With the 2010s showing that superhero films can be done right with the right people involved as well as the rise of films based off comics, comics have never been more important than ever before. So today we are looking at the best comics of the last decade. Now rather than pick the best titles of comics, this list will be more about the established storylines that debuted in the year because some storylines are spread over more than others. Most will of course be from the likes of Marvel and DC, but I remain hopeful that there will be some others too. So grab some comics and let's have a read:
2010 - Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne
Now as you may notice when going through this list, there isn't as many runner ups due to the fact that I tend to read a few comics every once in a while rather than read them regularly like I would do with watching films, TV and playing video games. But nevertheless, I managed to read at least one comic each year of the last decade that were newly released in those years. I will also be lightly touching on any form of news during this post because most comic book news in this last decade have been pretty slim compared to others. So 2010 saw the return of Batman whom following the
Final Crisis event, was presumbed dead by Darkseid's Omega Beam. But it turns out that Bruce Wayne is actually gone back in time and throughout this story is trying to get back to his own time. But that's not his main problem. He is also suffering from amnesia and the effects of Darksied is taking its toll on him. We see him in the caveman days, in the wild west, in the golden age of piracy and even the exact time when his parents were murdered. All the while a group of heroes led by Superman are using their own abilities to save Batman, but for the most part remain one step behind him. The end result sees Batman changed in a way and decides to welcome help rather than reject it like he has done before knowing that he will never be alone. Its a good story that is half about seeing how Batman goes about different time periods and half about him trying to get to his own time with the Justice League of America trying to catch up and save him. A good little story that is welcomed by a lot of fans so let's hope we get more stories like this for maybe some of the other DC heroes. We shall see.
2011 - Flashpoint
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The big thing to happen for DC in 2011 was them cancelling many of their then ongoing titles to make way for their New 52 scheme which as the name implies, sees the launch of 52 new titles as well as a new logo for them. To start things off, DC released a story centred on The Flash. So we all know that many heroes became heroes when their lost their loved ones at some point in their past. For Spider-Man it was Uncle Ben, for Batman it was Thomas and Martha Wayne and for Superman it was the dying planet of Krypton. In the case of the Flash or more specifically Barry Allen, it was his mother. Now most will want to change the past but are not able to and thus accept what has happened and move on. But for Barry Allen, he goes back in time to save his mum at the cost of changing the world he once lived in. No Justice League exists in this new world because Aquaman and Wonder Woman are at war, Cyborg works for the government, Superman is being held captive after his shuttle nearly destroys Metropolis and in the place of Bruce Wayne is Thomas Wayne as a more murderous and gun wielding Batman and a guilt ridden Martha Wayne as The Joker. Basically the world has gone to s**t and for once its not a villain that did this, but Barry Allen himself. So desperate to get things back to the way it was, Barry allies himself with Batman and works with him and Cyborg to form a resistance movement in an attempt to go back to the past and prevent himself from changing what happened. Its a complicated story, but one that has lasting effects on the DC universe which got changed following the events of this story with ten years being changed. A great story nonetheless, but a very complicated one. Perhaps best to watch the film, but even then its pretty disturbing. Also check out these other comics too.
Runner Ups:
- Batman: The Black Mirror
- Batman: Arkham
- A Game of Thrones
2012 - Batman: Death of the Family
2012 saw the end of up to three beloved comics with the most notable one for the UK being
The Dandy which saw its final issue this year but remained online for a little while until that came to an end too. Also Stan Lee created his own YouTube channel for the first time too. So as previously mentioned, DC launched the New 52 initiative in the previous year and with that came many new stories for Batman and his comrades. Across up to 10 comic series each focused on a member of the Bat Family or just Gotham in general, the Joker made his return with the intention of doing some sick and twisted things to the Bat Family and with him having cut his face off, he is more insane than ever before. He pushes his greatest enemy to more limits than ever before and we as readers would soon start to wonder if this new Joker is even real. It is a really twisted story, but to be fair that is what we should expect from the Joker. Its a great story that puts the once powerful Bat Family into their most vulnerable position yet. Plus we come close to finding out the real identity of the Joker which has been long a mystery for so many years. A great story if not a bit twisted and sick. As are the pair of runner ups below.
