60. Big Mushy Happy Lump

Writer/Artist: Sarah Andersen

Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing

As the popularity of Sarah’s Scribbles continues to expand I do worry her hilarious and informative comic strips will run the risk of overexposure. They are a Facebook post away from every fiftysomething aunt you know posting them on every level of social media like they are some sort of new wave version of Cathy meshed Minions memes. Luckily they are funny enough to not get tired of , which makes this book the perfect tool to have by your side when the hardships of reality are too much. (A fact that is just more and more true with the world we find ourselves) Andersen cleverness is to a level you expect from the greatest comic strip writers. She keeps her material varied and is able to tell an effective joke with limited dialog and only a few panels. There may not be any deep underlying meaning to what she is doing, and that is honestly is okay. Sometimes you just want to read a comic that comments on everything from cats to the impact of social awkwardness to yes (close your eyes fellas who are lacking emotional maturity) even periods. Although I cannot obvious relate directly to each panel at the end of the day funny is funny and Big Mushy Happy Lump is both a fun to title say and full of the funny.

59. Rock Candy Mountain

Writer/Artist: Kyle Starks

Publisher: Image Comics

Kyle Starks has a sensibility about him that just clicks with me. Yes, a book like Rock Candy Mountain has a lot of silliness to it and this is no doubt meant to be a comedy. What I find intriguing though is how well researched and detailed this book is on the life of a hobo during The Great Depression. It would have be easy to play it fast and loose with history but there are bits about the language and lifestyle that make you realize that Starks must have a personal interest in that time period. As a kid, I loved tall tales and American fables like Paul Bunyon and John Henry. Stories that told the history of America ufantasy-basedbased characters. This very much fits into the same type of idea.

58. The Punisher: The Platoon

Writer: Garth Ennis

Artist: Goran Parlov

Garth Ennis can write a great Punisher story. I know shocking right? Water is also wet, and the sky does have a blue like quality to it. With The Punisher: The Platoon Ennis brings Frank Caslte back to long before he ever wore the infamous skull. It covers his first days fighting in Vietnam. (Yes this is a Max title so it hasn’t been retconned to be Iraq) I wondered how he would approach this and if there would be a great deal of foreshadowing into the man Castle would eventually become. So far that has not been the case. It is almost as if Ennis just had a really great Vietnam story he wanted to tell and thought why not throw The Punisher into the mix so more people will read it. If true I have no issue with it. Goran Parlov comes out of hiding to also remind folks what a great comic book artist he can be. If this series finishes as strongly as it has started it may go down as another essential story on the pantheon of the Punisher character.

57. The Dam Keeper

Writer: Robert Kondo

Artist: Dice Tsutsumi

Publisher: First Second

The Dam Keeper reminds me of classic fairy tales. You know the original fairy tales that are extremely dark with some twisted messages and a lot of death and destruction. The Dam Keeper doesn’t dig that deep but perhaps in the spirit of Dark Cyrstal or other classic children stories that weren’t afraid to be scary. Not often a book that is somewhat geared towards children starts with a child seeing their father commit suicide but here we are. It’s done effectively and with taste, and may not actually be what we assume. Art-wise it is reminiscent of claymation or other slow-motion styles. (Fittingly as this is based on an Oscar-nominated animated short story) Knowing this is a series has me excited to see this work explored further as a lot is left without the story feeling incomplete.

56. Nightwing: The New Order

Writer: Kyle Higgins

Artist: Dice Tsutsumi

Publisher: Trevor McCarthy

Nightwing was never a character I really cared about until Kyle Higgins’s run during the New 52 relaunch. Even in Rebirth his book lacks the level of excitement Higgins brought to it. So seeing Higgins return to the character with The New Order had me happy to see Dick Grayson in proper hands again. With this title, Higgins is telling a futuristic tale where Nightwing has changed the world by ridding it of superpowers. In true poetic justice, an unexpected development occurs that makes him a target of the system he helped create. I could not help but think back to something like Minority Report where morality is diluted in order to justify a questionable practice. It questions what price are people willing to pay for safety, and how does that price change when you cannot hide behind anonymity. Elseworld or other dimensional titles like this open the boundaries for creating superhero stories and Higgins is taking full advantage.

55. Divinity III: Stalinverse

Writer: Matt Kindt

Artist: Trevor Hairsine

Publisher: Valiant Comics

Anytime someone says you cannot tell compelling stories with powerful characters I want to point them to the now Divinity trilogy. Each piece demonstrates how to utilize godlike powers to tell human level stories. Once again Valiant proved with Stalinverse that they are the kings of doing the crossover the right way. You can have a story line that impacts every character of your universe without it halting the progress of your other titles. It is hard to look at a story that involves an alternate world where Russia won the Cold War and not feel like it was shaped based on the current events of the day. In reality this is a story that has been building for a few years now and while there are parallels it is mostly coincidental. If you are someone who enjoyed a story like Man in High Castle and wanted to see what would happen if a similar story took place in a superhero universe this is your book. 

