The Top Ten Best DC Comics of 2022

What can I say about 2022?

I already commented that this year was marked by mediocrity, a year that mostly seems like a set-up for the new status quo that DC is preparing for 2023 (and I'm kinda tired of this Marvel-like strategy), but as usual, this doesn't mean that there are not things to appreciate under the unremarkable.

On the other hand, this also means that there's not a lot of stuff that is actually notable and for that same reason I will have to once again break my rule of only books consisting of a least 6 issues in this list and unfortunately, is even more limited this time since I haven't been reading a lot of books in 2022.

However, if there's anything that I must say that at least, at least some of the picks here made me excited for what's coming next and that's the best that this year can offer.

But let's explore more of that, let's start with:

10. Christopher Priest's Black Adam.

Christopher Priest's run on Deathstroke was without a doubt one of the best eras of the character. Priest was able to bring so much depth for Slade, his family and the way the world responds to a person like him that it almost felt like a Vertigo take on the World's Greatest Mercenary.

For that reason I was pretty excited to learn that Priest was going to write yet another anti-hero/villain and as expected, he doesn't disappoint in that regard. Surprisingly enough, Priest builds-up from the groundwork that Geoff Johns created during his Shazam work and developes very logical directions for the character that Johns himself couldn't even think of (or didn't have time to). There's also the classic political themes that are always prominent in the author's works that are all about the conflict between nations and the portrayal of different races that are relevant in such. Is a very compelling work and one that offers very dense reads in each issue.

There's only one problem though and that's the reason why this series is so low in this list and that problem is called Malik. Malik is the other protagonist of this story who is chosen to be the successor of Black Adam which actually makes a lot of sense since it plays with the idea of the champions passing their power to other people that has always been prevalent in the Shazam series and Malik himself offers a few interesting insights about the topic. Unfortunately, he also has some of the most forced "young" dialogue that I've heard in recent years, apparently Priest's age is being reflected here since he's trying very hard to make the character sound hip and cool but it only makes him sound weird and awkward. If only Malik talked like a normal person we would have another great series here.

As it is though, is still pretty solid and makes me wonder where things are going next. Fortunately, there are more consistent books ahead.

9. Mark Waid/Dan Mora's World's Finest.

This was yet another pleasent surprise. I consider Waid a rather hit and miss writer, some of his works are truly legendary while others leave quite a bit to be desired but even at his worst there's nothing you could really call "the worst" (especially compared to other authors I've talked about before) and thus, I was anticipating his proper return at DC to see what he would be able to bring and thankfully he did deliver the goods here.

Suited in the early years of Superman and Batman, Waid has created a story that evokes his classic Silver Age sensibilities perfectly, a title that combines sci-fi elements from that era with a more modern execution and is a great joy to read. Is not very clear in which continuity this series takes place (and I wouldn't be surprised if Waid uses Hypertime to be more fluid about it considering how much he loves the concept) but this allows him to be more flexible with the ongoing plot in which he starts to bring several different concepts in each issue, introducing new characters that play important roles in the universe and setting-up future stories for the whole DC line (I'm not really sure about the upcoming execution of those stories but we will see).

Characterization is pretty good for the most part due that Waid knows how to create an engaging dynamic between the World's Finest along with their side-characters and he even reintroduces some of his old creations in pretty inventive and shocking ways that give a whole new meaning to their original appearances. Is all very solidly done.

Dan Mora was an amazing choice for this book since he's an incredible penciller that is able to inject a lot of energy to every scene with a great sense of polish. This is one of the most beautiful books out there.

Waid is not perfect (See Batman Vs. Robin for more of that) but when he's good, he's damn good. However, there are more consistent authors out there.

8. Jeff Lemire/Dustin Nguyen's Robin & Batman.

I don't think I'm going too far by saying that everything that Jeff Lemire touches turns into gold. He has delivered some of the best runs in the histories of the respective characters he has worked on, Animal Man, Green Arrow, Moon Knight, you name it.

So you have to understand that whenever he's announced as the writer of anything, particularly at DC, I'm paying full attention to it. Unfortunately, it was just a 3 issue miniseries this year, thankfully though, it was pretty fantastic, it was so good that it only had 1 issue this year and I still had to consider it on this list. We have a winner here.

Lemire retells the story of Dick Grayson (Yes, yes, I know but hear me out) but, as expected from Lemire, he gives it his own unique twist that makes it more interesting than previous origin stories. Lemire instantly explores the dynamic between Dick and Bruce, what makes them different and how those differences make them clash. Sure, this kind of interaction has been done before but what makes Lemire's version compelling is that he really emphasizes how inexperience Bruce as a parent this early in career as a hero and so, he commits a lot of mistakes trying to raise his first son but fortunately, Lemire still portrays him as a rather sympathetic person who just has a lot to learn.

