The most wonderful time of the year.

By that, I mean Best of 2010 in comics lists. I've always put mine here, and I may still, but for now you can read it here.

The JBS Personal Best of 2009.

Or, to be more accurate, the works of sequential fiction from which I derived the most pleasure in the past calendar year, gleaned from the various Spinner Rack Junkie columns I've inflicted upon you in the last 11 months.

As always, this is a highly subjective, entirely personal list; in no way is it intended to be comprehensive or any sort of guide for the unwary consumer looking for enlightenment. There are many, many excellent works that I have not read, for a number of reasons. You won't find too many critical darlings here- no Ganges, no Footnotes in Gaza, no manga (haven't read a single thing from ol' Nippon this year), no Pim and Francie, no The Hunter. I'm sure they're awesome, but I haven't read 'em. Maybe someday, but not in 2-double aught-9, so they're not on the list. No webcomics, either, though I do read 'em and love many. I don't own any of the physical printed collections, so I don't put 'em up here.

So anyway, here they are, 12 total, because most people do 10 and I like to be different, in alphabetical order so I can avoid the appearance of ranking one over the other.



ASTERIOS POLYP, the long awaited GN by David Mazzuchelli, is such an audacious burst of creativity that one hates to take shots at it- the protagonist isn't terribly likable (although he does improve), quite often the art reminded me of Chester Gould meets Hank Ketcham (a far cry from the MillerTothisms of his Batman: Year One days, for sure) or reading certain chapters of Understanding Comics, plus there's a strong Lifetime Movie of the Week vibe to its basic story - but no matter. The narrative as a whole becomes absolutely engrossing, with the creator taking opportunity to hold forth about a great many philosophical and esoteric notions, and I appreciated the uncynical tone of the ending, even though it's another of those ambiguous types that drive me up the wall. This one, though, kinda depends on your perspective, one of the themes of the story as a whole. Mazzuchelli's unorthodox art gymnastics take on a definite bravura, and it's exciting to see what kind of daredevil (no pun intended) leap he takes next. It may be a bit, just a bit, overrated- but it's still worth your time, I think.



BEASTS OF BURDEN: Evan Dorkin playing it (mostly) straight, and Jill Thompson turning in some absolutely stunning watercolor art in service of one of the odder story ideas in recent memory- talking animal (well, talking among themselves) occult detectives. No Scooby-Doo Mysteries here, though- this is on the level, and after a tentative first issue we got two back-to-back excellent, often moving supernatural adventures. I may be jumping the gun by including this since I have yet to read #4, but I've no doubt it will be right there with the others.



CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13: Paul Cornell's Anglo-centric superhero saga went out on a gonzo high note, as the team faced off with a very vicious and very overconfident Dracula, with assistance of a kind from Dr. Doom, and it was (as so often the case) well-written and illustrated enough to not sell enough copies to avoid cancellation. What a shame, and yet another example of how some radical rethinking needs to be done if the market won't support this sort of comics.



EMPOWERED: Adam Warren's gorgeously illustrated R-rated superhero exploitative cheesecake satire has been good since issue one, but was represented in 2009 with its best issue yet, as well as a nicely done one-shot at years' end.



HELLBOY: THE WILD HUNT: I know, what with all the various spinoffs and side projects under the BPRD/Hellboy banner, it's beginning to get a little confusing. That said, this particular branch, even though there was a long delay in the middle of the run, was never less than clever scriptwise (with Mike Mignola taking the opportunity to add to H.B.'s mythos a bit) and illustrated in excellent fashion by one of Mignola's best collaborators (besides Corben and Guy Davis), the underrated Duncan Fegredo. Best Hellboy adventure since last year's Crooked Man, the only one in recent memory that was better. Plus, a couple of issues featured Gary Gianni's Monster Men series, always great.



POTTER'S FIELD: STONE COLD: Under-the-radar one-shot from Boom! that I enjoyed very much when I read it earlier this year. Interesting premise (that TV, not surprisingly, co-opted via the Christian Slater vehicle The Forgotten) and excellent art by favorite Paul Azaceta. Hope there will be more.



SANDMAN: THE DREAM HUNTERS: Anytime we get this much new Craig Russell art, especially in the service of the sort of things that Neil Gaiman cooks up, it's a good thing. This was a masterful re-presentation.



SCALPED: If ever a series deserved the tag "grim and gritty", I guess it's this one...even though the term has taken on a pejorative tone in the last decade or so. This gripping account of crime, pride, greed and desperation in a Native American reservation has been consistently excellent all year long.



SCOTT PILGRIM V5: SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE UNIVERSE: I suppose it points to the fact that 2009 just didn't send me a lot of comics that blew me away that I include this very well done but somewhat forward-looking chapter in this list. All the stuff that makes O'Malley's protagonists so endearing and yet so frustrating are here again, and that makes it good enough for me...but "good enough" really shouldn't be on this list.



STARSTRUCK: I hoped for years that Elaine Lee and Mike Kaluta could somehow get around to giving us more of the inventive, clever, densely detailed world that I fell in love with back in the mid-80s, but eventually I had to face facts and give up. I am pleased to report that the unlikely did indeed come to pass, and it looks beautiful thanks to the colors by Lee Moyer. Sometimes, I suppose, you can come home again.



UNDERGROUND: Down to earth (no pun intended- well, maybe a little pun intended) saga of park rangers vs. greedy locals, written with satisfying verisimilitude by Jeff Parker and drawn for maximum tension by Steve Lieber, who's never done better work that I've seen, anyway.



WINTERMEN WINTER SPECIAL: Long-awaited finale to the outstanding, albeit indifferently presented, Soviet supersoldiers miniseries by Brett Lewis and John Paul Leon. Despite more editorial and company interference than any five series should have had imposed on it, what did come out in fits and starts was always engrossing and often flat out brilliant.

Honorable mentions: Showcase Presents: Bat Lash (I did not buy this, but I do still have the originals, which are not diminished by the lesser mid-70's reprints included in this long-overdue collection.); B.P.R.D: 1947, Greatest Hits, Incredible Hercules, Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire, Fables, Criminal: Sinners, Sir Edward Gray, Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels, Marvel Divas, The Mighty, Guardians of the Galaxy, Madame Xanadu, Phonogram: The Singles Club, Solomon Kane: Castle of the Devil, Invincible Iron Man, Incognito, Immortal Weapons, Umbrella Academy: Dallas, 100 Bullets, Jack Staff, The Boys, Terra, Sub-Mariner: The Depths, Power Girl, Detective Comics feat. Batwoman, Agents of Atlas, Doom Patrol (V5).

THE JOHNNY BACARDI SHOW 2008 PERSONAL 10 BEST IN COMICS

Merely liking a comic isn't qualification enough. It's not a race, not simply a matter of outrunning the competition. It means the work was notably better, in ways that can be explained, that it stands out from the other work in its milieu, that the author(s) brought something new to the table.

I don't want to know what critics and listmakers like. I want to know how trustworthy their aesthetic judgment is.

-Steven Grant, from Permanent Damage 12/10/08

Yep, the end of the year is upon us once more, which means that it is incumbent upon me to cobble together some sort of list of what I thought were the best comics of the last 365 days. I can't recall a year in which there has been more back-and-forth niggling about what constitutes a "best-of" list, or even if people should do them in the first place.

I say why the hell not? It's only natural to categorize and group things; to look back and reflect on another calendar year's worth of any sort of things that are related to entertainment in an easily categorizable way such as comics, movies, TV shows, and so forth. Me personally, I do this for myself as much as I do you guys, simply because it's interesting to me to come back to a whole calendar year's worth of stuff and see how I rated it...and if anyone is moved to investigate further, all the better as far as I'm concerned.

