Category: year in review – 2006

While Marvel took back the reins from DC in 2006 as the world’s greatest seller of comics, they fared far worse when it came to giving us fanboys satisfaction. And no, that’s not a call for more T & A covers by Michael Turner!

52’s success

“I never doubted for a minute that DC would be able to put out a weekly series. Even if it wasn’t great, they’d at least put it out on time because they’d look foolish if they didn’t. Turns out that it’s been pretty damn good though. I look forward to reading the new issue of 52 first every week, and I think I’m going to be pretty disappointed when I can’t do that after May 2.”
— Fin Fang Doom

“I’ve been incredibly satisfied with 52 so far. When I finally sit down with all the issues in a complete set, I’m going to be incredibly satisfied, I hope. Well, as long as they explain what they meant OYL by having Harvey Dent as Gotham’s protector, Supergirl as Superman’s on-call rescue squad, etc.”
— Doom DeLuise

Dini’s Detective

“Detective Comics, when under Paul Dini, has been an exceptional read.”
— Doominator

Joker’s revenge

“Infinite Crisis was a great comics event, exciting and deep and lengthy and confusing and all that. For every excellent page, the series went out with a literal bang with a perfectly satisfying moment. All series, we had wondered where the Joker was, and were disappointed to see him out of the action. Turns out, Geoff Johns had that covered, and he used the ultimate villain to close the book on the ultimate event.”
— Jean-Claude Van Doom

Onslaught, stillborn

“I think Onslaught has been a flop. Or at least, the idea in my mind, completely unsubstantiated by any evidence or figures, that Onslaught has been a flop is very satisfying.”
— Jim Doom

[JCVD’s Note: As reported in LITG, the big crapfest is now delayed. Well, more delayed. Further research shows CBG reporting that Onslaught Reborn debuted at #22, selling 79,100 copies.]

DC spewed out a ton of mini-series after the Crisis wrapped up, and Marvel responded with plenty of its own, both running alongside Civil War and standing alone. With so many choices, it’s probably no surprise that the Doomers all came up with a different choice for this award.

X-Men: Deadly Genesis

“Deadly Genesis was a long time coming. While I wish Banshee was still around, I was glad to see a resolution to the Summers brothers dilemma.”
— Doominator

Marvel Zombies

“Although it technically began in 2005, the bulk of the Marvel Zombies mini-series was released in 2006. Marvel Zombies was part of a very small group of titles released in 2006 that weren’t bogged down with the continuity of the day. It was just a classic, fun superhero story, except in this case the superheroes were flesh eating zombies. Marvel Heroes + zombies + Robert Kirkman + sweet covers = Best Mini-Series of 2006.”
— Fin Fang Doom

Batman and the Monster Men/Batman and the Mad Monk

“I’m sure I’m missing something, but at best it would tie with Matt Wagner’s Batman minis.”
— Jim Doom

Alex, I’ll take Potpourri

“This is probably the hardest category for me to choose in this year. Both of Matt Wagner’s Batman series are great and on equal footing with Detective Comics as the best source for Gotham tales. DC’s Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters was also really good, at least until the latest issue. And Marvel was stellar in the minis with the insanely fun Marvel Zombies, and the underrated Bullet Points and Agents of Atlas.”
— Jean-Claude Van Doom

“I’ve really enjoyed Trials of Shazam, and I loved Secret Six. One of my favorite moments of the year came during the last issue of Secret Six, when Ragdoll hugs the Mad Hatter, after which he casually shoves the Hatter off the side of a cliff. Beautifully done.”
— Doom DeLuise

Last year saw the comics industry shift a serious amount of focus back to mini-series. With so many stories to choose from, you know some had to suck pretty serious. Here’s our choices for the dregs.

