Spoiler alert: comics have been really, really great for the last five years. Now that Multiversity has been around for a while, our Editorial staff of Matthew Meylikhov, David Harper and Brian Salvatore decided to put together a look at who and what made those five years so great, as they share their five favorite artists, writers and comics over that span.
After we covered artists and writers, it’s time to close with a look at our favorite comics of the past five years. And when we’re talking comics, we mean all varieties of comics – ongoings, minis, graphic novels and even specific arcs – for us to choose from. As it was with the other two categories, it was tremendously difficult to boil it down to just five comics. But boil it down they did, and these lists provide you insight into the best examples of the comic book art form in our team’s minds. Take a look below, and please, share your thoughts as to what stood out the most for you in the comments.
Matt’s Picks
1. Morning Glories
Why It Made the List: Surprise. “Morning Glories” is on the list of the guy who writes Study Hall. Pick your jaws off the floor, put your socks back on — I didn’t mean to alarm you.
But honestly, how can you not love the book? Perhaps I’m in the minority on this, but as much as I like to read comics for simple and inert pleasures, I also like when a book challenges me — when I read something and it doesn’t allow me to simply just accept events and move on. That’s my favorite kind of fiction, in fact; the kind that demands research, that demands composing your own theories and investigations. “Morning Glories” is full of that (obviously, or I wouldn’t do a monthly column on it), and each issue gives me the opportunity to learn something new, to investigate different aspects of mythology and religion. It’s a book about a school, and I learn things from doing homework on it. What’s not to love there?
Beyond that, though, it’s a great story and one that is intensely crafted by its creative team. Nick and Joe have a story that they want to tell all the way through, and damned if they’re not going to put their all into it along the way. This book has it all.
2. Morrison’s Batman
Why It Made the List: I think a good preface to these thoughts is that I actually don’t like Batman as a character. I think he’s dull, that he’s a walking trope and that maybe 90% of people who write him in comics don’t know what to do with him. That’s why a huge storyline like Morrison’s Batman run is so amazing and important, because not only does it revel in every Batman trope ever but it also takes him above and beyond that, to some place new and different that people think he can’t access because he’s Batman.
That’s the thing about Batman, right? The problem with Batman is he’s Batman! You need a creative team that really has a strong idea for him, something different and maybe a bit weird and convoluted but also epic and sprawling. Morrison took Batman to places he had never been, on an adventure like none other — through death, through time, through his own unexplored lineage and to the top of the world; we saw that Batman really didn’t need to be a loner to work, that he could have a network and a family of people that he trusted helping him. And more importantly, we saw why Batman mattered: what his legacy means, and how despite all of his faults and grand flaws, he can still inspire greatness.
I don’t like Batman. But I loved this.
3. Casanova: Avaritia
Why It Made the List: “Casanova” is everything I love about comics.
“Casanova” is like free-form jazz in comic form. Every issue feels like a natural extension of what comes before and yet it always seems to branch out into new directions, ending in a completely different location than where we started. It’s unpredictable, it plays fast and loose with your expectations, and it travels everywhere you thought a comic could and could not go. It’s a spy thriller, a sci-fi genre buster, and also perhaps one of the most personal and introspective comics to ever be published. “Avaritia” in particular was like a revelation on paper, tearing everything down and building something new in its place that could literally not have existed before. It’s the creator vs. the creation in more ways than one — and that backmatter, man. Oh, that wonderful, personal, frightening, intimate backmatter.
Continued belowThat’s “Casanova.” Literally everything I love about comics. The smartest thing Marvel did in the past five years was reprint “Casanova” in color and then give us a new volume. I can’t remotely wait for the fourth volume.
4. Gillen’s Loki saga
Why It Made the List: It feels lazy to essentially quote an article I wrote two years ago in order to explain why I loved this series now. Yet even so, I think the following explains my appreciation for this series better than I could ever re-say:
I’ve said it before and I’ve said it before that but I’ll say it again: well done, Mr. Gillen. It’s tough to think of new ways to write about “Journey Into Mystery” in a way that’s ostensibly different than I have in the past, recent or otherwise, but I think the overall message is clear. Gillen did in a shorter time-span what others took years to accomplish (and arguably, in quite a few cases, more powerfully), and the final effect that “Journey” has had on myself and others is quite strong. This is a book that will have a profound lasting relationship with its readers (heck, I honestly can’t listen to “HoppÃpolla” without thinking of the “Journey” finale anymore, partially in thanks to Gillen’s “Journey” playlist), and I don’t think it’s too far off to compare it to classic comic runs like Simonson’s “Thor” (as I’ve done so) or even Moore’s “Swamp Thing.” This is a book that properly defined an era and introduced evolving and succinct changes to a never-ending drama, and if tomorrow Marvel announces an epic event of retroactive continuity, it won’t matter because we’ll have always had “Journey.” As odd of a way to wrap things up as it is, this is a story that is defined by its existence as a story, and no matter what may happen to try and change that nothing ever truly will. We’ll always have it.