But of course, this is mostly Dick's story and he gets a great portrayal interacting with other characters being either the Teen Titans or Killer Croc, the latter being the main antagonist of the plot. It showcases how Robin sees the crime fighting different from Batman and offers a compelling insight about the mission that feels really in-character for someone like Dick Grayson who has always been defined by his lighthearted and hopeful nature. Is pretty on-point.

Dustin Nguyen is no strange to the Batman universe and he is at home here, mixing the classic dark tones from this world but at the same offering a lot of detail that depicts every part of the script perfectly.

A fantastic reimagining of a classic hero, I hope we see more of this and Lemire in the future.

There are longer runs to congratulate here though.

7. Phillip Kennedy Johnson's Action Comics.

Consistency, your name is Phillip Kennedy Johnson.

Is quite frankly admirable that a writer can keep delivering such level of quality two years in a row but here we have a writer that arrived with very little fanfare at DC, at least compared to the likes of (ugh) Brian Bendis, and was able to salvage a lot of the disaster that happened earlier and produced very interesting stories.

And is not an easy job I must tell you because, aside from the already mentioned Bendis disaster, there's also the problem that Johnson was editorially mandated to take Superman out of Earth because DC was heavily pushing Jon Kent as the new Superman (and we know how well that turned out, thanks Tom Taylor) but Johnson was not limited by that and instead decided to create a pretty engaging tale in which he has to survive Warworld ruled by his classic enemy Mongul. Is a story of epic proportions where Johnson plays with a lot of the ideas that came before (including last year's Grant Morrison's Superman & the Authority book) and creates a solid development for them while also incorporating classic Superman themes.

Is not perfect though since, while each issue feels like a pretty dense read, at times it feels like Johnson was forced to overextend this plotline (and is probably the case because the whole Justice League was just announced to return very recently) but still one can't negate that what we had here was pretty good and makes me excited for what's going to do in his upcoming Green Lantern run.

Johnson is definitely one of the writers to follow in the future and speaking of such:

6. Geoff Johns/Todd Nauck's Stargirl: The Lost Children.

I was pretty excited to learn that Geoff Johns was properly returning, not only at DC books, but one of the franchises that marked his career, the Justice Society of America.

And man, what a return! Starting by rebooting the whole continuity (Yes, Johns' typical stuff) but in a different way in which the classic JSA time-traveling villain Per Degaton starts rewriting the history of the team, killing different versions of it and directing them for his new plans which is a better executed route than the tired "change for the sake of tragedy" that Johns himself did in The Flash: Rebirth.

This leads to the eventual return of Stargirl, Johns' creation that is based on her deceased sister who he's clearly very fond of, and how she's trying to investigate the disappearance of the Golden Age sidekicks that occurred decades ago. This is just part of the new JSA line is handling that also consists of the new JSA book so you might be wondering, what makes Stargirl better? Well, while JSA is slowly taking its time to develop the time-traveling main plot, Stargirl instead dedicates to develop the main characters and it does a much better job at that.

Courney has always been a likable character and the writer continues such work by depicting her as the beloved young girl who wants to become a great heroine. This is supported by the unexpected appearance of Emiko Queen, Green Arrow's sister, who quickly becomes her new best friend and I must say that this is the most I've enjoyed from Emiko since Jeff Lemire stopped writing her, Johns is able to create a logical progression from her origins and connects her to the ongoing mystery in an appropriate manner (and as a Green Arrow fan, I love the references to the history of the character). The dynamic between the two is what carries the book, Johns has created a pretty enjoyable and believable friendship here.

Todd Nauck was also a surprising yet fitting choice for this book since his energetic style is perfect for a young superhero book and he creates a great range of emotions of the characters. Is great when a mostly 90s artist continues to improve instead of just keeping an outdated style.

An entertaining book that shows that Johns still got it and that's not the only example of that here.

But first let's speak of a writer that rarely disappoints.

5. Mark Russell/Steve Lieber's One-Star Squadron.

Is always great to see someone who explores different ideas in comics like Mark Russell.

Russell's work has always been defined by their extremely human nature. He really knows how to depict understandable and sympathetic characters all of this coupled with very deep themes and a satirical tone which have been perfectly explored in The Flintstones and The Snagglepuss Chronicles.

