Comics

Series of the Decade- Uncanny X-Force (Volume 1)

Before the Dawn of X relaunch that recently began the 2010s were generally rough years for the X-Men franchise, especially once Disney purchased Marvel and de-prioritized the X-titles while the movie rights to the characters remained at 20th Century Fox.  Still, some titles and creative runs stood out as diamonds in the rough, and none more so than Rick Remender’s run on X-Force, which earned its status as a modern classic.  Remender dug deep into the moral gray areas in which his mutant black-ops agents operated, as they were forced to reckon with the cost their questionable mission of eliminating threats to mutantkind before they took shape took on their souls.  Remender made compelling, multi-layered leads out of underused X-characters including Psylocke, Angel, and Fantomex and the brutal yet witty series made the best use of Wolverine and Deadpool in years.  Remender’s plotting was another highlight.  Uncanny X-Force managed to simultaneously draw heavily on pre-existing elements of the often convoluted X-Men continuity and tell its own self-contained core epic that resulted in some of the best story arcs in modern superhero comics like The Apocalypse Solution and The Dark Angel Saga.

Honorable Mentions: Tom King’s Batman, Brian Michael Bendis’ Jessica Jones, Cullen Bunn’s Magneto.

Writer of the Decade- Brian Michael Bendis.

He may have had his misfires, such as Civil War II, but overall this was an impressive decade for Bendis, who continued to demonstrate why he is one of the most influential writers in mainstream comics, and is capable of telling some of the medium’s most entertaining stories.  Bendis started out the 2010s by making one of the boldest moves a writer at Marvel could: he killed Peter Parker.  Sure, it was the version of Peter from Marvel’s Ultimate Universe but this was also at a point when Ultimate Spider-Man was one of the most popular concepts at Marvel, thanks mostly to Bendis’ own work with the character.  And because it was Ultimate Peter who died, the death, unlike so many others, was allowed to stick, which in turn allowed Bendis to deliver his next big shocker.  In what was one of the most important moments in modern comic book history Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli replaced Ultimate Peter as Spider-Man with original character Miles Morales, a black and Hispanic teenager who had received similar spider-powers prior to Peter’s death.  Miles’ introduction was one of the first of many instances this decade in which Marvel and DC replaced some of their biggest characters with new or underused ones, but unlike temporary mantle-shifts like Sam Wilson’s tenure as Captain America or Jane Foster’s as Thor, Miles proved to have staying power, lasting beyond the end of the Ultimate line after which he was folded into the main Marvel Universe where he now shares the Spider-Man name with the original, Earth-616 Peter Parker as his equal.  Miles has become one of Marvel’s most popular characters in his own right, with an animated version serving as the lead in the film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is seen as not just one of the best superhero films of all time but one of the best films of the decade in general.  All this success owes to Bendis and Pichelli’s foundational work, particularly the former’s ability to make Miles his own unique character, not just a means of meeting demands for diversity.

After giving the world Miles Bendis returned to an earlier creation, Jessica Jones, for a new ongoing series to coincide with the release of the acclaimed television adaptation of the character.  Bendis’ run on Jessica Jones from 2016 to 2018 rivaled his original work with the character in Alias as he pushed the ex-superhero, current private investigator, mother, and feminist icon to new extremes, and in the process reminded us all why we fell in love both with her and with his writing, in the first place.

More recently Bendis made a massive decision by leaving Marvel for the Distinguished Competition.  His work on the Superman line has its detractors but it is hard to dispute the quality of his efforts with DC’s younger heroes in the Wonder Comics line he spearheaded soon after arriving.  Bendis introduced yet another memorable original creation in Naomi, whose debut mini-series allowed him to powerfully express his emotions about adoption, a topic with which he has close personal ties.  And he made the welcome decision to bring the beloved characters of Young Justice back to prominence with a new, consistently delightful, ongoing.

Honorable Mentions: Tom King, Geoff Johns, Jeff Lemire.

TV

Show of the Decade: Daredevil.

