Another year and another entry for my favorite on-going comic series of the year. It does make me a little sad that nothing new has muscled it's way onto this list. I'm still captivated by the same three series, and they have all had another strong year.
Saga, Black Science, and The Wicked + The Divine continue to explore their own brand of compellingly dysfunctional families. So what I said about them last year still holds true as each brought their stories forward.
Saga, Black Science, and The Wicked + The Divine continue to explore their own brand of compellingly dysfunctional families. So what I said about them last year still holds true as each brought their stories forward.
Brian K Vaughan has long been one of my favorite creators (I talked about Runaways yesterday), and his work with Fiona Staples on Saga
continues to be absolutely top notch. It's a bizarre, truly alien
world, yet you can relate to the fundamental story at it's heart because
it's about distinctly human things. It's about family, your ideas about
your parents, and the decisions they make. The setting may be
fantastical, but the dilemmas are all understandable. It also continues
to craft an amazingly vivid world (or worlds really), with distinctive
cultures that defy normal stereotypes.
Black Science, by Rick Remender and Italian artist Matteo
Scalera is, on one level, pure science fiction. Again though the beats
of the story, and it's characters are all about family, betrayal, and
the seeking of approval or forgiveness. As with Saga the challenges may
be fantastic and imaginative, but the motivations and characters are
believable because we can relate.
While The Wicked + The Divine has a modern day setting, it's cast
of modern day gods take their inspiration from both myth and modernity.
It also shares similar themes. Turns out we might also be able to
relate to actual gods. Or rather that any amount of power doesn't make
gods immune from all the complications of family, obligations, and
responsibility. It's about tradition and the tension between generations
and whether a new generation has the will to strike out against what is
expected of them. That the world may yet be mutable.
Creators writer Kieron Gillen, and illustrator Jamie McKelvie weave
their story across some of my favorite art in recent years. It's bright,
vivid and dynamic.
All three are excellent books, by extremely talented creators. Easy to recommend all three.
Comments