Best of 2015 Master-List/Happy New Year

Happy New Year!
I hope 2015 was good for everyone and that their 2016 is even better. I now present a master-list of my, "2015 in Review," posts, separated into categories of sorts.

Comics
Artist of the Year--Too Many Great Ones To Pick!
Best Cancelled Comic--Material
Best Single Issue of a Comic--Zero #18
Best Writer of the Year--Ales Kot and runner-up Jason Aaron
Embarrassing Comic Delay of the Year--Secret Wars
Ongoing Series of the Year--The Fadeout, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Southern Bastards
Publisher of the Year--Image Comics
Mini-Series of the Year--Airboy and the Humans
The Publisher That Lost Me This Year--DC
Weirdest Comic of the Year--Providence and runner-up The Vision

Assorted Media
Best Movies of 2015...That I Still Need to Actually See
Best Music Album--Kendrick Lamar with, "To Pimp a Butterfly"
My Favorite Type of Show this Year--Reality Marriage Shows
Video-Game of the Year That I Managed to Play--Metal Gear Solid V

Miscellaneous
Beverage of the Year--Surge returns to store shelves!
Wife of the Year--Samii

2015 in Review--Wife of the Year

Best Wife!

Last year I discussed how Samii was my fianceé of 2014. Well, someone else is allowed to be the fianceé of 2015 because now Samii is the best wife of 2015! We got married on October 21st in a small ceremony in our living room and she is without a doubt the best wife of 2015. Your opinion may differ from mine, but should you lack a wife feel free to tell people you read about the wife of the year on this website.

Those are my posts for 2015 in review. I hope everyone has a wonderful 2016!

2015 in Review--Best Cancelled Comic

Always a Shame

There are comics that could be considered just too beautiful for this world. Sometimes it is revealed they will be cancelled via a solicitation that declares an issue the last. Other times they will even have upcoming issues solicited but suddenly end. It is always painful when this happens, and this year there was one comic in particular I was devastated to see end abruptly and without warning.

Material

At only four issues, "Material," in fact had three more solicited before the writer, Ales Kot (who've I've been discussing a fair amount in these 2015 in Review posts) announced it was suddenly canceled. He later clarified a bit more that it just seemed the market wasn't into something like, "Material," and that it maybe, just maybe might continue in a periodical form, coming out in bigger chunks.

Reading between the lines here I'm thinking either, "Material," didn't sell well enough for it to make sense to keep publishing it, or it ruffled too many feathers and someone told Kot--be that Image, his friends, etc.--that he needed to stop before the boat found itself rocked too much. Because boy was this a comic that rocked the boat. You had a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who despite being innocent was tortured relentlessly and is now trying to adapt to everyday life. There is a young black man forced to work as an informant for a cruel and violent police-officer in Chicago. A professor who is fed-up with his listless class and potentially has been contacted by a sentient form of the internet (or is someone just playing an elaborate prank on him? He isn't sure). Then there is the actress who is simply trying to reboot her career with her own personal issues serving as the biggest obstacle.

These people never find their stories intersecting but they clearly relate in a variety of thematic ways. This is the kind of comic that had liner-notes listing all the young black men murdered by police officers who then got off scott-free. This is a comic that recommends you read books on theater and art with links you can type into your computer to learn more. This is a comic that I now have to say, was a comic because the world is cruel and this ended right as it started making me really care about these individuals and their horrendously fucked-up lives.

Ales Kot says in one issue of this series that, "Comics will break your heart." He wasn't exaggerating because I'll be damned if I don't feel quite heartbroken that this amazing book ended so suddenly. I just can only hope it does come back in some form or another, and be somewhat thankful it did resolve a lot of things within its 4th issue to a degree that I'm not left wondering too much about all the characters. Still, it's such a shame something as mind-blowing as this ends.

"Comics will break your heart," indeed. Screw you, Kot, for making me care so much about a comic. Screw you, and thank you.

2015 In Review--The Publisher That Lost Me This Year

Losing Interest

Sometimes try as hard as a comic publisher might, I just find a number of their stuff lacking. I am reading much less of certain publishers I used to almost exclusively read (Marvel) but there is one publisher who this year went from having at least a handful of titles I read to now no titles.

The Publisher that Lost Me This Year--DC

I am currently regularly reading zero DC titles. Zip, nothing, nada. I mean, not even Vertigo stuff. Things looked slightly promising with their attempted tonal-shift that had a different feel, but that seems to have fizzled out and while some things are still unique and different (Batman is Jim Gordon, for reasons), I basically have seen nothing from DC that interests me. Their huge re-launch in 2011 seemed promising but ended-up being a lot of wasted potential. The company is flailing about with apparently more retitling and re-launching on the way.

