bishop2knight

It's that time of year again boys and girls...time to voice your opinions on the year that was in comic books. Post your thoughts here for what you consider to fit the categories below. But instead of just listin' 'em, let us hear your reasons, too.

Best New Series of 2006

Best Ongoing Series

Best Miniseries

Best Collected Volume (hardcover)

Best Collected Volume (paperback)

Biggest Disappointment of 2006

Best Original Graphic Novel

Best Publisher

Best Non-Mainstream Title

Best Manga Release

Most Anticipated Book of 2007

Favorite Aritst

Favorite Writer

Favorite DVDtalk Forumite: Comic Book Edition

Sessa17

Almost impossible to do fairly b/c so many comics come out every week, it's impossible to remember the stuff from the beginning of the year. But here are my picks. . .

Best New Series of 2006 - WASTELAND

Best Ongoing Series - WALKING DEAD

Best Miniseries - LOCAL

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) - ABSOLUTE NEW FRONTIER

Best Collected Volume (paperback) - 100 Bullets: Strychnine Lives

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 - All-Star Batman

Best Original Graphic Novel - Scott Pilgrim: Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness

Best Publisher - DC (b/c of Vertigo)

Best Non-Mainstream Title - The Goon

Best Manga Release - What's Manga?

Most Anticipated Book of 2007 - The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossiers

Favorite Aritst - Eric Powell (Would be Quitely or Cooke but neither did too much in '06)

Favorite Writer - Ed Brubaker

bishop2knight

Sessa, m'man, you have great taste.

Best New Series of 2006 - All Star Superman
This book is about as fun as any comic I've ever read...oh wait, it did start this year, right?

Best Ongoing Series - Y: The Last Man
Close second goes to Invincible

Best Miniseries - 52

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) - Absolute New Frontier
This book is absolutely beautiful. Loved the art, the story, and the extras. About as close to perfect as you'll get.

Best Collected Volume (paperback) - DMZ Vol. 1
Since I already have YTLM as best series...

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 - All-Star Batman
Batman dream team turns in crap...and does so late.

Best Original Graphic Novel - Twelve Reasons Why I Love Her
Not sure why, exactly, but this short and sweet story really worked for me...must've touched my feminine side.

Best Publisher - DC
With those Absolutes, why pick anyone else?

Best Non-Mainstream Title - Love as a Foreign Language
Another romance? Good grief.

Best Manga Release - Battle Club
It's the only one I read, so...

Most Anticipated Book of 2007 - Postcards
[jedi mind trick] You will all buy this book.[/jedi mind trick]

Favorite Aritst - Frank Cho
What can I say? I love good girl art.

Favorite Writer - BK Vaughan
Brubaker rules too!

JasonF

I hate these polls can I can barely remember last week, let alone 11 months ago. I never voted in the Squiddies, either. Anyway, here are my votes. I cheat a little by voting for two writers and by voting for about 35 TPBs.

Best New Series of 2006: The Thing

Best Ongoing Series: Thunderbolts

Best Miniseries: Grimjack: Killer Instinct

Best Collected Volume (hardcover): Eternals Omnibus

Best Collected Volume (paperback): The entire Essentials and Showcase lines!

Best Non-Mainstream Title: Lost Girls

Most Anticipated Book of 2007: Aquaman

Favorite Aritst: Joe Kubert

Favorite Writer: Robert Kirkman and/or Dan Slott (honorable mention: Brian K. Vaughn)

DGibFen

Best Ongoing Series - All-Star Superman

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) - The entire Absolute line.

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 - Marvel's Civil War.
- Caused a sizable number of high-selling Marvel titles to be delayed later in the year. My LCS is still steaming about that muck-up.

Most Anticipated Book of 2007 - The rest of Grant Morrison's run on Batman.

Favorite Aritst - Adam Kubert

Favorite Writer - Toss up - BK Vaughn and Geoff Johns.

MBoyd

Best New Series of 2006 - I noticed The Thing and All Star Superman mentioned. I think both started in 2005 but I can't really think of a new on-going I've fallen in love with and I would have mentioned both of those too. We know DC has dropped the ball on most of the new OYL titles.

Best Ongoing Series - Tie for me: Brubaker's Uncanny X-Men, Morrison's Batman

Best Miniseries - Eternals

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) - New Frontier

Best Collected Volume (paperback) - Essential Godzilla

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 - DC One Year Later

Best Original Graphic Novel - Pride of Baghdad

Best Publisher - Marvel, even with all the screw-ups Civil War has helped sell a lot of books and brought some readers back.

