Top 2018 Comics

2018 was a good time for comics. Here are third lists of comics. The first are series or one-offs trades or full-books that I came across for the first time. The second are new series that I think are only available as floppies. The third are series that I’ve been reading for years and are still good. Items are in no particular order.

Books/Trades

My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris

1. • This was an astonishing piece of work. At its heart, it’s about a girl in Uptown, Chicago trying to find her place in a world. She finds solace in monsters, seeing herself as one. The delicate cross-hatched drawings, the many allusions to the old school horror movies, and its grounding in Chicago really make this an excellent work.

The Flintstones, 1 and 2 by Mark Russell and Steven Pugh

1. • Yep, I’m just as surprised as you are. But the series had been recommended to me and it was awesome. The Flintstones reboot is an amazing critique of militaristic/hyper capitalists systems. Yeah, go and read it.

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

1. • This comic brought tears to my eyes. It’s about the friendship of a dressmaker and a prince; she makes him dresses so he can go out and be very fashionable Lady Crystallia. However, the Prince know his family will disapprove strongly so it must remain a secret, even though it means the dressmaker’s career.

Eleanor and the Egret by writer, John Laymant; artist, Sam Kieth; and colorist, Rhonda Pattison

1. • A one-off comic that includes art thievery, magical birds, and a discussion about artistic process.

Space Dumplings by Craig Thompson

1. • I love Craig Thompson. Blankets is still one of my all-time favorite comics. This is about a girl in space who has to find her missing father. She teams up with a band of misfits and they navigate space. Charming and sweet.

Godshaper by writer, Simon Spurrier; artists, Vinz el Tabanas, Jonas Goonface

1. • Imagine a world where everyone has their own personal God. Except Godshapers who lack their own gods but can shape other people’s. Considered social pariahs, they wander the world trying to survive.

Crawl Space by Jesse Jacobs

1. • This is one of the prettiest comicbooks. It’s about kids who find a magical world in their basement. THey go from their black and white world into a world of explosive color.

Here by Richard McGuire

1. • This entire book takes place in a single room over time. IT goes back and forth from pre-history to the far future. You see the lives of the people who live in the house. It’s a beautiful meditative book.

The Encyclopedia of Early Earth/The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg

1. • Goodness, these two books by Greenberg are amazing. Each book is a series of tales, new versions of Bible and Origin stories. They are tender and heartbreaking with amazing images as well.

Sabrina by Nick Drnaso

1. • This comic is making waves; it was the first graphic novel ever to be nominated for a Man Booker. When Sabrina goes missing, her boyfriend and sister try to make sense of it all. Her boyfriend Teddy ends up spending time with his friend, an airman in the US Air Force who he himself finds himself drawn into the mystery and heartbreak. When news of her fate is revealed, they are thrown into the world of conspiracies and fake news. A real effective commentary of our time.

Beasts of Burden by writer Evan Dorkin; artist Jill Thompson

1. • A series of interconnected stories of local dogs solving supernatural problems and threats. It can get gory; dogs do die in this comic so be forewarned.

The Floppies

The Wrong Earth by writer Tom Peyer; artist, Jamal Igle; Inker, Juan Castro; Colorist Andy Troy

• This new series (still in floppies) is best described as being composed of two worlds: Adam West’s Batman and Christopher Nolan’s Batman. What happens if they switch worlds? Endlessly entertaining.

ExoSisters by writer Ian Boothby;  artist Gisèle Lagacé

• What do you do if your fiance is dragged to the devil? Hire the identical twin ExoSisters to get him back! However, there’s more to this odd duo than meets the eye.

Blackbird by writer Sam Humphries; artist by Jen Bartel

• Nina Rodriguez knows there is more to the world than she sees. She had a moment as a child that she can’t shake and she reads message boards about cabals in LA. However, this feeling has messed her up and she’s trying to regain her life, living with her sister. Until everything goes south when her sister is kidnapped by a giant magical beast…

Nancy Drew by writer Kelly Thompson; artist Jenn St-Onge

• Nostalgia is big bucks these days. And I am totally down with it. The Nancy Drew reboot, both as her own series and one with the Hardy Boys, is good fun seeing her adapt in this modern world.  

And because I have to acknowledge the great work of the past year in series that I adore, here are seven series that you should check out. I won’t summarize them because I’ve talked a lot about them in the past but yeah, these were awesome.

1. Squirrel Girl
2. Saga
3. The Wicked and the Divine
4. Harrow County
5. Phoebe and her Unicorn
6. I hate Fairyland
7. Monstress