To celebrate the end of the year, the staff of Sequential Planet will be listing their favorite things from 2018! Below are some of Ethan’s favorite picks of the year. Click here to see the rest of our picks!
Comic Books
Series of the Year: Mister Miracle
Mister Miracle just concluded in November, and with that ending, it did the one thing many comics fail to do. It left me with the feeling that I needed to read it again. I need to go back and absorb the subtext presented in both the writing and the art, and at the moment I feel like I could find myself doing this repeatedly throughout the years. It’s as heartbreaking as it is heartwarming and as thoughtful as it is hilarious. King and Gerads managed to utilize the comic book format and craft a story that could only be told in this medium. Any adaptation will undoubtedly fail to live up to the original due to its reliance on the format to present its story. That’s the mark of a great comic.
Honorable Mentions: Aquaman, Amazing Spider-Man
Best Writer: Jeff Lemire
Jeff Lemire is riding high on one of the best years of his career. From the continuing superhero saga of the Black Hammer-verse to the gritty horror of Gideon Falls, Lemire nails every single issue. He always knows exactly the right words to use to convey his meaning, while at the same time never getting wordy. He uses his words sparingly, and that’s what makes him such an effective storyteller. He holds the honor of writing the only book to bring me to tears this year, but I’ll get to that later.
Honorable Mentions: Donny Cates (Cosmic Ghost Rider, Venom) Tom King (Batman, Mister Miracle)
Best Artist: Mitch Gerads
I don’t think this will come as any surprise. The man just won an Eisner for his work on Mister Miracle, and it’s a well-deserved win. His work is so instantly recognizable and thoughtful, there just isn’t anyone like him in comics right now. The subtleties of his work on Mister Miracle are endless and no matter how much of it I notice I know there are countless others that I’ve missed and will only pick up on in later reads. Mitch is truly the only person who could have drawn that book, much like Dave Gibbons is the only one who could draw Watchmen. He’s an artist I’ll be following until the day he, like all other great artists, becomes exclusively a cover artist.
Honorable Mentions: Clay Mann (Heroes In Crisis), Lee Garbett (Skyward), Ryan Ottley (Amazing Spider-Man)
Best Publisher: Marvel
I must give props to Marvel, they’ve had a rough couple of years recently but their 17th relaunch of the decade has finally hit the mark. “Fresh Start” has been a major success, bringing almost every single book under its banner to a higher level of quality than what came before. Like always, there are exceptions to that, and while I haven’t read every single “Fresh Start” book, I’ve still enjoyed every single one that I have picked up. That’s impressive considering I hold DC’s “Rebirth” in such high regard and even that relaunch had me dropping a couple of the books I sampled. Marvel made Spider-Man fun again and Avengers is finally relevant. Are we sure we’re not living in the early 2000s?
Honorable Mentions: DC, Image
Best New Series: Skyward
This one kind of came out of nowhere. I’ve never read a book by either Joe Henderson or Lee Garbett until suddenly they dropped Skyward on my head. I’ve been reading comics for so long that it can sometimes be difficult to become attached to new characters and ideas, yet Skyward manages to capture my imagination so simply and elegantly. Both through its premise and protagonist, it’s full of small touches that do so much for its world-building and characterizations. So much so that I was genuinely invested by the end of the first trade, and I really felt something during the finale.
Honorable Mentions: Farmhand, Amazing Spider-Man
Best Mini: Doctor Star and the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows
Everything I already wrote about Jeff Lemire and Skyward separately applies to Doctor Star. While this book is technically part of the larger Black Hammer-verse, it doesn’t shove it in your face. It enriches that world not by giving more clues to the Black Hammer mystery or by showing us characters we recognize. It instead tightens the focus on one family. A father, wife, and son. This is a story about a man’s ambitions distracting him from what’s truly important. It also includes one of the most beautifully heartbreaking endings I’ve ever read from a “superhero” book. (This is the one that made me cry, by the way.)
Honorable Mentions: Shanghai Red, Cosmic Ghost Rider
Movies
Movie of the Year: Avengers: Infinity War
I know I’m not breaking any new ground with this one. I honestly wanted to pick something else, but I can’t deny the impact this movie had on me. Just from a pure fanboy standpoint, it’s pure bliss from start to finish, and it fueled conversation and debate between friends and I since it released back in April. I saw it three times just in theaters and once more since then. It truly does not get old. It’s even fueled a newfound hobby of mine, which I call “Show a friend Infinity War for the first time.” I won’t pretend it’s the most artistically profound movie that came out this year, but boy did it surpass every other movie by a mile in regard to pure enjoyment.
Honorable Mentions: Eighth Grade, Hereditary
Best Director: Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade
I’m giving Burnham extra props here as Eighth Grade was his directorial debut. For the man’s first film, he really nailed it from every angle. From the screenwriting to the actual directing itself, this movie accomplished its rather modest goals excellently. The cinematography was always perfectly in sync with what the main character was feeling, at times perfectly simulating Kayla’s anxiety through the camera work. His writing feels authentic and true, and it’s exemplified by a stellar performance from Elsie Fisher. I’m unsure of how much range we can expect to see from Burnham going forward, but I look forward to finding out.
Best Actor/Performance: Toni Collete (Hereditary)
Hereditary is one of those movies that was so raw and effective that I never want to see it again. Toni Collete is a large part of why. I can’t give too many details into why that is without spoiling the movie (you really need to see it for yourself), but the way she expresses her grief, desperation, and pure terror is something to behold. It sometimes feels too real, and at a certain point, you’ll find yourself forgetting that she’s even acting at all. If you’re like me, you might turn to a friend and say, “Do you think Toni Collete’s okay?”