The art, crazy settings, variety, and unpredictable outcomes are just some of the reasons comic fans flock to their local shops, bookstores, or (now) digital apps and online retailers but it’s the actual characters who drive all of it. 2011 was about as big of a year as the comic book industry can have; relaunches, events, epic battles, deaths, resurrections and more, and the force behind all of them…our favorite characters.
Our favorite hero(s) category includes any individual hero, character, or team during 2011.
Courtesy of DC’s blog The Source we’ve gotten our first, albeit brief, glance at one of DC’s “Second Wave” titles, Batman Incorporated, which will start it’s second volume this May. And to no surprise at this point artist Chris Burnham is bringing with him the good stuff.
Long runs, six or seven issue events, and even one-off miniseries were a plenty in 2011 but every Wednesday when you went to your local shop (or fired up your mobile device) it was those single issues that gave us our comic book fix for the week. Some fixes were more satisfying than others…
Our favorite single issues category includes any single issue or one-shot from 2011.
With a year full of events, relaunches, new #1′s and a growing trend to “wait for the trade” it shouldn’t surprise anyone just how many miniseries there were in 2011. Whether their promise to not go on forever ends up being a blessing or a sad curse it takes a tough fan to avoid not reading at least a few of them.
Our favorite miniseries category includes any comic book mini/limited series that occurred during 2011.
While the Feburary 12th return of The Walking Dead TV show is still a ways a way there’s no reason to keep the excitement at bay. Promos for the return have already been released (trailer above, 2 clips in the article), there’s a new poster, and news concerning season 3.
2011 seemed to the year of new series; if it didn’t already feel like new #1 issues were coming out each week the pressure intensified with moves like Marvel reviving Crossgen and DC relaunching their entire line, chances are just about every comic book fan bought the first issue to a new series at some point this year. Whether they brought continuity-baggage with them or not, new or old characters, were in or out of spandex, each one planted a new seed…some more loved than others.
Our favorite new series category includes any new comic book series that started in 2011 (new 52 included).
(Ok, horrible title, but still…) Since the end of Darwyn Cooke’s second adaptation of Donald E. Westlake’s (a.k.a. Richard Stark) Parker novel series, The Outfit, which teased “Parker will return in 2012″ there was little to no information on it’s release, until now. IDW Publishing’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall recently broke the news on his blog that Darwyn Cooke’s third Parker novel, The Score, would be arriving sooner than expected, May 2012.
The announcement included a one-page teaser/preview.
A little late but, worth poking fun at watching; on New Years Eve in Times Square the Goblin from Broadway’s Spider-man musical, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, kidnapped Anderson Cooper from CNN with the hopes that he’d co-anchor with him for his new TV network, WWFN, World Wide Freak Network.
The “Big Two” get a lot of press but comics wouldn’t be what they are today without that other [roughly] 25% market share. Some of comics greatest books and characters were/are independently created and despite their volume they are the nuts and bolts that keep the industry fresh and original. From grimy noir or horror books, sci-fi space dramas, fantasy epics, comedy gut-busters, or coming of age nostalgia independent comics know no genre boundaries and aren’t promised tomorrow – which is just one of the reasons they are so great.
Our favorite independent books category includes any comic book series from 2011 not published by DC or Marvel.
DC Comics recently announced their “second wave” of titles as a continued edition to their New 52 initiative, which of course means that six titles have to be replaced. The new series will start in May and the replaced series will end in April with their eighth issue.
Speculation of this move has existed since the the titles first started to be announced and it was obvious that some could probably not carry an ongoing series.
Speculate no more.
Unless you want to speculate the “Third Wave.” Then speculate away.
Marvel didn’t need a relaunch to make 2011 one of it’s biggest and craziest years in recent memory. From it’s Civil War-sized event in Fear Itself and the perhaps-better-than-Fear-Itself-event in X: Men Schism the universe has seen a shake-up of the ages; the split in the X-Men camp, the new Ultimate Spider-Man, the real Spider-Man as a new FF member, Wolverine traveling to hell and back (literally), the “death” of just about every character imaginable and the new breath of life from characters like Punisher, Daredevil, Venom, and Hulk…the list can go on and on…it was a big year.
Our favorite Marvel books category includes any comic book series from 2011.
Starting with issue #8 of Batman and Detective Comics each title will move from $2.99 to $3.99; the prices come with more pages (from 32 to 40) which will host new back-ups to each book. The back-ups in Batman are also the start of DC’s first post-relaunch crossover event, “Night of the Owls,” written by current Batman writer Scott Snyder and penciled by his partner from American Vampire, Rafael Albuquerque.
No one likes more expensive comics, but a Bat-event with the likes of Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, and Rafael Albuquerque? Touche DC. Touche.
![Batman Incoporated #1 [Preview] [kinda]](http://acomicbookblog.com/wp-content/themes/magnet/scripts/timthumb.php?src=http://acomicbookblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/batman-inc-1-preview-kinda.jpg&w=240&h=115&zc=1)
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