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Number 1: Top Ten Comicbook Issues of 2004, Part 5

So, I promised myself I wouldn't let this list go beyond February. Here goes . . .


Number 2: The Spectacular Spider-Man #14
Paul Jenkins and Paulo Rivera

For the most part, Jenkins seems to slip under the radar. He wrote Wolverine's Origin, he had the top Spider-Man title for a good while, but he's still a relative unknown. My estimation is that this is because, for the most part, he sticks to the formulas. His writing is always good, but it doesn't have the crazy twists or surprises of Millar, Ellis, or Vaughan. He's got a beautifully understated way of writing - not quite cliche, but not incredibly innovative. He's never trying to re-invent anything, it seems. (There is an exception to this rule in the second issue of Origin, which was so incredibly mind-blowing with the twist ending, it's crazy.)

Jenkins began the latest run of Spectacular Spider-Man with a couple of great arcs. First, he gave us a new twist on the Venom symbiote - creating a more sinister relationship than ever before. Next, he threw some great curves at us with Doc Ock and the Lizard. But these weren't 'Oh shit.' moments. These were cool stories, told with a delicacy that made the cliche moments feel alright.

And that brings us to issue 14.

Unlike many of the other issues I've listed thus far (The Goon and possibly Ultimate X-Men are the only exceptions), this is a stand-alone. That is, the narrative contained in this single issue really has no affect on the overall history of the characters. In it, we are introduced to Joey Beale, a crippled man who is cared for by his father and sister.

Joey spends most of his days in his wheelchair on the roof of his family's appartment building. This particular story finds him the near victim of Morbius, the Living Vampire. As Morbius attacks, Spider-Man swings in to save the day, and the two battle off into the sunset.

With great skill, Jenkins writes the most underestimated story of the year. He brings us to realize the strong similarity between the three characters: Joey, trapped in a body that won't respond for him; Morbius, trapped in a state of vampiric survival by a science experiment gone wrong. And the punchline Jenkins throws at us is Spider-Man's own entrapment - in a cage of heroism.

Sound cliche? Sure enough.

But what have I just been saying about Jenkins? With such amazing care, Jenkins has written an incredible little story that hugs right up against cliche, but with an understated believability (if you believe in superpowers and radioactive spiders) that grounds it in real emotion. We see - no feel - the sadness that Peter Parker carries with him. We feel the sudden connection he has with Joey as he takes his mask off and bows before swinging away.

And I would be lying if I said the art wasn't crucial in influencing the beauty of the story.

Rivera's amazing painting renders Jenkins story with incredible beauty. It takes a possibly routine story and brings it to true art. We see the sinister shadows forming around Morbius as he leans in to strike Joey. We watch the final battle in the vivid orange and red glow of the sunset.

This beauty is what's really at the heart of this issue: that it's a nearly perfect blend of art and writing. And from two relative unknowns, in a story that has no effect on the rest of the series. It's the sure underdog of the list, and truly deserves number 2.


Number 1: Astonishing X-Men #4
Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

When I heard that Joss Whedon, the writer of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, was going to be taking on a new title with my beloved X-Men, I was ticked. I've never watched much of Buffy, and it was becuase the little I had seen turned me off. I figured Marvel had brought Whedon on as a publicity stunt, to try and attract the Buffy cult to their product.

But I was curious enough to pick up the first issue. Never before have I made such a wise decision (not with comics anyhow).

Whedon's dialogue and pacing is some of the most amazing work I've seen. Issue 1 took me back. Cassaday's beautiful art revealed Whedon's work as first rate. And the final line about finding a cure to the mutant disease dropped my jaw for sure, and confirmed my wise decision.

Only eight issues in, and Whedon is now already comparable to Ellis and Mignola for me. His amazing ability to unfold a story so that you're stunned at the end of every issue is uncanny. With three panels on one page, he makes characters as real as those that Tolkien would spend thousands of words describing. Whedon's writing is about minimalism, and I love it.

