I need this.
But 2021 doesn't make things easy, in any way, shape or form. Right from the beginning, DC Comics decided to relaunch most of its whole line to the point where quite a few runs ended abruptly. Mind you, quite a few of them were also not very good at the time but that's not really the point, the point is that this year was based on brand new directions and creative teams and I'm still mixed about it overall.
As I already covered in my previous list, many of those new runs didn't really work at all and unfortunately, there wasn't enough of the good ones to actually have a complete glance at what they can truly offer. In fact, 2021 has a lot in common with 2020, especially because I will have to disregard my rule of "at least half a year of issues to be in the list" since most of the books didn't last that long.
And I don't want to be too pessimistic but another thing that both years had in common is that the quality is not as great as previous years, there's good stuff but not nearly as groundbreaking or even consistent as before but I can say that at the very least they have brought a smile to my face for the most part.
Let's end this awful year in the best way possible!
10. Dan Jurgens/Ryan Sook's Blue & Gold.
Well, at least there's some consistency that can be found here.
I'm actually a fan of Dan Jurgens' work way from the 90s. While not really impressive per se, I've always considered him a pretty decent writer in a very "classic" fashion, always creating typical yet enjoyable superhero stories along with likable characters who receive appropriate development as a whole. Such writing is complemented nicely with Jurgens' also classic looking artstyle that is inspired by very famous pencillers like George Perez or John Byrne.
This kind of work is well-implemented in a book like Blue & Gold, a title that brings back the classic friendship between Booster Gold (Created by Jurgens himself) and Blue Beetle. Jurgens here emphasizes mostly on character work and in that regard, he really succeeds, the writer obviously knows and most importantly cares about the history between both characters which is represented during the many eras and styles that are brought into the story.
And speaking about the story, yeah, this is the part where the title suffers a little due that the book barely has a plot aside from "Michael and Ted are trying to get famous" but that's not necessarily bad due that there's a much bigger focus on the friendship between the protagonists and how that reflects into the world around them, not to mention that while there's a certain lack of plot, there's no lack of content due that there's a lot of character interaction.
It was a joy to see someone like Ryan Sook on art duties due that he's a master at depicting expressions which is perfect for character-centered book like this plus he follows the script with a lot of precision and gives a lot of detail too.
Decent book as a whole but I'm sure you want to hear about better things than just "decent".
9. Phillip Kennedy Johnson's Superman.
I don't think that I'm being hyperbolic when I say that anything, ANYTHING would have been seen as an improvement after Brian Bendis' disastrous run.
Seriously, Bendis' era was the disgusting mix of decent ideas with completely godawful execution. In fact, a lot of the terrible directions that DC Comics is currently taking are because of Bendis's decisions and sadly many of those are still not corrected (Yep, still salty about grown Jon Kent).
A change was immediately needed, someone who can at least tell a competently-crafted story would have been good enough. Thankfully, Phillip Kennedy Johnson is not only "good enough", he's actually a pretty damn solid writer
Things were not easy for Johnson when he arrived to the Superman line due that he had to continue almost every ill-conceived choice that Bendis took. The writer fortunately confronted all of the problems up front and created an actual logical development from them.
The series is focused on the dynamic between Clark and his son Jon, about how the latter is constantly concerned about the inevitable death of Clark (An idea that the line has been playing with recently) with a big emphasis on Jon's development and preparing him to his future role as Superman. Johnson implements the idea with great expertise and does so in a way that almost sells the premise of Jon as the Man of Tomorrow.
The only thing that prevents things from going higher in the list is because the book was cut short because wanted it to serve mostly as a prologue to Tom Taylor's work in Superman: Son of Kal-El although to be honest, I think Johnson did a much better work than Taylor at handling Jon (and Taylor's work there has many other flaws, will talk a bit about it later).
This won't be the last time that I will mention this direction though since there are much greater things to appreciate as we go further.
8. Geoffrey Thorne's Green Lantern.
In the meantime though, let's talk about yet another extremely consistent book.
