The Top Ten Best DC Comics of 2020

We all deserve something to celebrate this year.

2020 has not been kind to anybody, it has been particularly cruel to some who have lost their lives or their families, I personally have lost a few people close to me this year and, as I mentioned before, a very special person in my life is currently fighting an illness.

That is why we need what makes us happy more than any time before. Being either loved ones or simply the classic hobbies you enjoy the most, movies, videogames, music and of course, comics.

This year has been pretty difficult for the last one in that regard due that distribution was halted for a few months, something that hasn't happened in recent memory which tells you a lot about how much this pandemic has affected the world, and so the amount of good titles to choose from is more limited than in previous years.

For that reason I'm going to break, no, more like I'm going to twist the rules from this list a bit. I usually put books that had at least half a year worth of issues (6 issues) but, considering the lack of distribution in 2020, I will simply put whatever I enjoyed the most this time which means that this allows me to be a bit more flexible with my picks.

Without further ado, let's say goodbye to 2020 in the best way possible!

10. Robert Venditti's Justice League.

Ah, Venditti. You might not be groundbreaking most of the time (and sometimes you can be rather bad like in your Flash run) but usually, you deliver consistently solid products and yet another proof of that is your Justice League run.

After the bombastic but ultimately pointless Scott Snyder run, everyone was looking up for a change for world's greatest superheroes and Venditti did bring a different tone for the book. While Snyder's run was focused on "big stories" that were actually pretty shallow, Venditti decided to concentrate on more personal moments creating solid characterization and stories that revolved around the members of the cast.

One of the particular highlights here was that Venditti put John Stewart at the front of the team (which makes sense considering how relevant the character was during Venditti's Green Lantern era) and the dynamic reflected that in interesting ways, especially with Batman who suddenly had a pretty entertaining interaction with John. The rest of the cast also got pretty appropriate portrayals (Yes, Barry too despite of my previous complaints about Venditti's Flash).

Mind you, the stories were not particularly engaging but they got the job done at serving the purpose of creating compelling segments for the cast to develop. This is one of the reasons why this book is not higher on the list but that doesn't stop it from being an enjoyable experience.

Again, nothing mindblowing but I can't help but still dig a solid run without the pretense of being something bigger and more important than what it actually is (Okay, I will stop talking about Snyder now).

And speaking of things I digged from start to finish.

9. Adam Glass' Teen Titans.

Adam Glass' run on Teen Titans ended with just 4 issues this year and while the conclusion wasn't as strong as the beginning or middle point, it still demonstrated what I liked the most from this tenure.

The final storyarc was dedicated to the inevitable confrontation between Djinn and her brother, something that Glass has been building-up to pretty much since the beginning of his work on the title, containing all the positives from previous storylines including the strong voices for all the members of the cast along with the compelling dynamic between all of them. Yes, it didn't reach the highs of previous arcs, yet still managed to showcase what ruled about this era.

Funnily enough, the final arc was a collaboration with Robbie Thompson who sadly didn't learn anything from Glass when he went on his own to write the book as I mentioned in The Top Ten Worst DC Comics of 2020 list. Nonetheless, the great thing about this final storyline is that it serves as a perfect resolution for all the plot-points that Glass created during his run and you can easily take it as the finale of the book (Since what happens later just makes things worse).

The reasons above are why this book is not as high as in previous years but still, its legacy will live on as an entertaining era.

Now onto more interesting books.

8. Jeff Lemire/Denys Cowan's The Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage.

Limited series that only had 3 issues this year but is Jeff Lemire and therefore, it was bound to be included.

I love Lemire's work. Even before the New 52, he quickly became one of my favorite writers and he has only gotten better and better since then. This is why I always highly anticipate any of his new projects, particularly at DC, and the same was obviously going to happen when he was announced to be the writer of The Question.