They undid some of the re-launch by hinting at past DC-Universes with, "Convergence," which if anything just made people long for the DC comics of old, and apparently the best title right now from the publisher is one featuring the Justice League that seems to be mostly removed from the current continuity (or taking place before most of the current comics).

"Convergence," just made people miss the old DC.

It's really a shame as I've greatly enjoyed past DC comics and still have a fondness for works published by the company done by creators I greatly enjoy (I loved, "The Multiversity," for example). I'm not sure what the solution is, but 2015 is basically the year DC lost me.

Side Note: I have heard that, "Omega Men," is great and am thinking I'll pick up the 12-issue epic once it concludes.

2015 In Review--Weirdest Comic of the Year

Just Plain Strange

There are always comics that go beyond being a little different and enter the realm of outright weird. This year one comic handily took that title and another comic was a bit too new for me to fully qualify, but easily is a runner-up.

Providence

This series has had six issues come out, and despite starting out a tad slowly (or maybe because it started slow), it has over time grown increasingly dark and twisted, with issue #6 taking things to a whole 'nother level of terrifying, bizarre, and just plain weird. Between the slipping grasp on reality held by the main character named Robert Black, otherworldly entities influencing people in horrific ways, and all sorts of surreal nastiness, this is an abnormal kind of comic for sure.

Some people have protested that Alan Moore is over-the-hill but I think he still has some solid stories in him, as evidenced by the madness on tap in this series. The clever way Moore works-in characters from throughout the bibliography of HP Lovecraft is crafty, and it is ingenious how Moore puts elements into the story of things that would have upset/disgusted Lovecraft (namely that Robert Black is both secretly gay and secretly Jewish) and makes the prejudices of Lovecraft's era--reflected in Lovecraft's own writings--an intriguing part of the story itself.  Moore deserves immense credit for that smart way of using Lovecraft's own fears, "against him," as it were.

A well filled with a gross plant infecting all around it,
a clever metaphor for the madness afflicting the main character.

At this mid-way point in the series it has become harder than ever to tell what is real in our character's world, and what is his imagination/an evil force influencing him. It is scary, uncomfortable, and of course very, very weird. This is why, "Providence," is my weirdest comic of the year.

The Vision

Only two issues have come out so far of, "The Vision," but they have been superbly twisted and strange enough to really make an impact on me. Putting the concept of the main character, The Vision, being a synthetic human struggling to be, "Normal," to the forefront, this comic follows The Vision and a family he has created of a wife and two children. Without the narration the comic would be a tad uncomfortable, but thanks to the third-person narrative boxes discussing how all these characters The Vision and his family meet will soon die due to the actions of The Vision and his family the comic ramps-up its ominous tone to the stratosphere.

The weird disconnect between these robotic beings struggling to understand humans while not having emotions (or do they?) makes for some fascinating reading. This series is still too new in my opinion to be declared the weirdest comic of the year, but it certainly has struck me as odd enough between its subject matter and discomforting narration to be considered the runner-up.

Wacky Stuff!

There may not have been anything as odd as this,
but things still got pretty strange!

There are always comics that can be a little different, but sometimes you just want to enjoy something really weird. These two comics fit that bill in my opinion and I encourage you to read them and see if you agree with me.

2015 in Review--Beverage of the Year/Surge Returns to Store Shelves!

A Tasty Beverage

Previously I have at times focused more on food as a best-of post, but this year I wanted to discuss a drink I was excited to see return to store shelves. That drink? Surge!

Delicious!

Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's I greatly enjoyed drinking me some Surge. It was like a better-tasting Mountain Dew courtesy of the Coca-Cola company. However, it wasn't quite popular enough and Coke discontinued it. Many tears were shed as sadness engulfed the world. However, there were people out there who kept petitioning Coke to bring it back, and after enough viral campaigns it was announced back in 2014 that Coke would make Surge available--albeit only via Amazon.

It sold out, quickly.

The surge was so popular and people went so crazy for it that a year later, in the early Fall of 2015 Coca-Cola returned Surge to store shelves, as easy to find at your gas station as most other sodas. I for one welcome this tasty treat loaded with caffeine and artificial-cirtusy-goodness back and hope it is here to stay.

2015 in Review--Ongoing Series of the Year

The Going-Ons with Ongoings

Even these books (some got into the 600's) have re-launched at various points.