Geoffrey Thorne arrived to the Green Lantern franchise to a simple premise: Tell stories about the Green Lantern Corps beyond Hal Jordan. While not a particularly innovative premise (and it might be a bit fanboyesque on paper), Thorne showcases a great expertise at developing the Corps.
John Stewart is the main character and the writer definitely has a love for him which is demonstrated because of the constant references to his large history, such care is also obvious because of the amount of development John gets over the course of the story with new insights about his past and new exploration of abilities that seem fitting for the protagonist.
John is not the sole star of the show though since the rest of the cast also get an interesting portrayal including Simon Baz, Jo Mullein and Keli Quintela A.K.A. Teen Lantern, the latter was a very pleasent surprise since I couldn't care less about the character when Brian Bendis was writing her during his Young Justice book but Thorne manages to creates an appropriate character work for her as well as adequate progression for the others.
Each issue is divided in two segments focusing on each part of the plot and cast which allows for a great amount of content which, in days where a master of decompression like Tom Taylor gets a lot of work, this is very appreciated.
Yet another solid title that demonstrates that not all the decisions DC took recently are necessarily bad.
And yes, I've been complaining a lot about Tom Taylor here so you might be surprised by my next choice:
7. Tom Taylor/Bruno Redondo's Nightwing.
Yeah, this is actually good but not as good as I would have hoped for.
As you might know at this point, I have very mixed feelings about Tom Taylor. I think his overall execution is sound and he can pull-off solid character moments along with great action segments but all of this combined with many ill-conceived premises, inaccurate characterization and sometimes downright dumb stories that really, REALLY don't need the amount of issues he dedicates to them.
So when he arrived to Nightwing I had big fears about it... and some of those fears were actually confirmed due that there are still many "Tayloresque" choices here like the introduction of a little puppy for the sole purpose of forcefully make the audience go "Aaawww!", really predictable and blunt dialogue like Bruce mentioning how he "saw his parents die so he wouldn't let that happen to his son" referring to Dick (Because it doesn't make sense in the context of any story since I'm pretty sure Bruce has mentioned how Dick is his son a hundred times before and has mentioned the death of his parents a thousand times already) and EXTREMELY decompressed stories that could really be condensed in less issues.
That being said, he still does a fine job at portraying Dick Grayson, the dynamic with Barbara Gordon is well-handled and the story itself has enough interesting beats to make you invested in it. Is definitely not as good as Tim Seeley's run on Nightwing (Especially because of how Taylor turned Blockbuster into an one-dimensional thug because he can't write villains worth a damn) but is still a fairly decent work.
That's the reason why this is so low on the list but why is it so high despite of what I said? Well, because Taylor is fortunate to have Bruno Redondo who is one of the best modern artists in the industry.
Seriously, Redondo makes each issue a joy to watch despite of how little content there actually is. The penciller puts a lot of detail in each panel with a very beautiful style and incredibly creative storytelling that I haven't seen since the days of Mark Waid and Marcos Martin in Daredevil (And I need to mention that while I do have my own complaints with Mark Waid, he's still a much smarter writer than Taylor). Redondo's imagination is boundless and makes the book worth buying just because of him.
I might be a bit harsh with Taylor here but sorry, I just can't help it. From Batman: The Detective being a immensely dumb excuse of a mystery story (thanks to the worthless antagonist), Superman: Son of Kal-El trying too hard to be trendy in every sense of the word and Dark Knights of Steel getting very stupid very fast, my opinion of Taylor is not very high but hey, I can at least say that his work here is acceptable and most importantly, allowed Redondo to really get the attention he deserves.
Now onto better material.
6. Phillip Kennedy Johnson's Action Comics.
Superman was cut short but Action Comics is still ongoing and it has been much better even from the beginning.
Johnson continues to explore the concept of the death of Clark but while the Superman book was mostly suited from Jon's perspective, this is mostly centered around Clark and yeah, we get a really good work in that regard.
