Comics Review 2019!

Hello and welcome back to another summer comics review ceremony, this is the third annual event in which I describe my favorite comics that I read this summer, out of the 64 I read. Most of these are Marvel and DC superhero collected editions from the library. Even though I read a lot this year, I did start earlier than the other two years that I have done this, the dates haven't exactly been in sync, so next year and ever year after I will be going from May 25th to September 30th to keep it organized. In this list I won't be including any comics that I have awarded in previous years, even though I have read further volumes of some of these, I want to branch out and recognize new and different books. I also won't be including the categories of Black Panther and Justice League that I did last year, simply because I didn't read any comics in those categories that I thought were truly great and worthy of recognition here. Anyway that's good, because these categories are just a starting point for me to discover different comics and reading more outside of them really shows my diverse portfolio of comics. For all of those reasons I'm going to include 7 honorable mentions (in no particular order) before the top 3, so now it's basically a top ten. I'm doing the Oscars 3. Start.

Best Batman Book
Batman vol. 1-8
By Tom King
I did include this run as an honorable mention in the first summer comics review. But that was when I had read only the first two volumes. Those volumes were great, but it only got better from there. This story really explores the city of Gotham and the character of Batman and Bruce Wayne. I can truly tell you that Tom King is one of the best comics writers around.



Best Avengers Book
Avengers Forever
By Kurt Busiek
This classic 90's Avengers story from Kurt Busiek is truly great. It is a time travel story and it inspired some parts of Avengers: Endgame. It follows the battle between Kang and Immortus with great Avengers characters and themes within. It is an amazing story that I hope is adapted further when Kang is brought into the MCU.





Best X-Men Book
X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever
By Max Bemis
Worst X-Man Ever is a tremendous X-Men comic that manages to navigate the world a lot better than books focused on the main team, through the eyes of a mutant boy named Bailey whose only power is that he can explode once and then he'll die. There are a lot of twists and turns all over the place and throughout it all this book manages to tell a great story.




Best Spider-Man Book
Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 1-4
By Chip Zdarsky
This series is a very fresh new take on the character of Spider-Man that also talks about who he is and what he means. It has many fun adventures and a great cast of characters including J. Jonah Jameson, and Peter Parker's long lost sister, Teresa. Zdarsky writes action and humor very well and he's one of my favorite writers. This book should be a great one for people new to comics.
Honorable Mention: The Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1&2 by Nick Spencer



Best Independent Book
Assassination Classroom vol. 1-5
By Yūsei Matsui
This manga is a great story about a creature that destroys the moon and then becomes a teacher for a class of "failing" kids and threatens to destroy Earth if they can't assassinate him by the end of the school year. The creature, Koro Sensei is a legend, super powerful and even though he is treating to destroy the planet, he actually connects with the kids and teaches them better than anyone ever had. This book is very funny and touching, it's quite the stupendous tale.


Best Star Wars Book
Star Wars: Doctor Aphra vol. 1-5
By Kieron Gillen and Si Spurrier
Aphra is a new character introduced in the comics and she is definitely one of the best non-movie characters in Star Wars. She is an archeologist that is always getting into trouble and she is also quite the antihero, so there is a lot of depth to her character. Two of the most craziest characters in the book are murderous droids that are basically an evil version of C-3PO and R2-D2, they are always following Aphra and putting her in danger. There is so much crazy stuff in this book, I couldn't recommend it enough.



Top 3.
Honorable Mentions: Old Man Hawkeye vol.1 by Ethan Sacks, Doctor Strange vol.1 by Jason Aaron, Daredevil vol. 1-7 by Mark Waid, Star-Lord: Grounded by Chip Zdarsky, Thanos Wins by Donny Cates, V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, and Skrull Kill Krew by Mark Millar and Grant Morrison.

3. Moon Knight Legacy vol 1&2
By Max Bemis
Summary: This takes place right after Lemire and Smallwood's amazing run on Moon Knight. This was a natural progression of Moon Knight dealing with the aftermath of all of that as a somewhat normal person grounded in the world. 
Thoughts: This book was absolutely amazing! It crafts an excellent story and we discover lots about the character of Mark Spector and his past and his current journey. Moon Knight continues to be one of my favorite superheroes and I love reading his books, especially this one. 


