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Lots of great comic books and manga titles were released this year.  It’s hard to narrow it down to just a few titles.  Somehow the crafty critics were able to name their top ten comic and manga titles of 2008.  What were yours?

David Jones

Best of 2008

AQUA LEUNG by Mark Andrew Smith and Paul Maybury

In my review of this back in April, I said: Big, sprawling, ambitious epic adventure, loose and cartoonish and full of energy, and is obviously the work of two creators who are totally committed to bringing it to life. Yeah. Well, unfortunately the two creators couldn’t play well together and therefore this will be, for the time being, a one-shot…what a pity.

B.P.R.D.: 1946 by Mike Mignola, Josh Dysart, and Paul Azaceta.

I knew about Azaceta from a Boom! series that I liked, Talent. I wasn’t too familiar with Dysart’s previous work. Together, working from a Mignola plot, they melded perfectly to bring us this adventure of Hellboy’s mentor Professor Bruttenholm in the early days of the Bureau, post WWII, as he and his Russian counterparts (led by a demon in the form of a young ringlet-haired girl- it works better than you’d think) investigate a Nazi project codenamed Vampir Stürm…the nature of which you can probably guess. Azaceta shines on art, equally outstanding when creating mood as well as depicting balls-out action, and Dysart’s matter-of-fact dialogue is perfect. Surely one of the best Hellboy spinoffs ever.

COURTNEY CRUMRIN AND THE PRINCE OF NOWHERE by Ted Naifeh

For all you kiddies out there who dote on Twilight and its ilk, not to mention the would-be auteurs who seek to profit by the peddling of same, you should pay attention- Naifeh is putting on a clinic, showing how to transcend genre cliches and craft a believable and dramatically valid tale from vampire-story tropes.

CRIMINAL 2 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Don’t know what else I can say about this that hasn’t been said a thousand times by pretty much everyone, myself included; outstanding writing, excellent art. In particular, for me it’s always a pleasure to look at Phillips’ unflashy but always satisfying work. I’m not always the biggest noir fan, in both film and prose, but I enjoy this, so I suppose that’s saying something.

FREDDIE AND ME by Mike Dawson

Winning reminisce by Dawson, who combines his life story with his love for music, especially the rock band Queen. Review here.

HELLBOY: THE CROOKED MAN by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben

Several fine writers have taken a crack at Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. with varying results; most of them have done a good job either on their own or working from Mignola script ideas. But no one writes the big red guy like his creator, and this ranks up there with any of the best Hellboy stories from years past. Set in the 1950’s Appalachians in Virginia, and drawing from the same backwoods supernatural legends vein that Manly Wade Wellman tapped for his Silver John/John the Balladeer stories, and distinguished by the unusual and (as it turns out) wise decision to have the title character take a back seat to the colorful cast and be a passive observer rather than an active participant, although he does get to do the requisite monster-fighting and a great scene at the end. By and large, it was a good year for Hellboy and its spinoffs, although In the Chapel of Moloch was dissapointing.

LOVE & ROCKETS: NEW STORIES by Los Bros. Hernandez

Let’s face it; pretty much anything the talented Bros. release in any given year is going to merit consideration on any year-end best-of list, because they’re just that good. This was the only issue that was released this past year in its new, bigger format, and it was worth the expense. Best of the book for me was Jaime’s epic Penny Century superhero adventure; I also got a kick out of Gilbert’s Mitchell and Petrillo adventure fantasy.

NOCTURNALS: CARNIVAL OF BEASTS by Dan Brereton

It’s been way too long since Brereton revisited arguably his most famous creations, so this would have been welcome in any respect…but by jumping right in and resuming old plot threads with a harder edge, this turned out to be something special. And of course, Dan’s painted art was excellent as always. Hopefully, the wait for the next chapter won’t be as long as it was for this one.

OMEGA THE UNKNOWN by Jonathan Lethem and Faryl Dalrymple

Easily one of the most atypical comics (both content and style-wise) Marvel has ever published, each issue of this revamp of the short-lived Steve Gerber/Mary Skrenes/Jim Mooney 1970’s series was a veritable smorgasbord of food for thought. Gerber himself wasn’t too happy about it, but I have to believe if he’d lived to read it, he would have acknowledged its quality, even if he wouldn’t have taken it in this direction.

