It’s been a number of years since I’ve put together a list of my favorite comics of the year, something I used to do on a regular basis back in the Blog@ or Robot 6 days. Not from a lack of desire, but I spend a lot of time agonizing over my choices and, especially, the write-ups for each of my selections.
So this year I thought, “Screw it; just list your top 10 and be done with it.” So, here are my 10 — no, wait; I narrowed it down to 11, not 10 — 11 favorite comics, as well as five graphic novel favorites. I did not read as many graphic novels this year as I typically would for various reasons, but these are five I really liked.
So without further ado, here they are, in no particular order …
Absolute Wonder Woman
by Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Jordie Bellaire and Becca Carey. Published by DC Comics. While I enjoyed all of the Absolute line this year, this one slightly nudges out Absolute Superman as my favorite of the three we’ve seen so far.
Ultimate Spider-Man
by Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, Matthew Wilson and Cory Petit. Published by Marvel. I quite like The Ultimates, too, but this one has had more time to bake, and an adult, married Spider-Man is exactly what I needed in my life this year.
The Moon is Following Us
by Daniel Warren Johnson, Riley Rossmo and Mike Spicer. Published by Image Comics.
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees
Written and drawn by Patrick Horvath, with lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Published by IDW. This one started in 2023 and had several awards nominations last year, all well-deserved.
The Power Fantasy
by Kieron Gillen, Caspar Wijngaard and Clayton Cowles. Published by Image Comics. This one takes a big swing and, I think, hits it out of the park with its first few issues. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.
Dawn Runner
by Ram V, Evan Cagle, Dave Stewart and Aditya Bidikar. Published by Dark Horse Comics.
Spectregraph
by James Tynion IV, Christian Ward and Aditya Bidikar. Published by DSTLRY, who have released a lot of great books, but from the ones I read in 2024, this one has been my favorite.
Here Be Monsters
by Bowen McCurdy. Released as a part of this year’s Shortbox Comics Fair. It’s coming to print via crowdfunding this year.
Space Ghost
By David Pepose and Jonathan Lau. Published by Dynamite. I think Dynamite has done a great job of pairing interesting creators with the licensed properties they’ve picked up from Warner Bros., but of those titles, this one has resonated the most with me.
Heart Acres
by Paul Tobin, Colleen Coover and EA Dench. Published on Webtoon. And boy do I hope we get a print collection at some point.
Doom
by Jonathan Hickman, Sanford Greene and Rachelle Rosenberg, published by Marvel. Another Hickman title, but while most of his work tends to be very writer-driven, this one feels way more artist-driven.
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Mary Tyler Moorhawk
By Dave Baker. Published by Top Shelf.
Houses of the Unholy
By Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. Published by Image Comics.
Self-Esteem and the End of the World
By Luke Healy, Published by Drawn and Quarterly.
Tokyo These Days
By Taiyo Matsumoto. Published by Viz. I don’t read a lot of manga, certainly not enough to make a separate list, so I’m including this with the graphic novels. All three volumes of this that Viz has released are excellent.
GLEEM
by Freddy Carrasco. Published by Drawn & Quarterly.