The Weekly Crisis Presents The Best of 2007 Comic Book Awards

I promised something special yesterday and here it is, the Best of 2007 Comic Book Awards! This took a little bit of effort to go through the various back issues and solicitations to try and make sure I didn't miss anything and, even with all that work, I'm sure there's going to be something I missed along the way. I tried to make some unbiased judgements on the winners and I'm sure there will be many that disagree on some of my choices, but I think I've supported my decisions well enough that you can at least see how I came to my conclusions.

I'm curious to hear what everyone's thoughts are and what your choices are, so feel free to leave comments or send me an email if you'd rather have a more detailed or thorough conversation on it.

Also, please note, for many of my awards, I don't mention books like All-Star Superman or Astonishing X-Men or the writers or artists involved on those books. While they are some of the best books on the stands, I don't consider 4 or 5 issues a year a comic book worthy of any awards or year end praise. In fact, if you can't produce more than 10 issues a year, I more than likely excluded them from any of the awards unless the person did multiple books to make up for it.

With that aside out of the way, on with the awards!

BEST COVER ARTIST
J.G. Jones (52)

Many people seem to forget that 52 had 20-30 some odd issues released this year. I'm not sure if the gap in memory is due to the quality of 52's follow-up, Countdown, or if people just genuinely forgot it with all the hype surrounding World War Hulk and the Sinestro Corps War. However, it did come out and J.G. Jones' covers for every issue were spectacular. There's a reason DC is publishing a 52: The Covers trade, which collects all 52 stunning covers by J.G. Jones, and it's because every single cover is beautiful, tells a picture and iconic, all at the same time. My personal favourites from him were the various Black Adam covers and the final issue's cover.

Runners-Up:
Marko Djurdjevic (Daredevil)
James Jean (Fables)
Adi Granov (Nova)
Adam Hughes (Catwoman)

BEST NEW BOOK
Thunderbolts by Warren Ellis & Mike Deodato

Yes, Thunderbolts. I know it didn't relaunch or get a new #1 when Warren Ellis and Mike Deodato took over, but it may as well have. For all intents and purposes, this is a brand new book that just happens to share the same name as the old book and features a couple of the old characters. So, when it came down to pick a Best New Book, Thunderbolts was the first thing I could think of. While there are sure to be many people that will disagree with my interpretation of the "New" part of this award, I doubt there's many that will contest the "Best" aspect of the award as Thunderbolts is easily one of the best titles on the stands.

Runners-Up:
Booster Gold
Nova
Avengers: The Initiative

BEST SINGLE ISSUE
Green Lantern #25 by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis & Ethan Van Sciver

Green Lantern #25 was a tough call for Best Single Issue. I didn't want the fact the book just came out to cloud my judgement or bias me against the books that came out earlier in the year, but, in the end, I just had to give it to this book.

There are few books that had more hype or anticipation surrounding them than the final chapter of the Sinestro Corps War and Johns, Van Sciver and Reis had their work cut out for them if they wanted to deliver anything that would even remotely meet these expectations.

Miraculously, GL #25 exceeded everyone's wildest imaginations and delivered one of the single best comics I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It was an oversized monster, brought to us in vivid detail with glorious splash pages, intense fight scenes and some of the finest artistic detail I have ever witnessed in a comic. If there was only one comic you could read this year, this is it.

Runners-Up:
Sinestro Corps War Special
New Avengers: Illuminati #5

BEST MINI-SERIES
Black Adam: The Dark Age by Peter Tomasi & Doug Mahnke

I don't like giving an award to a mini-series that has yet to finish, but Black Adam: The Dark Age was the absolute best mini-series I read all year and if I don't give it the award now, it will get lost in the shuffle next year with only the final issue being released in January. A book this good deserves an award.

If you've been reading the Weekly Crisis for any length of time, you would have seen in my Moments of the Week the numerous Black Adam appearances, ranging from Adam bungee jumping with the freshly gutted yeti intestines to various Adam tearing people in half scenes. The book is filled with incredible moments and, while it's a fairly bloody affair, that is not the focus of the story. The scene with Adam holding the rapidly decaying Isis, after a failed resurrection in the Lazerus Pit in the earlier chapters, is one of the sadder and more heartfelt moments from this past year.

