A Year in Comics 2018

The good, the bad and everything in between.

Most Boring: The title came at the heels of one the many comic outrages of this year but I like Selina and wanted to give it a chance. I wanted to enjoy it and tried for two issues. Neither issue has really stuck with me and I haven't had any desire to continue. The story just feels like it's at such a slow pace with only one memorable character besides the lead. Sure the art was amazing but I need more from a book. While there are some heartfelt moments there aren't enough to keep me interested for more than the issues I read. Certainly not enough to make me feel invested.

Best Use of Canon: I still haven't gotten around to reading the stories with Wally and his children yet but the way Flash used them and the other missing speedsters (Bart) made me care. The past with Hunter (which I have read) is used to great effect continuing his story with Wally. It's sad how Heroes In Crisis changed how we will view Flash War but the way it uses past canon to craft it's story is admirable. We see why the old DCU was special and why it is lacking without people like Wally and why we should have them back.

Most Annoying Disregard of Canon: Two examples came to mind right away. The only reason I am not writing about the Orlando Wonder Woman issues (at least not in this spot) is because Heroes in Crisis affected far more characters. Roy Harper didn't become addicted to drugs because of pain killers and it gets more confusing going forward. I've heard from long term King readers (from people who like it and those that dislike his work) that he is more concerned with the story he wants to tell than character histories, etc.

It's something I believe is to the detriment of the story itself. With Kings' work but also with other writers that don't keep track of canon like this. Why even use characters like Booster Gold if their not going to be written like themselves and act like a new character anyway? Why write Lagoon Boy and Kid Devil if their upset about traumas that happened in canon that no longer works with the new canon? With Roy the retcon would change his entire history with Ollie since it doesn't have him dealing with his parental abandonment. Thankfully Green Arrow flat out ignores this change but it's still jarring. Why even put that in?

Remember Rip Hunter telling Booster that Michelle will help him in dark times in the second volume of the Booster Gold series? Apparently not, I'm fairly certain King isn't even aware of her existence or how anything about Booster works. Unfortunately this one might leave a mark on these characters for some time. Just like Identity Crisis did for Sue, Ralph and Dr. Light.

Biggest Disappointment: Judging by the positive reactions I've seen I'm in the minority here but so be it. Orlandos' Wonder Woman issues portrayal of Artemis of Bana-Mighdall were terrible. It's clear that no research went into looking at RHATO before writing her character. It makes her time on panel nonsensical and has Artemis looking like a reckless moron for no reason. Why have her appear at all if her abilities and growth aren't acknowledged? To make Diana look better? Why? It's her book and she would have come across fine without making Artemis a parody of herself. When does the story take place? It doesn't fit in RHATO canon after the splitting of the team. It makes no sense to take place during their time together. She's ready to fight for her people not even taking into consideration that she left them to go with the Outlaws.

Despite only having the Bow of Ra really be the focus it feels pretty apparent that that RHATO arc was never read and only cliff notes were used. Because Artemis is the only one that can fire the Bow since the weapon chose her as worthy. That was a HUGE part of the arc and so it makes no sense that she needs help firing it. Nor does it makes sense that she'd even be able to summon it if she couldn't control it! A queen that wasn't in RHATO is able to manipulate Artemis using fake "facts" about Artemis leaving them to search for glory that she never even disputes?

If they had a queen why did the Bana-Mighdall look to the Shim'Tar for guidance? Artemis told them it was time for them to decide their future not the gods. They took in refugees from Qurac which are conveniently not mentioned in WW. Yet the Bana-Mighdall/Artemis are once again fooled into war with Qurac despite mentioning the previous battle Akila started. They apparently can't learn from their mistakes or recall what happened. The idea to have the Bana-Mighdall chose for themselves and stop fighting the Qurac is given to Diana despite Artemis previously being responsible for such changes.

Even without the character development Artemis got in RHATO it's downright insulting to her character to see her blindly and stupidity get talked into something like she was. In her introduction Artemis made her feelings on the mistreatment of her people by Diana's mother very clear. But she didn't act on those emotions and even called out a fellow Bana-Mighdall on how dumb and unjust it was to try to murder Diana. We also learned that even at age FOURTEEN Artemis spoke out against her elders deciding to wage war. She repeatedly called out Queen Hippolyta for being a bad leader that had wanderlust, was biased against the Bana-Mighdall and for setting Artemis up to die in Dianas' place. This is not a woman that allows those in power to get away with making moronic choices.

