5. WEIRDWORLD by Jason Aaron and Mike Del Mundo (Marvel)
The first issue didn’t sell me on this, but when they brought back the world of Crystar the Crystal Warrior, my nostalgia got the better of me. And it turned out to be a lot of fun, and very different from anything else Marvel published this year. In fact, it’s one of two or three SW spin-offs that I wish were a regular series.
4. THE MULTIVERSITY: ULTRA COMICS #1 by Grant Morrison and Various Artists (DC)
I swear, DC’s editorial decisions are ponderous. Grant Morrison is one of the best, most sought after comic book writers of all time. DC had him for a decade writing the greatest Batman epic of all time—one that reconciled all versions of the character, gave him a breakout star for a son, and took Batman to a new place in the end: An updated legend that was unashamed of its convoluted, disparate past. And right when Grant was on the finish line…Bam! New 52. Everything is changed and the story felt, in the end, like it just didn’t matter. This year, they finally produced Morrison’s masterpiece: Multiversity. A series that looked at alternate universes and realities, and even created a map of DC universes ripe for development and exploration. The series started with tremendous momentum, Grant was on the finish line…Bam! Convergence. And his story doesn’t matter. Again. No wonder he’s done writing for the big two.
Still, we got treated to a truly wonderful Shazam story, in my favorite issue of all: Ultra. You don’t need to know anything about the DCU to love it. it brought us into it as readers—using the kind of suspense technique we learned as children: To be afraid to turn the page.
To be scared of our own power to control the speed of the narrative, and whether it moves forward at all. I’ve already written about how this particular issue compares to that classic kids book “There’s a Monster At The End of This Book,” and, of course, the monster is Grover himself. The same is true here, and by turning the pages we get the lead character to this realization. We move him forward. It’s what makes books so different from movies or radio/audio programs. It’s unique. We control the speed of the story. We can even flip to the end first if it gets to be too much, or stop reading at all.
The entire Multiversity series was excellent. But this issue was transformative.
3. ALL-STAR SECTION 8 by Garth Ennis and John McCrea (DC)
DC takes the seatbelts off and allows Ennis and McCrea to return to the world of Hitman, a wonderful comic from early in Ennis’ career that broke ground by existing alongside the DC Universe but telling stories that simply could never happen there. Stories about flawed Supermen and unprepared Batmen. Stories about alcoholics and dopers. Stories about violence and vomit. And from that world came a team of ugly, awful people—including one who welds dogs together. More more more of this!
2. SAGA by Brian Vaughn and Fiona Staples (Image)
By now, the quality of this book is a given. Nothing changed in 2015, except that it’s not #1.
1. THE SCULPTOR by Scott McCloud (First Second)
We’ve waited five years for McCloud to produce this graphic novel about the process of creating and the meaning it can add—and steal—from our lives. It is, simply put, probably The Greatest Graphic Novel I Have Ever Read. Most comic book stories like this have clear first, second and third acts, and somewhere close to the beginning of act three we get a powerful emotional moment, and then at the very end there’s something that really stings and resonates. But with The Sculptor, there are about a dozen of these moments. They are used to keep the story going rather than provide a resolution or climax.
It’s already been optioned for a movie deal, but do yourself a favor and read it for yourself first. Before someone else interprets it for you.
Next: You’ve seen all the best, we’ll offer the rest: The most disappointing comics of 2015.