Runners-Up:
Starlord
Silver Surfer: Requiem
Spider-Man: Reign
New Avengers: Illuminati

BEST STORYLINE OR EVENT
The Sinestro Corps War

Much like the Best Single Issue award, there was no contest for this award. A lot of people have referred to the Sinestro Corps War as the comic book equivilent of The Empire Strikes Back and that isn't just fanboy hyperbole, the story was just that damn good.

Really, I could go on all day talking about how great the Sinestro Corps War was and how it had dozens of recognizable and high profile villains and how it delivered in every way imaginable, but you all know this because you've read the story already. You have read it, haven't you?

Runners-Up:
52
Planet Hulk
Annihilation: Conquest

MOMENT OF THE YEAR
The Death of Captain America in Captain America #25

After the cop out ending to Civil War, few people could have predicted Captain America would be assassinated shortly thereafter. Even fewer could have predicted that close to a year later, he'd still be dead. It was both shocking and unthinkable and easily my Moment of the Year. Surprisingly, Cap's death was the best thing that ever happened for his title, as it's only gotten better since his death all those months ago.

Runners-Up:
Anti-Monitor/Prime/Cyborg Superman Reveal (Sinestro Corps Special)
Death of the Black Adam family and Adam's Retaliation (52 ~#30-51)
Nova 'Kills' Annihilus (Annihilation #6)
Cyclops 'To Me My X-Men' (Astonishing X-Men #22-23)

BEST TRADE OR COLLECTION
Absolute Sandman Volume 2

Marvel has yet to find an answer to DC's Absolute series. While they are slow to come out, they are always worth the wait. Combine these oversized hardcover / slipcase editions with arguably the greatest comic book series ever created, in the form of Sandman, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better collection.

Runners-Up:
Captain America Omnibus
Annihilation HCs
Planet Hulk HC

BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE
300

300 stormed onto the scene earlier this year and was everything we'd hoped for and more. Amassing a huge box office, 300 became an overnight success. A modern day Gladiator, the cinematic tale of 300 Spartan warriors battling the legions of Xerxes armies was a testosterone filled masterpiece filled to the brim with blood, violence and everything else a man would want. It also captured everything from the comic perfectly and landed the director the reigns to the Watchmen property. With the horrible outings by every other comic book movie this year, including Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand and so on, 300 easily takes my Best Comic Book Movie award.

Runners-Up:
Stardust
Superman: Doomsday
Transformers

BEST NON-SUPER HERO BOOK
The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman & Charlie Adlard

I'll admit I don't read that many alternative comics. I typically stick to the super hero genre and, once a title becomes critically acclaimed, I go back and buy the trades of it. So, I typically miss out on the first year or so of most indy books until trades hit the market. However, The Walking Dead is one of the few that is so good, I just can't wait on trades for it. I would have listed it in my Best Ongoing Book award as a Runner-Up at the least, but I figured, since I was giving it this award already, listing it once would be enough.

This year, The Walking Dead has been fantastic. The group has gradually become complacent in their new home at the prison and Robert Kirkman has made them pay the price for this complacency in the current, "No One Is Safe", arc, which saw the return of the Governor and the Woodbury army and the bloody conflict between the two groups. There are very few books I am left chomping at the bit, impatiently waiting for the next issue to come out and no, I'm not talking about annoying decompression waiting, but genuine, "OMG, what happens next?!?" waiting. I can't stress it more than I have in reviews, but this book isn't a "zombie book". Zombies are merely a background piece for the setting. This is a drama and Kirkman has fashioned some of the best characters in any comic on the market. So, for all this, The Walking Dead gets my Best Non-Super Hero Book award.

Runners-Up:
Scott Pilgram Vol 4
Fables
Criminal

BEST PUBLISHER
Marvel Comics

I know that just picking any publisher for this award will result in some kind of "you're wrong! so and so was so much better for these reasons..." or accusations of a bias, but, hopefully, you'll understand my reasoning behind picking Marvel for this year.

