Best of 2020 – Comics

Topic

I wasn’t sure where to put this, but we used to do this sort of thing at the end of each year and it was fun looking at everyone’s lists.

Im not sure how many folk will post, but let’s see.

It can be your top 20, top 10, top 3 or just a comic or a bunch of comics you really enjoyed in 2020.

Feel free to say why or just list the  books. I’ll do a quick one shortly if I can get peace from the kids long enough.  Which is unlikely Given my 4 year old has said ‘dad’ about 20 times while I’ve been typing this post.

Mill maybe even create a poll at the end of the week if enough people post lists and we can vote for the best book of the year.

 

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Great idea. I need to have a think about this but there have been a lot of books I’ve really loved this year.

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Chris-S

Simon Spurrier won 2020 in my mind. The Dreaming was an amazing achievement – a beautiful and meaningful  continuation of the themes of Gaiman’s work. He followed that up with a brilliant run on Hellblazer – political and angry in all the best ways.

James Tynion’s Batman run has been excellent, particularly “Joker War” with superb artwork from Jorge Jiminez. Status quo shaking, but at the same time adding new parts to the mythology. The perfect superhero book.

Adam Kubert and Viktor Bogdanovic alternating arcs on Wolverine means that it’s the best looking book on the market. Ben Percy also writes a great, pulpy action book, combining to make this the best there is at what it does.

And, my final shout out goes to the Judge Dredd Megazine. I’ve been away for a decade or so, but started picking this up again over lockdown (and got a bunch of back issues from the last couple of years too). For an anthology book the level of quality is amazingly high across the board. The Dredd stories are constantly good fun, the Dark Judges stories brutal & captivating, and Lawless a drokking masterpiece.

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Ben, Will_C, garjones, Chris-S, Dave

Ok, these are all books that had me racing to my LCS and which always leapt to the top of my to-read pile in 2020.

I’m going to start with an obvious one, which is Criminal. Brubaker and Phillips pulled off the best story of the series so far with Cruel Summer, which finished in 2020, and then followed it up that same year with both the Pulp and Reckless OGNs, which were both excellent too. Maybe their best year as a creative team yet, and that’s saying something given how long they’ve been together.

I’ll keep it in the family for the next pick which is That Texas Blood, illustrated by Jacob Phillips and written by Chris Condon. Jerry turned me on to this series and I’m very grateful he did as it’s an excellent read. While there’s a similarly gritty crime feel to the likes of Criminal, the Texas setting and the characterisation of the leads set it apart and give it a distinctive voice. Plus the art is very nice – crisp, clear storytelling with some room for more expansive moments too. For two creators so early in their careers this is impressive stuff.

My next pick is the Hedra one-shot, which I thought was a fantastic experimentation with the comics form by Jesse Lonergan. The silent nature of the story put all the emphasis on the art, with the oversized pages offering a giant canvas for numerous panels and grids that sometimes offered beautifully-designed geometric images and recurring-motif montages and sometimes opted for simple, clear sci-fi storytelling that got its message across even without words. A wonderful surprise that really shows you can still do something special and unique in comics.

Next up is Department of Truth, which is the first Tynion book that’s really blown me away and made me realise why he deserves his rep, and makes me feel a bit late to the party after people like Chris have been singing his praises for a while now. It’s a very timely look at how dangerous conspiracy theories and fake news can be, but also has a more supernatural bent that gives it a cool X-Files vibe, with some very atmospheric art from Martin Simmonds. A fantastic start and I hope it keeps it up.

The Blade Runner books from Titan also deserve a shout-out as being one of the best licensed comics I’ve ever read, keeping the vibe of the movies while telling their own story which is getting richer and more interesting as it goes on. Ash is a great lead.

I’d also point to Slaughterhouse Five as a really fantastic comics adaptation of a favourite novel, which pulled off a tough job with style and translated the vibe of the book really well to comics, making use of some clever tricks that could only be done in this medium. Thanks to Vik for sorting me out with a copy when it couldn’t be found!

I’ll also pick out a couple of superhero titles, namely Question: Deaths of Vic Sage and Wonder Woman: Dead Earth, two DC Black Label books that stood head and shoulders above a lot of the other Big Two output this year. The Question book was a weird but visceral story spanning several eras with a strong old-school pulp comics feel; and Dead Earth was an absolute triumph of a book that gives Wonder Woman her very own DKR, with Daniel Warren Johnson having almost as distinctive a take and as exciting a style as Miller did back in the day. Really thrilling stuff.

