Tuesday, January 03, 2012

FAVORITE COMICS OF 2011

A little late.... but HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Here's Jim's FAVORITE COMICS OF 2011:

DAREDEVIL
This was the surprise hit for me - the latest DAREDEVIL series. What does it for me is the awesome art by rotating artists MARCOS MARTIN and PAULO RIVERA. Their art reminds you just how good sequential storytelling can be. Rivera'swork makes me giddy when I see it. The writing is fun, and what you'd expect from Mark Waid (its also refreshing to actually LIKE Matt Murdock again). Check it out... the art is worth the money alone!
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ULTIMATE COMICS: ULTIMATES
This one is only a handful of issues in, but I'm loving it... and tend to hate the Ultimate Stuff! Its written by FF's Jonathan Hickman and its pretty sweet so far! Great art by Esad Ribic, too! If you were a fan of the early days of Wildstorm and/or just kickass shit in general, check this book out.
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JEFF PARKER'S HULK
I know, right? I hated-hated-hated the RED HULK when he first appeared. Jeph Loeb's run was some of the crappiest crap I've ever had the misfortune to read. But on a recommendation, I picked up HULK #25 which was then-new writer JEFF PARKER'S first issue. I've been reading it ever since. Plus you have kickass art by rotating artists GABRIEL HARDMAN and PATRICK ZIRCHER. If you're a fan of fun 80s Marvel, try this book out - you might be pleasantly surprised like me!
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FLASHPOINT: BATMAN: KNIGHT OF VENGEANCE
Ugh, Flashpoint, right? Well don't let that put you off from this 3-issue mini by Azzarello & Eduardo Risso! You don't need to know anything about the super-lame 'Flashpoint' mini-series "event" (that destroyed the DCU as we knew and loved - different rant!), all you need to know is this is an "Alternate Reality Tale". The story will surprise you and the art is breathtaking. I wish Risso had his on monthly Bat-Book. Seriously, why doesn't he?
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JONATHAN HICKMAN'S FANTASTIC FOUR & FF
This is one of the best FF runs ever... Lee/Kirby, Byrne, now Hickman. Even if you're not a big FF fan, this is just some good ole readin'! Go pick up the 4 trade paperbacks... it then transitions directly into "FF", with the first trade available now. My only gripe: I wish either Dale Eaglesham or Steve Epting handled the art the entire time. I like consistency.
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SCOTT SNYDER'S BATMAN
Snyder's run on DETECTIVE COMICS (vol 1) and his run thus far on BATMAN (vol 2) have been some of the best Bat-Stuff ever!
With artist Jock on Detective and Greg Capullo on Batman, they are definitely bat-must-haves.
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UNCANNY X-FORCE: "THE DARK ANGEL SAGA"
2011 saw the awesome storyline "The Dark Angel Saga" play out. It's been a loooooong time since I've impatiently awaited each new issue to hit the stands. The art is great and the story is insane & jam-packed. I've already picked up the first Hardcover (of 2). If you haven't read, I highly recommend... and if you want to go for it, start with the first trade ("The Apocalypse Solution"), then jump into "The Dark Angel Saga".

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BONUS: While I loved the MAGNETO part of 'X-Men: First Class', the only Geek-Movie I loved in 2011 was 'Harry Potter 7: Part II'.... of the few select movies I actually saw last year. 'Captain America' was fun, 'Thor' was ok & light, 'Green Lantern' was a crime....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Write up a "Nu52" rant. Im sure you have some interestign thoughts on the matter.

Anonymous said...

BONUS...

recently finally saw Green Lantern, and it was even worse than i thought. CONGRATS on your fail, DC.

Thor was definitely entertaining. HARD material to make, and make a connection w/, and Kenneth Brannaugh & etc did an overall EXCELLENT job.

Captain America, for us, was even better than that, and way better than i had thought (the OPPOSITE of the "that sucked worse than i thought" that GL was). they did a great job w/ that.

Xmen: First Class, despite whatever "perfection" problems fanboys have w/ it (as i can admit there were numerous, that only people who knew about would know), was overall the best. ...and the most underrated film of the Summer, if not YEAR.

...and was even better than X2, which was arguably the best of the previous X trilogy. perfect? absolutely not. amazingly done? absolutely.

good to hear constructive opinions, of course, that aren't all crazy biased. i knew it was crap even before i saw Green Lantern, then some people said, "BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE EVER".

:-/

i was like, "ok, haven't seen it yet, but seriously? you just confirmed what a doofus you are AND confirmed that that movie is crap". lol

anyway, wish i had the time & money to get all ass-deep into these comics, and then some, but they look fantastic.

proof that "not every story has already been told".

cheers to you & cheers to a great 2012!

Anonymous said...

OH, and the real reason why i commented before going off into geekland...

the last Harry Potter was AWESOME and AWESOME in 3D. proof that if you make a QUALITY FILM, then use 3D as a tool, the combo can amazing. after a really, REALLY cool DECADE of movies, they capped it off nicely. one of the best of the year.