Getting to issue 4, I was once again skeptical. So far, Whedon had done alright. With a killer opening issue, and some excellent writing for the next couple, he had me hooked enough. But I was waiting to see Jean Grey rise again in some cheesy, contrived ressurection. Little did I realize I was completely taking the bait.

With the turn of every page, I was becoming more and more drawn in. Whedon masterfully built the suspense - throwing us back and forth between characters and subplots, with tons of mini-cliffhangers. I didn't have a clue what was coming: I just sat there and watched as Kitty Pride phased to ghost-like form, letting the assailing bullet shoot straight through her and glance off that funky metal thing. And then I turn the page (as Kitty turns) to see Colossus, big as all fuck, standing right behind her.

I seriously almost wet myself on the spot. Here was one of my favorite X-Men, a few years dead, and Whedon brought him back with such amazing skill that I was left sitting in shock on my couch.

Truly, though, it's not just this sudden twist, this moment that makes this issue number 1. It's the care that Whedon shows for the characters. It's the depth he gives them while still mantaining an astonishing simplicity of form.

This arc has been crittically acclaimed as better than any other story ever written for the X-Men, and I have to agree. Whedon's writing was a shock right out of the blue. And with Cassaday's art backing up the story, there's no doubt it's got to be excellent.

I'm thrilled to have a story this good as my number one choice.

Number 1: Top Ten Comicbook Issues of 2004, Part 4

Number 4: Y - The Last Man #20
Brian K Vaughan and Pia Guerra

I'll begin by explaining a bit of the story. Yorick Brown is the last man on earth. After all other male mammals have died in a sudden, unexplained epidemic, Yorick and his pet monkey, Ampersand, set out across the country with a secret agent and a brilliant geneticist. Along the way, they encounter astronauts, ruthless neo-amazons, and angry republicans.

The beauty of this title lies in it's characters. Vaughan has created amazingly rich and believable characters, and thrust them into this world on it's head. Because he provides no real explanation for the 'plague,' Vaughan effectively makes this a character study: an exploration of how people would react in situations of extreme crises. As a prime example early in the series, when Yorick is confronted with his sister - an amazon who's ready to kill him - we get one of the most intense moments of the title. It's a huge showdown between two characters at opposite ends of the 'crisis response' spectrum.

Equally as masterfully, Vaughan interweaves the intense conflict of the book with humor. He has the most consistently witty dialogue of any writer out there, and he very effectively uses it to ballance the intense climaxes of the stories. While Yorick and his sister, Hero, have their showdown, he slips in incredible tension breakers - jokes and insults that effectively build the climax by giving us that nervous laughter. In the end, the humor continues building the characters: when we laugh with them, we identify even more.

Issue 20, in particular, has all of these things. The arc so far has Yorick imprisioned, drugged, and 'tortured' by the mysterious Agent 711. As she continues questioning him, she digs deeper into Yorick's past and psyche, revealing many of the complex events that have shaped him. This all builds to the climax of issue 20 when Yorick reveals the horrendous scene he saw outside his apartment minutes after all the men died, and further divulges his deeply hidden desire to die.

The greatness of this issue lies in the complex and compelling character development we get with Yorick as we are thrust into his head and his past. Vaughan masterfully creates a believable, complex reaction to the plague within Yorick, and brings us to the edge as we watch agent 711 assist him in his suicide. The resulting climax is beautifully internal - not some superpowered hero taking down an evil villain with brute force, but the resolve to live fighting the will to die within Yorick.

To have such an intense climax so internally based is commendable for any author. This issue is the epitome of why Vaughan is one of my favorite writers, and it certainly deserves number 4 on the list.


Number 3: Planetary #21
Warren Ellis, John Cassaday, and Laura Martin

Warren Ellis is a genius. No contest.

My first exposure to Planetary was the graphic novel that collected the first six issues of the book. I enjoyed the first three issues - they were a cool collection of mysteries, each told in it's own way. Issue 3 especially entranced me, with the stylized tale of a ghost cop seeking vengance in Hong Kong. What I didn't realize, was that while I thought I was reading some series of flashy, simple, one-shot stories, Ellis was laying the roots for his overall narrative.

