To celebrate the end of the year, the staff of Sequential Planet will be listing their favorite things from 2018! Below are some of Matt D.’s favorite picks of the year. Click here to see the rest of our picks!

Comic Books

Series of the Year: The Wild Storm

With Warren Ellis and John-Davis Hunt’s The Wild Storm only six issues from its conclusion, it’s safe to say the 24 issue series has mostly succeeded in its mission to reimagine the 90s powerhouse WildStorm. The book has managed to channel a number of genres over the course of its narrative. Espionage, superhero, science fiction, and thriller elements all have their place in The Wild Storm. The combination of so many elements into such a coherent whole has helped make a more convincing, rich superhero universe than even the most well-established ones. Most impressively, all of this has been done in one, relatively short series. Hunt’s art handles all of these disparate aspects well, whether it be the character-driven moments or reality-bending ones. Even with all of this to keep track of, The Wild Storm has still found room to portray complex, believable characters. The cast can be recognized as their original counterparts, while still being entirely new. If The Wild Storm can land its ending, it’ll be one of the best modern comic series.

Best Issue: Transformers: Requiem of the Wreckers

Just in time for IDW’s climactic Unicron crossover, Requiem of the Wreckers concludes to one of the most daring Transformers stories. It finishes the tragic tale started in Last Stand of the Wreckers and continued in Sins of the Wreckers. By Requiem, the legendary team has been all but dissolved, though its surviving members meet one last time to settle old scores. The story isn’t quite as traumatic as previous installments but it hits hard nonetheless. It gives a satisfying end to the lesser known characters the Wreckers trilogy elevated. Adding to the sense of closure is the combination of classic Transformer artist Geoff Senior’s work with Nick Roche and Brendan Cahill’s more modern but equally impressive art. Requiem does feel full of untapped potential but it’s still impressive how it neatly concludes the Wreckers’ story in only 48 pages.

Best New Series: The Wrong Earth

Tom Peyer and Jamal Igle’s newest book, The Wrong Earth, builds its story around the clash between the superhero genre’s past and present. The goofy but gallant Dragonflyman ends up trading places with Dragonfly, his grim, contemporary counterpart. The book builds a great superhero story by contrasting these two extremes. Along the way, it makes a convincing argument that the hopeless worlds of the modern superhero are just as absurd and unrealistic as the ones filled with anti-shark repellent and gimmicky henchmen. The commentary thankfully doesn’t come at the expense of good characterization. Peyer and Igle manage to present comedy alongside tragedy with their competent storytelling. The Wrong Earth is only three issues in but it’s already one of the most promising series to come out of 2018.

Best Miniseries: Mister Miracle

As DC Comics returns to the sophomoric, convoluted style of the New 52, Mister Miracle reminds us what superheroes are really all about. Tom King and Mitch Gerards present a humanized take on Jack Kirby’s sprawling, long neglected New Gods mythos. All of it is told from the eyes of Scott Free and Big Barda, the former being the titular escape artist. Both of them must overcome the struggles of marriage, being a deity, waging war, and their personal issues. Mister Miracle’s art and story constantly push the boundaries of reality, as it forces the reader to confront what constitutes a “real” story, fictional or otherwise. The book certainly takes its liberties with the New Gods but it comes from a place of affection. There’s no better example of that than Mister Miracle’s perfect handling of Darkseid. He is not just a strong adversary but an inescapable metaphysical force. The miniseries sees past the sales gimmicks, crossovers, and clumsy retcons that weight down the superhero genre. Instead, Mister Miracle embraces the compelling characters and histories that make superhero stories worth reading.

Movies

Movie of the Year: Sorry to Bother You

The Boots Reilly-directed film Sorry to Bother You continues the long tradition of socially-relevant science fiction. Cassius Green’s (Lakeith Stanfield) degrading telemarketer job introduces him to the power of the “white voice.” This discovery takes an off-kilter workplace comedy and drags it to a nightmarish world of evil corporations and genetic engineering. Sorry to Bother You is a dystopia in disguise, gradually introducing its elements amidst a contemporary but slightly offsetting. It takes a similarly veiled approach to its messages about racism, capitalism, and destructive self-interest. Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, and the rest of the cast complete the film with their performances. Their interactions that are genuine enough to support such a bizarre premise. Sorry to Bother You is a truly modern science fiction film that nonetheless has its place among the classics.