October was a hell of a month for comics. Honestly, it was one of the best in recent memory, as there were some huge releases that lived up to the hype, there were some surprising wins, and there were very few actually bad books. Given some of the other recent output, this surprised me greatly.
There’s also a lot of promise, as a lot of the best books are fresh releases, books that are great now but could develop into even more. October was a month of excitement and promise for the world of comics, but what were the best books?
Find out after the jump.
Best Book of the Month: Parker: The Outfit
So this is sort of cheating because, as Brandon pointed out, this is an graphic novel, not a floppy. But who cares? It’s a comic that came out in the month of October and it was better than everything else…so you know, deal with it.
If you aren’t reading Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series, an adaptation of Richard Stark’s (or Donald Westlake’s if you’d prefer) series of crime novels, you’re missing out on some of the best comic booking in the industry period. I mean, who doesn’t love Cooke? His work on such comics as DC: The New Frontier and The Spirit have earned him universal praise, and these adaptations are perhaps his finest work yet. Plus, Parker is maybe the single most badass protagonist ever, with his control of every given situation being complete and every scene being one only he sees the angles on.
In a month filled with great books, Darwyn Cooke’s The Outfit was the best.
Runner Up: Scalped, Strange Tales 2, Kick-Ass 2, Superior
Worst Book of the Month: Secret Warriors
I was going to write what I thought again about Secret Warriors, but I decided that would just be mean spirited. Instead, I’ll simply link you to Matt and I’s Battle Review, in which I brutalize this book fairly intensely.
Runner up: Teen Titans
Best Scene of the Month: Magneto Finds His Role as Galactus’ Apprentice (Strange Tales 2 #1)
Sure, a lot of scenes out there are more emotionally resonant than this one. There are plenty that have more meaning. There are more that are simply far more powerful. But there are exactly zero that are more awesome. When Nicholas Gurewitch designed the first page of his story in Strange Tales 2 #1, the thought of Magneto and Galactus teaming up was a scary thought for the Marvel Universe. Then, with that foreboding in your mind, you turn the page and see that Galactus utilized Magneto’s magnetism powers to hold up papers on his HUGE refrigerator, your mind was pretty much blown with awesomeness. A+ work from Gurewitch.
Also, a question…what exactly would Galactus have in his fridge? Planets?
Runner up: Kraven Has a Magical Evening (Strange Tales 2 #1), Wolverine Reveals His Pain (Strange Tales 2 #1), Dash and Carol finally talk (Scalped #42), every scene in Parker: The Outfit
Best Writer of the Month: Mark Millar (Kick-Ass 2, Superior)
Don’t worry, I’m as surprised as you are. Mark Millar has earned a lot of reverse props from people high and low in the industry, and some of them are deserved. His Fantastic Four run was not so great. Nemesis has been a bomb in a lot of people’s minds (not mine – I like it). It’s been a bit sketch for Millarworld, but with the return of Kick-Ass and the launch of Superior, he’s back on track as the massively entertaining and incredibly inventive creator we all came to love. It was a big month for Millar, and I can’t wait to see more from all of his books.
Continued belowRunner up: Jason Aaron (Scalped, Wolverine), Darwyn Cooke (Parker: The Outfit)
Best Artist of the Month: Leinil Yu (Superior)
Just like Mark Millar took the writing prize for the month, his superior counterpart Leinil Yu is the grand champion for the realm of artists. Yu has long been an artist I’ve admired, and with Superior I honestly believe he put together some career defining work. In his hands, everything in this story was given extra weight that pulled the story together. Even moments that seemed more outlandish than the rest (when the Space Monkey confronted our protagonist) soared thanks to his art, as he combined his standard dynamic, kinetic linework with really thoughtful scene design and paneling.
It was remarkably gorgeous work, and you can tell I think highly of it given the fact he outpaced Darwyn Cooke for the award.
Runner up: Jill Thompson (Hellboy/Beasts of Burden), Darwyn Cooke (Parker: The Outfit), R.M. Guera (Scalped)
Most Overlooked Book of the Month: Taskmaster #2
Fred Van Lente and Jefte Palo have turned Taskmaster from a C-List character to a ridiculously entertaining one that I want to be in an ongoing right now with the exact same creative team. Yet the book doesn’t sell that much, which I think is a shame – it’s a remarkably entertaining book that deserves a lot more love. Multiversity readers, get all up in that and start picking up Taskmaster or the Don of the Dead will come and get ju.
Best New Book of the Month: Uncanny X-Force
I know this seems kind of backward given that Superior made my runners up list for Best Book of the Month and Uncanny X-Force was nowhere to be found, but there is logic here I swear. It made my list instead of Superior because Superior…to my knowledge…is a mini-series. Uncanny being an amazing new ongoing series from Rick Remender and Jerome Opena that already ranks up there with X-Factor as the best of the X-Books…well, this seems like the perfect candidate to win this category.
Runner up: Superior