That’s all for now, but I’m sure I’ll think of some others soon.

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Ben, Will_C, garjones, Chris-S, Vikram

[Vikram]

I skipped Dead Earth as it was published, but given the praise it has been getting I’ve ordered a copy of the hardcover. It’s getting difficult to find, which is a pretty good sign too. I look forward to reading it sometime in the next couple of weeks months or so.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 12 months ago by Vikram. Reason: Royal Mail deliveries appear to be messed up again

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Ben, Chris-S, Dave

Hope you enjoy it – I’d be interested to hear what you think.

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Vikram

My number 1 is Gideon Falls by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. I think this book is fantastic, the eerie atmosphere the creators generate is a very hard thing to do in comics. Moore does it on Swamp Thing and Providence and I think Snyder too on a couple of his early comics but not much else in the thousands I’ve read over the years. I marvel at how Sorrentino can put out such amazingly detailed stuff some of his spreads are breathtaking. Yeah I like it.

A word for The Out by Dan Abnett and Mark Harrison. This is a really interesting sci-fi take, a photo journalist travels so far from Earth she’s almost lost contact with any traces of humanity, apart from a one-way transmission of her pictures and forwarding of cash from her publisher in return. There’s no big evil masterplan here or great hero’s journey instead we tag along as weird life and events happen to her. It’s reminiscent of Halo Jones in that respect but otherwise very different. Harrison’s love of drawing weird shit is perfect here in a story with one human and everything else is alien. This was serialised in 2000ad but has a trade out (or one soon) as I saw an ad for it in the prog.

Daredevil by Marco Checchetto and Chip Zdarsky. What I love about this take on Daredevil is everything is about shades of grey. Daredevil questions his role and use of violence, Kingpin tries to turn straight and gain wealth through other means and finds evils bigger than his, Matt meets a new love interest but she is married and has links to the mob but their mob isn’t half as bad as the Owl’s who’s taking their territory. Is Matt being a selfish dick or is she using him or can it be TWO THINGS?  It’s a really complex work, even with the great runs Daredevil has had before its trying something new with the depth of all the moral choices.

That’ll do for now, something may turn up but during the various lockdowns I’ve been reading a lot of old stuff on Marvel Unlimited and new books have stacked up a little.

 

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Bruce, Ben, Chris-S, Will_C, Dave, Vikram

The Out sounds interesting,  that’s completely passed me by. I’ll look out for it.

I’m way behind on Daredevil (still have Soule’s run to finish) but looking forward to starting on the Zdarksy run.

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Ben, Chris-S, garjones

[Chris-S]

Comics of the year 2020

Despite the disruption 2020 was a terrific year for comics. There’s a few things I have not read as yet that I’d expect to be on here, either because I’m waiting on the trade or they still have not arrived from my dealer yet. 2 id expect to feature on the list below are The Department of Truth, Reckless and Giant which I got for Xmas but have not got to get.

Criminal – Brubaker & Phillips
This has always been great and I know that we only only got a handful of issues this year, but each issue was something to savour. I’ve been double dipping on it as I can’t wait for the trades to come out. It’s simply one of the best comics ever published.

Pulp – Brubaker & Phillips
Yep. Those names again and at the top of the list along with Criminal. Brubaker and Phillips seem to be able to create these likeable, morally grey characters over and over without it ever feeling old. When reading this book you really feel like you are walking in the protagonist’s shoes and I find this type of character really refreshing in our age of perfection, where it seems that every public figure is held to impossible levels of scrutiny by the self righteous social media hordes of judgement. So I’m having to turn to fiction to find characters who are allowed to have a personality.

Wonder Woman: Dead Earth – Daniel Warren Johnston
I’m not a big Wonder Woman fan, although I do love the Earth One books and Azzarello’s run. I ended up picking this up off the back of David Wallace’s strong recommendations and also a liking for DWJ who is an artistic force of nature.
This is Wonder Woman’s DKR. It feels like an evergreen book that we will still be talking about and recommending for decades to come. Some of the double page spreads and sequentials are an absolute joy to behold, but the writing is also strong. Great talent.

The Out – Abnett & Harrison
A surprise package from 2000ad and another massive hit from Abnett, who has so many strong 2000ad serials on his CV.
Lately with Brink plus 1 other that I will mention below he’s made 2000ad and the Megazine must buy for his strips alone.
This was a beautiful, touching and unique book that had a few different angles to really set it apart. I recommend reading the interview from Abnett and Harrison before reading though, as they touch on something that I’m not sure I would have picked up on without reading it first, that really increased my enjoyment of the strip.

