HAPPY NEW YEAR!
With new resolutions, promises for the future, and big plans on everyone’s schedule, today marks a day we can also look back at the year that was and laugh, cry, and scream “HA-HA” like a sad Nelson Muntz or jaded Comic Book Guy. 2014 certainly had its ups and downs, and hopefully there were more ups for you than downs. As the calendar clicks forward, let’s take one more look back at the best comic moment of 2014.
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) ask you to supply three thoughts on this day (providing your hangover isn’t killing you): What/who was the best title, author, artist of 2014?
8 Comments
I was madly impressed by The Wicked + The Divine… Of course, I also liked Avengers World for a while there, and Bitch Planet and Sex Criminals? Did Sex Criminals start in 2014?
Holy crap, there were a lot of good things, now that I think of it.
I got hard time remembering what was actually published in 2014 but one that best stuck to my mind was Hellboy: Midnight Circus, so i’ll give my number one spot that. Compelling story, great art, good standalone read.
Afterlife With Archie was a left field hit. Memetic was a three issue blast.
MULTIVERSITY
P
A
X
A
M
E
R
I
C
A
N
A
Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Nathan Fairbairn.
SWEET MOTHERS OF THE CoSMOs!
I didn’t even know you could do some of these things in comics.
40 pages, but content worth 10 times that. The re-readability…
Quitely has never been as good, Fairbairn keeps up beautifully.
Morrison at his most inventive? At the very least he is design-wise and as far as plot-architecture.
One of the best single issues I’ve ever had the please of experiencing.
.. I’m going to go read it again..
Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples continues to be my favorite comic on the stands. My favorite first page is the deity farting out the universe in issue 22. I laughed out loud when I saw that.
Honorable mentions goes to atomic robo and Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener.
Hellboy and the bprd by mike magnolia and Alex Maleev only have one issue but it was great art by Maleev and I’ve loved everything I’ve read from Mike Mignola.
I whole-heartedly second Afterlife With Archie. I never cared for Archie in the comics, and only picked up the first issue out of curiosity…and MAN, was I hooked! Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla have created what is easily the darkest, scariest comic I’ve read in a very long time. I really can’t stop raving about it.
Also, Superior Foes Of Spider-Man. Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber not only managed to turn a rag-tag team of C-List Spidey villains into interesting characters, but managed to do it in the most consistently hilarious ways possible. Each issue had at least one moment that made me laugh out loud. Shocker and the head of Silvermane were my favorites, and I loved how Speed Demon constantly used his super-speed to leave his teammates in the dust. A great series, and I was sad to see it go.
Saga. Couldn’t wait for each next issue… Caught up on Justice League Dark because I heard you guys mention it a few times on the Major Spoilers podcast. I’m looking forward to reading many of the comics others have mentioned on here I’ve not heard of. Keep up the good work!
Title – Satellite Sam.
I don’t normally like Howard Chaykin’s stuff, but Matt Fraction’s world really was perfect for Chaykin’s style. The sex and sexuality always felt like it was there when it was needed for the plot. The soap-opera stories always felt human and vital at their core. My only small complaint is that Mike really is a decoy protagonist, and is by far the least interesting character in the book for me.
Writer – Kelly Sue DeConnick
Pretty Deadly almost beat Satellite Sam for best title, but I think DeConnick is the writer who really tugged at my heartstrings this year with everything she did. Pretty Deadly was something so different and wonderful from other comics right now that I think it belongs in the same category as Sandman. Captain Marvel is probably the best Cosmic title Marvel is serving up right now, and DeConnick’s voice is what makes it wonderful, and Bitch Planet #1 sold me while being based on two genres I normally loathe (Exploitation and Polemics)
Artist – J.H. Williams on Sandman Overture.
I love Williams’ style and I love it even more combined with Neil Gaiman’s scripts. I can pore over his pages for hours just taking in all the details and admiring the incredible risks he takes with visual storytelling.