The comics industry went through a lot of growth in 2017, some of it good and some of it bad. Through shifts in-universe, massive story events such as Marvel’s Generations and Legacy initiatives to DC’s Doomsday Clock, and questionable PR decisions from most of the big publishers, comics as a whole seemed kind of shaky.
Luckily, the year also saw a bevy of new and old voices, many of whom find themselves on our list of top comics of 2017. We left off ongoing series and chose to focus on new stories and creative teams, all of which you can find at your local comic store! In no particular order, here are our top 10 comics of 2017!
Angelic
Art: Caspar Wijngaard
Super Sons
Extremity
Story/Art: Daniel Warren Johnson
Extremity is so damn special. Most issues leave me in my feelings, or swearing while holding my head in my hands, but it’s definitely one you MUST pick up. It’s Mad Max Fury Road meets Avatar the Last Airbender. It’s kinetic and brutal. I actually don’t want to say too much about it because it’s that good and I don’t want a single bit spoiled for you. Bonus: it’s only $10 for the first trade!
Steven Universe
Story: Melanie Gillman
Art: Katy Farina
Fans of the Cartoon Network show, rejoice! This ongoing series perfectly captures the voices of the characters and it’s episodic, meaning you can pick up any single issue off the shelf and have a complete standalone story. It’s great for little ones who may want to get into comics and hardcore show enthusiasts as well. There’s currently one collected softcover out too, just in case that’s your preference!
Batman: White Knight
Art/Story: Sean Gordon Murphy
Yes, I know a lot of you are tired of rehashed Batman stories featuring the same old formula of Batman beating up the bad guy and saving the city of Gotham. HOWEVER, the Batman: White Knight mini-series turns it all on its head in a refreshing, dark way. The series is about halfway through, but it makes a very big impression every issue. Be sure to pay close attention to those busier panels; Murphy tucks details in every corner. Issue #1 may be a little elusive to track down if you’re intent on a first printing, but it will definitely stay on your mind for a while after reading it.
Fence
Story: C.S. Pacat
Art: Johanna the Mad
If you need something to fill the Yuri!!! on Ice shaped hole in your heart, I can’t suggest Fence fast enough. As you may be able to infer, Fence is about a group of young fencers in a private school. There’s definitely going to be some drama, and there’s definitely going to be some romance. Granted, I have some bias as I love stories about tension filled high school slice of life experiences and I have a soft spot for fencing itself, so this was up my alley. Either way, if you enjoy attitude filled boys fighting with swords, check it out!
Godshaper
Story: Simon Spurrier
Art: Jonas Goonface
This was probably my favorite book out of 2017, if I had to choose one from this list. It’s also one of the hardest to try to summarize. In this universe, every person has a god assigned to them, usually bestowing some sort of skill or power. The story centers around Ennay, a queer “shaper” – which is to say, they change the shape of a person’s god. Those without a god are pariahs, like Ennay. It’s a fresh take and beautiful in every way.
Black Bolt
Story: Saladin Ahmed
Art: Christian Ward
This is another title where I have some bias, as I am a hardcore Inhumans fan. That aside, holy crow, please pick up a copy just to look at the art by Christian Ward. The man is a master as space psychedelics and his style is a pretty perfect complement to Saladin’s storytelling. Because Black Bolt can decimate everything ever if he so much as whispers, the dialogue can be a little light, but a glance into the inner workings of the Silent King is always pretty bomb.
Dead of Winter
Story:Kyle Starks
Art: Gabo
Dead of Winter is a popular survival horror board game where you have to complete scenarios and make tough decisions as randomized characters with different abilities. The comic it is based on takes these characters and runs with them in a free-for-all hilarious look at the end of the world. It’s a 4-issue series of pure fun, but I definitely think you’ll enjoy it more if you’ve played the board game! I almost always draw Sparky, a golden retriever who can withstand zombie bites, and there’s plenty of Sparky in this series, thankfully.
Runaways
I’ve missed The Runaways and they’re back in a perfect return of my favorite Marvel teenagers. While I wouldn’t start with this series because spoilers for the television show, I would suggest definitely, DEFINITELY, picking up the 2004 Brian K. Vaughan series first and going from there! Expect some angst because it picks up immediately where we last saw everyone. The creative team perfectly captures every single character and all their hang ups. Hmm, as I reach the end of this list, I realized most of these have some personal bias, but YOU KNOW WHAT, I READ A LOT OF COMICS AND I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THEM AND LIKE, 94 OF THEM ARE ABOUT THE GODDAMNED RUNAWAYS.
