Top 10 List!

I like top 10 lists. They are easy to digest and compare your own picks with. They can say a lot while only saying a little. So I decided to write up a quick top 10 list of my own.

Below you will find my top 10 ongoing series. I picked them by looking at my pull list as though I had to drop all of my ongoing titles except for 10. If that were to happen, these are the books that would make the cut. The top few spots were hard to assign and in a few months they could easily shift around. But as of now, this is what I would pick.

Honorable Mention: Stuff of Legend – it can’t be on the list because it’s a series of miniseries and not an ongoing title. But I enjoy it so much that I felt it needed a mention and if I was dropping all of my books but 10 and a book had to be cut from this top ten list to keep this one I would probably make that sacrifice.

10. Batwoman – I admit it, this is a cheat. This book isn’t even out yet. But I have such high hopes for it that it still sneaks in at the number 10 spot on the list. When I actually have the book in my hands it could jump to an even higher spot, especially if the previous run in Detective Comics is any indication, but the new creative team has to prove themselves a little before that can happen.

9. Darkwing Duck – What can I say, I’m a sucker for nostalgia. The comic will never be as good as the cartoon (and the cartoon will probably never be as good as my memories of the cartoon) but it’s the only way I’m going to get new stories with these characters. And Darkwing, like Batman, has a great rogues gallery (and Batman doesn’t have a Negaduck!) and a fun family of relationships to explore.

8. Zatanna – I love magic. I always have. And really, who doesn’t love the very idea of magic? We all wish we could be magic, or at the very least, wish we could watch someone else being magic. This book is doing a nice job of treading into the magical side of the DCU that has been more or less ignored lately. Here our normal world and the magical world collide and it’s up to Zee to make sure that things don’t get too messy.

7. The Sixth Gun – I really like the weird west setting. Every time they give me another tidbit about the universe I am itching for more. The villains are scary and the heroes are maybe not so heroic. It’s a muddled environment without the clearest sense of who you can trust and who you should believe. And that helps to make it great. I saw someone describe this series as a western horror series but I don’t feel that really fits. It’s a western with fantasy elements (some of which, admittedly are scary). I look forward to seeing where this one will take me.

6. Batgirl – This book had so much to prove. It fought a hard battle to prove that it was a good book with an interesting character who deserved her place in the DCU. I have to say that I think the writer has a great sense of voice as the first year was full of Bat family guest stars and they were all portrayed believably. The stories have been great and the stakes have been high. This book doesn’t have to prove itself anymore, and now it can simply focus on being awesome.

5. Red Robin – Tim Drake is a great character. I HATED the idea of him being Red Robin, but the past year has really made it fit for the character. The book has a lot of great things going for it right now with some serious long term plotting going on. I hope the creative team can stick around for a long time to come because when Tim Drake is written well he is amazingly interesting and fun to read about.

4. iZombie – I figured I’d like this story because I like zombies, but this book is full of concepts that just really click with me. I love that one of the main characters is a were-terrier. When they sat down and laid out how vampires and ghosts and zombies and mummies exist in the world I really liked the explanation behind it all. With such iconic monsters it’s easy to just hand wave their existence as some sort of magic that doesn’t need explaining. But this book lays out easy to understand rules and shows a lot of forethought on the part of the writer. Also the art is fantastic. There are a lot of places this book can go and I look forward to being along for the ride.

3. Unwritten – This book continues to surprise me, and every surprise makes me excited to read the next volume. The characters are well developed and the threat they face is interesting and mysterious. And it has an adorable flying cat that I demand a plushie of immediately if not sooner. The pacing in this book is really solid and its one of the first things I read every month without fail.

2. Morning Glories – I’ve only read five issues so far, but the first one alone was enough to get me hooked and more than enough to earn the number 2 spot. This one could go down the list if it can’t keep up the insanely high standards it has set for itself, but it’s just starting out and with a long form mystery like this it’s an exciting time to be reading. The characters are fun and different and have great personalities that play off of each other in entertaining ways. The pacing of these issues has been fantastic with each issue ending in a way that makes me disappointed that there are no more pages that month and excited to see how things turn out as soon as the next volume is in my hands.