Clark has to continually wonder about what's going to happen in the future, while his fate is not much of a concern for him, the fate of the rest is what worries him the most, especially his son who he needs to prepare to become the next Superman after him. The character development is very on-point due that the writer really emphasizes how important Clark is to his son and the rest of the world, even more impressive is how well Johnson handles the concept of death and how one doesn't need to be so concerned about it because is going to happen to anyone eventually which is something that I really needed this year considering what I had to face.
The plot is equally great because the writer plays the long game which involves the upcoming attack of Mongul which presents him as a really imposing threat with a great escalation and pacing. Plus, he's also following some of the plot-points created (I will talk about them later) in pretty appropriate manners. Coming from Brian Bendis' decompressed and erratic writing, this was an appreciated breath of fresh air.
Great character work, plotting and content. Johnson deserves all the credit he can get.
And speaking about people who deserve a lot of credit.
5. Gene Luen Yang/Ivan Reis' Batman/Superman.
I'm not exactly a big fan of Gene Luen Yang, I think he's a kinda hit and miss writer (not as much as Tom Taylor but still it mostly fits in that category). I thought his Superman run was mostly a waste of time, his New Super-Man only started to get good halfway and his The Terrifics work was a downgrade coming from Jeff Lemire's run.
But when he nails it, he nails it.
Yang's Batman/Superman might be one of the most creative runs concerning this team-up in recent years. I loved Joshua Williamson's work and while I think his run was better in certain regards, there's no doubt that Yang beat him at exploring more interesting concepts.
The idea of Bruce and Clark being suddenly involved in an amalgam of continuities, although being heavily based on the Golden Age of comics and with an intriguing tone of the films from that era, is something that I haven't seen aside from the works by Grant Morrison. This allows for many interesting situations and stories that properly exploit many inventive scenarios that you wouldn't usually see in the main continuity.
And there's an appropriate explanation for that due that the World's Finest are facing a powerful being who is able to manipulate timelines and create their own where stories occur the way they want. However, if there's something common about every reality is that no matter the era, Superman and Batman always win.
The run wouldn't have been as powerful without Ivan Reis' pencils though who has always been a fantastic artist at developing bombastic moments but here he demonstrates how creative he can be by depicting panels where the different universes start clashing with one another and always made me want to see more of them.
High-concept and beautiful to look at, glad that Yang can still deliver the goods.
Now let's talk about yet another creative team that followed suit.
4. Tom King/Mitch Gerads/Doc Shaner's Strange Adventures.
In 2019 Tom King was a bad writer, in 2020 he was a good one and in 2021... Well, things are a bit more mixed.
Rorschach ended-up becoming an unnecessarily cryptic story just to make the "mystery" more complex than it actually was. Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is buried under a ton of heavyhanded third-person narration because whenever King chooses a theme for each of his books nobody can't change his mind no matter how bad it is execution-wise. However, while King implements a different style for every different book, there's something that they all share in common: They have way more issues than their stories require.
And sadly Strange Adventures shares the same flaw.
Seriously, there are quite a few issues where things become either too unnecessary or redundant (Not to the extent of Rorschach or Supergirl but it still was pretty noticeable), I don't even understand why King wants to make his series last for so long when they don't really have to, especially considering that they would be much better received if he condensed the little plot he wants to tell in less installments.
That's the reason why this book is not as high as last year but on the other hand, this was still a pretty damn enjoyable experience.
While the "mystery" surrounding Adam Strange's actions in the war started to become really obvious halfway (Again, the decompression wasn't necessary), the title still had a good sense of presentation and escalation, all of this combined with a great climax in the last few issues where the cast of Adam, Alanna and Mister Terrific come into conflict and the personalities that have been developing over the course of the plot react in pretty appropriate ways. In fact that's another thing that I really liked about this book, the cast was very compelling from start to finish and yes, while they all show the classic "dark twist" from King's stories, they still had a resemblance from their original portrayals just with a much deeper exploration.
And of course, another reason to like this book is the talented pencillers. Mitch Gerads and Doc Shaner were amazing in their different section with Shaner depicting the sci-fi scenes from the past as vibrant as possible while Gerads contrasts it with a much grittier realistic tone in the present. The tones started to combine nicely towards the end though and it was still beautiful all-around.
