What a year. 202 was a hard year for everyone, but it was particularly difficult for the comics industry. In early March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Diamond Distributors decided to shut down their services, causing a 6-month+ delay in regular comics from all publishers. This delay led to lost jobs, incomplete series', and destroyed futures, to be frank, for what was ultimately a pointless shutdown.
In any case, creators of 2020 were still able to pull some things off, and put out truly amazing works of art and writing in the year. I've picked out my favorite parts of the whole genre, from writers to artists to series' and everything in between. Without further ado, click the links below to jump to a specific section, or Continue Reading to read it all! Reliable Writers Variant Artists Interiors Artists Personal Radar Breakouts Double-Time: Writing AND Drawing Needs Mentioning Best Comic Series' of 2020
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Update #1: Issue-by-issue summaries have entries through Mister Miracle (v.1) #15! Continue Reading! Contrary to how it may look, Barda was actually the first character I did when I started these read lists, alongside Angela (Image/Marvel). Why aren't those the first two uploaded? I started those lists (gasp) handwritten. When I started the other lists, I had already started using an online, multi-device note-taking app, so the notebook was forgotten. Now that I'm uploading the rest of my lists, it's time to back and update Barda's. This is the best list I could come up with without having already read every issue. Oddly, there aren't many resources at all for other Barda reading lists, and the ones that do exist are missing pieces, haven't been updated, or focus on a Barda from a different Earth. In making this list, I've combined a few partial lists, filled in some spaces I knew were missing, and guessed for only a handful of likely no-longer-canon appearances. I'll get around to typing up my previously written notes soon, I hope, but the reading list itself is complete! Continue Reading to follow Big Barda's history, and always remember Barda Is!
Angela is one of my favorite 90's heroines, and she's got a hell of a history to go with it.
Created by Neil Gaiman at Image comics in 1993, Angela's first role was as anti-hero in Todd McFarlane's creator owned comic, Spawn. She started as a bit of an antagonist for the hellspawn character, but returned in a series by Gaiman and Greg Capullo that made the two opposite characters find a unique kind of friendship. Unfortunately, after only a few years with Image, McFarlane killed off Angela during Spawn #100. To make the offense even more awful, he chose the most basic, tragic, and terrible of deaths: she was stabbed through the chest in front of her friend Al Simmons, continuing a tragic tradition of female deaths put in place solely for the betterment of a male counterpart. Avoiding starting an essay on what a disgusting and disrespectful trend of men writing women which that is, she was rescued in the mid 2000's by her creator, Gaiman, when he took McFarlane to court over Angela's ownership. The case remains a landmark trial in the world of copyrights, character creation, and comics, to this day. What did Gaiman do with her, once he had her back? Neil sold her to Marvel promptly, a decision many see as negative, but from my perspective, Marvel has put in dozens of times more effort to her character arc than anyone at Image ever did, aside from Gaiman. She's been with Marvel about seven years, and has had a number of solo series' and team books, already. While she hasn't been in anything since the cancellation of Strikeforce, I constantly see room for more Angela at Marvel, and hope to see her added to the MCU, soon, as well (see: Vote Loki and the Loki Disney+ series)! Without further ado, Continue Reading for Angela's appearances at Image, Marvel, or both! Summaries and commentary coming soon! SILK Cindy Moon Reading List!12/28/2020 Cindy Moon was one of the best things to come out of the Marvel event, Original Sin. The series went over ANOTHER person bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker--a (then) young Korean-American girl named Cindy. Due to events of the Spider-Verse series, she spent the decade or so since then in an underground bunker, by herself. No family, no friends, no outside contact. Original Sin lifted the secret of Cindy's existence, leading Spider-Man to find his female counterpart! Since then, Silk has been received by fans with open arms. She quickly became a favorite of all ages, repersenting Asian-American women in the Spider-Verse. Two back-to-back solo series' are down the hatch, and a third is starting in March, 2021! With under 100 appearances under her belt, Silk is a hero you can easily read up on before her new series premier. Continue Reading to learn all about Cindy Moon's Silk! The list is complete, but issue summaries and commentary are on the way! Monica Rambeau Reading Order12/28/2020 Monica Rambeau is the first woman to hold the title Captain Marvel, the first female Black superhero at Marvel, and is soon to be coming to the MCU! Her character has had highs and lows in the past 40 years, waxing and waning in popularity and usage. Finally, it seems her time to shine has officially come! Monica has been through a few titles since her origin, but since her appearances are far less widespread than Carol Danvers, I don't think it's necessary to split her titles up into sections, just yet. The list of her appearances is complete, but I have yet to start her issue-by-issue summaries! I'll post updates here as soon as they're ready! Continue Reading to dive into the reading order of one of Marvel's least-known legends! Carol Danvers ULTIMATE Reading Order12/28/2020
The life and times of Carol Danvers are a complicated beast to manage. Her character has been through so many eras, so many hero names, so many teams, that studying each different era of her is necessary to capture a full picture of who she is, as a character, in totality.