The character is not necessarily a favorite of mine but is one that was always intriguing to me because of the multiple different incarnations and directions it had over the years and this is key for the themes that Lemire was going to play with in this miniseries. The premise is centered about the many lives and deaths of The Question, the different identities he during the course of his history and how all of them can be mixed in a coherent story.

For this Lemire implements a lot of concepts that have been prominent for the hero since his creation, from the more conservative views from his creator Steve Ditko, to the Zen-oriented stories of Dennis O'Neil, to even the supernatural elements of Rick Veitch's work, the latter especially plays an important role in Lemire's take due that this serves as an explanations to the reincarnations of the hero.

Denys Cowan depicts all of these aspects in a rather unique, gothic manner, his rough pencils follow the script in pretty interesting ways by making the realistic segments both detailed and dark while the more supernatural panels get an odd and horrific finish. Cowan contributes a lot to what makes this book special.

The plot is all about the mystery and if there's a reason why this series is not higher on this list (aside from its short nature) is that its conclusion is not as effective as I would have prefered. I mean, it works to give a closure to the ideas that Lemire created but unfortunately I feel he gets lost in his own themes instead of trying to give a satisfying resolution.

This doesn't prevent it to be one of the best stories of the year though and a big reason why Lemire still is one of the best creators in the industry.

But enough about dark stories, let's talk about something more lighthearted.

7. Jimmy Palmiotti/Amanda Conner's Harley Quinn & the Birds of Prey.

I just can't help but love Jimmy Palmiotti's and Amanda Conner's work. They tell simple, yet extremely enjoyable stories that are full of likable characters and life, this was especially reflected on their Harley Quinn's long run that even showcased how funny they could be and this happened once that they returned to the antiheroine of course.

Based on the Birds of Prey movie released early this year (and wasn't that well-received to be honest), the creators had to feature the full cast including Black Canary, Huntress, Cassandra Cain and Renee Montoya but the best thing about this is that Pamiotti & Conner are actually not forced to follow the continuity of the film. In fact, the writers used the "fluid continuity" that was so prevalent during their Harley Quinn work by creating a connection between all the characters without really being the same incarnations from the movie.

This mentality allows for the inclusion of the classic Harley supporting cast along with more familiar versions of the Birds of Prey while injecting the typical dose of humour that you can expect from this creative couple. Mind you, if there's a problem with this direction is that it pretty much becomes "The Harley Quinn show" once again but considering that I was missing their take on the character, this wasn't much of a problem for me, in fact it was really welcomed. The rest of cast get their moments though despite that they pretty much revolve around Harley.

This series also heavily benefited from Conner's wonderful pencils. Her cartoony and expressive style managed to elevate the hilarious script to new levels, making every single scene worth watching by putting a lot of beautiful detail along with memorable moments.

Nostalgic, entertaining and even heartwarming at times, this is a series I was bound to love.

Now let's go back to a darker work.

6. Sean Murphy's Batman: Curse of the White Knight.

I have been meaning to talk about the "White Knight Universe" that Sean Murphy created since his original Batman: White Knight miniseries. The creator created a really complex world,  even bleaker than the classic Gotham City with a much more flawed Batman who had to face a surprisingly sympathetic Joker. It was easily one of the best series from 2017-2018 and the only reason why it wasn't featured in any of these lists was because of the rules I sometimes lament.

This same quality continued in its sequel, Curse of the White Knight. This time an even more fragile Batman is forced to confront the rise of Azrael in a much more brutal rendition of the classic Knightfall saga where Bruce's best ally is a reformed Harley Quinn and no one in his supporting cast is safe.

Murphy explores more and more about the history of the Waynes and how they are connected to Bruce's new enemy in a mystery that puts the fate of Gotham at risk. The plot escalates powerfully with each new chapter in which the stakes get increasingly higher and Batman decides to finally become the hero his city deserves. All the themes that Murphy implements in this series and world as a whole are perfectly executed and where easily the best Batman-related material we have gotten recently (Mind you, the competition has not been though with Tom King and James Tynion IV as the main writers of the line the last few years).

