I was most thankful for 52. But since the close of that series, my DC prospects have been…well, it’s easy to *count* the let*downs*…

–K

52, and the Club of Heroes.

Immortal Iron Fist far and away exceeded my expectations for how to handle Danny Rand. I wish David Ajaj could handle all the art each issue but the marriage of Brubaker,fraction and Aja make it my current favourite Marvel title

NEXTWAVE

Probably “DOCTOR STRANGE : THE OATH”.

It wasn’t PERFECT (there were some “errors” and at least one plot-hole or at least “incongruity”), but it was still a very well handled story that treated Doctor Strange with respect and advanced his story a little in the process (re: relationship with Night Nurse).

~P~
P-TOR

Nextwave, Dr. Strange: The Oath, Stormwatch: PHD, Criminal.

All Star Superman (although there’s been precious little of it), Dan Slott’s She-Hulk and Iron Fist. Good, good times.

Blue Beetle. It’s funny, exciting, and has great characters. And every issue is a blast on its own while also spinning a great, Countdown-free larger story. Every superhero comic should be more like it. It’s such a joy, every single month.

Can’t go wrong with Casanova.

Or Nextwave.

Or Stormwatch: PHD.

Is it too soon to be thankful for The Umbrella Academy and Rouleau’s Metal Men? ‘Cause I’m digging the hell out of both.

Avengers: The Initiative, for being the only book getting real and good plot and thematic mileage out of the the dog’s dinner aftermath of Civil War.

All-Star Superman, Nextwave, Criminal, The Spirit, X-Factor.

Mark Waid back on The Flash.

Also, Nextwave, Captain America, a new Scott Pilgrim, Crecy, and Dr. Strange: The Oath, for making Dr. Strange a cool dude, rather than, well, Dr. Orpheus on “Venture Bros.”

Buff Season 8. It was excellent and continued along where the show left off. Plus it didn’t suck like Halo Uprising did, and those were the only comics I looked forward to this year. Also the Marvel Adventures Avengers digests were awesome.

Lots of great comics this year, but JLA/Hitman was like a gift from the Comic Gods and for it I am truly thankful.

I am thankful for Ant-Man, Stormwatch: PhD, Nextwave, Annihilation, 52, The Sinestro Corps War, Booster Gold, Ostrander writing Suicide Squad again and any other comic that reminded me of why I became a fan in the first place.

I gotta say this was the year of Brubaker!!!! Immortal Iron Fist (with thanks to Fracton and Aja ), Daredevil (with a big nod to Lark) and Captain America (with a huge hug for Steve Epting) !!!!!!!

Bru is the best comics has to offer right now!

The EC Comics Archives, Jack Kirby Fourth World Omnibus, Absolute Sandman, The Complete Terry and the Pirates, Captain American Omnibus ( Spider-man Visionaries – Roger Stern (making me hope that someday we may see an Avengers Visionaries – Roger Stern) and just missing the cut by being reprinted in late 2006, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck companion). In particular, the EC Comics Archives are just spectacular in every way: over-sized, carefully reproduced, carefully colored and the original arts and stories aren’t bad either.

Add in the continuing DC Archives, Marvel Masterworks, Complete Peanuts, Complet Gasoline Alley and this is truly a golden era of reprints.

Dynamo5, Immortal Iron Fist and Umbrella Academy.

And flawed as it was, World War Hulk was still a lot of fun!

The return of Groo!!! Finally!

52, All Star Superman, All Star Batman, Booster Gold and (bit of a cheat here) all three volumes of Morrisons Animal Man run, shipped in from the States with much fretting and complaining.

Booster Gold, Nextwave, Power Pack, Dan Slott comics, and discovering Walt Simonson Fantastic Four.

Booster Gold and Blue Beetle most definitely.

The one I was MOST thankful has to be Booster Gold. That comic keeps a smile on my face like no other comic can.

But yes, 52 was quite an adventure too.
And the Suicide Squad mini just blew my head off by actually picking up where they left off and with the exact same chemistry I used to love.

