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2019 in Review: Best New Series

By | December 17th, 2019
Posted in Columns | % Comments
Logo by Mike Romeo

Don’t tell the other categories, but this is my [Brian’s] favorite category of the year. There is no better gauge of comics comics are doing than the ‘Best New Series’ category each year. This year has a mix of horror, superheroes, crime, fantasy, and sci-fi, which sounds like a nice way to describe a big chunk of the entire medium, doesn’t it?

5 (tie). Once & Future

How well do you know the Matter of Britain, the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table? Have you ever taken a look behind the initial rhetoric and into the implications of Arthur returning to Great Britain “in its time of greatest need” if it were primarily populated by people who were once his sworn enemies? What if everything you knew about his story was, while not wrong, twisted and perverted into something other than what people initially assumed?

In “Once & Future,” Kieron Gillen, famous for his work with intense research and mythology both in a wide variety of stories, delves into Arthurian horror. In doing so, Gillen shows just how wrong things can go when people search after a misunderstood legend, or when they try to manipulate the circumstances of said legend to force it to come into being. Using the myths as a guideline, but not beholden to any singular interpretation, he shows what happens when we apply modern methods to monster hunting, on top of generally informing the readership about various elements of the Arthurian legend itself. This dual focus on education and terror goes a long way, and the banter between the elderly monster hunter and her grandson further enhance the story by way of keeping it from being too dour either.

Dan Mora’s artwork is excellent, using highly expressive faces similar to those he drew for the likes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Klaus” to accentuate comedic moments and help even the most inhumane of people feel human on some level. On the other hand, the extreme detail on the undead further push how horrifying the supernatural elements of the world can be. The animated nature of his pencils keep the story moving quickly and engrossingly even through the quieter points in the tale.

Tamra Bonvillain’s colors consistently show how perfect of a choice she was for this story. From sickly greens of magic to dark blues and purples of the sky under a setting sun, her hues, tones, and shades can further press moments of relief or tension even beyond the words or illustrations themselves, pulling the audience ever further into the protagonists’ quest. – Greg Ellner

5 (tie). Something is Killing the Children

Decompressed storytelling gets a bad rap. Handled incorrectly, it can kill any energy a story has, but in the right hands (like, say, the hands of James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’Edera, and Miquel Muerto), you can get a slow burning build-up into a symphony. That’s what we’ve gotten from “Something is Killing the Children” so far. With only three issues on the shelves at the time of this writing, we haven’t gotten much in the way of plot. Instead, Tynion, Dell’Edera, and Muerto have seeded kernels of horror throughout their depiction of a small town haunted by a mostly unseen monstrous presence.

I’d be hard pressed to think of a more masterful opening scene in a comic this year than the one we get in issue #1. It’s a hell of a calling card, one that announces this book as one of the most exciting books on the shelves. It layers us in dread–first, we hear a horror story; then, we learn that story was a fantasy; and finally, unsettlingly, we learn that the truth is much, much worse than the story we’ve been told.

For most of these first issues the series has kept us mired in the terror surrounding the horrific acts of violence being visited on the children of this small town. Beyond one horrific, gory sequence that closes the first issue, most of the violence is implied, existing off-panel or in the wide, traumatized eyes of our central character. In rereading the first issue for this write-up, I was surprised at just how brutal that sequence actually was, mostly because of how the following issues build their tension from implication rather than action. The sequence is so shocking, the violence rendered so impressionistically by Dell’Edera and Muerto, that you could convince yourself it was nothing but a nightmare.

Continued below

What we’re left with after that bloody child reaping is the knowledge that this is just the beginning. For me the mark of a great new series comes not just from what we’ve gotten, but from what it promises for the future. With the horror brewing in “Something is Killing the Children,” we can be sure the destination is going to be well worth the slow, creeping ride. – Reid Carter

5 (tie). Criminal

This one’s a bit of a cheat because we’ve visited this universe before, but Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips treated us to more of what we want in 2019: gritty crime, industry drama, doomed love and, of course, some noir violence. “Criminal” is back, and this time we get the ballad of Teeg Lawless. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t go well for him.

