The Best Comic Books of 1997

This page collects all of the books I gave a rating of "Strongly Recommended" or better to during 1997. Books which I Strongly Recommended to limited groups are not included, but those with mature readers caveats are. You may notice some "Best Book" winners aren't mentioned here, because they were simply the best of a weak week.

So, here it is, broken down by month. Books which got ratings better than "Strongly Recommended" will be in boldface. 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.

  • January
    • Astro City v2 #4
  • February
    • Impulse #24
    • Astro City v2 #5
    • Copybook Tales #3
    • Quantum & Woody #1
  • March
    • Batman & Robin Adventures #18
    • Quantum & Woody #2
  • April
    • Steel #39
    • Impulse #26
    • Quantum & Woody #3
    • Copybook Tales #4
    • Squee #1
  • May
    • Astro City v2 #7
    • Quantum & Woody #4
  • June
    • Steel #41
    • Quantum & Woody #5
    • Batman & Robin Adventures #21
    • Longshot Comics #2
    • Thunderbolts '97 (Annual #1)
    • Xer0 #4
  • July
    • Steel #42
    • Transmetropolitan #1
    • Quantum & Woody #6
    • Replacement God and Other Stories #2
    • Akiko #16
  • August
    • Steel #43
    • Transmetropolitan #2
    • Quantum & Woody #7
    • Gon Swimmin'
    • Buck Godot #7
  • September
    • Quantum & Woody #8
    • Transmetropolitan #3
    • Two-Fisted Science #1 (the comic, not the TPB)
    • Xer0 #7
  • October
    • Transmetropolitan #4
    • Astro City v2 #10
    • Scud #17
    • Akiko #19
    • Xer0 #8
  • November
    • Steel #46
    • Transmetropolitan #5
    • Astro City v2 #11
    • Quantum & Woody #10
    • Quantum & Woody: The Director's Cut TPB
    • Xer0 #9
    • Akiko #20
  • December
    • Steel #47
    • Batgirl Adventures #1
    • Transmetropolitan #6
    • Iron Man v3 #1
    • Two-Fisted Science TPB
    • Avengers v3 #1
    • Scarecrow #1
    In case you didn't notice, Christopher Priest is all over this list like crab on Kyle Rayner's face. 9 of 11 Quantum & Woody issues, 6 of 12 Steel issues, 4 of 9 Xer0 issues (but zero of four Solar issues)...not a bad track record. Of course, Ellis hits the mark with all six Transmetropolitan issues to date, making him a strong contender as well. Busiek turns in a good handful of Strongly Recommended books (5 Astro City, 1 Avengers, 1 Iron Man) and Crilley gets a number of Akikos on the list.

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