Here, at the end of the 2010s, nearly every major American publisher is in the comics game. As more publishers have tapped into the booming market, bookstores, libraries, and schools have encouraged droves of new readers, which has generated new opportunities for creators. Graphic novels for young readers exploded, with the widely popular Raina Telgemeier and Dav Pilkey leading the charge. Manga continued to be a huge draw, and publishers invested even more in translations of international material. A new generation of creators who grew up with webcomics started creating their own work and distributing it online, taking advantage of crowdfunding and social media to explore new avenues for distribution and building careers outside of traditional publishing. As Hollywood doubled down on superhero projects, publishers looked for ways to capitalize on growing awareness of their properties: DC relaunched its entire line with the New 52, then did it again with Rebirth; Marvel regularly canceled books to bring them back a few months later with new #1 issues. Below, our Eisner Award-winning team has assembled a list, in no particular order, of the 25 best comics of the decade, exploring the full scope of this ever-evolving medium.
1. Check, Please! (Webcomic/First Second)
It’s impossible to escape Check, Please! in certain corners of the internet. Creator Ngozi Ukazu has found the perfect balance of slice-of-life webcomic, sports manga, and LGBTQ+ love story to appeal to a broad audience, earning herself a loyal and enthusiastic group of fans. The story revolves around students at the fictional university Samwell, mostly the young men of the highly ranked hockey team. Eric Bittle is at the center of the comic, entering the story as a freshman and a relatively recent convert to hockey after years of competitive ice skating. Bitty, as Eric is called by his friends, often speaks directly to the readers; Ukazu has smartly given him a vlogging audience and treated the readers as part of it. It provides Check, Please! with a lovely intimacy and a narrator that the audience gets invested in quickly. Ukazu’s art is bright and appealingly cartoony; Bitty himself is bubbly and charming, but quickly demonstrates his stubbornness and dedication to the people he cares about. The slow and steady progression of the love story is wonderfully paced, and Check, Please! has one of the most fully developed and exciting supporting casts in comics. [Caitlin Rosberg]
2. Daytripper (Vertigo)
Brás de Oliva Domingos dies over and over again in Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá’s Daytripper, a miniseries where each issue shows the main character’s final day at a different point in his life. The twin brothers, working with colorist Dave Stewart and letterer Sean Konot, craft one of the great comic book tearjerkers, meditating on the nature of life and death in self-contained chapters that exist in different emotional landscapes depending on where they fall in the timeline. The structure is non-chronological, but thematic bridges between issues bring cohesion to the narrative, and the individual stories are presented in an order that maximizes the depth of character relationships as they degrade and blossom. The linework, primarily by Moon with Bá handling dream sequences, is brimming with vitality, and Stewart’s coloring heightens the expressive qualities of the artwork with evocative palettes and delicate yet specific coloring. Through one man’s experiences with death, this creative team celebrates the personal connections that make life worth living. [Oliver Sava]
3. Giant Days (Boom! Studios)
The latter half of the decade got really shitty in regards to the general state of the world. Luckily, Giant Days was there to offer a balm to readers with the comedic hijinks of Susan Ptolemy, Esther DeGroot, and Daisy Wooten— three British university students learning about love, friendship, and the challenges of adulthood. Written by John Allison, with main artist Max Sarin, colorist Whitney Cogar, and letterer Jim Campbell, Giant Days is ensemble comedy at its finest, using the melting pot of university to introduce a huge range of personalities that interact in wildly different ways. If Disney made a cartoon about adults dealing with ordinary situations, it would probably look like Giant Days, which boosts the stakes of the story by exaggerating emotion. Lissa Treiman, a story artist for Disney who worked on Tangled, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and the Wreck-It Ralph movies, launched the series with Allison, establishing an animated visual aesthetic that Max Sarin fit into flawlessly when they joined the book with issue #7. Giant Days closed out the decade with two wins at the 2019 Eisner Awards—for Best Humor Publication and Best Continuing Series—recognizing one of the most consistent creative teams in the industry for brightening the world of comics. [Oliver Sava]
4. Goodnight Punpun (Viz Media)
Only Inio Asano can take what is a relatively simple premise—a boy matures into adulthood—and turn it into one of the oddest, most emotionally devastating comics of the decade. Goodnight Punpun’s main character is a bird, rather than being drawn in the same precise, clean style as all the other (human) characters. He behaves like a teenage boy, and he is treated like a teenage boy, but he is drawn as a bird (As an aside: God is represented by a photograph of a face rather than a drawing). The absurdity of this juxtaposition speaks to Asano’s capacity as a writer, because it is far and away one of the most nuanced depictions of adolescence and growing into adulthood any comic has ever featured. The length of the series allows Asano to unfold his story with patience, pausing now and again to render this odd life with a lived-in texture. Doing so allows him to build out his world and build up his characters, making their emotional lives full, complex, and deeply satisfying to read. [Shea Hennum]
5. Hark! A Vagrant (Webcomic/Drawn & Quarterly)
Long before Hamilton hit the scene, Hark! A Vagrant made funny, pop culture references to history cool. In the humor comic, based on historical events and famous works of fiction, creator Kate Beaton’s skill with pacing and sense of humor are excellent, and her ability to convey a lot of information in a single panel has made her work eminently meme-able. (You might recognize the final panel of her comic about the relationship between Edgar Alan Poe and Jules Verne.) A limited grayscale palette and sketchy lines give Beaton’s work a retro feel, and allows the facial expressions and ridiculous situations to be at the fore. It’s surprising that a comic about the history of murderous royals and rampant disease is laugh-out-loud funny, but Hark! A Vagrant really is just that good. Leaning into the ludicrousness of the human condition and leaving space for giggles has cemented its place in internet canon. [Caitlin Rosberg]
6. Helter Skelter (Vertical Comics)
In Kyoko Okazaki’s Helter Skelter, Liliko is the it girl—a hot young model with the eyes of Japan on her—but this glamour comes at a price, as Liliko subjects herself to an ongoing series of medical procedures so that she may be beautiful. The maintenance of beauty—of being the most beautiful—requires incredible violence, which is ultimately what Helter Skelter is concerned with: How far will you go to be beautiful? What will you do to yourself? What will you do to others? Under the weight of this violence, which comes to infect everyone in Liliko’s life, the body and the psyche begin to wear away. Drawn in Okazaki’s largely unassuming style, the book’s violence is never quite excessive, and erotic content is never quite erotic. Rather, it feels unnerving and odd, as though we shouldn’t be looking at it. [Shea Hennum]
7. Here (Pantheon)
The concept of Here is deceptively simple: one physical space depicted at different points in time from a fixed angle. From there, Richard McGuire engages in an astounding formal experiment that highlights the magical way comics can depict the passage of time in a single image. Originally conceived as a black-and-white, six-page comic in 1989’s Raw Vol. 2 #1, Here expanded into a full-color graphic novel over the next 25 years, abandoning the original six-panel structure to present the story in richly detailed two-page spreads. Those spreads become more complicated as McGuire layers on panels that each show a different moment in time, so an image of a living room in 1915 will also have a panel of a buffalo lying in a forest in 10,000 BC, next to a panel of a girl lying on a rug in 1970. Working with color artist Maëlle Doliveux, McGuire constantly shifts his visual style to emphasize these temporal shifts, showcasing his versatility as an illustrator. There’s a mesmerizing musicality to the way McGuire arranges panels to create harmony and discord on the page, creating a millennia-spanning experience. [Oliver Sava]
8. Hawkeye (Marvel)
