s Adams-drawn peak that doesn't slavishly imitate what's happened before.
- Biff Bam Pow by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer. Worth the wait, actually.
- Black Metal by Rick Spears and Chuck BB. I don't like metal at all. I mean at all. This comic made me want to go on an orgiastic Goatwhore downloading spree and slather myself in black face paint.
- Black Summer by Warren Ellis and Juan Jose Ryp. While "Warren Ellis writes superheroes that take it to the max" is about as tried and true a motif as there is in comics, Black Summer manages to offer something new by showing the political consequences in tandem with the ultraviolence.
- Blue Beetle by John Rogers and Raphael Albuquerque. The DCU comic I most recommend to people who are wanting to dip their toes in without being buried in Countdown-related mire. Rogers has deftly handled his editorially-mandated crossover moments.
- The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson. Profane, disturbing, and the perfect antidote to the frequently-too-serious superheroics being tossed around by the big two.
- Captain America by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and Various. I've actually just been reading this in trade, but I can't imagine there being a higher-quality Marvel comic on the stands right now. If asked what I want from a Captain America comic, you'd get something that sounded like the exact opposite of this, but everyone involved has been firing on all cylinders.
- Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. I just wish each issue were longer. Or that it came out bi-weekly.
- Chance in Hell by Gilbert Hernandez. You know how in DC comics in 1989, they'd refer to the Batman movie that was being made? This is sort of like that Batman movie, but in the Love and Rockets universe, so it doesn't have any superheroes in it at all. But otherwise, it's a perfect analogy, except not.
- Crecy by Warren Ellis, Raul Cacares. History made awesome.
- Criminal by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips. A series I loved in single issues thanks to copious backmatter and Brubaker's easy use of the sequential format.
- Cromartie High School by Eiji Nonaka. My favorite manga, bar none.
- Daredevil by Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark, and Various. Again with Ed Brubaker, I know. I had some sort of note here about Brubaker being the Ann Nocenti to Bendis's Frank Miller, but that doesn't work at all, does it?
- DMZ by Brian Wood, Riccardo Burchielli, and Various. While the Friendly Fire story that took up a big chunk of this year was engrossing, Wood's single-issue stories featuring individual characters were my favorite.
- Don't Go Where I Can't Follow by Anders Nilsen. One of the single most devastating things I've ever read.
- Empowered by Adam Warren. The two volumes of this series that came out in 2007 made me hope it lasts a long, long time.
- Exit Wounds by Rutu Modan. Judging from what Tom Spurgeon and others have collected from media outlets, I think this is going to be on everybody's "End Of The Year" lists, and it really deserves to be. Simple, plaintive storytelling that builds to one of my favorite final sequences in a long, long time.
- Garage Band by Gipi. It's extremely difficult to capture music on the comics page, but Gipi makes it look so, so simple. Bonus points for the fact he's unafraid to make a protagonist unlikeable for the sake of a story.
- Geraniums and Bacon #4 by Cathy Leamy. And no, it's not just because she's a good friend. Cathy's minicomics are always quite nice, but I loved seeing her take on the venerable tradition that is the European travelogue. Now, to convince her to hurry up and do one about her trip to Japan.
- GØDLAND by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli. Each issue of this Kirby-as-genre comic makes me feel like a 9-year-old. Hooray!
- Good as Lily by Derek Kirk Kim and Jesse Hamm. The most satisfying of the Minx releases for this year by a long stretch.
- The Goon: Chinatown by Eric Powell. "This ain't funny," Powell warns on the first page of this, the long-hinted-at backstory for his Working Class Hellboy, and it isn't. At all. But it is very very good and shows off Powell's skills as more than a guy that knows how to show a dude beatin' up some zombies.
- Guardians of the Kingdom by Tom Gauld. This may be a 2006 or earlier comic; I have no idea and I really don't care. One of the funniest books I've had the joy of reading in a long time. It's nice to see someone with Gauld's aesthetic doing humor.
- Gyakushu! Volume One by Dan Hipp. What can I say? I'm a sucker for ultra-stylized samurai comics.
- The Homeless Channel by Matt Silady. The best book put out by AiT/Planetlar this year and a fascinating look at how the media operates.
- House by Josh Simmons. A brilliant little piece of horror: wordless, evocative, and one of the strongest professional debuts I saw this year.
- House of Sugar by Rebecca Kraatz. If Diamond hadn't been what they were, this would have come out in 2006. A fine collection of introspective single-page strips by a creator I want to see more from.
- I Killed Adolf Hitler by Jason. Jason + Time Travel + Hitler = An unexpectedly poignant, cautionary tale about temporal hijinks.
- Johnny Hiro by Fred Chiang. Despite the pun-heavy name, this Adhouse-released book is one of my top ten for the year - it's sweet, humorous, and full of high adventure with fine, fine art from the creator.
- Justice League Unlimited #36 by Simon Spurrier, Min S Ku and Jeff Albrecht. A standout issue focusing on The Question that made me wonder at the ease with which he's used in the animated materials while they had to kill him off in the "regular" universe.
- King City by Brandon Graham. A high-concept delight.
- Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service by Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki. I just plain enjoy this comic. Otsuka's cast is great fun to watch, and Yamazaki's art balances the creepy and the humorous very nicely.
- Laika by Nick Abadzis. If I had my way, this would be on the 6th-grade reading curriculum in every school system in America.
- The Last Call by Vasilis Lolos. This made the delay in Pirates of Coney Island worth it. You know that feeling you get when you see Tim Burton visuals without having to deal with his actual movies? This is like that, but the end product lives up to your hopes. A perfect young adult fantasy work; I only hope the subsequent chapters are as good.
