- January 4, 2025
Top Five Best Comic Books of 2024
Before we start, just to be honest, I didn’t read as many comics this year as I have years prior. Since I have less time and I’m putting out fewer videos than usual, this video will focus on the top five while hopefully spending more time talking about them. Also, if a comic has been on my list multiple times before in the top five spots, I’m gonna just add them to honorable mentions after this year.
Another reason I want to talk about fewer comics this year is that DC really didn’t start putting out its best and — let’s be honest — most advertised bangers until the end of the year. Marvel hasn’t really been that hot either. They ended what has been the best era of the X-Men and replaced it with a bland retread of what’s been done before.
This year, it felt like Marvel was taking the piss out of me with the way Krakoa ended. While the final issue was a beautiful epilogue, and would definitely make my top ten, that epilogue and the end of Krakoa still feels wrong and came way too soon. An ironic parallel to DC who wasn’t fast enough to save my year in comics.
Also, after being my favorite comic for two years in a row, it didn’t feel fair to give Saga the best spot once again. We should all be reading it, and we should all know that it’s fantastic. It’s one of, if not the best ongoing series on the shelves.
There are a lot of series that have only two issues at the time of writing. These will likely be on the list next year. Looking at you, Absolute DC, and Batgirl. Other series have gotten onto my top ten with fewer issues out in the year, and while these series I’m sorta snubbing are great, they’re not as jaw-dropping as say, Wonder Woman: Historia. That said, the Absolute line at DC is great but will be even better in the long run.
Right now, let’s celebrate the best comic books I read this year, and let me know in the comments below, what comic you read that you think I should be reading. Spoiler warning for every comic we talk about today.
#5. Nights, by Wyatt Kennedy and Luigi Formisano
Nights has been a favorite comic of mine since it came out, grabbing hold of me since its first issue and never let go. This is also the last time I put it on an end-of-the-year list for a while. What can be said, that hasn’t been said already?
This comic has the end-of-the-world stakes but makes them feel personal. We care about Gray having some endgame monster inside her because it’ll be the loss of her autonomy and the end of her relationship with Vince. To be honest, I’m not quite sure if anyone cares about this world-ending threat, if it even is one. I just want Gray and Vince’s relationship to run its natural course, and the world threatens to end it early
We also care about the monster who’s hunting Ivory. It’s this thing that haunts him, both because he feels guilty for what he’s done, but also because it’s a pretty terrifying monster. Then there’s the emotional baggage that comes with it. It keeps him from actually being there for his loved ones, even when he’s right next to them. How can he focus on anyone when the innocents he’s hurt always haunt him, right alongside an actual monster?
Matt is still dead, and alone, and very sad about it. But does he have to be? There’s reason to believe that he actually doesn’t. Hopefully, we see more of that as the series enters a new arc in 2025.
Now that the comic has gotten most of the world-building and stakes out of the way, the characters are just knee-deep in their trauma and we’re seeing what really makes them tick. What are their hopes and dreams and what future are they striving for, that the story will no doubt rip away from them?
The only real complaint I have is that the problematic nature of Gray’s and Vince’s relationship has taken a back seat, but even in the most problematic relationships, there are periods where you can forget the issues they have. Here’s hoping the creative team, Wyatt Kennedy and Luigi Formisano don’t completely forget about it.
I mean, she is several hundred years and he’s graduating high school.
#4. DC All-In Special #1 by Joshua Williamson, Scott Snyder, Daniel Sampere, Wes Craig, and Dan Mora
This special was inventive not only in the story it told, but also in how it was told. This was two comics in one. You could read one side reach the middle, and realize there was a whole other story that somehow ends at the same point. I respect when comics experiment with themselves as a physical medium when digital comics are so popular. I love it even more when the experiment works out.
Of the two stories here, I do believe the Darkseid half is the one that has put this issue in my top five. I have to admit my bias, Darkseid is my favorite comic book villain of all time, maybe my favorite villain period and this was peak Darkseid.
It’s not enough to be a world-ending threat, it’s not enough to be the embodiment of Evil, it’s not enough to rule Apocalypse with an iron fist and serve as a focal in the universe that will never go away. Darkseid deserves more, and he’s going to make sure he gets everything he deserves.
His journey across the multiverse someone manages to tell a story of self-discovery and growth for a villain who hasn’t had to discover or grow since his inception. The fact that this is told rather expertly in the span of one issue, is something that deserves some applause. That’s just straight-up hard to do.
This isn’t to say that the formation of the Justice League Unlimited isn’t good. It’s a good story that sets an exciting status quo where the Justice League becomes more than the same seven or eight heroes you always see. Now, anyone can show up and be a member of the team, the vocal point of a storyline, and more.
While this is straight up a rip-off of the cartoon’s premise Justice League Unlimited, the fact that this is setting up a comic of the same name shows that they know what they’re doing. They’re giving people what they want from the Justice League. Heroes fans know and love, lifting up heroes many fans don’t but will soon.
DC’s All-In Special is my favorite singular issue of the year, and without a doubt, one of the best comics of the year.
#3. Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto
If you’ve followed this channel, you must be shocked. A Spider-Man comic in the top ten, and in the number 3 spot at that? How did Paul allow that?
Well, when you make an alternate universe to create a story that’s both new and interesting with the kind of Peter Parker we’ve always wanted to read about, you get the best Spider-Man comic in decades.
One More Day ruined mainline 616 Peter Parker. By deleting his marriage, stopping him from growing as a person with a daughter, and anchoring him to Aunt May, Peter Parker has been barred from having any meaningful character growth. This comic asks… what if Marvel hadn’t made that mistake, and then sunk their feet in out of spite? What if… we actually gave fans what they should have had a decade ago? And then what if we gave it to them in a way they never would have expected?
