Every comic you've read in 2015

[JasonC]

Pretty Deadly Trade Paperback Vol 1: I've read it twice now and I still have idea what the hell was going on. Interesting though. Might pick up the second volume.

Lucifer #1: I loved the first series, what had a pretty definitive end point to it, with Lucifer giving up nearly all his power and going off to explore oblivion, pausing only to give his father the finger one last time for luck. Now we're back and so is he. It's definitely a continuation on from that because he has the scar Mazikeen gave him and no power. God appears to be dead and Lucifer is pissed because he wanted to do it. So now he wants to find out who got there before him. The only question would be; which god? The original, who gave up his position to a girl called Elaine (god 2.0), or Elaine herself? Judging by everyone's attitude, it seems to be the original. But why would that matter of he handed over responsibility and left reality with someone else in charge? Going to give this a couple of issues to see if they answer these questions.

TDKIII: Ugh. All it did was remind me why I hated the second miniseries. And how much I loved the first.

The Mighty Thor #2: AKA The All-Loki-All-The-Time issue. I think they're drawing him like Hiddleston. I plan to stick around because I want to see if everyone finds out Jane is Thor and that being Thor is killing her. Especially Odin.

Edited December 25, 2015 by JasonC

[Donomark]

The Mighty Thor #2: AKA The All-Loki-All-The-Time issue. I think they're drawing him like Hiddleston.

Not read it myself but that's most certainly the case. Marvel Comics has pretty much completely bowled over for the sake of potential readers familiar with the movies and TV. If there's ever been a character seen on the big screen, they will most likely be the same as the current comics. To the point where Mockingbird's background has since been retconned to align with the Agents of SHIELD version.

[Dread]

Codename: Action: basically a team-up of the early Dynamite pulp licenses with the Captain Action character. Not very good, unfortunately.

BPRD 1957 #1-5: this pre-Hellboy story is fucking excellent. It shows the small team of researchers doing BPRD shit before Hellboy was out of short pants.

Hellboy and the BPRD 1953-The Witch Tree & Rawhead and Bloody Bones: an early years diptych of Hellboy stories. Not bad. Could have both been feature length to serve them better.

Comics: 1666
Graphic Novels: 72
Trade Paperbacks: 125
Omnibus: 17

[Dread]

Archer & Armstrong vol 6: this is a great farewell. It actually leads into The Delinquents which I've already read. This may be the finest thing Valiant has done since the reboot. It's some of the finest comics I've read in a decade. Glorious, nonsensical inanity.

Children of Salamanca 1, 2: a three volume series of Euro graphic novels with a horror spin. Christopher Bec may be the best horror comic writer from Europe right now and Stefano Rafaelle is one of my favorite comics artists period. His work here is reminiscent of early John Cassaday. Lovely stuff. 

Comics: 1666
Graphic Novels: 74
Trade Paperbacks: 126
Omnibus: 17

[Donomark]

The Batman Adventures vol.3

Starts off the the Annual done by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and other of the animated series' regulars which I already owned, then goes up to issue #27. This remains to be the best Batman comics I've read in years. There's no comparison to the current stuff. It's not just that it's an off-shoot of B:TAS either. Kelley Puckett is truly an artist's writer. Like he did with Damion Scott for Cassandra Cain, he allows the artwork to carry the story and let the comic just breathe with atmosphere. Lots of detective work, action and terrific moments of characterization that is so foreign to current DC now. There's a great moment snuck in between Bullock and Montoya that isn't even delivered with the two characters being in the scene.

This also contains Batman Adventures #25 which had Batman meeting Superman for the first time. You know, the long-haired, 90s Superman who fought the red-headed Irish Lex Luthor. This one.

 

How could this have happened before the events of "World's Finest" you ask?

 

 

[Donomark]

Daredevil vol....whatever. The final Waid one.

I'm gonna miss this run so much. So much that I'm dropping the current run. There's no reason for a transition to be that jarringly mediocre.

[Davedevil]

I wish I could disagree with you Don, but I can't. I'm really enjoying the art, but I feel like Soule could be doing so much better. This isn't the Charles Soule of She-Hulk, this feels like a regression to the 90s. Not that I'm disparaging the time period, but it doesn't belong here. It's like an editorial mandate to have it sorta resemble the show, without the levity between the characters. 

And seriously what's up with the line Blindspot had about tweeting DD's unfairness to his 50,000 Twitter followers? That was a groaner.

[Dread]

This is close to the last bunch I'll read this year, but I'll probably get a few more in this evening:

All-New X-Men #2: I'm enjoying this way more than I ever thought I would. Young Cyclops getting broody was pretty much a given. This is the only X-title Marvel hasn't royally fucked.

Batman & Robin Eternal #10-12:interesting implications for this Bat-universe. Not fully onboard with what's going on, but this is so much better than the regular bat-books that I'm willing to go with it for a while.

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1: Goofy, stupid and fun. How did they not do this in the 90s?

Batman Europa #2: This is so beautiful that I really don't even think about how much I don't care about what's going on.

Behemoth #4: Not a lot happening here, but it's gorgeous and a little sad. I'm in for more.

Black Knight #2: Better than the first issue. It helps that it has that shitty Uncanny Avengers team get their ass handed to them, and maybe even again next month.

Bloodshot Reborn #9: Solid end to this arc. REALLY looking forward to Analog Man.

