Best comics in 2015

The last year I spent largely away from the blog and the wider blogosphere, mostly concentrated on reading the actual comics and news sites. In an effort to maintain the blog, I've returned with a review and this yearly survey. Hopefully, the site will continue with more regular updates.

Best Event Series

In a feat that surprised all but the biggest fans of Marvel and Jonathan Hickman, the company's 2015 line wide event has managed to live up to the hype. "Secret Wars" supplanted most of the company's titles for the duration of the summer and has in turn managed to produce some fairly interesting books. More importantly, the main series has provided a very strong spine to the entire event. Serving as a coda to the writer's runs on both "Fantastic Four" and "the Avengers", the event series has maintained a strong level of craft throughout. With the exception of the first issue that should have been relegated to a prologue special, both Hickman and Ribić have provided what may well be the best superhero work of their careers. "Secret Wars" will likely remain an event to be remembered far longer than Marvel's typical summer offering and certainly longer than the company wide relaunch that succeeded it.

Best Storyline

It's hard to set aside a single storyline in an industry that is slowly orienting toward complete runs as definite artistic statements on company owned characters. In terms of storylines definitely marketed as something new and largely separate from the preceding issues, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's latest Batman arc comes to mind. "Superheavy" features a complete overhaul of the Batman mythos in an as of yet unprecedented move that has seen commissioner Gordon become a mecha Batman following Bruce Wayne's apparent death in the previous arc.

The ludicrous premise strayed far from the typical Batman storyline, being on the surface more akin to "Robocop" than the Bob Kane/Bill Finger co-creation. Inheriting more than just the Powers corporation from the cyberpunk "Batman Beyond" animated series, "Superheavy" has seen Gordon trying to rise up to the pressure of being a police sanctioned Batman in the city that faces new and terrible threats. That the new crime boss specifically targets Gordon and starts becoming a uniquely weird new creation only adds to the uniqueness of the setup. Also of note is the subplot involving a version of Bruce Wayne which has been increasingly relevant as the story inches towards the inevitable ending.

The end of "Superheavy" is also billed as the finale of Snyder and Cappulo's run on "Batman". Whether the two reunite on "Detective comics" following Capullo's collaboration with Mark Millar, "Superheavy" will likely remain a definite highpoint of their run of the title, following the "Court of owls" arc which stands as their best realized traditional Batman story.

Best Ongoing Title

In a market dominated by a large number of solid ongoing series, 2015 was a year preceding the full scope of the relaunches at both Marvel and DC, with the competing companies likewise more concentrated on branching out with new titles than maintaining the solid pace of existing books. Yet, there are still titles like "the Humans" which has started out with a very clear idea that has logically progressed in the most interesting direction.

Written by Keenan Marshall Keller and drawn by Tom Neely, best known for "Henry and Glenn Forever", "the Humans" is a comic that finds its creators eager to enjoy the atmosphere of true freedom filled with a dangerous mix of sex and death.

Presenting the reader with a motorcycle gang of anthropomorphized apes in a full on late 60-ies period piece certainly seems fresh and entertaining. The counter culture bent is never as realized as in "Easy rider", the controversy is never as pointed as authentic undergrounds, yet this Image entry really believes in its version of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll ape gangs warring with each other.

In a field riddled with high concepts trying their best to capture the attention of readers jaded by a deluge of all kinds of genre fiction, a book with a simple premise and believable characters who manage to be both silly and dangerous feels like a breath of fresh air and certainly ranks with the most solid titles every time it comes out. Hopefully, the creators will find it in their interest to continue working on a series that has yet to find its audience.

Best Mini-Series

When Ed Brubaker and his longtime creative partner Sean Philips were winding down their post-modern noir "Fatale" series, Image issued an announcement heralding their next project. The writer and artist were to be reunited in "the Fade out", a more traditional noir story set in the seedy post-war Hollywood scene.

Featuring a hard drinking writer harboring a secret involving a blacklisted colleague, the series started with the murder of an actress and grew to become a cynical look at the studio system. "The Fade out" draws most of its energy from its protagonist's status as an amateur detective driven to find redemption by solving the mystery.

Foregoing the over the top genre tropes associated with this kind of a detective story, the book maintains an air of style and intelligence, while never letting up the pace. A stellar effort in the duo's distinguished latter day collaborations, "the Fade out" is a triumph of first person narration and well realized modernist comic book storytelling.