“Criminal” is interesting because Brubaker and Phillips get to play in a extensive universe, and do so successfully because they keep every installment tight and focused. There’s no need to draw in every single reference or to make every reading experience a full build on what’s come before, but we can trust Brubaker and Phillips to deliver quality grit, grime and grim lyricism as they always have before.

“Criminal” can pick up a ragged thread and run with it to get at new insights, richness and facets of people we’ve rubbed shoulders with in the past, and that’s exactly what Brubaker and Phillips accomplished in 2019. The road ahead is a mystery in narrative terms, and it’s delightful as a result. – Christa Harader

4. Marauders

Unlike in the pages of “Watchmen,” there just aren’t enough pirate comics in the real world. Luckily, Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli have us covered, as they have introduced the pirating concept to the shores of Krakoa in “Marauders.” Beyond just setting a book on the sea, “Maruaders” is a really fun book in the ‘Dawn of X’ line because it handles a few different facets of the new mutant status quo:

What happens if a Krakoan gate won’t let someone in?

What happens if a mutant is in unfriendly territory?

What lengths will mutants go to in order to protect their own?

Add to that Kitty Kate Pryde, one of the more interesting characters in the X-books for 30+ years now, and give her a supporting cast including Pyro and Iceman, and you’re expecting me not to lap this book up? Are you nuts?

By giving the book a fun, comics-y contrivance, but having it address some of the most grounded questions in all of the ‘Dawn of X’ books, you’ve got a stew going, baby. – Brian Salvatore

3. Die

I got into and dropped out of music school. I play less than I used to, and music isn’t really as big a part of my life as it once was. But I have been Dungeon Mastering since fifth grade, and that has never gone away. My point is, “The Wicked + The Divine” was cool, but “Die” is absolutely my jam. The series follows a roleplaying group that got sucked into their game, escaped, and now have to return to it well into their forties. Series writer Kieron Gillen describes it as “goth Jumanji” which is on point.

He also has said that “the world deserves a fantasy world from Stephanie Hans,” the artist of the series, and he is absolutely right. “Die” is probably the biggest project Hans has ever worked on in terms of scope and number of issues, and it is a treat. Her moody, painterly style is perfect for expressing the larger than life emotions that roil beneath the surface of the world, which is gorgeous and dangerous and past its glory days.

If Kieron Gillen has a brand, this is it, but when Gillen turns his eyes towards your longtime hobby, you are in for a treat. The third issue combined the life of JRR Tolkien and his most famous hobbit creations in a metaphor as subtle as a Prussian mecha-dragon. We’ve gotten references, discussions, and considerations from fantasy sources as diverse as Wiliam Gibson and Vampire: The Masquerade. It’s the kind of series where the jokes all have deeper meanings and the deep meanings often turn out to be jokes. In other words, the perfect new series from Gillen and Hans, who have proven time and again to be a formidable team in comics. – Jake Hill

Continued below

2. Far Sector

In one issue, “Far Sector” has done more to interest me in the life of DC Comics’ newest Earth lantern, Jo Mullein, than the last 5 years of comics have done to interest me in her predecessors Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz. That’s less the fault of those characters themselves, than the stable of writers who never quite seemed to know what to do with them. “Far Sector” writer N.K. Jemisin has no such hangup, as Jo bursts confidently out of the gates of her debut. Unlike the aforementioned characters and their respective titles, “Far Sector” immediately feels like the work of a team of creators collaborating to make something small, tight, and (at this point) unencumbered by trying to insert itself into decades of continuity. It may be a DC comic book, it may be centered around an iteration of one of its biggest, most identifiable properties, but at the end of the day it feels like a creator-owned comic.

