Best of 2015

[HarryTrotter]

Its almost the end of the year so its time to see how we did.My list would look-
-Best event: Book of Death
-Best new series: Imperium
-Best completed series Iv read:Shadowpact,but it was a tough call
-Best DC book-Again,tough,since I didnt read all that much DCs ongoings so Im gonna say Starfire.
-Best Marvel book-Really tough choice.Im gonna say Deadpool and Cable:split second.Astonishing Ant man and Hercules came close.
Honorable mentions to Transformers MTMTE and Godzilla:Rulers of Earth.
So,how was this year for you?

[JeyNyce]

MY Picks
-Best event: Spiderverse
-Best new series: Jem and the Holograms/ Fight Club 2
-Best completed series: Can't think of a winner for this category
-Best DC book: For me it's a tie between Starfire & Gotham by Midnight.
-Best Marvel book: Howard the Duck, it's a funny book
-Best IDW book: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
-Best Image Book: Saga

[BentonGrey]

Holy Hannah, I could fill every category with "Best IDW book"....

I'm afraid most of those categories don't work for my reading habits, but for fun I suppose my list would look something like this:

Best Event: I've long ago stopped following them...
Best new series: Astro City ongoing (so incredibly good!)
Best completed series: Dynamite's The Phantom
Best DC book: Aquaman...the only DC book I'm reading, and Cullen Bunn almost outlasted me...
Best Marvel book: I'm really enjoying reading through classic Fantastic Four...is Marvel still publishing comics? 
Best IDW book: TMNT/Atomic Robo (why is Brian Clevinger not writing every book forever?  Also, I hate him for constantly doing all the awesome things I've thought of.)

Some categories of my own:

Best single issue: Astro City #15
Best mini-series: TMNT: Mutanimals


Apropos of nothing, I was looking back over my comics, and I just realized that Cullen Bunn is also writing the tremendously disappointing Masks 2.  Interesting.

[Talavar]

My comic reading dropped way off over the last year, so I'm not going to do categories proper, just my honourable mentions:

Astro City (so good, right Benton?)

Saga

Fables, for pulling off a solid ending, even if it hadn't been as good as it was once upon a time (see what I did there?)

Ms. Marvel

[baley]

I read all the Hugo nominees from last year, and I've read my fair share of events lately, including the whole Grant Morrison run on JLA from 10 years ago. Still, the only comic I really like from the lot is:

ASTRO CITY

Yeah, that's a series to binge. It holds up by comparison even to Sandman and Watchmen, though I don't think people make that comparison because people think literature has to be dark, brooding, serious, and depressing. Astro City may be bright and humanistic, but underneath the simple surfaces of Astro City books are some wonderfully developed lore and tightly executed yet subtle character stories.

I also re-read some more Alan Moore. Call me disenchanted, but his latter day stuff, and right back to Watchmen, really isn't as brilliant as people seem to think he is. (I've read everything of his Watchmen and later, so maybe Swamp Thing was his high point?) Top Ten was probably the best thing he's done, even more so than League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Ah! One more series I liked, though it's an oldie. I re-read The Dark Knight Returns recently. I have come to the conclusion that it is head and shoulders the best superhero story ever, and I include Miller's run on Daredevil, Millar's anything, Morrison's JLA, Moore's anything (including several of his non-superhero stories, just for kicks), The Long Halloween and its sister series, The Dark Phoenix Saga, and even my beloved Astro City's "Confession" ... and so on and so on. It has a lot more staying power than anything this side of Vertigo/indie comics. Batman: Year One is the only other thing that really comes close.

Come at me, bro. 

[HarryTrotter]

@Benton-I should warn you that Cullen Bunn is also doing a lot of work for Marvel now.Also,most of it wasnt well received.Have you read Mark Waids Fantastic Four?Best FF run in pretty much forever.
Im a little dissapointed in you guys.Not a single Valiant title?Spend 10$ on first volume of any series,it will be the best money you ever spent on comics.
@Baley Problem with Watchman and DKR is that they have been copied and parodied so many times,that eventualy the original title loses its shine.These days,Authority is pretty much a standard superhero story,but in '99/00...

[baley]

@Baley Problem with Watchman and DKR is that they have been copied and parodied so many times,that eventualy the original title loses its shine.These days,Authority is pretty much a standard superhero story,but in '99/00...