Lawless – Abnett & Winslade
Yep. Abnett again. This time paired with Phil Winslade and his unbelievably intricate lines. This series has always been strong but they really outdid themselves this year with the musical episode, complete with a soundtrack on soundcloud to go along with it. Absolutely outstanding stuff, pushing the medium to another level and woefully ignored when you look at the shady ‘best of lists’ on the big sites and some of the shit they have included whilst omitting treasures like this.

Hellblazer – Si Spurrier & Aaron Campbell/Matias Bergara
Absolute travesty that this was cancelled. Clever, funny, topical comics with an amazing new supporting cast for John.
If you are a Hellblazer fan and you’ve not read this you are doing yourself a disservice. If you are not a Hellblazer fan and you have not read this you are doing yourself a disservice. Great art team as well.

Batman: James Tynion IV & Guilleme March
It’s hard to believe this was cobbled together as a stop gap run. It’s so intricately plotted and just gets better and better as it goes on. Proper solid superhero comics with good character interactions and a nice blend of old villains and brand new creations. Tynion feels like the new Alan Grant with the amount of new characters he’s added to the Batverse. Superb art team as well. I’ve been reading this in hardcover and I’m finding it hard to wait it out for the next instalment.

Battle of Britain Special
Great special from Rebellion with only a couple of clunkers.

The Question – Lemire & Cowan
Amazing throwback to the early 90s series. Marched the tone perfectly.

Something is Killing the Children – Tynion IV & Werther Dell’edera
With such an immediate and attention grabbing title this always felt like it could be a big book. Add to that the great character designs, deliberate pacing and excellent world building and we have a book that could turn out a phenomenon. I’ll be very surprised if someone hasn’t picked up the rights to this to make a tv show. Tynion has so many properties that would make great shows or movies, his star is rising meteorically so it feels like a matter of time before his stuff all gets snapped up. However, I’m more interested in comics and thankfully Tynion has nurtured this world along very nicely.

Rok the God – Wagner and Cornell
Brilliant follow up to an instant British classic, Wagner and Cornell make a terrific pairing. I look forward to my kids reading this in a couple of years. Classic stuff.

The punisher: Soviet – Ennis & Burrows
Every time Ennis returns to the well its a winner and this is no exception. Right story telling, a great new character and spot on dialogue as always from the master. Burrows does very well turning his hand to the character.
Can’t wait until Parlov is healthy enough again to finish Get Fury.

Black Stars Above – Lonnie Nadler & Adrian Wassle
I bought this on the strength of the title alone and I’m glad I did. Lovecraftian horror revolving around a girl working on a family trapline who is asked to deliver a package to another town. Clearly influenced by Providence with the journals at the back and a very good effort from a writer who is still relatively new.

Ascender – Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nyugen
Follow up to the brilliant Descender and the decision to flip the story quite dramatically pays off as it freshens things up at a good time. Essential reading for fans of the first series. Lemire can do no wrong just now.

Blade Runner – Michael Johnson, Michael Green & Andres Guinaldo
I really didn’t expect this to be quite so good. This is a great addition to the Blade Runner canon. It captures the feel of the movies whilst managing to be its own thing at the same time.

Fire Power – Robert Kirkman & Chris Samnee
I absolutely loved the first volume and have the second arriving next week. Without doing anything really new or original (this is Kirkman’s MO really), I felt invested in this series very quickly. A mix of writing that is effortlessly enjoyable to read and absolutely amazing sequential art as Kirkman tackles the Kung Fu genre.

The plunge – Joe Hill & Stuart Immonen
Hill gets Immonen out of retirement to collaborate on this atmospheric horror series. Joe Hill is one of the best writers in comics, I just wish DC could persuade him to take on Batman for a lengthy run, I think he could work wonders on a property like that. But I’d settle for more Hill House stuff!

Basketful of heads – Joe Hill & Leo Macs
More Hill brilliance this time in the schlocky horror vein, with a book that shouldn’t really work given the ridiculous nature of it, but aided by Leo Macs off the wall & expressive visuals he pulls off another brilliant horror title, completely different from The Plunge.

Green Lantern – Morrison & Sharp
Off the wall space cop fun to be savoured, as one of Morrison’s last ever DC series sadly starts to wrap up.

Death Metal – Snyder & Capullo
Not much more can be said about this. If this is Snyder and Cappullo going out, they’ve gone out with as big a bang as possible leaving nothing in the tank.
I lapped up the first 5 issues of this, along with the tie-ins in what could be my favourite event since Final Crisis.

