East of West ( Image )
You ’re going to see a tidy sum of simulacrum comics in this list , andevery single one of them deserves to be here — the companionship just kill it with amultitude of brilliant , creator - have stories that are topping everyone ’s “ Bestof 2013 ” list . And near the top is Jonathan Hickman ’s East of West , abeyond - heroic tale where Death , as in the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse , isthe last Bob Hope of a future U.S. , divide into seven state . Oh , and the otherthree Horsemen are trying to bolt down the President … who is a speculative guy . It ’s tooearly to say where East of West is going , but Hickman is at the top of hisworld - building game , and you ’ll definitely need to determine out .
The Wake ( DC / Vertigo )
Scott Snyder ’s work on Batman has been a marvel ( no pun intended),but his employment there does n’t hold a candle to his Vertigo serial publication The Wake . Tryingto summarize it is nearly impossible , because while it ’s kind of sea creaturehorror movie à la Creature from the Black Lagoon , it ’s one told over millionsof years , ranging from the distant past tense to 200 years in the hereafter . It ’s dumbfound but not hard to follow , and the effortlessness which with Snyder can establish fully realizedcharacters with just a few pipeline of dialogue matches perfectly with SeanMurphy ’s prowess style .
Hawkeye ( Marvel )
Marvel ’s made a raft of good cartoon strip in 2013 , so it ’s sayingsomething that Matt Fraction ’s Hawkeye is sill the good superhero book on themarket . Hawkeye has no world power , he is n’t very smart , and his arm isactually pretty ancient — and somehow Fraction manage to make these reasonablylow stakes ( at least equate to the rest of the Marvel U. ) adventures as epicas any Avengers delegacy . blaze , even if he ’d done nothing else this yr , thebrilliant Hawkeye # 11 — a mostly dialogue - free issue in which Hawkeye’spizza - be intimate frankfurter solves a execution — would earn Hawkeye a “ upright of 2013 ” bit . Thankfully , Fraction drop a line several other egress , too .
Annie Sullivan andthe Trials of Helen Keller ( Disney / Hyperion )
You ’ve heard of Helen Keller , of class , and you may haveheard of Annie Sullivan , the visually impaired woman who taught the indifferent andblind girl how to interact with the world . But writer / artist Joseph Lambert doesn’tjust William Tell this tale through Annie ’s centre , but through what young Helenperceives — it begin with virtually everything being an unsung mass to her , and as Annie teach her and return her language , she begin to “ see ” the worldaround her , which Lambert slowly fill in as well . This is literally somethingonly a comic could do , and it brings a deepness of understanding to Helen ’s lifethat nothing else comes closely to matching . It is magnificent , moving , and notjust one of the year ’s good comics , but perhaps of all time .
Sex ( Image )
Simon Cooke dedicate his life to fighting crime as asuperhero and had metre for nothing else — especially not hanky - panky . But nowhe ’s retired and render to his menage of Saturn City , and he has a lot ofmaking up to do . gender is both a superhero tarradiddle and smut , but it doesn’tfeel gimmicky or cheesy , partially because as dirty and as denotative as it gets(and male child , does it ) , Sex never feels like it ’s ashamed of what it ’s doing . Italso helps that it ’s set out a truly interesting , complex plot and greatcharacters , good manners of author Joe Casey , so even the fuck scene are tellingthe floor . Comics Alliance phone Sex “ like the mythicalHBO - serial - as - comical that everybody seems to be chasing , ” and that nail it , asfar I ’ve considered ( no pun signify ) .
dangerous undertaking Time ( Boom!Studios )
The Adventure Time cartoon is great ; this is a well - knownand found fact . But did you know that the Adventure Time comics werejust as good as the cartoon ? Writer Ryan North , best known for Dinosaur comic , experience exactly — and I mean on the dot — what makes Adventure Time so great , andreplicates it absolutely on the page : the stories , the dialog , the oddity , the insanity . But he ’s not aping the show , he ’s creating his own tale thatuse comics ’ strengths just as the show uses vivification . And if you had n’t seenthe show for some reason , these are just expectant , fun funnies . saltation for thehardcover Mathematical Editions — you ’re going to desire these to stick around for a while .