In current canon she worked most of her life to become the champion of her people which makes the claim that she left in search of glory all the more ridiculous. The Bow of Ra was her weapon, a Bow is an iconic symbol for her character that was even used when she was Wonder Woman. But no, it is tossed away like it and her journey was nothing. The axe is treated like it's just a random piece of metal. Artemis is repeatedly corrected and saved by Diana. Her own identity as a character is ignored in favor of giving Artemis a weapon DIANA chooses. Which is another freaking lasso. For me that takes away anything of value for why Diana gives it to her. Artemis deserves to be her own person. I wanted to love this but it was just hard for me to get through.

Most Hopeful: DC's Nuclear Winter Special was surprisingly solid. There were some good stories but one really stood apart from the others for it's quality. I'm not going to spoil it but the way it's crafted, the manner it uses lore to be expanded on in such a bleak setting really made it something special.

Most WTF Moment: The Wedding Preludes were a big hint that Batman and Catwoman weren't getting married since they didn't have anyone besides Damian attempt to bond with Selina. At least out of the three issues I bought but considering Tim didn't even get an issue and the other sons didn't even interact with her it was one of the biggest reasons the concept didn't work for me. But I really disliked the Nightwing vs. Hush issue which randomly put Hush and Nightwing in another dimension. We discover Hush is now obsessed with being Dick Grayson, he gets left behind and no one cares. I'm still scratching my head at this one because I have no idea why any of that needed to happen or matters. Or why Hush cared who was the best man of the guy he hated...

Biggest Surprise: Faye "Ma" Gunn is actually Willis' mother making her Jasons' grandmother. This felt more out of left field than Willis turning up alive and being Solitary. I previously idly wondered if she might have known Willis given their backgrounds but thought he might have been a child her school had taken in. Some readers were still convinced she was a widow from Australia because of her introduction but that never worked 100% for me because of the context. She's a con woman that was explaining her funding to Bruce Wayne to prevent someone from nosing into where she got her money from. There's still a lot of questions this reveal brings up, mainly why she wasn't in Willis' life for so long, but it also answers a major question for me.

Why was she so affected by Jasons' presence?

This is a woman that got out of jail intent on going back into crime and won't stop even when Black Mask threatened her. That scoffed at Batmans' speeches and was willing to use children for her schemes. Yet there's no anger at Jason for uncovering her organization and getting her sent to jail. In fact she pretends to have mistaken him for someone else at first. Gunn shows real guilt for her past actions and for the first time is actually generous in letting the Outlaws stay with her.

Curiously Gunn isn't the slightest bit rattled by her sons' transformation or the situation she finds herself in. She explains this as the world not holding many secrets for her at her age which makes me curious what else she knows. It would be hilarious if she, for example, knows far more about Gotham than Batman does. Gunn being related to Jason also makes how Gunn treats Jason throughout the series feel more meaningful.

The Funniest Moment: As much as I love Mystery Science Theater 3000 the sheer joy I got from Rip Hunter dealing with cannibals was unmatched. Maybe because I'm glad at least one of my Time Masters is being used well. While Booster Gold is sadly being written out of character I thought it was hilarious that Rip decides to handle the situation exactly like Booster would have. He stalls for time, pretends to be emotional, strokes their egos and ultimately has a little compassion. You can tell he is his fathers' son. But what sells it is his "emotional break down" when he turns to sniff and smiles when he sees their buying his act. For those that find it hard to believe he's related to Booster it's proof that he did in fact learn from the best.

Best Supporting Character: Iris manages to hold the family together. Both of her nephews love her dearly and she will go up against anyone to protect them. Including the Trinity, in fact she threatens Superman and Wonder Woman if anything happens to Wally. Something a lot of readers including myself want to see more of since Wally wasn't properly looked after. Get them Iris.

Most Emotional Issue: DC's Winter Special had some emotional moments given the dire setting but one issue put me on a roller coaster ride from start to finish. We go on the same ride as Jason Todd as he realizes how bad his situation is and it starts to get worse. Evading the police after shooting Penguin and regretting his decision is only part of it. There's another problem: his floating headquarters is going to crash into Gotham.

Jason doesn't get far before a pissed off Batman enters the picture. RHATO #25 Vol. 2 has some absolutely brutal moments. Batman doesn't hold back and is more violent than he is with his rogues gallery. Soy and Lobdell both deliver on the emotion that had me hurting for Jason. Whether it's a furious Bruce telling Jason that he regrets ever believing in him (which we know from past issues is something Jason values) or the actual physical hits it's painful to witness.

