Comic Books

Series of the Year: Young Justice

Brian Michael Bendis isn’t everyone’s favorite writer but it’s generally agreed that he’s one of the best in the business when it comes to writing superhero teenagers and he proves it again by bringing back some of DC’s most beloved, and recently neglected teen crime-fighters.  Young Justice is far from perfect.  It’s yet to present a really compelling villain and two of its cast members continue to feel superfluous nearly a year in.  But its wholehearted embrace of the fun of superheroes makes it an old-fashioned delight that is bolstered by how perfectly Bendis rights the characters he does click with, namely the core “Young Justice 4”, who are, after all, the main reasons the book exists.  Bendis and Bart Allen/Impulse in particular go together like peanut butter and chocolate.  And it helps that the book has been blessed with consistently stunning, vibrant art from Patrick Gleason and then John Timms as well as a rotating assembly of guest artists brought on for the series’ many flashback sequences.

Honorable Mention: Batman.

Writer of the Year: Jonathan Hickman

To inspire confidence in X-Men fans, who have (rightly) felt more than a little frustrated over the treatment of their favorite franchise for years is one thing.  To actually deliver is another and Hickman does so on many different fronts.  The absurdly creative writer always seemed like a good fit for the high-concept sci-fi and political allegory that are essential elements of any good X-Men narrative but some (including me) were unsure if his cerebral storytelling would result in satisfying personal arcs for the beloved characters at the franchise’s core.  Fortunately, he proved us all wrong.  Hickman’s mind-bending, intertwined mini-series House and Powers of X and his continuing work on the main X-Men title have not only provided limitless new storytelling possibilities for the creators of the other titles in the rejuvenated X-line but have rooted the systemic changes to the franchise in believable shifts in perspective from some of the franchise’s core icons like Professor X, Magneto, and Cyclops.

Honorable Mentions: Brian Michael Bendis, Tom Taylor.

Movies

Movie of the Year: Avengers: Endgame-

This might not be the most creative choice but I can honestly say that no other movie I’ve seen this year has delivered as complete an experience as the finale to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s long-running Infinity Saga.  The filmmakers’ clear determination to ensure that some of the longest standing big screen superheroes had their journeys brought to satisfying ends results in the year’s most emotionally concise and powerful film, bolstered by uniformly excellent work from one of the most talented casts ever assembled, especially the strikingly vulnerable work done by Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson.  The fact that it ends with one of the most epic action sequences ever put to film is a very nice bonus.

Honorable Mentions: Marriage Story and Knives Out.

Best Director: Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)

Parasite is a movie of a type that doesn’t come around often enough anymore, one where the filmmaker’s intent is made apparent just as much by the images onscreen as by the dialogue or plot.  Every shot and movement of the camera is motivated by clear narrative purpose such as building tension before the film’s explosive, disturbing finale or conveying its powerful themes of class disparity.  Joon-ho masterfully uses all elements of the films’ mise-en-scène, from blocking to camera focus to convey his messages in the most powerful terms possible.  The result is one of the most artistically full films in years, a commendable directorial achievement that serves as a prime example of the medium’s expressive powers.

Honorable Mentions: Joe and Anthony Russo (Avengers: Endgame), Rian Johnson (Knives Out), and Chad Stahelski (John Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellum).

Best Performance: Sienna Miller (American Woman).

It’s generally a shame that such an excellent film was so underappreciated but it’s especially sad that so many missed out on seeing Miller’s exceptional work.  Playing Debra Callahan, an extremely young grandmother who must clean up her life so she can effectively raise her grandson after her daughter goes missing, Miller turns in easily the best performance of her career as Debra navigates grief, motherhood, and the more regular everyday difficulties of being a single woman.  The emotionally raw Miller will have you captivated by Debra’s every fierce, clumsy, well-meaning move even if the beats in her journey are sometimes rather familiar.

Honorable Mentions: Robert Downey Jr. (Avengers: Endgame), Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story and Avengers: Endgame), James McAvoy (Glass), and Taron Egerton (Rocketman).

TV

Show of the Year: Legion

Coming off a second season finale centered around a plot twist that many found to be tasteless and exploitative the third and final run of Noah Hawley’s surrealist superhero psychological drama had to prove that it still had a right to exist, to say nothing of trying to bring its complicated, often meandering story to a satisfying conclusion.  But the show’s stunning third season did all that and more.  It’s easily the most focused run in the show’s history, managing to keep the story in its sights at all times while still employing the bold, often bizarre stylistics and imagery that makes the show such an entertaining enigma (the second season in particular often failed to achieve a balance in this regard).  And yes, it proves that that twist was in fact a necessary part of the tragedy at the show’s core.  But the most delightful things about the end of Legion were its emotional stakes and willingness to give its twists real, meaningful consequences.  Given the backlash to the second season, one could easily imagine the creators playing it safe with the final run, but they refused to do so and the show remained one of the most daring and uncompromising on television right until the credits rolled on its profoundly moving and wildly surprising finale.  The last set of chapters in David Haller’s story was also by far the most emotionally affecting as the tale revealed itself to be much more than the bleak study of mental illness through a sci-fi/horror lens that it had always been.  It still is that but it’s also a more universal tale of loneliness, guilt, love, hope, and redemption.  And on a simpler note, this season also delivered some of the most technically stunning episodes of television in years, such as the fourth installment which experimented with cinematic time and the temporal aspects of story structure in ways that would make Christopher Nolan jealous.

Honorable Mentions: Arrow and Jessica Jones.

Best Performance: Stephen Amell (Arrow).

Arrow itself has had its ups and downs (though so far its putting its best foot forward for its final episodes) but Amell has consistently impressed with his versatile and nuanced work as Oliver Queen and he continued to do so throughout the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth (and final) seasons.  As new challenges (such as the arrival of his second child and the spectre of his own impending death) arose for Oliver, Amell continued to add even more dimensions to a character he’s been playing for the better part of a decade.  His vulnerable, emotionally-charged performances have reached new heights of intensity in the show’s most recent episodes thanks to a subplot about the relationship between Oliver and his daughter.

Honorable Mentions: Katie Cassidy (Arrow), Jon Bernthal (The Punisher), and Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones).