2011 Graphic Novels of the Year

This past year was another big year for me in terms of reading graphic novels. Though I didn't reach the lofty 50 title mark like I did in 2010, by the time this gets published I'll be up around 40 graphic novels on the year...not too shabby if you ask me.  Overall, I think I definitely read better stuff this year than in years past, so quality wins out over quantity this year.  Picking out the Top 5 and a couple runners up was pretty damn difficult.  No sense in keeping you waiting here they are:

TOP 5 GRAPHIC NOVELS of the YEAR:

#5. Axe Cop: This one gets on the list due to sheer hilarity of the content.  If you haven't heard of Axe Cop let me give you the scoop: the comic is written by a five year old and drawn by his 30 year old brother...and that's what makes this so incredibly awesome.  When a five year old writes a comic you better be ready for some crazy shit to go down, and believe me, it does.

With free reign and creative control over the title, writer Malachai Nicolle fills Axe Cop up with all the wonders of his vividly wild imagination.  Be prepared for uncanny plot resolutions, an incredibly strange and diverse cast of characters, and plenty of little dude humor.

When it comes to Axe Cop I can give you one solid guarantee: you will laugh out loud.  Easily the funniest thing I read all year.

#4. Batwoman: Elegy: Let's see, does Batwoman: Elegy feature some mind blowing art and deft writing?  Yes indeed it does.  But wait there's more!  This awesome graphic novel also features a creepy villain named Alice who quotes Lewis Carroll and wants to cover Gotham in a toxic death cloud, shapeshifters, and all the fun, costumed hi-jinx you'd expect from a Bat-Title...and that's not even the best part.

Now don't get me wrong all that stuff I just mentioned is great, and pretty much essential for my own personal tastes, but the true quality in Batwoman: Elegy is found outside of the costumed parameters.  The true grit, if you will, is found when Batwoman is Kate Kane, dealing with all the troblems (troubles and problems) of her personal life.  If you don't believe me, read it.  You'll thank me.

Hey, have I mentioned that J.H. Williams III, who handles the art on this title, is fucking awesome?  Well, he is.

#3. Essex County:  If you are a steady reader of the blog, then you know I am sorta a big fan of Jeff Lemire's works of comics.  So, it should come as little surprise that there's something of his on the Top 5 graphic novels list too.

Simply put, Essex County is a wonderful tale of simple rural farm folk in Canada.  That might sound kinda boring, but this is a wonderful exploration of human emotion pared down to it's raw center.  The characters, their lives, their mistakes and regrets all come vividly to the forefront of this amazing comic. It's one of those titles that locks itself in your memory, and just as easily as you can recall the events of the story you can also easily recall the feelings, emotions and struggles you were going through in your own life while you were reading it.

At least that's what happened with me.

#2. (Tie) Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, Locke & Key: Head Games: Yeah, I'm not totally a fan of ties, but, um get used to it...

I couldn't mention one Locke & Key title and not mention the other one I read.

Allow me to point out a couple of things that may or may not be obvious: 1) Joe Hill can flat out write.  2) That fact is not limited to just novels.  2011 will definitely go down as the year I discovered the awesomeness that is Joe Hill.  I read four things by him this year, and if not for a small measure of personal restraint, I could have easily read more.  So far, I haven't met a piece of Joe Hill writing I don't love.

I'm trying really hard to restrain myself from repeatedly using words like "awesome", "sweet", "the bomb", "amazing", "outstanding" and so on, but Locke & Key is all those things and more.  I will emphasize a couple points: From what I've read so far, I'd say Locke & Key is shaping up to be the modern horror classic.  Aaaaaannnddd: Joe Hill is the bomb!  Shit! There I go....Seriously, despite all signs pointing to the fact that I'm nuts, check out my reviews for Welcome to Lovecraft and Head Games.  Or don't and miss out on something incredible.  The ball is in your court.

#1. (Tie) Planetary Volumes 1-4: It's only fitting that these four titles go down as the number one graphic novel of the year, because I read 'em all together, and really, it would be lame if four of the top 5 spots were taken up by Planetary books.

I know I said it in my review, but Planetary is the best comics story I've read...ever, and it'll be pretty damn tough to top.

This one has all the hallmarks of greatness: great writing, fantastic art, and a story that is aimed at a reader who can balance a check book, or something equally adult, time consuming and frustrating.  I really think this is a set of graphic novels that can be read and enjoyed by anyone who loves a great story, and for fans of the fantastic and or science fictional, this is it, your gateway into comics.

As great and amazing as the other titles on this list, they don't come close to Planetary.  Seriously, this is the comics medium at its absolute best.


Runners Up:


It was the War in the Trenches: A harrowing and intense look at World War I from the perspective of French trench "grunts".  Simultaneously incredible, beautiful, depressing, bleak, and tragic.

Stumptown: A tale of crime, back-stabs and double crosses in the Pacific Northwest.  Expertly written and beautifully illustrated.

There you go, another round of the year's best in the can.  It's gonna be a tough year to follow, good luck 2012. In my expert scouring of the comics medium did I miss anything?  What were your faves?

Graphic Novel Review: Planetary vols. 1-4

Vol. 1: All Over the World
 and Other Stories

On the day that I became an adult reader of comics, I biked to a local comic shop, browsed around for awhile, asked for advice from the guy who worked in the shop, and came away with the first volume of Planetary: All Over the World and Other Stories.  I immediately dove in, and loved what I was reading.  Soon after, I picked up the second volume, The Fourth Man and devoured that one as well.  However, upon reading that second volume, I began to notice some cracks in my memory and decided that myself, and the series would be better off if the whole thing were ingested in one large serving of Planetary awesomeness.