Lame New World

“Pretty much all the stuff other than Shazam that came out of Brave New World has sucked a big chubby. I didn’t bother with most of it, but I stuck through three or four issues of OMAC and Martian Manhunter before I realized how worthless they were. It taught me a valuable lesson, though. Check out who’s writing something before buying it. Prior to that, I’d always just bought the issues featuring my favorite characters. I’m kind of like a child in that sense. A tall, drunk child.”
— Doom DeLuise

Cop: Out, issues 1-6

“I’m momentarily without my list of votes for this best/worst list, and I can’t remember what I voted for in this category. What can I say? I’m dumb. When I find the list, I’ll post my vote.”
— Jean-Claude Van Doom

X-Men: The End

“X-Men: The End went from semi-interesting to tepid and random. It tried too much and just got boring.”
— Doominator

Young Avengers/Runaways

“I love Runaways. I love Young Avengers. I also love ketchup and apple sauce, but you don’t see me mixing them together. Maybe that’s sort of what happened here. Or maybe the creative team on this mini-series just isn’t nearly as good as the creative teams on the individual series. Absolutely nothing of substance happened in this mini-series. Near as I can tell, it only existed to bilk me out of $12. Thanks a million, Marvel!”
— Fin Fang Doom

X-Factor

“It’s the best out there, but it’s never listed in that upper crust. Start reading this book!”
-Jean-Claude Van Doom

“Well I don’t know if X-Factor is underrated, but it’s really good, so it will probably get cancelled.”
-Jim Doom Part 1

New Avengers

“And I don’t know if it’s really fair to call it underrated, since it’s a huge seller, but relative to the reviews I see online, I’d say New Avengers is underrated. Based upon the reviews I read, you’d think this thing was a book of self-hexes printed on the rotting walls of a warthog’s lower intestine, but it’s been consistently one of my favorite books month-to-month. I also really enjoy how, during Civil War, it’s been a bunch of standalone stories supplementing the big arc.”
-Jim Doom Part 2

Birds of Prey

“It seems like Birds of Prey is that title that everyone has always meant to give a try but never actually has. You can’t deny Oracle is a sweet character, but with a team comprised of also-rans like Lady Blackhawk, Huntress, and Judomaster, I can’t really fault people for being hesitant about the title. Gail Simone does a great job of making the C-listers on the team feel like major leaguers, though. Who would have thought it’d be so hard to sell a book starring a bunch of scantily-clad women?”
-Fin Fang Doom

The Amazing Cop Out

“I don’t pay much attention to what other people say, so I don’t know what’s been panned or praised.”
-Doom DeLuise

I just remembered I’m supposed to be doing some sort of a pithy opening to these things. Aw hell, screw it! On to the picks!

Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.

“Nextwave is my choice, though Civil War is a close second. I can’t fathom why fanboys keep coming back to Ellis’ joke with himself. Too bad it nearly escaped the gallows.”
-Jean-Claude Van Doom

Cop Out?

“I don’t think anything has a chance to be overrated anymore, because in the big picture, not enough comics geeks have the balls to stick with a title once they catch wind that it’s not cool anymore. It’s way cooler to jump all over something as soon as it gets accepted by the other kids at the comic store.”
-Jim Doom

Batman

“I find it hard to believe that anyone thinks Batman is a better book than Detective Comics, yet somehow, month in and month out, Batman dominates ‘Tec in the sales charts. Whichever Kubert draws the book is really, really bad, and Grant Morrison isn’t much better. And whoever is doing the fill-in arc shouldn’t quit his day job, unless his day job is comics.”
-Fin Fang Doom

Cliff Rathburn

“When you think of comic book artists, you usually think of pencillers. I know I do. The inkers and colorists kind of get forgotten, even though Laura Martin and Dave Stewart are probably just as good as coloring as John Cassaday and Tim Sale are at drawing. Cliff Rathburn provides gray tones for The Walking Dead, and I’ve largely ignored his contribution to the title because it wasn’t terribly obvious where Charlie Adlard’s art ended and Cliff’s began. Then Robert Kirkman decided to run a preview of Charlie Adlard’s art on another project in the back of The Walking Dead. It still looked damn good, but it wasn’t anywhere near the quality of the art in TWD. And from what I could tell, the only difference was that Cliff Rathburn wasn’t doing gray tones on it. The Walking Dead would not be the same book without Cliff, and he deserves a lot of credit that he’s not getting because he’s not the lead artist on the book.”
-Fin Fang Doom