54. Home Time

Writer/Artist: Campbell Whyte

Publisher: Top Shelf Productions

In the vein of classic fantasy tales, Campbell Whyte tells the story of a group of kids getting transported to another fantastical dimension. You can certainly see the influences that impacted the creation of this book but it never feels derivative. What may be the best aspect of this book is Whye’s ability to juggle such a large cast of characters without shortchanging anyone. With this being only the first edition of this series there is still so much more room left to be explored  Also the varying art styles added a nice little touch. Unclear if it was more than an aesthetic choice on first reading or if there is more of a story driven purpose. Either way it kept the story fresh as we moved from classic fairy tale to classic video game graphics to other varying styles.

53. Ether

Writer: Matt Kindt

Artist: David Rubin

Publisher: Dark Horse

When Ether first began it started it came off as a fun adventure story that melded the world of fantasy and science fiction. By the end of the first story arc Matt Kindt added a touch of tragedy the tugged hard on the heartstrings.  Not surprising as Kindt has long been able to tell complete character-driven stories inside high concept comics. David Rubin’s art is a gift to behold. He has to draw both a world similar to the reality we live in along with one full of otherworldly creatures. His style does not drastically change but utilization of slightly different color pallets to distinguished the two worlds makes both worlds their own.

52. Power Man and Iron Fist

Writer: David Walker

Artist: Sanford Greene

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Writing about this comic does hurt me a great deal. I despise when great books go unnoticed for no good reason and that is what happened with Power Man and Iron Fist. Maybe people were scared away because stylistically it look nothing like the Luke Cage and Iron Fist we got on the Netflix shows as it was more akin to their seventies sensibilities. David Walker is still writing Luke Cage but it’s just not the same. It lacks the strong personality he displayed with this series. With Power Man and Iron Fist we got an auteur allowing his love for these characters to drive him to craft something that was original and true to the characters. If you haven’t read this series, first I’m mad at you for letting it get canceled. But you can still rectify that by picking it up in trade. Just know if you came to the party sooner we would still have this great title today.

51. The Interview

Writer/Artist: Manuele Fior

Publisher: Fantagraphics

The Interview is an odd book to fully describe. It reminds me a lot of a movie like Another Earth where this major Science Fiction concept permeates in the background while the narrative is much more interested in the way that phenomenon impacts the personal relationships of the characters. Manuele Fior’s is keen on subtle storytelling and constrained art that uses black and white to great effect. Not only does each character look unique he can capture a great deal of emotion with minimal line work.

50. Archie

Writer: Mark Waid

Artist: Audrey Mok, Pete Woods

Publisher: Archie Comics

When Archie kept pushing that the major storyline “Over the Edge” was going to change everything about the world of Archie I had some concerns. Would the integrity of this title be sacrificed for some head line grabber moment like killing a major character that would probably just come back in a few years anyways. I should have trusted Mark Waid because he knows how to make impacting moments in comics that are there for specific storytelling purposes. “Over the Edge” worked because it was an authentic event that has an emotional impact first and foremost. Now this past year in Archie was not all about the drama. There was still plenty of the timeless humor that has been there since its relaunch.

49. Bug!: The Adventures of Forager

Writer:Lee Allred

Artist: Michael Allred

Publisher: Young Animal

I really tried to enjoy many of the Young Animal titles as best I could. Often though I found they simply did not work with me. I could recognize their craft and see there is an audience for them. That audience simply is not me. Except for when it comes to Bug!: The Adventures of Forager. I could search for some sort of deep meaning of why this title works for me and the others do not. Truth is though it’s rather simple. It lies with the creators. Lee and Michael Allred did not change much about what they do as creators. If you enjoy anything they have worked on in the past this fits into that same style. Their art looks both modern and classic at the same time, and the episodic narrative makes it much more easier to follow than something like Doom Patrol.

48. Aliens: Dead Orbit

Writer/Artist: James Stokoe

Publisher: Dark Horse

Alien is one of my all time favorite movies so I am naturally inclined to be interested in Alien comics. For the most part Dark Horse has put out enjoyable enough titles. Aliens: Dead Orbit is on another level and may be the best thing to happen to the franchise since Aliens. James Stokoe did not reinvent the wheel. He just took what makes the Alien movies work and gave it his own vision. WhenI say his own vision I mean it as he wrote, draw, inked, and even colored this entire book. That is an achievement all to its own. If you did not find what you were looking for in the most recent installments of the Alien movie franchise this will scratch the itch those films missed.