Hawkeye should be the new template for launching a superhero comic: Hire creators with a unique vision who are enthusiastic about collaboration and passionate about the property. Start the series with three standalone issues that can all function as a character’s introduction, and then start expanding the story by bringing in new collaborators and characters. Written by Matt Fraction with main artist David Aja, colorist Matt Hollingsworth, and letterer Chris Eliopoulos, Hawkeye represents a jump in the visual language of superhero comics, breaking from convention to explore new avenues for depicting an individual’s perspective. Issues #11 and #19 are standouts, with the former using visual icons to get into the head of Hawkeye’s dog, Lucky, while the latter uses sign language illustrations to delve into Clint Barton’s deafness. The inclusion of Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop provides an exceptional foil for Clint, and artists like Javier Pulido and Annie Wu give Kate-centric chapters their own distinct look. Superhero comics don’t get much cooler than these 22 issues of Hawkeye, and by tying the formal innovation to character development, the creative team gives the book heart to go with its swagger. [Oliver Sava]
9. The Love Bunglers (Fantagraphics)
Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez’s Love And Rockets has endured for nearly 40 years, surviving multiple industry shifts by changing its format while never compromising the creators’ visions. While both brothers have built up sprawling casts for their respective parts of the book, Jaime’s characters have aged in real time, giving their relationships the weight of history. Originally published in Love And Rocket: New Stories #3 and #4, The Love Bunglers is an ode to Maggie Chascarillo, the central figure of Jaime’s stories and one of the most complicated and lovable characters in comics. This graphic novel showcases Maggie’s appeal, chronicling formative events from her childhood while exploring her thorny romantic relationships in the present, exposing her vulnerabilities to intensify her moments of victory. When it comes to expressive figure drawing, it doesn’t get much better than Hernandez, who knows how to communicate honest, full emotion with streamlined linework tied to a deep understanding of body language and facial expressions. There’s a particularly powerful pair of nine-panel grids toward the end that highlights the shared life experiences of Maggie and her boyfriend, Ray, distilling decades of history in snapshots of two lovers. [Oliver Sava]
10. Margot’s Room (Webcomic)
When it comes to horror comics, Emily Carroll’s name is often at the top of any list for her visually lush, spooky stories. The terror in her work is often rooted in interpersonal relationships, blurring the lines between the monstrousness that people are capable of and literal monsters. What makes Margot’s Room so remarkable is the way that Carroll leverages the webcomic medium, turning the story into a choose-your-own adventure with only one ending. The first page of the comic features a short stanza and a single image with several hyperlinked pieces. If the reader is particularly lucky or pays close attention to the opening text, they may open the comic in chronological order. Even out of order, the individual installments stand well on their own; what unfolds is the story of a marriage that ends in violence, though not the sort one might expect. The miniature chapters require the reader to scroll, sometimes vertically, sometimes horizontally, sometimes both. It’s a genius way to pull the reader even further into an already engrossing and anxiety-inducing story, and it elevates Margot’s Room from being one of the best horror comics to one of the best comics of the decade. [Caitlin Rosberg]
11. March (Top Shelf)
With the growing popularity of kids’ and YA graphic novels also came a rise in comics being used as educational materials, and Congressman John Lewis’ March trilogy stands as one of the top titles taught in classrooms. (The National Endowment For The Arts even has March lesson plans for different grade levels available to the public.) Co-written by Lewis and Andrew Aydin, with art by Nate Powell, March follows Lewis from his early days growing up in rural Alabama through his time as a civil rights leader, building to the 1965 march on Selma to protest the disenfranchisement of Black voters. March’s first book stumbles a bit as it works through the biggest pieces of background information, but the subsequent two chapters more than make up for it as they settle into Lewis’ experience during the civil rights movement. Powell’s stark black-and-white artwork is acutely attuned to the emotions of the story, reinforcing the terror of the harrowing attacks on Lewis and his companions as well as the joy they experience when their activism leads to change. The March books became even more relevant in the midst of the shifting political tides of the decade’s latter half, and with its presence in schools, March gives future generations an accessible, poignant look at why they need to stand up to bigotry in all its forms and continue the fight for human rights. [Oliver Sava]
12. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters (Fantagraphics)
It’s hard to think of a debut graphic novel this decade that landed with more force than Emil Ferris’ My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, which had the extra benefit of an international shipping snafu to build hype for its release. This semi-autobiographical bildungsroman follows a 10-year-old girl in late ’60s Chicago as she enters the early stages of adolescence, triggering hormones that have her emotions going at full blast. Karen’s investigation of her upstairs neighbor’s murder introduces a parallel narrative detailing a very different coming-of-age for a Jewish girl in Germany during the rise of Nazism, with both storylines showing the personal effect of structural inequality. The book is presented as Karen’s illustrated journal, composed of intricately cross-hatched ballpoint pen drawings on notebook paper with chunks of text written with the immediacy of a diary entry. Ferris’ immense artistic skill makes Karen a preternaturally gifted visual storyteller, but Ferris maintains a sense of play in her imagery, which reinforces the character’s youth. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters functions as both complex character study and love letter to “high” and “low” art, with Ferris taking cues from classical masters and the popular art of her childhood to give her story a visual style that is constantly shifting. [Oliver Sava]
13. The Nib (Webcomic/self-published)
Once a mainstay of nearly all newspapers, political cartoons have been pulled and their reach limited, as political cartoonists get fired left and right. Despite losing funding halfway through this year, The Nib has continued to serve up new content every day, and since last year has also published a quarterly magazine. Along with the standard one- to four-panel political cartoons, The Nib presents a variety of different opinions and educational comics essays from creators all around the world. There have been truly remarkable comics about everything from Peter Thiel’s obsession with living forever to the challenge of combating whitewashing in superhero comics. A few have even gotten meme-ified and spread around the internet writ large, especially ones like Mat Bors’ “Mister Gotcha.” The Nib is unrepentantly political, fiercely supportive of creators, and devoted to telling stories that are both honest and important. Whether it’s a single-panel joke or a dozen pages of complicated history, The Nib has become a home for mandatory reading. [Caitlin Rosberg]
14. O Human Star (Webcomic/self-published)
O Human Star is the sort of webcomic that invites rereading. Creator Blue Delliquanti has made a series of careful, intentional visual choices that are easy to miss at first glance but which add texture and richness to an already complex and emotional story. Delliquanti has seamlessly blended a character-driven story about love into the kind of future that fans of the best speculative fiction will appreciate: There are functional robots and AI, all of the technological advances that The Jetsons and Star Trek promised. The technology is shown not just for fun and entertainment but also for the genuine benefit of people, an element that is often missing from stories that feature AI at this scale. The overarching theme is one of self-discovery and self-acceptance, each character approaching their personal growth with varying levels of grace and discomfort. The complexity of love portrayed in O Human Star serves as a gentle but important reminder that not everyone’s needs are the same, and not all relationships require the same kind of affection. Delliquanti’s character design and attention to detail make the comic a joy to look at, and sharp readers would do well to pay attention to their color choices. O Human Star has just begun its final chapter so now is the perfect time to jump in and catch up. [Caitlin Rosberg]