Gideon Falls – Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentio
3rd Lemire entry on the list and this fruitful partnership keeps getting better with their creator owned, Twin Peaks inspired horror. Sorrentino gets more experimental with his art and employs a style that really adds to the uneasy atmosphere of the book. It doesn’t outstay it’s welcome either.

Kirby – Tom Scioli
Superb biography from Scioli. What a life Kirby led. I couldn’t put this down from the moment I started reading it and it’s essential reading for anyone who has an interest in Kirby or the history of the medium in general. It pulls no punches either and is a book I know I will read again and again in the years to come.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 12 months ago by Chris-S.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 12 months ago by Chris-S.

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DavidM, Bruce, Ben, Dave, Vikram, Will_C, garjones

Dave wrote:

The Out sounds interesting,  that’s completely passed me by. I’ll look out for it.

It is brilliant. I was raving about it on the 2000AD thread a while back too. Definitely pick up the trade, if there is one.

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Ben, Dave

There’s so much stuff in this thread that sounds great, I’ve got to try harder to keep up with current comics. Even ones I subscribe to like Monstress and Wolverine I’ve fallen behind on. WW: Dead Earth, Gideon Falls, and the Tynion books all sound great.

I’ll second the recommendations of Criminal, Pulp, & Reckless. Criminal: Cruel Summer in particular is a masterpiece that puts the whole Criminal universe in a new perspective. The book is now as much of a working-class drama as it is noir.

See the trades thread for my recent review of The Seeds by Ann Nocenti & David Aja. Another masterpiece.

The Green Lantern is messy on the writing side, although still often fun and ingenious, but Liam Sharp is doing some of the coolest art I’ve ever seen in a Big Two comic. Heavily influenced by sci-fi Eurocomics like Lone Sloane & Metabarons. Can’t wait for an oversized hardcover collection.

Punisher: Soviet is as good as Chris says it is. A brutal revenge tale where Frank teams up with a vigilante who actually meets his high standards.

Dark Horse re-released one of Michel Fiffe’s early comics, Panorama, this year, which is classic body horror in the Cronenberg vein. Fiffe’s brilliant superhero series Copra has toyed with body horror in the past but this one goes all out. It also mixes in some of the sexual anxieties with horror undertones of Eraserhead. There’s a sex scene in this book that is one of the freakiest things I’ve ever seen. Not for the faint of heart.

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DavidM, Dave, Vikram, Chris-S

Batman by Tynion and Jimenez is definitely in my top 3 of 2020.

The art alone on Joker War is worth a mention, but the greatness of that arc doesn’t stop with Jorge Jimenez. There are a couple of subtle moments that the hardcore Batman fan in me saw jumping right out of the page and into my mind like an explosive batarang. That look that Batman gives Joker after Batman leaves him to die, and the Joker not being able to handle it, capped of with him screaming at the corpse of Alfred to stop laughing is some 11/10 shit.

I know that Punisher: Soviet rests at the very top of said top 3 and I don’t know what I can say that hasn’t already been said. Ennis on Punisher is always top notch, and this one even more so than I was expecting. It’s not just balls-to-walls action and war and brutality. It’s got a little bit of everything. Proshenkos wife, that I can’t remember the name of, has an intriguing tale, an ambiguous end and is a weirdly fresh take on the “damsel in distress” trope. No less because there’s no saving here. It’s all-out distress from everyone. I’ll end with this: The art is surprisingly good. Everyone has a very distinct look, a different and recognazible face, even background characters.

After that, I don’t know. Could be Wonder Woman: Dead Earth. Might need to think and come back. If I don’t, it was probably Dead Earth.

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Vikram, Will_C

Vikram wrote:

Definitely pick up the trade, if there is one.

My searches suggest there isn’t yet. Checking back the ad I saw was a preview of more to come in 2000ad in 2021.

I would think it will be collected sooner or later though as the letters page was full of praise for it so the fan reaction is there and they’ve renewed it for a second run.

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Chris-S, Dave

This year I started to move away with the Big 2 so my list is more diverse than in previous years.

Batman by Tynion/March

DCeased:dead earth by Taylor. He always seems to do such a good job on Elseworld type universes like Injustice and now DCeased. in this one the Zombie takeover of Earth happened about ten years ago. the big Three are Jon, Cassie, and Damien(who isn’t a douche). other heroes in the book are Constantine, Det. Chimp and GL Dinah Lance. During the series he reintroduces Shadowpact, Mary Marvel and others.