Is hard to talk about this particular line without mentioning Murphy's artwork which is possibly even more impressive than his writing. His grim and gritty style is perfect for the reality he created and manages to depict every single moment in a striking manner with a fantastic skill at storytelling, pacing and detail, the style is even beautiful in its own dark way.

Again, the only reason why this title is not higher is because it only had 3 issues this year but it has been an engaging read in each one of them.

Not the only great Batman-related title this year fortunately.

5. Joshua Williamson's Batman/Superman.

If there's a reason why this book is higher than Murphy's work is because it's an ongoing series but it's also one of the most consistently good books on the stands.

This doesn't come as much of a surprise considering this is handled by Joshua Williamson who is famous for being consistently solid at the very least. After a forced opening arc focusing on Scott Snyder's Dark Multiverse (Snyder's direction just keeps ruining everyone's fun), Williamson was able to tell his own stories and what followed were simple pure and fun adventures featuring the World's Finest.

Each arc focused on the different characters connected to the protagonists, being heroes or villains (sometimes both) and how they all interact in the different strange situations they have to face. The themes are perfectly balanced between both heroes and they all offer appropriate resolutions. Williamson's love for continuity is appropriately exploited here showing many accurate portrayals and events.

Even more compelling though, is the dynamic between Bruce and Clark which Williamson completely nails. They are presented as pretty different persons who still trust each other greatly and put heavy value on their friendship, this is emphasized in every interaction they have which are very entertaining while allowing for character development in every single storyline. I can easily say that, compared to previous Batman/Superman writers (Jeph Loeb and Greg Pak), Williamson is simply the best at creating an engaging bond between the World's Finest.

Williamson is quickly becoming one of the best writers at DC Comics right now, this is not even his best work this year but let's talk about another writer who shares a lot of similarities with him.

4. Geoff Johns' Shazam.

Geoff Johns was pretty much the one who popularized the idea of "using continuity in your favor" and did it with great effect by relaunching several series and turning them into big franchises (at least during the time he was on those books). Then came up the turn of Shazam, a series that Johns has been working on since the beginning of the New 52 way back in 2011 in the backups of his Justice League run, who got his own proper series in 2018.

Yet the title concluded this same year with issue 15, the reason of this are obviously the pandemic along with Johns busy schedule, there were usually long waits between chapters but that didn't disminish the anticipation for the series nor its quality as a whole.

In each chapter, Johns was able to recreate the universe of Shazam with a heavy emphasis on the theme of family which admitedly doesn't come as much of a surprise since this is a common concept for Johns. In fact, Johns implements many similar ideas he has used in other books but what matters is the execution and Johns most certainly succeeds at it.

The Seven Magiclands is one of the biggest reinventions that Johns brought to the franchise which allows to a logical reintroduction to many classic ideas and characters from Captain Marvel's history. That way we see the return of Mr. Mind, King Kull, Tawky Tawny, Mr. Atom and of course, Black Adam who plays an incredibly relevant role in the series and in the future of the Shazam family. Hell, we even see the return of Captain Marvel in a pretty intriguing way.

You might think that Johns would follow the 2019 Shazam movie to a degree and he does, but fortunately he also brings his own twist that make the story just as heartbreaking while also reinforcing the themes he has been developing right from the beginning. It's its own world and is all for the better.

This series was simply worth the wait everytime it went on hiatus. I'm really happy it happened.

Now onto a series that never stopped its course.

3. Joshua Williamson's The Flash.

Joshua Williamson's run on The Flash was something I initially didn't appreciate, eventually liked, later loved, started to lose interest in but ultimately ended in such an extremely high note that I can't help but consider it one of the best books of the year and one of the best eras of The Flash as a whole.

Despite of my early complaints about his work, Williamson always demonstrated a huge understanding about the most important aspects of The Flash, this was demonstrated arc after arc where the history and mythos of the franchises was implemented, reinvented and rediscovered. Is due to Williamson that we have seen the return of many fan-favorite characters and concepts back to the series and in pretty logical ways that no other writer has done in recent times.