As I've done for the last five, this will be a list of the ten best books that I have personally read; which will unfortunately eliminate a lot of very fine titles, ably and most likely quite justifiably championed by others, you know- the people that Deppey and Carlson link to instead of me- that I simply haven't had the chance to read due to lack of funds or interest or connections with the appropriate publishers or all of the above. No Kramer's Ergots or Momes or name-your-indie-fave here, I'm afraid. So I'm not saying that these are the absolute best comics and comics-related publications of the past 12 months; it's just the best of what I've personally read, in my opinion, in that period of time. I think this ten is above the average, in general, of what has been, sorry to say, a mostly undistinguished year of releases. Note that word mostly, because like I said I am sadly unexposed to what I'm sure are a lot of extraordinary publications that I've seen on other lists. This will fail Mr. Grant's criteria, no doubt, but hey- I don't play in his league anyway so what the hell. OK. Disclaimer complete, lets do this, shall we? These are in alphabetical order, just so's you don't think that I'm playing favorites or anything. Relatively speaking, of course.

AQUA LEUNG by Mark Andrew Smith and Paul Maybury

In my review of this back in April, I said: Big, sprawling, ambitious epic adventure, loose and cartoonish and full of energy, and is obviously the work of two creators who are totally committed to bringing it to life. Yeah. Well, unfortunately the two creators couldn't play well together and therefore this will be, for the time being, a one-shot...what a pity.

B.P.R.D.: 1946 by Mike Mignola, Josh Dysart, and Paul Azaceta.

I knew about Azaceta from a Boom! series that I liked, Talent. I wasn't too familiar with Dysart's previous work. Together, working from a Mignola plot, they melded perfectly to bring us this adventure of Hellboy's mentor Professor Bruttenholm in the early days of the Bureau, post WWII, as he and his Russian counterparts (led by a demon in the form of a young ringlet-haired girl- it works better than you'd think) investigate a Nazi project codenamed Vampir Stürm...the nature of which you can probably guess. Azaceta shines on art, equally outstanding when creating mood as well as depicting balls-out action, and Dysart's matter-of-fact dialogue is perfect. Surely one of the best Hellboy spinoffs ever.

CRIMINAL 2 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Don't know what else I can say about this that hasn't been said a thousand times by pretty much everyone, myself included; outstanding writing, excellent art. In particular, for me it's always a pleasure to look at Phillips' unflashy but always satisfying work. I'm not always the biggest noir fan, in both film and prose, but I enjoy this, so I suppose that's saying something.

FREDDIE AND ME by Mike Dawson

Winning reminisce by Dawson, who combines his life story with his love for music, especially the rock band Queen. Review here.

HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben

Several fine writers have taken a crack at Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. with varying results; most of them have done a good job either on their own or working from Mignola script ideas. But no one writes the big red guy like his creator, and this ranks up there with any of the best Hellboy stories from years past. Set in the 1950's Appalachians in Virginia, and drawing from the same backwoods supernatural legends vein that Manly Wade Wellman tapped for his Silver John/John the Balladeer stories, and distinguished by the unusual and (as it turns out) wise decision to have the title character take a back seat to the colorful cast and be a passive observer rather than an active participant, although he does get to do the requisite monster-fighting and a great scene at the end. By and large, it was a good year for Hellboy and its spinoffs, although In the Chapel of Moloch was dissapointing.

IRON MAN: ENTER THE MANDARIN by Joe Casey and Eric Canete

Essentially a revamp of the first couple of meetings between the Mandarin and Iron Man waaaay back in 1963-64, a good job by Joe Casey, but galvanized by the dynamic art of Eric Canete. This one kinda got lost in the shuffle in the host of miniseries and such by higher-profile creators when the Iron Man movie made its premiere, most of which I didn't read so I can't tell you if this was any better than them- but I guarantee you that this is a very well-done and for me, very entertaining series thanks to Canete, an artist to watch.

LOVE & ROCKETS: NEW STORIES by Los Bros. Hernandez

Let's face it; pretty much anything the talented Bros. release in any given year is going to merit consideration on any year-end best-of list, because they're just that good. This was the only issue that was released this past year in its new, bigger format, and it was worth the expense. Best of the book for me was Jaime's epic Penny Century superhero adventure; I also got a kick out of Gilbert's Mitchell and Petrillo adventure fantasy.

NOCTURNALS: CARNIVAL OF BEASTS by Dan Brereton

It's been way too long since Brereton revisited arguably his most famous creations, so this would have been welcome in any respect...but by jumping right in and resuming old plot threads with a harder edge, this turned out to be something special. And of course, Dan's painted art was excellent as always. Hopefully, the wait for the next chapter won't be as long as it was for this one.

OMEGA THE UNKNOWN by Jonathan Lethem and Faryl Dalrymple

Easily one of the most atypical comics, in both content and style, Marvel has ever published, each issue of this revamp of the short-lived Steve Gerber/Mary Skrenes/Jim Mooney 1970's series was a veritable smorgasbord of food for thought. Gerber himself wasn't too happy about it, but I have to believe if he'd lived to read it, he would have acknowledged its quality, even if he wouldn't have taken it in this direction.

SCALPED by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guera and Davide Furno

Grim, down-to-earth dramatics involving Native Americans on a South Dakotan reservation. Unremittingly bleak, but it never rings false, and is Deadwood-like in its scope and ambition. Has been criticized for not ever showing its subjects in a more positive light, and that is a valid criticism, but it's no less compelling for this.

Honorable mentions: SUPER SPY, ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL 15-22 (naked fun with Catwoman and Batgirl!), THE VINYL UNDERGROUND (better than everyone seemed to think, and deserved a longer run, if you ask me), MEAT CAKE #17, THE BOYS, THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST (mostly the Brubaker/Fraction issues, but the Swierczynski issues had their moments despite lackluster art), MADAME XANADU (overcame a slow start, and artist Amy Reeder Hadley is the freshest thing to hit Vertigo in ages), MAINTENANCE, JACK STAFF, UMBRELLA ACADEMY: APOCALYPSE SUITE, GREATEST HITS, JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER (Diggle brought the goods), FABLES, 100 BULLETS, TOP 10: SEASON TWO, TINY TITANS (cute), NORTHLANDERS, CATWOMAN, HAWAIIAN DICK: SCREAMING BLACK THUNDER, MANHUNTER, INCREDIBLE HERCULES, SANDMAN: DREAM HUNTERS, JOKER'S ASYLUM: PENGUIN, SALT WATER TAFFY: A CLIMB UP MT. BARNABUS, FREAKANGELS (I've been reading the weekly webposts, but a collected version of this is available now) and STRANGE AND STRANGER: THE WORLD OF STEVE DITKO.

Best Comics of 2007.

2008 is almost here, so I figure it's time to make with the

BACARDI SHOW BEST OF 2007 IN COMICS,
GRAPHIC NOVELS, ET CETERA!

Now, let me preface this as I always do...This is by no means a list which claims to be the absolute best of the past year, will brook no dissension, et cetera. There are many, many fine, outstanding, revelatory comics and graphic novels that I've read volumes about on other comics blogs- you know, the ones that get linked to by Dirk Deppey- that I simply have not read due to not being on a particular comp list and/or lack of funds and/or not knowing anybody that has a copy I could borrow. So this is a highly personal, idiosyncratic list which is by no means complete, but is the best I can do under the circumstances. I shall continue what has become my annual tradition, namely citing 10 best plus 2. Just because. Rather than divide my nominations into graphic novels, limited series, ongoings, etc., creating sets and subsets and making this more of a chore than it needs to be, I'll just lump 'em all together and let God sort 'em out, m'kay?

Maestro, if you please:


ABRAXAS AND THE EARTHMAN (Rick Veitch, King Hell): As imaginative and clever in 2007 as it was in 1981.

BLACK METAL V1 (Rick Spears, Chuck B.B.; Oni Press): Left-field surprise which I found completely enjoyable.