15. Octopus Pie (Webcomic/Image Comics)
When it comes to slice-of-life webcomics, readers are not starved for options. The genre is filled with comics that offer fans growing casts of nuanced characters and stories that run the gamut in tone and content. What makes Meredith Gran’s Octopus Pie stand out is how she embraced the evolution of her story and the webcomic medium. Gran’s characters are all drawn appealingly, just cartoony enough to be flexible, but they are all capable of doing deeply unappealing things. They are human both in their joy and failings, and a big part of Octopus Pie is watching each of them struggle with their choices and make new, harder ones. Much of Octopus Pie is in limited grayscale, drawn to fill a browser comfortably, but as the comic continued, individual updates changed shape, in some cases stretching vertically for several scrolls to take advantage of what the internet can do that print cannot. Colors from Valerie Halla and Sloane Leong gave the comic even more depth, and Gran brought Octopus Pie to a close with remarkable grace and compassion for her characters, her readers, and herself. [Caitlin Rosberg]
16. On A Sunbeam (Webcomic/First Second)
Despite taking place in a world where people travel through space on giant fishlike starships, On A Sunbeam is a deeply relatable story about a woman at two key periods in her life: navigating school as a teenager and professional life as a young adult. Heavily inspired by the lush fantasy of Studio Ghibli movies, Tillie Walden creates a spellbinding queer sci-fi romance in these pages, taking her time to build a distinct cosmic environment that feels lived in. Releasing new graphic novels every year since 2015, Walden has emerged as a preeminent name in the world of YA comics, exploring new facets of growing up in each work. On A Sunbeam was originally released as a webcomic, and putting each chapter up as one long scroll makes for an especially smooth and immersive read by eliminating the breaks between pages. In print, you get a stronger sense of the full scope of the story when you hold the 544-page novel, but whichever way you choose to read On A Sunbeam, you’ll be treated to striking visuals and empathetic storytelling. [Oliver Sava]
17. The Passion Of Gengoroh Tagame (Bruno Gmuender)
A pioneer in the history of gay manga (that is, comics for gay men by gay men, rather than simply comics about gay men), Gengoroh Tagame’s work has enough historical value for him to earn a spot on this list. But they also have aesthetic value. While some of the material presented here is playful and light, many of the stories are violent. Rather than merely depicting sex for prurient interest, Tagame explores desire more broadly. Doing so requires him to render desire honestly, with its workaday contours as well as its more uncommon wrinkles. He demonstrates the ways in which sex and sexuality touch every aspect of our lives, and the way those things are, in turn, touched by other aspects of life. This is what gives Tagame’s comics their force, and whatever their value as pornography (your mileage will, of course, vary here), they undeniably have value as art. [Shea Hennum]
18. Peplum (NYRC)
While there are numerous articles urging critics, journalists, and readers to “credit the artist” in comics, “the artist” is a non-distinct professional who pencils, inks, and colors. Each of those jobs bring their own distinct value to the work—none more so than in the inks. The ink gives lines their weight, their texture, their contours, their sharpness or lack thereof. It is the ink that gives your favorite comic its particular shape, feel, and movement. Few cartoonists are stronger proof of the importance of inking than Blutch, and few of his works are more illustrative than Peplum. Here, Blutch adapts the Satyricon, a Mennipean satire pockmarked with passages now lost to time. This fragmentation turns into a dreamlike quality in Blutch’s hand, and he conjures a whole world—bodies have heft, clothes texture, shadows depth, and visages the mileage of years. With simple, elegant lines, Blutch composes scenes as striking as they are refined, and what at points becomes nightmare for its characters never ceases to be a dream for readers. [Shea Hennum]
19. Prince Of Cats (Vertigo/Image Comics)
So much of this decade has been about reinventing the language of comics, and for Prince Of Cats, Ronald Wimberly turns to one of the most influential linguists of all time for inspiration. A retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet from the point of view of Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, Prince Of Cats recontextualizes the source material in an ’80s-styled urban environment visually interpreted with exaggerated forms and bold graffiti art. Building on hip-hop’s Eastern influence, Wimberly also turns to manga for storytelling cues, delivering dynamic action sequences that reinforce the fighters’ formidable skills. Wimberly’s dialogue keeps the theatrical spirit of Shakespeare’s verse in tact while modernizing the vocabulary. Originally published in a flimsy paperback by Vertigo in 2012, Prince Of Cats received a deluxe oversized hardcover reprint from Image four years later, presenting the story in a format that matched the scale of its script and visuals. [Oliver Sava]
20. Smut Peddler 2012 Edition (Iron Circus)
The launch of crowdfunding giant Kickstarter 10 years ago completely changed the landscape for independent publishing. Iron Circus Comics was always at the forefront of that wave, and Smut Peddler is one of the cornerstones of the publisher’s ever-expanding empire. It wasn’t the first anthology to be crowdfunded, but the legacy it created is unmistakable. Smut Peddler is full of erotica that’s welcoming and attractive to often ignored readers, a book made for and by women, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ folks, and people of color. The individual stories span the depth and breadth of what erotica can be, and the book as a whole portrays sex and erotica as something enjoyable, sweet, and funny. Smut Peddler is fun and beautiful and sexy all at once, and features the skills of 36 incredible talents from indie comics. Smut Peddler proved that erotica, crowdfunded erotica at that, can offer all of the same nuance, joy, emotion, and adventure as any other genre, with satisfaction and pleasure to spare. [Caitlin Rosberg]
21. Sunny (Viz Media)
Drawing on his own experiences as a child in foster care, author Taiyo Matsumoto lovingly unpacks the interior lives of a group of children. Each of them deals with the disorientation of parental abandonment in their own way, and Matsumoto’s rendering of each character allows him to explore the various ways in which we cope with trauma. Each character inhabits their own rich emotional universe, and across Sunny’s six volumes, Matsumoto evidences the infinite depth of emotion that children have but that adults often deny them. Solemn and understated, the series turns on events that ring deep with emotional resonance—brought to life by Matsumoto’s unique style, which blends roughhewn pen work with soft ink washes to create expressive and heartbreakingly tender images. [Shea Hennum]
22. This One Summer (First Second)
Life changes when you become a teenager. Your body transforms, social dynamics are uprooted, and emotions go into overdrive, summoning new, strange feelings to the surface. Written by Mariko Tamaki, with art by Jillian Tamaki, This One Summer chronicles this turbulent transitional period for young Rose, who discovers her new self during her family’s annual summer trip. While Rose is dealing with the pressure of fitting in with the older kids, much to the chagrin of her younger friend, her parents are dealing with their own pain, two threads that converge in a moving climax that shows Rose what adult problems really look like. Jillian Tamaki’s monochromatic indigo artwork beautifully channels the freedom of the season in this expansive natural environment, a feeling that contrasts with the barriers Rose puts up between herself and other people as she figures out her new place in the world. This One Summer is the first graphic novel to win the prestigious Caldecott Award, an award that typically goes to picture books for younger readers. It was another major victory in comics’ never-ending fight for respect from the literary world, one that specifically honors the artist’s contribution in enriching the storytelling. [Oliver Sava]
23. Yellow Negroes And Other Imaginary Creatures (NYRC)
It is difficult to say what is most captivating about Yvan Alagbé’s collection, the first time the author’s work has appeared in English. Collecting a number of stories about the lives of African immigrants, Alagbé depicts his characters’ interior lives, a unique set of day-to-day struggles, and their hopes and desires. Alagbé takes an almost impressionistic approach. His compositions are simple, and he relies on thick brushstrokes to create his shapes —sometimes concrete and solid, sometimes so vaporous that they give way to other, stranger forms. The result is sometimes challenging, but Alagbé’s sharp, mesmerizing images catch the eye, and they compel you to continue reading. These difficult stories stick with you, continuing to turn over and over in your head. [Shea Hennum]