SCALPED by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guera and Davide Furno

Grim, down-to-earth dramatics involving Native Americans on a South Dakotan reservation. Unremittingly bleak, but it never rings false, and is Deadwood-like in its scope and ambition. Has been criticized for not ever showing its subjects in a more positive light, and that is a valid criticism, but it’s no less compelling for this.

5 WORST:

ABE SAPIEN: THE DROWNING (Dark Horse)

Combine grubby, murky art and drab coloring with a rambling, often incoherent storyline and you get a miniseries that was absolutely stunning in its tediousness. I love Hellboy and its spinoffs, and like Abe a lot, but he deserves a better solo showcase than this.

BATMAN: CACOPHONY #1 (DC)

As a comics writer, Kevin Smith seems stuck in the mindset which gave us the animal antics of Clerks II, and the artist got his gig through connections. Here’s some onomatopoeia: GAG.

IMMORTAL IRON FIST: ORSON RANDALL and the DEATH QUEEN OF CALIFORNIA (Marvel)

Tentative, forgettable script and soulless, bland art combine to make this profit taking throwaway exercise in nostalgia something for IIF completists only.

WATER BABY (DC/Minx)

In which we’re expected to relate to a obnoxious, smelly, booger-eating young lady who had the misfortune to lose half a leg due to shark bite, although you’d never know it bothered her a bit by the way she conducts herself after the fact, unless you could the wanna be Dali-esque surreal nightmares she has. About 1/4 way in, it becomes a buddy/road-flick type exercise which gives us very little in the way of actual events, and simply expires, as if writer/artist Ross Campbell ran out of paper. If this is what DC thought teenage girls wanted to read, it’s just as well the Minx line went bust.

THE X-FILES #1 (DC/Wildstorm)

One of a seemingly endless series of lackluster adaptations of TV and film properties that DC/Wildstorm is foisting upon us in hopes of repeating the success of Dark Horse’s Buffy comics. This one in particular seems intended to tie in with a feature film that no one wanted to see and was released several months before this hit the stands. Maybe in 1994 this would have been hot shit, but now it’s just cold poop.

Let me just state that these are lists of the best and worst book/series/etc. that I have personally read; there are many (I’m sure) fine and not-so-fine releases from all the myriad publishers out there that I haven’t partaken of due to lack of funds or interest or connections with the publishers.

David Rasmussen

Best of 2008
In no particular order other than alphabetical, the best of 2008.

Aria (TOKYOPOP)
No, that’s not a typo. And of all the worst times for Aria to find a new home away from ADVManga, it had to be with TOKYOPOP as it slides into the very possible Rancor Pit that is their reorganization. Now I don’t know if that means they canceled out on publishing Aria (and new volumes) but I have to go see if the first new volume (4) published like it was supposed to this past month or not. Otherwise it is still on my favorites list that defies the years…

Azumanga Daioh (ADVManga)
Speaking of favorites that defy the years if you haven’t gotten into Azumanga Daioh yet (and you had years to get into it) this coming year is as great a time as any to get into it. So… get into it.

Bleach (VIZ)
I am still on the just friends basis with the title but I’ve got a good exposure to it from VIZ recently so I am getting up to liking this one, though I don’t need to like it myself as many of your peers and friends have already testified to the strength of this series (so you don’t need me to tell you what your fellows already have).

Death Note (VIZ)
Sure, my first exposure was this year’s deluxe version of Volume 1 but I did get Volume 2 and looking ahead on the series. After the long batch of rather disappointing alsoran horror titles I’ve gotten this year getting ahold of this innovative title was like a breath of fresh (bloody) air. Then again for every Death Note, Hellsing, Blood the Last Vampire or Vampire Hunter D (for starters) you do end up with a dozen lesser titles (that’s just the law of manga I suppose).

The Disgaea Series (Broccoli)
It’s been forever and a day since I last heard from the people over at Broccoli (hope they haven’t gone into bankruptcy or anything) but I can still testify that one of my favorites from their line up has got to be their Disgaea run (the first One Shot and the later Disgeaa 2 volumes). Oh, and while I’m at it I also am quite infatuated with their World of Disgaea artbook slash Disgaea video game series companions. Those are nice too.

