in General, Reviews

2004 Favorites: Part I – Comics

This is the first in a series of entries I’ll be making today, tomorrow, and beyond. 2004 gave me a lot of enjoyment in the areas of technology and entertainment. I thought it’d be nice to salute a few of them.

In case you don’t realize it by now, I read comic books. Contrary to widespread belief, it’s not all burly men in tights beating each other up. I enjoy a good Batman book as much as the next guy, but variety is the spice of life.

Without a doubt, my favorite new comic that I started reading this year is Losers. It debuted in 2003, but I’m a late adopter once again.

My favorite summary of the concept, from a review: “Losers is The A-Team, only, you know, not retarded.” It’s pretty apt really. Losers is an action movie distilled down to it’s finest moments, but not at the expense of characterization or plot. The titular losers are an elite covert ops CIA squad. The government (as it does from time to time in stories like this) screws them over and thinks them dead. Now they’re out to clear their name and bring down the mysterious ‘Max’ who masterminded their screwing.

Andy Diggle writes, and the singular named Jock provides wonderful stylistic art. Issues 1-6 and 7-12 are collected for sale very affordably on Amazon, and #19 just hit the newsstands.

It’s light fare overall, but it’s just so fun to read that I can’t resist the siren’s call.

Other comics i particularly enjoyed this year:

  • Y: The Last Man – Yorick is the last man on Earth after a plague kills all other males. And no, it’s not the wish fulfillment fantasy you might expect. Link.
  • Astonishing X-Men – Joss Whedon of Buffy and Firefly fame turns his writing chops on a New Classic X-men book. Link.
  • Ex Machina – A close second for my favorite of the year. The world’s only super hero runs for mayor of NYC as an independant… and wins. Politics combined with flashback super-heroics brilliantly. Set often against a backdrop of fallout from Sept. 11th. Link.

Gotta cut myself off here, I could go on forever. Tomorrow, on to either movies, TV, or books. Then at some point I’ll round up the greatest tech additions to my life this year.