Best of 2020

[HarryTrotter]

I tried to start a thread,but the year sucked and even if it did last a decade,I barely read anything new-ish. Savage Avengers is good so far. Once and Future is disappointing. Lois Lane series was pretty good,and we do need a Question ongoing. TMNT is still going,I guess.
I hope other have more inspiration.

[Silver Shocker]

As a Ghosbusters fan, Ghostbusters: Year One was an absolute joy and made me actually laugh out loud on numerous occasions.

[BentonGrey]

TMNT has continued to be great.  That's true.  That's something to be thankful for, ha. 

SS, I don't think I knew about that one.  That sounds really cool!

[HarryTrotter]

TMNT has continued to be great.  That's true.  That's something to be thankful for, ha. 

SS, I don't think I knew about that one.  That sounds really cool!

Tbh I found the whole Mutant Town arc to be a chore. It will probably work better as a collection.

Also,Eastman and Laird are back with The Last Ronin,that was pretty unexpected. First issue looked promising,but Turtles did a lot of bad futures,so we will see.

[BentonGrey]

Interesting, HT.  I'm rather behind on my comics (getting them in roughly quarterly lots, rather than monthly), so I haven't gotten all the way through that.  It was an unexpected direction, and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.

[Silver Shocker]

Benton: Ghostbusters: Year One is about the four GBs (and a few other supporting characters, such as Dana Barrett), being interviewed one by one for a book and having to answer questions about their early exploits during the first movie, and we see a series of flashbacks to sequences that happened roughly around the montage in the middle of the flick. It features such things as what Winston was doing before he joined the GB's, Ray teaching him how to use the equipment (the one specific thing I, and Red Letter Media, felt the 2016 remake had going for it, since it included that as part of the movie), and the guy from the library asking them if they're ever going to get around to catching the library ghost. This sequence included a pretty specific shot at Canada for some reason, which as a Canadian, I didn't particularly appreciate, though it seemed to be a somewhat 80's-specific reference so I was unclear on the specifics. It also provided a funny and pretty good explanation for where Venkmen got the sleeping pills he gave Zuul/Dana Barett/The Gatekeeper.

Very recommended.

I'm also rather behind on my comics, but I've been slowly but surely working my way through them. And I did read Mutant Town as a trade, and found it rather dull. I suspect Sophie Campbell [Edit: I mistakenly said Sophie Turner. This amuses me.] is a better artist than a writer, I've come to realize that the IDW-original TMNT characters don't have the same pop in their dialogue as the franchise regulars, and many of the things I find especially interesting (Shredder, Karai, Krang, Stockman, Bebop and Rocksteady) are decidedly NOT in that volume. I know some of that comes up in the annual, which should be in the next trade, so I'm hoping it gets better there. Loved the kitty cat, of course. 

The whole Mutant Town development was presented as something vaguely similar to No Man's Land or Arkham City from Batman.

Spoiler

City at War was quite good, but it was a lot. I will say while I like the character of Jennika, I DON'T like her as the fifth turtle. The reason why is she, like most IDW-original characters, has a much more dry way of talking, and so I don't think she adds to the 4 turtles + Splinter + April + Casey dynamic we all and love where the dialogue basically writes itself. I LOVE the sequence where the 4 turtles and Splinter discuss their favorite movie martial artists (Splinter would be a Mister Miyagi fan) but I couldn't tell you who Jenny's favorite would be.

I was genuinely shocked how villainous this incarnation of Karai turned out to be.  Granted, every incarnation of Karai is notably different, and she's been a villain about as often as a good guy, but for years now I've viewed her as an honorable opponent type, and this version is quite myopic and ruthless.

LOVE Shredder travelling through hell, coming back to life and doing a face turn! Shredder as a good guy, who the TMNT will probably resent and be reluctant to trust, because, on top of everything else, Master Splinter literally died to bring him back to life? Tantalizing. And not in the most recent volume at all. 

I cannot overstate how much I love the IDW incarnation of Stockman! After years of increasingly pitiful losers named Stockman in the franchise (Rise of the TMNT presented him as, I kid you not, a pre-teen Youtube Streamer) seeing him as the TMNT equivalent of Lex Luthor and becoming the mayor of New York? So awesome!