There are comics that technically aren't supposed to end. The thing is, almost all of them do. That said, comics which were solicited as being theoretically unlimited in issues deserve awards too! That's why I'm honoring one ongoing that it was suddenly revealed will end with its upcoming 12th issue, one comic that launched, ended, and re-launched with a new first issue in the same year, and another title that is just damn good.

The Fadeout

There are many great duos out there. OutKast, The Russo Brothers, PB&J, and so forth. Comic books have stellar teams too, just look at Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. One team who consistently put out great stuff however would be the two guys known as Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips. They both do great work on their own, but the immense body of work put out by them working in unison illustrates mind-boggling creativity and craft. Their immense talent resulted in this fascinating exploration of 1940's Hollywood and the dirty, dark secrets the supposedly happy and shiny era had.

I was surprised when it was suddenly revealed the comic would end with issue #12, which Brubaker said in the comic's back-matter he and Philips had planned for, but I was always under the impression this comic could just go on and on with fascinating mysteries, drama, and all that good stuff. That final issue is due in early January and I am both excited to read it and sad for the series to end. The fact it was solicited as ongoing is why I'm putting it in this category, and should you love movies, crime comics, or just general amazing writing and artwork you definitely ought to check this series out.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

This comic actually launched, was great, and then due to, "Secret Wars," had to re-launch with a new #1 but in actuality just continue from where it began (and cleverly acknowledge but not tie-in too much with other comics Squirrel Girl appears in). The secret to this comic being so great is that it genuinely seems to have an affection for its main character, be it how writer Ryan North shows her as a chipper and smart problem-solver, or the way artist Erica Henderson draws Squirrel Girl in a way that actually looks normal and human (as opposed to impossibly curvy/the female super-hero cliché).

The way North and Henderson balance-out the everyday life of Doreen Green (her actual name) with the super-hero aspects results in a comic that is half, "Slice-of-life in the day of a college student," and half, "Lighthearted and fun heroics!" There is also the ingenious way that the creators acknowledge Squirrel Girl's uncanny ability to beat supposedly world-ending threats, and cleverly twists that concept so that she actually does conquer Galactus or Dr. Doom in a reasonable way. Oh, did I mention the comic is hilarious and fun? I did? Well, it is, and it is without a doubt one of my favorite ongoing series of the year.

Southern Bastards

I already discussed how Jason Aaron was my runner-up for writer of the year based just on, "Southern Bastards," alone, and that should tell you a lot about how good this comic is. Whether it is the mixture of love and disgust held by the creators for the South, the careful plotting building its way to what I imagine will be an epic climax of the town turning on the evil man terrifying them, or just the stellar artwork by Jason Latour, this is a superb series. Plus, the letter-pages often have tasty recipes for assorted Southern dishes!

The manner in which Aaron has injected so much dark humor, brutal violence, and heart into this title is wonderful, and with Latour's masterful artwork this has been an amazing book. No other comic takes everything good and bad about the South the way, "Southern Bastards," does, and boy am I eager to see where it goes in 2016.

2015 In Review--Embarrassing Comic Delay of the Year

How Embarrassing!

People generally don't like to look like fools, as if they have egg on their face, in the same manner as a horse's ass, etc. That said, we all sometimes do something that is quite embarrassing, be it saying the wrong thing, or making a promise we then can't keep. One thing that can make us look especially bad is when we state we're going to be somewhere--say, the comic shop--at a certain time. Then we find ourselves a bit delayed and don't arrive quite on time. By a number of months. It gets to the point where we said we would arrive at the comic shop when it was the Fall and now  we're not going to actually get there until 2016. We would look pretty silly if that occurred, wouldn't we? So yeah...

Secret Wars and Its Numerous Delays

See you in 2016!

We still haven't finished, "Secret Wars." The one big hint that we might have some trouble was when Marvel announced they would be splitting the eighth issue/expanding the story and needed to add a ninth issue to conclude everything. That sounded vaguely like, "We are already so behind we need to push the last issue back a month and by throwing in a few extras maybe we can split stuff up," but things weren't really bad until issues started slipping...and slipping...and now we're at the end of 2015 with a series that initially was going to end in October-or-so but won't have its last issue out until January 6th (precluding any further delays).

The most embarrassing thing about all this was how, "Secret Wars," was supposed to have all these carefully timed tie-ins and then lead-in to a relaunch of sorts...now all the tie-in comics for the event have wrapped. As for the new books? Well, those comics have come out and some are on their 3rd issues, making it pretty easy to guess some of the final elements of, "Secret Wars," or decide that this, "Universe-altering, super-amazing, wild and crazy," event was actually kind of inconsequential overall. That is, it was unimportant other than that it seems to have gotten rid of the Fantastic Four as a part of a vendetta against the characters--thanks Marvel CEO, Ike Pearlmutter!

