Why So Blu?

The Best Comics of 2018

Whereas 2018 was not the best year for films (in my humble opinion), it proved to be an exceptional year for comics. The world of Spider-Man saw one massive tie-in after another between the PS4 game, the upcoming animated film and the Spider-Geddon series. Valiant did a slight but impactful retooling of its popular Ninjak series, now referring to him as Ninja-K, the eleventh assassin of his kind (A through K) in Her Majesty’s service. DC made their own statement with the Drowned Earth story arc, establishing the importance and strength of Aquaman as the half-Atlantean, half-human gets ready for his own feature film later this month. Long story short (too late), there was no shortage of entertainment from comic book publishers these past twelve months. You’ll see some familiarity from last year on this article and a few new titles that are certainly worth checking out. After all, why else would they be on this list?

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Best Mini-Series – The Magic Order (Image)

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In the words of C-3PO, “Goodness gracious me!” That line was the first thing to pop in my head after reading issue #1 of the Mark Millar six-part series that made its debut this past summer. No, there’s no sci-fi relevancy here. It’s just that that The Magic Order provided one incredible gut-punch delivery after another that left me wide-eyed after each issue’s final page.

A dysfunctional family of modern day magic practitioners with a long-standing history as protectors of their art are the subjects of interest here.  They soon find their lives and the fate of the world as we know it under attack from a small clan of nefarious beings. The villains in this series were so fantastically done as they come across far more deadly than just a case of black magic wand-wavers. If you want a tension builder, no title on this list does it more effectively than this one.

 

Runner-up – Koshchei the Deathless (Dark Horse)

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Best New Series – Gideon Falls (Image)

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I never thought I’d see a comic in the horror genre leave such an impression on me, yet Gideon Falls did exactly that. Focusing on a few separate but connected storylines all at once, the series fluidly takes readers from one to the next. It starts in a big city landscape with Norton, one of the main characters as the 30 or 40-something, dust mask-wearing citizen searches through local garbage for splinters and nails. To his claim, these are all fragments of a mysteriously, sinister black barn that has haunted his dreams. Did I mention Norton is under strict psychological supervision?

Meanwhile, an alcoholic priest gets re-assigned to a congregation in the curious town of Gideon Falls. He soon finds there’s something very off about the feel of his new surroundings and the people that call it home. It’s not long before talk of the black barn reaches the priest’s ears and reality gets turned on its head. Was Norton crazy after all or is there something to his visions? The only way to find out is to jump head first into this thrilling ride that gives us a new kind of creepy.

Runners-up – Dead Hand (Image), The Immortal Hulk (Marvel), The Curse of Brimstone (DC), Farm Hand (Image)

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Best One-Shot – The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1  (Marvel)

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After 2016 and 2017 failed to give us a solid stand-alone issue release, the category is filled for the first time in years. Before I go on, however, I understand the possibility of debate with my choice here. Any “annual” is not necessarily a single issue in the series. Next year there could very well be an Annual #2 of said title and a #3 the year after that and so on. With that being said, annuals do provide self-contained stories that are generally not continued in any follow-up issues in the line. Now that I’ve got that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get down to it!

I’ve always loved the storyline of Spider-Man and the symbiote he donned, which became known simply as the black suit. It provided an edginess to the normally wise-cracking Peter Parker that eventually gave way to a darkness Parker struggled to shake. The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 takes us back in time to the early days of Parker and that black suit. The issue fills in the gaps as to what happened on those first nights with the alien parasite that enveloped not only his well-being, but ultimately his entire life. Readers get to experience an ever present perspective from the actual alien itself and how it gets accustomed to the world around it as well as its web-slinging host.

Runner-up – The Superior Octopus (Marvel)

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Best Graphic Novel – The Creators: Vol. 2 – Strength in Unity  (independent)

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Two and a half years ago, an independent comic book artist and writer by the name of Michael S. Bracco unveiled a Kickstarter campaign for his work The Creators: Volume 1. The book featured a minimalistic color palette of black, white, grays and violet in a modern world where a privileged (or cursed) few had the uncanny ability to have their drawings come to life.

They became known as the Creators and that first installment found its way to this list in 2016. Fast-forward to 2018 and Bracco unleashed the follow-up, The Creators: Volume 2 – Strength in Unity, picking up exactly where the inaugural book left off. Few books develop such an emotional tie between reader and character like this series has, and that occasional splash of violet is just as impactful on the visual side of things. For more info on this engaging title, check out www.creatorscomic.com.

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Best Ongoing Series – Darth Vader (Marvel)

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For the second consecutive year, Marvel’s Darth Vader takes the prize for the Best Ongoing Series. If you’ve been looking for that “walks softly, carries a big stick” title, here it is. Actually this is more like “walks with heavy cybernetic limbs and carries big stick,” but I digress. Let’s be honest, was that Vader hallway scene of Rogue One not one of the greatest moments of Star Wars ever? The only thing is, we never saw such Force-infused, rampaging terror like that before or since in the Star Wars universe.

Fortunately, what’s missing in the films is brought to life on these pages as the ruthless Sith Lord carves his place into the galaxy, usually done at the expense of Jedi in hiding or those underlings who just give Vader an answer he doesn’t want to hear. This past year in the series gave us some landmark storylines, such as the deployment of the Inquisitors, a more detailed look at the relationship between Tarkin and Vader, and finally, the construction of Vader’s Mustafar temple that we briefly saw in Rogue One.

Runner-up – NinjaK (Valiant)