47. Spider-Woman

Writer: Dennis Hopeless

Artist: Veronica Fish

Publisher: Marvel

Is it me? Because I am beginning to think it is me. Nearly every Marvel title I enjoy either gets cancelled or drastically changes. With Spider-Woman it did appear Dennis Hopeless was able to tell the complete story he was hoping to tell since he took the title. That may not be the case, if not it makes this even more impressive as his run works as one complete chapter into the life of Jessica Drew. As someone who recently became a parent in the last few years this title spoke to me on a deep level. Seeing a superhero struggle with many of the same issue an everyday parent does gives you a lot to relate. Jessica Drew was never I character that I cared much for. Even when Bendis made her a major part of New Avengers and Secret Invasion there was always a piece missing. Hopeless filled that piece in by getting to who she is when she is not being a superhero. I do have to give Marvel credit for letting Hopeless write the the story he wanted to write.

46. Babyteeth

Writer: Donny Cates

Artist: Garry Brown

Director: Aftershock

When I tell people about Babyteeth many are apprehensive to read another story about an evil child that is destined to be the Antichrist. Didn’t The Omen already cover that ground decades ago? Yes, but does not mean there are different ways of tackling it. For one Donny Cates makes the mother in this case a teenager who would be out of her element with a normal child let alone one that enjoys the taste of blood. Cates also works at subverting expectations. The militaristic father figure that you think will be this hard nosed person who disowns his daughter is nothing of the kind. One example of how despite how there are similar stories Babyteeth can still find room to pave new ground. Also it helps that Garry Brown can draw a baby that simultaneously looks creepy as hell  and somehow still cute. It’s an act against nature.

45. Brave

Writer/Artist: Svetlana Chmakova

Publisher: JY

Bully problems, hating fractions, and trying to warn the world about the danger of sunspots. All the norms of your typical middle school. This is yet another example of the vast amount of quality young adult comics currently in the current market. I wish I read this when I was in middle school as there is so much to relate to even as an adult. Svetlana Chmakova’s writes kids that actually speak and act like actual kids. The drama is perhaps not full of massive stakes, but for the world they are living in problems like a dress code are vital issues of the day. Bullying is a major hot topic at the moment and when it is incorporated in literature it is typically done so in a sloppy way. Brave has some sequences that are stereotypical, however, it is the way the characters perceive and react those sequences that make it such a standout.

44. The Black Monday Murders

Writer: Jonathan Hickman

Artist: Tomm Coker

Publisher:  Image Comics

The Black Monday Murders is the type of comic where I do not know everything this is going on and despite that I do not feel lost. When you get through all the insanity Hickman packs in what you have is a basic murder mystery underneath. Now what makes it work beyond that is allegorical implications that are added onto that basic structure. You can also get lost is the sheer craftsmanship of each issue with the added blacked out memos, ancient symbols, and other pieces that make you feel you are reading something you shouldn’t be. The medium of comics can set a specific atmosphere in a variety of ways and the best creators find opportunities to break and reshape the molds we know well. 

43. Threads: From the Refugee Crisis

Writer/Artist: Kate Evans

Publisher: Verso

Crazy enough some of the best pieces of investigative journalism I have experienced covering the current refugee crisis have come from the world of comics. Last year we had Rolling Blackouts that focused on much of the background events to lead to the current crisis Threads focuses directly on. Kate Evans brings us her stories of traveling to the Jungle, the nickname given to the temporary home Middle Eastern and African refugees are forced to reside. This small French town has unexpectedly become the center of an international crisis. This is a type of book that has a level importance far greater than telling a simple story. It becomes an avocation for these people’s stories and the horrid conditions they live in day in and day out.  

42. Magnus

Writer: Kyle Higgins

Artist: Jorge Fornes

Publisher:  Dynamite Entertainment

Dynamite Entertainment is doing a lot of experimental things right now with classic and licensed properties. Some are working better than others and one of the best examples of their new found ingenuity is Magnus. I never read a Magnus comic before so I knew nothing about the character and now wonder what I have been missing. Writer Kyle Higgins gets neck deep into the world of artificial intelligence and the complications that would occur if Robots where able to create  their own world and society. If the themes found in stories like Blade Runner or A.I. scratch an intellectual itch for you this comic will locate that same satisfying spot. 

41. Knife’s Edge

Writer:  Hope Larson

Artist: Rebecca Mock

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

The Four Points series started out well enough with the first installment and that book that made this list last year. Knife’s Edge was even better. More focus was put on the main characters of Cleo and Alex. Cleo especially became a key piece seeing how she was actively trying to work against the roles society and even her own father kept trying to force her into. As someone who love historical fiction of this era as a kid my ten year old self was jumping with glee from page to page.  Hope Larson has done a number of mainstream comics like Batgirl that I have also enjoyed.  This series is simply on another level. 

Next 40 – 21

100 – 81⌉ 80 – 61 ⌉ 60 – 41 ⌈ 40 – 21 ⌈ 20 – 1