King will forever remain hit and miss I guess but I'm glad for all the hits he has.
Let's talk about more consistent writers though.
3. Grant Morrison/Mikel Janin's Superman & the Authority.
I'm always glad to see Grant Morrison back, no matter if his books can have disappointing endings at times.
Yeah, I don't exactly consider Morrison "hit and miss" but there are quite a few times when I'm extremely excited and invested about his work at first only to end-up underwhelmed because of Morrison's adherence to his themes in detriment of the plot and conclusions.
That hasn't been the case lately though since The Green Lantern Season Two ended-up having a pretty satisfying conclusion and thankfully, Superman & the Authority followed suit.
Morrison uses his classic exploration of different continuities to create a story that combines all of them. From the beginning with Manchester Black mentioning his time with The Elite (a pastiche of The Authority), the references to famous members of the team like Jenny Sparks and Jack Hawksmoor along with the return of classic characters like Apollo and Midnighter (and the obligatory Queer innuendos that come with them), is a very rich read in which apparently everything from the past happened.
The amount of history being revisited doesn't stop there due that Morrison brings back antagonists like Ultra-Humanite and Brainiac in which the writer exploits his creativity to implement interesting uses for their different abilities that present a believable challenge for the protagonists.
And of course, there is Superman who Morrison clearly has a lot of affection for. I wouldn't say that Morrison is the best Superman writer (otherwise his Action Comics run would have been more engaging) but there's no doubt that he gets the character right for the most part with a very on-point voice and characterization. The fact that this seems like a Clark in his latter years also presents a good opportunity to experiment with new themes about him, themes that lead to a story in the current Action Comics actually.
Mikel Janin also deserves a lot of the credit because he's able to depict all the different characters and action scenes as detailed as possible while following the imaginitve script really close. He has always been a good choice for the more "out there" comic books.
Short but sweet. Hope to see more works like this from this creative team.
But what we have next might see like a safer choice but still a definitely worthy one.
2. Joshua Williamson's Robin.
Yeah, Joshua Williamson might indeed not be one of the most creative writers out there but he's still one of the most consistent and Robin might be his best book yet.
And this wasn't an easy task because of all the baggage the character came with. This is Damian Wayne we're talking about, post-Rebirth Damian Wayne, who was known for kidnapping, coercing and manipulating his partners to work along with him (Mind you, some good stories were told from this angle). Hell, his only true friend was Jon Kent but that friendship pretty much ended once Brian Bendis crashed and ruined everything. The little Robin was on the path of becoming one of the most unlikable persons around the DCU.
Then Williamson arrived with with his typical character salvations. Mind you, it wasn't enough to salvage Damian, anyone can do that (Well, anyone competent so not exactly anyone), it was also necessary to create the ideal story for that and the writer definitely deliver in that front.
Driven by the death of Alfred (another of Tom King's mistakes) and his ghost constantly haunting him, Damian decides to enter a tournament in the mysterious Lazarus Island where he has to fight against some of the deadliest warriors in the planet and not even death might stop their battle. Is definitely an exciting premise, one that we don't usually see in American comics and even introduces a pretty cool new cast.
Oh, and speaking about that new cast, Williamson uses this as an opportunity to bring back Connor Hawke (the son of Green Arrow) and of course Williamson's love for continuity forced him to reference EVERYTHING from his introduction after the death of Oliver Queen to his time in the JLA to his sudden disappearance, everything is addressed to a certain extent. The portrayal can be a bit on the nose at times but it still gets the job done and makes me wonder what a Green Arrow book written by Williamson could be like.
But of course, Damian is the star here and the writer definitely got the right direction for him. The motivation of the Alfred's ghost allows for an interesting exploration of character along with the appropriate connection he demonstrates with the rest of the Batfamily all of this leading to the final realization that Damian's father had since his beginning as Batman, that what he truly needed was help. Perfectly connected to Grant Morrison's Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne and curing a little kid who was about to become a sociopath, one just has to appreciate Williamson's desire to fix characters.