Between these intense moments with Batman there are sections with his friends that really show the difference in his bonds with the Outlaws vs. Batman. Bruce seems (at least from Jasons' POV) to have a conditional love for his adopted son while the Outlaws instinctively do their best to be there for him. They do everything in their power to protect him from Batmans' rage or the destruction of the Outlaws headquarters. The silent panel of Artemis and Bizarro happily hugging Jason really gives you the feel of the issue. It's a mixture of heartfelt love for Jason but also shows how much pain he's in.

Bizarro tries to fix his mess while Artemis says her goodbye to Jason which only compounds Jasons' loss. Batman doesn't even allow Jason to grieve as he knocks him out, rips off the bat symbol and prepares to send his son to prison. He might have done it too if Jason didn't have another friend waiting for the right moment to strike. Seriously this issue had no equal for the emotional punch it packed.

Worst Villain/Anti-Villain: I was tempted to say Harley was the worst character this year but I rearranged that for someone else. Harley does win this spot for DC trying to make her a "pillar of the DCU" while attacking people that should be able to take her down with no problem. The amount of overpowered plot armor she has is ridiculous and I don't know how we're supposed to find her likable.

Or buy that she's a hero in any capacity. Whether or not she killed everyone in HIC isn't as relevant (right now) as the fact she did track Booster down and attempted to murder him (and all the B.S. of that "fight.") Yes she thinks that Booster killed everyone but she's still not written heroic. If she's a villain keep her a villain instead of expecting us to buy that she's someone just as important as the Trinity. Also if Booster and her are both supposed to be "pillars" it would have been nice to see him actually do anything besides get beat up and act like an idiot in HIC.

As for Harley she's all over the place, in how she's written and how we're forced to deal with her.

Best Villain: There wasn't many to chose from because some didn't reach great heights in their schemes. The previous Goblin King in Labyrinth Coronation would certainly work nicely but someone else really pushed the good guys' buttons this year. Hunter finally managed to push Wally West into breaking his rules by making him believe he could save his kids. This briefly puts Barry and Wally at odds and even pushes the other Wally away from them. Zoom does this all to prove a point, get revenge for the other Zoom and take the power he wanted. The villain wins by a big margin.

Most Frustrating Character (Formerly Worst Character): I like Bruce Wayne/Batman when he's not being written as the infallible "bat god" or an abusive parent/friend/etc. The only thing that saved Bruce from being "the worst character" of the year is because Lobdell had him personally go to Jason to break the news of Roys' death in a gentle manner. Sure Bruce still was stubborn about certain things relating to their current estranged relationship but I acknowledge that he made the effort which is more than he usually does under other writers when he screws up.

The way Bruce acts needs to be dealt with, the irony of King writing a mental health story while Bruce is this extreme is not lost on me. Bruce hurting Jason so bad that he could only function normally after three weeks and the implication that he used alien tech to heal his wounds should be treated seriously. I worry that in five months we'll see him do something similiar.

Best Female Character: Maria from Labyrinth Coronation. Her determination to save her son despite overwhelming odds really put her over the rest. She has her flaws but she makes an interesting foil to Sarah from the movie. Both make friends while trying to save a love one but Maria didn't knowingly or unknowingly give up her child. She takes responsibility even if she has her own flights of fantasies. While she's not the unbreakable person Jareth paints her as she is even stronger because of her short comings. The story manages to have some surprises despite the outcome already being known going in. But Maria is a likable protagonist that you want to win.

Best Male Character: Not counting Roy Harpers' lackluster appearances in HIC I was really impressed with him this year. Like Jason says in the second annual for RHATO volume 2, Roy is/was someone who always gets back up. Ollie, the JL, and his friends in the Titans either don't trust or believe (in) him. But Roy is able to figure out a danger to the world when no one else can. He takes out Wally and Dick then later (after they realize he was right) saves the world. Despite this he isn't offered a spot in the new Titans team or given an apology by the league. The former is something he mentions while confronting his friends of the fact no one is telling him what's going on anymore.

Roy had another great heroic moment showing what a great friend he was in RHATO. None of the bat family chose to get involved once Batman tells Alfred he's handling Jason alone but Roy does show up. He stops Bruce from taking Jason to prison and nurses Jason back to health. For me that was a huge heroic moment.