Monkey Meat (W/A) Juni Ba (Image Comics)

Over the course of 2022, we saw the rise of NFTs, AI Created Art, and the ongoing dominance of metaconglomerate controlled IPs shoveled into the sludge of streaming content. It is from this toxic waste that Juni Ba’s Monkey Meat emerges like a new forest after a wildfire. Monkey Meat is a satirical anthology series that targets the growing corporatization of artistic expression, taking aim at the executives who make the product and the drooling fanboys who obsessively worship it. Ba’s artwork looks like nothing else on the comic stands today, fitting considering the comic’s desperate rallying cries for originality in our growingly stale world.

Squire (W) Nadia Shammas (A) Sara Alfageeh (C) Lynette Wong

Squire is an epic fantasy that sets out to deconstruct the romanticism of war and combat, especially as it focuses on the young children who are often the first to suffer in the conflicts of nations. This original graphic novel focuses on NAME and her quest to become a knight’s squire. Along the way, she faces first hands the roots of prejudices against her people and the ways hate is used to justify war. Shammas & Alfageeh have crafted one of strongest first graphic novels I’ve ever read, promising just the beginning of a phenomenal pair of careers.

Do A Powerbomb (W/A Daniel Warren Johnson (C) Mike Spicer (L) Rus Wooton

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises in the world of comics is that one of the most emotionally affecting and powerful stories about grief came from a comic book entitled “Do A Powerbomb.” Daniel Warren Johnson’s epic fantasy tale of the squared circle follows the journey of Yua Steelrose who, following her mother’s untimely death, embarks on a quest into another dimension ruled by a wrestling loving necromancer. Here she enters a wrestling tournament with one irresistible prize: the chance to resurrect a loved one. Packed with emotional and physical wallops, Do A Powerbomb is truly a world champion.

Finding Batman from DC Pride Anthology 2022 (W) Kevin Conroy (A) J. Bone (L) Aditya Bidikar

2022 was a year of great losses in the comic book community. We lost legends like Neal Adams, George Perez, Kevin O’Neil, Tim Sale, and Carlos Pacheco. One of those losses was from a man who never picked up a pencil, but who brought Batman to life through the power of his voice: Kevin Conroy, who played the voice of Batman in various animated series and video games for nearly 30 years. “Finding Batman” serves as a fitting tribute from Conroy to the caped crusader, but also a deeply intimate look into the personal life of the man who brought the Bat to life. Only a few years early, Conroy openly spoke about his experiences as a gay man in Hollywood for the first time. This comic reminds us how the queer community was decimated by the AIDS virus of the 80’s and how many people of Conroy’s age we lost far too soon. Conroy gave us, as one final gift to the world, a reminder of the power of finding hope in superhero stories. 

Defenders: Beyond (W) Al Ewing (A) Javier Rodriguez (L) Joe Caramagna 

Preceded by the 2021 Defenders miniseries, Ewing & Rodriguez prove themselves to be Marvel’s secret One Above All (Ones Above All? Two Above All?). These series are fantastical trips through the Marvel universe’s creation and cosmology. A group of disparate heroes go on a series of whirlwind adventures to discover what lies behind the walls of reality, with absolutely jaw dropping art by Rodriguez that will melt your brain and leave you staring for hours at the little details. This is pure, uncut superhero comics as they should be. 

Look Back (W/A Tatsuki Fujimoto) 

Fujimoto has been climbing to the top of the manga world these last few years with his bombastic shonen epic Chainsaw Man. And while I love the adventures of Denji, the ultimate teenage dirtbag, it was Fujimoto’s much more somber one-shot Look Back that truly capture my heart this year. Look Back follows a pair of young, aspiring manga artists who cross paths and end up inspiring and motivating one another towards greatness. Fujimoto’s command and control of narrative flow is subtle but catches you off guard each time you discover his new narrative tricks. Look Back is one of the most stirring homages to creativity and imagination that you’ll ever read. 

Halloween Boy (W/A Dave Baker)

The adventures of Halloween Boy are not for the fair of heart. Baker’s love letter to classic pulp fiction tropes and Hannah Barbera adventure cartoons is a triumph. A startlingly emotional tale about an adventurer who wants to do good, in spite of the family lineage that haunts him. Baker’s art work is packed with detail, each page feeling like the most kick-ass where’s Waldo image you’ve ever come across. These elements make the retro pastiche feel fresh and new, finding the unique in the familiar. 

Catwoman: Lonely City (W/A Cliff Chiang) 

Selina Kyle’s Dark Knight Returns, Cliff Chiang returns Selina Kyle to the crime noir cool of the Darwyn Cooke/Ed Brubaker run, while also delivering a moving reflection on aging and grief in a world gone mad. The story follows Selina Kyle, finally free from her extended sentence in Gotham Penitentiary, returning to a Gotham City she no longer recognizes. With Batman dead, she must take on one final heist to solve her love’s finally mystery and stop the facistic forces looking to make Gotham a police state. Chiang has long been one of the great talents in modern comics, and here he cements his status as a legend pulling writing, art, and coloring duties. This is one of the defining stories of Catwoman, and one that deserves to be talked about for years to come. 

It’s Lonely At the Centre of the Earth (W/A) Zoe Thorogood 

One part memoir and one part experimental mediation on the nature of art and the comics form itself, Zoe Thorogood’s graphic novel is both heart wrenching and artistically breathtaking. While many graphic memoirs tend to have conventional, straight forward cartooning, Thorogood uses every conceivable part of the sequential art medium to express the interior thoughts and emotions of her comic avatar. The result is one of the few pieces of art that truly captures the ongoing psychological trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic. People in the graphic novel refer to Thorogood as “the future of comics.” That future is now. 

Sabertooth & Sabertooth & the Exiles (W) Victor LaVelle (A) Leonard Kirk (C) Rain Beredo (L) Cory Petit

The reinvention of the X-Men books in the Krakoa era has been wildly popular due to its portrayal of a world where the mutants, the oppressed, have finally found a victory. What they’ve lacked since the beginning, however, is the ability to fully envision a society without punitive justice. Victor LaVelle’s Sabertooth and Sabertooth & the Exiles faces the question of restorative Justice in the world of superheroes head by asking whether or it Sabertooth, one of the most ruthless killers of the mutant world can be redeemed, and if so, is redemption something he even truly deserves? Along with a ragtag group of C-list mutant castaways, LaVelle has crafted one of the most philosophically fascinating books of an era filled with deeply thoughtful texts in the world of superhero comics. 

X-Men Red (W) Al Ewing (A) Stefano Caselli (C) Federico Blee (L) Ariana Maher

In one issue Magento crushes an alien’s skull with his own helmet. 

‘Nuff said.