The Unwritten : TommyTaylor and the Ship That Sank Twice ( DC / Vertigo )
Anyone who ’s been reading Mike Carey and Peter Gross’wonderful The Unwritten , which re - think a Harry Potter - alike character as aninstrument in a war to contain the world using the stories multitude trust , probably already has this original lifelike novel . If you have n’t , you should , because it uncover the secret of Tommy Taylor ’s creation — both as thecharacter in the books and the real - life somebody — that had antecedently beenunanswered in the comic . But even non - spontaneous fans can read Tommy Taylorand the Ship That sink Twice and find an inventive , gripping floor about therelationship between fabrication and reality — and what ’s more , there ’s a really goodkid ’s fantasy story in there too . Somehow Gross and Carey make all thesestories occur together seamlessly , which is why this is n’t just a great Unwrittengraphic novel , but a heavy graphic novel , period .
Hyperbole and a Half(Simon & Schuster )
Surely many of you already cognise of Allie Brosh ’s webcomic , and I assume you all bought it paperbacked because 1 ) you ( right ) believe AllieBrosh merit money for her amazing work , and 2 ) you sleep with Gross ’ tales ofchildhood craziness , adult depression , and her intensely unintelligent heel is a thingthat postulate to be have . If you do n’t know this , and do n’t own this book , perhaps because you ’re put off by Gross ’ deceptively unproblematic art - style , knock itoff . You ’re lose with one of the in effect funny books of the yr , which is whyits on this list . Hyperbole and a Half is profound , run ( seriously , herdescription of depression is literally the in force mode anyone has ever managed todescribe it ) and blisteringly singular . You will never await at a kernel of cornthe same way again .
Lazarus ( Image )
Greg Rucka and Michael Lark return for this chillinglyprescient dystopian scifi comic about a world where only a few family controlall the earth ’s wealth and power , and combat each other for more . constantly Carlyleis the Lazarus of her family , meaning she ’s been genetically organise toprotect them from scourge inside and out . Even without the obvious relevance totoday , Lazarus is a scifi political thriller with enough military action to satisfy anyfan , and Michael Lark ’s artwork complement story perfectly . Read it now beforeit gets optioned to be a movie , because it definitely will .
March ( Top Shelf )
John Lewis was born in rural Alabama , but a get together withMartin Luther King Jr. instigate him to protest segregation in Tennessee and take part in 1963 ’s historical March on Washington . Now Lewis is a congressman , and he tells his story and the account of the civil rights movement in the March , in thefirst of a three - part series . Since Lewis is recite effect he sawfirst - handwriting , the al-Qur’an is personal , but no less sinewy for it , and atomic number 27 - writer Andrew Aydin and creative person Nate Powell help transformhis narrative from mere autobiography into the epic , enthral story itdeserves to be told as .
Battling Boy ( FirstSecond )
Writer / artist Paul Pope is no stranger to action - packedscifi outlandishness , like his Batman : Year 100 or his Adam Strange series inWednesday Comics . But in Battling Boy , Pope may have perfected it . beam fromanother planet to hold a urban center hem in by monsters and demons , the12 - year - old Battling Boy has 12 witching metric ton - shirts that give him differentsuperpowers — not all of which he can assure . While illumination on dialog , Battling Boy more than makes up for it by feature some of the o.k. actionsequences ever seen in comics — but it ’s also still a tale about a unseasoned boyfinding himself and arise up . And most impressive of all , it ’s as neat a readfor adults as it is for Thomas Kyd .
Mind MGMT ( Dark Horse )
Calling Matt Kindt ’s Mind MGMT a spy conspiracy withsuperpowers is correct , but does it a disservice . Sure , it has a shadowygovernment way , a secret conspiracy , psychic abilities , and an ally - turn - enemybent on revenge . But the genius of Mind MGMT is in Kindt ’s storytelling andcharacterization , which has built a fully - realized reality with completely flesh - out graphic symbol almost effortlessly — it seems like any of them could star intheir own spin - off series ( and they ’d be good , too ) . In its 2d yr , MindMGMT ’s story has grow more complex , but the rewards have grow too , as Kindt slowlyunpacks the mystery story of Meru and the Mind MGMT agency . With only 36 issuesplanned , you could look to understand it until the comic ends in a couple of age , but then you would n’t have the pleasure of anticipating each novel monthly issue .
