2010-2019: A decade in comics

Lots of great “Best of Decade” lists popping up across the internet. This is just a little personal blog, so I figured I could make a bit of a personal list. Here are 25 comics from the past decade that I’m glad to have read and think you should consider reading too.

Without repeating writers or worrying too much about what “this decade” is, I made myself a list of a top 50ish, then whittled it down to 25. We’ll present those 25 in approximate chronological order of first release and mention some other good works by the same creators from the decade.

Usagi Yojimbo

by Stan Sakai
Dark Horse, 1984-present

We start with a comic that isn’t quite of this decade, having begun 35 years ago. But it’s continued through this decade and is continuing into the next and remains one of the best comics of all time. It tells the story of a samurai rabbit wandering through feudal Japan.
This decade began with Usagi’s struggles with local ganglords in a town called Hell, and proceeds to see him battle demons, meet up again with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, face off aliens from Mars, and deal with the rise of secret Christian cults in Japan. Just recently, Usagi Yojimbo left its home of 20 years at Dark Horse comics to begin a brand new series with IDW publishing. Check back in 10 years to see Usagi again atop my best-of-decade list!

Also by Stan Sakai, check out his adaptation with Mike Richardson of the classic tale of 47 Ronin.

Astro City

by Kurt Busiek, Brent Eric Anderson, Alex Ross and friends
DC, 1995-present

Astro City is another classic comic that has continued strong into this decade, starting a new ongoing series under DC’s Vertigo brand in 2013, lasting around 50 issues. Astro City comics will continue from DC in the next decade as an irregular series of graphic novels.
Astro City tells the story of a city full of superheroes from a variety of perspectives: from the call operator for Honor Guard, to a low-level telekinetic not quite powerful enough to be a superhero, but able to channel her abilities into special effects work for films. As well as one very good boy.

Also from Kurt Busiek, check out the futuristic fantasy epic Autumnlands with Benajmin Dewey.

Richard Stark’s Parker

by Darwyn Cooke
IDW, 2009-2013

To my mind, one of the saddest losses in comicdom this decade is the death of Darwyn Cooke, taken from us way too soon, at the height of his artistic prowess. Who knows what great comics the world will be denied.
He had completed one of his greatest masterpieces so far, adapting Richard Stark’s Parker novels into a series of stylized graphic novels.
Evoking a classic noir sensibility with modern storytelling and design, Cooke nailed the story of a professional criminal who is quite good at his job.

Also from Cooke, check out Twilight Children, with Gil Hernandez.

Fantastic Four

by Jonathan Hickman and friends
Marvel, 2009-2012

Reed had a room with 100 ideas written on the wall, big ideas that could change the world. Then he added a 101st idea: “Solve everything”. And with the idea came the revelation about how to do just that. You had but to figure out who else was asking the question. Soon he would be helping terraform desolate worlds to fill them with grain and performing surgery on a dying star. But then he learned the price of solving everything.

  • Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1-5
  • Fantastic Four #570-588, #600-611, reprinted in Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman vol. 1-6
  • FF #1-23, reprinted in FF vol. 1-4
    The whole thing is currently all being packaged together more nicely than before in an unfinished series of books, “Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman: The Complete Collection”. Here is Volume 1. There should eventually be 4 or 5 of them.

Also from Jonathan Hickman, look for East of West, the apocalyptic future of an alternate world history, and Manhattan Projects, where we learn the nuclear bomb was a cover for the real crazy science going on there. Of his other Marvel work, I would look into SHIELD; turns out the organization was older than I knew.

Smile

by Raina Telgemeier
Scholastic, 2010

If I were to pick one creator who defined this decade, it would be its best-selling comic creator, Raina Telgemeier. Like me, she is from San Francisco, and we are pretty close in age. So I can relate quite well to her experience of San Francisco’s 1989 earthquake, just as I relate to getting braces. Her personal tales that attempt to lay bare the awkwardness that is childhood seem to have captured the imagination of today’s youth and turned her into the greatest star of modern comics. Check it out here.

Also from Raina Telgemeier, look for other autobiographical stories: Sisters and Guts (the rare comic to be the #1 bestselling book in the US for a week). For the fictional side of things, check out Drama, Ghosts and the Babysitter’s Club.