Best Single Issue

It's safe to say that "Airboy" was certainly not a book that many fans expected to read once they heard of James Robinson's involvement. A longtime comic scribe best remembered for his "Starman" run, he has since been associated with a string of books that failed to equal the acclaim garnered by his most famous series.

Image marketed "Airboy" as a surreal comedy in the vein of "Fear and loathing in Las Vegas". Once "Airboy"#1 finally debuted, it immediately put a stop to any claim about false advertising.

In many ways, the series was a spiritual successor to "Auteur", in that it involved a frantic look into the creative process. Robinson and Hinkle's story went one step further, by presenting their work as autobiography, as it in some way featured a warped look at the writer's "lost weekend". Greg Hinkle, a relative newcomer to the field had provided a tour de force artistic presentation aimed at maximizing the comedic impact in a way that was both fresh and stylish.

And while the subsequent issues drew ire from the controversy surrounding transsexual representation, their one major flaw was the failure to continue the superb form witnessed in the debut. Seeing the fictionalized versions of Robinson and Hinkle trying to revive the Golden Age hero but getting sidetracked in a self-loathing drug bender ending with a delightful cliffhanger remains a as good a #1 as James Robinson has had in many years. With "Airboy", the venerable writer has earned a new set of eyes regarding his next creative endeavor, while providing the newcomer Hinkle with a high profile debut for his impressive artistic skill.

Best Graphic Novel

Working on the heels of "An age of license", Lucy Knisley has returned with an even more focused travelogue. This time, her efforts go to depict an ocean cruise she took with her elderly grandparents. Dispensing with the diary aesthetic that characterized her previous effort, "Displacement" is divided in chapters summarizing each day on the cruise ship, filled with equal times drama and comedy.

The graphic novel is a challenging read as its real world inspiration leads to a neurotic dash across the details that make for a very memorable vacation. Eventually, the well cartooned pages of "Displacement" build up to a very strong ending that stays with the reader.

The book's greatest quality is that it goes beyond the particulars of the writer/artist's relationship with her grandparents and becomes an artistic look at the process of aging, and the love tying the generations together.

Best Writer

Working in the capacity of a co-writer on "Grayson", Tom King has enjoyed high acclaim which he has aspired to build upon by lending his talents on books at both DC and Marvel. And while "Omega Men" has met with lukewarm sales despite the creative acclaim it accumulated, "the Vision" has grown to symbolize the company's current benchmark for quality storytelling.

The key to King's success lies in his ability to execute ambitious and fresh takes on some of the companies' most well worn characters. Recasting the original Robin as the superspy with conscience has finally enabled the character to grow from his role of the well adjusted junior Batman. The character's stealth takeover of the Batman line as symbolized by his central role in the "Batman and Robin Eternal" weekly series cements the popularity of King's makeover.

On the other hand, "Vision" serves as a finite story with a narration that is both grim and playful. Coupled with Gabriel Hernandez Walta, the writer has set out to tell a morbidly curious tale about the drastic fallout of the robot superhero's decision to start a family. As stylish as it's pretentious, the title has set out to complete its story without the crossover interruptions that have took so much away from the artist's previous run on "Magneto".

It remains to be seen how the industry's focus on King will impact on his work, but judging by the acclaim his first entries in the market have garnered him, the former CIA operative can look forward to a very successful second career as comic book writer.

Best Artist

Oliver Schrauwen was brought forward from relative obscurity thanks to his late 2014 graphic novel debut. Ostensibly adapting his grandfather's colonial adventures, the writer/artist uses the canvas of a lengthy biography as a showcase for his command of comics as a visual language. Working in faux-travelogue mode, "Arsene Schrauwen" allows the author complete control of the narrative, revealing him as a master of the form.

A formalist masterpiece posing as a narrative, Schrauwen's graphic novel delights in challenging and infuriating the readers. Ostensibly a love story and a jungle survival pulp, "Arsene Schrauwen" is delightfully sincere in staying true to itself and its author.

The fact that the writer/artist has decided to stay in comics despite the meager financial rewards associated with experimental books, and has gone on to publish a new comic in 2015 speaks to the fact that he truly enjoys working in the medium.

Sub-Mariner: the Depths

This week saw the release of the last issue of Marvel's "Sub-Mariner the Depths" mini-series, a prestige project by Peter Milligan and Esad Ribic. The out-of-continuity tale offers an alternate look at one of Marvel's oldest characters, very different from the company's official take on him during their current "Dark reign" phase. Being a long in making painted project, it's easy to see how different the project feels for the company.