The kicker was that the fourth and final volume wasn't out yet, so I waited.  And when it came out in hardcover, I waited for the softcover edition.  And when that was sold out, waited for it to come back in stock.  Finally, I got my paws on it, and then waited again for the right time to read the whole shebang-a-bang in one mighty chunk.  That time came when I needed something completely different from the epic intensity of Replay.

Vol. 2 The Fourth Man

So what is Planetary all about? Well, that isn't exactly clear after reading the first volume.  The whole thing begins at a roadside diner in the middle of nowhere, where a white suited, white haired man named Elijah Snow is recruited to join Planetary by the sexy-beautiful-dangerous Jakita Wagner (who sorta looks like Baroness from G.I. Joe). Snow is offered the pay rate of one million dollars per year for the rest of his life for the exclusive use of his memory, talents and experience.  Deciding anything is better than boredom, and shitty coffee at a low-rent diner, Snow joins up.

From there the team of Elijah Snow; century baby, aged 100 years old, with the ability to create intense cold, Jakita Wagner; extremely strong and fast, and The Drummer; uncanny knack for manipulating machines and electronics, explore and investigate a variety of amazing and strange secrets around the world.  In the first volume alone they explore a secret cave that once housed the trophy room for a group of extraordinary metahumans, and is now a giant super-computer. They also travel to a remote island near Japan where giant monsters lay dead and rotting, and investigate a revenge minded ghost who prowls the streets of Hong Kong, among a variety of other weird and amazing phenomena.

From reading the first volume I got the sense that the Planetary team is all about uncovering and documenting all the world's secret history that makes the planet an interesting place.  In addition, they seem to be somewhat diametrically opposed to a group calling themselves The Four, who seem determined to unlock and keep the world's great secrets for their own personal gain.

Vol. 3 Leaving the
20th Century

As the story moves along in the second volume, The Fourth Man, the narrative investigates who the mysterious financial backer is for the Planetary corporation.  On top of that, you get a much more in-depth look at The Four, their scope of influence in the course of historical events, and the depth of their evil.  The Four are essentially a pastiche of The Fantastic Four, except in the world of Planetay, they have used their powers, and mental capacity to work evil upon humanity.  As the story moves forward, the conflict between Planetary, and The Four escalates.

Now that I'm a couple years into reading comics as a grown up, and I've read fairly widely across the medium, I gotta say that Planetary is probably the best possible adult re-introduction to comics on the shelf, and I'm thankful this is where I started.  Planetary is proof that comics can be engaging, entertaining, fun and a worthy pursuit for adults.  What is impressive is that this is a comic that doesn't rely on foul language, nudity or extreme violence to get the "mature" tag. Instead, it focuses on having a great story, where every detail is important, and everything that happens, or is mentioned, down to the tiniest detail, winds up having some importance later on in the story.  Mix in some nice nostalgia, and more imaginative and fantastic ideas than a China Mieville novel and you have an amazing comic aimed at a reader who wants to read an actual story.

Vol. 4 Spacetime Archaeology

Though I said it earlier, it should be explicitly noted that Planetary features some incredibly strong writing.  This is Warren Ellis at his peak, and for my money, the best stuff of his I've read so far.  I can't imagine having to read this in single issues though, as it took about a decade for all 27 issues to come out, which is way worse then the year I had to wait for Ellis to produce all four of the Captain Swing issues.

Rate of publication aside, this is some fantastic writing, and Planetery really showcases Ellis' ability to come up with some amazing an imaginative ideas.  Each issue reads like its own enclosed story, yet stays true to comics' episodic roots by simultaneously being a thread that ties into a much larger and more elaborate tapestry. The end result is a story with multiple elements and a payoff that is top notch.

Complimenting Warren Ellis' writing efforts is John Cassaday on art, and the effort here is no less amazing.  Cassaday is one of those artists whose style is so refined and practiced that when you see even just a portion of a panel it is instantly recognizable as their work.  In a medium where the talent is plentiful, and the competition fierce, Cassaday's work on Planetary stands out not only as his magnum opus, but as a landmark work in the entire industry.

So what makes Cassaday's efforts on Planetary so special? The reason is quite simple; the range of things Cassaday is called upon to draw in this series is off the charts.  The man draws everything from mad science constructs, to fantastical otherworldly technology, to metahuman abilities, to giant ants, to steampunk creations, to selective physics distortion fields, to theoretical snowflakes that exist in 196,833 dimensional space...or something like that. (Not to mention frozen vampire nut-kicks!)  The fact that Cassaday can draw these fabulous feats of imagination is impressive, and the fact that he draws them so damn well is astounding.  As much as Planetary is a feat of writing, it is every bit equally a delicious feast for the eyes.

With equally wonderful writing and illustration, Planetary is the total package, and a comic series that I recommend with every fiber of my being.  This is a comic that will impress lovers of the medium, cause comic haters to erase their line in the sand, and flat out entertain and enthrall anyone who loves a good story.  Since this blog caters mostly to fans of the fantastic, I'll add that there's plenty here to wet your whistle.  This is flat out an amazing read.  The best thing I've read so far in the comics medium.

Grades:

All Over the World and Other Stories: A+
The Fourth Man: A+
Leaving the 20th Century: A+
Spacetime Archaeology: A+