COURTNEY CRUMRIN AND THE FIRE THIEF's TALE (Ted Naifeh, Oni Press): It's been too long since Naifeh revisited Courtney, fortunately it didn't disappoint.

CRIMINAL (Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips; Marvel/Icon): Brubaker and Phillips continue to make excellence look easy.

FABLES (Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steven Leialoha, various; DC/Vertigo): Fables has had an exceptionally solid year, with the current ongoing storyline ranking among the best in the series yet. How many series, 70-plus issues in, can make that claim?

THE IMMORTAL IRON FIST (Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker, David Aja, various; Marvel): Good old-fashioned pulpy fun and martial arts action, with a high-quality blend of backup artists.

JLA/HITMAN (Garth Ennis, John McCrea; DC): Like I said the other day- this was the best series DC put out in, well, let's just say a long time. I liked Ennis' Superman more here than in the entire Morrison run of All-Star Superman, and as much as Supes' previous appearance in the Hitman world, unsurprisingly. Isn't it funny (strange, and ha-ha) how hardassed cynic Ennis can write one of the most upfront and heroic characters in modern fiction so well? A textbook display of how to have superhero characters interact and relate to each other, as well as a bittersweet valentine to those of us who loved Tommy Monaghan back in the day. I hope they collect this in one volume soon, I just might buy it again.

KANE VOL. 6: PARTNERS (Paul Grist, Image): While I'm sure many of you have already read the stories re-presented here, I hadn't, and to me this represents Paul Grist at the top of his game, which is saying something to me.

THE LAST SANE COWBOY AND OTHER STORIES (Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, AiT/PlanetLar): Absolutely inspired surrealist lunacy, the likes of which you just don't see all that often.

NAT TURNER: REVOLUTION BOOK 2 (Kyle Baker): Unforgettable conclusion to this historical saga, with some of Baker's best, and most committed, art in at least a decade.

SCOTT PILGRIM VOL. 4: SCOTT PILGRIM GETS IT TOGETHER (Bryan Lee O'Malley; Oni): Still clever, fresh and fun.

SHAZAM VS. THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL (Jeff Smith, DC): It takes a certain kind of writer and artist to capture the openhearted, benign vibe of the best Captain Marvel comics of the 40's, and DC was fortunate to find both in one person in Smith. Faltered a bit when Smith tried to shoehorn in commentary on current politics, but it never broke stride.

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Catwoman, Dr. Strange: The Oath, Dr. Thirteen: Architecture and Morality, NextWave: Agents of H.A.T.E., Delphine #2, Meat Cake, All-Star Superman, Hawaiian Dick #1, Love and Rockets Vol.2, Powers, Jack Staff, Will Eisner's The Spirit, Superf*ckers, Hellboy: Darkness Calls, Batman #'s 667-669, Omega the Unknown #'s 1-3, The Brave and the Bold, Re-Gifters, 100 Bullets, Daredevil, Casanova, the short backing features by Colleen Coover and Jeff Parker in X-Men: First Class.

Best Comics of 2006.

2007 is now upon us, so I figure I'd better get on the ball and
make with the

BACARDI SHOW BEST OF 2006 IN COMICS,
GRAPHIC NOVELS, ET CETERA!



Now, let me preface this as I always do...This is by no means a list which purports to be the absolute best of the past year. There are many, many fine comics and graphic novels that I've read volumes about on other comics blogs- you know, the ones that get linked to by Dirk Deppey and Heidi MacDonald- that I simply have not read due to not being on a comp list and/or lack of funds and/or not knowing anybody that has a copy I could borrow. So this is a highly personal, idiosyncratic list which is by no means complete, but is the best I can do under the circumstances. I shall continue what has become my annual tradition, namely citing 10 best plus 2. Just because. And a whole metric ton of honorable mentions...because this has been a odd year for comics as far as I'm concerned- there was nothing which absolutely blew me out of the water, but there were a lot of solid successes, mostly in the ongoing and/or limited series categories. Rather than divide my nominations into graphic novels, limited series, ongoings, etc., creating sets and subsets and making this more of a chore than it needs to be, I'll just lump 'em all together and let God sort 'em out, m'kay?

So shut up, Dave, and make with the list!

7 SOLDIERS: FRANKENSTEIN by Grant Morrison and Doug Mahnke (DC)
I though the 7 Soldiers project, as a whole, collapsed under the weight of Morrison's hubris as well as behind-the-scenes troubles (cf. Mister Miracle, which was just an awful muddle and never really seemed to fit in to the big picture) devolving into incoherence before it was done. But this particular component was outstanding from start to finish; great, pulpish weird adventure and sci-fi, aided greatly by yet another killer art job by Mahnke. I, for one, would like to read further adventures of Grant's monster.

BATMAN: YEAR 100 by Paul Pope (DC)
More of Pope doing what Pope does best- smart action and adventure in a future primitive setting.

CRIMINAL by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Marvel/Icon)
After only three issues, it maybe premature to place this on the list...but this is a solid, well-crafted and always involving piece of work, just like we all thought it would be, and promises to be nothing but better as time goes by.

DESOLATION JONES by Warren Ellis,J.H. Williams III, and Daniel Zezelj. (Image)
I believe that 2006 was the Year of the Intarwub Jesus, as Ellis was giving us no less than four outstanding books. Jones, which should probably be subtitled Lifestyles of the Twisted and Damaged, was a potent blend of spy story, character-driven drama, and gallows humor, and didn't lose a step when Zezelj took over from Willams, despite the 180 degree difference in the two men's styles.

DR. STRANGE: THE OATH by Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin. (Marvel)
What the hell-? Vaughan? In my top 10? Well, he's certainly earned it as this is the best take on the venerable Doctor since Steve Englehart pushed away from his typewriter for the last time in the 1970's- full of wit, action, and an intriguing storyline. Martin's slightly Caniff/Robbins-esque art, devoid of his usual inker Alvaro Lopez, is just as good by itself. Unless Vaughan botches the ending, this one's a keeper.

DORK! #11 by Evan Dorkin (Slave Labor)
Dorkin makes with the funny as only he can, throwing out the acid-tinged gags, puns, and satire at a rapid pace and hitting the target nearly every time. Tell me why, again, he can't get published in Mad? Oh, right- his stuff is actually funny.

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED #'S 22, 38 by various
Yeah, yeah, I know. This is never going to take the place of Kramer's Ergot or Mome or insert-your-own-comics-blogosphere-critical-darling-here, nor does it probably even really belong in any serious discussion of a year-end best of...but I do know this: I got more pure reading enjoyment out of these two comics than I did practically anything else I read in 2006, hence their inclusion. Hell, I never claimed to be a "serious" comics critic, whatever that is, anyway.

NEIL GAIMAN'S NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey, and Glenn Fabry. (DC)
I think this was on last year's list, too, at least the singles were...so this is for the collection, which came out in 2006 and is well worth your while for Carey's outstanding adaptation of Gaiman's novel (I like Carey's dialogue better than Gaiman's, for what that's worth) and especially the intricate, superb art by Fabry. If only all adaptations of fantasy novels- or for that matter, other types of novels- could be this good.

NEXTWAVE: AGENTS OF H.A.T.E. by Ellis and Stuart Immonen. (Marvel)
Ellis takes a motley crew of b-list Marvel characters and improbably gives us the most amusing Marvel comic since Not Brand Echh, unsurprisingly namechecked in the last couple of issues, not to mention a sharp take on Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol vibe. Started strong, lagged a bit in the middle as it seemed uncertain where it wanted to go, but rebounded strongly to become one of Marvel's top 5 titles in my book. Unfortunately, it was bottom 5 in the real world sales wise, so it won't be with us long. Get the collections.

NORTHWEST PASSAGE #3 by Scott Chantler (Oni)
Another chapter of the outstanding historical adventure series, with Chantler's enjoyable art, which more often as not reminds me of Tintin's Herge. If ever there was a book deserving of a wider audience, this one is it.