That. All that. And more.
5. Scalped
Why It Made the List: I definitely touched on this in in yesterday’s write-ups, but my relationship with “Scalped” is strange and unique. It will always be associated with a troubling and stressful period of my life, one I hate to relive and think on, and yet in spite of all that I have intense affection for this book. I related to the profound struggles of its cast, found different ways to understand their difficult decisions; I saw myself reflected in this series in such an odd way, one I don’t think I possibly could ever emulate. And “Scalped” has never left me because of that.
“Scalped” is a dark series, one that’s brutal and honest, but it stands tall. It’s a series that never wavers, never pulls back from places other titles may have been afraid to go. It was different from everything else on the stands while it came out, and it remains unique now that it stands as a completed epic. Jason Aaron and RM Guerra made a book together that is haunting and at times cynical, a modern day crime saga unlike anything else we’ve seen before or since. To me, it’s as important as anything else Vertigo has ever done, and I would very much lobby for it to be treated as such. We can easily see why Vertigo was important in the 90s when we talk about books like “Preacher,” but “Scalped” is the definitive reason Vertigo was important in the 00s.
David’s Picks
1. Scalped
Why It Made the List: Yesterday I talked about how Jason Aaron’s ability to imbue a story with humanity even as he’s destroying everything about the characters, and how that helped make this book so great. That’s completely true, and the way he somehow made me care so much about these characters on the Prairie Rose Indian Reservation made it one of the most unlikely personal favorites I have.
But really, I don’t want to talk about Aaron’s work anymore, and not because it wasn’t great. No, this book was also great because of the work of a slew of artists, but most notably interior artist R.M. Guera and cover artist Jock. While Danijel Zezelj actually was the artist on my favorite issue of the series (#35), Guera’s work made each and every moment of the series hit so much harder because of the unforgiving realism he displayed on each and every page. He never sugarcoated a moment, instead coaxing the pain and power that resided in the lives of these characters throughout.
Continued belowJock, on the other hand, had one of the all-time great runs as a cover artist on this book, unleashing 60 straight covers that were amongst the best in the business, and if there were any justice in comics, would earn a hardcover collection not unlike James Jean’s “Fables” hardcover.
This book was a team telling a story they felt and they made us feel, and that team was what made this such a powerful, evocative experience. It’s a book I never thought I’d read, but it ended up being a story I’ll never forget.
2. Uncanny X-Force’s “The Dark Angel Saga”
Why It Made the List: While I liked the whole series, I have to say, this specific arc – which spanned 12 issues but really built off the first 18 – might be the single greatest superhero story I’ve ever read. The way Rick Remender built this Russian nesting doll style plot that kept building and paying off in surprising ways; the way Jerome Opeña, Mark Brooks and Billy Tan visualized everything; the way Dean White tied it all together with his colors…it was just superheroics at its highest form.
As a long time X-Men fan, I’ve been a bit up and down about how those books have done over the five year span, but “The Dark Angel Saga”? That book took everything we knew about these characters and ran them through the ringer, and in the process created one of the most badass and emotionally resonant Marvel comics ever. That arc was beyond reproach, and if I remember correctly earned “Uncanny X-Force” by far our most dominant ever Best Ongoing Series winner in 2011. The reason why? Everyone loved it, just like I did.
3. B.P.R.D.
Why It Made the List: What else can I say about this book that I don’t do nearly every week in Mignolaversity? This book is – in my mind – the measuring stick for all creator-owned comics, building a world with a dense, diverse cast and running it all through the ringer each and every month, but never losing its sense of urgency or feeling of locomotion. The trio of Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Scott Allie have done a phenomenal job of perpetually building and building even as they tear down the walls of the world, and the cast of artists who’ve worked on the book is – in my opinion – completely unparalleled.
Guy Davis. James Harren. Tyler Crook. Laurence Campbell. Cameron Stewart. Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon. Peter Snejbjerg. Jason Latour. Those are mad genius artists, and they are all colored by Dave Stewart, the man the colorist award for the Eisners should be named after. This book is a team story amidst the apocalypse that is endlessly fascinating, but it’s the art that really sets it apart. Long live the Bureau, and as long as it does, I will be reading it.