24. You & A Bike & A Road (Koyama)
The diary comic is an incredibly intimate artform, giving readers insight into the artist’s mind through the combination of text and raw, spontaneous drawing. 2017’s You & A Bike & A Road chronicles Eleanor Davis’ two-month experience biking from Tucson, Arizona, to her home in Athens, Georgia, a way to combat her intensifying depression. Everything Davis put out in this decade demands attention, but her personal connection to You & A Bike & A Road sets it apart. She’s frank about her mental health and her need to be proactive in order to reach a more stable place, and she puts the reader deep inside the zen headspace she achieves when riding. As her journey continues, she becomes increasingly aware of her privilege as a white woman biking undisturbed through areas where people of color aren’t afforded the same courtesy, addressing major issues regarding racial prejudice and immigration that have only become bigger talking points in the years since. Davis’ minimalist pencil drawings are full of life; few cartoonists maximize the expressiveness of a curved line quite like her. The sparseness of her drawings and the absence of panel borders gives the visuals a stream-of-consciousness quality, revealing Davis’ deepest emotions by going straight from her brain to the page. [Oliver Sava]
25. Zero (Image Comics)
Zero is the story of a secret agent suffering intense PTSD and reckoning with the ghosts of his past. It’s also the story of an up-and-coming comic book writer learning the reality of working on his first ongoing series, sharpening his craft by working with a different artist to tell a self-contained story in every issue, à la Global Frequency. Written by Aleš Kot, with colors by Jordie Bellaire, letters by Clayton Cowles, and unforgettable design by Tom Muller, Zero bursts out of the gate with total confidence, giving readers a hard-hitting spy story that takes drastic narrative and visual turns with each chapter. Those turns get weirder and weirder until it’s a book about William S. Burroughs on mushrooms and Edward Zero exorcising the darkness within his soul. Kot assembles an incredible line-up of artists that includes Michael Walsh, Tradd Moore, Vanesa R. Del Rey, Ricardo López Ortiz, Adam Gorham, Ian Bertram, and Tula Lotay, and he shapes each chapter around his collaborators’ strengths. In a decade when superhero publishers constantly swap out artists in ongoing series to keep up with accelerated schedules, Zero shows how a multiple-artist structure can be used to spotlight specific voices rather than undervaluing individual contributions. [Oliver Sava]
189 Comments
A compelling list of important titles, albeit with a few that skew a bit more webcomic/Tumblr-y than I personally am into. Lots of titles to add to my list.One title I feel compelled to add to this one, as an unofficial addendum, is Sabrina. It is a stunning and sadly relevant work deserving of a spot on merit alone, but it’s inclusion on the Booker longlist makes it an important enough title for the mediums history that not including it seems like a statement. Or maybe you folk just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I’m surprised that Chris Ware’s Building Stories didn’t make the list, or indeed Rusty Brown (Acme Novelty Library #20 alone surely is worth a mention).I would have also made a space for Tom King’s incredible run on The Vision and Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ The Fade Out. Both were quite unlike anything else being published at the time.
I’ve only read one of the comics on this list, so I can’t say for sure that King’s The Vision is better than them, but I’m pretty sure that King’s The Vision is better than most of them.
I’ve read four of the ones on the list and I personally enjoyed The Vision more than three of them.Also, a shout out to Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët and Southern Bastards, which really needs to come back soon.
Beautiful Darkness stuck in my brain. Terrifying and indelible.
Beautiful Darkness fucked me up in a way that I didn’t know that comics were capable of. It still haunts me to this day. Definitely a worthy inclusion to this list.
I don’t really understand your comment. Why would you assert that a comic you have read and enjoyed is better than something you have not read? What is the point of that? I’m not asking rhetorically – I simply don’t understand. What do you gain by championing a comic over and against things you have not read? I read and enjoyed King’s The Vision. It was very good, but it was not better than Sunny, which was incredible. It was not better than the Love Bunglers, which was amazing. Hawkeye at its best was also better. It might have been as good as This One Summer. It was better than Here and March. I don’t know how it compares to the ones that I didn’t read because I didn’t read them.
My comment was intended to be at least partially tongue in cheek. I said up front that I can’t compare a comic I have read to a comic that I haven’t read. Though I’m not alone in loving The Vision. It was hugely popular and acclaimed by people who have read more of the comics on this list than I have. One of many major omissions on this list.
I’ll take the baton and run with it, Paul: I’m so tired of the idea that you must see something to critique it. The early stages of genre studies were entirely based on the notion that you could. We’re now in a corrective, apologist phase, but it’s too far in the other direction to say it’s impossible. A person who has seen a couple Marvel movies and doesn’t like them and loves, say, Hal Hartley movies, does not need to see the new Marvel movie to know whether she’ll like or find value in it. Couple random notes:I’d be surprised if there are many people who like a lot of Marvel and understand Kate Beaton.A lot of manga!
Definitely think mainstream comics deserve their own list. That way everyone can celebrate Saga and Squirrel Girl in their chosen fashion, and elitist can enjoy ranking rando indy books.
Here, here for Building Stories.
Honestly, BUILDING STORIES literally reinvented the very physical notion of what a ‘graphic novel’ could be. This list hits a few high notes, but misses some incredibly important works. Disappointing.
Oh and also Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina was outstanding too.
The one I thought was missing was Brubaker and Phillips’ Fatale, which I thought was even better than The Fade Out, although that was great too.
“There’s a particularly powerful pair of nine-panel grids toward the end that highlights the shared life experiences of Maggie and her boyfriend, Ray, distilling decades of history in snapshots of two lovers.”oh man… that spread was devastating. I read it a few years ago, but still……i need a minute…
Am I the only one confused why The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl didn’t make the list? I mean, not only is Squirrel Girl an awesome and fun character but it also had one of the greatest covers in comic book history (https://images.app.goo.gl/X7AHgjrikgBTiVCQ7).Also what about Saga?
It’s a weird list. None of the comics I would have expected other than Hawkeye. I haven’t even heard of most of these. Though that doesn’t make them bad choices. Just surprising. In addition to the comics you mentioned, I’d add The Wicked + the Divine and Sex Criminals. But seriously, not including Saga is ridiculous.
Pun Pun is generally considered a masterpiece in manga circles, but I feel like you see Spirit Circle brought up more frequently.
I think Saga started out super strong and then spent a long time mucking around in some very soap-opera-y plot lines which turned a lot of readers off it.
Those readers and wrong and should feel bad.
“Best Comics” lists usually involve people trying to prove how artsy they are by naming a bunch of indy and underground comics and avoiding stuff from the major publishers even when it’s quite good. In addition to Wicked Divine and Sex Criminals I’d add Vision and Lumberjanes to that list.
Yeah this; I don’t know why comics in particular always have this problem but nothing popular can ever be considered to have artistic merit. If a book sells more than a dozen copies it’s too mainstream for consideration on year end lists. I feel like these lists lose credibility when they shun anything even remotely popular but that’s just me.
Part of reason for doing this kind of list is to spotlight great work readers not might have heard of, rather than, “hey, have you heard of this guy Spider-Man?” Me feel like enough people know Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, etc. that they not need boost, but On a Sunbeam is remarkable work that most people not would have heard of.