Yes, DC had 52 and even some of my favourite books, like Booster Gold, Black Adam or Blue Beetle, but DC has really dropped the ball this year with Countdown, the massive amounts of tie-ins that just cash in on fans, massive amounts of delays on key books and the abyssmal state of the Big 3 this year further cements my decision. Not even the Sinestro Corps War could change my mind.

Marvel, on the other hand, has had a phoenominal year in both sales and stories. They began the year with the end of Annihilation and followed that up with, what appears to be an excellent sequel so far, Annihilation: Conquest. Civil War ended earlier this year, as well, and, whether you liked it or not, affected the Marvel Universe all year long, starting first with the death of Captain America. Pretty much any book that spun out of Civil War was pure gold. Thunderbolts, The Order, New Warriors and Avengers: The Initiative were all above average to excellent books.

On top of that, they had Planet Hulk finishing up in the first half of the year, which lead into World War Hulk. While I walked away a bit jaded with that event, it was a huge financial and critical success that a lot of fans enjoyed.

Furthermore, they've really set the stage with all the Skrull madness, including the Black Bolt reveal in the Illuminati series and even managed to revitalize the X-titles. The only blemish on their record would be Spider-Man and One More Day. Other than that, Marvel has dominated this year in both sales and overall quality.

So, while DC has put out some amazing stuff this year, too, if you look at everything the Big 2 have done, Marvel comes out on top by a fair margin in my opinion and that nets it the Best Publisher award.

Runners-Up:
DC Comics
Dark Horse Comics

BEST HERO
Iron Man

Iron Man's presence has been felt in every corner of the Marvel Universe. At the start of the year, he was the "victor" at the end of Civil War and became the Director of SHIELD. His own title has been improving dramatically over the past year with the return of the Mandarin and he's even created a new Avengers team over in Mighty Avengers. While many fans still hate him based on the biased portrayals of him by certain writers, if they read books like Captain America, where he's been playing a key role since Cap died, or his own title, they'd see a much different Tony Stark. On top of this, he's been a member of the Illuminati and major character in the World War Hulk event. For the sheer scope of his reach and influence, Iron Man gets my Best Hero award.

Runners-Up:
Green Lantern
Nova

BEST VILLAIN
The Hulk

2007 was pretty much a year without villains. I'm not sure where they all went, but true villains were few and far between. The only person that seemed to fit the bill was the Hulk. He brought his army to Earth with the sole purpose of revenge on the Illuminati for something they didn't even do. He forced millions of people out of their homes, caused billions of dollars in property damage, smashed the Illuminati, Avengers and every other hero on Earth, forced them to partake in gladiator combat and murdered his warbound friend, Miek (he got better), for instigating these events. Sounds like a villain if you ask me and few would-be conquerers have managed to cause as much damage as the Hulk did during World War Hulk and that nets him the Best Villain award.

Runners-Up:
Black Adam
Red Skull
Sinestro Corps
Ultron (Conquest version)

BEST WRITER
Geoff Johns (52, Green Lantern, JSA, Teen Titans, Action Comics, Booster Gold)

No writer was as prolific nor as influential as Geoff Johns was this year. He had arguably the two biggest and best events under his belt this year in the forms of 52 and the Sinestro Corps War. He launched one of the best and funniest new series of the year with Booster Gold. He capped off his long Teen Titans run with his Titans East storyline. He teamed up with Richard Donner and produced some of the best mainstream Superman stories in years in Action Comics and recently kicked off his solo act Legion of Super Heroes storyline in the same title. On top of that, he's kept the excellent Justice Society of America relaunch in tip top shape and recently brought the Kingdom Come Superman into the mainstream DCU.

To say he had a great year would be an understatement. Just about any writer would have been happy with any one of these accomplishments. Johns went above and beyond the call of duty and brought us all of them and that is why he gets the Best Writer award for 2007.

Runners-Up:
Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Immortal Iron Fist, Uncanny X-Men, Criminal)
Greg Pak (Planet Hulk, WWH)
Abnett & Lanning (Nova, Annihilation: Conquest)

BEST ARTIST
Ivan Reis & Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern, Various Specials)

Yes, this is a cop out as I give the Best Artist award to not one, but two artists. Both Reis and Van Sciver have had incredible impacts on the Green Lantern mythos and I couldn't in good faith give just one of them the award.

