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Comic Archives:
Most Recent
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Rated | Alphabetical
Best of: 2005
| 2004
| 2003 |
2002
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 1.
Promethea, Vol. III
(America's Best Comics)
Alan Moore brilliantly
employs the comics medium to explore the nexus of magic, emotion and
imagination known as the Immateria via the ten spheres of the Kaballah.
J.H. Williams's gorgeous artwork is the perfect map. The titular
warrior-maiden sometimes seems little more than a cipher, but the depth
and breadth of Moore's fertile mind and Williams's dreamscapes is
stunning.
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Moore again, this time casting the cream of 19th
century adventure fiction -- Allen Quatermain, Nina Harker, the
Invisible Man, Mr. Hyde and more -- as the British Empire's first-strike
espionage supergroup. Kevin O'Neill's scratchy linework proves an
improbably suitable fit, and Moore's wealth of background bon mots is an
embarrassment of riches for savvy readers.
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Brian
Michael Bendis picks up where Frank Miller's classic Born Again
saga left off, elevating Daredevil to its highest peak in almost
two decades. Alex Maleev's gritty artwork is perfect in its urban
murkiness.
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Mark Waid
and the underappreciated Butch Guice deliver CrossGen's take on the
Sherlock Holmes archetype, with a bit of sci-fi mysticism thrown in for
good measure. Rousingly enjoyable.
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The classic Avengers lineup gets the "Ultimate" treatment, with
hilarious, disturbing and spectacular results. Gifted modern comics
scribe Mark Millar at the top of his game.
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The
second installment of Greg Rucka's impressively compelling British
espionage series outshines the first, with a prescient plot involving
the Taliban and the gradual redemption of grounded agent Tara Chace.
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CrossGen
does Kurosawa, with writer Ron Marz turning in perhaps the best work of
his workmanlike career and artist Bart Sears completely and brilliantly
reinventing his storytelling style. Immaculate color work as well. A
slow-paced but engrossing monks-and-samurais epic.
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Brian K.
Vaughan's all-too-plausible and unsettling look at the political,
personal and scientific ramifications of a world in which all males but
one (two, counting his pet monkey) are mysteriously extinguished. Taut
and captivating, if a bit rough around the edges.
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The fourth installment of Vertigo's flagship crime noir
conspiracy epic fleshes out and expands upon its deceptively simple
premise and byzantine, X Files-ish milieu.
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 10.
Greyshirt: Indigo Sunset
(America's Best Comics)
Another
take on classic crime fiction. Rick Veitch consciously and lovingly
evokes Will Eisner's Spirit while conducting intriguing
experiments in linear comics storytelling.
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Fables: Legends in Exile (Vertigo): An intriguing premise --
fairy-tale favorites alive and well in modern-day Manhattan --
introduced within the framework of a sturdy and well-conceived murder
mystery.
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Howard the Duck (MAX/Marvel): Interesting, if self-indulgent and
occasionally facile, resurrection of the classic metafictional,
countercultural cigar-chomping mallard.
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The Incredible Hulk: Return of the Monster (Marvel): Bruce Jones and
John Romita Jr. take a fresh approach to the Jade Goliath, expertly
unspooling tension and suspense to rival any cinematic or paperback
thriller.
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JSA: The
Return of Hawkman (DC): The sprawling mainstream superhero epic at
its near-best, from star-spanning adventure to the nostalgic thrill of
revisiting old friends.
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New X-Men:
Imperial (Marvel): Grant Morrison begins to find his sea legs on the
title, showing glimmers of the expansive conceptual heights of his work
on Invisibles, Animal Man and JLA.
- Supreme: The Story of the Year
(Checker Book Publishing Group): Yes, Alan Moore again. This collection
of his first 12 issues on the former Image/Awesome title builds on the
childlike sense of wonder of Image's 1963 and lays the conceptual
groundwork explored through the America's Best Comics line.
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Swamp Thing: Earth to Earth (Vertigo): Alan Moore at his absolute
peak. Would have snagged the top spot if the material in this collection
weren't more than a decade old. Nearly flawless, including gorgeously
moody and evocative artwork from Rick Veitch, John Totleben and Alfredo
Alcala.
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