The editorial has long since abandoned focusing on creator-oriented mini-series as yearly "events", focusing again on the more traditional crossovers. Indeed, even the projects as innovative as "Wolverine: origin" and "Captain America: the Truth" ended up being integrated into continuity. Nowadays, "Marvel knights" imprint is the sole refuge of a particular kind of the project "Submariner: the depths" falls into. Compared with the character's last major showcase, it's easy to see that as an improvement.

Rebranding

In 2007 Marvel followed their immensely successful "Civil war" crossover event with a Namor series that largely flew under the radars of the fans. Exploiting the character's appearances in the tie-in comics, the editorial commissioned new Sub-Mariner material by Matt Cherniss & Peter Johnson, writers of the previously little known "Powerless" mini-series, and Phil Briones, a French artist that having penciled "the White tiger" project was still a largely new quantity to US fans. The end product was "Sub-Mariner: Revolution", a competent superhero effort that nevertheless failed to gain enough audience attention to persuade the company to seriously invest in that particular depiction of the character. The mini was eventually collected, but there was no doubt that it will be little remembered except as a part of the then-current Marvel's publishing direction.

Thus, it's a testament to the editorial vision, how so soon after the failed relaunch the editorial saw fit to green-light a new project spotlighting the character. The assumption was seemingly that it would pay to market Namor to an audience broader than the "Marvel zombies" that keep up with the current minutiae of their event-driven publishing. Marvel made certain that "Sub-Mariner" was their star artist Esad Ribic's next project, after being satisfied with his work on "Loki" and "Silver Sufer: Requiem". Being completely painted and sporting a more universal and unique revisions of the publisher's long standing characters, Ribic's previous projects were met with both high acclaim and stable sales. Bringing in Peter Milligan, a writer whose innovative work on "X-Statix" and DC's "Shade the Changing man", the publisher did all they could to ensure the vitality of the project.

Innovation

Looking at the results of the collaboration, it's interesting to see how well the creators took to the added freedom, presenting a story that at every level challenges the expectations of a typical Marvel comic. And while "Silver Sufer: the Requiem" was satisfied with providing an relatively close alternate to Marvel's familiar superhero universe, "Sub-Mariner: the depths" couldn't be further from it. In fact, it surpasses even "Loki", that focused on the mythological foundation of the Nordic myth, as appropriated by the publisher.  

Literally, the closest thing Milligan and Ribic's efforts echo is the Namor's original appearance, trying to reconstruct the character's pulp origin. The result is a project that feels much more universal, when compared to it's Golden Age predecessor, but also dripping with style the creators' own. And that means opting for a very particular approach, centered on the all too human protagonists, which gives the book a completely different aesthetic.  

Following "Marvels", the publisher's most successful effort in creating painted graphic novels, one would expect the book to start as a grounded story but to achieve at least a healthy balance with the fantastical once the superhuman elements came to dominate the story setting. Remarkably, Milligan and Ribic are so confident in their talents, that they don't let their human leads leave the spotlight for a moment, which is a move not to be understated considering that Marvel is the predominant superhero publisher. That is not to say that the authors for a moment forget their particular task - the book remains first and foremost completely devoted to rebuilding Namor into a stronger, more licensable property. But it was hard to imagine that it would be done into an almost classical adventure story.

The story chapters open twice with the Herman Melville quotations, as if to note that "Submariner: the depths" dispenses with the traditional self-involved superhero continuity that has saddled the character so long. Starting in that vein, Milligan and Ribic are not the least bit sealed in by a new set of rules that characterizes their new inspiration. Quite the contrary, everything from the Jules Verne and H.G.Wells' "scientific romances" to Joseph Conrad's nihilistic "Heart of darkness" is used with skill and precision to fuel this particular incarnation of Namor. The authors are no doubt aware that such care coupled with artistic freedom is rarely visited on a character as continually revised as Namor, so they go to great lengths to distill a very specific pulp feeling they feel works best with the character.

And that is a story that could only be told decades removed from the character's beginnings, with Milligan and Ribic working to use the context to their advantage. The result is a predominantly horror story, working to use it's Victorian inspirations in contrast with old cinematic tricks. 

