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| The Bum's Rush | by Paul Milligan |
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So how in the hell do I write a “Best Of” column now?
Well fear not, faithful reader, for as I said my love of
comics almost died. And as we all know mostly dead is
still slightly alive. See, I’ve been rediscovering my love
of comics lately. I spent so much time being angry with the
comics I hated that I completely ignored the comics that
were really good. I was one step away from being one of
those nasty internet trolls that posts up about how much
they hate comics and why can’t they be more like they used
to be and blah, blah, blah. Well screw that. I’m trimming
the fat (not literally, there’s still a whole lot of me to
love, baby), reading some quality books and falling in love
with comics all over again.
Will He Save The West Or
Ruin It? Hmmmm… The Second One.
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The
list of my top five favorite comic book writers changes
every few months or so there is one name that is always a
constant - Brian K. Vaughan. With their intricately detailed
plots to their break-neck action and jaw-dropping
cliffhangers, Vaughan’s books deliver the goods and rarely,
if ever, disappoint. Another thing his books deliver are
some of the most well-rounded and believable characters you
will find in comics. Whether it’s Mayor Hundred dealing with
drug control in Ex Machina or Doctor Strange battling
otherworldly, unspeakable evils to save a friend’s life in
The Oath, you always believe that the characters are
real people and not just pictures on a page. His run on
Ultimate X-Men with Stuart Immonen was hands down the
best that book has ever been and the most fun I’ve had
reading an X-Men comic in years. Y: The Last Man, my
pick for Best Continuing Series of 2005 continues to be one
the best Vertigo titles available and just gets better as it
nears its conclusion. And the list goes on with titles like
Runaways, arguably one of Marvel’s strongest ongoing
series; Ex Machina, the only comic I’ve ever read
where the politics are as interesting and thought provoking
as they are integral; and Doctor Strange: The Oath,
the second Strange mini I’ve read this year that not only
piqued my interest in the character but made me yearn to
read his adventures on a monthly basis. While most writers
have their ups and downs, usually from one month to the
next, Vaughan remains the most consistently great writer in
the business and is no doubt my favorite writer of 2006.
Since reading the Vertigo mini-series, Scene of the Crime,
in 1999 I have followed Ed Brubaker on almost everything he
has written from Catwoman and Gotham Central
to Sleeper and The Authority. His work has
always been impressive, especially when delving into the
noir fiction at which he excels. But it wasn’t until he went
exclusive with Marvel Comics last year that I realized just
how good he really was. At Marvel, Brubaker is doing some of
the best work of his career, from making Captain America
the best it’s been since Mark Waid & Ron Garney’s run in the
mid-nineties to making Daredevil a must-read each and
every month (I’ll admit it, Bendis’ run did nothing for me).
With the debut of Criminal, Brubaker returned to his
crime fiction roots and produced one of the best new series
to come out of a major publisher all year long. Couple these
amazing books with the fact that Brubaker works with some of
the best artists around and you can clearly see why he was
this close to being my favorite writer of the year.
Sometimes an artist’s style will take an evolutionary step
to a whole new level, changing not only the way they
approach drawing comics but also the way people look at the
comics they draw. Stuart Immonen is just such an artist,
whose work took a huge leap when he became the regular
artist for Ultimate Fantastic Four in 2004. His
style, which until that point had been a mix of realistic
and traditional comic art, became supremely streamlined,
sharp-edged and extremely energetic. Much like another
master of comic book story-telling, Hellboy creator
Mike Mignola, Immonen’s penciling was contained to only the
most essential lines, which he then used to maximum effect
to create some of the most eye-catching and exciting artwork
on the stands. He utilized the style to even greater effect
on his terrific Ultimate X-Men run with writer Brian
K. Vaughan before further simplifying and refining his art
for the ongoing Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. series
with Warren Ellis. His work on Nextwave, one of the
most visually entertaining comics ever, put him miles above
other artists and firmly secured his spot as my favorite
artist in 2006.
As I was scanning stacks of comics trying to decide on my
picks for this “Best Of” list I kept running across issues
of Invincible and stopping to admire the gorgeous
artwork inside. Then it dawned on me… Ryan Ottley is one of
the best artists of the year! Since taking over the book
from artist/co-creator Corey Walker with issue 8 of the
series, Ottley’s work has grown in leaps and bounds. Since
then he has completely surpassed the level of quality that
Walker brought to the series during his limited run and is
one of the main reasons I continue to collect and enjoy this
book on a regular basis. From tender moments of quiet drama
to explosive scenes of action and adventure in the far
reaches of space, Ottley has proven that he can draw just
about anything and draw it exceedingly well. If only I
wasn’t such a complete and utter sucker for anything and
everything Immonen does Ottley may well have been my number
one choice for my favorite artist of the year.
It’s the year 2039, 100 years after the first appearance of
Batman, and Gotham City is just as horrible as it’s ever
been. Every superhero in the country has been long since
dealt with by an oppressive, Orwellian government. Every
superhero that is, except the Batman who’s still running
around the rooftops of Gotham, fighting crime and avoiding
cops at almost every turn. The series explores the legend of
Batman, a seemingly immortal vigilante whose fight for
justice will never be quashed no matter what the odds.
Writer/artist Paul Pope’s take on Batman is one of the
absolute best since Frank Miller’s classic 
The BPRD’s battle with the frog monsters, which has been
building since the first Hellboy mini-series, reaches
its peak as a new menace arrives to control the monsters and
bring about the rise of Kath-Hem, a terrifying, enormous
monster-god and spawn of the Ogdru Jahad. The Black Flame
is a perfect gem in a long line of amazing BPRD
mini-series and just proves the limitless scope of comics
and the series’ creative team’s willingness to explore that
scope at each and every opportunity. The most action-packed,
frightening and devastating of BPRD’s adventures is also one
of the best damn comics of the year, let alone one of the
best mini-series. And with talent like Mike Mignola, John
Arcudi and the incomparable Guy Davis, who is every bit as
amazing a storyteller as Mignola himself, how could it not
be?