In Ultimate Spider-Man, we have an adult Peter Parker with a wife and kids. He’s an adult, he’s lived his life, and he’s gone through the everyday relatable experiences that people actually have, despite what some decision-makers at Marvel may think. But the creative team didn’t rest on their laurels. They made it so Peter’s origin and mythos are fundamentally different, and gave us something we didn’t know we wanted.
In this comic, Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto tell the story of a Peter Parker who already knows all about responsibility, but what he needs to learn, is what it means to have power.
Peter Parker is married with children and then gets his powers. For most of his life, he’s felt that he was destined for something greater than what he was. What he has is great, and he would never give it up, especially not to the Devil, but he can do more.
When he’s offered spider powers, he has to learn what it means to be more than just a guy. Once the mask is on it’s never a question of whether he should help people with his powers, only how.
In the Ultimate universe made and designed by the Maker, the how is going to be pretty tough, but the ultimate example of what it means to be Spider-Man.
#2. The Ultimates by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri
I know, my #2 pick for the year should sound even crazier than my last one. Spider-Man was a comic I fell out of love with and came to — in all honesty — hate. But the Avengers? Aside from the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon, I have never liked the Avengers as a team. I would go so far as to say that I hated it.
And so, from whatever Bizzaro world I’ve been put in, I must say that The Ultimates is my favorite superhero comic of 2024, and one of the best comics Marvel has ever put out.
Ultimate Spider-Man is quiet about the fact that the world is run and operated by supervillain dictators, placed in power by the Maker. You could probably read it without knowing that, and understand the most important bits. This book is all about the fact that the world is under the control of an institutional evil, and it’s the job of the people to liberate themselves.
This team, put together by a young, orphaned Tony Stark, wants to give normal people who could have been great, the ability to be more… and Thor. Thor’s there too, doesn’t really fit the theme, but that’s fine.
Each member is someone who’s been reduced to a normal person just trying to survive at best and an oppressed survivor of tragedy on average. The world isn’t some apocalypse or martial law occupation. It’s visually indistinct from the normal universe. There are some superhumans and sci-fi bugs, but New York is New York.
Each issue that introduces a new hero introduces a new evil of the world that directly relates to the suffering of people in the real world.
Hawkeye is a Native American whose traditions, land, and people have been abused and victimized for generations. Now he has the tools to defend them and hurt the corporations who have profited off the suffering and land of his people.
She-Hulk is a Pacific Islander whose home was caught in the aftermath of gamma testing that irradiated her home and turned her and her people into gamma-mutant beings. She knows who led the project and tests that poisoned her home and people, she knows what the callousness of brillant men can do, and she will sock those sanctimonious men in the face.
America Chavez is an immigrant from the stars who, upon landing, was kidnapped, locked up, and used as a battery to generate profit and power for a rich white man. She is the symbolic soul of the country that has been stripped of its resources and turned into a place where no one new can grow above their station. After gaining her freedom, America would say no more.
This book hits on every cylinder. Its action slaps, its small character drama hits, its big-brained story-telling is layered over every issue, and it does it all with a team I’ve given nothing but shit to for years.
The Ultimates, I dare say, is shaping up to be the best Avengers story ever told.
Honorable Mentions for Best Comic Book of 2024
These series are books that just barely missed my top five cut and would be on my top ten list, or were just too early in their run to be considered:
- Batgirl by Tate Brombal and Takeshi Miyazawa
- The Resurrection of Magneto by Al Ewing and Luciano Vecchio
- Wonder Woman by Tom King and Daniel Sampere
- Birds of Prey by Kelly Thompson and assorted artists
- Transformers by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and Jason Howard
- Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta
- Cobra Commander by Joshua Williamson, Andrea Milana, and Annalisa Leoni
- Ultimate X-Men by Peach Momoko
#1. Helen of Wyndhorn by Tom King and Bilquis Evely
After all that hype about a superhero comic, what the hell is this comic from Dark Horse doing at #1? Well, I’ll tell you, it’s the creative team behind Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, telling a story about a young woman who does not simply seek the call to adventure but inherits it.
Tom King and Bilquis Evely tell a story about a girl named — you guessed it — Helen, Helen Cole to be exact, and how she comes to be her grandfather’s companion after the death of her father. It’s a deep character study of not only Helen, but also the grandfather who ventures into the great unknowns of magic, and the governess who has to truly care for Helen’s well-being.
At first, it feels like a story that believes the call to adventure is both the start of an epic journey and the temptation to open Pandora’s box. When Helen takes her first step, she can’t simply be filled with excitement, she must also be filled with the heart of a warrior. She can’t simply be ready to kill, she has to be ready to dominate. She can’t simply assume that everything her grandfather will make sense, because, like her, he’s pretending not to mourn the death of her father, his son, right along with her.
The story has so many ideas about being a fantasy adventurer, venturing into undiscovered worlds, and about grief, that you’d think it would buckle under its own weight, but it never does. It even manages to weave in a meta-narrative about the believability of storybook adventures and how indulging in them can consume the reader, even venturing to consider that maybe it’s okay for a reader to be consumed.
In many ways, this is the perfect followup to Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, and in other ways, its similarities are purely in the aesthetic.
When I pick my favorite comic of the year — what I believe to be the best comic of the year — I pick one that, if it were the only comic you read this year, you wouldn’t be disappointed. If you need to offer one comic to convince someone of the strengths of the medium it could be this one.
If you’re looking for a story that will stay with you for years to come, it would be Helen of Wyndhorn.
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