Daytripper

by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
DC, 2010

Twin brothers tell of 10 different moments in a life, moments that forever change the direction of that life. But also what happens if life is cut short at each stage. The story of a man’s life and his deaths.

  • Daytripper #1-10, reprinted here

Also from Bá, look for Umbrella Academy with Gerard Way, recently adapted into a Netflix series.

The Bronx Kill

by Peter Milligan and James Romberger
DC, 2010

DC put out a whole line of small hardcovers in the crime genre under the “Vertigo Crime” label. Generally worth checking out. This was the best of them. A man from a line of Irish-American cops finds a dark secret from his family’s history has caught up to him when his wife disappears. Check it out here.

James Romberger himself read this post and asked if I could add links to some of his other recent work. I am happy to do so, though confess I have not yet read these myself. His new comic For Real is available from Uncivilized Books. His graphic novel with Marguerite Van Cook The Late Child and Other Animals is available from Fantagraphics.

iZombie

by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred
DC, 2010-2012

As a big Buffy fan in the ’90s, I was happy to find a worthy heir in comic form. She’s a brain-eating zombie, but still just a girl. Her best friends include a ghost and a guy who turns into a were-terrier at full moon. Is the cute guy she just met really a monster hunter? Can there be any future between them?
The series ended too soon, as Chris Roberson left DC due to ethical disagreements with the company’s practices to start up his own digital publishing house, Monkeybrain.

Also check out Allred’s work on Silver Surfer with Dan Slott.

Life with Archie

by Michael Uslan, Paul Kupperberg, Norm Breyfogle and friends
Archie, 2010-2014

Another work from an artist gone way too soon, the great Norm Breyfogle, my gateway into Batman as a young lad.
Find out what happens after Archie finally marries his dream girl. The cast of Riverdale is all grown up and ready for the next chapter.

  • Life with Archie #1-37, reprinted in Archie: The Married Life vol. 1-6, starting with Volume 1.

Been a good decade for interesting Archie books. To see the Archie gang battle zombies, check out Afterlife with Archie. For something even darker, check out The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Two Generals

by Scott Chantler
McClelland & Stewart/2010

A biographical story of his grandfather’s service with the Canadian military in World War II, based directly on his grandfather’s diary and letters. Check it out here.


Also look for Chantler’s children’s fantasy series, The Three Thieves, starting with Tower of Treasure.

Last Days of an Immortal

by Fabien Vehlmann and Gwen de Bonneval
BOOM!, 2010

My single favorite comic of the decade. I’m having trouble tracking down details on the original French version, so I’m not even confident it belongs on a list for this decade, but Archaia put out the English version in 2010, which is what I read.
It’s that smart science fiction I am always looking for. Alien races that are really alien, with strange customs of their own. Like a world that is one giant play in which everyone on the world reads from their script, or a society where justice must include all present at the scene of a crime, for no person acts in a vacuum, and each action is informed by the actions of those around us.
In this world, a member of the philosophy police seeks to uncover the underlying differences that cause interspecies tension, while struggling to deal with the malaise at the heart of his own species. Humanity has finally achieved immortality, but too many people are choosing death anyway. Check it out here.


Also from Vehlmann, check out the creepy and surreal fantasy, Beautiful Darkness.

Ultimate Spider-Man

by Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli and friends
Marvel, 2011-present

In 1999, Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley came up with Ultimate Spider-Man, a modern reimagining of the story of Spider-Man. In 2009, this new Spider-Man died. But the story of Ultimate Spider-Man did not end with Peter Parker. Chance gave Miles Morales his own unique spider powers and he took up the mantle of Spider-Man. Miles recently took center stage in his own superhero film, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, one of the best superhero films ever made. The adventures of this new Spider-Man are continuing to go strong into the next decade.

  • Ultimate Spider-Man #1-28
  • Spider-Men #1-5
  • Ultimate Spider-Man #200
  • Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man #1-21
  • Ultimate Spider-Man #234-240
  • Miles Morales: Spider-Man #1-12
  • And continuing adventures…
    I would try to find all of it in Miles Morales Spider-Man: Ultimate Collection vol. 1-3, starting with Volume 1.

Also by Bendis, check out Scarlet. The story of a woman who leads the revolution our society clearly has coming to it.