I get that. I just feel like devoting basically all of the list to spotlighting obscure comics and not including any popular comics that are also standouts is a bit much. Sure, people have heard of Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel, but there are a lot of other comics that fall in between those and the bulk of the comics on this list and comics is still a small industry as a whole. The best selling Marvel and DC comics have a few hundred thousand monthly readers compared to the millions who see their movies. I would personally prefer a middle ground between using the list entirely as promotion for lesser known titles and including only big mainstream hits that everyone knows already. It’s supposed to be a list of the actual best of the decade and it seems like such a list if made accurately would include a fair amount of both.
I’m sure that list will be on CBR and many other comic sites and still be very relevant and full of great titles. That’s never really been AV Club’s thing and I appreciate it for that.
Hasn’t it though? If you look back at their yearly best-of lists from the decade, they all include more high-profile titles. But for some reason they decided to jettison nearly all of those when it came time to compile this list.
Eh. I see your point…but I do feel like they would have been better suited dividing this into, say, three separate lists for Comics, Webcomics, and Manga.
The reason for doing a 25 best comics of the last 10 years is so “spotlight works readers might not have heard of”? That would seem to be contrary to what the list title suggests.
But seriously, not including Saga is ridiculous.Having given actual money to a few things on this list, I came here with righteous fury to say this.
I think Wicked and Divine made the list last year. Or at least something on the AV Club started making me read it.
I think it was a few years ago, but yeah. Most of the popular indie comics and even some of the Marvel comics I read are because I read about them here or on i09 or Kotaku. Which is why I find it weird that they decided to leave all those titles out of this list other than Hawkeye.
Unsurprisingly, Transformers: More than meets the eye/Lost Light fails to make the list. Which is ridiculous since it’s one of the best independent comics ever produced, but because there’s no black and white splash page of an anthropomorphic cat millenial struggling to pay her rent or giving into a syringe filled with catnip while the caption graphically describes the abuse she suffered at the paws of her father, it gets no play.Love all these hipster shit suggestions, though. Tooootally gonna check them out when I have the interest!
I kind of wish they’d done a list of best indie comics, and best big publisher comics (say, Marvel, DC and maybe Image.) But yeah, no Saga, is an odd choice. From superhero comics I’d add Hickman’s Fantastic Four work (started in 2009 with Dark Reign: Fantastic Four, but went into the 2010s with the main title and FF.)But that said, this list does get me excited to check out lots of titles I’ve never heard of.
Also what about anything by Raina Telgemeier? There’s a ton of stuff on this list I haven’t read – and the ones I have are all quite good – so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume these are all good picks.But Raina Telgemeier almost single-handedly made a generation of kids super excited about comics, and her work is all wonderful.
And Nimona?
And Charles Burns’ X-ed Out/The Hive/Sugar Skull
Yeah, Nimona should have been a shoo-in. But at least Octopus Pie is pretty decent compensation for that particular oversight. I enjoyed the hell out of both of them!
Yeah, Nimona should have been a shoo-in. But at least Octopus Pie is pretty decent compensation for that particular oversight. I enjoyed the hell out of both of them!
No Clowes or Ware either but it’s just a list.
I came here to complain about the lack of a hero with the powers of both squirrel and girl.
Same reason Vision and Mr. Miracle didn’t make the list: You can’t have two superhero titles in a list of the 25 best comics of the decade, or people won’t take you seriously as a very serious critic.
I haven’t read the whole series, but what I have has been fantastic.I would love (and buy) a whole Marvel Legends line of figures from the series. (Loki as Cat Thor would be the bonus build-a-figure)Maybe it would have been better to have multiple lists… Comic Strips, Graphic Novels, and Comic Books. They are all widely different formats and deserve their own recognition. It would be like have a 25 audio things from the 2010s and just sprinkle a couple music albums on a list with mostly audio-books and a few really good podcasts.
I’m not “confused” by Squirrel Girl’s omission. It’s something I likely would have on my personal “best of the decade” list, but it’s not that confusing to see someone else choose different things to honor. That being said, as someone who largely doesn’t read comics, my “best of the decade” list would be exclusively Squirrel Girl, Hark a Vagrant!, and Nancy.
The Olivia James Nancy run has certainly been noteworthy and fun, but I don’t think I’d put it on a best list.
I am also confused by the lack of Ms. Marvel.
The lack of ‘Saga’ on here is genuinely baffling.
literally clicked the article for Squirrel Girl. what the heck??
Saga is a huge omission. Maybe they are still pissed with joe issue 54 ended.
I’m sorry, but stating that Squirrel Girl “had one of the greatest covers in comic book history” is an absurd statement that is devastated by the 10,000 other comic book covers that were at least (or more) great than this very average cover art. There are 500 underground comix alone that blow away the impact of Squirrel Girl.
I don’t think you’re confused.
If this list is in no particular order, why is it numbered? Also, I take issue with the “exploring the full scope of this ever-evolving medium” claim. While comics publishing has expanded and is way more inclusive, which is great, a list with only one Big 2 superhero comic and very few of the most popular, acclaimed indie comics isn’t a very representative sample.
Yeah, this seems a bit try-hard.
Well, they are an Eisner Winning team. Gotta keep that cred. Not that I disagree with them winning the award. I love the comics coverage here. But one of the things I like about it is that they cover both mainstream fare and more obscure indie stuff. This list is basically all of the latter and none of the former.
Yep, that. There was some absolutely stellar superhero storytelling from 2010 – onward. Feels like five slots could have been dedicated to that.
Yeah, that’s my problem with it. AV club usually strikes a nice balance but on lists like this that are supposed to be summations of the Best stuff, they use it as another opportunity to get the word out about admittedly good indie work…
representative of what? If it were based on, say, sales, it’d just be raina telgemeier and dav pilkey books; i think this is a nice sample of all the types of comics that have come out and influenced this decade.
Representative of the world of comics? Representative of the most talked about, acclaimed titles? Representative of the actual best? Not sure about the last one since I haven’t read most of the list. But the yearly lists the staff here does generally feature some more mainstream titles mixed in with the others.
Yeah, try and find a kid who doesnt own at least one Dogman book. I like this list, and if it did include Vision and Ms. Marvel then there probably wouldnt have been nearly as much discussion.
I fully applaud the effort to remind people that superhero books are a genre of comics, not the default of the medium, but this list gets too Pitchfork-y for me, leaving off big names at what feels like an editorially mandated level. No Saga? No Sex Criminals? Nothingffrom Greg Rucka (Lazarus? Black Magick? Wonder Woman?) or the incomparable Brubaker/Phillips team (Criminal? The Fade Out? Fatale? Velvet? Kill or Be Killed?) Champion the off-the-beaten-path stuff, by all means. Some of the stuff on this list sounds great, and I’m sorry I didn’t hear about it sooner, but don’t leave off the big names just on principle.
How many decades has it been since Pitchfork actually behaved as their reputation would dictate?
Irrelevant. The analogy persists. You knew exactly what I meant.
I’ll grant you that, and I honestly wasn’t trying to be a jerk. I just think it’s worth moving on from such a dated perception.
No Sex Criminals? I now have blue balls.
Up the butt stuff?
Me too, but in fairness, me have blue everything!
Looking back at the 2010s comics landscape and not mentioning any of the following:Mr. Miracle SagaJason Aaron’s Thor SeriesThe Wicked and The Divine Seems questionable. I understand the point of these lists is to shed light on projects from indie and under serviced talents that may of not gotten the attention they deserve (which is noble!) but to not even mention these 4 seems like taking that ethos too far.
I have yet to enjoy a Jason Aaron book, and find most of his characterizations and story choices somewhere between wrongheaded and asinine….but you’re bang on about the other 3 (although I do prefer Vision to MM).
