MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Another year has passed and while we’re still in the middle of a pandemic, the overall quality level of this year’s comic book titles was still top-notch. Here’s what’s on Comic Book Guy JV’s list this year:
1. The Immortal Hulk (Writer: Al Ewing. Artist: Joe Bennet.) – this phantasmagorical and intriguing series comes to a close, significantly rewriting Hulk’s continuity into an intriguing tapestry that opens the character up to existential questions.
2. Seven For Eternity (W: Rick Remender. A: Jerome Opena.) – the fantastical morality tale with socio-political undertones packs a powerful punch in the climax – illustrating in devastating detail why people choose dictators over freedom.
3. Eternals (W: Kieron Gillen. A:Esad Ribic.) – It’s the bitter family rivalries played out on a cosmic scale with cliffhangers that twist the knives deeper!
4. Daredevil (W: Chip Zdarsky. A: Marco Chechetto.) – a relentlessly exciting thriller that keeps throwing dilemmas at our morally conflicted hero, forcing him to make choices that close the walls tighter around him.
5. Locke & Key/Sandman: Hell & Gone (W: Joe Hill. A: Gabriel Rodriguez.) – Hill and Rodriguez capture the poetic prose and majestic imagery that is part and parcel to Sandman sequential storytelling. DC should hand over the keys to The Dreaming to this dynamic creative team.
6. Lazarus (W: Greg Rucka. A: Michael Lark.) – Only one issue about warring family-owned corporations was released this year. It was a character-driven story with no action yet this futuristic drama was so compelling, the next chapter cannot come fast enough!
7. Thor (W: Donny Cates. A: Nic Klein.) – Cates and Klein put Thor through the proverbial wringer, wallowing him in more pathos and despair than ever before. And the more he suffers, the more entertaining it gets.
8. Black Widow (W: Kelly Thompson. A: Elena Casagrande.) – The action choreography art is pure joy – Natasha dances around her foes like raindrops. A biting irony that the writing deftly emphasizes – Nat can escape anything except herself.
9. Echolands (W/A: J.H. Williams III. W: W. Haden Blackman.) – All you need to know is that all the pages should be enlarged and framed in the Louvre (in the correct page sequence!)
10. Moon Knight (W: Jed MacKay. A: Allessandro Cappuccio) – This new take on the character makes a great argument on why he’s not some second-rate version of that other knight in the dark.
