The Best Comic Books Dave Read In 2010

    This page collects all of the books I gave a rating of "Strongly Recommended" or better to come out during 2010. Books which I Strongly Recommended to limited groups are generally not included, but those with mature readers caveats are. You may notice some "Books of Note" aren't mentioned here, because they were notable for reasons other than necessarily being really good (i.e. an intriguing idea with iffy execution). Boldfaced books got a rating higher than Strongly Recommended.

    So, here it is, broken down by the month I actually read them (Diamond got even worse about mis-ships this year). Be warned that this reflects my reading habits, there may well have been some excellent titles out there I didn't read for whatever reason. Sometimes I forgot to note the artist, and didn't really feel like digging it up. :) In those cases, I'll say "and ??", otherwise it's a single creator doing writing and art.

  • January
    • The More Than Complete Action Philosophers! TPB: Van Lente and Dunleavy, Evil Twin Comics.
  • February
    • Serenity Rose vol 2: Alexovich, Slave Labor Graphics.
    • Amelia Rules! vol 4: Gownley, Simon & Schuster.
    • Atomic Robo v4 #1 (of 4): Clevinger and Wegener, Red 5 Comics.
    • Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths DVD: DC.
  • March
    • Hercules Fall of an Avenger #1 (of 2): Pak, Van Lente and Olivetti, Marvel.
    • Cartoon History of the Modern World Part II: Gonick, Harper.
  • April
    • Amelia Rules! vol 5: Gownley, Simon & Schuster.
    • Atomic Robo v4 #2 (of 4): Clevinger and Wegener, Red 5 Comics.
    • Hercules Fall of an Avenger #2 (of 2): Pak, Van Lente and Olivetti, Marvel.
  • May
    • Galacta Daughter of Galactus: Warren and Lujan, Marvel.
    • Atomic Robo v4 #3 (of 4): Clevinger and Wegener, Red 5 Comics.
  • June
    • Atomic Robo v4 #4 (of 4): Clevinger and Wegener, Red 5 Comics.
  • July
    • Avengers Academy #2: Gage and McKone, Marvel.
    • PS238 #45: Williams, Do Gooder Press.
  • August
    • Iron Man Legacy #5: Van Lente and ??, Marvel.
    • Super Stupor #3: Milholland, SomethingPositive.net.
  • September
    • Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #6: Tobin and Cross, Marvel.
    • Shadowland Power Man #2 (of 4): Van Lente and Asrar, Marvel.
    • Empowered vol 6: Warren, Dark Horse.
    • Brody's Ghost vol 1 (of 6): Crilley, Dark Horse.
  • October
    • Iron Man Legacy #7: Van Lente and Briones, Marvel.
    • Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #7: Tobin and Buchemi, Marvel.
    • Amelia Rules! vol 6: Gownley, Simon & Schuster.
  • November
    • Atomic Robo: Deadly Art of Science #1 (of 5): Clevinger and Wegener, Red 5 Comics.
  • December
    • Taskmaster #4 (of 4): Van Lente and Palo, Marvel.
    • Atomic Robo: Deadly Art of Science #2 (of 5): Clevinger and Wegener, Red 5 Comics.
    • Iron Man Titanium #1: Warren and Espin (and others, but the Warren story is why this was picked), Marvel. (Note: reviewed in January 2011)
    Publisher count:
  • Marvel - 11
  • Red 5 Comics - 6
  • Simon & Schuster (Athaeneum imprint) - 3
  • Dark Horse - 2
  • DC (and all sub-imprints) - 1
  • Do Gooder Press - 1
  • Evil Twin Comics - 1
  • Harper - 1
  • Slave Labor Graphics - 1
  • SomethingPositive.net - 1
    Writer count (with more than 1):
  • Brian Clevinger - 6
  • Fred Van Lente solo - 5
  • Jimmy Gownley - 3
  • Adam Warren - 3
  • Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente - 2
  • Paul Tobin - 2
    Definitely a fall-off from last year. Fewer books grabbed me and shook, and mostly the same stuff as in previous years (missing titles from 2009 are mostly the result of books being cancelled or on hiatus, although Spider-Man simply stopped being as exceptional). A handful of writers dominate the books I really like, although I should note that Tobin ended the year on a very shaky couple of performances (Spider-Girl #2 in December and then Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #10 in January 2011), and might not appear on the 2011 list.

    The heavier presence of "real" publishers reflects how a lot of talented creators are getting book deals and finding publication outside the questionable channel of Diamond. Good for them...my Missing Books list spent most of the year being longer than a single week's actual showing-up books. 2011 may be the last year in which I read a significant number of comics, I'm on the verge of giving up on Diamond entirely and switching to just books I can get direct from publishers or as TPBs through real distributors. Of course, I'll do what it takes to keep reading Atomic Robo, even if I have to get friends in other states to pick up the comics for me.

    Marvel does continue to dominate, mainly because unlike DC, when they cancel a book I like they tend to give a similar project to the writer involved, so I keep buying something from them. But I drift away from DC's stable, because even if I find a writer I really like, they often get shuffled to a book I have zero interest in (i.e. a Batbook or Superbook) or even leave DC entirely. In fact, the only thing DC did all year that I really liked was an animated movie. You may also note a lack of BOOM! titles this year. That's because I gave up on trying to get their books through Diamond, and their TPB policy is geared towards coffee table books (i.e. four issues of a $3.99 series sold as a $25 hardcover collection). Sometimes irksome business practices can overwhelm creative efforts.

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