Working with rough models of monsters that could hardly withstand too much time in the spotlight, the film makers actively used the type of storytelling that would enable them to keep the threat out of the focus and in the dark, until the ending, where a couple of carefully selected shots would reveal the film's supernatural villain. Due to the cost of detailed computer renderings that replaced the familiar Hollywood props, such methods are not unheard of even these days, and judging by the success of "Cloverfield", when used creatively, the audiences don't object to them.

At first glance, it's kind of strange that Milligan and Ribic opt for that type of approach, when dealing with a medium that has always boasted its strength of being able to show the most fantastic scenery and epical imagery. Indeed, remaining to this day, the displays of that type of rampant imagination are one of the major strengths of the superhero genre, of which Namor has been so long a part of, that it's strange to think otherwise. And this is where the authors show their particular strengths, in deciding not to steer Ribic's talents in the way that has previously brought the otherworldly images of Silver Surfer's cosmical adventure and Loki's Asgard to the reader. 

Milligan instead steers Ribic to painstakingly render the cold valves of a submarine, diving under the heavy darkness of the surrounding ocean, alight only by the suggestion of Namor's spectral shape. Picturing him as almost a malevolent spirit leading the sailors to their doom is so contrary to the character's traditional faux-Shakespearean pomp, that it can be not only considered as refreshing but something much more. It's a mark of two talented professional providing a take on a seemingly simple idea, that is in reality both very well thought-out and laboriously expanded.

Cast and crew

Leaving Namor as a presence always one step ahead of the submarine, the creators provide the readers with a much different anti-hero in the spotlight. Doctor Stein may be a new quantity to the fans, but that does grant him a consistent characterisation that is not only the work of Milligan's particular take on the professional sceptic. Esad Ribic shines when it comes to depicting the brooding agression that works so well with the hints Milligan's provides of Stein's mysterious past. Brash and self-involved, Stein is indeed more than a bit similar to Namor's already established Marvel universe personality, but the authors are very careful to use up all of the character's potential in what may be his one and only appearance. Thus, contrasted to the Marvel's rigid adherence to a  two-dimensional personality forced upon Namor in the guest-appearances that constitute most of the character's publishing history, Stein really opens up to the reader as "Sub-Mariner: the depths" starts nearing it's end.

The same is true for the rest of the cast, that starts small but is gradually introduced to us. The self-proclaimed "deep-men" all mirror Stein's world weariness, but they come from the different background, forced to adopt superstition due to the uncertain waters where they make their living. Even then, Milligan opts to wisely emphasize the subtle differences in the way they react to Stein, and the threat of Namor in return. The story's divided in such a way that a particular crew member is subtly brought forward in each part that corresponds the most with his distinctive attitude.

The flow

Arguably, the story's greatest strength lies in the ways it's structured, managing to avoid the confusion that comes with so many different influences and goals. The story starts as an adventure, but quickly turns into a psychological drama when the search starts taking it's toll on the "deep men". 

Whatever the reader's expectations, his direction is constantly diverted, by the author's masterful pacing, that doesn't let up, and only starts getting faster as the horror of the story starts breaking through the already fragile relations on the mutinous submarine. Using Stein's ever-fracturing face as the center of the tale, the authors masterfully transition from one well-realised scene to the other, all the while making the reader ask the same questions the chacters face, as they question the reality of Namor.

Relaying on the voyage to serve as the vehicle for the character drama, the authors show all their strenghts by using just enough amount of information possible to convey all the gravity of the situation. The captions are sparce, and the dialogue frequently wordy, but written in such a stream of consciousness mode that it never breaks rythm. Ribic's art remains uniform and similarly never calls the attention to itself, devoting itself to making the story work first and foremost.

Final word

"Sub-Mariner: the depths" is first and foremost a thriller, made for savoring in one piece, and it will only give a complete experience when read as a complete story. Whatever motivated Marvel to lengthen the original story's format of four issues, showed itself to be a very sensible artistic decision.  It's only as a five-chapter tale that mini could achieve the impact it makes, first and foremost as a formidable comic-book story in it's own right, and a distant second, a reinterpretation of Namor's origins. 

The authors even manage to include one final wink at the reader, throwing a twist ending that intervows the fate of Stein and Namor  in a way that is both pulpy and fitting. 

We can only hope that in the future Marvel continues to break from their established formula and allow their creators even more freedom to depict their characters to the best of abilities. And what better way to continue the tradition but to keep Milligan and Ribic paired on yet another project?