This is why every book from Russell is worth checking out, even if they don't end-up being as good as they could (Looking at you Wonder Twins), thankfully One-Star Squadron is one of those where Russell's strengths are appropriately exploited.

The miniseries focuses on Red Tornado who is in charge of his little office of C-List superheroes who are constantly disappointed that they're not as popular as the big names. Due to this reason a lot of them suffer from low self-esteem and even depression, this is most clearly represented in Minute Man, a new version of a very old and forgotten superhero who can get superpowers for a minute thanks to a vitamin called Miraclo (Basically Hourman but worse) and you can see how his condition gets worse and worse once that he can't even get his vitamins due that they're discontinued and now he has to go for drug dealers with overly-expensive prices, this continues to go downhill to the point of no return but even then, Russell is able to show a light of hope for him.

Because that's also an important aspect of Russell's work, he presents situations in a very real and often cruel manner but always creates a coherent solution for them and his characters in which he explores ideas about empathy, kindness and compassion that often end in a heartwarming way.

There's also the already mentioned satirical angle that Russell likes to implement that makes fun of big corporations and businessmen, about how they even control heroes just for the sake of money and power disregarding the true meaning of being a hero and how they're also people. Is the kind of political commentary that makes you think and I'm glad that there's someone like Russell after reading so much Tom Taylor work.

Steve Lieber was a great choice for pencils since it has a very clean and let's say "natural" style compared to what we usually see in superhero books and helps see the characters as actual people.

Russell needs to be on upcoming books, his unique voice is really what DC needs right now.

Although there are also traditional books to appreciate.

4. Chip Zdarsky/Jorge Jimenez/Leonardo Romero's Batman.

Chip Zdarsky's Batman: The Knight wasn't really one of the best books out there. It was sadly yet another attempt at retelling Batman's origin but, unlike some examples in this same list, it didn't offer a lot of innovative or interesting twists about it but anyone who considered it a kinda derivative work had to admit that it was still very, very well-written.

And thank God Zdarsky eventually improved his work on the proper Batman title.

Following a few of the themes that he worked on The Knight, Zdarsky decided to create a story that follows a lot of the classic continuity, specifically the Justice League of America Tower of Babel arc, to tell a new adventure in which Batman is forced to face a being as dangerous as he is.

Yes, you could say that Zdarsky is once again repeating already tried ideas but what makes this different is that he's further exploring them to give them more depth. Take for example the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, a bizarre Silver Age creation that Grant Morrison brought back for his now legendary run on the character and Zdarsky expands on such idea, revealing a new perspective about it while also being completely faithful to the original concept. All of this in an action-packed tale that is fastly-paced and really engaging to read.

Jorge Jimenez is once again back to the series and he's one of the reasons why the action-oriented plot is so successful due that his energetic style and vibrant tone makes every scene worth watching it (I mean, we're talking about the person who made James Tynion IV's Batman worth watching, that takes a lot).

As good as Jimenez is though, I must say that Leonardo Romero offered the most creative part of this run since he's responsible to explore the background of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh with very unique visuals.

Great writing and great artists, a great book to read and watch.

And of course there's more of that next:

3. Sean Murphy's Batman: Beyond the White Knight.

While Zdarsky's Batman follows old ideas and expands on them, Sean Murphy is simply not afraid to completely break the whole Batman universe in his own vision and I just love it.

The "White Knight Universe" has been an amazing reinvention of the Dark Knight. A version in which we see a much more flawed Batman that has to face much more morally grey enemies compared to his usual colorful rogue's gallery and this is all perfectly executed in every conceivable way.

The story only gets more complex since Murphy is moving it forward and reaches the Beyond timeline in which Bruce is an old man dealing with the mistakes of the past and Terry McGuinnis is the new Batman. The difference being that Terry here works for Derek Powers now (the antagonist of the Batman Beyond show) and Bruce has to deal with the Joker as a second personality who he constantly clashes with. These are the kind of inventive choices that makes this universe so compelling to watch and I'm not even mentioning the amount of interesting relationships that exist between the reinvented cast like Bruce and Harley Quinn, Bruce and Dick Grayson or Bruce and Jason Todd (Yes, a lot of this revolves around Batman but once again, it really works because the Bruce here is deeply different from his more ideal main portrayal).

Murphy's own artwork remains one of the highlights of these entries thanks to his grim and gritty atmosphere that still brings a lot of detail and depicts every scene as strongly as possible.

If this is the end of this universe I would say is a pretty satisfying one but there's something else I wish had a continuation:

2. Garth Ennis' Peacemaker: Disturbing the Peace.

This being so high shouldn't come much as a surprise considering that I had Garth Ennis' Batman: Reptilian at the top of this list last year but still, there are a lot of things that makes me consider it an even stronger work than the already mentioned.

