Reaaaalllly? I loved the last panel. Nice little symbolic encapsulation of future relationship, without giving us an absolute ending. I thought it worked well.

I dunno, summing up the theme of the book in the last panel... just felt clumsy and forced to me, especially after the subtlety of the rest of the book.

Doing my own link-trackback things, but responses

http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2008/02/05/more-on-comics-and-literary-quality/

and

http://dickhatesyourblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/ultimate-meta-meta-commentary.html

"Hive Mind" was a joke! I really liked Exit Wounds!

Dick Hyacinth
One thing you have to keep in mind is that a lot of the lists I included came from more “mainstream” sources–publications or websites which cover more than just comics. If we were to limit this list to just comic book-focused publications/websites, there would be a completely different top 10. And I think a lot of people would be surprised by what would show up at #1.

Huh. NOT Exit Wounds, then? I guess that the blog people tend to have more Marvel and DC affection than the more "mainstream" reviewers. Iron Fist for # 1?

Funky
I mean it’s cool you don’t like it, but it’s like knocking the fourth volume off Preacher for being violent and having too much swearing, or knocking Sandman for too many tangents and not enough plot.

Haven't read Preacher in a while, but Season of Mists was COMPLETELY different in theme, story structure, and tone than the books that came before it. I would never call it more of the same.

Scott Pilgrim... Well, wasn't.

As for Exit Wounds, it’s a good solid story, with great art, set around (but not about) the current problems with Israel (something that generates a lot of attention, and nearly everyone has an opinion on).
The only misstep, in my opinion, was in the very last panel, but that’s forgivable .

Reaaaalllly? I loved the last panel. Nice little symbolic encapsulation of future relationship, without giving us an absolute ending. I thought it worked well.

Garbut
I immediately wrote a feature on this masterpiece of a graphic novel for the December 2007 issue of RUE MORGUE magazine.

Sucks that I missed that.. I usually at least flip through RUE MOGUE, especially the comics bits. I'd never heard of the book until I saw it on Dirk's list.

Steven Frug
Great post. Thanks!

Hey! It's Steven Frug! Love your blog. (You should do one of these stupid top ten lists. I'd be interested to here your take.)

Alex
I’m pretty surprised that Percy Gloom and Jeff Smith’s Shazam didn’t make more of these lists. The former in particular, because that was one insanely amazing book.

Yeah, Shazam is an odd exclusion. I would've wagered it'd be out All Star Superman (which is kind of last year's news) as far as DC Superhero titles.

And I loved Percy Gloom... Wrote about it lots in my Best of the Year thing... But now I think The Arrival did the same sort of thing just one notch better. Still, it IS strange poor Percy didn't get recognized more.

Quick question: how well does SCOTT PILGRIM GETS IT TOGETHER read if you haven’t read the earlier volumes? If I were interested in the series (and I sort of am), should I start at the start or with this, apparently the most acclaimed volume?

I'd recommend starting at the beginning, but you could start with this one.
It's like... The Godfather films.
You don't have to have seen all of them to understand them, but much is added if you have.

I really liked the first one, wasn't as impressed with the second, really liked the third, and loved the fourth.
That said, I had a friend who enjoyed the first, loved the second etc.

You're knocking a successful series because he's continuing in the tone of the series?
(or retreading as you call it, which I don't see, as the story is moving forwards).

Also odd as volume 3 was darker (for Scott Pilgrim) in tone, and was quite different in narrative structure than this.

I mean it's cool you don't like it, but it's like knocking the fourth volume off Preacher for being violent and having too much swearing, or knocking Sandman for too many tangents and not enough plot.

As for Exit Wounds, it's a good solid story, with great art, set around (but not about) the current problems with Israel (something that generates a lot of attention, and nearly everyone has an opinion on).
The only misstep, in my opinion, was in the very last panel, but that's forgivable (unlike say, Silverfish where it sort of just ended, robbing it of the drama that had gone before).

It's nice to see the guy get some worldwide recognition.

Re: Shortcomings - Looking at my list, it could definitely have made it on there, but I decided to go with the stuff that I really liked. In fact, a lot of the stuff I had was almost arbitrarily ordered; depending on my mood, I could switch it up and come out with completely different rankings. Anyway, I don't know if I would call it a depressing book, but it can definitely make you angry, since the characters are pretty much all total jerks. Especially the main guy, Ben; he might be the only fictional character I've actually felt like I wanted to punch in the face, as people often say about dickish characters. But it's a really well-written story, and quite funny. Read it!

Re: Super Spy - I don't think enough people have read this book for it to rank higher on the list. I've seen it here and there on best-of-the-year lists, but I haven't read all that much about it, which also seemed odd to me, since I thought it was excellent (I ranked it at number one for graphic novels). That's why I included it when I contributed to David Welsh's "overlooked books" list that he did a while back. It's so good, I'm surprised more people aren't constantly raving about it.

Re: PBF - I'm also quite surprised this ranked so high. It's a hilarious strip that I read regularly, but there were so many other good comics this year that I would have thought this wouldn't even come close to as high as it did. Weird. But hey, people are reading it! That's cool.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that a lot of the lists I included came from more "mainstream" sources--publications or websites which cover more than just comics. If we were to limit this list to just comic book-focused publications/websites, there would be a completely different top 10. And I think a lot of people would be surprised by what would show up at #1.

I'll release all that information once I've finalized the list. Sorry to be a tease, but I really want the relevant issue of TCJ included before I start trying to dissect the list by category and whatnot.

For those still unfamiliar with Hank' work, I suggest that you slide over to the BONUS page of the website for a full-length Fantomah tale that does NOT appear in the book.

http://www.fletcherhanks.com