Seven Secrets by Taylor This one is about a secret society who hides 7 secrets from the world to protect the world. the secrets are managed by a pair called keepers and holders. The main character is the son of one of these pairs. He was not supposed to be born because the pair has to devote their ENTIRE life to their mission. The art is by Daniele Di Nicuolo

Rai by Abnett and Ryp  the Valiant universe is very well designed and fleshed out back drop. Rai and his little”brother” Raijin are on a mission to gather up and destroy all the remnants of Rai’s greatest enemy Father. they travel to various strange locales, bicker like family, and watch each other’s back. Ryp does a gorgeous job of displaying all these weird locations.

Marauders by Duggan i normally don’t like Kitty and Emma but Duggan does a very good job telling an interesting story.

Captain Marvel by Thompson I like Cosmic Marvel but Cap is best when she is on Earth. when on Earth her stories often involve her”gang” which include her best friend Jess.  Thompson’s interpretation Jessica Drew is very close to Dennis Hopeless'(when she wore the biker jacket costume) so at time it feels like a continuation of that book.

Adventureman! by Fraction and Dodson If they were more issues of this book, it would have been my Favorite book of the year. But there were only 4 issues. I hope and wait for its return. It is a retelling of the Doc Samson mythos.

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Will_C, Chris-S, Dave

Number 3 on my top 3 is Black Magick. which I don’t think have been mentioned in this thread yet. To my surprise. Granted, it didn’t start this year, but it has resumed after a hiatus and it keeps on being good, if perhaps a bit slow. I believe this one of those titles that will read very, very good in binge-mode rather than flippity-flop. The art is just fantastic.

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Todd, Ben, Dave

Black Magick is one of the best looking books on the stands. It’s a little slow and sporadic for me to feel like it’s one of the greats of the year, but it has its moments and I think it’ll stand up well once it’s complete.

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Rocket, Ben

The biggest challenge is remembering what I read last year.

Ennis and war stories really shouldn’t keep working as well as they do, except Ennis is that good at them.  I finally was able to get a copy of Sara and it was superb.  Equally superb, though very different, but as tragic, was The Stringbags.

Reading the complete East of West was a highlight at the end of the year.  It was a rarity, a story that sustained its quality from start to end, didn’t conclude too quick or too slow and is absolutely brilliant.

Green Lantern Earth One Volume 2 had been a long, long time coming but did not disappoint.

Finding the work of some new creators was fun, namely Donny Cates and Daniel Warren Johnson.  Johnson’s best work for me has to be the batcrap crazy Murder Falcon, while for Cates God Country and Redneck was fun.  Ghost Fleet Truckers was a fun combination from them both early on in their careers.

An early high point of 2020 and an opening shot of what the Black Label could be, Harleen was a showcase work that Stejpan Sejic has deserved for years.  It is an utterly fantastic book and it was great that DC were smart enough to let him fly with it.  Killer Smile was OK but I’m not sure I got what it was about, whereas Wonder Woman: Dead Earth is more straight forward.  Batman: Last Knight on Earth was surprisingly good, while Batman: Creature of the Night was an unexpected misfire.  Batman: Universe was a brilliant surprise, Bendis should do more great, compact stories like that – suppose I ought to take a look at Naomi.

It’s been said often but Criminal: Cruel Summer was a masterpiece in so many ways.

While known for more madcap tales like Death To Fairyland, Skottie Young showed he could do far more than that with the searing, very emotionally edged Middlewest, with brilliant art from Corona.

The Collected Toppi Volumes 3-4 showed why Toppi remains a highly revered master artist and storyteller.  The oversized collections present his work beautifully.

Lemire’s work with Yalta on Sentient was a very surprising SF epic, one I finally got to read.  It lived up to its reputation and then some.

And ending the year was the superb Reckless.

I’m sure I’ll remember more in due course but this’ll do for now.

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Will_C, Dave, Chris-S

Yeah, I also read Sara (or rather, as the cover says, SDRD) this year and I didn’t include it on my list because, well, it’s yesteryears news. Or the year before that. Or before that. Or something. But it IS one of the best war stories Ennis has put out and that says something.

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Ben

My “Best of 2020” list HAS to start with special recognition of the team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. In addition to two new Graphic Novels, PULP and RECKLESS, both of which earned spots in my Top Ten for the year, they also released two great hardcover collections of previously-released stories from their Criminal series: CRIMINAL: CRUEL SUMMER and CRIMINAL DELUXE Vol 3. This level quality and quantity deserves our attention and applause.