Dramacon (TOKYOPOP)
This year the three volume series came to an end at the start of 2008 if I remember right. Just in time since some months later TOKYOPOP would totally stab its AmeriManga talents in the back and blame them as part of the reason why they had to go into reorganization. Yeah, nice of you TP. Very mature. (Svetlana Chmakova however is still around and publishing if I remember right so I really need to catch up with her latest work and see what’s she’s doing now.)

Gold Digger (Antarctic Press)
Did you know Fred Perry’s long running series reached its 100th Issue (150th if you count the original “Golden Age” 50 issue run)  a few months ago? I missed that… but I’ll rebound and review it at a later date, even as I plan a unauthorized guide to Gold Digger sometime in 2009 or 2010).

Legend of Zelda (VIZ)
What? I haven’t even touched it yet and it’s one of the best?!? No brainer, folks! It’s what we long term Zelda fans have been waiting for like this side of forever… a manga version! After so many video game to magna translations at last we finally have a Legend of Zelda manga series. OK, maybe it’s abit down that it’s all translations of the best of the Zelda video game franchises instead of fresh original content(starting with long time fan favorite Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64) and moving onwards) but it’s Zelda, it’s manga, you can’t go wrong there (and expect to see it catch more reviewers attention as the series really starts to get noticed the more volumes published (it just started near the end of 2008 so I don’t expect to hear review buzz until the first months of 2009).

Naruto (VIZ)
Once I got over my dislike of the series I actually learned to embrace it and go with it, heck I even started reviewing the Naruto video games.

Prince of Heroes (Antarctic Press)
So… Rod Espinosa’s Chapter 2 of this long term project series start yet or did I miss it and I totally have to catch up and see what’s going on? (Speaking of catching up I still have to review tie-in title Battle Girlz).

Worst

This one gave me the most headaches as I pondered over it and pondered over it… then all of a sudden it just snapped into place and became clear.

The worst of 2008 is…
The Second “Death” of Realbuzz Studios

Come on, what is this place, cursed?!? First it takes awhile to find a publisher and set up shop. Then it ends up parting ways with its first home (Barbour Publishing) just as it’s about to take the next step forward in its evolution (after already publishing the first six volumes of its launch title Serenity). Then it finds a home with Thomas Nelson only to end up crashing and burning in court in some messy intellectual divorce or some kind as the company dissolves and its fate is left in limbo as 2008 ends.
Yeah, in only a few years time it managed to perish… what… twice already? Maybe this time being the kicker that keeps it down? Right.

So boo to you Realbuzz Studios and your dysfunctional “children” who couldn’t keep the company going for any length of time without it crashing over and over and over again. I saw great potential in you… if only you had the actual fortitude to live up to that potential, which you obviously could not no matter how hard we tried to see you rising up and becoming something great. So boo to you, and the titles that are probably on their way to the stuff of myth, legend and mild comic book trivia the next time somebody publishes Trivial Pursuit the Comic Book Edition.

Serenity. Made it to Volume 10 but is on its way to vanishing with the unfulfilled promise of a third “season” and a spin-off featuring one of the cast going to college.

Goofyfoot Gurl. Made it to Volume 5 but perished mid cliffhanger with the story left hanging unended, which would have happened in Volume 6 if it ever came around.

Couplers. The dysfunctional sci-fi “space opera” that only went two volumes, and is now seemingly ending with nothing to hang its hat on. Unlike Goofyfoot Gurl which ended in the middle of the story we could probably not care less where Couplers ended, let alone worry about what happens next since the title never did foster any real enthusiasm in its reader to care where it went next.

And finally the title that was forever advertised and promoted yet never saw the light of day, Hits & Misses, the female softball team drama that couldn’t even get off the ground as it always seemed to end up being pushed back (and now put to an early retirement) for one reason (the dissolution of the partnership with Barbour Publishing) or another (the dissolution of Realbuzz Studios itself). I’d say I’ll miss you but I didn’t get to know you well enough to claim that.

And, oh, whatever would have been Title Number Five if the company actually rolled long enough to reach a Title Number Five. (According to interviews I did with Realbuzz Studios there would have been a title number five if the company managed to drag itself (kicking and screaming no doubt) into 2009… but that never happened, so now we’ll never know what Series Five would have been.

And that is my worst pick of 2008, a company that couldn’t stop itself from disintegrating no matter how much it had going for it. Bleah. Happy New Year everyone, and have a great and wonderful 2009 now you hear?