In fact, this is Ellis' true strength as a writer. He manages to spend six issues sneaking in the foundation of a story, and it's not until the final issue that we see what he's done. But the payoff is always huge.

Planetary is the ultimate example of this. Issue 6 features a showdown between Elija Snow, the protagonist, and the evil William Leather, a member of the sinister group The Four. As they confront each other, Leather mocks Snow for his lack of memory - it seems these two have met before, but Snow has no memory of it.

As the series progresses, we come to find that Snow's forgotten past, and indeed his very existence is tied into the story itself. The story, in fact, becomes about his personal history, and indeed it was all along, just without us readers noticing.

Now, I know back in referrence to BPRD, I mentioned that one of the best techniques a writer can employ to create a compelling story is to tie the protagonist's personal history directly into the conflict. Ellis does exactly that in Planetary, and issue 21 is the most recent and awesome example.

Issue 21 features Elija Snow visiting a 'clairvoyant' to seek guidance. What Snow learns, is that he is effectively a construct of the universe itself. Ellis, here, masterfully draws Snow's history and purpose into the story - and in a believable way.

He's spent the entire seires building a foundation for this event - that Elija is one of the many super-powered beings born on January 1, 1900. That the universe is actually made of pure information; a two dimensional plane that we build four dimensions from. That our universe is one in a layered snowflake of universes, each one distinct.

Snow discovers in issue 21, that he is indeed a construct of the 'universal machine.' That he has been brough to the earth to save the entire universe.

Pretty epic, eh?

As a further rant on the amazingness of this issue, I also need to mention John Cassaday's amazing, amazing art. The consistant beauty of his work is comendable, and makes this series what it is: a beautifully written and drawn tale of epic proprtions.

Easily number 3 on my list.




To finish the listing (finally!), click here.

Intermission: Birthday Aftermath

With everyone gone from Tacoma, you'd think I might have some time again to do things like blogging while I'm not at work. Well, you'd be wrong.

So here I am, at work, and finally taking a minute to update my site.

Jack's birth-weekend went extremely well. The higlight was definitely the Birthday Beer-Quest, which entailed a frantic search for Mac and Jack's Brewery while nearly running down pedestrians as I talked on Mark's cell phone. Multi-tasking is not my strongest suit.

The brewery tour itself was filled with backhanded sexual comments muttered between each other, as well as a tasting of the sweet nectar of the beer gods - all four varieties! In the end, we had four new pint glasses, and four growlers full of amber, hefewiesen, and porter.

But indeed, yelling "Quapla'!!" has never been more appropriate or satisfying as when we finally arrived at the brewery. We're such huge geeks, it's true.

Anyway, Jack has some pictures up on his gallery. For some reason his inferior camera seems to have turned things yellow in most of the shots. Poor Jack. I'll get to posting mine soon, so you can see what things really looked like.

Also posting soon: the continuation of my comic listing (this is epic, and don't think I've forgotten), so stay tuned!

Number 1: Top Ten Comicbook Issues of 2004, Part 3

Wowza!

So, over the weekend, I had the distinct pleasure of visiting the 2005 Emerald City ComiCon. Bendis was there, as was David Finch, Ed Brubaker, Kurt Busiek, Alex Maleev, and Adam Kubert.

At one point during the day, I sat in on a panel of Marvel writers that included Bendis, Brubaker, and Robert Kirkman. That was about the most awesome thing I'd ever experienced. Certainly, I'd been to panel seminars before - Astronomy stuff, Physics stuff - but never had I been to one that empassioned me like this did. It was seriously cool to see five guys talking about this thing that they love so much, that I love so much for the same reasons. Seriously cool.

And to top it off, I made connections with two guys (both of whom I knew already outside of comics) who are going to do some art for me. How awesome is that?

Pretty damn awesome, if I have to say so.

Anyway, on with the list:


Number 6: Marvel Knights Spider-Man #3
Mark Millar, Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson

Ok, so remember how I was just saying that I like Mark Millar? Well it's true. This was another one of those series' that I grabbed because I like him. And it's paid off so incredibly well.