And on the Marvel side of things… well, there’s NEXTWAVE. But yeah, that’s about it. OH! She-Hulk! Almost forgot the other comic that was actually fun to read.

Planetary # 27 – oh wait I forgot – it hasn’t come out.

ok, then Desolation Jones (sigh) – that one didn’t come out either.

GRENDEL: BEHOLD the DEVIL
&
GROO: HELL on EARTH

X-Factor, Irredeemable Ant-Man, Invincible.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST & Captain America.

X-Factor, Nextwave, Punisher, Punisher: Barracuda, All Star Superman, Fantastic Four, JLA/Hitman.

Planet Hulk, Iron Fist, Checkmate, Green Arrow: Year One, Black Summer, JLA/Hitman, a new Hellboy mini, Booster Gold, Fables especially issue #50 and everything after it.

All Star Batman and Robin. Wait, has there actually been any of that this last year?

Punisher MAX / Captain America / Fables / Conan / Walking Dead

I’m going to say Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. It warms the heart to have those two titles be among the best books DC is publishing these days.

Johns (and Donner, for the most part) on Action Comics, although there hasn’t been as much of it as I’d like. Followed closely by All-Star Superman and Booster Gold.

This is a hard one. I’m thankful that Buffy’s doing a good job of contiuning the story from the show and generating some interest in comics from the Whedon faithful (well, at least the issues he wrote; hopefully it will translate beyond that). I’m thankful that Casanova’s still a blast of kinetic pop genre mash up joy even without Gabriel Ba, and that Ba’s involved in as good as comic as the Umbrella Academy if he can’t be illustrating Fraction’s scripts. On that note, I’m thankful that Fraction’s become pretty prolific for Marvel while still keeping up with his personal work; the same goes for Brubaker, even though I’ve fallen behind on his work for hire stuff and have just been following Criminal. Back on the Umbrella Academy tip, I’m thankful that it was in Dark Horse’s Free Comics Day issue, otherwise I might have passed on it.

I’m also thankful for All Star Superman, Jeff Smith’s Shazam, and the Spirit; I may not have enjoyed every issue of each series released this year, but they were all good comics, and I’m glad there’s something out there from DC that’s not connected to this open ended crossover they have going on.

Really, I’m just thankful that there enough good to great comics out there (both new and reprints) that I may very well never read them all. I’d rather have an embarassment of riches than a paucity of choice.

The Mutt said:
“JLA/Hitman was like a gift from the Comic Gods and for it I am truly thankful”

Quoted for truth. I’m also thankful for Blue Beetle, Boneyard, and Madman Atomic Comics for being the kind of fun, wonderful comics I wish we saw more of.

I’m also thankful for the first new Nexus and Badger comics in 10 years, and the continued reprints of Grimjack, Jon Sable, Nexus, Scout, Dreadstar, and Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD.

And another period.

All Star Superman, Detective Comics, Batman, Scott Pilgrim, She-Hulk, Fell, Cassanova, Fourth World
Omnibus, Three Strikes.

(All new to me this year)

Image’s new edition of “Silver Star,” definitely.

I was looking forward to “Captain Victory” this year as well, but alas, I’ll have to wait a while for that.

Otherwise, I thought “52″ was crackling good fun. And DC’s Showcase editions continue to be economy-sized entertainment.

The Spirit! A new Goon HC; She-Hulk; Howard the Duck; Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness (was that this year?); Nightly News; Brave and the Bold.

OH! and Cairo; Pyongyang/Shenzen; the collected Persepolis.

I wish the Casanova trade would come out. Hearing you all talk, it must be stupendous.

Shazam! MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL

‘Nuff said…

the best single piece of work released by anyone in the graphic novel last year( as opposed to floppies and collections) was Bryan talbot’s Alice in Sunderland which was just an amazing piece of work- I read a lot of trades and hardbacks last year but was the best.

I’m sad to say that upon reading this question I had a hard time thinking of any comics that came out this year that I’ve really loved.

So what am I thankful for? HAVING SO MANY GREAT BACK ISSUES TO READ. This year I dug up and re-read Born Again, Simonson Thor, Stern Avengers, Warlock, Claremont/Byrne X-Men and a ton of other stuff, and it’s been great. I highly recommend it for anyone down about the current state of decompressed, sporadically-scheduled fare.

