Even before it started, we knew Secret Wars 2015 would be the biggest industry event of the year. It would basically be one big What If? story: What If Dr. Doom got the power of Beyonder and could actually handle it? And What if a ton of your favorite Marvel storylines got sequels, or were tweaked? Every Marvel book was cancelled and we got a ton of miniseries with the Secret Wars banner, followed by a linewide reboot. Before the Wars were done, I ran a big post on every single book, including the ones I thought would be the best and worst. You can read that here. Of course, the end of the MU meant a bunch of books were cancelled—many prematurely. That sucked. But it also meant quirky takes on established characters, a revival of some favorites, and a full, true rebooted universe that kept everything canon. Take that, DC.
Oh, and DC was up to its usual business as well: Retooling and rebooting with little rationale or sense. Not much of anything worth reading came out of their shop this year, and they continued their accelerating slide to the bottom
Meanwhile Image Comics’ accelerated its rise to the top grabbing significant market share and launching dozens of new books—many of which were great.
So today, I begin my list of the best reasons to read comics in 2015.
For other notable comics of 2015, see The not-quite best comics of the year and for a neat little list of historical fiction in comics, go here.
And before we get to the best, here’s two that are too new to tell (just one issue out of each), but seem to have promise. First, Clean Room by Gail Simone and Jenny Frison (Vertigo).
It’s unclear where this book is going, but the premise of a young reporter looking into a cult has promise, the art is fantastic, and if you’re looking for a comic book writer capable of creating compelling characters and fresh narrative, you can’t go wrong with Gail Simone.
The second book that’s making me hopeful is Unfollow by Rob Williams and Michael Dowling.
A dying billionaire tweets out to 140 followers that they are now the lucky beneficiaries of his fortune. It’s everyone’s fantasy, and will offer some great opportunities for contained stories and character development. We’ll see where it goes, but the first issue was full of suspense and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
And speaking of next, hit the break for the beginning of the countdown!