Category: year in review – 2008

Jim Doom says: Sandman: The Dream Hunters!

It’s only halfway complete by 2008’s end, but I love the first two issues. The story and the art are beautiful. I’m also not a faithful Neil Gaiman follower in any way, so my love of this has nothing to do with Gaiman or Sandman loyalty. And the issues are extra-long with no ads and they’re only $2.99.

Honorable Mention: Legion of 3 Worlds

It’s another incomplete mini. I’ve liked it so far.

Doom DeLuise says: Nothing!

In 2008, I didn’t buy a lot of mini-series. The end of Annihilation: Conquest was fantastic, and the beginning of Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds has been pretty solid, so far, but I can’t say that either of those were the best of the year, since they only had one or two issues released this last year.
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Fin Fang Doom says: DCU: Decisions!

What a cool idea for a mini-series timed to coincide with the election: how would a Presidential election go in the DC Universe? Clearly Americans in the DCU would have different concerns than actual Americans would (Homeland Security might understandably rank a little higher for them).

But DCU: Decisions didn’t turn out to be like that at all. It was just another standard superhero story where a bad guy tries to do something bad and the good guys try to stop him. The story was completely inconsequential, as was its connection to a Presidential election, real or imaginary. Plus the art was pretty terrible. And isn’t Jericho supposed to be mute?

Honorable Mention: Final Crisis

I rarely skip a mega-event, but I even more rarely give up on one mid-way through. Final Crisis was a special kind of bad that I was happy to stop buying when I had to drop a lot of comics back in late 2008.

Jim Doom says: Ultimatum! (more…)

As Doom DeLuise, Fin Fang Doom and I continue our annual tradition of crowning and condemning, we also have some year-end thoughts to share from several friends of Doomkopf.

Robb @ Capes Comics:

Best Artist: Gary Frank
Gary Frank has been the most unique and important artist to draw Superman since Curt Swan. His run on Action Comics has been such a power booster to the character. There wasn’t the hype that Adam Kubert had when he first came on with Geoff Johns. There was no missed deadlines just finished product. Frank’s art has done all the talking.

I’ll start with his first story arc in Action Comics #858 that ran through Action Comics #863. Frank’s Legion never looked better and Superman’s face was the printed version of Christopher Reeve’s features. I was drawn in like never before. The most seen character in comics should be drawn like the hero he deserves and Gary Frank’s art has risen to the challenge.

Gary Frank also re-invented the look and feel of Brainiac. The dark Coluan, felt creepier and more menacing than all other previous versions of Brainiac.
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Doom DeLuise says: The Emergence of the Marvel Film Universe!

When Iron Man came out this summer, one of the coolest parts of the entire thing was how, after the credits, Nick Fury showed up at Tony Stark’s mansion and mentioned that they were forming the Avengers Initiative.

A month later, The Incredible Hulk came out, and, while it was a turd on screen, the last scene built on this premise from Iron Man. Tony Stark made a cameo and mentioned that they were putting a team together. Not only that, but the way the Abomination was created was through the use of the Super Soldier Serum.

Since the release of these movies, it’s also been revealed online that there were several easter eggs planted through both. For instance, in Iron Man, there’s a scene where you can see Captain America’s shield in one of Stark’s labs. In The Incredible Hulk, there’s a shot in the DVD where you can see Cap frozen in a block of ice during an arctic scene.

All of this cohesion is building to what will eventually pay off as a giant Avengers blockbuster, with Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Ant Man, and a whole slew of others that haven’t been named yet. This interconnected web of the Marvel Universe is incredibly cool, and light-years ahead of anything DC has come up with.

Yeah, I’d say that’s a pretty awesome trend.

Fin Fang Doom says: Me buying less crap! (more…)

Jim Doom says: Bringing people back to life!

So we just got Wally West back not long ago, and now Barry Allen is back too. I’m afraid Legion of 3 Worlds is going to bring Bart back as well. Azrael’s coming back in a few months. A whole bunch of people are coming back to life when the Black Lanterns show up. I actually don’t want Bruce Wayne to stay dead (if he dies) so stop bringing everyone back or his return won’t be very cool!

I understand the desire to want to keep cool characters in rotation. So just stop killing them!

Here’s to Steve Rogers continuing the dirtnap.

Honorable mention: Digital “inking”

Somewhere along the way, someone figured out they could cut a guy out of the assembly line by jacking up the contrast on the penciler’s art. But that doesn’t look inked. It looks awful. You save your inker’s wages and I’ll save my three bucks.

Fin Fang Doom says: $3.99 Comics!

I don’t mind paying an extra dollar every now and then for a comic. If it’s an anniversary issue or there’s a reprint in the back or it’s a giant-sized finale or it’s from a smaller company like IDW, I don’t mind paying four dollars. But there’s absolutely no reason I should ever have to pay $3.99 for a random issue of Amazing Spider-Man guest-starring the Punisher and Moses Magnum. If Marvel can give me 40 pages of Criminal for $3.50, there’s no reason they can’t give me 22-pages of anything they publish for $2.99, even if it has a fancy cardstock cover.