I loved Agent Bishop, but found he lost a lot of steam by the end. The twist with him being physically frail and deformed in a robot-body, Utrom-style, was unique but it didn't quite do it for me and it diminished his threat quite a bit. I remember this one fellow here on FR who hated Utrom Shredder with a passion for functionally the same reason. I guess I'm in the same boat now.

LOVED the twist with Krang having infected the torso area of Leatherhead. BRILLIANT! And again, not at all in the most recent trade. 

I've got the trade of Power Rangers/TMNT but haven't read it yet. From what I've seen it looks quite rad, so I'm looking forward to it.

[HarryTrotter]

I know they did some crossovers with Real Ghostbusters,so I might check those out eventually. Well,IDW Ghostbusters mostly do crossover from what I saw.
Now I really want to know,what was the jab at 80's Canada?
Oh yeah,the Freedom Fighters reboot was this year. And it wasn't bad. As far as FF reboots go(and we get one every 5 years) it was one of the better ones.

[Silver Shocker]

I know they did some crossovers with Real Ghostbusters,so I might check those out eventually. Well,IDW Ghostbusters mostly do crossover from what I saw.

I mean, It's IDW. There's seemingly NO two properties they won't crossover if they'll legally allowed to. In the last few years we've gotten Ghostbusters/Transformers (which was quite fun), Back to the Future/Transformers (which naturally involved a Delorean Transformer to go with Ectrotron) and TF/Star Trek of all things.

I would imagine the GB crossovers sell better than the ones that are just GB. How could they not?

Now I really want to know,what was the jab at 80's Canada?

Well darn. I don't actually remember, and now you've put me on the spot and I have to go back through the book and look it up. Had it coming for sure.

Ray [getting out of the Ecto after they pulled into the fire station]: "Janine, we just got stonewalled at the Canadian consulate. Said they're deferring the full payment until they hear back from Ottawa, but at least they're sorry about it. "
So if I'm understanding that, to paraphrase Venkmen from GBII Canada stiffed them on the bill because of some bureaucratic bookworm.

My exact response when I first read the book was "Well screw you too. Enjoy the next few years of [...]" well, use your imagination.

It's even more insulting because they gave the line to Ackroyd's character. If Venkmen said that line, I might have actually let it slide.

[HarryTrotter]

Enjoy the next few years of ...

George Bush Senior? 🥁 🥁

IDW did the X-Files crossover where Mulder and Scully investigate all their other titles,which really shouldn't work,but somehow it does.

[Silver Shocker]

Fair enough, but I was directing it toward the writer (who I otherwise, really, really like), not the character. You can finish that sentence any number of ways depending on how edgy you want to be, but to give you a great example of where my goofy scatterbrained young-at-heart mind goes, my actual answer of choice was "No more Toy's R. U.S." Yes really. God I love that Toys R' Us still exists in Canada.  And considering how much GB artist Dan Shoening clearly loves the original Real Ghostbusters toyline, that might in fact be the most appropriate answer (actually, a relative of mine once took me to Toys R's Us to let me pick out a birthday present once when I was a wee lad, and I actually did pick out a Real Ghostbusters toy)

I read X-Files/Ghostbusters IIRC, and I seem to recall it wasn't very good. I vaguely recall reading the TMNT one, but it might have just a  preview.
Mars Attacks the Real Ghostbusters was better, but still wasn't all that great.

[HarryTrotter]

I dont think Toys R Us exists over here anymore,either.

X-files/TMNT is actually a sequel to that episode with the pizza delivering vampire. Points for inspiration,but I was kinda lost since I saw that episode some 15 years ago.

[UnkoMan]

The best new comic I read this year was Tartarus, I think.
An Image Sci-Fi epic. The first story arc went at a bit of a breakneck pace, but I couldn't stop reading it. The art was gorgeous and the world they built so interesting.
They are into their second story arc now, and the character building is better on this one. It's a bit slower, and only focuses on a couple of people.
Still, it's set to come back around to the other story, and I'm excited to see what happens!

Hopefully it won't get canceled or peter out like a lot of these comics do. This is for people who like scifi, with an obvious Moebius influence.
https://www.comicsbeat.com/preview-tartarus/

[BentonGrey]

Unko, hey man!  Cool, I hadn't heard of that one.  Looks interesting!