If coming up with a Top 10 movie list is hard, coming up with a Top 10 comic list is tougher. The sheer volume of what comes in on a weekly basis can be mind-numbing, and the amount a person reads can be dwarfed by the amount that doesn’t get read. (Thank goodness for trades.)
With that in mind, the year's best in comics...
Jonah Hex No. 50 (DC)
“Hex” is a rare example of a comic that tells only single-issue stories, not the industry norm of multi-issue epics. The Western-themed book just tried its first-ever run (great start, so-so ending), but for the 50th issue, writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray returned to the single-issue format, teaming up with Darwyn Cooke to tell the tale of Hex and his sometime ladyfriend Tallulah Black’s one-night union. The result, notwithstanding some welcome comedic touches, is violent, sad, and surprisingly heart-wrenching. And Cooke delivers an art-style that is much rougher than the clean animation style he made his name with.
Unwritten No. 5 (Vertigo)
“Unwritten” has a great concept: What if the son of a “Harry Potter”-style author was not just the inspiration behind a line of children’s fantasy books, but actually and unknowingly the starring character in them? But the book was like an early season of "Lost” -- good but frustratingly offering more questions than answers. Then this breather issue came out. It was a flashback story focusing on Rudyard Kipling and the deal he makes with a shadowy organization for literary fame. The tale was not only amazingly involving and well told, it suddenly put the series into a larger context that offered a glimpse of the master plan. Kinda like seeing that first flashforward moment in “Lost.” It was with this story that “Unwritten” had me.
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