A few other one shots and OGNs make the list:
BOG BODIES by Declan Shalvey and Gavin Fullerton, telling an Irish ghost story that could easily have fit in a Brubaker/Phillips collection
HEDRA by Jesse Lonergan, for an inventive use of panel layouts to tell a story that could only be told in the comics format
HELLBOY & THE BPRD: THE SEVEN WIVES CLUB, a great tale Mike Mignola and Adam Hughes that makes me hope this won’t be their last collaboration

A few ongoing series that kept me entertained/enthralled throughout the coronavirus pandemic:
GIDEON FALLS by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, a sublimely told horror story
OUTCAST by Robert Kirkman and Paul Azaceta, an in-your-face horror story that served as a counterpoint to the one above
SAVAGE DRAGON by Erik Larson — why aren’t more people reading this book? It hit issue 250 this summer, and is still going strong and full of unexpected surprises

New series (mini or otherwise) that show great promise:
CROSSOVER by Donnie Cates and Geoff Shaw – this hasn’t completed its first arc yet, but so far I like where it is going
DECORUM by Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston – oversized issues that come out more-or-less on time, and another creator-owned Hickman book to fill the gap following the end of East of West; buying this one is a no-brainer
DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH by James Tynion and Martin Simmonds is an unexpected surprise, strongly recommended
THAT TEXAS BLOOD by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips – strongly inspired by the work of Brubaker/Phillips, but by no means derivative. The first arc is a very promising story, very reminiscent of the film version of No Country For Old Men

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Thanks Jerry, hadn’t realised Decorum was going with oversized issues, explains the size of the OHC currently set for March

Ben wrote:

Thanks Jerry, hadn’t realised Decorum was going with oversized issues, explains the size of the OHC currently set for March

To clarify, the page dimensions are normal, but there’s more than the standard 22 pages of material in each issue so far.

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Ben

I nabbed Question: The Deaths of Vic Sage and Hedra today at the shop based off recommendations here, looking forward to reading both of them.

With DC Black Label, is there any indication they’ll produce books that aren’t about DC characters? Have they ceded that ground to Image? I know they’re doing the Joe Hill stuff but that seems a little different since he’s such a big name and the other creators are his friends.

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Todd, Chris-S, Dave

They have released two books that are neither DCU characters nor the superstar imprints from Gaiman and Hill. Sweet Tooth: The Return and the The Last God. So it doesn’t look like they have a strict policy but it’s clearly not the emphasis either.

I do think with so many Vertigoesque books at Image, Boom, TKO, Dark Horse and many others they have mostly backed out of that market.

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Todd, Will_C

Yeah that makes sense. Although I liked having Vertigo around out of attachment it’s better for the creators to go to publishers like Image that will give them more ownership than Vertigo did, or DC would now as they tighten their belts. Plus radical takes on existing characters is how Vertigo started so that spirit’s not all gone.

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Todd, garjones

Yeah I think realistically because of the deal they offered most of the big guns don’t want to work for Vertigo, so even DC guys like Snyder or Tynion are using Image for the creator owned stuff. So Image was getting all the attention and better sales. Vertigo original stuff has been selling really badly for years now (since Fables ended really) so from a business perspective I would reluctantly have to do the same things.

Really as a reader too there’s so much Vertigo-like material from other publishers that ironically doing ‘mature’ takes on DC characters probably adds more variety to what’s available.

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Todd, Will_C

I guess the main loss in terms of what’s on the shelves has little to do with tone or content but editorial. With Vertigo you could trust that a popular book would be published regularly and reach an ending. So while these days there’s more Vertigo-style books than ever, I’m much more hesitant to pick one up unless I know a creator has a good track record.

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Todd

That’s a fair point, the presence of page rates and editorial does spur that on. The independence offered by Image does have that downside of relying on self discipline from creators, some of which are fine and some aren’t.

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Will_C, Todd

I’m happy to say that many of the books I have followed at Image recently have completed (or will soon complete) their runs, including EAST OF WEST, GIDEON FALLS, and OUTCAST; but I acknowledge that many others were discontinued midstream, or took waaaay too many breaks on the way to completion; I recall the final issue (#42) of David Lapham’s STRAY BULLETS: LOVE & ROSES being released well over a year after #41.

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Chris-S, Will_C

I read ‘Pulp’ last night. It’s brilliant and gets added to my list.

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