Saga

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Image, 2012-present

Basically a phenomenon at this point. A love story between people from different alien worlds, on opposite sides of a war.
Saga is currently on a bit of a break, but its creators plan to return with issue 55 soon…

  • Saga #1-54, reprinted in Saga vol. 1-9, starting with Volume 1.
  • And continuing adventures…

Also from Vaughan, check out Paper Girls. A science fiction story about young friends who wake up before the sun to bike around town delivering newspapers.

Mind Mgmt

by Matt Kindt
Dark Horse, 2012-2015

Sci/fi conspiracy-based spy story, with a bit of an X-Men vibe to it. Everything I love. If nothing else, Kindt comes up with the coolest variations on psychic powers over and over again. But also clever ways to counter them. It begins in the wake of the famous amnesia flight, in which every passenger on a plane lost their memories. One journalist is going to find the truth, by tracking down a discrepancy in the passenger manifest. The truth points to a now defunct secret organization called Mind Mgmt…

  • Mind Mgmt #1-35, reprinted in Mind Mgmt Omnibus Parts 1-3, starting with Part 1.

I also recommend any comics you can find with Matt Kindt’s name on them. Such as Ether or Revolver or Poppy and the Lost Lagoon.

Wizzywig

by Ed Piskor
Top Shelf, 2012

The story of an old-school hacker. Inspired closely by the true stories of many famous hackers. What happens when you build an internet and forget to lock the doors. Check it out here.

The Underwater Welder

by Jeff Lemire
Top Shelf, 2012

He’s a diver and welder with a baby on the way. But a deep sea experience reopens the mystery of his father lost on a dive. He becomes obsessed, diving more and more and further and further, searching for the past, abandoning the surface and the future that awaits him. Check it out here.


Jeff Lemire was another writer it was hard to pick out just one for, as his work is so varied, from slice-of-life tales like this to his epic science fiction sagas Descender and Trillium, to Black Hammer, a tale of former superheroes trapped on a farm near a small town, trying to adapt to this new life.

Thor

by Jason Aaron and friends
Marvel, 2013-2020

Jason Aaron has spent the last 6 years writing Thor, and turned in some of the best Thor comics ever, rivaling the legendary runs of Jack Kirby and Walt Simonson. We begin with the God Butcher, who has traveled the universe slaying gods, after the gods of his world failed to answer his prayers. Most famously, we reach the point where Thor is no longer worthy enough to hold his hammer (this spins out of Aaron’s own Original Sin event, but I do my best to ignore Marvel’s events), and it is time for someone else worthy enough to take up the mantle and become a Goddess of Thunder.
Attempting to untangle the many series that make this up is a nightmare. About a decade ago, somebody in Marvel marketing noticed that #1 issues sell better, so they renumber series every couple years. Then another genius noted that anniversary issues also sell well, so they occasionally revert the numbering for the anniversary, but then quickly release another #1.
As I write this, I understand Aaron’s run has finally come to a close with the release of King Thor #4. I have fallen a little behind myself.

  • Thor: God of Thunder #1-25, reprinted in Thor: God of Thunder vol. 1-4. Start with Volume 1: The God Butcher
  • Thor #1-8, reprinted in Thor vol. 1-2, starting with Volume 1: Goddess of Thunder
  • The Mighty Thor #1-23, reprinted in Mighty Thor vol. 1-4, starting with Volume 1: Thunder in Her Veins
  • The Unworthy Thor #1-5, reprinted in The Unworthy Thor
  • The Mighty Thor #700-706, reprinted in Mighty Thor vol. 5: The Death of Mighty Thor
  • Thor #1-16, reprinted in Thor vol. 1-3, starting with Volume 1: God of Thunder Reborn
  • King Thor #1-4
    Looks like they’re planning to collect the whole mess in a series: “Thor by Jason Aaron: The Complete Collection”. Here’s Volume 1.

Lots of good stuff from Aaron this decade. He wrapped up Scalped, his crime saga on an indigenous reservation. He’s been working on Southern Bastards, a crime saga in a small town that loves its football. On the Marvel side, he wrote a hilarious team-up miniseries, Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine, worked with Chris Bachalo on Doctor Strange, and did some solid work on Marvel’s new line of Star Wars comics with John Cassaday.