Combining some of the best elements from the works of Mark Waid, Geoff Johns and even William Messner-Loebs, Joshua Williamson created a pretty coherent continuity in which almost every idea and piece of the past was able to exist once again while also inventing appropriate developments for all of them.

This long run was not always perfect of course, there were a few dull arcs that shouldn't have been written in the first place (Especially the ones forced by Scott Snyder's Forces. Okay, okay, last time I swear) but still, no Flash run is perfect anyway and even for how highly regarded Waid's Flash work is, it wasn't consistent at all, something that Williamson easily accomplishes.

The final storyarc was a perfect proof of that where Williamson puts both Barry and Eobard Thawne/The Reverse-Flash against each other in an ultimate battle where Barry actually dares to do something new, something that can finally defeat Thawne once for all and something that actually works on several levels for the theme of moving forward that Williamson has been implementing since he arrived into the book. Many other writers have tried to work with the misguided direction that Geoff Johns created for Barry after The Flash: Rebirth, only Williamson was able to give it an appropriate resolution.

This is reason enough for this run to be among the greatest. Williamson's love for the franchise was felt in every single aspect, he fixed a lot of the mistakes from the past (and this was not only limited to Barry, Williamson basically saved Wally West's character from Heroes in Crisis) and created the perfect groundwork for any other writer to succeed him without the baggage he inherited. Few authors can say the same.

The future of The Flash is bright and we all have to thank Joshua Williamson for it.

Now, I have mentioned the Heroes in Crisis disaster a few times already and for that reason you won't believe what's coming next.

2. Tom King/Mitch Gerads/Doc Shaner's Strange Adventures.

Just going to say this already because some people think I hate the guy: When Tom King is good, he can be pretty damn good.

Can you blame my doubts about King though? He is an EXTREMELY hit and miss writer, probably one of the biggest examples of that definition in recent times, for every Mister Miracle you get a Heroes in Crisis, there's simple not middle ground with him.

That being said, while 2019 was pretty terrible for King, 2020 has been very, very good. His new series this year have actually pleasently surprised, Rorschach has been interesting at the very least and even Batman/Catwoman started not terribly to everyone's shock, and of course, there's the book in question.

Nobody knew what to expect from Strange Adventures. It was going to be a 12 issue maxiseries like Mister Miracle which was good since that meant King wouldn't have to overextend his usual barebones plots. On the other hand, he was coming straight after writing awful titles like Batman and Heroes in Crisis, the latter was even an event series with even less issues.

Fortunately, it seems whatever curse King got in 2019 was lifted in 2020 and so, Strange Adventures was an intant hit. The premise is about the war crimes that Adam Strange commited at Rann, a mystery that involves Adam, his wife Alanna Strange and interestingly enough, Mister Terrific who gets the job of investigating the case since he believes in "Fair Play" and so he doesn't have any bias.

All the characters manage to stay relevant during the course of the title, each one of them showcase different sides of their personalities that makes them more complex than ever. Adam is trying to hide his past from the people who see him as a hero and might be even lying to himself about his actions, Alanna is trying to do her best to play in favor of her husband despite that she might know more than she's telling, finally Michael's journey for the truth will take him to different scenarios where his values will be put to test. The character work is wonderfully depicted.

The story is divided between the past on Rann and the present on Earth. The past segments are almost romantically depicted as the classic sci-fi adventures that you would see in the Silver Age while the present scenes completely clash due to the crude reality that Adam and Alanna have to face. However, with each new issue you start to see how both timelines start to converge to the point where it gets clear what actually happened and that the biggest fears about the characters might be true.

These segments wouldn't be as good without the pencils of both Doc Shaner and Mitch Gerads who handle the past and present respectively. Shaner's colorful and semi-cartoony style is simple perfect for the vibrant and cosmic scenes on Rann while Gerads' detailed and semi-realistic tone handle the Earth scenes powerfully with a lot of attention to storytelling.