Thank you, old collection.

Captain America

I was late to the party with this and only picked it up at the beginning of the year.

Dan Slott’s She-Hulk has also been excellent.

Marvel Adventures: Avengers. It reminded me that you can have fun, entertaining, exciting, fast-paced, all-ages, done-in-one super-hero stories that are worth reading. Thanks, Jeff Parker.

I would like to commend dhole for his excellent comic book taste. The books and creators he mentioned are true examples of comic book classics forged by a lost class of comic writers and artists.

I do think the one book that has not let me down all year would have to be Captain America. Brubaker is the closest thing we have to some of the creators mentioned in dhole’s post……meaning the other stuff he’s worked on including Uncanny X-Men, Iron Fist, and Daredevil was pretty damn good too.

American Born Chinese. Actually, I think it came out last year, but I didn’t hear about it or read it until earlier this year. This is one the best graphic novels I’ve ever read.

Hmm. I’m probably still saying Alias the Cat.

I am thankful for The Clarence Principle, for Houdini: The Handcuff King, for Korgi (even if it wasn’t great, it was still cuter than anything).

I am thankful for Death Note (which I just read a month ago), for Naruto (and its continuing standard-bearing for straight-up adventure), and for the continued publication of Yotsuba&!

I am thankful for Penny Arcade, for XKCD, for White Ninja, for Dinosaur Comics, and for Cyanide & Happiness and how things that are so slight can help propel me through the work day.

I am thankful for all the series that keep me reading with baited breath awaiting the next collection: for Fables, for Y: The Last Man (whose final release date I am still anticipating), for Usagi Yojimbo (whose every book is a joy to consume), and for BPRD (which has since vol. 3 become one of the best reads in the industry).

Oh, it was comic-singular. Then Yotsuba&!

Monster Society of Evil.

Nods to All Star Superman, Criminal, Spirit, Casanova, BPRD, and Batman.

Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears, Immortal Iron Fist, Punisher MAX, new Grendel, and Modok’s 11.

NEXTWAVE

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN (when it comes)

GREEN LANTERN -Geoff Johns is crafting a magnificent run on this title, and God bless him shows no sign of letting up.

I have to add Gerber’s HOWARD THE DUCK run (1-27), which I discovered this year. Might be the greatest comic of all time.

That X-Statix special with Dead Girl came out this year, right? I was very thankful for that.

I would say Avengers: The Iniative but I didnt like how the Scarlet Spiders came off so I say The Order.

X-Men: First Class
Booster Gold
Groo
I Killed Adolf Hitler
The Spirit
Special Forces
Fables
Jack of Fables
Brave and the Bold
Bim-Bam-Pow
All Star Superman
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier
Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil
RASL Preview
The Black Diamond Detective Agency
Laika
The Trial of Captain Sweeto
and
The Ten Doctors webcomic

I’m sure I’m forgetting some!

Along with Captain America, the Captain America, Fallen Son limited series was pretty cool too.

I am thankful Chuck Dixon’s return to Robin, Black Canary and Green Arrow finally got married, the some what correction of Cassandra Cain/Batgirl, and the fresh and exciting writing in the Supergirl series.

oh and Dynamo5

The Nightly News, hands down.

mr. midnight,

Thanks for the kind words. I actually have collected the last 8 or so issues of Brubaker Cap based on the huge praise it’s received (essentially everything since he’s been killed) and have enjoyed it, although being late to the party I can’t appreciate the whole story (I’m tracking the other back issues down, will probably end up springing for the trade). I’ve enjoyed his Daredevil as well, especially the first arc (Cell Block D) which was great (can’t believe it’s almost been 2 years since it came out).

I also really liked Fell and Justice this past year, but probably would have liked them more if they had come out more often (esp. Fell). Reading those Marvel back issues you notice from the checklists at the back that they were NEVER LATE! Every title was out, every month, year after year.

Those were the good ol’ days.

BLACK DOSSIER