Lazarus

by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark
Image, 2013-present

Lazarus is a post-apocalyptic tale about crime families. In the future, the world is divided between several ruling families in a feudal hierarchy. At the top is the family. Then the serfs who work for the families. And then the waste. The main character is a skilled warrior, and the daughter of the head of the Carlyle family. Or is she? Who and what she is and what it is to be a Lazarus is something we learn over the series.

  • Lazarus #1-28, reprinted in Lazarus vol. 1-5, starting with Volume 1: Family
  • Lazarus: X+66 #1-6, reprinted in Lazarus X+66
  • And continuing adventures…

This series combines Rucka’s crime and science fiction sensibilities, as does his series about immortal mercenaries, Old Guard. On the more grounded noir side, check out Stumptown. He’s also done some solid work on Wonder Woman of late.

Bandette

by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover
Monkeybrain, 2012-present

This light-hearted adventure by the wife & husband team of Coover and Tobin features everybody’s favorite thief in a variety of adventures. Sometimes stealing for the sake of her own excellent collection. Sometimes helping stop real bad people (it can’t be all breaking hearts and purloining masterpieces). Always with mirth. Always backed by her friends. And always engaging in folly. For there is nothing more wondrous than engaging in a little folly. Life would be so dull without folly.

Also from Paul Tobin, look for the comic adaptation of the popular Plants vs. Zombies game.

Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki

by Mamoru Hosoda and Yū
Yen, 2012

Released to coincide with Hosoda’s animated film, it tells of a woman who loved a werewolf. But with his untimely death, she finds herself raising two wolf children and is often in over her head. Check it out here.

The Fade Out

by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
Image, 2014-2016

Crime noir set against the backdrop of McCarthy-era Hollywood by the industry’s best team of crime noir comics creators.

  • The Fade Out #1-12, reprinted here.

Brubaker was the main reason I decided to do a one-entry-per writer rule. It would have been very tempting to fill this list with his other collaborations with Phillips: Criminal, particularly the Archie-inspired crime noir Criminal: Last of the Innocent; the lovecraftian noir Fatale; and the vigilante series Kill or be Killed. Just as I could have easily added the spy thriller Velvet created with Steve Epting. But I decided to pick just one.

Low

by Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini
Image, 2014-present

This type of series is very much where my head has been at this decade. I think Image has become home to lots of great talent delivering creative but mainstream work. Excelling particularly in science fiction and fantasy.
It’s the future: humanity lives under the sea waiting for the world to end. But a beacon on the surface may lead to another world where humanity can move. The beacon represents hope for a future. But in this world, hope is outlawed…

For another great sci/fi saga from Remender, check out Black Science, about a father who invents interdimensional teleportation, and now has to track down his family, lost across the multiverse.

This One Summer

by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki
First Second, 2014

The Tamaki cousins tell a touching story about summer camp and friendship and childhood’s waning days. Rose is only about a year older than Windy. But there’s a certain age where that year can make all the difference. Check it out here.

The Flintstones

by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh
DC, 2016-2017

Nobody knew what to expect. A panel with Fred Flintstone talking about a genocide went viral on the internet. The Flintstones cartoon had reinforced societal values by presenting modern values in caveman form. This comic wants to tear those same values apart apart. Did anybody ever ask the dinosaurs if they want to be household appliances?

  • The Flintstones #1-12, reprinted in The Flintstones vol. 1-2, starting with Volume 1.

In a similar vein from Russell, check out the Snagglepuss Chronicles.

On a Sunbeam

by Tillie Walden
First Second, 2018

A webcomic collected into a massive and beautiful volume. Not the type of hard science fiction I am normally looking for, and created by a self-described non-fan of science fiction.
It is a lush and imaginative universe about friends on a spaceship. The friends are all young women. But I was about halfway through the book before it struck me that there seemed to be no men anywhere in this universe. Just women and some non-binary people.

The comic is freely available to read online, or you can find the collected book here.

Author: Chris Coke

Interests include comic books, science fiction, whisky, and mathematics.

One thought on “2010-2019: A decade in comics”

  1. “Saga is currently on a bit of a break, but its creators plan to return with issue 55 soon…” NOT SOON ENOUGH! 😉

    Great list. Hard to argue with any of these choices.

    Reply

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