Are there a few flaws here? Sure. The plot can sometimes progress very slowly and King's depressing writing might be getting too repetitive (just like his worst dialogue) but I can't really find any chapter that I deem unnecessary and the melancholic angle is adequately executed. Even the flaws I mention are nitpicks for the most part in an overall sublime work.

Strange Adventures has shown there's a lot of promise in what King can offer and actually made me excited for some of his future projects. An author salvation should be enough to consider this one of the best books of the year.

And we go to the actual best one. What is the best book of the year for me?

Well, just like with Strange Adventures, this was a pleasent surprise.

Last year I mentioned how a book didn't make this list because it ultimately became tedious and pulled-off some of the worst writing aspects of the creator in question along with what I hate the most from conclusions.

Then again, this year saw the salvation of such creator and what he's actually able to do when he's inspired.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's celebrate a writer that still has what it takes despite of his decades in the industry:

1. Grant Morrison/Liam Sharp's The Green Lantern Season Two.

I initially loved Grant Morrison's The Green Lantern Season One. It began powerfully, had a really accurate yet unique portrayal for Hal Jordan and showcased Morrison's love for the bizarre on a grand scale. However, the latter half quickly started to drag the ultimate confrontation with the main antagonist, Qwa-Man, for many issues in a way that was really unnecessary but what was even worse is that Morrison pulled-off a Scott Snyder (I just can't keep my promise of stop mentioning him, I'm sorry) and the conclusion was mostly a set-up for his then upcoming Blackstars miniseries (which was fairly decent at the end at least).

For this reason, I wasn't really anticipating Season Two. I just wasn't ready to invest more time in a story that could ultimately conclude poorly and the first couple of chapters didn't change my opinion due that they were rather dry. Thankfully though, Morrison proved me wrong this time and each installment started to increase its quality with the most recent one easily being one of the best of this entire run.

There's a running theme going on in this book, about the multiple love interests Hal had over the course of his history, not his life, but his history. Meaning that we see the return of characters that were supposedly retconned out of continuity like Eve Doremus, Cowgirl and Olivia Reynolds, the latter being the most famous of Hal's girlfriends outside of Carol Ferris, all of this leading to the appearance of Carol herself in a couple of issues that perfectly close the themes of relationships and how Hal simply can't keep one and prefers to go to stars instead.

Of course this wouldn't be a Morrison book without the esoteric elements and they're abundant as well. The appearance of many classic Silver Age ideas like Golden Giants, Hyperman (who is a murderous version of Superman with a family and all) and a bunch of cosmic ideas and threats that really puts Hal's willpower to test. Hell, Morrison even references the afterlife in a manner that is very familiar for Hal from his days as the Spectre.

The plot escalates quickly during the course of the book with each chapter becoming more and more tense, each one of them containing fun moments that play with the multiple themes that Morrison usually likes to establish but this time, he's not getting lost into them, at least not so far.

Another pleasent surprise over the course of these books was Liam Sharp who was an artist who had its ups and downs during Greg Rucka's Wonder Woman run but here, man, he completely impressed me due that he showed how he could be just as experimental as Morrison, continually changing his style depending of the tone of the issue or even scene, demonstrating a great flexibility and following the script as precise as possible. This run has truly turned Sharp into one of the best pencillers that DC has at the moment.

Those are the reasons why I consider this book the best of the year. The combination of obscure concepts, weird ideas and Morrison at his best was enough to win me over. Sure, there's always that fear at the back of my head that tells me that Morrison could ultimately ruin the conclusion because he can't help himself concerning his themes but so far, I can't help but love this.

And that was my Top Ten Best DC Comics of 2020 list people. This year was pretty awful for everyone but I still have hope that 2021 will be much better despite that DC's future might not seem so bright right now. One must always hope for the better no matter how bad the present is.

Onto 2021 and thank you all who have been following these lists. You mean a lot to me.