TOM STRONG #36
S: Alan Moore; A: Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Jose Villarubia.
An elegant, bittersweet epilogue to the whole America's Best Comics experiment, which was perhaps doomed to failure from the onset but stuck around long enough to deliver a lot of great reading. In this, the final issue of Strong, which never really recovered from Moore's departure as writer, we witnessed the events from the last issue of Promethea from the perspective of the Strong family and done by the original creative team with Moore returning for one last hurrah.

Honorable Mentions, aka Books/Ongoing Series I Also Enjoyed But Not Enough to Put in the Top 12, in no particular order except that in which I thought of them:

Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness (Oni); Seven Sons (AiT/PlanetLar); Agents of Atlas (Marvel); All-Star Superman (DC); Daughters of the Dragon (Marvel); Wimbledon Green: The World's Greatest Comic Collector (Drawn and Quarterly); Solo #'s 11,12 (DC); Polly and the Pirates (Oni); Hellboy: Makoma (Dark Horse); X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl (Marvel); Talent (Boom!); Superf*ckers (Top Shelf); Delphine (Fantagraphics); Fell (Image); The Winter Men (DC/Wildstorm); Meat Cake (Fantagraphics); Love & Rockets, Vol.2 (Fantagraphics); Death, Jr. Vol. 2(Image); Hawaiian Dick: The Last Resort (Image); Jack Staff (Image); Daredevil (Marvel); The Middle Man Vol. 2 (Viper); DMZ (DC/Vertigo); Planetary Brigade (Boom!); Hero Squared (Boom!); Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters (DC); Planetary (DC/Wildstorm); Gray Horses (Oni); Rock Bottom (AiT/PlanetLar); Lucifer (DC), The Leading Man (Oni); 100 Bullets (DC/Vertigo); Fables (DC/Vertigo); Bluesman Vol. 3 (NBM), Shaolin Cowboy (Burlyman Entertainment); Showcase Presents The Phantom Stranger/Unknown Soldier (DC), Ultimates 2 (Marvel).

Happy new year, everybody!

AND NOW, THE JOHNNY BACARDI SHOW BEST OF 2005 IN COMICS!

As always, not what I'm saying were the absolute end-all and be-all best of the year, but merely the best that I READ in two double-aught five. Many worthy books did not cross my optical scanners in the 12 months previous, so I can't list 'em, sorry. But anyway, on Planet Dave, these were Nobel prize winners, there are a baker's dozen of 'em, and they're NOT in order of preference:

BAMBI AND HER PINK GUN #1 (Digital Manga)
Sexy, funny, violent as all get out and extremely well drawn by Kaneko Atsushi, this didn't exactly fly off shelves- which means that this just didn't appeal to the typical manga reader, and that's too bad for them.

DESOLATION JONES (DC/Wildstorm)
Warren Ellis gives us a downbeat, affecting character study in sci-fi espionage thriller clothes, and had the good fortune to attract one of the most innovative and brilliant artists working in the field today, J.H. Williams III. This isn't over yet, and Ellis may blow it before it's done, but this has been outstanding so far.

KANE: THE UNTOUCHABLE RICO COSTAS AND OTHER STORIES (Image)
Been waiting seemingly forever for this- the singles it collects are kinda hard to find- and although I have yet to hear a plausible explanation why this collection of late-90's stories took forever and a day to be released in 2005, it was definitely worth tolerating the delay. I discovered Paul Grist through JACK STAFF, and it's an excellent title in its own right, but the more I read of its predecessor, the more I think that this was/is his best work. Besides the usual Grist daredevil storytelling techniques, this features a nifty Sin City parody. I hope the next collection comes out before the decade's end...

PECULIA AND THE GROON GROVE VAMPIRES (Fantagraphics)
Richard Sala devotes an entire full-length graphic novel to his most charismatic and endearing character, not to mention sexiest, and it's a minor masterpiece of mood and fun.

SCOTT PILGRIM VOL. 2: SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD (Oni)
Okay, maybe it didn't hit as many high notes as Vol. 1. I look at it this way- Magical Mystery Tour isn't quite as good a Beatle album as Sgt. Pepper's, either...but I love 'em both just the same.

SCURVY DOGS TPB (AiT/PlanetLar)
Couldn't have a "yar"-end review without listing this! Only a Philistine, or Rod Stewart perhaps, wouldn't think this was a hoot and a half.

SLEEPER SEASON TWO (DC/Wildstorm)
Proof positive that superhero comics don't have to be dumbed-down, melodramatic posturing and rehashed sci-fi/action movie clichés. Many folks agreed with me, but sadly not nearly enough.

SMOKE (IDW)
This is the first thing I've read by Alex DeCampi, and it won't be the last. She took a number of well-worn themes and make them fresh, engrossing, and successful in its evocation of the spirit of classic British TV and films such as The Avengers, Danger Man, and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, and it helped a lot that collaborator Igor Kordey gave us some of the best art of his career to date.

SOLO (DC)
This series was consistently excellent all year long, and the Paul Pope, Darwyn Cooke, Howard Chaykin, and Jordi Bernet spotlights in particular were magnificent. It's always great to see creators given the opportunity to wing it; sometimes a lot of wankery ensues, but often greatness is the result.

SUPERFUCKERS (Top Shelf)
Superfunny and supernaughty take on superheroes by James Kochalka. Lovers of Venture Brothers, South Park and Family Guy should be reading this, as should anyone with a sense of humor. Or, for that matter, a pulse.

TRUE STORY, SWEAR TO GOD : THIS ONE GOES TO ELEVEN (AiT/PlanetLar)
Once again, Tom Beland entertains and enchants with his openhearted storytelling and graceful cartooning. Even though he's a 49er fan, I'll always come back for more.

WE3 (DC)
Yeah, I know, I listed this one last year, but #3 of the singles and the trade came out in '05 so here it is. Grant Morrison wrung all the pathos and drama he could out of what was essentially a amalgam of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.H.M., The Incredible Journey, Milo and Otis, Soldier, and C.H.O.M.P.S. , and no doubt made a lot of comics readers' pets very happy when they were inordinately treated with lots of love and care after their owners read the agonizing, but thrilling, finale. Frank Quitely was also at his best, depicting the events with intelligence and wit. Pray that there won't be a sequel, or a movie version.


HONORABLE MENTION:

10 (Boom! Studios)
Surprisingly good exercise in the high concept; kept me guessing all the way through. This and HERO SQUARED were keepers from fledgling publisher Boom!.

ALL-STAR SUPERMAN (DC)
This was a bit too pat and pleased with itself for me to go nuts over, but I'll always line up for extra helpings of Morrison ideas with Quitely art sauce. After only one issue, I'm reserving judgement- but anybody that can get me all worked up enough to care about a Superman comic must be doing something right.

COURTNEY CRUMRIN TALES #1 (Oni): Between this and the also-outstanding POLLY AND THE PIRATES, Ted Naifeh was on quite a roll- he's got that vaguely Goth, brave little girl thing all sewn up to himself. CCT was a look at the early days of Courtney's Uncle Aloyisius, who is almost as interesting a character as his niece.

ELECTRIC GIRL VOLUME 3 (AiT/PlanetLar)
Likeable and clever, smart and fun enough for the youngsters and the young at heart, too. You'd think Disney or Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network would be all over this. Not that I'd care to see that happen, mind you.

ESSENTIAL KILLRAVEN TPB (Marvel)
A sentimental favorite- this is one of my absolute favorite comics series of all time, all in one sadly uncolored but otherwise complete location. Sure, it was kinda pretentious, long-winded, often ridiculous and suffered from wildly inconsistent artist fill-ins, but this series engaged my imagination, thrilled my teenage soul, and for a little while enabled me to dream of making comics of my own one day. It's not Don McGregor & Craig Russell's fault I never followed through on that.