Aaron is maybe 25% hit, 75% miss. He’s done some good things but the majority of his work is incredibly sloppy and lazy.
Most of his best stuff involves Wolverine in some way, shape, or form.
I don’t think I’ve disagreed with a comment about Jason Aaron more. To each their own, but I’ve loved most of what he’s written, especially the last 5 years. His entire Thor run has been awesome.
I’m not hugely into the sort of arthouse comics that make up most of this list (I thought ‘On a Sunbeam’ was pretty bad though I did like ‘This One Summer’ and ‘My Favorite Thing is Monsters’ though I can’t say I love it until the second part comes out).
Anyhow, I like comics more for their potential to do pulpy sci-fi and fantasy in a way tv can’t, so here’s my list that goes in a very different direction.My own list:
1. Prophet (Image)
2. Giant Days (Boom)
3. Fantastic Four (Marvel) by Jonathan Hickman
4. Lazarus (Image)
5. Injection (Image)
6. The Old Guard (Image)
7. East of West (Image)
8. Godzilla: Half Century War (Image)
9. Wild’s End (Boom!)
10. Vision (Marvel)
5.
I like your list better.
Thanks. I don’t fault AV Club for liking what they like, I just know that while I like the sort of intellectual indie material they do in novels, in comics, I still really want beautiful imagery that sells storytelling with a large scope. Indie Comics feel, in their own weird way, disposable. But again, to each their own.
You should maybe check out the Mister Miracle series as well. It’s by the same writer as Vision.
I’ve read it. As well as Sheriff of Babylon, Omega Men, Grayson, and some of his Batman. I find it all a very mixed bag. I wanted to like Mr. Miracle but I ultimately felt like it was stylish but not great.
Stokoe!
I wish he worked more…and that his Alien book had been as good as Godzilla.
I liked it, but I’m a mark for xenomorphs. I just dream of a day where Orcstain returns.
I’d love that! Hell, I’d take just about anything from him. His one-shot Avengers issue was super fun.
YOUR OPINION MATCHES MINE. WE ARE NOW BEST FRIENDS.
AGREED. COMMENCE FRIENDSHIP. LET US COMMISiRATE OVER BEER AND NACHOS ABOUT LIFE AND LOVE.
A regular Gerry Ford, this one.
D’oh!
He posted the next issue on his patreon and it is incredible if you havent seen it already. It was so good it got me to dust off my old issues of Orc Stain and it’s just as good or better than I remember it.
I didn’t realize he had one. I’ll look into it, thanks!
Man, I almost forgot about Vision.
Thanks for the list.
Prophet was so weird in a good way. I would love to figure out how it was decided to take a fairly boring Liefield Image character and turn it into a far future, trippy, Mobius-like space opera.
thats better. Vision was so damn good. I’d add Mr Miracle, Saga and Monstress. Though the latter two are not yet complete.
James Stokoe is without a doubt one of the greatest talents of the decade.
You included East of West. How does it feel to have such spectacular taste?
Not great.
This is a good list. Personally, would swap out some of these with at least one of the Ed Brubaker books and Snyder’s American Vampire, but that 3–7, 10 chunk is stellar.
Also, I’ve yet to forgive Zero for not being the kickass, weird sci fi espionage series the first 10 issues promised. The sort of postmodern drug trip tribute to Burroughs it became was to me, self-indulgent and not my cup of teas.
Ales Kot losing himself up his own ass?SHOCKING!
I’ve interacted with the man online and he was a real ass, but I’ll admit he’s had some series that started off well, but man, I am so over his faux-intellectual post-modern stuff.
Didn’t expect to see Helter Skelter on this list, but very pleased that it is (although I might actually slightly prefer Okazaki’s other translated manga, Pink). I know it really didn’t sell well here which basically convinced Vertigo to give up on publishing Josei manga which is too bad… (Though ideally I would put a Moto Hagio title here too–maybe Otherworld Barbara.)
Needs moar Immortal Hulk.
SAGAThe BoysChewSunstoneDeath VigilDescender/AscenderStar Wars Dr AphraThe Wicked + The DivineThe Wildstorm (rebooted wildstorm universe)CraySex CriminalsMonstressVader.East of WestTransformers: More Than Meets the EyeTransformers: Lost Light (follow up to MTMTE)Paper Girls.Blood StainBatman: White KnightBlack Magick.
I really hope Black Magick comes back. Rucka’s Image stuff the last few years has just been pure gold for me.
Has there been a break in publication? I only collect TPB’s nowadays and BM is only up to vol 2 with 3 being released in Dec.
Issue 11 was the last one, it was released in (checks notes) March 2018!
Offt, still not as bad as the delay for Nowhere Men. Jan 2016 was their last issue.
Man, Nowhere Men was so good, I would love more of that.
Volume 3 is being released in December???Awesome! Vol 2 came out well over a year ago.
Black Magick sticks out here. I like Rucka a lot and this did nothing for me.
It’s my least favorite of his Image books. Lazarus and Old Guard are top-notch.
Old Guard is fine enough, but Lazarus is my jam. Detailed timelines throwing out random events that have never been really discussed? Count me in. See also: East of West.
Have you tried Black Monday Murders? That hits a similar sweet spot for me as East of West and Lazarus in terms of world-building and timelines.Downside, it’s been on hiatus forever, but still.
I really hope Tomm Coker gets to a place health-wise where he can finish it. Because it may be my favorite Hickman work.
Hear hear!
I enjoy the story but for me its the black and white shaded artwork from Nicola Scott that makes the book worth reading.
I find that as I get older, superhero books are less and less interesting to me, with a few exceptions. Your list has some of my absolute favorites: Chew, Descender/Ascender, East of West (damn, I love that book). I’d add Lock & Key, Low, Deadly Class (RIP TV version), Most of Ed Brubaker’s stuff (Kill or Be Killed) and Lazarus.
Yeah same here, Injustice is the only one i keep up with. I’ll maybe pick up stuff like White Knight but i don’t really follow mainstreams anymore.
The Boys is mostly in the 2000s, so I see why it was skipped(also not a fan). Rest of the list is pretty solid.
I haven’t read as many comics this decade as in the past, but I did just recently start reading the MTMTE comics and was surprised how good they really were.
Yeah the IDW TF series was great but MTMTE and LL were by far the best out the whole lot. I love what they did with Megatron basically turning him into the IDW Magneto and giving the war an actual good reason for starting instead of the usual “Autobots good, Decepticons bad!” shite we usually got..
One of the most surreal experiences of my comic reading life was reading the issue of MTMTE where Megatron confronted the Decepticon Justice Division and being reduced to tears by its conclusion. A grown ass man crying over a comic based on a toy franchise. IDW Megatron was the perfect fallen hero. Someone who wanted to do right by everyone, but just completely lost himself along the way, and by the time he realized his mistakes, he was just so old and tired and sad. Christ, I’m tearing up again.
The Boys and multiple Star Wars comics on a list of best comics of the decade is. . . . certainly a choice you made.
Why not? Vader and Dr Aphra have been excellent comics and have been getting rave reviews. If you didn’t like The Boys then thats on you.Sure you don’t wanna rag on my Transformers choices too whilst you are at it?