Runner Ups:
- Deadpool Killogy
- Kingsman
2013 - Afterlife with Archie
2013 was a very light year in terms of news. Of course there were some conventions, exhibitions as well as beloved writers and artists that passed away. But other than those, it was a very light year for comic news. So for a long time, we have all come to know the world of
Archie as a sweet and lighthearted world of characters who go about their lives in a pretty harmless way while also having occasional crossovers with known monsters and psychopaths. So out of the blue, the unthinkable happened and we got
Afterlife with Archie. Now some of you may remember a little while ago I did a top 25 posts on darker and twisted versions of franchises and among them was this very story. Set in an alternate reality, the town of Riverdale faces a zombie Apocalypse that started with Jughead's beloved dog Hot Dog being killed accidentally by Reggie, only to be revived by Sabrina though as more zombie than an actual dog. Because of this, Jughead becomes one of the zombies and Archie and his remaining companions are forced to flee the town they once lived in while trying to be one step ahead of the horde that were once his friends and family. A great story that puts child friendly characters into a very different world to what fans are used to. It also started a new series of comics called
Archie Horror which was basically rewriting
Archie characters as more darker and twisted than ever before. A great story which would continue a trend among most forms of media but especially comics. But also check out the runner up below.
Runner Up:
2014 - Batman: Eternal
2014 saw Take Two Interactive (video game holdings company who are the parent company of 2K Games and Rockstar) get their own comic book imprint among other things that occurred this year too. So during the 75th anniversary celebration for Batman, DC decided to do a year long story known as
Batman: Eternal. With a number of writers involved and different styles and genres to try out, this remains to be one of the few Batman stories to actually be really good if not a bit complicated. It was a year long story that started in April of this year and ended in the following April before a new series known as
Batman and Robin: Eternal started a few months later. Pretty much all known associates of Batman (good and evil but minus any member of the Justice League) make at least one appearance in this story but unlike
Batman: Hush, this is more explosive and sees Commissioner Gordon go to jail and most of the Bat Family each dealing with their own problems. All coming together for one final battle in the end while Gotham burns. It is a great but long story that shows how much can be fleshed out if you go about making this story in a year like it set out to do. A great Batman story worth a read as are the couple of runner ups below.
Runner Ups:
- Batman: Endgame
- Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive
2015 - Secret Wars
2015 saw a change for comics in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks in which many people who worked in the comic industry there were either killed or injured. Although the assassins were indeed shot down by the police, one cartoonist in particular would go on to write about the event in a graphic novel known as
Mon Bataclan on year later. Also this year,
Star Wars and
James Bond 007 get some comic books made and Marvel go about doing a big event that would change their comics for a while. This event is of course the
Secret Wars event which is the second one of its kind. Kind of like DC's many Crisis events,
Secret Wars sees the destruction of the Marvel Universe with a place known as the Battleworld showing up that is comprised of different territories and many different versions of Marvel characters. This storyline also bought about the end of the
Marvel Ultimates imprint and served as a follow up to
Marvel 2099,
Age of Apocolypse,
Marvel 1602 and
House of M with all those universes and storylines along with many others, being affected by this event. Of course the main part of the event is one big graphic novel, but there are also a lot of tie ins as well. Overall it is as it should be, very complicated. But it has appearances from nearly every known version of the characters as well as looking back at various storylines that occurred. It is a great story if you are in the right frame of mind to read it as are the runner ups below.
Runner Ups:
- Star Wars
- Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible: A Marvellous Memoir
- Bat-Mite
2016 - Civil War II
2016 saw DC do another relaunch of all their established comics, this time known as
DC Rebirth. Marvel meanwhile decided to do another
Civil War which although different to the original story, was to capitalise on the release of the film
Captain America: Civil War which was released that year. I this story we learn that Ulysses Cain of the Inhumans has the ability to forecast the future. This puts him at the centre of another Civil War which sees Captain Marvel wanting him to join the Ultimates in tackling disasters before they happen. Whereas Iron Man believes that preventing such events before they happen may do more bad than good. Things soon escalate when Iron Man sets out to prevent Ulysses from being used ever again after seeing a fight with Thanos (which the young Inhuman predicted would try and cause trouble) end in the death of War Machine and She-Hulk being hospitalised. One thing leads to another and the two Avengers fight it out while Ulysses continues to have visions which lead into the deaths of some other heroes. But unlike its predecessor, we actually see many of the established superhero teams fighting in this story. I guess the end result is what we were expecting, but its a great story. Not too much focused on the political aspect like the first one was. But it shows that maybe some heroes need to come to the realisation that everything isn't as it seems to be and nothing should be based on possible future events. A great but slightly complicated story and if you were wanting a more political story, you won't get one here mostly. But you will in the runner up below.