C.P. Smith

“I don’t have a wealth of knowledge of artists that some of the other Doomers have, so this is a bit hard for me. I suppose I have to go with C.P. Smith, who only illustrated two books all year that I know of. Smith did the now-cancelled New Invaders and did the best stand alone issue of 2006 in Wolverine #41. His work is uniquely influenced by computer technology and uses it to make clean, haunting images.”
-Jean-Claude Van Doom

Billy Tan

“Billy Tan’s work is consistent. If only he could make deadline.”
-Doominator

So Underrated We Don’t Even Know Their Names

“Those guys who draw Daredevil [Michael Lark– Fin] and Captain America [Steve Epting and Mike Perkins] are so underrated they’re my favorite artists of the year and I don’t even know their names.”
-Jim Doom

“Again, I don’t pay attention. I really like Phil Jimenez and the guy who’s drawing “Criminal” [Sean Phillips]. I also dig the art on “Civil War” [Steve McNiven] and “Green Lantern” [probably Ivan Reis]. I don’t know who draws that stuff, nor do I care. It’s pretty to look at. It seems the Civil War guy isn’t earning much praise, so I suppose I should say that he’s the most under-rated. On the other hand, he is drawing the biggest book of the year, so he can’t be that under-rated. I don’t know.”
-Doom DeLuise

Too Many To Pick From

“I say this only because Marvel’s promotional material calls him a “comics legend,” but Howard Chaykin is not a comics legend. His work can be pretty good, and he is amazingly thorough with surroundings, I think his work often falls far below the lofty praise it’s given. Also, I’m not sure if anyone likes Humberto Ramos, but his run on Wolverine was catastrophic. What could have been a decent compliment to Civil War was rendered tacky and silly.”
-Jean-Claude Van Doom

“Michael Turner. I’ve considered spending the $10 to get variant covers so that I don’t have to look at his crap on my comics. Joe Madureira. Talk about finding the one way to get me to stop reading Ultimates. It hasn’t even happened yet but the NEWS of him illustrating Ultimates wins him the prize from me. John Romita, Jr. Not really, I just want him to post a comment on the blog again.”
-Jim Doom

Jim Lee

“Jim Lee is quickly catching up to Rob Liefeld in the irritating sameness of his art.”
-Doominator

Bryan Hitch

“Don’t get me wrong, Bryan Hitch is a very talented artist. But putting out three issues in twelve months is ridiculous. Alex Ross put out six issues. John Cassaday put out eight. And they’re both much more talented than Bryan Hitch. Three issues? Give me a break.”
-Fin Fang Doom

While there are lots of writers out there right now getting tons of praise, some aren’t having the kudos heaped upon them thickly enough. So, courtesy of the Doomers, here’s another round of ego-boosting.

Brett Lewis

“There are a ton of writers out there who deserve recognition, with Gail Simone, Jeff Parker, Dan Slott, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray all churning out lots of good stuff this year. In the small presses, I really enjoyed what David Petersen did on Mouse Guard. But all of those have gotten pretty serious props, so I had to dig deep and find someone who’s writing a book I really enjoy yet has gotten next to no press, and that would be The Winter Men by Brett Lewis. Not only is it a cool read, but the Russian dialogue is convincing. Now, if only it came out on time.”
— Jean-Claude Van Doom

Brian K Vaughan

“BKV is probably the most versatile writer in comics today. He writes teen drama in Runaways, he’s doing a mystery story in Doctor Strange: The Oath, and political drama in Ex Machina. His run on Ultimate X-Men was by far the best on the title. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Y: The Last Man and Pride of Baghdad. Yes, Brian K. Vaughan does get a lot of praise for his work, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s as much as he deserves. I honestly think he may end up being the best comic writer of this era. Yet the only time he gets press is when Joss Whedon is taking over one of his books. Go figure.”
— Fin Fang Doom

Brian Michael Bendis

“The guy is still one of the best comics writers out there. I still enjoy nearly anything he writes. He has his flaws, as does any writer. But he is not the stain on the comics industry that so many would have us believe.”
— Jim Doom