The Best Gifts Comics Gave Us In 2014 Every year brings ups and downs in any aspect of life, and comics are no different. This year gave us some real downers, like the Death of Wolverine (yeah Im still bitter), the underwhelming Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the end of some great comic runs like Gail Simones run on Batgirl and Jeff LeMires run on Green Arrow. But comics have also given us some amazing stuff to enjoy and to look forward to in the next year. 1. The Best Year Yet For Comic Book Movies Our first major offering of the year was Marvels sequel to Captain America, The Winter Soldier. This movie improved on the original in every way with its intelligent, politically charged dialogue, James Bond-esque action sequences and interesting characters to follow. Next was Bryan Singers triumphant return to the X-Men franchise with Days of Future Past, delivering powerhouse acting performances from James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Hugh Jackman and the best single scene ever done in a comic book courtesy of Quicksilver. Then things got truly impressive when Guardians of the Galaxy came out of nowhere to become the monster hit of the year thanks to fun characters, a wicked sense of humor and the hype of exceeding all expectations. Any of these three is a perfectly valid pick for the best comic book movie of the year. 2. DC Expands Its TV Presence DC Comics hit a goldmine when they gave the CW Network a chance to adapt Green Arrow into a TV show. Beating any realistic expectations, the combination of both crime and family drama proved to be a breakout hit. This year, DC took huge steps in its bid for credibility in todays pop culture with new television shows. Arrows universe expanded into the sci-fi arena with The Flash, while unrelated shows like Gotham and Constantine also made their debuts this fall. DC is finally getting a chance to show that heroes outside of Batman and Superman have things to offer the world and perhaps they can ride that momentum into the next few years as they try to expand their cinematic universe. 3. Forever Evil Concludes and Lex Luthor Joins the Justice League Ive mentioned it before, but the DC Universe Event comic Forever Evil that started in 2013 is now definitely my favorite comic book of all time. It was a ridiculously fun look at DCs most iconic villains in the unlikely role of heroes against the greater evil of the Crime Syndicate. This year brought an end to Geoff Johns and David Finchs epic to a satisfying close, but things didnt end there. With Lex Luthor having saved the world, Geoff made the bold story choice of having Lex deduce the identity of Batman and join the Justice League. Ive checked bits and pieces of this story but rest assured that I cant wait to pick up Justice League Volume #6 when it comes out. This was the most fun I had with actual comics this year. 4. Marvel Makes Major Changes To Franchise Players Marvel took some bold moves this year when they announced that Steve Rogers would be stepping down as Captain America and letting Sam Wilson take the role, and the announcement that Thor would become unworthy of Mjolnir and the Uru hammer would come into the possession of a new female character. These drastic changes sparked a lot of debate, as fans argued over whether these were simply attempts to be PC or much needed changes to make comics more equal. I personally believe that Marvel should work on promoting their minority characters more strongly and showing they can be stars without embracing a mantle. I love Sam Wilson, but if he has to be Captain America to be a star, what does that say? The changes got people talking about an issue that needed to be addressed and has provided some pretty entertaining stories in the process. All good in my book. 5. Scott Snyder, Mark Waid and Brian Azzarello Still Deliver the Goods I put this last only because these writers are awesome and anybody who reads their comics pretty much knows this. Scott Snyder teamed with superstar artist Jim Lee to tell a great Superman story in Superman Unchained while also reinventing his already fantastic run on Batman with Greg Capullo, as they told the Batman origin story we never knew we really wanted with the amazing Zero Year. Mark Waids Eisner Winning Daredevil series may have been renumbered but it has stayed consistently fantastic. Brian Azzarellos three year run on Wonder Woman concluded in a satisfactory manner, which I have bittersweet emotions for as its probably the comic series I have loved most over the last three years. What will 2015 bring us? Hopefully, plenty of good things to talk about.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 02:09:50 +0000
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