Runner Up:
2017 - Doomsday Clock
2017 had the controversy that was Comicsgate. This came about when lots of people didn't like how comics were forcing diversity and had a thing for social reform with a launched harassment attack on companies and freelancers of different racial backgrounds, members of the LGBTQ+ community and women. My opinion as it always has been is that while I don't like the idea of having people be forced to accept social reform and diversity, I think both ideals are good. Diversity is a huge thing now with so many companies, countries and even governments accepting that there are people who are not just men but women as well. That there are people who will look different racially. And that there are people who may prefer being attracted to the same gender rather than or in addition to the opposite and/or want to have what the opposite gender has whether it be a full transformation or a partial one. In other words, accept who you are and not what people expect you to be. As for social reform, I don't know much about it personally but I know that it has something to do with progress and government activities and its OK for some forms of media to have a little bit of it here and there. But enough talk about my thoughts on Comicsgate, let's look at my pick for 2017. So DC have done so much over the past decade with two relaunches of their comics called the New 52 and DC Rebirth. But for a while not much was being done to conclude those stories so they decided to do a story around that while incorporating characters from
Watchmen as a means to do a follow up to that story in the process. So in
Doomsday Clock, both the DC Universe and the Watchmen Universe are separate with characters from each world considering the other to be fictional and not real. Most of the story is a crossover, but largely focusing on Doctor Manhatten who was responsible for how the New 52 came about and was trying to learn about how the DC Universe is full of hope in the midst of a potential World War III. An interesting story that is both a crossover as well as the conclusion to the previously mentioned DC Rebirth and New 52 storylines and a continuation of
Watchmen. Worth read if you are among the few that want to know what ever happened to the Watchmen as well as if they ever crossed over to the DC universe. So yeah worth reading as are the runner ups below.
Runner Ups:
- Dasterdley & Muttley
- Dark Nights: Metal
- Venomverse
2018 - The Immortal Hulk
This year was controversial for Stan Lee who had a lot of legal action against companies he was formally involved with that were using his likeness as well as being one of those victims of children wanting his fortune which he denied. Nevertheless despite all that I still have the greatest of respect for the man who also passed away this year too alongside collaborator Steve Ditko (though most likely under different circumstances and at different times). The world lost two and possibly more legends in the comic book world this year, but their legacies will live on no doubt. So we all know that the Hulk is incredible. But in 2018, Marvel decided to change things up and now we get the Immortal Hulk. Instead of Bruce Banner getting angry, he simply has to die to release the Hulk and well the story also sees the Hulk cut up into pieces and is still seemingly alive and well as that happens. An interesting if not bizarre take on one of the late Stan Lee's most famous creations and honestly, it works quite well. Who would have thought that the Incredible Hulk could also be known as the Immortal Hulk. A good story that gives renewed interest in the Hulk so let's hope we get more stories like this.
2019 - DCeased
2019 saw some corporate shake ups and apart from a lot of comics getting released, that was about it. So while it has been known that Marvel rip off DC, the reverse has happened in recent years with Marvel having done their own cinematic universe and DC having caught up to them. The same can be said for both companies in their attempts at adapting a zombie apocalypse in their universes. In the case of Marvel, we got
Marvel Zombies which depicted a universe where most of the heroes and villains have become zombies but are still themselves despite being in need of food and wanting to eat any living being that comes to them such as Magneto of the Ultimates universe and Silver Surfer and even Galactus. So of course DC would do their own take, but rather than have the universe be all zombies straight away, they would take the approach of starting at the beginning. So we see the Justice League battling Darkseid and his forces with Cyborg being tortured for the anti-life equation. A digital version seems to have hit the Internet on Earth and anyone that sees it, turns into a zombie. So the heroes must do all they can to save their world before doom hits them. Its a great story that not only does what we were expecting, but does something original with the zombie virus being the Internet rather than from some kind of illness. A good story overall and hopefully we can have more horror stories like this in both Marvel and DC.
And that's it for comics. Now I know I said I would try to not have it all be just Marvel and DC and I like to think that I have done well to an extent there (admittedly maybe I could've reduced it more, but oh well). Feel free to leave a comment below on what your favourite comics from the last decade are. Next up on Monday, it will be the time of music.
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