While you may think another artist is better than either one of these, I'm willing to bet they can't keep a monthly schedule or complete any project without a delay. Both these guys have consistently pumped out the Green Lantern titles all year long and even went all out with the Sinestro Corps War, depicting sweeping battle scenes featuring dozens of characters per page. On top of this, they've been doing the various specials and one-shots, like the Sinestro Corps Special that kicked off the event and their crowning achievement is Green Lantern #25, where they teamed up for a 61 page monster of a conclusion that literally blew the roof off and claimed the Best Single Issue of the year award, in no small part from their efforts.

For incredibly beautiful, detailed, consistent and on-time work, the team of Reis and Van Sciver get my Best Artist award.

Runners-Up:
Steve Epting (Captain America)
Mike Deodato (Thunderbolts)
David Aja (Immortal Iron Fist)

BEST ONGOING SERIES
Captain America by Ed Brubaker & Steve Epting

I can't think of a single book that is as consistently high quality as Captain America and manages to stay on a monthly schedule. Aside from a short break after Cap died, this book is on the stands every month and you are guaranteed it has the best story and, nine times out of ten, the best art on the stands that week. Unlike books like Green Lantern, which only really took off during the Sinestro Corps War, Captain America has been exceptional all year long and has only gotten better since Cap died. This award was the easiest choice for me and I had a harder time picking Runners-Up than the actual winner for this, as Cap is just leaps and bounds above everyone else.

Runners-Up:
Green Lantern
Immortal Iron Fist
Nova
Thunderbolts

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
The Big 3

DC began this year with the goal of revitalizing it's Big 3, consisting of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. To that end, they relaunched Wonder Woman with high profile talent, brought in Johns and Donner to revitalize Superman, signed the Kuberts to exclusive contracts to work on Batman and Superman and, finally, put Dini and Morrison on Detective Comics and Batman, respectively. Furthermore, they had All-Star Superman and Batman, both filled with high profile talent. What could go wrong? Apparently, everything.

Wonder Woman's relaunch was a disaster plagued with constant delays and fan reaction to her new, all too human, secret identity was unfavourable at best. On top of that, they initiated the whole Amazons Attack fiasco that everyone's still trying to forget. While it's showing signs of improvement with Gail Simone's addition to the title, it might be too little, too late for most fans.

The Superman titles, on the other hand, were riddled with delays after the positive reaction to One Year Later. Both the Johns / Donner story and Kurt Busiek's Camelot Falls storyline were delayed into oblivioin. We still have yet to see the ending to the Donner penned tale. In an attempt to get the books back on track, DC skipped the endings to those two high profile stories and began new stories by bringing in several guest pencillers, who provided mediocre, at best, artwork.

Over in the Bat-titles, Morrison's high profile arrival on Batman was met with numerous delays. Many were baffled by his new take on Batman and the introduction of his son, Damian. The all prose issue, which I enjoyed, was also met with confused and concerned outcry from many fans. Detective Comics, under the watch of Dini, was great - when he could actually write the book. It seems like every issue ended up being a one shot story followed by a fill-in writer, resulting in a rollercoaster ride of quality and a very disjoint feel to the book. The Return of Ra's al Ghul event has, also, quickly spiralled out of control and many of the side character books feel like complete filler, making their inclusion in the story a matter of contention.

A major factor in these delays came from the Kuberts, who were quickly relegated to cover boy status. It seems the former poster boys of the 90's can no longer maintain a monthly, or even quarterly, schedule and the huge announcement of their exclusive signing at DC and postings to Superman and Batman quickly became something most fans would like to forget ever happened.

Finally, the All-Star titles maintain an unmatched level of quality - when they came out. Three to four issues a year is barely a footnote in most people's comic buying habits and, while these are incredible books when they come out, they are just too infrequent to make a difference.

So, what should have been a huge year for the Big 3 became one of the worst years in their storied histories. Hopefully 2008 will be a better year for Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman.

Runners-Up:
Loeb's Wolverine, Ultimates 3, Fallen Son
Spider-Man: One More Day
Countdown

Related Posts

Best of 2007