2012: The Year in Comics

I've done better at keeping up with comics on a monthly basis this year than I have in the past, but I read very few graphic novels, several of which would've likely made the list. Most notable is Chris Ware's Building Stories, with its unprecedented placement (as a comic book) on the New York Times' 10 Best Books of 2012 list, but it's probably worth mentioning I haven't read the new offerings from Alison Bechdel, Charles Burns, Guy DeLisle, Jason, Jeff Lemire, or Joe Sacco either.

10. Wonder Woman - Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chiang (DC)
Nearly the only of DC's original "New 52" titles that still remains vital 16 months in (I'm still reading Action Comics and Batwoman, but with considerably less enthusiasm). Azzarello's clever spin on Wonder Woman's origin, making her the daughter of Zeus and populating the book with the Greek pantheon, has provided endless directions for the book to go in, but it was perhaps inevitable that Jack Kirby's New Gods would begin to surface, providing yet another reason why this is the most underrated book at DC.

9. Rachel Rising - Terry Moore (Abstract Studios)
After the brilliant sci-fi of Echo, Terry Moore continues his tour of genre fiction by turning to horror with Rachel Rising. While not as immediately engaging as the former, Rachel Rising has maintained an intriguingly eerie atmosphere–aided by Moore's exquisite art–and now that it's beginning to reveal its secrets it can be seen as continuing Echo's exploration into the gaps between science and the supernatural. It also seems fitting that, with Moore as someone who has dedicated his career to creating the most intriguing female characters in comics, Lilith herself is the source of the horror.

8. Hawkeye - Matt Fraction w. David Aja, and Javier Pulido (Marvel)
When is the last time a comic possessed the amount of unbridled joy present in a single issue of Hawkeye, or "Hawkguy" as Fraction is fond of calling it? The kinetic exuberance of Aja's layouts is met panel for panel by Fraction's cheeky wit and irreverence, perhaps best exemplified in the absurd, 60's Batman TV show sound-effects ("KGLASSSSS!" was a highlight from issue 5). It's a back to basics approach that feels full of youthful energy and startlingly fresh.

7. Batman Incorporated - Grant Morrison & Chris Burnham (DC)
When Grant Morrison returned to Batman Incorporated this summer–hand-in-hand with Chris Burnham, his greatest collaborator since Frank Quitely–it injected a new vitality into the New 52. Morrison's initial turn on Batman Inc. sometimes verged on exhausting, but it turns out a break was all that was needed as he enters into the final chapter of his Batman epic continuing to deliver some of the best work of his career, pulling out all the stops with appearances by Matches Malone and the immortal Bat-Cow.

6. The Manhattan Projects - Jonathan Hickman & Ryan Bodenheim (Image)
Jonathan Hickman's alternate history take on The Manhattan Project, featuring a supernatural exploration squad led by FDR's consciousness preserved as artificial intelligence, seems like a very comic booky concept, and it is. Yet the uniqueness of Hickman's vision, down to the book's very design, brings a vivacity to the conceit that, along with Bodenheim's art, makes for one of the best reads in comics, and the first in a string of new Image titles that will dominate the rest of this list.

5. Spaceman - Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso (Vertigo)
Azzarello & Risso's follow-up to the highly acclaimed 100 Bullets seemed to beguile readers with its post-text message patois, and it reads better as a collection for this reason, removing the need to reacclimate oneself with it on a monthly basis. The devolved language is just one aspect of their vision of the future–a reality TV-obsessed, anti-intellectual world attempting to terraform Mars in the wake of an environmental disaster– that resembles our present reflected through a funhouse mirror.

4. Fatale - Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips (Image)
Since launching Criminal in 2006, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips have been the go-to team when it comes to delivering smart, morally-complex crime comics. Last year's "Last of the Innocents" arc saw the team hitting a new peak, but Fatale, their new Image ongoing, seems poised to surpass it. Its blend of Brubaker and Phillips' trademark noir with Lovecraftian horror is perfect for its layered exploration into the concept of the femme fatale.

3. Prophet - Brandon Graham w. Simon Roy, Farel Dalrymple, and Giannis Milonogianni (Image)
Did anyone expect a Rob Liefeld property to resurface as one of the best comics on the stands? King City's Brandon Graham, with help from artistic heavyweights such as Omega the Unknown's Farel Dalrymple, has crafted one of the most engaging sci-fi stories in recent memory, not just in comics but any medium. Recalling the comics of Moebius and Alejandro Jodorowsky, Prophet is bursting at the seams with great ideas and the kind of art you can lose afternoons exploring.

2. Fantastic Four/FF - Jonathan Hickman w. Nick Dragotta, Steve Epting, et. al. (Marvel)
Comics are frequently viewed as one of the lowest forms of culture, and the schlock that is routinely distributed by the Big Two every week is often to blame for that perception. However, every once in awhile a writer takes control of a longstanding property and proves its inherent worth as Jonathan Hickman has done with Fantastic Four, crafting an immense work that over 60 issues highlights the strength of family and the power of imagination, beautifully encapsulated in the final issue, FF #23, the best single issue of the year.

1. Saga - Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples (Image)
The driving question behind Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples' Saga–i.e. what kind of world is this to bring a child into?–has been in painful evidence over the last week.  Vaughan's attitude, which seems to be one of boundless optimism in the face of seemingly inevitable failure, is refreshing. Inspired by his own experience of becoming a father in a world at apparent perpetual war, Saga creates a wonderfully realized universe and begins with the birth of a child, the book's narrator–a first for Vaughan, to parents on opposing sides of an endless civil war.

With Vaughan's absence from comics since 2010 following two hugely popular series, Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina, Saga had impossibly high expectations to live up to. That it finds itself at the top of this list at the end of the year under these circumstances is doubly impressive. Yet I continue to open each new issue of  Saga anticipating an indescribable amount of enjoyment that is continually met with satisfaction. Much of this is owed to Fiona Staples, who seems to fit Vaughan better than any other artist he's worked with (not an unimpressive roster by any means). Let's hope she's able to stick around for the 100+ issues Vaughan has envisioned.