In the opening issue, Peter Parker's aunt, May, dissapears. Kidnapped by an unknown villian who somehow has discovered Spider-Man and Parker are one and the same.

Right off the bat, Millar sets Spider-Man up at a disadvantage. Suddenly he's up against an unknown assailant who has an exceptional amount of information on Parker. Of course, this disadvantage isn't necessarily anything new. But it's a good start.

Move to issue 3. Spider-Man has tracked down the Vulture and Electro and a battle for Aunt May begins. Electro, with a brand new suit, is tougher than ever, and for one of the first times, Spider-Man seems to really take a beating. Probably, this is because of the real threat that we sense from Electro. As he's tearing apart Spider-Man, Electro is shooting lightning all around a busy street, and exploding cars with little kids inside. Unlike other times, then, we get a sense of Spider-Man's mortality and danger at the hands of Electro.

Spidey's costume is torn, almost to shreds, and so is he, but he continues to fight. And that's when Millar drops the bomb on us. Spider-Man has been played. His tip from the mobster, the Owl, that sent him after Electro was nothing but a bad tip to settle a grudge between the two villains.

Spider-Man reels back in shock as my jaw drops open. As though he wasn't bloodied enough, Spider-Man gets the fight kicked out of him from learning that he's been played like a fool.

Never have I read a comic where a hero is so destroyed like in this issue. And that's why it's so beautiful. Millar brings Spider-Man down, then completely bottoms him out, and that doesn't happen so often in these books. At least, not as convincingly as this.

And the art. The Dodsons do such a beautiful job with Millar's story. It's an amazing thing to just look at (I mean, check out that cover). From huge explosions to the tuft of hair sticking out the top of Spidey's mask, the Dodson's pull off a grade 'A' piece of work, and definitely demand a spot at number 6 on the list.


Number 5: Ultimate X-Men #41
Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch

I should explain, briefly, the 'ultimate' universe.

A few years ago, Marvel decided that they wanted to revamp some of the main characters of the Marvel universe. Think of the Tim Burton version of Planet of the Apes, only with Spider-Man. Essentially, they grabbed Bendis and said 'Hey, can you write Spider-Man all over again?'

The result has been an expanding universe, completely outside the continuity of the Marvel world that started in the '40s, with some familiar characters, and some new threats, but all completely on a blank slate. Peter Parker is back in high school, the Avengers (now called The Ultimates) are a government sanctioned super-force, and the Fantastic Four hasn't even heard of Galactus.

The Ultimate X-Men are slightly darker, less optimistic than their original counterparts. Nontheless, their basic characteristics remain the same. And this assumed similarity is why this issue rocks so much.

The story is the second issue of the 'New Mutants' arc, where a few familiar faces from the original universe are added to the roster. This issue, however, is almost a stand-alone story. It begins with a young man waking up at home to find his mother has dissapeared, leaving only her clothes lying on the kitchen floor.

As the young man reaches school, the crowd of students suddenly begins to combust, each person decaying to a whisp of smoke, leaving their clothes behind. The young boy is a mutant and the sudden manifestation of his power has killed everyone nearby.

The second half of the issue finds the boy in a cave, hiding from the world. Wolverine comes in, unnafected by the boy's power because of his healing factor. They discuss the nature of his power - that he secretes a series of toxins and chemicals that destroy organic tissue. The final page shows Wolverine leaving the cave alone.

The greatness of this issue lies in the subtle implications that Bendis hints at: that Profesor X has sent Wolverine to kill the young boy because of the publicity the truth of all the deaths would bring about. That, suddenly, this humanitarian of both universes has a darker side. That he is actually willing to kill to achieve his ideal of human and mutant co-existance.

Bendis is a master storyteller, and this issue truly shows the cinematic scope of his abilities as a writer. The quiet, empty town as the kid walks to school, the eerily believable dialogue he has with Wolverine in the cave.

And Finch's art is a perfect companion for Bendis' story. It's just plain classic. It looks incredible, but subtley so, and doesn't distract from the story itself. The combination of these two guys is really the reason I started reading The New Avengers (another amazing book, as Jack agrees) and the perfect combination to make it number 5 on my list.