FELL (Image)
Ellis' winning streak continues as he introduces us to the unassuming Richard Fell, more Clouseau slash Columbo than Desolation Jones' Elric slash Sam Spade, and all the more likeable because of it. The stories tend to follow a A-B-C pattern, but fortunately the events are mostly novel (unless you make a habit out of perusing the tabloids and weird websites that Ellis seems to draw most of his inspiration from these days), the city of Snowtown is almost a character in itself in its malignant, sprawling griminess, and you can't beat this as an exercise in storytelling, especially considering its price point. I'm enjoying the Sienkiewicz-meets-Kyle Baker art of Ben Templesmith, too.

FELT: TRUE TALES OF UNDERGROUND HIP-HOP (Image)
I'm about as white as a white boy can be, but I really liked this- Jim Mahfood's work has an angular, thick-lined style that is always visually pleasing and the storyline was energetic and often funny.

FLYTRAP (Sara Ryan/Steve Lieber mini-comic)
Outstanding self-pubbed mini-comic, involving a down-on-her-luck booking agent that gets involved with a traveling circus. Hope Ryan and Lieber can do more of these someday, and it absolutely deserves a bigger audience.

GOTHAM CENTRAL (DC)
While it had its share of ups and downs over the year, this was mostly good, with the "Death of Robin" storyline working very well until a rather arbitrary ending. The addition of Kano on art was a definite plus.

HELLBOY: THE ISLAND (Dark Horse)
Only Mike Mignola can make what was essentially a two-issue infodump so entertaining.

NAT TURNER (Kyle Baker Publishing)
Fascinating and powerful, like the best historical nonfiction can be. Only the fact that this is half complete as of this writing, along with some questionable graphic design choices and the worst paper stock since mid-70's Marvel keeps me from putting this in the top 12.

NEIL GAIMAN'S NEVERWHERE (DC/Vertigo)
First a TV series, then a novel, and now a comic book- and rarely does thrice-cooked fare go down this well. Thank adapter Mike Carey, who rewrites with a sure hand and writes florid Gaimanesque dialogue much better than the titular "consultant" ever did, and especially artist Glenn Fabry, who is turning in a painstaking, fabulous job of depicting the funky, freaky world that Gaiman dreamed up. This has gotten zero buzz, and it's a shame.

OWLY: FLYING LESSONS (Top Shelf)
Maybe I'm just an old softie, but Owly stories always warm the ol' cockles. And that's a hell of a thing in these uncertain, troubled times.

THE LOSERS (DC/Vertigo)
I wasn't especially impressed with the big master scheme of bad guy Max revealed this year; it just came across as too mid-80's James Bond for my taste. That said, it was the only sour note that Andy Diggle hit- well, on this title anyway. He and artist Jock together are a dynamite team and I hope they work together again someday. Colin Wilson did an above-average fill-in job on a few issues as well. Another victim of fanboy apathy, and I'll miss this one when it's gone.

SEVEN SOLDIERS (DC)
The introductory #0 issue was a great read, especially thanks to Williams on art. The subsequent miniseries have been hit-and-miss; I liked Zatanna the most, followed closely by Klarion, and really the only dud so far has been the Shining Knight, due to breakdowns in storytelling cohesion more than any shortcomings in the art department. The jury's still out on this as a whole, to say the least.

SMOKE AND GUNS (AiT/PlanetLar)
If I was as enthralled by the story, a blend of The Warriors, Streets of Fire, and 40's Noir tropes, as I was by Fabio Moon's excellent art then I'd be shouting its praises from the rooftops. Still, this was fun, wouldn't mind seeing a sequel someday, and you can chalk up another winner for AiT/P.

THE SURROGATES (Top Shelf)
Here's one which has flown under a lot of folks' radar, but it's a tight little exploration of duality and identity issues, not to mention human nature, all decked out in Philip Dick clothing. Unless they totally botch the ending, this one's well worth your time.

THE WINTERMEN (DC/Wildstorm)
I was absolutely blown away by the first issue, but the next two, while strong, were mild letdowns due to some garbled pacing. There are layers upon layers upon layers in the tale that Brett Lewis has concocted, and one is rewarded upon re-readings with strong characters and imaginative situations. Plus, Lewis has a good ear for fractured Russian-English speech patterns, even though I kept wondering why it was necessary for the Russkies to carry on conversations in this awkward manner- you'd think they'd converse in their native tongue. Anyway, it's also great to see John Paul Leon turning in the best art of his career to date- hope someone notices.

TRICKED (Top Shelf)
Movie version by Paul Thomas Anderson, anyone? Still don't buy the rock star character, but everything else was involving and I even liked and sympathized with Ray Zone, too, as long as I didn't try to find a real-life musician to compare him to.

ULTIMATES 2 (Marvel)
Another excellent year for the superhero book fanboys, especially aging fanboys, love to hate. Remains to be seen if Millar can pull off the resolution.

Well, that's it. Coming up, eventually: movies and music, maybe even TV year-end lists.

Best Comics of 2004.

The end of the year is nigh...and now, that moment you've all been breathlessly awaiting...

THE JOHNNY BACARDI SHOW'S BEST COMICS OF 2004!

Or, to be precise, the comics that I read in 2004 that I liked the most and/or in most cases were ranked consistently high in my reviews. I freely admit that as always, there were many excellent titles that came out in 2004 that I just didn't pick up on for a myriad of reasons, and therefore can't and won't include. It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. These are listed alphabetically, not in order of preference. So without any further...

100 BULLETS by Brian Azzurrello and Eduardo Risso (DC/Vertigo). 100 Bullets floundered early this year, suffering a incoherent story arc and a delay in schedule caused by Azzurrello & Risso's stint on Batman, but then rebounded strongly with an excellent issue 50, and the so-far great "Wylie Runs the Voodoo Down" story arc which advances the underlying Minutemen vs. the Trust plot. 100 Bullets is, in my eyes anyway, a solid title and Risso is an amazingly talented and prolific (nothing to sneer at these days) craftsman.

COURTNEY CRUMRIN IN THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM by Ted Naifeh (Oni Press). Another interesting chapter of Ted Naifeh's surly young witch, this time getting her involved with the darker side of the Fairie world, not to mention the darker side of some of her classmates. Naifeh has crafted an intriguing little world for his character, and his moody, angular art style keeps getting better and better.

HAWAIIAN DICK: THE LAST RESORT by B. Clay Moore, Steven Griffin and Nick Derington (Image). Well, maybe you can resist the combination of witty scripting, gorgeous color, sun & sand, gangsters, private eyes, beautiful girls and ghosts, but I can't. I'm enjoying this second Dick series as much as I did the first one, and unless Moore totally pulls a Meltzer on the ending, I think this will be another keeper.

THE LEGEND OF WILD MAN FISCHER by Dennis Eichorn, J.P. Williams and others (Top Shelf). Engrossing biocomic on one of the most obscure and oddball people to ever pick up a mike and take the stage. Fischer was one in a million, and this manages to capture his kaleidoscopic eccentricity, while making a strong case for his artistry at the same time. For more from me on this, go here.

THE LOSERS (DC/Vertigo) by Andy Diggle and Jock. Even though we had to endure three less-than-stellar fill-in issues by inferior artists, The Losers was still excellent whenever Diggle and Jock teamed up. Sharply dialogued and intensely illustrated, full of action, laughs, and excitement, I never feel ripped off when I've finished an issue they collaborate on. I hope it can go on at least long enough for me to put it on this list next year.

OWLY Vol. 1: THE WAY HOME and THE BITTERSWEET SUMMER by Andy Runton (Top Shelf). I only read this last weekend, so I really haven't had a chance to hold forth on this charming, sweet, and clever (and cleverly illustrated) story about a good-hearted owl and his buddies, two hummingbirds and an earthworm. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, and look forward to many more.