- The Living And The Dead by Jason. Jason makes zombies cool again.
- Lower Regions by Alex Robinson. Yes, it's just a D+D session transcribed to comics form, but I found it to be a lot of fun and I don't like RPGs at all.
- Lucha Libre by a whole mess of Belgians. One of the comics that made me laugh out loud this year, and beautifully rendered, at that.
- Madman Atomic Comics by Mike Allred. Instead of going the "golly gee, isn't this swell?" route previous iterations of Madman have used, Allred challenged himself and the readers this year, managing to make a metaphysical romp that still has its feet firmly planted on the ground.
- Mail by Housui Yamazaki. Another supernatural manga series, from the artist of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. This one's usually more about the twist than the actual story, but when they're rendered as well as this, that seems almost negligible.
- Marvel Adventures: Avengers by Jeff Parker and Various. The only Avengers comic I'm reading at present.
- Mister Wonderful by Dan Clowes. I'm pretty sure this is going to be the next issue of Eightball.
- MOME by Various. Very hit and miss with me, but I always make time for new comics from Paul Hornschemeier.
- Moving Pictures by Kathryn and Stuart Immonen. This webcomic by the Immonens is always rewarding: Kathryn's dialogue is finely-hewn and Stuart's art is, as usual, sublime.
- MPD Psycho by Eiji Otsuka and Sho-U Tajima. This compelling horror manga will give you nightmares. I mean that. (And yes, that Eiji Otsuka again on this list. I may have a thing.)
- Multiple Warheads by Brandon Graham. Brandon Graham's second entry on this list, this time with a book about a dude with an extra penis and the girl that loves him.
- New Tales of Old Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez. This may be Gilbert Hernandez's best work so far. Minimal without seeming spare and a huge argument for the "comics as literature" thing having some traction.
- Notes From A War Story by Gipi. The other Gipi book put out by FirstSecond this year and while it has shares the theme of aimless youth making poor decisions, it's a different beast in tone and intent.
- Percy Gloom by Cathy Malkasian. What I thought Percy Gloom was going to be: too cute, saccharine, fluff disguised under a veneer of false gravitas. What it turned out to be: amazing, smart, heartbreaking, and beautiful.
- Pirates of Coney Island by Rick Spears and Vasilis Lolos. A lurid, technicolor romp that I could most easily describe at The Warriors: The Next Generation.
- The Professor's Daughter by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert. Sfar's spry, witty, romantic script required a superior artist to step up to the task, and thankfully Emmanuel Guibert was on-hand. I may have gotten a bit misty and the end. Maybe.
- The Salon by Nick Bertozzi. A graphic novel I enjoyed so much I gave away three copies.
- Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Brian Lee O'Malley. Yes, he did. And there was much rejoicing. Worth the delay? Oh, yes.
- Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith. I wish I could go back in time to meet my seven-year-old self and give him this book. The first comic in a long, long time to capture the magic and wish fulfillment of the original Captain Marvel comics.
- Silverfish by David Lapham. I don't care what anyone says: this is a missing Stray Bullets chapter.
- Skyscrapers of the Midwest #4 by Josh Cotter. See what I wrote up there about Percy Gloom? Same thing for me and this series, which came out far too rarely but will soon have a bookshelf format.
- Speak of the Devil by Gilbert Hernandez. Yes, Gilbert Hernandez again. I initially described this as being delightfully Corman-esque and stick by this assessment. The latest issue had my skin crawling with its depraved eroticism.
- Special Forces by Kyle Baker. Yeah, I just said how wonderful this was a couple weeks back. Razor-sharp and beautifully drawn, this is a war satire that's sadly backed by hard data concerning recruitment for the Iraq War.
- The Spirit by Darwyn Cooke, J. Bone, and Dave Stewart. The most stylish comic being put out by either of the big two companies, and it happens to be eminently readable as well. Was that so hard, DC?
- Suburban Glamor by Jamie McKelvie. Another comic by someone that I know and actually quite like. McKelvie's matter-of-fact take on the "young person discovers their connection to the fantastic" is not just nicely drawn - his dialogue and sense of story are firmly in place.
- Super Spy by Matt Kindt. I will always be a rabid fan of Matt Kindt's work, and this deeply rewarding look at espionage during the Second World War is a perfect example why.
- Superman #666 by Kurt Busiek and Walt Simonson. A well-done DC superhero story that fits into a single issue and doesn't require knowledge of every little thing happening in the DCU? The deuce, you say!
- Super-Villain Team-Up: MODOK's 11 by Fred Van Lente and Francis Portela. - A mirthful tale of espionage, double-crosses, triple-crosses, all held together by a hyperencephalitic genius.
- Tales From The Farm: Ghost Stories by Jeff Lemire. I've sung Lemire's praises time and time again, so I'll just link to my boosterism post for the book.
- The End by Anders Nilsen. I'm fond of tossing around the comics-as-jazz analogy, but seriously, Anders Nilsen's The End is like Coltrane's Ascension. 99% of the comics audience won't get it (or want to, really,) but the 1% that do will likely rave until you want to punch them in the face.
- Wonton Soup by James Stokoe. I read it twice in rapid succession and really enjoyed this science fiction/food battle story. You can tell Stokoe, Brandon Graham, and Corey Lewis share a studio and cross-pollinate each other with ideas and techniques, something I love to see happen.
- Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma. This manga makes me want to have a kid, something I'm normally very averse to. (Plus, it's finally back on some sort of schedule! Yay!)
Tomorrow, I'll be covering reprint collections, trade paperbacks, and the like. Do come back, please.
