FAVORITE NAUGHTS COMICS: 2000-2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! 2010!

Comics, like other pop culture goodies, tend to be remembered and categorized by decade.

So, here are the "best" (ie my favorite) COMICS of the NAUGHTS!

They are pretty much off the top of my head and listed in no particular order. Also I unfortunately ran out of time to properly write about each (JimSmash sucks!).

UPDATE: AQUAMAN

Forgot to post this one, which is a Guilty Pleasure/Hidden Gem. I've never been into Aquaman but found the character had potential. With issue 15, writer Will Pfeifer & artist Patrick Gleason came aboard, returning Aquaman to his classic costume. For the first time in my life, I found myself an Aquaman fan and placing this book at the top of my monthly reading list.

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SLEEPER
Born out of Alan Moore's Wildcats, Sleeper is The Departed with superpowers. It's gritty and imaginitive and feels like the good ole days of Wildstorm, minus the spandex.
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CABLE/SOLDIER X
(Macon/Kordey)
I really enjoyed Kordey's art in this series and the book went in a new direction; less mutant savior stuff and more soldier-of-fortune. While maybe not the most stellar comic of the past 10 years, it has remained in my thoughts and so I've included it on this list as a "hidden gem".
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MYSTIQUE
(#7-24)
This series took off at issue #7. Writer Ted McKeever was doing fun, new things with Mystique while still staying true to her character. Unfortunately, the series was cancelled after #24 and Mystique was turned into a psychotic nympho by other writers. Here is the last good Mystique.
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MANHUNTER
This is a fun book but my favorite aspect was the new character DYLAN BATTLES. It's a shame the book was cancelled, especially since the last push had a fantastic new artist that fit the book perfectly. While the monthly book is gone, Manhunter still lives in the backup stories of Batman: Streets of Gotham.
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THOR ONE-SHOTS
I really enjoyed the art with these books. Asgard and its inhabitants looked like a nice blend of "authentic" Norse and Kirby Awesome. This is how I hope the Thor Movie will look. Seeing Thor walk into Asgard dragging behind him severed Frost Giant heads is one of the best Thor moments I've seen in a long time!
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CONAN
While the writing is "ok" (Busiek) and Conan talks waaaay too much, the art is fantastic and reminiscent of Frazetta in spirit. Its a nice adaptation and expansion of the original stories. I've picked this series up in hardcover format.
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MARVEL ZOMBIES 1
Very fun and funny. I'm concentrating on just the first series, before it was run into the ground. They totally dropped the ball with the ending, but its still a fun goofy read.
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X-MEN: THE END
That's right, I'm including this! Love or hate what has been done with different writers in the X-Men Universe, Claremont did a great job of incorperating the entire X-Mythos into a beautiful final act that wraps up the grand epic story that is the X-Men. It all works together quite nicely and by the end of the story I was shockingly pleased with it.
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PUNISHER MAX
The Garth Ennis run on this one. Ennis' can sometimes be too goofy and over-the-top, but he tones it down here to a nice level (Barricuda!). This is how the Punisher should be: realistic, brutal and full of military mayhem & mobster fun!
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THE FLASH
(Geoff Johns run)
The Flash was great those first few years of the decade. Hot off the great Waid run, Geoff Johns continued the momentum and made The Rogues fucking awesome! I was heartbroken when he left the book, but was happy when he took over Green Lantern!
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MADROX & X-FACTOR
Peter David returns to these B-List X-Characters and transformed X-Factor into a crime noir book full of drama, action, suspense, mystery and fun storytelling. He should be given a medal for his outstanding revamping of Madrox the Multiple Man. A great book every single month!
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X-MEN: MESSIAH COMPLEX
I haven't enjoyed the X-Men since the late 80s and early 90s... but the "Messiah Complex" crossover had that spark and had me excited about the X-Men for the first time since "Age of Apocalypse".
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ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN
The first hardcover is absolutely amazing and spectacular! (get it?) The rest is still a fun read and Bendis' storytelling fits perfectly with this book. Its the best (and only good) Spider-Man to hit the stands in decades! And I got choked up with Gwen.... I knew it was coming and I still got choked up. A super fun, enjoyable read!
*(avoid all other Ultimate books)
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LOKI
The art alone is worth the price of admission. And its an interesting story through the eyes of Loki.
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WONDER WOMAN
(Rucka/Johnson run only)
I LOVE this run of Wonder Woman, but wish Drew Johnson had stayed on as the artist. When he left, the book took a turn for the worse. It also entered into the Omac stuff and suddenly Wonder Woman was a murderer and everyone hated her. Ugh. But this run, collected in 3 trades, is wonderful.
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CAPTAIN AMERICA