Ennis is used at writing antiheroes so I was really intrigued by what he could bring to the table here. Was it going to be similar to his work on Hitman? Similar to his work on Punisher? Maybe even something similar to The Comedian from Watchmen who is a pastiche of  Peacemaker?

I was pleasently surprised to learn that it was none of the above.

This is not the same Peacemaker from the Suicide Squad movie, nor the same Peacemaker from the HBO Max show and thank God is not the same Peacemaker nobody from Robbie Thompson's Suicide Squad. What Ennis does is a rather unique take that allows for a pretty compelling exploration of character.

We're introduced to Christopher Smith, a strange individual who has fought in a war for what he considers is right despite of what some people might actually think about that. This might sound like your typical edgy antihero allied to the government but Christopher is far from that, he doesn't have any alliance to anybody, doesn't have any violent tendency, he doesn't even feel anything at all. Even though he had a fairly rough and tragic childhood, this never changed his true nature, it only motivated him to deal with the biggest problems that crossed his path. There's something terrifying about the protagonist that clearly presents him as some kind of psychopath but at the same time and unlike all the other similar characters that Ennis has handled in the past, there's no malice at all in Christopher, only peace.

This is nicely explored thanks to the interactions he has with the psychiatrist who was assigned to analyze him and her concern keeps escalating after Christopher reveals more and more about his life. However, he keeps conforting her about how there's nothing to worry about, there's a certain kindness in the main character in a very strange way, he really wants to see people at peace in a twisted manner. This is also unique for Ennis since he usually portrays psychiatrists as manipulative assholes but the one here is actually pretty sympathetic in her own naivety. Is a very well-constructed and mature work.

This is so good that in fact makes me wish that Ennis continues his work here and follows with a proper Peacemaker series, there's a lot of potential in this kind of vigilante.

This is so good that in fact I initially thought about putting at the top of this list early on but the more I wrote about the title coming next, the more I realized it needed to be in first place, it represents everything that this year needed, the promise that things can actually get better in the future coming from a writer that actually learned from his mistakes and makes me excited for what's he's planning next.

I don't know how many people will agree with me on this but I can't help but think this is what DC needs right now.

1. Geoff Johns' Flashpoint Beyond.

This is probably the most controversial thing I've ever said: Flashpoint was not very good.

Seriously though, aside from some interesting tie-ins, the event was a bit of a mess due that it had to carry the baggage of Geoff Johns' admitedly awful second Flash run, had to disregard a lot of its ideas because of the forced New 52 reboot and its overly-dark tone was probably the inspiration for Scott Snyder's Metal events (which might be the biggest sin here).

So, what did Johns decide to do a decade later? Why make a sequel for such an unpopular event of course!

It sounded bad and a lot of people expressed it when it was initially announced. I however, was willing to give it a chance since in recent years Johns proved he was not the same author who made Flashpoint.

And I'm glad I was right on this one since it created one of the most satisfying series this year.

Focusing on Thomas Wayne, one of the protagonists from the original Flashpoint, going back to his own universe and wanting to make his son exist once again, the series explores even more about this dark reality which is automatically good since the original made a rather half-assed job because of its abrupt ending. 

Flashpoint was an universe where things went wrong, Flashpoint Beyond is an universe where things went worse. The war between Wonder Woman and Aquaman never ended, the world is at the edge of destruction and of course, Bruce Wayne is still dead, this forces Thomas to try to make things go back to how they should but after finding a little orphan and the return of a loved one, he realizes that there are things that simply can't be changed and is better to accept it and go on.

Flashpoint Beyond has a powerful message, one that shows how much Johns has matured since the creation of the original crossover. While the first series tried to do the same witth Barry accepting the death of his mother, it didn't really work because of the constant dark tone that was so prominent in it, the overly-depressing Flash run that came before and the quick conclusion because of the upcoming new continuity. The sequel on the other hand focuses more on the actual people, creating a group of very sympathetic characters and makes you realize that even if the world is not perfect, is still worth fighting for and live for the memories of the people who passed and for the others who are still here. Even some of the grim and gritty ideas from the original are further explored creating more compelling concepts as a whole. Is everything that a sequel should do and more.

Showing how a writer can get better with age and more importantly giving actual hope for the future, Flashpoint Beyond definitely deserves its place here.

Well, that was my Top Ten Best DC Comics of 2022 list. Let's just hope the brand new direction is more successful than the last one so we have more promising books in the future.

Onto 2023 and let's pray for the better.