2021 in review
Welcome back readers, I am once again going to be ranking my favorite of the comic book collections that I read this summer. I didn’t read too many compared to recent years but I have read quite a few still. So I will once again be doing a top ten list. Don’t read too much into the placement of each book on the list. This is just my subjective opinion. All of the books in this list are here because I enjoyed them very much. Shoutout to everyone who worked on these books! With out further a do, I’m doing the Oscars 5. Go.
10. House of El Vol. 1
By Claudia Gray (Writer), Eric Zawadski (Illustrator)
This is a very interesting book about the class divisions on the planet Krypton and the battles between the houses. There is a lot of cool stuff in here about brainwashing and avoiding the threat that is coming for them that is to destroy the planet. Big up to Claudia Gray once again for being an amazing writer.
9. Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren
By Charles Soule (Writer), Will Sliney (Illustrations)
This is a miniseries that is kind of an excellent legacy project as a continuation of Soule’s Darth Vader project and tells Kylo Ren's origin and gives more details about Luke’s Jedi temple and the knights of ten into canon. The story of Ben Solo and his downfall is told pretty well here and it has captivating characters and art.
8. X-Men/Fantastic Four: 4X
By Chip Zdarsky (Writer), Terry Dodson (Illustrations), Rachel Dodson (Illustrations)
Chip Z does it again! I mean come on, the fantastic four are ludicrous, like legit delusional, really stupid. I’m with the X-men 💯%, no, one bowsand percent. The fantastic four abuse children. Deluded no wayyy, son it made me mad and scream at these freaking meddlers. No wonder I never liked Richards. Absolutely compelling comics though.
7. Silver Surfer: Black
By Donny Cates (Writer), Tradd Moore (Illustrator), Dave Stewart (Colorist)
An awesome story through the crazy cosmic space surfing. Tradd Moore killed this beat with his giant powerful drawings. The colors Dave Stewart put down were just right enhancing it, it really pops off. The story of it is pretty cool and brings in the origin of the universe and the king in black.
6. King in Black
By Donny Cates (Writer), Ryan Stegman (Illustrator)
Speaking of the king in black, Stegman and Cates murdered this beat in the conclusion to their Venom saga with the symbiotic god Knull. He was the one who created Venom. This book goes hard in the paint. It truly is a very cool and metal book with lots of awesome moments for all the superheroes involved in this crazy world-threatening event. It is scary and it is rad as can be.
5. Black Hammer Vol. 1
By Jeff Lemire (Writer), Dean Ormston (Artist), Dave Stewart (Colorist)
The best sitcom since Seinfeld, except it’s a comic book. This one is a very fresh premise of superpowered people being trapped on a different dimension and their relationships with each other. It’s secret wars. Just kidding that was a reductive joke, it’s very different. It’s like an awesome show with fresh art and storytelling that blows you away out the wazoo crazy wonderful stuff. It is a actually quite a serious book and I can't recommend it enough.
4. The Mighty Thor Vols. 1-5
By Jason Aaron (Writer), Russell Dauterman (Illustrations)
This is basically an epic book. Yes I read God of Thunder on this list before, but this ones different. It’s basically Jane Foster becoming Thor and her struggles with that as she's dying of cancer. Basically the gods must be crazy bro. I really liked that this book is a personal story and a fantasy epic that goes all across the realms and the galaxy. It takes a long time to get to the war of the realms.
3. Black Widow Vol. 1
By Kelly Thompson (Writer), Elena Casagrande (Illustrations)
A crazy mystery that really pulls in different directions and can be a kind of touching book that makes you wonder what’s going on. It can be a good new beginning for Black Widow and one of the most compelling stories that make you want to keep reading and reading. Just reading one volume I knew that this had to be near the top of the list, that's hard to do.
2. Immortal Hulk Vols. 1-6
By Al Ewing (Writer), Joe Bennett (Illustrator)
Joe Bennett is a sick person but his art is also sickly disgusting and Ewing rolls this thing out of the park. Hulk smashes Earth and makes it all go green, destroying capitalism and stopping global warming. An inspiring and insightful story that goes much deeper than just the Hulk. This is a very well known and praised book. But I can't stress enough that it has a great story and crazy stuff is always going down here.
1. Hawkeye Vols. 1-4
By Matt Fraction (Writer), David Aja (Artist), Javier Pulido (Artist)
This the comic that stuck with me and felt me the most and it's far and away the best and most creative on this list. The most personal and emotional story. It really cemented Kate Bishop as an original gangster in the hierarchy of power in the Marvel Universe. Clint Barton is a sad boy but he got his own problems. I can’t wait for the Hawkeye show to be inspired by this one. I read the first two volumes a few years back and didn’t really feel them, I didn’t know what was up. Now I grew up and I do know. It’s 100% 🔥, not even just the action bro. Also I really enjoyed the third volume which just featured Kate Bishop in LA with West coast vibes and how all those stories converged in volume 4. There is some poetic stuff out here, bro. I also read the first volume of the follow-up by Jeff Lemire which is good and keeps up the awesome connection between Clint and Katie and Clint's past with his brother. But it doesn’t live up to this majestic book as much. The best thing I ever read maybe. Like just everything comes together so perfectly.
Thank you for reading this nonsense and be well for the next one. Stay connected.