4. Locke & Key
Why It Made the List: Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, individually, are two of the greatest talents in comics. Both of these guys are just hugely talented, with Hill’s ability to marry dense, innovative plotting with thoughtful scripting and Rodriguez’s gifts as a visual storyteller and raw imagination are amongst the best in the business. But when the two of them paired for this series, they found a collaborator who accentuated the strengths each of them had completely.
What we ended up with was one of the best complete stories in comics, telling a story that’s pigeonholed as horror but is really about family, and how to learn from the mistakes of the past. It’s heart wrenching, funny, shocking, beautiful and one of the most emotionally true comics I’ve ever read, and it ensures that no matter what, I’ll buy anything these two creators do together, no matter what.
5. Chew
Why It Made the List: Here’s a fun fact about “Chew”: it as a book launched just about a month after Multiversity, and it was one of the first books we championed from day one. In fact, the only reason I picked the book five years ago was because Matt stressed that I needed to pick it up, and his review completely sold me on it. I couldn’t be happier that I did, as five years later, this book is still going strong 41 issues (and some one-shots) in. John Layman and Rob Guillory combine to make one of the most simpatico teams in comics, both accentuating each others skills to make a better whole.
Continued belowThis book is one of the most completely unique, absorbing comics around, and it’s funny and has moments that emotionally resonate deeply. While its high concept is what hooks a lot of people, for me, it’s all about the depth each and every aspect of this world is given by Layman and Guillory. I can safely say that you couldn’t find another comic like “Chew” if you tried, or another story in any medium really. It is a complete original, and something that is so “comics” that it makes me love the medium even more. Heady praise, but well deserved for the both of them.
Brian’s Picks
1. Jonathan Hickman’s “Fantastic Four”/”FF” Run
Why It Made the List: Of all of the comics I’ve ever read, there have only been a handful that I have thought “this will be a story people will still be talking about when my daughter is my age.” This is one of them.
Jonathan Hickman’s Richards family saga blends the science acumen of Reed, the heart of Ben, the fearlessness of Johnny, and the family focus of Sue. When put all together, the book rolls on in such a way that seems like it is the only possible course that the series could take.
But more than the man cast, Hickman’s run did something very special: it made the kids important. Not just Val and Franklin, but the kids of the Marvel Universe. The extended family of the Fantastic Four became more than a just an occasional plot point; they became the most interesting and emotional point of light in the Marvel sky.
2. “B.P.R.D.”
Why It Made the List: It is very, very rare that a series, under the direction of a small group of creators, can get better over the course of 100+ issues, but that is exactly what happened with “B.P.R.D.” The series has lost and gained cast members, and over the course of the 10 or so years of its existence, it has gained the greatest artistic bullpen in all of comics: Crook, Harren, Campbell, Snejbjerg, Stewart. But the last five years have been the best the series has ever seen. The loss of Guy Davis was supposed to cripple the series and, no offense to Davis, it did just the opposite; it invigorated it.
Everything about the book has gotten better, gone deeper since Davis left. A series always built on spectacular art went through the roof, and the writing responded in turn. I suspect this will be near the top of my list of the best comics of the last ten years in 2019.
3. James Robinson and Nicola Scott’s “Earth 2”
Why It Made the List: James Robinson and Nicola Scott were put together by DC to create an alternate world, full of characters from the past, that could tell stories relatively free from continuity and collateral damage. The world they created somehow felt more rich, vibrant, and textured than 50 or so other books being published at the same time. Its cast was full of diversity, intrigue, humor, and familiarity, but felt fresh and new. It was the book that DC expected every New 52 title to be, but very few succeeded. Only 17 issues in, Robinson and DC parted ways, and the book changed into something else. But for those 17 issues, Robinson and Scott crafted a world that felt familiar and unique – it was something that felt too good to be true. And it was.
4. “The Manhattan Projects”
Why It Made the List: I’ve written more words about “The Manhattan Projects” than anything else in my nearly 3 years on the site, and I can’t entirely tell you why. Sure, I love history, and the lives of “great” men have always intrigued me. And as much as I enjoy the writing of Jonathan Hickman, it is the art of Nick Pitarra (and, a few times a year, Ryan Browne) that sets the book apart. The insane ideas of Hickman, filtered through the stunning detail, artistic bravely, and fucked up sense of humor of Pitarra, mix together to form the most consistently hilarious comic on the shelves.
Continued below
5. “Wonder Woman”
Why It Made the List: A book entirely disconnected from the shared universe it was created as a part of would normally not be praised for its exclusivity of purpose. But when that purpose is what Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang and Tony Akins have brought to “Wonder Woman,” you can forgive the lack of playing well with others. The book, which blends Greek mythology, Kirby’s big ideas, a strong main character, and some fantastic artwork, has been the most consistent DC book of the past 5 years.
