October has gone, and November has come. Our melted Reese’s Cups and BoJack Horseman masks have been replaced with turkey and a season of holidays where you’re obligated to talk to your parents.
On the movie front, we got EVERYTHING from DC and Marvel who announced so many movies for the next six years that there’s a 20% chance I’ll be in one of them. Also, a Gambit movie is happening with Channing Tatum. No we don’t want to talk about it.
Over on the small screen, October saw the debuts of Gotham and Constantine and the return of Arrow, all of which we really dig. We also saw the return of Agents of SHIELD which was besmirched when someone leaked a certain trailer you might have seen a dozen times.
New York Comic-Con happened and with it a bunch of new announcements. Marvel revealed its plans for a new Secret Wars which has lead to a series of teasers I’m not even going to bother linking. You’ve seen them and they’re going to continue into this month. The new “Wonder Woman ’77” series is bound to excite some fans and the announcement of a new “Spider-Gwen” series reminded me how lucky we all are that I wasnt writing September’s Month in Comcics. Would have been 4000 words about Spider-Gwen and nothing else. We also had a hilarious party that you should have come to. We missed you. Honestly.
And with all that, let’s dive into what was October 2014.
Best Issue: “The Wicked + The Divine” #5
I may be biased since I write the Wicked Intervention annotations, but holy shit did you guys read “The Wicked + The Divine” #5? With one issue, Team Phonogram was able to take everything about their already wildly successful comic and piledrive it onto its head. I compared it to “Journey Into Mystery” #645 in terms of the great Kieron Gillen tragedies and art from McKelvie and Wilson that is just straight up transcendental. I was trying to come up with another issue forever but nothing made me talk quite like WicDiv #5. Meylikhov immediately e-mailed me the day it came out so we could talk about it. He only wants to talk to me when I did something wrong or I need to explain a meme. That’s how straight up good “The Wicked + The Divine” #5 was. There were plenty of great issues this month, but nothing made quite the impression as WicDiv did.
Best Writer: Jonathan Hickman
In terms of people who are just straight up dominating comics, Hickman is one of the premiere overlords. While Image comics like “East of West” and “Manhattan Projects” have proven to be consistent outlets for Hickman’s brand of mayhem, he’s slowly gained control of Marvel by launching the most ambitious “Avengers” story, possibly ever. ‘Time Runs Out’ has taken all the explosives Hickman has been planting in his dual Avengers titles and detonates them to give us developing events like fascist Avengers, Amadeus Cho: Agent of the Illuminati, and a new Secret Wars. It may have taken a while to get there, and we still have plenty to explore with the rest of ‘Time Runs Out’ and ‘Secret Wars’, Hickman seems hellbent on conquering not just Marvel, but comics in general. God help us all if he gets his hands on a “Spectre” series at DC.
Best Artist(s): Karl Keschel and Romain Gaschet
Uh, did you guys even see “Gotham Academy” #1? DC has a “soft reboot” this month in a few titles but nothing did better to tell me, with no doubt, this was a new DC than the artwork on “Gotham Academy”. I didn’t feel like I was reading a comic, I thought I was looking at the concept art for a Disney movie. A really great Disney movie about high schoolers in Gotham City. “Gotham Academy” isn’t just a fun comic, it’s the biggest example of how superhero comics don’t have to stick to one house style. Because when they deviate, they can create some truly breathtaking stories.
That said, if Jim Lee wants to do an arc of “Gotham Academy” where everyone’s school uniforms get piping and high-collars, I would buy that too. Just stick some New 52 “Stormwatch” designs on everyone, who cares.
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Best Cover: “Batgirl” #35
The cover that launched a thousand cosplays.
“Batgirl” #35’s cover is iconic in all the ways that The New 52 has failed to be. It perfectly encapsulates the theme of the comic while providing an instantly recognizable looks. I can definitely see this getting “homaged” by other creators as time goes on. When one things “Burnside Batgirl”, they’re going to think of this image. What do you think of the New 52 “Justice League” or the Marvel Now “Uncanny Avengers”? The covers for those flagship series aren’t so easily memorable but this?
I hope we remember this cover for a long time. Even if we reach a point in society when selfies are obsolete (we won’t), the Burnside Batgirl cover will stand strong.
Best Farewell: “Wonder Woman #35
And if we’re welcoming in the new DC titles, we have to say goodbye to the old guard. The New 52 “Wonder Woman” has been a revelation for all parties involved from Wonder Woman and DC’s new pantheon of Greek Gods to Azzarello and Cliff Chiang, among many others, who have been putting in career-defining work with this series. As “Wonder Woman” leaves the epic saga she endured for over three years to interact more with the New 52, probably, we’d like to say a sad goodbye and a sincere thank you. Can’t wait for “Wonder Woman ’77”.
Best Time Gerard Way Did A Spider-Man/Evangelion Crossover With Spider-Ham:
I can’t believe any of this happened. I’m almost mad about it. If you told the middle school version of me this comic would be released in my lifetime, I would have stabbed you. I would have straight up murdered you. But here we are, Gerard Way wrote Spider-Ham and we’re all unstabbed, as far as I can tell.