SAME DIFFERENCE and OTHER STORIES by Derek Kirk Kim (Top Shelf). Hm. I certainly have several Top Shelf books on this list, don't I? Anyway, I have to confess that I'm cheating a bit by including this on my list; I don't own a copy of this collection. Kim published this on his own website for several months prior to its publication, and I read and enjoyed it very much there. Amazon lists the version with this cover as having been released in 2004, so I include it here! One of these days I hope to pick up a copy; in the meantime, take my word for it, whydoncha?

SLEEPER SEASONS ONE and TWO by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (DC/Wildstorm). Is this a spy/espionage comic with superheroes, or vice versa? Is this a twisted version of a romance comic, as some have suggested? Yes. Another thing it is is always excellent, and just when you think that you have figured out where it's heading, it will always take another left turn and add another layer of intrigue. As good as it gets for mainstream comics, I think.

URSULA by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba (AiT/PlanetLar). A winningly open-hearted and warm fable about love, fantasy/reality and growing up, written and illustrated with aplomb by the tag-team of Moon and Ba. Buy this for someone you care about- makes an excellent Valentine's Day gift!

WE3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC/Vertigo). I underrated issue #1, but by #2 I had re-evaluated my original stance and have come to regard this as one of the most straightforward, powerful and thought-provoking stories this gifted craftsman has ever given us. And of course, Frank Quitely takes full advantage of what he's given, providing inspired visuals like the time-lapse, segmented attack on the soldiers on pages 6 & 7 of #2. Again, #3 hasn't come out yet, but I seriously doubt that there is any Meltzer in Grant Morrison, so I'm not worried. Very gud, as Bandit would say.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
...and there are quite a few...
FLIGHT Vol. 1 by various artists (Image).
A veritable plethora of Indie and webcomics artists, including the amazing Vera Brosgol, Clio Chang and Jen Wang do their thing illustrating stories based on the theme of, you guessed it, flight. One to look back on, say, 10 years from now and see where these creators have ended up.

DAREDEVIL by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev (Marvel).
The comic comic bloggers love to hate maintained a solid level of consistency, and while there were a couple of valleys, there were a lot more peaks.

PROMETHEA by Alan Moore, J.H. Williams III and Mick Gray (DC/Wildstorm).
Moore is pulling out all the metaphysical stops as he winds down his (in a lot of ways, I think) most "personal" epic, and he's fortunate to have a gifted artist like J.H. Williams III (ably inked by Mick Gray, as always) to provide brilliant, breathtaking visuals. Probably should have been in the top 10, I suppose; only the convoluted nature of the narrative kept me from putting it there.

DC: THE NEW FRONTIER by Darwyn Cooke (DC).
Another book which just missed the top 10 cut. I flat out love Darwyn Cooke's art style, and this is a fine tribute to the less, shall we say, shades-of-grey type stories and characters that I grew up with. Only some inconsistencies in the script kept me from ranking it higher.

SCURVY DOGS By Andrew Young and Ryan Yount (AiT/PlanetLar).
Absolutely hilarious, nutball, surreal pirate comics. More fun than a barrel of pirates, monkeys, ninjas and robots. I can't remember reading a stranger comic since the halcyon days of the Flaming Carrot.

MY FAITH IN FRANKIE by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel (DC/Vertigo)
Fun fantasy-drama about a young lady with her own personal god, who is a bit on the over-protective side. Great, energetic art by Sonny Liew, nicely inked by JB Show fave Marc Hempel.

WARLOCK by Greg Pak and Charlie Adlard (Marvel)
I suppose if you want to be all cynical about it, this is another attempt to re-create an older Marvel character to make him more palatable to movie producers. But this turned out to be more than that- Pak has taken the tired old Starlin version and has reimagined it, while nodding to the 60s and 70s at the same time. Nicely drawn by Charlie Adlard, the Tommy Lee Jones of comics art.

OCEAN by Warren Ellis, Chris Sprouse and Karl Story (DC/Wildstorm)
Deliberate sci-fi with a 2001 feel, with a typically smart and terse Ellis script and outstanding art by another JB Show favorite, Chris Sprouse. Not over yet, so it's possible that Ellis may still jump the shark- but so far so good.

STREET ANGEL by Jim Rugg and Brian Marucca (Slave Labor).
This comic, the current darling of the Comics Blogosphere, made an awful lot of best-of lists...but it's just so all-over-the-place, tone-and-subject-matter-wise, that I couldn't do it. It's still a solid book, well drawn, often clever- but I want to see if Rugg can pick his poison before I start singing louder praises.

PLANETARY by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (DC/Wildstorm)
Actually came out on something resembling a regular schedule this year, and that made me happy. One issue wasn't quite up to par, but the others were excellent as Ellis and Cassaday inexorably crawl towards the eventual resolution. Take your time, gentlemen- I'm willing to wait if this is the result of your deliberation.

JINGLE BELLE by Paul Dini, Jose Garibaldi, Stephanie Gladden, and Jason Bone (Dark Horse)
There have only been two issues out of the four so far this year, but they've been very high-quality. I still can't believe how much more I like Jose Garibaldi's color art than what he's given us previously. An early Christmas present for me!

EIGHTBALL by Dan Clowes (Fantagraphics)
Well, of course we know that only one issue came out this year, #23, and it was as overrated by many as it was underrated by others (me included). Clowes' deadpan style keeps me at arm's length even as he impresses me with his cleverness, but it's this distance that keeps me from embracing #23 as much as I did #22, perhaps one of the best comics published in the last 40 years.

LUCIFER by Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Ryan Kelly, and Dean Ormston (DC/Vertigo)
More valleys than peaks this year, I'm afraid, but overall this is still an impressive run by author Carey. The art, except for one stellar fill-in by Marc Hempel, is competent if not inspired. But I really do like this book, really!

FABLES by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, and others (DC/Vertigo)
I like how Willingham has (and continues to) reimagine these traditional characters, and am always engaged if not always blown away. The art, as with Lucifer, is competent but unexciting.

GOTHAM CENTRAL by Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Mike Lark, Steven Guadiano and others (DC)
The low-key approach this title uses doesn't always make for the most compelling reading, but I'm always rewarded for my effort. Usually always solid, especially when Brubaker scripts. I'll miss Michael Lark on art...I wish Lee Loughridge's ghastly colors would accompany him.

WALKING DEAD by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard (Image)
I've managed to stay interested in this book, even though that's begun to wane a bit as the plot is beginning to spin its wheels. I was sufficiently impressed by this to rate it highly most of the year, so here it is. This being said, I'm dropping it after the next issue.

POWERS V1 and V2 by Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming (Image/Marvel/Icon)
Another interesting year of Powers, along with a publisher switch. Bendis may get more attention for his cranked out Marvel stuff (Daredevil excepted), but I think this is the book he likes to write.

DEMO by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan (AiT/PlanetLar)
Overall very high quality series, even though I liked some issues (#8 (my fave), #'s 3, 4 & 11) more than others (#6, #10), and while I was often very frustrated at the vagueness of many of the scripts, I came away loving Becky Cloonan's chameleon-like art and appreciating this quite honest attempt at doing something different, which never gets old.

PLASTIC MAN by Kyle Baker and Scott Morse (DC)
This is Baker's show, and while I don't really understand why he's bothering (I suppose he's just paying the bills) I was entertained by the issues I read. I wish he wouldn't take such a slapdash approach to his art; it often clashes with the fast and funny approach he's trying to maintain by being sloppy and indistinct. Morse contributed two fill-ins, one fair-to-middling and the other not so hot. I still think the scene in which Superman uses his heat vision to burn President Luthor's belt and cause his trousers to drop off should be canonical.