(Reiber/Lee/Brubaker/Epting/Lark)
I always wanted Captain America to have a more "Tom Clancy" feel to it and now it does. I was even pissed off that Bucky returned from the dead, but somehow the book still engaged me and kept me coming back each month. 'Civil War' kind of derails the momentum, but its still a great book - I'm buying a Captain America monthly book for the first time since the old Zeck (80s) & brief Waid/Garney (90s) days.
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DAREDEVIL
(Smith/Bendis/Maleev/Brubaker/Lark/Diggle)
What if Daredevil was a weekly cable TV show drama? It would be like this book. Bendis, while too wordy at times, shifted Daredevil over into a noir drama and it totally works. This book has been awesome for the past 10 years straight! If you liked the old Frank Miller DD, you might dig this.
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NEW X-MEN
(Kyle/Yost)
I didn't want to like this book and couldn't even imagine doing so. And yet, here it is on this list! Writers Kyle & Yost are the disciples of 80s Claremont. This was the best X-Book on the stands while it was out (along with Astonishing X-Men). Hell, in this book I can even tolerate X-23 and enjoy her stories! Madness.
---X-FORCE
New X-Men ended, but Kyle/Yost relaunched X-Force as Cyclops little dirty secret: a covert blackops team that takes the fight to the enemy and wipes them out. They also returned Warren to his Horseman Archangel which I will forever be grateful for.
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FABLES

With its references to popular characters everyone has heard of through songs, books and movies, Fables is a hugely accessible comic as well as being easily enjoyable. Fables has the simple but fascinating premise of placing characters like Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf and Little Boy Blue in our modern world and pretty much blows your mind with the mix of what you know with a whole new tale. You never know who will show up next or what crazy turns the story will take but the adventures are big, the romance is lusty, the battles are bloody...instant classic!
*(thank you, guest writer Helen!)
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MOUSE GUARD
These books are gorgeous and take you away to a different world of fantasy and adventure! Beautiful stuff.
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GOTHAM CENTRAL
A book focused on the cops of Gotham? Hell yeah! Written by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker, with killer art by Michael Lark, this is hands down one of the best books of the last 10 years.
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SUPERMAN: RED SON
What if, instead of landing in Kansas, baby Kal-El landed in Stalin-Era Russia? A super sweet story is what!
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JUSTICE
Another gorgeous romp through the DCU with Alex Ross!
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MIDNIGHT NATION
Why this hasn't been turned into a movie or television mini-series is beyond me.
---ALL-STAR SUPERMAN
Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and a whole lot of Weird! Its' brilliantly fun!
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FANTASTIC FOUR
(Hickman/Eaglesham: #570-572)
These 3 issues are the best FF I've read in a very very looooong time. It's a Reed-focused story that feels like its done by the offspring of Alan Moore and Jack Kirby.

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THE WALKING DEAD
Best. Zombie. Serial. Ever.
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ASTONISHING X-MEN
(Whedon/Cassaday run)
Joss Whedon & John Cassaday's love letter to the 70s & 80s X-Men. Every issue has goosebump moments.
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LEGION
(DnA era)
This run changed me from a Legion-Hater to Super-Legion dork! Its fun, adventurous and ended with me buying a Legionairre Ring Replica on ebay. Nerd!!!
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GREEN LANTERN
(Rebirth, GL, GL Corps, Blackest Night)
I always wanted to like Green Lantern but could never get into it, even though I would try just about every year from the 80s to Naughts. Then Geoff Johns came aboard, brought Hal back and reinvigorated the entire Mythos. I think the GL books are my favorite books of the decade.

I'm sure there's more, but I think this list is loooong enough.
What were your favorite books these past 10 years?

oh wait, I forgot to talk about......

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SPECIAL CASE:
BENDIS ERA MARVEL

Ok, so this one's tricky... Is the Bendis Marvel the best or worst of the Naughts?

The Marvel Universe has pretty much been under the control of Bendis for most of the decade. He's been telling 1 large story -via monthlies, mini-series, crossovers & events- that's supposedly coming to a close now with "Siege" (we'll see). I enjoy Bendis' IDEAS but his execution always falls short. Great build up with a disappointing climax -he's like a bad lover that way. If he had better execution and this large story was told in a single book (like say The Avengers) over a span of 100 issues or whatever, I think it would be perceived as more of a success; "The Bendis Avengers Run" (ala "the Byrne FF Run" or "Walt Simoson Thor Run". But alas, instead his epic story took over the entire line of Marvel Universe books and there was no escape.

To reiterate: I dig his overall IDEAS - TALKING about the stories to another is always better than the actual books themselves.

In the end, he atleast pulled the MU books away from the horrible shite state they were in at the end of the 90s; Iron Man was a 17yr old kid, Captain America was wearing a ridiculous armor that kept him alive, Spider-Man was in Clone Hell, Thor was either in S&M gear or just shirtless, the Fantastic Four was anything but fanastic (slut sue & helmet wearing ben), Daredevil was in armor, and the Avengers were angry B-Listers in brown leather jackets.

Under the Bendis Era, I have bought & read all those titles just listed - something I did not do in the 90s. So there's something to be said for that, I suppose. Does it belong in the "Best of"? I'm not quite sure.