I don't know about that. I haven't read the copies or parodies so much. I'm thinking of Moore's lame philosophizing compared to Miller's politicking --- as someone who knows a thing or two about philosophy, and can appreciate which kind of politics makes sense for a story, Moore's philosophizing in Watchmen is pretty lame, even juvenile. This is literature? Meanwhile, DKR's basically fascist and dystopian politics are also pretty basic, but they make excellent sense of the Batman, who is, anyway, a better character than any of those in Moore's books.

[HarryTrotter]

Yeaf,DKR has been parodied a lot and homaged a lot.
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/5/52245/1311343-dwd.jpg
I think we can all agree that political satire in DKR is not really subtle.Or that interesting for that matter.
About Watchman-your not supposed to like the character.They are really meant to be like that.Because its a deconstruction.Not the greatest one,or even the first one(see Squadron Supreme and Elementals).Funny part is Moore later recycled part of the plot for WildCats.Smartest and least violent member of the team is the villain?What a twist.Actually that happens several time in Moores books,come to think of it. 
-This was also an interesting year because both DC and Marvel had soft-reboots.And both havent exactly worked out.Batman was replaced by Jim Gordon in a power armor,Superman went 90's and Wolverine is still dead.

[kkhohoho]

...and Wolverine is still dead.

And that's a bad thing?

[JeyNyce]

Wolverine being dead is not a bad and I don't miss him.  I like X23 as Wolverine better, but let's not lose track of the topic 

[HarryTrotter]

...and Wolverine is still dead.

And that's a bad thing?

Just noticing.
As the best overall publisher of the year-Valiant,ofc.With IDW in the second place.

[Silver Shocker]

-Best event: Darkseid War
-Best new series: Ant-Man/Astonishing Ant-Man
-Best completed series I've read: Batman Incorporated
-Best DC book: Justice League
-Best Marvel book: Astonishing Ant man
-Best IDW book: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters
-Best Mini-series: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters
Honorable mentions: Secret Six, Amazing Spider-Man: Spyral, Deadpool Wedding issue

Have you read Mark Waids Fantastic Four?Best FF run in pretty much forever.

I second that. Really good run, and I'm not even really a fan of the FF. Good humor, good plots, good drama and characterization, and it's actually fun and bright and colorful.

Problem with Watchman and DKR is that they have been copied and parodied so many times,that eventualy the original title loses its shine.These days,Authority is pretty much a standard superhero story,but in '99/00...

I definitely had that effect when I read the comic, which was just a few years ago. I'm still a fan of the animated movie, since, among other strengths, it embraced the 80's style by making half of the soundtrack rad 80's synthesizers (and arguably casting Peter Weller, aka 80's movie icon Robocop, as Batman).

I think we can all agree that political satire in DKR is not really subtle.Or that interesting for that matter.

I agree it's not subtle. I'm not that sure how interesting it is. My memory of it is kinda poor and almost all of the newscast/political satire stuff was excised from the animated movie. I think it had good ideas but I'm not entirely in love with the execution.

DKII/Dark Knight Strikes Again, however, is all over the place.

About Watchman-your not supposed to like the character.They are really meant to be like that.Because its a deconstruction.

Not all the characters are unlikable. I liked NightOwl, and Dr. Manhattan. And Rorshach is really cool and quotable, even if a lot of the stuff he does is horrible (and even if the character is a take down of Steve Ditko's Objectivist influences)

[HarryTrotter]

Yes,the animated adaptation of DKR is superior to source material IMO.Same goes for Year One.
Dr. Manhattan is actually Moores view of good.Hes omnipotent,but chooses to stand by and watch.Or thats the theory.
-Best single issue- X-O Manowar #38 Wedding Spectacular

[JeyNyce]

What would you guys consider to be the Issue of the Year?  That one issue that you would say that would be the sum of comics in 2015?

[HarryTrotter]

Uncanny Avengers #1 Its a reboot with rushed artwork,poor story and Deadpool(there just to sell the book).
Ok,seriously now-since it was best selling-Star Wars #1.

[Talavar]

The thing to remember about both Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns is not just how they appear to the reader about 30 years later, but the context they came out in.  They, along with some other authors & titles, were part of a profound shift in how comics were told and related to themselves.  Thinking they're underwhelming today is missing that everything that's come since, for both good and bad, has been influenced by them.  What was innovative about them has in many ways become the new convention.  You really can't talk about them critically unless you look at that context.

[HarryTrotter]

That kinda what I said.Seinfield is unfunny effect.
I guess there is still the choice of Best independant/creator owned book.Im pretty weak in that reading department,so Im gonna leave it to you.