2. Powerless
By Matt Chernis and Michael Gaydos
Summary: In an alternate universe where all the heroes of the Marvel universe don't have any powers, what do they do with their lives and how do they become everyday heroes? The story is told through the eyes of a therapist an everyday person who has many superheroes, including Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Wolverine (the main focuses of the story) as patients.
Thoughts: Powerless is a incredible and underrated story about humanity and heroism. Gaydos' art is great, it just jumps off the page. I really can't stress how amazing this comic is and how great it is at tying in all of the Marvel lore. The stories played out very well and were spectacular. And I actually screamed out loud when a prediction I made at the beginning of the book came true. Powerless is a truly fantastic comic. 

1. Thor: God of Thunder vol. 1-3 
By Jason Aaron
Summary: In this story beginning Jason Aaron's epic years-long run on Thor, the god of thunder along with a younger and older version of himself battles an unhinged villain named Gorr the God Butcher. 
Thoughts: An immediate classic, Thor God of Thunder is just amazing, it balances so many things and does it so well. I don't want to say much more because of spoilers, but I will heap as much praise on the book as I can, it is one of the best comics that I have ever read. Now excuse me and stay connected as I go off to read the fourth volume of Thor: God of Thunder.

Loki: Where Mischief Lies | Book Review

I recently read the Marvel young adult novel, Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee. I received this book as an uncorrected review copy from Disney in exchange for an honest and fair review. The novel stars a younger teenage version of Loki. It also features Thor, Odin, and all of the other regular mix of Asgard. But for most of the book, Loki is on Earth in 19th century London investigating some very suspicious murders. The book takes place in a version of the Marvel universe, where some major events we know to have happened to these characters and environments have occurred, but they are just unspecific or slightly different. That is to fit the needs of this story and to keep it out of any other continuity for the needs of other stories. There are some major references and Easter eggs to the greater Marvel universe in the book that I won't spoil here, but they are rather interesting.
The only comic that I've read with Loki as the protagonist is Loki: Agent of Asgard by Al Ewing, which is very different from this, but also similar in that they both focus on a young version of Loki. Although as prose novels go this read a lot like Rick Riordan's books including Magnus Chase. All of his books are very similar since they are mythological fiction, but Magnus Chase, especially because those books, are about Norse Mythology. This also made me more excited for the 2021 Loki Disney Plus series, because it really reinvigorated my interest in the character. This novel really got into Loki's psyche, while also keeping him mysterious, which very hard to do and for that, I applaud Mackenzi Lee. There is also a lot of diversity in the characters and relationships within the book, which is always great. This is the first novel of Mackenzi Lee's that I have read and it is also the first book of a trilogy of books by her about marvel antiheroes. I've speculated on who those characters could be and thought possibly, Namor, Gambit, and Nebula are great options. There are also a few characters from this book, that I don't think we've seen the last of in this trilogy. So, I hope that whatever the next books are, that they are connected to Loki and each other. As young adult (YA) novels go, I thought that Loki is one of the better books I've read in the genre. I don't really seek out YA novels unless they're science fiction or fantasy or connected to some franchise I like such as Star Wars or Marvel. But I thought that this book, handled it very well and all of the relationships felt real and entertaining. Since I'm not into YA, I haven't read Mackenzi Lee's other YA books, but I know that they are very popular. I will definitely be reading her next two marvel books, though.
While Loki was overall a good book, I must say that there were some choices made in the plot and by the characters that I just didn't like, but there were many other things that I did like, so it was up and down in that way. There were some plot threads that were confusing or very abruptly wrapped up, I feel like those aspects could have been handled better. And there were several parts that I found a tad bit predictable, but also there were a couple of things near the end that had me surprised. In the end Loki: Where Mischief Lies is a very entertaining novel of page-turning rollicking fun and I would recommend it. Thank you for reading my review and stay connected.