The 3rd issue of a comic supposed to start after, "Secret Wars," came out this week.
That's right, the THIRD!

This is one pile of shame for Marvel. We can all try and make the usual excuses about how events are hard, things that can't be predicted occur, etc. etc. we really can do that. It's just, the thing is, when you're a billion-dollar corporation and seem to habitually have delays in your events this goes from being a bit of an embarrassment, to a colossal mess. Considering how awful this all has looked, I hereby, declare Marvel and its, "Secret Wars," as the embarrassing delay of the year. I hope they enjoy their, "award," whilst finally finishing this event. At least it apparently is pretty decent and will read well in trade. That's a positive thing, right?

2015 In Review--Best Music Album

Best Album of the Year?

This really shouldn't be any surprise considering when I first discussed it I declared it Album of the Year, and many other critics out there seem to agree with me. So yeah, thank God rap music has someone like Kendrick Lamar

To Pimp a Butterfly

From his lamentations of the state of racial disparities in America, to using his dick as a political metaphor, reminiscing on the past, and stating hopes for the future, ""To Pimp a Butterfly," is without any question my album of the year in terms of musical quality, lyrical ability, and how many times I listened to it. As depressing as it is to think, I didn't have an album of the year in 2014. I had some things I really liked, but to declare something so amazing it was the best of 2014 seemed impossible. Now, saying anything else besides, "To Pimp a Butterfly," is the album of 2015 would feel absurd.

Lamar puts so much into these nearly 80 minutes that after listening to it you feel less like you've absorbed a music album so much as an epic verbal novel sprawling in its themes yet unified in the focus of its author stating, "Here's what I think, and why." This album is a masterpiece, and Kendrick deserves every one of those 11 Grammy awards he's been nominated for.

2015 in Review--Best Writer

One Stood Tall

Out of all the amazing writing this year, one writer stood tall and above the others with almost every thing he put out being its own piece of brilliance. That person? Ales Kot--who also had the best single issue of 2015 in my eyes.

Ales Kot

"The Surface", "Wolf", "Zero", "Material", "Dead Drop". These words all describe things by Ales Kot which I read this year, and are all things I loved to varying degrees--with some being oh-my-God-incredible ("The Surface", "Material", "Zero"), and others at least really good ("Dead Drop", "Wolf"). Whether taking a story that started out seeming like a simple tale of a soldiers in the future before morphing into a treatise on the nature of good and evil, or simply showing us the life events of everyday people dealing with some really trying circumstances, Kot has a way of making us care dearly about his characters and their stories.

Perhaps this is because Kot injects so much of himself into his writing, literally appearing within the final issue of his comic, "The Surface," and sharing a ton of personal details that result in us readers feeling like we know him not just as a writer, but on a deeply personal level.

It isn't just characterization Kot excels at, his ability to draw from the news and popular-culture before coalescing these sources into a story is incredible. The world of "Material" is a perfect mirror of our own, ugly scars and injustices just as apparent in our reflection as the real world Kot takes these ideas from. Kot creates this amazing stories that are grounded in reality, but is just as able to give us a something more akin to fantasy such as in his comic, "Wolf," which features people with special abilities, but instead of super-hero outfits they just try to live a normal life with what little gifts they have. Throughout "Wolf" Kot has given us a world that again could be a mirror to our own with the racism and struggles--but in this case is more of a fun-house mirror what with the vampires and a little girl who may be the Anti-Christ.

Kot is a relatively newer talent, having emerged on the scene with, "Wild Children" and "Change" back in 2012. If he has already created work this good in that shorter span of time I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Runner-Up: Jason Aaron

Jason Aaron has something mind-blowing in the form of his comic, "Southern Bastards." Even though it may have a rare slow issue, the way the comic has been coming to a slow boil since the death of whom we thought would be the protagonist in issue 4--Earl Tubbs. Since his murder at the hands of Coach Boss the tension has been growing as we watch the countdown to the town's big Football game, Tubb's daughter coming to town, and a lot of people clearly ready to knock Coach Boss from his place of power.

Something incredible is brewing in "Southern Bastards" and if the story achieves as incredible as climax as I'm hoping it will Aaron may very well be my writer of the year for 2016. The thing just is that I couldn't award him that for 2015 because while "Southern Bastards" is mind-blowingly good, it is the only thing by him in 2015 that made me go, "Wow!" (although that first issue of "The Goddamned" makes me think that may be quite the title to watch too).

Between Kot, Aaron, and plenty of other great writers 2015 was full of some stellar stuff!