DAISY KUTTER: THE LAST TRAIN by Kaz Kabuishi (Viper)
This has been an overall fun series, and I like the title character. Sometimes Kaz isn't always 100% successful at combining cartoony fantasy with more down-to-earth subject matter, but that's a difficult trick to pull off even by the greats. This mini is a little pricey, but it's printed on good paper and I don't really feel ripped off.

JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER by Mike Carey, Marcelo Frusin and Leo Manco
(DC/Vertigo)
All in all, a good year for Carey and ol' Conjob. I'll miss Frusin, who really grew into the character.

B.P.R.D.: PLAGUE OF FROGS by Mike Mignola and Guy Davis (Dark Horse)
These Hellboy spinoffs have been extremely hit-and-miss, but with Mike Mignola scripting and Guy Davis just killing on art, this mini was a winner.

I'll try to do a movie and music best-of list, too, but don't stand on one leg waiting...

Best Comics of 2003.

Since this year is almost over, I suppose it's incumbent upon me to cobble together some sort of personal "Best Comics of 2003" list. Rather than relying on my often spotty memory, I decided to approach it somewhat scientifically- I went back through this past year's reviews, right here on this blog, and kept a tally of the comics I graded "A". In doing this, I noticed a couple of interesting things: first, at some point in June or July, my standards must have gotten significantly higher; I gave out less than half as many A's the last six months of '03 as I did the first six. I credit that to the influence of my recent acquaintances in the comics blogospheriverse. Also, I noticed a couple of instances of "what was I thinking? : an A for the well-illustrated but slight Mr. Gum one-shot?!? B.P.R.D.: Soul of Venice? I also noticed a couple of sleeper titles, none of which were Sleeper, that surprised me by popping up as often as they did.

OK. This will be a top ten list, and please bear in mind that it is my best of '03; I'm fully aware of many fine books like Blankets or Persepolis, just a couple of those cited by Time's Andrew Arnold or by Alan David Doane. But I can't list 'em 'cause I haven't read 'em. Which is not to say I won't someday...Blankets is beginning to look kinda interesting. But it won't be this year. It's also in alphabetical order, simply because I can't decide what the absolute best title slash book I've read this year is. So enough with the preamble, and I do mean amble: this is a list of the best comics and/or series I have read in 2003- make of it what you will.

BATGIRL: YEAR ONE A modest triumph which might have, at nine issues, been a bit overlong but each chapter was solid. Providing more of an insight into Barbara Gordon as a person rather than Barbara in Bat-clothes made all the difference as far as I was concerned, and the art team of Marcos Martin and (especially) inker Alvaro Lopez, who has such a beautiful inking line, brought out a lot of nuances in the script that many lesser illustrators would have missed.

DAREDEVIL Brian Bendis did a superb job in 2003, giving us a very compromised, yet grim and determined Matt Murdock as he defended his life, career, chosen mission, and loved ones against the fallout of the revelation of his true identity as well as the consequences of the downfall of the Kingpin. Nicely illustrated by Alex Maleev, who was a bit deficient in depicting action scenes but excelled at everything else. The last few months of DD were a bit of a downer as David Mack gave us a beautifully illustrated but completely unnecessary and way too long story of his admittedly interesting creation Echo. Still, Bendis and Maleev were so good earlier that Daredevil's place on this list is assured.

GOTHAM CENTRAL It's easy to dismiss this as Gotham City Blue, but that's really too simplistic. Central de-emphasizes the Gotham Police Force's ties to Batman, although its cast more often as not has to deal with all his nutjob menaces, which is the chief fascination for me- how they do it. As a result, Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka get a chance to shine a revealing light on some of the long-overlooked members of the Bat-books which means that it's characterization that rules the day here, not action, although GC is not lacking for that either. Of course, none of this would work half as well if not for the excellent art of Michael Lark, truly an underrated illustrator if there ever was one.

HAWAIIAN DICK I came very close to naming this 3 issue series from Image my best of the year, I enjoyed it that much. Period Detective Noir-type stories aren't all that unusual in comics these days, but setting this particular crime/mystery/thriller in late 50s Hawaii makes gives it atmospheric, weird and just plain ol' different edge. There's supposed to be a one-shot follow-up soon which I'm anxiously awaiting.

JACK STAFF I think Paul Grist is one of the best illustrators in the business, and he's very underrated as an author as well, writing twisty, turny, clever episodes- with twisty, turny characters who are never quite what they seem- that don't always behave in linear fashion and always keep the reader on their toes. Grist is a tinkerer, an experimenter, and he seems to be having a ball with Staff, even more so than his straighter-by-comparison Kane. I will admit, this being said, that I was enjoying the B&W small-press Jack series, #11 of which came out this year, more so than the four color issues that have been published by Image so far. #11, in fact, was the only comic to get an A+ from me thanks to an amazing story which was propelled along with minimal figure and background rendering, but depended on Grist's lettering skills, and it worked well. Jack Staff transcends its genre trappings and becomes an always entertaining visual experience, in color or black and white.

JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER Here's one which slips under the radar of a lot of insightful people, I think, and I don't really know why unless perhaps I'm seeing something no one else is. Maybe everyone takes it for granted because it's been around so long and people are assuming the fresh wore off a decade ago. But they're wrong. Mike Carey, something of a dab hand at writing about hard-to-like characters, does the best job of capturing Constantine's personality since Garth Ennis departed, and has managed to come up with a couple of very compelling storylines so far, which has made Hellblazer one of the best, and certainly most underrated horror/supernatural type comics out there.

LUCIFER Another contender for "best supernatural" honors, and perhaps one of the best there is right now. Carey has succeeded in breathing life into one of Gaiman's Sandman characters where no one else has by coming up with a compelling supporting cast for the rather aloof and solipsistic lead to play off of, and it has worked amazingly well. This book skips around from theology to mythology to fantasy adventure to humor nimbly and with style. The art team of Peter Gross and Ryan Kelly does a serviceable job of depicting Carey's ideas, and while they're still a bit bland and workmanlike, they've grown into the position. I'm fonder of Ormston's work, and a great deal of it appeared in tandem with Gross and Kelly during one story arc, which made me happy.

THE NEVERMEN: STREETS OF BLOOD Here's another series which I think has been overlooked by those who tend to do the looking. Phil Amara's Nevermen stories have been an aggressively strange mix of pulp adventure, crime fiction and sci-fi, with some of the oddest, and oddly poetic, dialogue I've read in ages. Nevermen benefits greatly from the solid, and often spectacular, art of Guy Davis- whose work on Sandman Mystery Theatre left me cold, but has impressed me a lot here. Again, nothing that's gonna change the industry, but a clever and entertaining series.

PROMETHEA After spending most of 2002 on a metaphysical mystery tour of various stages of existence and explorations of such subjects, in often didactic fashion, as religion, sex, magic, imagination and the Great Beyond, and losing about half of the few readers he did have, Alan Moore rebounded strongly in '03 as the title character first has to deal with the fallout of her journey, then retreats from her destiny, then realizes that she has to fulfill it whether she wants to or not...and the world as we know it will not be the same. As for us, the reader, we feel the same sense of growing dread and anticipation not only because of the events occurring in the comic, but because we know that Moore will soon be winding things up, and that means anything could happen. Promethea, I believe, will eventually be thought of as Moore's finest work, Watchmen and Swamp Thing notwithstanding, because it's the one title that he's seemed to put the most of himself into- his beliefs and perceptions are the base for everything that's happened since issue one. Of course, I can't discuss Promethea without mentioning the amazing art of J.H. Williams III and Mick Gray, whose strong design sense and intricate detail make each issue of Prom a new artistic triumph each time out.