The Boys is probably the worst that comics have to offer in one ugly little package. It’s Ennis at his most nasty, devoid of the humanity and insight that drives his best work. Yeah there’s a lot of nasty jokes in Hitman (fuck Bueno Excellente and ‘funny rape’), but what drove that series was a genuine love of the characters and the world. (I mean, Superman’s monologue from the JLA/Hitman crossover for me is one of the alltime Supes classics). The Boys is completely devoid of that. It is shock for shock’s sake, and not even in a well thought out way. The satire seems to end at “everyone’s an asshole” and the good ideas in the series is buried in the endless rape jokes, grossout humor, and sophomoric comic “commentary.” Haha, it’s a crossover which they use as an excuse to have an orgy. Superheroes having sex. Hilarious! Haha, what a ripper. It’s frat boy comics, and honestly as a queer woman reading comics, if someone told me to read that as one of the best comics of a decade (which given that a majority came out before the decade in question) it would probably help underline to me that comics are probably not for me.
Transformers has its defenders, and I’ve seen some good things from it. I also don’t think it would belong on a best of list, but it at least seems to be a long running labor of love. I don’t know if masturbatory Vader fanfiction really belongs as a “best comics of a decade” list when this decade has literally had some of the most creative and inventive works even from the Big 2.
I take it you’ve taken a look into Dr Aphra then as you didn’t have anything to say about that one.
Why bother, it’s not like you’ve responded to my thoughts so why put the energy into it.
I thought i made my thoughts on whether or not you liked The Boys pretty clear in my OG post. They’re not every ones cup of tea and i understand that. I’m not gonna trudge through the exact same shit every time i have a discussion about them, thats why i don’t.And i asked about Aphra because as you’ve stated you yourself are a queer woman and i wanted to see how you felt about the first proper canon queer character. But if you wanna just take the hump off you go.
Hey, somebody else who loved Batman: White Knight! Everyone seems to be mixed at best on that one, but I thought it was great. The only problem I had with it was the same problem I had with the his Punk Rock Jesus miniseries, that it developed so many interesting characters/plotlines/ideas that the ending feels a bit rushed and I wanted to spend more time in those worlds.
As a fellow SCAD graduate and a hockey fan, it’s a joy (and an utter shock given the competition) to see Check Please! on here. It’s a fun time and really heartwarming. I met the artist during an event my senior year and they couldn’t have been nicer.If we’re leaning towards self-published webcomics with this list, I wish ones like Cucumber Quest or Nimona/Lumberjanes got a shoutout. All are really incredible works of art, particularly with GGDG’s use of color on CQ.
I had always assumed the author went to Yale, the setting reminded me so much of it.
Actually, looking at her bio on their website, she did actually graduate from Yale, and she got her MFA at SCAD.
That makes sense. The thing I immediately noticed was that the little fences by the sidewalks in the comics look exactly like those on Yale’s Old Campus.
No Sex Criminals?No Squirrel Girl?No SAGA!!??
Haven’t read Squirrel Girl.The other two are really premise and art and… can feel a bit undercooked a lot of the time. Besides this…and despite it being a “best of” list… I appreciate being told about good comics that entire world doesn’t already know about.I’m more curious about hearing about new good things, than I am insecure in need of having my opinion validated by others.
Me know these comments only supposed to be for “why you not include thing me like!”, but every time me was bracing self for some important work to be left off, me found it further down list. Except maybe Nimona and Kiss Number 8. Okay, now me doing it too!
I am bothered by the distinct lack of Warren Ellis from this list.
No Moon Knight:Back from the Dead? No Karnak: The Flaw in All Things? Or Trees? Or Injection?And I’ll never understand why the AV Club constantly ignores Jonathan Hickman’s East of West. (sad face)
I love Injection, and unexpectedly loved Supreme: Blue Rose.
It’s such a weird book. Normally the type of thing that, in the hands of a guy like Grant Morrison, I don’t like at all, but somehow there’s something powerful there. I don’t know that I love it, but I have it and have read it a couple of times and it’s fascinating.
There’s actually been a lot of love for East of West from Oliver Sava (it’s been featured on his ‘big issues’ feature two or three times. It’s one of my favorites series but the AV Club always goes heavily in the indie direction on these lists.
There’s actually been a lot of love for East of West from Oliver Sava (it’s been featured on his ‘big issues’ feature two or three times. Thanks for the tip. I’ll have to look back and see if I can find those.
Man, I love East of West
No Tom King at all? Nonsense.No Jonathan Hickman at all? Nonsense.No Lemire? No Telgemier? No Piskor? No Forsman? No Box Brown or Yang? No Aaron?No Street Angel? Monstress? Locke and Key? Saga? Crickets? Beasts of Burden? Palookaville?Just a bunch of web comics and weeb stuff. Hell, not even Vinland Saga gets a mention? Come on, I get difference of opinion and all, but there’s 25 choices and most of them are very similar things. I get the notion to defy popularity, but to claim major publishers like DC ad Dark Horse didn’t have a single worthy book of the decade is incredibly suspect.
If we’re including webcomics in this listing, then there can only be one. And honestly, it should be pretty high, too:
If we’re including webcomics in this listing, then there can only be one. And honestly, it should be pretty high, too:
God, that was weird, the wrong post in the wrong spot.Here though, I will say I love Injection, and unexpected loved Supreme: Blue Rose.
I’m gonna go ahead and preempt some griping:Saga belongs off of this list.
*in voice of Scruff, the janitor
Seconded.
Nope
Not all of these are my cup of tea, and I really think the Superhero slot could have done with a stronger option, this is a good varied list full of items that I’m interested in reading.I do wonder because of the length of time, if earlier teens work, like the phenomenal Duncan the Wonder Dog was purposefully left off or just never in the discussion.
Crickets, Building Stories, Ganges, Lilli Carre’s “Heads or Tails”
So I guess my first post didn’t make it?Ah well, then. I’m glad Eleanor Davis made it.And most popular doesn’t mean best, but c’mon, Raina Telgemeier.
Both March and Daytrippers are as good as their inclusion here implies. Powerful stuff in March that should be handed out to every high school student in the USA. Daytrippers was absolutely beautiful and thought provokingAlso coll to see Emily Carroll on this list. I have yet to experience Margot’s Room, but I have read some of her other work and I just love her spooky style.
Daytrippers is one I STILL think about years after reading. And it’s one of the books I’ll mention to people who still think comics can’t be “literature”*.*pronounced: Li-tritch-terrrr
Nothing by Jonathan Hickman on this list. Trash.
You can go to literally any other “best of” comics list and see plenty of Marvel, DC, Vertigo, and Image. I love that this list gives me plenty of new things to try so I can expand my comic reading horizons. Yeah, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Saga, Sex Criminals, and all that stuff is great. But I’d rather learn more about some slightly less talked about comics.
Side note: Oh Human Star and On a Sunbeam are probably some of my favorite queer comics from the last few years, especially the chapter that gracefully follows Sulla’s transition. And it’s been amazing following Octopus Pie since it began and being able to witness Meredith Gran really grow as a cartoonist and storyteller.
God Country and East of West need to be on this list.
Where the hell is Mr. Miracle? Jesus this place is going downhill.
East of West is one of the best comics ever, full stop.
🙁 No manga. I want a manga list this blows.
Nothing by Hickman? No East of West, House of X/Powers of 10, Manhattan Projects, etc? And, fuck, no SAGA? Meh, this should be retitled “Hipsters best comics of the 2010’s”. None of the stuff you liked or read, of course. We’re cool like that.
