OpenCBDB Year-End Review: Merry Holidays #xmas2012

What a pretty fantastic year for comics. Between DC’s New 52 and Marvel’s most recent re-launch/creator mix-up, I’m knee deep in comics and in the middle of leasing out a second living space for me and my family. (I refuse to let the kids sleep on my comic boxes any longer) All kidding aside, I’ve never found myself buying more comics per month than I have been doing for the last year. Between DC’s Zero month, Marvel NOW! launch and all the Comixology digital sales, I’m been ingesting a record amount of ad-hoc comic books, as well as monthly titles. It has been fucking awesome! So as a last post for the year, I’d like to re-cap my pull-list for 2012 and list out my Top 10 titles of 2012.

DC Comics:

 
As far as I am concerned, DC Comics was the Publisher of the year. The first full year of the New 52 was ripe with awesomeness. DC was far and above my pull-list leader landing 2 titles in my Top 5 for 2012 with Batman at #2 and Wonder Woman at #3, while also placing 2 more in my Top 10 for 2012, Phantom Stranger at #9 and Green Lantern at #10, with a grand total of 9 titles in all on my current pull-list. DC did wonderful things with it’s relaunch and I was especially impressed with Zero month in which DC launched origin rich zero issues the entire month of September. I am looking forward to another awesome year of the New 52 in which Death in the Family, H’el on Earth, Rise of the 3rd Army and Rotworld will all wrap up. Other DC titles on my current pull-list include All-Star Western, Flash, GI Combat, Supergirl & Swamp Thing. I also read Aquaman (dropped), Justice League (dropped) & Justice League International (cancelled). New Year’s Resolution: try out more new books

Marvel Comics:

 

This wasn’t a good year for me and Marvel, although Johnathan Hickman‘s Fantastic Four did land in my Top 5 of 2012 at #4 and his equally awesome FF landed in my Top 10 at #7. Outside those two titles I didn’t keep any other Marvel titles on my pull-list and as of now, Hickman’s Fantastic Four and FF is over. Among other titles I tried out was Mark Waid‘s DareDevil. I didn’t really care for it. I attempted to like The Defenders and while I loved the Dr Strange aspect of the book, the story didn’t really hold my attention. (I would definitely read a Matt Fraction Dr Strange book. Strange Tales anyone?) For the most part Avengers vs X-Men dominated the Marvel-verse this past year and I didn’t want to touch that with a 10 ft pole. But now that is over (thankfully), Marvel has launched a creator-shake-up across the board labeled Marvel NOW. With all the re-launches and shake-ups, I’ve had the opportunity to try out a whole new host of books. While I haven’t been ready to commit many of them to my pull-list, it is official, Journey into Mystery and All-New X-Men have been added. The rest we will just have to wait and see. New Year’s Resolution: Find good Marvel Reads

Dark Horse Comics:

 

Dark Horse is easily my second favorite publisher all time and they really kicked ass in 2012. Hellboy rounded out my Top 5 in 2012 at #5 while B.P.R.D. hit at #6 and the Massive at #8. 2012 marked a record year for purchased Dark Horse books. In addition to the previously mentioned ranked titles, my pull-list was ripe with other Dark Horse titles. Axe Cop, Baltimore, Ghost, Lobster Johnson, Mind MGMT & Witchfinder. I’m also a big fan of the Dark Horse Conan books, I currently read them via Trade only. One title that I was super excited to see resurface was Dark Horse Presents. A ton of great creator talent filled the pages, but unfortunately at $8 a pop, I couldn’t keep up with the Joneses. Dark Horse Presents (dropped). New Year’s Resolution: Read Fear Agent via Trade.

Image Comics:

 

2012 marks the year I found Image Comics all over again. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples is the most brilliant story I’ve read in an eternity. Saga at #1 comes in as my Top title to read from 2012. I even gifted my fellow OpenCBDB peers with copies of Saga Vol 1 in attempt to convert as many non-believers as possible. In addition to the monthly ongoing titles on my pull-list; Manhattan Projects, Revival & Walking Dead, I read a few mini-series titles including; Red Wing & Happy! and I’m looking forward to Mara #1 by Brian Wood that is coming out on Dec 26th. Outside all the traditional print comics, I did read most of Prophet digitally via some Comixology sales. The new re-vamped Prophet was a pretty fantastic sci fi tale. New Year’s Resolution: Add Prophet to my pull-list.

IDW Publishing:

 

IDW has acquired a shit ton of licensing over the past couple years and the single greatest acquisition for me was The Rocketeer. I love being able to read new Rocketeer stories. I love the anthology series format that they chose to use that allows multiple creators to jump in and contribute. (want more!) I was most excited to see Mark Waid put out a ‘Cargo of Doom‘ 4 issue mini-series and I pray daily to the comic gods that they will follow that up with more story archs. Additionally I tried out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (dropped) and while I enjoyed it, I just didn’t enjoy it enough for it to be picked over other opportunities when it was decided to narrow down my monthly allotment of comics. New Year’s Resolution: Start reading TMNT via trade.

Oni Press:

 

Over the years I’ve never really read much Oni Press at all. Even today I don’t read any title regularly. One title I’ve always been curious about, but never picked up, was The Sixth Gun. Recently a co-worker of mine brought in the first trade and he let me borrow it. Holy shit was I missing out. I was fucking hooked from the start. The Sixth Gun is pre-WWII Hellboy. You could marry the continuities and not miss a beat. Cowboys, demons, religious sects and the occult. Fantastic stuff. Just this past November I picked up the 4th collected volume and now that I’m pretty much caught up, it’s time to get this book on the pull-list. New Year’s Resolution: Add The Sixth Gun to my pull-list.

My Top 10 Titles of 2012:

 

#1 Saga                                    #6 B.P.R.D

#2 Batman                                #7 FF

#3 Wonder Woman                  #8 The Massive

#4 Fantastic Four                     #9 The Phantom Stranger

#5 Hellboy                                #10 Green Lantern

Top 10 Titles per Publisher:

 

 

Until Next Year… Thanks to all my peers at OpenCBDB and readers for making our inaugural launch of the site and DB so awesome. I sincerely look forward to writing about and reading more comics than even this past year. To all my peers and to all our readers… Merry Holidays and Happy New Year!