While a price-jump is inevitable, a jump of a dollar is most certainly evitable. And Marvel really shot themselves in the foot by upping New Avengers and Dark Avengers to $4. Thanks to Dark Reign, I was going to start buying both titles, despite four years of anger over Bendis disassembling the Avengers. But ain’t no way that’s going to happen for $4 an issue. Hell, I’d stop buying the thrice-monthly Amazing Spider-Man at that price.

Here’s what we had to say about bad trends last year:

2007:
Jim Doom: Silver Age Resurgence
Doominator: Late Shipping
Fin Fang Doom: Interrupting Arcs with Fill-In Issues
Doom DeLuise: Zombie Variant Covers

Fin Fang Doom says: Build-Up to The Blackest Night!

When Sinestro Corps War ended last year, I expected a little bit of a break before we jumped right into the buildup for the next big crossover, Blackest Night. But buildup is pretty much all that happened in the Green Lantern titles in 2008. Green Lantern Corps focused on the Sinestro and Star Sapphire Corps while the main book introduced Red and Blue Lanterns into the mix, with Orange soon to follow. It made for some great reading, but more importantly it’s made me more excited about the upcoming Blackest Night crossover than any other crossover Marvel or DC has put out for years.

Jim Doom says: Batman RIP!

After being so disappointed with Grant Morrison’s start on Batman that I actually dropped the book, and after being unimpressed with the first chapter of Batman RIP, I ended up getting totally sucked in and ended up loving it. It made me go back and reread older comics. It made me speculate about what was going to happen, which I rarely do. It renewed my interest in Final Crisis. I think the best thing, though, was that it encouraged me to start thinking harder about some comics I was reading. That doesn’t happen very often.

Honorable mention: Daredevil got good again

I was getting increasingly tired of Daredevil. I had decided to drop it (several times). It was about to be the latest casualty in a year of growing apathy that saw once must-haves JLA, JSA, Legion of Super-Heroes, Batman, Detective, X-Factor and Uncanny X-Men stay on the shelves. Lady Bullseye changed that for me. This has been a great story, and I’m as interested in Brubaker’s Daredevil as I’ve ever been. It just occurred to me that this arc might also result in the added bonus of writing Milla out of the book.

Doom DeLuise says: The Return of Nick Fury! (more…)

Jim Doom says: Legion of Super-Heroes!

I used to love this series. I hear it’s getting canceled. Maybe the superstar writer fondness for the original Legion has led to the current version getting less attention than they deserve from DC, but it’s not as if the title was some kind of hot property when Mark Waid and even Tony Bedard were writing it.

I have nothing against Jim Shooter, but I quickly lost all interest in what was once one of my favorite titles.

Honorable mentions:

The conclusion to Messiah CompleX: I was surprised at how much I got hooked by that crossover, but the way it ended was a huge disappointment. Cyclops became a bigger tool and Professor X disappeared and / or died again.

The conclusion to Secret Invasion: Bendis seemed to hand a gift-wrapped finale to his critics. Rather than leading readers into the heat of the battle, he yanked us out prior to the climax and then informed us of what happened through flashback dialogue.

Killing Batman: This would probably be #1 if it weren’t being done so well. I just don’t want Batman to die.

Doom DeLuise says: Green Lantern!

Last year, my favorite superhero was Green Lantern, hands down. Not just Hal, but the whole slew of ’em. After the Sinestro Corps War, I was super amped up for anything and everything GL, and, unfortunately, 2008 let me down, big time.

Instead of pushing forward with the War of Light, they retold the origin of Hal Jordan, adding some new stuff to further the future stories, but, for the most part, I found myself wishing I hadn’t bought the issues. It’s a testament to how much I loved the series in 2007 that I continued to buy it through the doldrums of 2008. Here’s what I had to say about it when the origin retelling was a few issues in:

“I’m bored as hell by Green Lantern. I read this story fifteen years ago. Oh, but there’s new stuff that we didn’t know about before? Whatever. That’s dumb, revisionist history.”

Fin Fang Doom says: Millar/Hitch on Fantastic Four! (more…)

Doom DeLuise says: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning!

Whether it was pitting Nova against The World Eater Galactus and his Herald, The Silver Surfer, or establishing the new Guardians of the Galaxy, these two guys have done for Marvel’s Cosmic Universe what nobody seems to be capable of doing with Marvel’s heroes on Earth: They’ve consistently put out amazing, compelling, worthwhile stories.

Coming up in 2009, they’re going to be taking on even more writing duties with the War of Kings series, which I don’t know much about, other than it looks like Black Bolt has wings in the promo image for it.

Personally, I’m just waiting for the storyline where they finally have Nova and the Guardians team-up to take down some intense new cosmic threat. You know, like they did at the end of Annihilation: Conquest, only told in their monthly series instead of a big, glossy, expensive event-type comic.

