Hello there comic fans, and welcome to 2012! As we begin the new year, it only makes sense to take a quick look back at the past year and remember some of our favorites. To celebrate the best of the best, each year Comic Booked hosts our own annual ‘Best of’ Awards, and this past year was no different! 2011 offered readers a veritable cornucopia of great comics to read, we are here to celebrate the best of the bunch! Over the past week or so we’ve announced all of this years winners, so here is a quick recap of each and every one of our 19 categories, just in case you missed any!
Best Ongoing Series- Green Lantern
Month in and month out, Green Lantern (and sister titles GL Corps and GL Emerald Warriors) consistently gave the best “bang for the buck”. Sci-Fi, Buddy Cop, War, are all covered in the Green Lantern mythos, giving the book wide appeal. – The Exile
Publisher of the Year- DC Comics
While the year started off kind of slow, DC knocked the tail end of 2011 right out of the park with their blockbuster summer Flashpoint crossover series which led into this falls reboot of the DC Universe with The New 52 (which in turn lead to record breaking sales across all titles). Throw in a few other great moments like Batman Inc, the War of the Green Lanterns and Action Comics #900 and DC Comics has had easily one of the best years in the publishers 77 year history. – Jordamus Prime
Dan Slott. What he did in Spider-Island aside, Slott managed to bring some focus to Spider-Man. The Spider-titles were all over the place in recent years after Brand New Day, what with a new creative team every month. But since Slott was placed as regular writer, Spider-Man has been much more coherent and actually recaptures a lot of what was lost in recent years.- Michael Wirth
Whether you’re a fan or not, this man redesigned the entire DC Universe. While there are plenty of complaints in that department from people, I still feel like he tried his best to give great updates to classic looks, or to re-imagine some characters entirely. Plus you have to give credit to the man that not only put them on, but took off Wonder Woman’s pants. – Jordamus Prime
Anyone that knows me personally will be shocked to see me nominate Superman, because I’ve made it no secret that I harbor a great disdain for the character. Why? He’s overpowered and there are very few people that have managed to write ‘good’ Superman stories (mostly because it’s hard to write a good story when there isn’t any real threat since he is over powered). So why is he getting my nod for Best Character of 2011? Because this year, Superman was all over the place. Way earlier this year we saw Action Comics #900, which included Superman renouncing his American citizenship as well as the inevitable revelation to Lex Luthor that Clark Kent is actually Superman. Throw in the Reign of Doomsday, on top of his appearances in the New 52 in his self titled series, Action Comics and Justice League, Superman has had a pretty solid year in 2011. – Jordamus Prime
Best New Series- All Star Western
A surprise hit, gritty and engaging, DC, Palmiotti, Grey and Morait continue to tell the story of Jonah Hex in a way that connects him to current DCU, but also keeps him squarely in the Old West, and the introduction of a second feature each month, spotlighting other characters from DC’s western history (El Diablo, Bat Lash, etc)- The Exile
Best Limited Series or One-Shot- Axe Cop: Bad Guy Earth
I can honestly say, I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard in my entire life while reading a comic book. The Axe Cop online comic series has always been great fun, but having it in print form like this from Dark Horse was just a real treat. If you’ve yet to read it, I’d recommend you get to your local shop to pick up all three issues or the trade equivalent as soon as possible. – Jordamus Prime
Best Cover Art- Amazing Spiderman #666
Not just because it’s the issue of the beast, but the simple illustration of the Statue of Liberty in Spider-Man face has a real impact and gets the point of Spider-Island across without bogging down the image. Readers have a good idea of what kind of story they’re in for, and the main character doesn’t even appear on the cover. Not only is it good in execution, but it’s a top-notch- Michael Wirth
With significantly less fanfare than ‘official’ events Fear Itself and Flashpoint, Spider-Island spent this Summer just getting on doing everything right. Dan Slott orchestrated a story that combined character development with all-out spider-slaying action and genuine status-quo upheaval. Hands down, the best Peter Parker story in years, and proof positive that Slott bleeds Spidey and needs to stay on the title for as long as he wants.- Colin Bell
