While 2020 will be remembered for being a chaotic mess with few redeeming moments to it, thankfully it did at the very least give us a hefty back-catalogue of comics to catch up on! And more time than usual this year to read them. Providing us with some much needed escapism, we got resurrected characters from Arthurian legend, dreamlike, hallucinogenic space operas, and gritty horrors that would make even Rod Serling’s mind bend. For comic book readers, there was some solace from the madness of 2020.
1 – Family Tree Volume 1: Sapling
Image Comics
With the likes of Hawkeye, Moon Knight, and Old Man Logan, to say nothing of his extensive indie library, Jeff Lemire is easily among the most exciting current writers, exploring a wide array of genres and concepts. With art by Phil Hester, Family Tree is a genre-bending series rooted in family drama and body horror and is one of the best comics of the year.
When an eight-year-old girl, Meg, begins to transform into a tree, she is joined by her mum, brother and insane grandfather as they embark on a road-trip across America to find a cure for her transformation. With half crazed cults, mercenaries, and worse still, tabloid Paparazzi, out to destroy the girl or make use of her for their own purposes, Family Tree is a little barking in more ways than one. It’s only a matter of time before Meg starts saying “I am Groot…”.
2 – Once and Future Volume 1
Boom! Studios
Kieron Gillen introduces us to Duncan and his grandmother Bridgette McGuire, an ex-monster hunter who comes out of retirement to deal with a group of Nationalists intent on using an ancient artefact to resurrect an Arthurian villain to try and gain power in the modern world. Kieron Gillen has been producing some of the best indie comics recently, with the stylish D&D influenced fantasy world of Die to the resurrection of Arthurian mythology in Once and Future. Not only does it offer a gorgeous, bold art style from Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain, it presents Arthurian folklore with a new, albeit darker twist, with an undead King Arthur who wants to lead a bloody conquest to regain his throne.
3 – Daredevil #16-25
Marvel
With New York’s horn-bearing “Man Without Fear” on trial for murder, Chip Zdarsky’s run on Daredevil has brought Matt Murdock to his lowest low, while the notorious Kingpin of New York, Wilson Fisk… attempts to go legit? And as the Mayor of New York City, no less! To say the status quo of Murdock’s world has changed would be quite the understatement, but that only makes Zdarsky’s Daredevil all the richer – so long as you’re not Matt Murdock…
Jorge Fornes and Marco Checchetto have provided some dramatic, yet adequately dark and moody art to Daredevil’s escapades. With the complication to Matt’s life as Daredevil threatened by a murder trial, Wilson’s struggle to keep his criminal past from keeping him legit, and tensions brewing between the criminal organisations of New York previously kept in check by Wilson Fisk, Zdarsky’s run is shaping up to be one of the best runs of Daredevil to date.
4 – Die #11-15
Image Comics
After being pulled back into the traumatic Die, Gillen’s third arc brings our… uh… “gallant” party to all new emotional lows and challenges them ethically following the destruction of Glass Town. And as if that’s not enough, even the sacred RPG rules of combat and the social framework it represents, which the world of Die abides by, are strained to make matters just that bit more complex. While Kieron Gillen gets to flex his DM skills, presenting real-world consequences playing by the game’s rules when its systems are more focused on fighting, Stephanie Hans presents gorgeously stylised art that perfectly encapsulates its throwback D&D influences while providing it with a unique visual flair. It’s fair to say Die consistently proves it’s more than a mature Jumanji-meets-D&D.
5 – Decorum
Image Comics
How Jonathan Hickman found time to start an explosive 8-issue, hard science-fiction series alongside House of X/ Powers of X is as mind-blowing as Mike Huddleston’s intricate art. Hickman throws us into a Star Wars-esque universe that feels equally as lived in, offering a collision of concepts from galactic criminal enterprises, religious conspiracy, and highly trained leagues of assassins, spruced up with fever-dream sequences, enigmatic alien and robot designs, and wacky planets that give the most pulp of 70s/ 80s sci-fi a run for their money, rich in real-world culture visual influences and references. Its exotic aesthetic, thanks to Mike Huddleston, is equally as absorbing as Hickman’s wild storytelling and universe building concepts.
Each issue is broken up into chapters, telling stories that span a universe that will inevitably collide down the line; from robot armadas brewing behind the scenes, to a courier, Neha, who’s path leads her to Morley, a deadly assassin who trains her in her deadly arts. Despite being an 8-issue mini-series, Decorum‘s narrative is hard to break down thanks to switching visual styles and narratives, from clean and corporate infographics that detail planets and corporations at play in the universe, to expressive faces with bold, clean colours, as well as heavily inked black, crystalline robots on blank backgrounds making startling use of negative and positive space. Each chapter is distinct visually and narratively, yet it feels cohesive, leaving the impression that they are leading towards a mind-bending finale.
