Comics Syllabus 025 – Best of 2017 with Matt Lune

Multiversity’s Matt Lune joins Paul to talk about their year-end lists of favorite ongoing comics, original graphic novels, writers, artists, cover artists, and publishers… as well as the prospect of making and discussing these lists themselves!

Welcome to the Comics Syllabus podcast, where we read widely and we dig deep. Your host Paul, a literacy researcher and English teacher, introduces curious readers to a range of current and classic comics, and then engages in closer discussion and analysis of particular comics works.

Or download the podcast episode here.

First, in the introduction, ( 0:00 ) an apology that the promised discussion of Catalyst Prime titles will be postponed until next week because… well… this episode was already too long and Paul got plenty busy during the US holiday! But NEXT WEEK: Catalyst Prime, the Valiant universe, superhero universes, DCEU and MCU, and diversity!

Then, at ( 4:00 ), Multiversity’s Matt Lune comes to talk to Paul about their favorites for 2017. Matt’s work at Multiversity can be found at http://www.multiversitycomics.com/author/mlune/ and he’s on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MattLune , and you can find him one Super Comic Battle Wars podcast ( http://www.multiversitycomics.com/tag/super-comic-battle-wars/ ) and the That’s the Issue podcast ( http://awesomesourcecomics.com/category/thats-the-issue/ ). Matt mentions his recent “Don’t Miss This” column about “Doom Patrol,” which is at  http://www.multiversitycomics.com/news-columns/dont-miss-this-doom-patrol/

And here are our lists!

Matt’s Best Ongoing Comics (Not necessarily in this order):
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (Marvel)
Paper Girls (Image)
Detective Comics (DC)
Babyteeth (Black Mask)
Black Hammer (Dark Horse)
Extremity (Image)
Redlands (Image)
Rock Candy Mountain (Image)
Doom Patrol (DC/Young Animal)
Scales and Scoundrels (Image)

Paul’s Best Original Graphic Novels of 2017:
5- Spinning (First Second) by Tillie Walden
4- Boundless (Drawn and Quarterly) by Jillian Tamaki
3- Eartha (Fantagraphics) by Cathy Malkasian
2- My Favorite Thing is Monsters (Fantagraphics) by Emil Ferris
1- The Best We Could Do (Abrams) by Thi Bui

Honorable Mentions: Lighter than My Shadow (Lion Forge) by Katie Green; Savage Town (Image) by Declan Shalvey; House of Women (Fantagraphics) by Sophie Goldstein; Tenements, Towers & Trash ( Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers) by Julia Wertz; Stone Heart (First Second) by Faith Erin Hicks, Newsprints (Graphix) by Ru Xu, Roughneck, Mighty Jack and the Goblin King (First Second) by Ben Hatke

Matt’s Best Writers
10- James Tynion IV
9- Daniel Warren Johnson
8- Emil Ferris
7- Declan Shalvey
6- Kelly Thompson
5- Kyle Starks
4- Jeff Lemire
3- Jordie Bellaire
2- Tom King
1- Donny Cates

Paul’s Best Cover Artists
3- Becky Cloonan
2- Nick Derington
1- John Paul Leon

Matt’s Best Artists
10- Daniel Warren Johnson
9- Dustin Weaver
8- Lee Weeks
7- James Stokoe
6- Dan Mora
5- Alyson Sampson
4- Erica Henderson
3- Emil Ferris
2- Mitch Gerads
1- Geoff Shaw

Paul’s Best Publishers
5- Image
4- Dark Horse
3- IDW/Top Shelf
2- Fantagraphics
1- DC Comics

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Thanks for listening!