An all-around strong story that pretty much gets everything right, exactly what I love.
Now about that first pick, I don't know if this might be considered controversial or not but it just feels right.
I haven't been keeping up with comic talk recently so I genuinely don't know if people love, hate or are indifferent about the following book but is just something that surprised me so much in a very, very pleasent way (despite that the topics it touches are anything but pleasent) that I can't help but consider it the best title I've read in 2021.
And to be honest, this is the year where I needed something different and the fact that it's linked to one of my favorite writers makes it more justifiable.
1. Garth Ennis/Liam Sharp's Batman: Reptilian.
I never thought I would see the day when Garth Ennis would write Batman and take him seriously.
For anyone who doesn't know, Garth Ennis hates superheroes aside from a few select cases (Superman). Hell, he wrote an entire and long series (The Boys) where he could express such distaste in every frikking issue. This was especially clear whenever he wrote Batman, especially during the 90s where he treated him as a joke, a miserable man with an overly-gritty view of life who Ennis constantly humilliated at every chance.
For that reason I didn't know what to expect when I learned about the existence of Batman: Reptilian since there was a high possibility he could treat him as a joke once again but at the same time, there was the possibility that since Batman here was the main character, Ennis could deliver something unique and mature instead of being predictable and juvenile.
And thank GOD, he delivered the goods.
Ennis brings his own vision of Batman which is much different from the caricaturesque portrayal himself did years ago, in fact is very different from anything I've seen from any writer before. Ennis' Batman is a man who has been fighting his colorful rogues gallery for years now and is obviously tired of them, for that reason he has decided to become extremely cruel.
Yes, you can expect Ennis' handling real life issues as usual due that Batman faces famous rapists who constantly abuse their power (and is so satisfying to see Batman take them down) but aside from those few examples, is just about Bruce investigating the appearance of mysterious creature who is suddenly hunting Gotham City's criminals, particularly the villains he has been battling all this time and is horribly torturing and even killing them.
And Bruce couldn't care less about it.
Ennis does something very smart about this. He doesn't change Batman's rules but plays around them, particularly the "no killing rule" which lets Batman physically and especially mentally torture his opponents to the point of becoming almost as bad as the people he fights against. You could say that Ennis' Batman is a sadist but not in the same style as his Punisher since his Bruce prefers to play with his enemies and continually mocking them contrasting with the themes they usually play with. Just like he did with Punisher though, Ennis realizes how bad Batman could be which makes a good character study that is explored by both his enemies and allies.
This came especially at the right time due that it arrived right in the middle of James Tynion IV's derivative Batman run which heavily exploited Batman's most famous villains in a desperate attempt to push sales. In fact you could interpret Ennis' Batman: Reptilian as a mockery Tynion's Batman because of the gruesome and anticlimactic way his classic enemies are taken out of the story, especially the Joker who doesn't even have a proper confrontation with Batman and the latter is just there to make fun of his nemesis (which again, is an appreciated breath of fresh air).
The dialogue shines in every issue because of how well the writer handles "asshole" Batman and always makes me want to see how he's going to humilliate his enemies next. The plot is probably the weakest aspect of it since the mystery is not that interesting but it serves mostly as an excuse to make the protagonist basically take revenge in his own way on the monsters who have been hurting innocent people for so long and in that sense, is pretty satisfying.
Liam Sharp contributed a lot to the tone of the story, his artwork has evolved in many ways over the years being able to create different styles when is required and here he goes for the dark and the bizarre, often portraying the villains as horrible creatures and Batman as an imposing and fearsome being. All of this following the script in a very creative manner and giving each scenario great complexity.
Smart, compelling, distinctive and even bold. This is the kind of book that 2021 needed the most.
Well, I'm glad that I was able to end this terrible year in a positive note. At the very least I know that 2022 won't be as bad from a personal standpoint, hopefully it will be better in terms of quality stories as well.
Nice post thank you Taylor
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