6 – Way of the Househusband
Viz Media
The tattooed, notorious yakuza boss, Tatsu, feared throughout the city, with a history of atrocious crimes that made him among the most feared Yakuza and known as The Immortal Dragon has got to be the most badass guy in all of Tokyo, right? Except now all he wants to do now is settle down as a househusband to his workaholic wife, Miku. No, not the Vocaloid. Kousuke Oono’s The Way of the Househusband initially began as a short five-chapter series that grew in popularity, expanding into an ongoing series. It’s a slice-of-life comedy that relies heavily on the juxtaposition of “The Immortal Dragon” as an ex-yakuza boss living a “slice” free domestic life, utilising skills honed from his yakuza days to focus on everyday chores. Rather than dice up a mean rival, his handy knife skills can be put to good use in the kitchen. Nasty ketchup or wine stain? He’s got experience with stains… blood stains, perhaps. But Oono’s attention to detail when illustrating Tatsu’s hyper-intense expressions, which still strike fear into those around him, show off his comic style. Overdramatic and eccentric, The Way of the Househusband continued with Volume 2 in January and is one that boasts a few laughs with its zany premise.
7 – DCeased Unkillables & Dead Planet
DC Comics
Pitting DC’s finest against a zombie virus, Tom Taylor’s DCeased continues to expand with Unkillables and Dead Planet. After the anti-life equation creates a virus that spreads quicker than even the Flash can fathom, hordes of undead citizens, villains and heroes alike desolate the planet. Unkillables shows us what surviving villains did after the heroes failed and the world ended. With Red Hood and Deathstroke taking the lead, Tom Taylor’s spin-off takes DC’s villains and antiheroes through a dark, street-level journey against the walking dead. Or potentially flying, given that some of them have powers…
Dead Planet, meanwhile, takes place years after Earth fell to cannibalistic corpses. A distress call from Earth brings Damian Wayne, Jon Kent and Cassie Sandsmark – the new Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman – back to the dead earth, hoping to uncover the mystery of who or what awaits them there.
8 – Hill House
DC Back Label
From the mind of Joe Hill (N0S4A2, Locke & Key) starting with Basketful of Heads, Hill House Comics introduces a lineup of original limited horror series that span various genres, with some of the biggest names in horror lending their talents. Basketful of Heads follows June Branch, a young woman trapped with four criminals, armed with a mystical 8th-century Viking axe. As if a hefty Viking warrior’s choice weapon for hewing heads and limbs weren’t overkill enough, when your head leaves your neck, it remains conscious and capable of speech.
The Dollhouse Family, meanwhile, has a Twilight Zone feel as Alice receives a beautiful 19th-century dollhouse, complete with antique dolls, from her dying great-aunt on her sixth birthday. There seems to be a track record for characters called “Alice” and trippy events as Alice is pulled into the dollhouse itself, where she soon makes friends with the dolls inside. But this being a title with Joe Hill’s name attached means The Dollhouse Family is far from a heartwarming children’s tale, as we are introduced to twisting halls, complications with her real-world family, and the mysterious “Black Room” which offers Alice a way to fix everything… with a dark twist. It’s surreal, twisted and quite, quite mad.
9 – The Plot Volume 1
Vault Comics
From Tim Daniel and Michael Moreci, with illustrations from Joshua Hixson, The Plot follows Chase Blaine after his estranged brother and sister-in-law are murdered, becoming guardian to McKenzie and Zach – his niece and nephew who he barely knows. For the sake of creating a sense of stability for his new family, they move to his ancestral home, but this being a Vault comics horror title, you can imagine things are… a little less stable and family friendly than they might hope. The Plot‘s plot is chilling and dark, with a horde of buried secrets that linger after reading it, where the horror scares come from the characters themselves, to say nothing of Hixson’s gritty art.
10 – Hi Score Girl
Square Enix
If you’re a fan of ‘90s arcades and gaming nostalgia, Hi Score Girl is a must, translating to an arguably superior anime adaptation. It focuses on Haruo Yaguchi, a school kid whose arcade gaming obsession overrides his academic, athletic and social skills, in favour of being a master Guile player in Street Fighter II. In fairness, this seems a worthy trade off! Hi Score Girl is as much about ’90s arcade nostalgia and gaming history – with unique art and accurate depictions of gaming software, hardware and die-hard culture – as it is a romantic comedy, after a fateful encounter with rival and romance interest, Akira Ono. However, when Koharu Hidaka comes into the story, a vicious rivalry grows between herself and Akira for Haruo’s attention… which is more than likely held by the latest arcade cabinet installed at his local arcade…
The passion for gaming, depiction of its culture and development during the ’90s, as well as the quirky characters and art, make Hi Score Girl a charming title, though not without its controversies. Due to the depiction of SNK properties – from The King of Fighters to Samurai Showdown – a settlement had to be made between Square Enix, the publishers of the manga, and SNK to avoid lawsuits, resulting in the manga being temporarily suspended, though it thankfully went on to reach 10 volumes in Japan with 4 volumes released so far in English.
Highly descriptive blog, I liked that bit.
Will there be a part 2?
It’s enormous that you are getting ideas from this post as well
as from our dialogue made at this place.