Why So Blu?

The Best Comic Books of 2013

Super heroes and regular humans alike had their work cut out for them in 2013. The DC universe witnessed the advent of the Forever Evil storyline that saw everyone’s favorite do-gooders beat down and removed from the picture (temporarily anyway). Marvel is experiencing the return of Galactus, so you can bet earth is on his menu again.  Meanwhile, The Walking Dead delivered its consistently high quality storyline of survival amidst a world of zombie fodder. But with all the awesomeness that filled the comic book landscape of this year, which ones are deserving of being the best in their class?

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Best New Series – Justice League of America

First there was Justice League; a team of DC’s most powerful super heroes assembled to stop the most dangerous threats to the planet.  Then came Justice League Dark.  This band of heroes was formed to stop the arcane and magic-based threats to our world that the Justice League was helpless against.  But what do you do if one of these teams goes rogue, especially in the case of the Justice League?  Who is there to stop them?  Enter the Justice League of America.  While the name sounds all stars and stripes and patriotic, it’s really just a covert label for a team whose first intent to is fight the Justice League, should they turn on humanity.  The title was originally written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by David Finch, but duties changed hands shortly thereafter, still maintaining the tension and strife of a group forced to work together and do some good along the way.

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Best Graphic Novel – reMIND: Vol. 2

Whimsical.  That is a word used in the forward of the book to describe the story of reMIND.  Jason Brubaker is a Dreamworks employee by day, and comic book author and artist by night.  Starting out as a campaign on Kickstarter, Brubaker’s goal came to fruition when the second installment in the series was published earlier this year.  Take one skeptical town, a mechanically inclined woman, one (talking) cat and a civilization of underwater lizard people and what do you get?  An extremely fun read that walks a tightrope between the lighthearted and distress.  Whimsical indeed.

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Best One-Shot – Killer Croc #1

Yes, the 3D cover variant of this is pretty wicked, but what’s inside is where the true story lies.  This year, DC took the liberty of labeling several of its ongoing series with sub-issues amidst the Trinity War and Forever Evil story arcs.  Technically it’s issue 23.4 of Batman & Robin, but outside of a bound and gagged Batman on the cover, you’ll find no sign of the Dynamic Duo on the pages within.  Instead, we get a biography on Waylon Jones (aka Killer Croc) from his bullied and abusive youth to today where he lives in the sewers as a violent criminal.  With a subplot interwoven involving corrupt police, it all comes together for a gripping and entertaining delivery.

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Best Miniseries – Clive Barker’s Next Testament

Oh Mark Miller, what type of monster have you created here?  The writing in this story has the same effect of someone aggressively placing their hands on each side of your head while yelling, “LOOK AT ME!”  The funny thing is, we’re only approaching the halfway mark of the series.  That’s right, it’s not even over yet.  Sue me.  It’s going on this list.  Unless Wile E. Coyote drops an anvil on Miller’s head, I don’t see this title decreasing in its readability value.  Plus it’s just too damn profound not to talk about.  An atheistic scholar digs up God, or a god, and all hell begins to ensue.  Lives are snuffed out (rather violently) in droves while a young couple makes a cross-country trek to try and stop an apocolyptic meltdown as religious fanatics dot the landscape.

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Best Ongoing Series – X-O Manowar

Making last year’s list as the best newcomer, this title has never had a dud issue or lapse in its storyline.  Take an ancient warrior, kidnapped from his place and time by an alien civilization known as The Hive and transplanted in modern earth.  Now outfit him with a sentient suit of armor that is indestructible.  Does it sound like a different take on Iron Man to you?  Think again.  How far can one story carry on about an invincible guy flying around blowing stuff up and trying to rebuild an empire lost?  That’s a great question, but somehow, writer Robert Venditti continues to make that happen month after month, and does so in tremendous fashion.  If the quality of a title’s storyline were to be rated on a chart with the old heartbeat zig-zag, rest assured that X-O Manowar’s would be a straight line going up at a 45-degree angle.  There’s action, there’s deception, there are epic scale battles.  Hell, Aric even has a girlfriend now.  The weeks between issues seem far too long as the anticipation for each new arrival continues to grow.  Well done, Valiant.  Well done.