I've broken her history down into the following chunks:
Click those links for whichever era you're searching for, or Continue Reading to go star-to-finish!
Woohoo, more read lists! Patsy is a fun one, and a rare one. She made her first appearance in comics in 1944, where she premiered as a teenage girl in some of their romance comics, of the time. She starred in comics full of women competing with each other, degrading one another out of jealousy, and aiming to make their entire existence about the man they're dating. After a while, her romance comics began to fade, and Marvel found a way to bring her into their main universe. She was still just Patsy, for a time, until chance encounters with other superheroes of the era gave her an opportunity to tag along on their adventures, then be a part of the heroes, themselves. On a trip through the Brand building, her opportunity grows, and she becomes Hellcat. Patsy's history is easy to get a grip on who she is. From her eras pre-hero, to the old-school teams she joined, to her marriage, her death and rebirth, her first solo series' and team-ups with her BFFs, there are so many places to touch on in her history. As I've been doing it, the summaries and commentary on this read list might be a bit spotty, filling in a little of each era as I go. If there's anything specific you'd like me to summarize for you which I haven't touched on yet, let me know! Modern Hellcat is pretty different from the character we've seen grow and change over the years, but her most recent appearances in Iron Man by Christopher Cantwell make me hopeful for more proper Hellcat in the future. Continue Reading for the complete history of Patsy Walker: HELLCAT! Click Here to be taken to the start of the latest update! (link active after updates)
I'm back! Another week, another pull list. I know I've been missing a few, and haven't been doing as many reviews lately, but I have some vacation time coming up, and am hoping to get a lot of writing done, then. I've split the week's comic news into four sections, which you can view as follows:
Sections: (click to jump to any of four links below) Disney Investor Day News! LucasFilm, Disney, Pixar, and Marvel! Spotlights on Representation--this week on Afro-Latinx, non-binary writer Vita Ayala, then writer/colorist Jordie Bellaire, and finally the amazing career of cover artist, Jenny Frison. Marvel and DC Event Updates--Dark Nights: Death Metal, briefly the other one, and into Future State; King in Black at Marvel. This Week's Pull List: Black Cat, Stillwater, WOFTWTD, Death Metal, Decorum, Deadpool, V/RS, New Mutants, X-Force, Fantastic Four, Catwoman. Or, Continue Reading to see it all! You can always hit the links to skip about, after.
I've had my eye on Spy Island for over half a year, now, but it was only a few weeks ago that I realized who the creative team is. Chelsea Caine, Elise McCall, and Lia Miternique are the creators of 2018's Man Eaters series from Image comics. Man Eaters is unlike anything else across the industry, tying multiple media types into the art, and using ludicrous examples to explain relevant, real-world points. Female forward, female driven, and female positive, the team behind Man Eaters gave us a story that was fun, creative, and poignant. In finding out they are the same team behind Spy Island, my resolve to follow the series only grew.
While I don't think the level of social commentary will be quite as pointed as Man Eaters' was, Spy Island is bound to be a fantastically enjoyable adventure. With the tagline labeling it "A Bermuda Triangle Mystery," Spy Island is perfect for anyone who's a fan of witty murder mysterious, spy movies, or just generally has a sense of humor. I can't oversell this one, Continue Reading to find out more, as it happens! Spoiler Alert! Ok, bear with me here. Bat/Cat has been a long time coming, and writer Tom King has had a long time to build us up to this story. In my mind, Batman/Catwoman's twelve issues presumably wraps up King's Batman plan: In Batman's 85 issues, we saw Bruce and Selina come to the conclusion that a wedding wasn't going to make them any more in love, and they don't need any justification to stay together. In Batman Annual #2, we see Bruce and Selina's first and last kisses, villain and vigilante to loving woman on her life partner's deathbed. In Detective Comics #1027, King and Simonson made a story explaining Wayne's succumbing to cancer, thanks to an old encounter with radioactive villain Doctor Phosphorus. And now, in Batman/Catwoman, we'll see Mask of the Phantasm connected to the main DCU comics for the first time, including the Phantasm herself, Andrea Beaumont. We'll also the Bat/Cat love affair across three time periods, but more about that later! Continue Reading to get my breakdown on Batman/Catwoman #1, and the events that got us here!
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