SLEEPER This has got to be the most-hyped, and least read book on the market these days. Perhaps Sleeper is perceived as a bit like broccoli- everyone knows it's good for you, and good for your comics-reading soul, but who the heck wants to eat broccoli? Anyway, Sleeper fulfills all the basic criteria for good comics, the way I see it- nuanced, smart scripting, with well-defined, three-dimensional characters who are neither completely good or completely evil along with solid art by Sean Phillips, who is one of the best in the biz, capable and as at ease with spandex as he is with spy stuff, love scenes, melodramatics, and gun fights. Hopefully the not-so-nice cover price of the new trade paperback collection won't scare off the curious who have been attracted by the great word-of-mouth this series seems to get everywhere.

Also want to recognize a few other series, which didn't make the cut but racked up several A grades. First, Paul Pope's wonderful 100%, a five-issue series that was a skillful, heartfelt and often moving blend of romance and sci-fi, four issues of which came out in 2002. #5 came out early this year, so I didn't list it for 2003. A TPB has been promised for quite some time now but hasn't seen release as of yet. Powers was up-and-down, mostly up, with Bendis starting out strong then floundering a bit with some of the looks at Christian Walker's past, but the last two or three issues have rebounded nicely; Mutant, Texas: The Adventures of Sheriff Ida Red was a corking good fantasy story, very Disneyesque (comics as well as films) and should have garnered more attention than it did. Ultimates was consistently good, occasionally exceptional. I absolutely loved Fables: The Last Castle, a double-sized one shot that clarified a lot of things that Bill Willingham had hinted at and alluded to in the ongoing series, and gave me a lot of the same buzz I got from seeing such films as The Adventures of Robin Hood and Seventh Voyage of Sinbad for the first time, and was beautifully illustrated by Craigs Russell and Hamilton. I know many didn't care for it, but it pushed all the right buttons in my head, anyway. I got a big kick out of Chris Giarrusso's Giant Size Mini Marvels, not exactly an earth-shaking comic which would set fandom on its ear or anything, but I found it extremely funny. Superman: Red Son is one I have to grade incomplete; my comics shop never got #3. I got the first two, and they were nicely drawn- plus the concept of Superman's rocket landing in Russia rather than the US seemed to be well thought out. For all I know, it may have jumped the shark completely in #3, but until I read it I can't say. Other titles which racked up their fair share of A's but missed the list were Human Target, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol.2 (which was quite good and should have probably been on the list proper), Catwoman, H-E-R-O, Grrl Scouts: Work Sucks, 100 Bullets, the Fables ongoing and the Catwoman: Selina's Big Score graphic novel.

Best of 2002.

I suppose, now that 2003 is almost here, that it is incumbent upon me to try to cobble together some sort of list of the best of 2002. I'm at a little disadvantage, I suppose, becaue there's not a lot of disposable income here at the Bacardi household, and seemingly most of that goes for comics...which means my movie viewing and music purchasing has been somewhat slack this year. Now please bear in mind that this is the best of 2002 that managed to come into my orbit. I'm sure there were many, many superior films and albums that came out this year, but if I didn't see em or hear 'em, then I didn't list 'em. Here goes nothing:

MOVIES

Here's a short list of films I saw (rental or theatre) with a release date of 2002: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Spider-Man, Lilo and Stitch, Mr. Deeds, Scooby-Doo, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones, Resident Evil, Ice Age, and Brotherhood of the Wolf. Boy do I feel like a geek. Usually I watch more substantial fare, I swear. Anyway, since this list is only 9 movies long, I'll just rank the top 5, and they are:

1. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers- A marvelous acheivement, if you ask me. Epic in scale, but also full of heart. The Return of the King should be a doozy.

2. Spider-Man- Although I could nitpick, this was the best adaptation of a super-hero comic book to the big screen, so far. Sam Raimi is one of my favorite directors, and he did not disappoint.

3. Brotherhood of the Wolf- Imaginative and somewhat over-the-top, but also a wee bit disappointing. Maybe I had too-high expectations. I'd still recommend it highly to anyone who is looking for something different.

4. Lilo and Stitch- Beautifully drawn and animated, and fun in spite of itself.

5. Resident Evil- This one surprised me. While not a landmark in cinema by any stretch, it was a diverting couple of hours, and it had Milla Jovovich, who's always diverting to me in many ways.

MUSIC

1. Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wonderfully eclectic, often sounding like someone locked Hank Sr., Brian Wilson, Neil Young and Harry Nilsson in a room and forced them to collaborate. While not as tuneful as its predecessor Summerteeth, it was still one of the strongest releases of 2002.

2. Coldplay-A Rush of Blood to the Head Most reviewers compare them to U2 and Radiohead, and I suppose that's valid, but to me they sound more like Supertramp produced by Brian Eno. Which means that these stately songs are extremely strong melodically, and sonically experimental. These guys are contendahs.

3.Norah Jones-Come Away With Me Relaxed, lovely, sexy jazz-ish lounge music, in the best sense of the term. She's another artist to pay attention to.

4. Los Lobos-Good Morning Aztlan I was a bit surprised to not find this on any year-end best-of lists. It's a solid, rockish, bluesy effort with strong songwriting and playing and enough sonic experimentation to keep it all interesting. Gambling Gringo, you should get this.

5. Warren Zevon-My Ride's Here While this didn't grab me as hard as his previous album, Life'll Kill Ya, did, it's still a solid effort with a lot of great tunes.

TV

I've never been one to watch a lot of network series TV. Usually when I latch on to a series, it either gets cancelled before the year's over (Action, Strange Luck, and several others) or it airs on cable, like the superlative Larry Sanders Show. So with that in mind, here's the short list of TV shows I liked in 2002, and don't be surprised that a coupe of them are cartoons...

1. Firefly If you've been reading me at all, this should be no surprise, since I haven't shut up about it since I started blogging. Great ensemble cast, imaginative premise and stories, and dismal ratings. Sounds right up my alley. Hopefully we'll see it again someday, somewhere.

2. Kim Possible While most of the programming on the Disney Channel is strictly for pre-teens, this is a clever, fun cartoon about a young lady who's also a world-saving super agent. Great character design and very well animated.

3. Adult Swim The troika of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021 and the Brak Show is some of the most hilarious, surreal, insane stuff I've ever seen. I especially love the Aqua Teens. My god, what kind of drugs do these guys do to come up with this stuff. Home Movies is also often very funny. Except for the Eltingville one-shot, I haven't been too impressed with the other Sunday night programs they've aired. I've never been much of an Anime fan, so I don't watch Saturday nights very much...but I will catch the occasional Cowboy Bebop.

4. John Doe This amalgam of the Prisoner, the Fugitive and the X-Files is often diverting and clever. Deserves a bigger audience than it's getting.

5. Mucha Lucha! I'm not a Mexican wrestling fan by any means, but this silly Saturday morning cartoon about a school for Luchadores-masked wrestlers to us gringos-is often very funny and has a colorful cast of characters.

COMICS

These are the titles I've enjoyed the most this past year:

1. Jack Staff I've written at length about this great book previously, so I'll spare you. Great art, writing, and soon to be getting more widespread distribution in '03 courtesy of Image.

2. 100% The latest from Paul Pope has gripped me like no other comic has in many years. Cinematic in scope, Pope sets up a diverse and interesting cast of characters, pairs them off, and lets us experience the ups and downs of each. Maybe the best romance comic since the 1950s, and certainly one of the best things ever to come out under the DC imprint.

3. Elektra: Glimpse and Echo I was a bit let down by the resolution, but otherwise this was imaginatively illustrated by Scott Morse in what almost seemed to be a Cubist style. I'm lookng forward to his next project.

4. Lucifer Always one of the best reads in the week it comes out, this Sandman spinoff is the only one of its kind that has come close to surpassing its source. Mike Carey has become one of my favorite writers.

5. Hellboy: The Third Wish Another great Hellboy adventure, clever and even poetic at the end. Mike Mignola can do no wrong.

Well, there it is, for what it's worth! Let me know what you think.