Oh, and as a special note: I actually got this issue signed by Bendis on Saturday. That was as I schmoozed him about the 'A' I got on the giant comic.




To continue the list, click here.

Number 1: Top Ten Comicbook Issues of 2004, Part 2

Number 8: The Ultimates, Volume 1 #13
Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch

I will buy anything Mark Millar writes. Let's just get that out there. To me, Millar is the epitome of the modern classic superhero comicbook writer. His style is so clean, so subtle that you can't help but focus on the story itself. Let me clarify that a bit.

When Millar writes a fight, it's not especially style-ized. When he writes dialogue between characters, it's not in an obvious, focused way like Brian Bendis' classic 'pages-full-of-head-shots' style. His characters have depth and complexity, but not in such a way that they weigh down the comic.

What Millar effectively does, then, is focus your attention on the events of the story. His complex characterization, crazy fights, and witty dialogue are subtle to the point that you almost wouldn't notice what he does: write them damn well. It's like the musician that plays so beautifully, it sounds easy: Millar makes good writing seem effortless.

The result is a winning story every time. No weighty themes, no moral conclusions. Just a climax, resolution, and some character development thrown in between.

The Ultimates is an excellent series for just these reasons. It's a team book, so the characters must be subtle enough to work as an ensemble. It's a new series using well-established characters, so the exposition and dialogue needs to be woven in without weighing the story itself down as it develops. Of course, Millar does an exemplary job.

Let me say that I really wasn't much a fan of the original Avengers. They were a campy, one-dimensional 'there-are-tough-bad-guys-out-there-so-lets-be-good-guys-together' kind of book. The Ultimates is a far cry from that. The characters are essentially the same, but more mature in this book. More complex.

And of course, the stories themsleves rock. Issue #13, as the finale of the series is excellent. It blends humor, real tension, and awesome action to a fevered climax. It weaves all of the subplots of the previous issues into an incredible conclusion. And all with the truly awesome art of Bryan Hitch.

It's an easy pick for number 8.


Number 7: New X-Men #154
Grant Morrison and Marc Silvestri

In my last mention of this title, I spoke of how bizarre Morrison's stories are. He does this crazy shit - throwing aliens, evil pre-natal twins, and fucked up new mutants all into a blender that is the pages of the New X-Men - and it seems to work. As I see them, here are the keys to why:

1) He stays true to the basics of the characters. Cyclops is still a tight-ass. Wolverine is the bad-attitude, loose cannon. Beast is the geek (but with humor).

2) He then develops these characters by facing them with new crises, challanges and relationships. He forces them to live on the page, dealing with new issues by adapting their personalities. This creates a great complexity in character.

3) He minimalizes. Starting his run on New X-Men by killing Magneto was pure genious. Think about it: you have this character who has been pure evil, afflicted evil, afflicted good, and pure good - the whole range. A characater who has been used in so many ways by so many writers, and now it's your turn. What do you do? Kill him! Why even deal with that mess of history and continuity?
What this allows Morrison to do is tell a story from the beginning - introduce new elements that the heroes face, and come to his own style of resolution.

4) He interweaves subplots into a coherent and intense climax. Which brings us to issue #154.

New X-Men #154 is Morrison's final and ultimate chapter of the series. In this single issue, he takes a gigantic chunk of his previous run, and snowballs it into one climax. The mutant drug, 'kick,' the sinister and mysterious John Sublime, and the return of the Pheonix are just a few of the major stories that come to a head in this issue. And it's done in a way that's masterful.

Morrison pulls together all the strings, and suddenly and finally we see the web he's been weaving the whole time.

I also need to note the return of Marc Silvestri to the X-Men. Along with Jim Lee, this guy introduced me to Wolverine and the X-Men. His stylized art brought the characters to life in a way that I'll always be nostalgic for. And there's no better way to win my heart than to have the amazing art dragging me back to the good old days while I see my favorite characters drawn into new battles and mature stories.

Kudos to you both for bringing me such joy. That version of the Phoenix that you see above should be put at number 1 on it's own merit.




To continue the list, click here.