Scans_Daily

1) Last year, I was reading a lot of Webtoon and other phone-formatted comics; this year, for largely personal reasons, I went back to more traditional comic books. It was nice to see the World's Finest books waiting for me there. Mark Waid still delivers the intelligent fun I want out of a superhero series and makes it look easy. EDIT: But the #1 book for me this year, which I can't believe I forgot to mention, was Ryan North's fantastic Fantastic Four.

As a contrarian, I'll give the runner-up spot to The Human Target, which annoyed some JLI fans but hit my sweet spot. (If we're really going to do alternate versions of the same characters until the end of time, maybe make some of the variations interesting ones? Gasp, but you can't, Ice would never!)

2) There are a few writers I trust on a perennial basis, but those names are often the same year to year, so I'll go in another direction. After his passing, I've been rereading a lot of Keith Giffen. (See my last parenthesis: if there was one guy who was flexible about rewriting others' characters and even his own to pursue new creative directions, it was Giffen.)

3) "Would you know more?" No matter how many times The Immortal Thor repeats those four words, I love their meta energy. It's like somebody finally figured out how to replicate Stan Lee's cheerleader enthusiasm for the story that's being told, by putting it in the voice of an Asgardian bard.

Plus, it's not a comics moment, but my heart absolutely leapt into my throat at this GotG 3 snippet. And God damn, the actors sell the hell out of it. (You already know the one I mean, right?)



4) She's been in some truly wretched stories this year, but that just made me feel a little more attached to Ms. Marvel. At least those bad stories haven't compromised what's appealing about the character...when she opens her mouth, I still know what sort of dialogue should come out. And she's had plenty of great moments, too. (Can't say either of those things about Power Girl, I'm afraid.)

The character who's had the best year, though? Harley Quinn is a strong contender. I see her on the page, I know something interesting is likely to happen.

5) I liked a lot of GoTG 3 and Ms. Marvel, and ATSV is the best possible version of itself. But overall, it's My Adventures with Superman all the way. The series' infectious charm and effortless zoomerism just kept delivering great moment after great moment, and even the multiverse shit didn't weigh it down in the end. I think my favorite part was how it compressed "Lois's first suspicion Clark is Superman" and "Lois forces Clark to admit it" into one single episode, hitting the highlights of a whole Silver Age's worth of shenanigans but then gliding past them because it has its own stories to tell. The Avatar storytellers know what they're doing. Just don't let Shyamalan near this one, okay?