To celebrate the end of the year, the staff of Sequential Planet will be listing their favorite things from 2019! Below are some of Alexander’s favorite picks of the year.
Comic Books
Series of the Year: Justice League Dark
This series has been killing it this year. It kicked off 2019 with a great 2-part story focused on Detective chimp and since then we’ve seen the league tackling the lords of order as well as Circe and her Injustice league Dark. It’s been an incredibly strong title all throughout this year with amazing art and writing. The horror elements have been handled well too and there’s been points where this series has given me chills. Just amazing.
Writer of the Year: James Tynion IV
I don’t think any writer has had a better output this year than James Tynion. Throughout 2019 he’s consistently put out well-written stories for multiple series, in multiple styles and with different characters. He’s primarily worked for DC with some BOOM! Studios work on the side but I think he’s more than proven why he’s one of the top writers in modern comics.
Artist of the Year: Gurihiru
This one probably won’t be a surprise if you’ve been reading my reviews. I admit I debated some other artists that worked on more projects throughout the year but I don’t think any of them were approaching the same quality as Gurihiru’s work in 2019. Throughout the year we’ve seen their work on Power pack, Unstoppable Wasp, Superman and now Spider-man & Venom. The amazing thing is that you can always tell it’s them on each book yet they still manage to make each books art a little different. That distinctiveness is the quality that made stars out of the likes of Jim Lee, Todd Mcfarlane and John Romita jr and I can see the same level of reverence being given to Gurihiru in future.
Issue of the Year: Joker: Year of the Villain #1
I’ll be mentioning this one in my “Best of the decade” article too. I was worried John Carpenter writing this might just be a marketing stunt. Celebrities from other forms of media have written comics in the past and usually it leads to mixed results. This is an amazing book though. Carpenter’s writing, his portrayal of Gotham and the Joker from the point-of-view of a mentally ill man and his use of the idea that the Joker may actually be sane is as bone-chilling as it is interesting. Plus, the art is gorgeously gruesome. If you’re only looking to read one issue from this year then it should be this.
Publisher of the Year: DC comics
I have to give this one to DC for their output this year. Most comic companies have been great throughout 2019 but between their number of varied and high quality ongoings, the creativity of the year of the villain one-shots and their mini-series’ along with the new black label books they’ve just been on top of their game in 2019.
Miniseries of the Year: Silver Surfer: Black
I think this series would win based on the art alone. Black is that perfect mix of trippy visuals with an interesting, standalone story. It focuses on the surfer and his dealings with the villain called Knull as well as the slow corruption of the surfers body by darkness. I feel like it’s a little bit of a shame that the Knull storyline is going to continue as part of an event without the same artist. It’s interesting and I’d have liked to have seen it start and finish within these pages. Despite that Silver surfer: Black is still easily the miniseries of the year.
Movies
Live Action Movie of the Year: Le Mans ’66/ Ford vs Ferrari
This one will be obvious to anyone who read my review of the movie. This was just an amazing film where everyone involved was clearly making the maximum effort. The acting, soundtrack, sets, costumes and race scenes were absolutely amazing. It’ll probably end up an underrated gem due to the popularity of films like “The Irishman”,”Avengers:Endgame” and “Joker” but I’d argue it was better than any of the 3.
Animated Movie of the Year: Frozen 2
I’ll admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first movie. Like a lot of people I found “Let it go” to be a good song that was overplayed and the film was a bit too formulaic in places. Frozen 2 improves on that a lot though. The plot focuses on Anna and Elsa investigating the history of their family after Arendelle is forced to evacuate by magical forces. There’s still some flaws such as a certain annoying snowman and the cliched storyline Kristoff follows throughout the film. Despite that there was no overhyped song to sicken people of the film before it even released despite the movie having a good soundtrack. The portrayal of the two sisters is just as good as in the original. The handling of their discoveries about their family and the history of Arendelle is quite maturely done and it’s nice seeing a Disney film that doesn’t have a conventional villain. On top of all this the animation was top-notch. Easily the animated film of the year.
Director of the Year: Tim Burton
“Dumbo” is the only film Tim has put out this year but I have to give him this for it. Not only does the film have his usual visual flair but he was able to take one of the weaker animated Disney films and convert it to live-action. On top of this the new film is almost double the length of that animated original which meant adding new content but it still manages to stay entertaining throughout. Burton has had better years as a director but in 2019 he’s showing that he can still do great work.
Performance of the Year: Joaquin Phoenix in Joker
I have to give it to Phoenix. He did an amazing job on Joker. While I feel the comic-related aspects of the film were a bit forced Joaquin was a strong point throughout. His portrayal of a broken down, mentally ill man being victimised to the point of madness by the world around him was incredible. The performance is deserving of every bit of hype it gets.
Actor of the Year: Tom Hanks
Some actors have had more roles throughout the year than Hanks and some have had less roles but of a slightly higher quality such as Joaquin Phoenix. At the end of the day though Hanks has been incredible in both “Toy story 4” and “A beautiful day in the neighbourhood” in 2019. I think the high quality of both those performances entitles him to being named actor of the year.
Actress of the Year: Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth banks has had a great acting career throughout 2019. Her voice work as Wyldstyle in “The lego movie 2” was a solid performance and she never felt out of place alongside the all-star cast featured in the film. Her performance as the terrified mother of a sadistic, superhuman child in “Brightburn” was the highlight of a very strong horror film and while it may not have been as successful commercially she was one of the best parts of the new “Charlie’s angels” film.
Video Games
Game of the Year: Borderlands 3
I’ve been waiting for this game since the second game came out and it didn’t disappoint. Borderlands 3 is one of the few games that I found challenging this year. Part of this is down to the fast-paced gunplay and part of it is balance. One flaw in previous games is I felt some of the characters were overpowered but that doesn’t seem to be as much the case here. This new entry in the series isn’t as heavy on the humour as BL2 was but it’s still incredibly entertaining. I can’t recommend it enough.
Developer of the Year: Capcom
Capcom have done so well throughout 2019. Not only have we seen a terrific remake of Resident evil 2 as well as Devil may cry 5 but they also released remasters of both the Ace attorney trilogy and Onimusha: Warlords. On top of this we’ve seen continued support for the likes of Street fighter 5 and Monster hunter World. The new Iceborne expansion for World in particular has been of fantastic quality and new content is still being added. I can’t praise Capcom enough for their performance this year and now we’ve even got the announcement of them releasing Resident evil 3 in 2020 to top it all off.
OST Of the Year: Kingdom hearts 3
How could I not give this the nod? Seriously, give this soundtrack a listen. Even if the games aren’t your thing just give the music a go. I found the gameplay and story of KH3 somewhat disappointing but the music is utterly gorgeous. It’s one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard from Square Enix and that’s saying a lot.
Multiplayer game of the Year: Dead or alive 6
This game is amazing. DOA is a franchise that gets a lot of flack based on the idea that it relies too much on sexy characters and costumes. That’s not an unfair criticism. They do go a bit overboard with it in their games, particularly on DLC. Despite this DOA 6 is an amazing fighting game just like most other entries in the series. The combat is the main selling point of any fighting game and it’s on-point here. The moves and combos look really good and I feel it’s a lot more realistic than other 3D fighting games. I’ve got no complaints about the online play either from the last few months where I’ve been playing it.