1. Tiny Titans – There is nothing better than this book. I feel like I gush about it all the time and if so it’s only because that’s how much I am enjoying this book. If they had an entire Tiny universe of books I would buy every single one of them and they would all probably be on this list. No matter what happens I know this comic will be fun. It will make me laugh. It will charm me with its whimsy. If I am feeling sad it makes me feel happy and if I’m already happy it makes me happier. Any book that can do that deserves the number 1 spot.


I’m honestly surprised by how many of these series are new (6 of the 10 haven’t even reached issue 10 yet, so in a way this list doubles as my best of 2010 list). I suppose the longer a series runs the more likely it is to lose readers for whatever reason. It doesn’t surprise me that half the books on here are independent titles. More DCU books would probably be on here if I could depend on the creative team sticking around for more than a year. But when I think about comics I want to read for a long time it’s too easy to assume that the writer I like will go away and be replaced by someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. Or that some big DCU event is going to come along and change everything potentially derailing stories that have been building for a while.

I noticed that I didn't talk too much about what these different series were actually about, so I've included links where I could to other places on my blog where I gush about the series in question.
Share your top 10 list with me! If you could only read 10 ongoings what would they be? Do you have less than 10? Share that too!

Waiting for Trade? – Stuff of Legend Book 1: The Dark

Creative Team: Mike Raicht and Brian Smith (W), Charles Wilson (A)
Price: $13.00
Available Now (special signed edition available from Th3rd World's website with original sketch!)

During the 1940s a young boy is kidnapped by the Boogieman and taken into the Dark. It’s up to his loyal toys and pet dog to journey into the unknown to rescue their boy. I know some people were skeptical of this one saying that talking toys were nothing new. I’ll agree; that part of the premise has been interpreted in several different ways before, but this is no Toy Story.

 When the toys enter the Dark they change. The toy soldier and Indian princess become real flesh and blood versions of themselves. The teddy bear becomes a fierce grizzly. And there isn’t a happy fairyland waiting inside the closet for them. Instead they must do battle with the Boogieman’s army of forgotten toys and journey through his mysterious and hostile world, all in the hopes of somehow finding and saving their boy. As with Beasts of Burden, this isn’t really a little kid’s book. There are some darker elements to the story, like death and betrayal, that are probably too much for very young readers.

The toys are all very individual with different opinions on what they are doing and how far they should go. The toy soldier is very loyal, while the highly intelligent piggy bank has some doubts about if they can succeed. The toys interact well off of each other and create an interesting group dynamic. The boy’s dog, Scout, is the only character to not change in the dark, remaining an un-upgraded puppy amid shooting cowboys and bayonet wielding soldiers. Some of the toys are wary of him due to his habit of chewing on them back home, but others are more understanding.

The art alone was enough to sell me on the project. I saw the preview of the book from last year’s Free Comic Book Day (which you can read for yourself here) and was floored by the art. It’s done in a sepia toned shaded pencil and it really captures the feel of the story, adding to the atmosphere of the book (for a process piece on how he does it read here). The characters are amazingly drawn, adorable in toy form and fearsome in the Dark. The Boogieman is scary and unsettling and everything the terror of childhood should be. I was shocked when I learned that this is the artist’s first work in comics. I would not be surprised if we see more of him in the future (he has deservedly been nominated for a Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award).

I usually try to post a lot of interview to let people see as much about the book as possible, but I really feel this one speaks for itself in the previews.  But I'm a creature of habit, so here are some interviews with the writers and artist about Volume 2.  Here is a quick video interview with the gang.  Here are a few older interviews from when the first issue was announced in case you are worried about spoilers or just want to see what the buzz was like and the pitch that got me and many others very interested.

This book contains the first volume of the tale, which was released in two huge no ad comics last year. Due to the fantastic response to that first volume several more are planned. The story will continue to be told in miniseries with the second volume beginning this week (which you can preview here, according to that cover we're getting a cymbal monkey!). The creators know how the story will end, but how long they have to tell the story of the journey depends on sales.  The better it does the longer the story can continue and the fuller the picture will be.  I encourage everyone to pick this one up and give it a try.  I really can't recommend it enough.    Lots of other people have good things to say about it too.  And like many of those that I recommend I will probably be picking up this trade even though I own the floppies for the fantastic extra content.