Honorable Mention: Ed Brubaker

If it weren’t for a couple dull parts of Daredevil and Uncanny X-Men, I’d probably give the nod to Brubaker. Unfortunately, Uncanny was just downright awful this year. I dropped it about three times, went back, caught myself up, and dropped it again, until I finally gave it up for good. I kept hoping it’d get better, but it just never did. Besides that, though, Daredevil, Captain America, and Criminal have all been pretty awesome.

Fin Fang Doom says: Geoff Johns!

This year, this category comes down to a battle between Marvel’s best writer, Ed Brubaker, and DC’s best, Johns. And while Captain America, Daredevil and Criminal continue to be three of the best comics on the stands, they’re really not any better than they were last year.

Geoff Johns, on the other hand, got quite a bit better in 2008. After Infinite Crisis, Johns seemed to have lost a little of his spark. 2007’s Sinestro Corps War turned out to be the start of the tide turning though. Action Comics by Johns and Gary Frank was one of the best series of the year. Legion of Three Worlds and Rogue’s Revenge were the only two good things to come out of Final Crisis. The buildup to Blackest Night in Green Lantern has been spectacular, and the epic Kingdom Come arc running in Justice Society for well over a year came to very satisfying conclusion just before the start of the New Year.

And with Blackest Night, Flash: Rebirth and Superman: Origin, it seems like Johns is probably going to be a force to be reckoned with in 2009.

Jim Doom says: Ed Brubaker! (more…)

Jim Doom says: Ultimate Jeph Loeb!

The Ultimate Universe’s reimagining of Jeph Loeb continues to baffle me. I recently reread some of Loeb’s Batman comics, and that stuff was really good! The difference between his DC work and his Marvel work can probably only be explained by comparing it to how DC’s Captain Marvel is nothing like Marvel’s Captain Marvel. Marvel’s Jeph Loeb must just be some other guy, perhaps an alien, whereas DC’s guy is magical.

I was leaning toward a tie with Fabian Nicieza, who instead ends up demoted (or is it promoted?) to the second-worst, until I started looking through what came out this past year and remembered Hulk #1. Then I read Ultimatum #1. Then I read Ultimatum #2. This guy needs some mandatory time off.

Honorable mention: Fabian Nicieza

I’m not sure if there is a writer out there who I can immediately recognize from his work quite like Fabian Nicieza. For the most part, watch for attempted snappy dialogue littered with outdated pop culture references that does little more than distract from whatever is supposed to be going on. His presence on Trinity was painful enough to overpower one of my favorite writers, and he defied several attempts to get back in to Robin.

Fin Fang Doom says: Reggie Hudlin!

Grant Morrison tried his damnedest this year, but not even Final Crisis has been bad enough to convince me anyone other than returning champion Reggie Hudlin could possibly get this honor. I haven’t read Black Panther for three years, but the very fact that Hudlin is still writing comics is enough of a reason to declare him the worst writer of 2008.

Doom DeLuise says: James Robinson! (more…)

Doom DeLuise says: Sean Phillips!

For the second year in a row, this is my choice for Best Artist of the Year. There’s no better artist I can think of than the man behind Criminal, and, more recently, the Ed Brubaker penned Incognito.

Just take a look at the cover to this year’s Criminal Volume 2 Issue 2. I would be hard-pressed to find a better cover from 2008, and for good reason. As long as he’s part of the creative team, I don’t think I’ll ever stop reading Criminal. It seems like such a labor of love to both men involved, though, that I’m not sure they’ll ever pass on the duties to anybody else. It’s a damn fine book, and the art is consistently top notch.

Honorable Mention: Tony Daniel

I think his work on Batman has gotten stronger and stronger throughout the year, even though I’ve read a good deal of criticism of it on the Internet. Gasp! Imagine that. Somebody on the Internet being overly critical of something that’s perfectly well-done just because they have access to a keyboard and too much time on their hands. Oh, wait. That’s just like me!

Honorable Mention: Gary Frank

Here’s another guy who I think gets unnecessary criticism, as he’s pretty darn good at his craft. The cover to the New Krypton Special is a notable lapse in his overall quality, with Superman’s arm looking about fifty sizes too big, but, otherwise, his work on Action Comics has been the perfect compliment to Geoff Johns’ storytelling. Particularly, the Brainiac storyline was pretty fantastic work from Mr. Frank. You really got a feel for how strong Supes and Brainy are when they finally locked horns and laid into each other, and a lot of that has to do with the weight the art gave the characters.

Fin Fang Doom says: Mark Bagley!

Let’s jump right into the numbers: 30 issues of Trinity were released in 2008, and 12 pages of each issue were drawn by Mark Bagley. That’s 360 pages in ’08, which translates to over sixteen 22-page issues. And Trinity started in June! In seven months, Mark Bagley produced more artwork than most comic artists can seem to produce in two years.

And you know what? That was a damn good 360 pages. I’ve had plenty to complain about regarding the story in Trinity lately, but I’ve never been disappointed by Bagley’s work on the title.

Jim Doom says: Eric Powell! (more…)