To celebrate the end of the year, the staff of Sequential Planet will be listing their favorite things from the decade! Below are some of Ethan’s favorite picks of the decade.
Comic Books
Series of the Decade: Daredevil (2011)
Mark Waid’s Daredevil is what superhero comics so often strive to achieve, but can’t quite hit the mark like this. This book does what was seemingly impossible. It takes a formula and tone that had worked for Daredevil for decades and flips it on its head. Waid and co. took a character who had been planted firmly in the world Miller had constructed and did something entirely different. More importantly, something different that worked. It’s not as if Waid came in and reinvigorated a character who was all but dead in the water that no one cared for anymore, because the book was consistently amazing from Miller almost all the way to Waid’s run. So, the book was still healthy, it was working, but Waid didn’t let himself be content with that. He breathed new life into a character that no one knew needed it. On top of all of that, he was accompanied by some of the best artists in the business. Starting with Paolo Rivera, who created what are still some of the best pages of comics I’ve ever encountered, then rotating with Marcos Martin who’s one of the best superhero artists of our time. Then Samnee took over as the regular artist, who we all know is amazing, but despite the number of artists on the book, it’s still entirely consistent. The artists, despite their unique styles, all worked within the same visual language. It’s a stunningly crafted book, with some of the most memorable and fun issues I’ve ever read. I don’t know that I’ve read a better ongoing comic since Daredevil, and I’m not sure when I will.
Honorable Mentions: Hawkeye, Black Hammer, Mister Miracle
Best Writer: Tom King
There are a lot of writers who deserve this spot. Lemire consistently, and in great volume, puts out insanely high-quality books. Jason Aaron wrote one of my favorite superhero stories of all time with his Thor run. Yet, there’s something about Tom King’s explosion onto the scene that is all the more impressive to me. He wasn’t really a name anyone knew before 2010. Hell, you’d be hard-pressed to find his name on anything before 2014. When he started showing up though, it was always notable. Starting with Grayson it became clear that the man had talent, yet he only co-wrote that book, so what was he like on his own without chains? That’s the question The Vision was there to answer. Out of nowhere, Marvel silently put this book out with a talented, but largely unknown writer to the world. From the very first issue, it was clear that King was doing something different. The issues were reserved, unsettling, beautiful, strange, dark, and terrifying. It came out of nowhere, and yet it was clearly an instant classic and one that people would be talking about for years to come (Spoiler, we still are). Around that time he also wrote The Omega Men for DC, another fan-favorite that was plagued with poor sales that nearly led to the cancellation. The critical and fan reception alone was enough to keep the book afloat to finish out its story. Sherrif of Babylon, too, was beloved and celebrated. In such a short time King had proven himself one of the most talented and fresh voices we’d seen in years. Then came Mister Miracle…
Honorable Mentions: Jeff Lemire, Rick Remender, Mark Russel
Best Limited Series: Mister Miracle
I don’t think it’s even a little bit of a stretch to say that Mister Miracle is one of the best comics ever created; period. Perhaps there’s a bit of recency bias at play here, but in terms of re-readability, depth, structure, artistic talent, it’s right up there next to Watchmen. Tom King reunited with his Sherrif of Babylon partner, Mitch Gerads, and delivered a meaningful story about trauma, mental illness, family, recovery, loss, love, and so much more. Gerads’ art is some of the best I’ve encountered, and it is absolutely essential to the book’s story. The subtlety, the structure, the pacing; it’s all unrivaled by anything else released this decade. Mister Miracle is a book that means something and might mean something different to everyone who reads it, and that’s an undeniable accomplishment. A masterpiece, you might even say.
Honorable Mentions: Doctor Star and the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows, Little Bird, The Flintstones
Best Artist: Darwyn Cooke
No one did it like Darwyn. Literally, before Darwyn, no one did what he did, and they certainly weren’t doing it for Marvel or DC. His style was, and is, so wildly different from what publishers like DC would allow on their books. Through sheer talent and genius, he proved that the phrases “too cartoony” and “too simple” were total fabrications. His style didn’t limit him to superheroes putting their hands on their hips and smiling (though he was damn great at that), instead, he proved the opposite. That style was limitless, it opened doors rather than close them, and it left all of comics, not just the ones he drew, better off for it.
Honorable Mentions: Frank Quitely, Mitch Gerads, Lee Weeks
Best Publisher: Image Comics
There could be a strong case for most of the publishers to take this spot, with each of them having significant highs and lows throughout the decade. However, I don’t think a single publisher held a high quite as Image did from about 2010-2017. The last two years or so, I feel, have been Image’s first slump since their “boom”, but before that point, you’d be hard-pressed to find an Image book that could even be considered below average, let alone bad. For a while, it seemed as if there was a new #1 every week that lit the industry on fire with its quality and inventiveness. Saga, Black Science, Wicked + The Divine, and so many more were examples of comics at their finest, and Image was pumping them out at a seemingly never-slowing pace. Right now, they’re lagging a bit behind, but in their prime, they put out so many classics that I feel as if I’ll never get around to them all.
Honorable Mentions: DC Comics, Marvel Comics
Movies
Movie of the Decade: Avengers Endgame
Yeesh, I’m a shill, aren’t I? I looked through countless lists of the best movies of the decade to try to convince myself not to pick Endgame as the movie of the decade, but I just couldn’t shake it. This movie gave me a theater experience entirely unrivaled by anything else, and it did so six times.
Honorable Mentions: Arrival, Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse, Whiplash
TV
TV Show of the Decade: Breaking Bad
This, of all the other categories, gave me the hardest time. I mean, it was always going to be Breaking Bad, but the list of potential candidates was so long and it physically pained me not to pick them. We’re in the golden age of TV right now, and Breaking Bad is the star pupil amongst a sea of greatness. A show as long as this (5 seasons and 62 episodes total, each an hour long) has no right to be so gripping for its entire runtime, but it is. In fact, it legitimately gets better with every episode. Breaking Bad is the poster child for serialized television, and it’s yet to be beaten, despite the many who have come close.
Honorable Mentions: Doom Patrol, The Mandalorian, Watchmen, Game of Thrones, The Good Place, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Hannibal, etc., etc.