Comics: 1675
Graphic Novels: 74
Trade Paperbacks: 126
Omnibus: 17

[Missy]

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1: Goofy, stupid and fun. How did they not do this in the 90s?

 

It shocked me how much I enjoyed that issue. Batman looks a little to bulky for my liking, though.

This thread will be closed in a few days, so make sure to add your final thoughts soon.

[Venneh]

Wrap up of everything I read up until yesterday. I'm not even going to bother doing final counts because I read a hell of a lot this year on the comics front.

Pretty Deadly 7: God this is so fucking pretty. Fuck. And now that we're starting to get the shape of the story too, I can't wait to see where the hell this goes.

Saga 32: Good to catch up with Marko and Alana and figure out where the hell they've been for however many intervening years. But as this book pointed out a while ago, this is becoming more Hazel's story than theirs. 

Dragon Age: Magekiller: Rucka doing a licensed Dragon Age story about magehunters getting caught up in Tevinter politics, which frankly, we've seen almost nothing of in the games themselves, along with some pretty solid art. More interested in this than I am in Lazarus right now, tbh. Let's see where this goes. 

Clean Room 2: Well then. Okay Gail. 

Red Thorn 1: Ehhhhh. I'm giving this issue 2 to be nice, but girl whose art comes to life, and might be brining back a scottish god to life? It just isn't catching me the way I would expect it would. 

Akira vol 6: This is a goddamn masterpiece for a reason. Go read it. 

Unfollow 2: Again, the pieces are gathering, mildly intrigued, but overall still kind of eh. 

Dark Knight III 1 and 2: Read this on several peoples' recommendation that it's actually not awful. Put it this way, there's moments you can tell that people were nice enough to give Miller the pen, but it's mostly Azzarello driving this. Kubert does some great stuff here, as you would expect. So far the standout for me is the Azzarello/Rizzo backup in 2, which is the 100 Bullets team does Wonder Woman, which is everything I never knew I needed. 

Constantine the Hellblazer 7: Constantine and Swamp Thing teamup. Fun little issue. 

Gotham Academy 13: Robin War tie in issue. Artist (who I'm pretty sure isn't the regular one now?) isn't that good. Ehhhh. 

Slash and Burn 2: Again, interesting setup in us delving more into Rosheen's past to see how it's affecting the present. Solid enough, wish Lotay was actually doing the interiors on this instead of just the covers. 

Black Magick 2: Oh come on Rucka, you are better than this. Really not that impressed with this so far. 

Plutona 3: Well, this is going to wind up poorly, just a guess.  Looking forward to the upcoming train wreck, in a good way. 

Ringside 1: Intriguing enough setup, I don't know enough about wrestling to know how accurate this is, art's solid enough, I'd probably give this a page through at the trade. 

All New Hawkeye 2: Holy shit someone else besides Al Ewing remembered that America Chavez and Kate are close friends! And Marvel Boy shows up in the future, too! Still not that impressed with this, as the present art is trying real fucking hard to be Aja (it's not), and the story's middling at best.

Hercules 2: Interesting juxtaposition of Hercules and Gilgamesh trying to adapt to a world that seems to be leaving them behind. There are other books doing this kind of theme better. Though, admittedly, one of the Fates as a punk circa the 80s is kinda neat, too bad she gets offed at the end of the issue. 

Secret Wars 8: Fuck it, I can't tell you what the fuck is going on any more, I'm just gonna sit back, let Esad do awesome shit, and just let this wrap the fuck up somehow.

Spider Gwen 3: Spider Knocked Up Woman randomly shows up! Cute stuff. Not as interesting as Murdock seemingly figuring out Gwen's secret. This is gonna get good. 

Doctor Strange 3: Yep, this is a thing that continues to happen a lot. Looks like there's something like a Spanish Inquisition going after magic now? Pretty, if nothing else. 

All New All Different Avengers 2: Again: Waid, you are, and can do, better than this. 

Extraordinary X-Men 3: So we fucking FINALLY figure out what happened to Scott: he apparently went up against the inhumans somehow and got dead. Also I swear to god if old man Logan crushes on teenage Jean my eyes are going to roll out of my fucking head. Solid enough, good to finally have the explanation on that front. Also, I somehow randomly skipped 2. Will fix that this year. 

All New Wolverine 2: Laura helping clones of her escape their lives as basically tools? Yes please, this I am here for. 

Howard the Duck 2: Backstory for the genderbent Rocket and Howard characters who showed up at the end of 1. Well done, solid art, and a neat enough diversion. 

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 2: TIME TRAVEL, as done by Ryan North. This should be good. 

Edited January 3, 2016 by Venneh

[Venneh]

My final comic of the year was:

Hopeless Savages: Break: Read this in the tub with a beer and a bath bomb. The whole family is in turmoil, and it's a great return to the savages to see how they're doing, and how they handle the various shit facing them. Great art style on McClaren's part, and it's great seeing Norrie on the flashbacks. If you find it on sale, definitely worth reading.

[Dread]

Final tally:

Astro City Private Lives: am I spinning my wheels on Astro City, or is Astro City? This might be the last trade I buy.

Captain America Sam Wilson #4: fuck this is so good.

Citizen Jack #2: this was a lot better than the first issue. REALLY on the nose with what's going on right now, but this had to have been completed months ago. Pretty crazy.

Comics: 1677
Graphic Novels: 74
Trade Paperbacks: 127
Omnibus: 17