My Favorite Things 2014: Comics

Yes, that is Moon Knight
fighting what looks like Morris Day.

Disclaimer: Yes, I left Saga off the list because I would basically just be repeating myself from last year and the year before and the numerous reviews I've done on Saga since it's inception. At this point, it should just go without saying that Saga can do no wrong in my book.

Moon Knight: This is easily one of the best upgrades I've ever read for a second/third tier Marvel character. Leave it to Warren Ellis to make a superhero like Moon Knight memorable again. The task seemed simple for Ellis and his co-conspirators, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire. Their aim was to write six standalone issues that would reintroduce the comic world to the many faces of Marc Spector. Ellis pitted "The One You See Coming" against everything from rogue cops to evil dreamscapes to punk rock ghosts. The crown jewel of this short lived run was easily Issue 6 entitled "Scarlet" where Mr. Knight infiltrates a mob safe house to rescue a kidnapped little girl. Wait...."infiltrate" isn't quite accurate. He kicks the front goddamned door in and beats the living shit out of 6 floors of bad guys a la Raid: Redemption. Since Ellis' tenure, Brian Wood has taken the wheel, expanding on the universe already established in the first issues of the relaunch. DC should take meticulous notes from this innovative master class on how to reestablish a character (I'm looking at you, Whoever's Been Writing Mr. Terrific Lately).

Starlight: (I'm not going to repeat myself on why Starlight is one of the best comics of the year, so see here)
Batman: Okay, so it feels really cheap and fanboy-ish to say that Batman is one of the best books of the year, but it's a statement that Scott Snyder has earned. Batman really IS one of the best books of the year. First of all, Zero Year wrapped up in 2014 and we were almost sad to see it go. Snyder had reinvented the origin of a 75 year old character in a way we hadn't seen before. Here, we saw a Bruce Wayne that was less a brooding man on a mission and more of risk taking loose cannon reminiscent of Daniel Craig's James Bond. He smiles once in a while, he improvises, he's unsure of himself at times, he tells bad guys they're full of shit. Batman's New 52 origin is basically the antidote to the Goddamned Batman Problem on basically every level.

Black Science: (see here on why Black Science is one of the best things to happen to comics)

Ms. Marvel: Now, this is where Marvel ran circles around DC in the way of taking risks as far as representing characters of color. G. Willow Wilson is a godsend to comics for her book that's part coming of age tale, part superhero epic. All uber fangirl, Kamala Khan, has ever wanted to be was her idol, Carol "Captain Marvel" Danvers...strong, fearless and "perfectly beautiful." Instead, she's a brown girl with a funny name and religious ways the kids at her school don't always understand. Then, she stumbles headfirst into weird shapeshifting powers that cause more problems for her personal life than she expected. "Ms. Marvel" is a courageous story that young girls of all walks of life could take something away from, a story about how the most heroic thing you can possibly be in life is yourself.