As it's the last week of the year, it's traditional to look both ahead and forward, to reflect on what the last year has brought us, and what the new year might hold. In my case, it's an excuse to talk about my favorites of the year, and rant about my disappointments one last time.
So, without further ado...
Favorite Comic Book: Hmmm... there were a lot of good ones this year, like last year. Astonishing X-Men, Runaways, Sleeper... they're all pretty good. However, I think the most consistently pleasing has to be Astonishing X-Men this time around.
Worst Single Issue: X-Force #1. Dropped the book after that one.
Favorite Core X-Book: Astonishing again.. no surprise there. However, that aside, Ultimate X-Men has been really very good lately.
Favorite Satellite X-Book: The contenders here seem to be Cable & Deadpool, Madrox, Mystique and District X. Madrox might be disqualified on account of it being a miniseries, but I'm going to give this category to it anyway, since it's one of those miniseries that SHOULD be an ongoing.
Favorite Comic Miniseries: I haven't gotten too many minis outside of the 'big events' like Ultimate Nightmare or Ultimate Six. But there is one that stands out above all the others. Superman: Secret Identity was just an amazing, moving, 4 issue Elseworlds style miniseries, and I once again highly recommend the trade.
Favorite Comic TPB: Judging by my ratings over the last year, it's Sleeper, Vol 2: All False Moves. Looking over what else I got in TPB this year, that's a pretty good choice.
Favorite Comic Artist: Bryan Hitch would be up there if not for his slowness. Art's never been my favorite thing in a comic, so most of the others are very good. John Cassaday has to be mentioned, if only because in Astonishing X-Men he did one of the best series of panels in X-Men history, but some of his artistic choices in the rest of the series still irk me. I'll go with Tom Raney over on Outsiders. He's left that title now, and I realize I'm really going to miss him.
Favorite Female Comic Character: Kitty Pryde, from Astonishing X-Men. Kitty's always been a favorite of mine, and putting her in Whedon's hands was a great touch. Oracle in Birds of Prey, and Miss Misery from Sleeper (just for sheer awfulfess) are honorable mentions. Indigo from Outsiders wins the 'I thought I'd dislike her strongly but wound up really liking her' award of the category.
Favorite Male Comic Character: There are a few contenders here. Madrox has been a lot of fun in his limited series, and over on Birds of Prey, Gail Simone has been doing wonderful things with Savant - I always enjoy seeing him show up. Holden Carver from Sleeper's worthy of a nod, for managing to be so grim and grey and making it work. From DC's ongoing series, I'm liking Arsenal from Outsiders and Robin and Nightwing (although not in their own books, either of them). Last year's winner, Ultimate Spider-Man is still a strong and likeable character. I think this year I'm going to give it to Shortpack, from Mystique, although I may be basing this in part on stuff from 2003. Still, he's one of my favorite supporting characters in a title, especially since he was created just for that series. Here's hoping he survives it.
Favorite Comics Creator: Always a really tough call as there are so many good ones. Joss Whedon is certainly a contender, but he's only doing one book, so I'm going to exclude him - he'll be eligible next year if he writes Astonishing X-Men past #12, or takes on another title. Otherwise he's a favorite 'guest' or 'stunt' writer. JMS has slipped off the nominee list, mainly because of some of the awful things he's decided to do on core titles, but the works where he essentially created (or recreated) the characters, he's always enjoyable (although one problem is, this year less of them have come out). Brian Michael Bendis, last year's winner, is still a contender, but his style doesn't work everywhere, and when it shows up everywhere it gets tiresome. Gail Simone's always a pleasure to read, and Fabian Nicieza gets a nod simply bercause he made me really enjoy a book I expected to drop, and he's more continuity minded than most. I'm sure I'm forgetting some great creators by trying to list them all, so I'll just say that there were a lot of really great ones that I'm not naming, and will just jump right to my choice: Brian K. Vaughan. Not only has he created the excellent Runaways and Ex Machina, he's also doing great things on Ultimate X-Men. Although he left Mystique mid-year, that was also a very good book.
Best New Comic: Not really that tough a category this year. Some 'new' comics were just renumberings/relaunches, and I'm not counting them. Cable & Deadpool, District X, and Ex Machina are probably the top three contenders, but I'm giving the nod to Cable/Deadpool.
Most Underrated Comic: Runaways again, hands down. Sales are too damn low on this book for how good it is, and you people all better pick it up when it starts again in Season Two or you'll... well, you'll hear me telling you all to pick it up again. Cable & Deadpool is another strong contender though, as it's turned out to be an excellent book.
Most Overrated Comic: This year I tended to skip in advance most of the comics I expected to be overrated. The two big contenders that come to mind are Mark Millar's Wanted, which is good at times, but goes overboard into shock value and is too late, and the tail end of Morrison's New X-Men. Since I didn't like much of the end of Morrison's run, I'm going to choose the last of his run, 'Here Comes Tomorrow'.