Russ Parker

Best of 2008

1. Gurren Lagann – I’m actually glad that I was never assigned to review Gurren Lagann, because I’m relatively certain copy/pasting “WATCH THIS!” three hundred times does not a good review make.  I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Gurren Lagann changed my life for the better, and that if I had to pick one show to watch from now until eternity, I would choose these adventures of a boy and his drill, a drill that will pierce the heavens.  If I could put it on this list nine more times I would. 

2.Code Geass – What would happen is Britain never stopped colonizing?  What if on top of that, the ruling class of Britain had access incredible powers that could use to manipulate the hearts and minds of people?  What a scorned prince found out about that power and decide to use it for revenge?  What if everyone had robots to fight in on top of everything else?  What if Code Geass?

3.Avatar Book 3 – If you happen to miss out on the adventures of the Last Airbender until now, you need to catch up, posthaste.  The last season, or book as they would have us call them, is by far the strongest of the series, with an ending that is unheard of for an American animation, because it actually ends. 

4.Lucky Star – Do you like cute, funny and well written slice of life series?  Because I know I do.  Lucky Star is about four girls going to high school.  And that’s it.  There’s no super powers, no Martian attacks, no talking to animals.  Just four girls going to school, and the normal everyday funny things that can happen.

5.School Rumble Season 2 – I made it a point to say that Lucky Star didn’t have things like super powers, Martian attacks, and girls talking to animals because School Rumble has all of these things and more.  The second season bring back everything we’ve come to expect, and even more.  The love polyhedron grows more and more complex with every episode.  It makes me wish I was still in School.

6.Speed Grapher – The longer I thought about my time with Speed Grapher the more I like the show.  Sure, towards the end it degraded into a creature of the week feature, but even then there was a lot that could be said about the world we leave in based on the sick and twisted fetishes contain within.  Plus I’m man enough to say that the ending made me a little weepy.  There, I said it.  It needed to be said.

7.Transformers Animated – Transformers Animated Is everything you remember loving about Transformers and more.  It’s self-referencing, well written, and best of all, attached to a line of toys that doesn’t suck.  The only thing it lacks is a theme song by some 80’s hair band. 

8. Black Lagoon: Second Barrage –I once took one of those lame online surveys, this one was designed to tell me what period in time I secretly wanted to live in.  Turns out, I still want to be a cowboy, at leats according to the survey.  In truth, I think I just want my life to be half as cool as a given episode of Black Lagoon. 

9. Witchblade – When I was watching Witchblade I was very surprised that someone other than the Japanese came up with the idea.  The concept just seems so animeish, A powerful magical/technological weapon that only women can use.  Someone in Japan is kicking themselves every time they write a royalty check. 

10. Xenosaga—Xenosaga made my list, not because it’s a fantastic show, but because it’s a good show that happens to be about my favorite video game.  I’m actually quite surprised that they managed to condense a 40+ hour gaming experience into a twelve episode series.  Kiddos to the script writer. 

Worst

Bakugan Battle Brawlers – I watch a lot of “kids” shows.  I understand that anything designed for a viewer under the age of 12 is actually designed to separate parents from their money.  Bakugan doesn’t even bother hiding the fact.  Every episode is another foray into this week’s expansion for what is another in a long line of subpar card games. 

Ghost in the Shell: Laughing Man/Individual Eleven—What happens when you take one of the best and most beloved anime ever and trim 52 episodes into two movies?  A train wreck; and not even one of those interesting train wrecks that you can’t pull yourself away from, a boring train wreck. 

Glass Fleet –  I sat down to every episode of Glass Fleet hoping against hope that this was the one, this is the episode where they’ll shape up and hit their stride.  I never happened, 26 episodes later and it never happened.  All I got was a story so misogynistic that I’m afraid to own it.  I had to hide it in a box of porn just so the women around me would think less of me. 

Son of the Dragon –I can imagine the pitch this movie must have had: “Hey!  We’re going to retell a classic Arabian Nights Tale with an Asian twist!  Only the main character has to be a white guy, otherwise middle America won’t understand. “  Well that doesn’t sound very entertaining… “Also it’s got David Carradine!”

Devil May Cry—DMC is on this list much for the same reason that Xenosaga is on my top 10.  Devil May Cry made me remember one of my favorite game series, but then it proceeded to sully that memory with an utterly run of the mill generic action anime. 

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