Really great list that makes me want to read all of these.I was super bummed when Octopus Pie finally ended. Gran is such an amazing writer who can balance the absurd humor and human drama so well. Easily the best comic, web or otherwise, I read this decade.Excited for her upcoming video game she is working on…But man I am super excited and anticipating her next comic project.
How did Black Science not make this list?
What, no Homestuck?
Cue the angry nerds incensed over the fact that this list isn’t at least 25% Marvel, 25% DC, and 25% what passes for ‘indie’ when you’re upset that half the list isn’t mainstream as fuck…so let’s just say…I dunno…Image.In all seriousness, though, I’m relieved this list isn’t stacked with the kind of perzine-style confessionals that so much of the non-mainstream comics scene has had a years long collective boner for.Also, happy to not see Bryan Lee O’Malley’s name appear anywhere but this comment.
Ironically I think at least 25% of this list is Image. Image comics actually does a lot of the “Indy” publishing these days because of how they handle creators rights.
Unless some of the image credits are from imprints, I only noticed three offerings from Image.I’m not sure how they handle creator’s rights is at all unique compared to other alternative/non-mainstream publishers like Fantagraphics, either.
Kate Beaton is wonderful. I am not hugely a fan of her current comics which are mostly about taking care of a new baby, but even those are entertaining and in her inimitable style
So I generally read only Marvel and DC and occasionally Image and others, but I have barely read any comics on this list. I know most are indie and I’ve heard of them, but I’ve just not read them. Still, here’s my list (in no particular order):Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing and and Joe Bennett.The Wicked+ The Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvieThe Vision by Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez WaltaMs. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa Through the Woods by Emily CarrollBlack Hammer by Jeff Lemire and Dean OrmstonBlack Bolt by Saladin Ahmed and Christian Ward Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip ZdarskySaga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona StaplesThe Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North and Erica HendersonNimona by Noelle Stevenson
If you are interested in branching out, do yourself a favor and Read ‘Sunny’ by Taiyo Matsumoto. Should be available at most libraries and is probably the best slice of life comic I’ve ever read (as well as all of his work.)
Do any of y’all read the webcomic Unsounded? It’s amazing to me that there isn’t a larger audience.
we just gonna ignore all of tom king huh
When I saw the graphic on the main page I literally said out loud “Bitty!!” So happy to see Check, Please! on the list!
No love for Paper Girls?
I feel like the comic world has a much, much wider scope in audience, so I get how lists like these can confound. Even though a bunch of these picks are pitch-perfect, I could have made a totally different 25 choices and felt good about it.That said, this decade will be by and large defined by Saga, and not just because its popular. Egregious miscalculation bordering on nihilistic to not include it. But OTHER than that, the list is fine! lol
Your list claims to be the best comics of the 2010s but doesn’t include ‘Saga’?
I agree with people saying, it’s just a list. Don’t complain ‘cos your favourite thing isn’t on it.I also agree with folks saying… “what… no Saga?”And as a slight curveball, in addition to Saga, Sex Criminals, Nowhere Men, Vision, Mind MGMT and so on, my list would definitely include Alan Moore’s Providence/Neonomicon (with Jacen Burrows). It’s shocking, disturbing and incredibly compelling horror. I loved it.
Posted this elsewhere…But it’s funny. Movie lists get mostly people whining that their fav movie of the year isn’t #1. Book lists are mostly people saying “yay” for a book they liked that made the list or “shit” my to-read list just got longer.Perhaps unsurprisingly this comment section seems to be a balance of these reactions leaning towards more “book-list” responses.
Hawkeye was good, but it might be the most overrated title I have read in a long time.
Also would’ve added Habibi, Black Hammer, and Saga. No Saga???
Instead of saying what everyone else is saying, “Where is Saga?” I’m going to share a funny storyI asked my local library to order the Saga collection 1(the big 54 issue complication) so my wife could read it. I had a few of the graphic novels but read it all digitally which my wife hates doing. So the local library saved me from having to buy it all again(at least until they do a crazy prestige format when the whole series is over)I picked of up from the library today and the ancient librarian checking it out flipped it open and managed to land right in the page where the two fish guys are having sex. She gave me a side eye and said “Oh I didn’t know we added THOSE kind of comics to our collection”.
I love this list so much. Several books I’m excited to check out (especially pun pun), but the inclusion of Sunny and Prince of Cats pretty much guaranteed that I was on board. I love Marvel books and I love Saga, but I also can appreciate a list that puts me on to new things that aren’t inside the mold of what I expect comics to be.
Funnily enough, while many bemoan the lack of the more popular choices of print comics (and I don’t disagree, though I also understand the AVC’s angle) my complaint is that they included mostly some of the more popular and meme-rific webcomics. (It’s not a coincidence that Nimona is the webcomic most mentioned in these comments, it belongs right there with the others).I’d have liked if the AVC shined the spotlight on some of the more criminally underrated yet awesome webcomics out there. Out of the top of my head, Mare Internum, Unsounded, Lackadaisy Cats, Stand Still—Stay Silent, and Guilded Age all are fantastic choices that put to shame many print comics in quality of story and art.
Hey, authors, have you read either Kill Six Billion Demons or Unsounded? Because those are missing from your list and I can’t tell why unless you haven’t read them.
shocked that saga is not on this list
How do you leave out Vision? Mr Miracle? Saga? Monstress?Its a weird list with a very specific taste reflected – don’t you know that this list should be my favorite 25, not your favorite 25!?!?
Prophet
My favorite thing not on this list is Rob Davis’ trilogy: The Motherless Oven, The Can Opener’s Daughter, The Book of Forks. I’ve never read anything like it and too few people have read it.
I’m a long time A.V. Club comments section lurker, posting because I’m shocked no one has mentioned the omission of Simon Hanselmann. All of the Megg, Mog, and Owl comics would make my list, but leaving off Megahex is especially glaring. That collection is a fucking masterpiece. Maybe it’s only because I relate so strongly to the characters, having myself been a drug-addicted burnout throughout most of my 20s, but I don’t think there was a more beautiful depiction of depression and self-loathing in comics this decade, or maybe ever. I come close to crying just thinking about Owl’s imagined flight among the fireworks, and that final image of his head tilted back, eyes closed and mouth agape with yearning. Not only is it deeply moving, it’s consistently hilarious. P.S. fuck Jim Spanfeller, I miss u Deadspin
Sweet, I didn’t read any of these. I’m going to go cry in the corner.
So not even a sniff for Chris Ware’s “Rusty Brown”. Seriously?
AV Club’s well known indie book bias strikes again. It strikes so hard they forget a bunch of bunch of Image books that are written by guys who started in mainstream books- Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie’s The Wicked + The Divine, Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta’s East Of West, and Fiona Avery and Brian K. Vaughan’s Saga. Also, only one superhero book and it’s Hawkeye? What about Lemire and Ormond’s Black Hammer? Or Tom King and Mitch Gerad’s Mister Miracle? Or King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta’s The Vision? Morrison and Sharpe’s The Green Lantern? Hickman’s… anything he did at Marvel, including the new X-Men stuff he’s writing?I call such BS.
Superhero comics are not necessary anymore. Thank god.
Gotta stand up for Immortal Hulk. Issue #25 is successfully experimental in the same way the standout Hawkguy issues are, and it’s a real disturbing look into what Banner and the Hulk(s) are becoming.
It’s also a run full of really squishy body horror. Hulk Squish!
Nothing by Ed Brubaker? Criminal? Fatale? No?
No Mister Miracle, fine, whatever, the author doesn’t like superhero comics, I get it. But no Saga is like…borderline disrespectful…