Best Comic Arc: There were a lot of good arcs on a lot of titles. Runaways (Season One) had a final arc that was very good, and I never suspected the moles. Cable & Deadpool's arc, "The Burnt Offering" was great, tying in a whole bunch of Marvel characters in an event that actually felt like an event, while still having laugh out loud moments. Astonishing X-Men's first arc was a treat, and contained one of the most memorable series of panels in the history of the X-Men. This year I'll give it to Cable & Deadpool - they get a few extra points for 'I really shouldn't be enjoying a book starring Cable this much'.
Worst Comic Arc: Austen's last arc on X-Men, "Heroes & Villains".
Biggest Comic Surprise: I think without a doubt, the biggest surprise for me was that they actually managed to get Joss Whedon to write X-Men. I wanted it, but I didn't really expect it to happen until they announced it.
Biggest Comic Disappointment: Although there are a couple of books that, on their own, are contenders for this title (Alpha Flight's relaunch in particular), I think in general I'm most disappointed with the number of pointless deaths. The one that hit me the hardest was Spoiler, because I really started to like her as Robin, and I thought it was a waste to just kill her off.
Favorite Theatrical Genre Release: I didn't get out to the theatres as much as I would have liked, so really, there's only one choice for me this year: Spider-Man 2. It wins by default.
Favorite SF Book(s): Most of the books I read are several years old, at the least. Even worse, I have trouble remembering which book I read in a given year, and I reread a lot of my favorites. That said, I'm going to give it to the first three Dark Tower books by Stephen King, since these are books I read for the first time this year and they really grabbed me. I plan to read the rest of them when I get a chance.
Favorite Genre DVD: Well, I've still only got a few DVDs... X2, X-Men, Spider-Man 2, and for my birthday this year I got Firefly: The Complete Series. The last is my choice. It's a really fun show with fantastic snappy dialogue, an interesting setting, and it just stands apart from the norm, television wise. There are a lot of nice extras, from hilarious commentaries, to the three unaired episodes. Favorite Outgoing SF Series: Probably Angel. The last year was weak, but it's still been an enjoyable series overall.
Favorite Returning SF Series: There aren't a whole lot of them left, but Stargate SG-1 continues to chug along, and episodes have been a little hit and miss at times, it continues the trend of blending humor, heart, and an attention to its own universe and mythology. The best thing about this series is that characters remember the past, and things actually change. Honorable mention goes to The Dead Zone.
Favorite New SF Series: Lost, although only slightly SF so far, has been better than expected. Some of the plot elements can be a bit stupid, but I've really grown attached to the characters and enjoy tuning in to see what they get up to. It's still very easy for the series to tank either if the mystery of the island turns out to be a dud, or if they drag out the mystery too long without solving anything.
Best TV Miniseries: Most of the nominees that come to mind this year are ones that either were backdoor pilots for a series, or were continuations of a series. There was the 4400, which set up a really interesting idea, but didn't wrap up successfully... the pilot of Battlestar Galactica, which turned out to be better than it had any right being. Kingdom Hospital was an exception to the 'became a series' rule, but it dragged on way too long. So, the award has to go to Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, which managed to wrap up a lot of ongoing threads in an entertaining way, with some really stellar moments, and while still leaving things open if they choose to continue.
Favorite Male TV/Movie Character: Disqualifying Firefly characters because they didn't actually air any new episodes in 2004, I'm going to have to choose John, played by Ben Browder, from Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. I just love how he spouts off genre references, because that's what I'd do in his position. Plus, he had some really good lines that were his own, in that series.
Favorite Female TV/Movie Character: Again disqualifying Firefly characters, I'm going to go with Amanda Tapping's character of Samantha Carter on Stargate SG-1.
In Comics: Runaways, Season Two, in February. The start of Peter Milligan's run on X-Men. Cautiously, the House of M mini and DC's Countdown event. Although I probably won't be reading it, I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle the Thor relaunch. I'm looking forward to finally seeing the end of NYX being published.
In Books: Although they came out this year, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the Dark Tower books, eventually. Also, Reflex, by Steven Gould, the sequel to Jumper, is on my to-buy list. I loved Jumper.
In Movies: There are a couple that could be interesting, but the one that's really got me excited is Serenity, currently scheduled for September 30th, 2005. The film is a continuation of the Firefly TV series. When the show was cancelled, I thought that was the end. Joss Whedon said he'd try and make it into a movie, but I didn't believe it... and then, somehow, the crazy SOB actually managed it, and I have to give him credit.
In TV: There's nothing new really on the horizon, TV-wise, aside from the return of ongoing shows. The new Battlestar Galactica series starts in January, so I'll go with that. Really, I'm looking forward to the reality TV craze dying down a little so we can get some new shows on.
In Comics: Half-dreading House of M, as it could be very very bad. I'm also dreading the next time a company decides to make a 'big event' by killing off and or destroying characters.
In Books: Nothing really.
In Movies: Fantastic Four. It could be good, but I just have a strong feeling that it won't be. I hope I'm proven wrong. Then of course there's the last Star Wars prequel. I'm probably going to wind up seeing it, just out of warped loyalty, but I'm dreading it.
In TV: The slow decline of new SFTV... and, potentially really bad
Sci-Fi Channel adaptations of really good SF books.
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Well, that's it for my picks.
Please, join our forums and discuss your own picks for the best and
worst of the year here.
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