Creator-owned is probably a poor choice of words, when it certainly (legally) is not that, but the work feels creator-invested in a way that most new characters at Marvel or DC tend not to. Jemisin gives us Jo’s personality up front, a confident, cool presence on a somewhat uncharted world with three highly irrational species of alien at each others’ throats. She presents a deceptively simple murder mystery for Jo’s space cop to tackle. It’s the actual return to procedural space police work that Grant Morrison promised his run would be – turns out there’s room for both at DC right now. As for Jo’s lantern origin? Well, that is left for another day, with only hints at it doled out in the first issue. It comes off as just plain solid world-building; something Jemisin is well-versed in after several successful years in the fantasy/sci-fi prose arena. Jamal Campbell, who only gets better and better with each new project, does career best work on the art end.

Much like with the Brian Michael Bendis/David Walker/Jamal Campbell joint “Naomi”, I cannot imagine another artist drawing this character, and while I’m sure it will happen someday, I’ll be holding my breath when that day comes. Simply put, Jo’s lantern suit is the coolest-looking costume redesign of the year in comics. If that’s not enough for you on its own, Campbell crafts a beautiful far-future world and populates it with impossible sights to see. But seriously, look at that freakin’ costume. – Vince Ostrowski

1. New Mutants

Oh, the ironies of “New Mutants” topping our list of new titles this year. It’s new indeed. Only two issues into its run at the time of this writing, the book seems just a twinkle in a Goldball’s eye, winning us over in two short installments. It’s just barely yawning awake in the “Dawn of X” arising from Jonathan Hickman’s (with RB Silva and Pepe Larraz) groundbreaking “House of X/Powers of X.” Heck, “New” is in the title! Most importantly, there’s a verve and audacity that hummed (or exploded) in HoX/PoX that feels very much alive in the zest, brashness, even insouciance of “New Mutants.” Here, young hearts run free.

Yet there’s much here that’s not new at all. While other Dawns of X (“Marauders,” “Excalibur”) have recombinations of mutants-heretofore-never-teamed, these New Mutants are old familiar friends. Writers Jonathan Hickman and Ed Brisson, artist Rod Reis, and letterer Travis Lanham have treated longtime fans to returns of OG New Mutants Sunspot, Wolfsbane, and Cannonball, along with Generation X pals like Mondo. And from issue one, they’re teamed with Starjammers and Corsair, as old school and era-bound a pack of Marvel characters as exists. “New Mutants” is Exhibit A in the theory of the case that Hickman’s reinvigorating this franchise has owed more to exhuming the X-books’ past than exponentially projecting their futures.

But c’mon, who’s still unconvinced that the Hickman magic (or Magik?!?) is all about being able to dance between the raindrops, staying wildly visionary (Space heist! Space court!) and yet comedically mundane (frog lawyer!), meditatively character-centered (Rahne smirking like Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and yet horrifically weird (Mondo’s Krakoa tummy manifestation). No one can peg Hickman and Brisson as either simply replaying the old hits or as faddishly new for new’s sake. Rather, “New Mutants” seems to mine just the right moments for those bits of ensemble humor and characterization gold, like Roberto de Costa’s witness stand bravado or the team playing Shi’ar cards. Meanwhile, in the background, something vast is clearly brewing, promising more grand adventures afoot. It’s that everyday-yet-epic Chris Claremont mettle, but with Hickman’s defter economy and gutsier architecture.

Rod Reis’s luscious art is similarly revival-fresh, neither hiding under the shadow of Bill Sienkiewicz’s defining “New Mutants” work nor anxious about replicating it. Reis strides with the confidence of his art’s classy scifi mastery, kaleidoscopic palette, and surprising character subtlety.

It all makes for a new series that old X-fans and new/renewed HoXPoxHixDoX devotees can adore alike. We don’t have to wait for a “New Mutants” movie around the corner of 2020. Here’s the good stuff. – Paul Lai


//TAGS | 2019 Year in Review

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