HONORABLE MENTION: The Family Trade
This is going to be a slow, delicious burn and I know those aren’t for everyone. That’s the only reason it didn’t make my top 10 list, but if you find yourself with a couple extra bucks, definitely pick up a really neat story about a family of assassins, particularly one clumsy one who finds herself in quite the pickle.
That wraps up my list, and it’s pretty varied if I do say so myself. I hope you find a couple of new favorites among them and feel free to tweet my way to discuss them (except Runaways cause inevitably I will CRY and that’s no fun for anyone!). Be sure to check out our other comics reviews and lists!
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REVIEW | Doomsday Clock #4
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Emerald City Conversation with Jen Wang
REVIEW | Doomsday Clock #2
Review | ‘Dark Nights: Metal’ #1
I have been a grump. I have been down. And Steven Universe has helped bring me back.
When you’re in a depression it can take a lot of effort to like things. I’ve always naturally been on the critical side (to protect my gooey idealistic and sorely disappointed core) so it admittedly can take quite a bit to impress when it comes to pop mediums. I am very sensitive to how things are written and plotted and I’ll be quick to point out things I didn’t like or felt should have been different. Sometimes this comes in handy; approaching media critically is important. I am indeed the skeptic. I know that much about myself. But sometimes it can be a bit too m
uch.
Not too long ago I found I was going beyond that and was in a total state of grey. Absolutely uninterested, often irritated and just plain bored. I just wasn’t excited about much, and I had a distinct hard edge. When things that you actually like still don’t bring much joy, you know you’ve hit a wall. I’ve worked hard to remedy it and while you can’t ask for perfection, I am feeling better, and a cartoon show about a plucky half-alien tween with a gem in his belly button helmed by Rebecca Sugar have contributed towards my feeling better. I feel I can like things again a bit easier.
Why? First things first; Steven Universe is just a cool show. It has pretty art, an animation style that allows for a lot of fun deformed “off model” faces and bodies for the sake of comedy and expression, gorgeous backgrounds and palettes, and a surprisingly deep and nuanced narrative. Add to that wonderful poc characters and a majority poc voice talents, nonbinary female presenting characters with tons of body types, a sensitive, gentle pacifistic male lead, canon queer romantic relationships and all played out in short 11 minute segments. It’s fantastic (and easy to binge watc
h).
I didn’t originally think this way. I caught a few episodes when it first aired and I was a bit tepid. I was expecting something a bit different than those initial episodes and it was okay; but I wasn’t as into it as I thought I would be. I was soon wrong. Very wrong. Initial appearances seem to suggest an Adventure Time via Troll dolls and 80s/90s space cartoon flourishes but as you go along what we’ve got instead is in fact a huge love letter to a lot of 80s and 90s shounen and shoujo anime and action cartoons. The art is stunning.
This is not terribly surprising. Many new animated shows, being made by creators who grew up during or witnessed the 90s anime explosion have been creating work with Eastern animation influences for a while. Dexter’s Lab, Powerpuff Girls, and Samurai Jack were ahead of the curve; their looks owed quite a bit to retro anime from the 60s to 80s. After the huge late 90s anime craze series like the original Teen Titans while good in their own right played the current anime stylization of the time straight and tried to ride that wave pretty overtly. I feel culturally we’ve matured since then a little. Shows like also amazing Bee & Puppycat would be an example further up the notch from Teen Titans in terms of filtering stylization and influence. Still very clear anime influence but also it’s own thing. I’d place Steven Universe next in line; its references (Utena and Dragonball Z are numerous and quite prominent) are clear and Pearl is a walking shoujo action trope but it is, more so than the other two series, its own style and is not defined or limited to the expected stylization of the genre which the other two adhere to more.
Ultimately, animation style or not, the characters of Steven Universe, their earnestness and the core theme of “love” and compassion are what affected me the most and cracked my hard shell during an ongoing recovery. 
Steven’s father Greg, and Steven himself are both earnest and sensitive characters, neither afraid to cry, and are overall amazing and something we desperately need more of to teach boys its okay to be “soft” and romantic, pacifistic and good natured and work towards getting rid of toxic masculinity that teaches otherwise. Seeing how other people reacted to the show and it’s slow burn to blaze is also inspiring. Seeing what characters like Garnet (and by extension Ruby and Sapphire), Amethyst and Pearl, Lapis, Connie, Lars, “The Cool Kids” and above all Steven himself actually mean to people and what they’re doing for them by existing, just speaks spades. It’s really inspiring me to be…softer. Just a little bit. In any case it’s made me feel better.
Please watch it if you haven’t fallen for this show yet. It’s on a summer break too right now so it’s a great time to catch up. Maybe it can help make you feel better too.
Max Eber
Staff Writer
@maxlikescomics
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