Saga ( Image )
Nothing has changed about Saga since last year . Well , nothing in the sense that it ’s still a sexy scifi - phantasy distance opera aboutlove , kinsfolk , ex - girlfriends , bounty hunters , shitty love affair novels , robotroyalty , ghost babysitters , mothers - in - police , cats who know when you ’re lying , sentient spaceship trees , and everything else author Bryan K. Vaughan has packedinto it . Fiona Staples ’ art is still beautiful , render expressions so staring that you could read the book without any dialogue and you ’d still know on the dot whatthe character were feel . And it ’s still one of the good comic strip availabletoday . If you know someone who likes Star Wars and can handle the occasionaldrawing of people take gender , they are almost guarantee to roll in the hay Saga .
Boxers & Saints(First Second )
Gene Luen Yang examine the Chinese Boxer Rebellion from twosides in these two complementary story — one about a young son named LittleBao , who become a loss leader in the gyration against the Western missionary who have abused his homeland , and theother about a young miss who is taken in by Christian missionary after hervillage abandons her and must decide where her allegiancesare after she grows up — with her country or with her faith . Although separate , Boxers and Saintsare really one story , revealing both side of a war , and how easy it is for oneto miss sight of the other — which is why Boxers & Saints resonates sopowerfully for reader of all ages .
Avengers : EndlessWartime ( Marvel )
Whether you ’re a womb-to-tomb Marvel lunatic or just wished themovie had been long , few comics come as close to capturing what makes theAvengers so special as Warren Elis ’ Endless Wartime — and since it ’s astand - alone graphical novel , it ’s not burdened by quite a little of continuity either . for certain , the film fans may marvel why Wolverine is hang around with CaptainAmerica , but he ’s an organic part of the squad , as is the always appreciatedCaptain Marvel . The tarradiddle impart together Cap , Thor and Iron Man ’s past times , particularly component part that haunt them , but it has all the action and greatdialogue that make Ellis one of the better . He have it off exactly what makes eachcharacter dissimilar , as well as what makes them great — but also what makesthem nifty together . Any Avengers fan , quondam or new , require to pick this up .
Sex Criminals ( picture )
The second of Image ’s “ Really Great Comics with Sex in theTitle ” series , Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky ’s Sex Criminals imagines aa serviceman and a adult female with world power : They can stop fourth dimension for everyone but themselves … butonly when they ’re receive sexual urge . And then they attempt to fleece a money box . While hilarious , Sex Criminals is weirdly sweet about the pleasure and troubles and dangers ofsex , and like Image ’s other Sex - titled comedian , itisn’t afraid to portray all aspects of sex , but it never feels judgmental . conceive of if the 1974 sex erectile dysfunction filmstrip about Joe and Susie your teacher made youwatch in high shoal was both genuinely helpful and massively entertaining — that ’s Sex felon .
Batman ’ 66 ( DC )
We ’ve already discussed how not bad Scott Snyder ’s New 52 runon Batman is , it should be secern that the best Batman book is n’t that , butthis : Batman ’ 66 , found on the almost 50 - class - old camp TV series . This comicpractically screams fun , but it ’s not some “ look how dazed Batman used to be”hit Book of Job ; it ’s a celebration of a sentence when Batman was n’t always tortured anddour , and Joker robbed bank instead of mass - murdering countless innocents . It’sa breath of fresh air from most modern DC comics , and its greatest strengthis how it practice the television series ’ type and smell , but then supply the activeness that comic books can ply , but that the show never could . suppose , if each episode ofthe sixties Batman TV show had a $ 50 million budget and access to today ’s specialeffects , what they would do with that — that ’s what Jeff Parker is bringing toBatman ’ 66 , and it ’s wondrous .
The Fifth Beatle ( Dark Horse )
People have tell apart plenty of stories about the Beatles andtheir compatriots before , but there ’s one thing no TV show or moving-picture show can do — makeus really feel like we ’re actually seeing the Beatles , as opposed to peopletrying to do an impression . The Fifth Beatle fudge this , and AndrewRobinson and Kyle Baker ’s art captures the Beatles in a way no live actor evercould . Beyond that , this biographyof Brian Epstein — the gentleman who guided the Beatles from little - townLiverpool banding to a worldwide sense — is both uplifting and haunting , andhe present anti - Semitism , homophobia ( indeed , homosexuality was in reality illegalin England at the prison term ) , addiction and his own ambitiousness before dying at the ageof 32 . Epstein ’s lift and diminish , congeal next to the continual rise of the band heled , is compelling , as well as a over-the-top look inside the Beatlesthemselves .
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