Best Relaunch or Reboot- Action Comics
As much as I have a love/hate thing with Grant Morrison’s work, this is the most readable thing I’ve seen from him since his run on New X-Men. As long as he can avoid sinking to the depths of borderline incoherent weirdness he occasionally reached in the course of his Batman run (I’m looking at you, Batman RIP), we may well have a winner on our hands.- Nick C
Most Shocking Moment- The New 52
I don’t think any of us were even remotely expecting anything like this from DC. I mean, every once in a while a comic company reboots a series or two with a new creative direction and team, but to completely reboot an entire universe? That was a bold move on DC’s part and considering all the immediate reaction and uproar from fans that nearly broke the internet, it was the definitive ‘shocking moment’ of 2011 for me. – Jordamus Prime
Yes, it’s a Geoff Johns book, so the fact that it’s good really isn’t surprising, but come on. I’m buying an Aquaman book and I have no immediate plans to drop it. If you told me a year ago that that would be the case, I would have laughed in your face.- Nick C
Biggest Disappointment- Fear Itself
For the first time in 21 years I dropped a major Marvel Event. Two issue in and they were still setting it up with slow storytelling and building no interest.- Skott of Fables
Best Comic Movie or TV Show- Captain America: The First Avenger
This year was a phenomenal year to be a movie going comic book fan. We had great adaptations of Thor, Green Lantern, Cowboys and Aliens, and a way-better-than-it-deserved-to-be reboot of the X-men film franchise. But none of them shined quite as brightly as that kid from Brooklyn, Captain America. This film, in it’s entirety, is perfect. An all star-cast with superb writing and great talent behind the camera, Captain America: The First Avenger stood out amongst the crowd of awesome Comic Book flicks this summer. As it stands, I saw all of this years comic book flicks in theatres and picked up all of them on blu-ray to watch again at home, but the only one I’ve bothered to sit and re-watch is Captain America, and I must have watched is an additional three times since bringing it home. – Jordamus Prime
Best Comic Adaptation- The Walking Dead (TV Series)
Though the show is more “based on” as opposed to “adapted” as it veers greatly from the comic series, The Walking Dead show manages to create a tense atmosphere while maintaining the deep characterization that made the comic a success. Though the second season drew some criticism for it’s slow pacing, I feel that it works to enhance the drama and that season 2 hasn’t lost any of the magic that made the first season a runaway success.- Michael Wirth
Best Video Game- Batman: Arkham City
If Arkham Asylum was the Batman game I’ve always wanted, Arkham City is the game I didn’t know I wanted but absolutely needed.- Robert LeMoyne
Best Adapted Comic- Buffy: Season 9
I was a bit hesitant nominating this one, as this year really only saw the publication of the conclusion of Season 8 and (several months later) the start of Season 9. But that just means that it’s been Team Whedon doing what they do best: epic conclusions and promising beginnings.- Nick C
It’s the nerdiest web comic I’ve ever read, and I love it. I also enjoy reading the tags that pop up when you mouse over each new comic. Who knew stick figures would be so entertaining?!- Robert Lemoyne
Best Indie Title- Very Near Mint
I first found out about this title through a spotlight feature one of my fellow Comic Booked team members wrote here on the site, checked out the first volume and fell in love. It reads almost as if ’Clerks’ the animated series was a comic book and took place in a comic book store instead of a convenience store. In this first volume, writer/illustrator Justin Peterson has given readers what looks to be an amazing new ongoing series that any comic book fan can really appreciate. The second volume was recently announced and should hopefully be published in spring of 2012! -Jordamus Prime
And that wraps up Comic Booked’s Best of 2011 Awards! We would like to congradulate each and every one of our winners, and we look forward to seeing all of you back here again in about a year to check out who will wing big in 2012!
So what do you think of this years winners? Do you agree with our choices? Do you disagree? Are there any new categories you would like to see represented for next years awards? Be sure to let us know in the comments section below!
Great list, although I did enjoy Fear Itself. Captain America did rock in the theater!