Best Non-Mainstream Title - Walking Dead

Most Anticipated Book of 2007 - All Star Batgirl (and destined to be next years most dissapointing new title)

Favorite Aritst - Jim Lee when he works!

Favorite Writer - Grant Morrison

stingermck

Best New Series of 2006 - The Boys

Best Ongoing Series - Squadron Supreme

Best Miniseries - Infinite Crisis

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) - Infinite Crisis

Best Collected Volume (paperback) - Supergirl: Power

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 - Civil War

Best Publisher - DC

Most Anticipated Book of 2007 - All Star Batgirl

Favorite Aritst - Gary Frank

Favorite Writer - Brad Meltzer

boredsilly

Best New Series of 2006 = Exterminators

Best Ongoing Series = Birds of Prey

Best Miniseries = Captain Atom: Armageddon

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) = Absolute New Frontier

Best Collected Volume (paperback) = Life and Times of Scrooge: Companion

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 = Even though I'm still enjoying it, Civil War has been a big letdown for me. Of course it's not done, but there are too many sloppy story telling techniques, nonsensical actions, and out of character portrayals for this to read like anything other than a fun "What if?".

Best Original Graphic Novel = Pride of Baghdad

Best Publisher = DC, but evenly distributed to the the Vertigo and non-WS WS titles like Ex Machina as well, not just DC proper.

Best Non-Mainstream Title = Walking Dead

Best Manga Release = NA

Most Anticipated Book of 2007 = SHAZAM: THE MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL (though I'm probably forgetting something).

Favorite Aritst = It's cheating a bit, but I really want to say Adam Hughes for those INCREDIBLE Catwoman covers. For interior artists, I would say Tony Moore.

Favorite Writer = BKV. Pride of Baghdad, Y, Dr. Strange, Ex Machina. Runner up would be Joe Casey or Gail Simone.

Best Single Issue: Batman/The Spirit #1

exharrison

Best New Series of 2006 Zombie Highway Wasn't expecting anything when I first picked it up, but it has turned out to be one that contends with Walking Dead as a first read when I get home.

Best Ongoing Series Walking Dead

Best Miniseries Black Gas

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) Haven't bought any this year.

Best Collected Volume (paperback)

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 52, seriously I feel like those seven issues I bought were a complete waste.

Best Original Graphic Novel

Best Publisher Have to go with DC

Best Non-Mainstream Title

Best Manga Release Don't ever buy any when they are released.

Most Anticipated Book of 2007

Favorite Aritst

Favorite Writer

Favorite DVDtalk Forumite: Comic Book Edition

Gamblor187

Are you retarded??? He's the god damn Batman!

Sorry. I couldn't resist.

I think that so many of us are disappointed by 52 that we've completely forgotten all about All-Star Batman.
Or perhaps we're just repressing those horrible memories.

JasonF

Keep in mind that All-Star Batman debuted in 2005. I wasn't disappointed by it in 2006 because by 2006, I already knew it was crap.

(Though to be honest, I wasn't too disappointed by it in 2005 because I figured, based on Miller's work over the last few years, that it would be crap).

kevin75

i can't say much about some of this as i pretty much only read trades now, but just when i thought the absolutes couldn't get any better, i started reading absolute new frontier last night. holy crap, it's great.

bishop2knight

porieux

Wow, this thread is making me glad I stopped reading comics a few years ago,
because none of these 'Best of' lists sound very appealing to me...

Sessa17

If you stopped reading comics a few years ago, how would you even know what these comics are about in the best of list, just by reading their names? New Frontier, Walking Dead, The Boys, Lost Girls etc etc, don't sound appealing simply based on their titles?

JustinCleveland

Best book that nobody could find: Sam Noir, Samurai Detective.

Gamblor187

Best New Series of 2006 - Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. Runner-Up - Fell (I believe it debuted in 2006, but I may be wrong)

Best Ongoing Series - The Runaways (though just about any Brian K. Vaughan book could take the top spot). Runner-Up - The Walking Dead

Best Miniseries - Batman and the Monster Men (Batman and the Mad Monk is great, as well, but there are still a few issues left). Runner-Up - X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl. (Dr. Strange: The Oath is also a contender, but there are still two more issues to go.)

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) - Although I don't have it yet, I've looked through it, and I'll go with Absolute New Frontier.