In a decade where comic book and superhero adaptations conquered the small screen just as much as the big one, Marvel’s first collaboration with Netflix stood far ahead of not just its peers but also the rest of the TV landscape.  Noted for its gritty tone and spectacularly staged, brutal action sequences, Daredevil had plenty of substance to go along with its considerable style.  Over the course of three seasons and appearances in The Defenders crossover mini-series, Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock became easily the most complex and thoroughly developed small screen hero of them all and the show was bolstered by a uniformly excellent supporting cast, with Deborah Ann Woll and Vincent D’Onofrio shining particularly brightly.  More than just an action-adventure yarn Daredevil, which was canceled much too soon in a foolish and petty move by Netflix, offered moving studies of multiple themes such as identity, overcoming trauma, mental illness, and faith.

Honorable Mentions: The Americans, Young Justice, Arrow, Law and Order: SVU, Homeland.

Best Performance- Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil (Daredevil).

Giving the performance award to the lead actor of my best show choice isn’t necessarily creative but Cox’s subtle, nuanced portrayal of the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is tough to beat.  Daredevil explores duality and the difficulties of having a double life better and with more depth than perhaps any other superhero show or movie and Cox does a phenomenal job of conveying that Matt Murdock is a man at war with himself.  Matt may only live a double life but there are around a dozen different versions of the character for Cox to bring to life depending on context and he’s equally capable as a brilliant lawyer, a vengeful vigilante, a charming and sweet humanitarian, and a tormented, conflicted man still dealing with the emotional consequences of his tragic childhood and dark family history.

Honorable Mentions: Matthew Rhys (The Americans), Keri Russell (The Americans), Claire Danes (Homeland), Stephen Amell (Arrow), Woody Harrelson (True Detective), Matthew McConaughey (True Detective), Amy Adams (Sharp Objects), Mariska Hargitay (Law and Order: SVU), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Jon Bernthal (Daredevil, The Punisher).

Movies

Movie of the Decade- Mad Max: Fury Road

A rebuttal to all the criticisms of blockbuster and franchise filmmaking that have become so commonplace in recent years, director and co-writer George Miller’s return to the world of Mad Max that he first created in 1979 is both one of the most exhilarating action movies ever made and one of the most comprehensive uses of film as an artistic medium in years.  With sparing use of dialogue and a delightfully simple plot that keeps the film in high gear almost constantly Fury Road stuns with its visual storytelling that makes every one of the film’s many stunning (often practically filmed) stunts contribute in some way to the development of the themes and characters.  Those themes and characters also vary nicely in their real-world and emotional significances.  Max Rockatansky’s (Tom Hardy) journey across the Wasteland of post-apocalyptic Australia with Imperator Furiousa (Charlize Theron) and a band of desperate refugees features not just Max’s reclamation of his own humanity but explorations of such a wide variety of pressing social issues as PTSD, sexual violence and exploitation, religious fanaticism, and many more, all wrapped up in a fiercely feminist package.

Honorable Mentions: Spotlight, The Town, The Dark Knight Rises, Looper, Sicario, Moonlight, Arrival, Zero Dark Thirty, Logan.

Best Director- Denis Villeneuve

Villeneuve’s filmography has both quality and quantity, delivering six films in the past ten years all of which received warm to ecstatic reactions.  Four of his films, Prisoners, Sicario, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049 are considered among the decade’s best and both the similarities and differences among them highlight Villeneuve’s versatility and talent.  Prisoners and Sicario both offer striking meditations on the effects of violence, both on the people who inflict it and those on the receiving end, but do so in very different ways and Sicario has added weight from focusing on political topics that have been at the center of the decade’s American discourse.  Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 are both among the most intelligent and powerful sci-fi films in years and address similar issues of time and memory in soulful manners.

Honorable Mentions: George Miller, Christopher Nolan, Joe and Anthony Russo.

Best Performance- Robert Downey Jr. (Marvel Cinematic Universe) 

Another example of quality and quantity existing simultaneously, Downey Jr.’s appearances as Tony Stark/Iron Man throughout the massive Marvel franchise are both the most consistently entertaining screen performances of the 2010s thanks to his absurdly quick wit and humorous and some of the most emotionally powerful, thanks to his soulful depiction of Tony’s anxiety, fear of loss, and love for his family.  Downey Jr.’s long tenure in the role allowed the character to evolve into one of the most thoroughly developed in film history.

Honorable Mentions: Hugh Jackman (X-Men franchise), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Jeremy Renner (The Town), Emily Blunt (Looper), Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Michael Fassbender (X-Men franchise), Benicio del Toro (Sicario), Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther), Daisy Ridley (Star Wars franchise).