Best Collected Volume (paperback) - DMZ (I usually buy single issues as opposed to TPBs, but I missed out on this one. Now that I've got the first TPB, I'm going to stay this route because I think this book probably reads better this way. Runner-Up - The Best Of The Spirit (There's no way that I can afford those hardcovers, so I'm happy to have some of the characters...and Will Eisner's....best stories collected in an affordable volume.

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 - The Flash (Mark Waid and Geoff Johns turned him into my favorite character. This book is so bad it may change my mind.) Runner-Up - The cancellation of "Marvel Team-Up".

Best Original Graphic Novel - Tricked by Alex Robinson. Runner-Up - The Pride of Baghdad by Brain K. Vaughan

Best Publisher - DC/Vertigo

Best Non-Mainstream Title - The Goon

Best Manga Release - Next question!

Most Anticipated Book of 2007 - The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier. Runner-Up - Shazam by Jeff Smith (Finally!)

Favorite Aritst - John Cassady. Runner-Up: Eric Powell

Favorite Writer - Brian K. Vaughan. Runner-Up: Robert Kirkman

Ky-Fi

I'm still a bit of a newbie, just having got back into comics this year after being away for about 25 years, but for me:

Best Miniseries: Agents of Atlas (man, I'm lovin everything about this series!), Annihilation/Nova

Best Artists: Butch Guice, Luke Ross, Alex Maleev

Best Writers: Jeff Parker, Busiek, Brubaker

Best Ongoing Series: Daredevil, Superman, Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis

Best Single Issue: Superman #653, Wolverine #41 (the one-shot story where he rescued the baby in Africa), New Avengers Illuminati

Best Publisher: Marvel (well, at least I read more Marvels as a kid, and am more familiar with that universe---I just get really, really confused with DC.)

Aislematt

Best New Series of 2006 - Justice League of America
Not the best thing I've ever read, but can't think of too many other ongoing series that I read that started this year

Best Ongoing Series - Y: The Last Man

Best Miniseries - The Escapists

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) - Haven't picked up any hardcovers that came out this year

Best Collected Volume (paperback) - Y: The Last Man Volume 8

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 - The Flash
One of my favorite characters and this book does not do him justice

Best Original Graphic Novel - Pride of Baghdad
One of the best books I've ever read.

Best Publisher - DC (partly because of some awesome Vertigo Titles)

Best Non-Mainstream Title - Invincible

Best Manga Release - Don't Read Manga

Most Anticipated Book of 2007 -

Favorite Artist - Steve McNiven

Favorite Writer - Easily Brian K Vaughn. I have yet to read a book of his that I have not instantly loved.

Chew

Best New Series of 2006 - The Boys

Best Ongoing Series - All-Star Superman

Best Miniseries -

Best Collected Volume (hardcover) - Absolute Sandman (I have New Frontier, but haven't read it yet)

Best Collected Volume (paperback) -

Biggest Disappointment of 2006 - 52, not much needs to be said for that.

Best Original Graphic Novel

Best Publisher - DC, despite "52" (this includes Vertigo and Wildstorm)

Best Non-Mainstream Title - Fell

Best Manga Release - yeah, I don't read any

Most Anticipated Book of 2007 - League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Favorite Aritst - Big fan of both Tim Sale and John Romita Jr.

Favorite Writer - Brian K Vaughn (although, I wasn't quite as ga-ga on Pride of Baghdad as many here are)

I'll have to fill in the rest later......

Graftenberg

Best New Series of 2006 - Ms. Marvel This series really surprised me. Is anyone else picking this up?

Best Ongoing Series - Punisher MAX

This is the one series that delivers every month. This is the way the Punisher should be, no capes and no crossovers and every month it's war.

Best Miniseries -
Conan Book of Thoth

The Antipodean

I put my full thoughts on this year's comics on my blog under January 3 if anyone is interested -- here's the short version though!

BEST GRAPHIC NOVEL: "Lost Girls" by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie.

BEST ONGOING SERIES: All-Star Superman
Runners-up: Daredevil, Ultimate Spider-Man.

BEST MINISERIES: Beyond!

BEST NEW SERIES: Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.

BEST COMIC MOVIE: "Superman Returns"

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Justice League of America (DC Comics)
Runner-up: Infinite Crisis (DC Comics)

LONGEST-AWAITED: Dork #11 or Peepshow #14 (tie).

BEST ONLINE COMIC: "365 Jay" by Jason Marcy.