The Unreachable Star's 2005 Year In Review!

As it's the first week of the New Year, it's time 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...

Of 2005:

Favorite Comic Book: There are a lot of very good ongoing books this year, but I think I have to go with Runaways. It's consistently a lot of fun, and almost every single issue makes me laugh at least once.

Favorite Core X-Book: Really it's all down to Astonishing X-Men, or, if you consider it a core book, Ultimate X-Men. Unfortunately, much of 2005's Astonishing was the disappointing Dangerous arc. So, even though the claim of being a 'core X-book' is tenuous, I'm going to go with Ultimate X-Men.

Favorite Satellite X-Book: The contenders here seem to be Cable & Deadpool, Exiles, and New X-Men, all of which have been rather fun at times. Despite the disappointing House of M tie in, I'll go with New X-Men.

Favorite Comic Miniseries: X-Men: Phoenix Endsong is probably the best of the bunch... even though the ending was shaky, the mini had a lot of strong character moments and made me really wish Pak would take on a regular X-Book. Madrox only shipped the last issue in 2005, so I can't consider it a nominee, but is worthy of note anyway.

Favorite Comic TPB: I think this year my favorite TPB was the Rising Stars: Fire and Ash TPB, finally completing the whole story. Obviously it doesn't stand alone, and really I don't think it was as good as the first two acts, but it's worth reading.

Favorite Comic Artist: Aside from the usual suspects like Bryan Hitch, and John Cassaday, I think Adrian Alphona has to be considered for his work on Runaways, and I've recently become impressed by Pia Guerra on Y: The Last Man. It's a very close category, but I'll give it to Jim Cheung on Young Avengers.

Favorite Female Comic Character: Last year's winner, Kitty Pryde from Astonishing, is a strong contender here as well. There's also Gert from Runaways, and Kate Bishop from Young Avengers. A couple of the girls from New X-Men are enjoyable to read about, too. Still, I think this year I'm going to give it to Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, in large part because my speculation is she won't be around past the first few months of 2006.

Favorite Male Comic Character: Yorick from Y: The Last Man deserves a mention, although, because I'm reading it in trades, I haven't actually read any of the stuff that's come out in 2005 yet. So I'm going to disqualify him. With Runaways vol 2, Chase actually shoots ahead... I never liked him much in the first volume of the title, but this year he's regularly a source of laughs and cool moments. Ultimate Spidey's always a strong nominee, although he's been a little unlikeable this year. Hellion from New X-Men's also been pretty cool this year. But, the category goes to Chase.

Favorite Comics Creator: I excluded Joss Whedon last year because he was only scheduled for a 12 issue run. I said that if he comes back for another year, he'd be eligible. He also supposedly co-wrote on the Serenity miniseries. So, he's certainly eligible... and yet, his output this year has been a little disappointing. Dangerous, as mentioned, was a little weak, and Serenity lacked much of the spark of the series. While there are a number of great creators out there, my top choice still has to be Brian K. Vaughan, last year's winner. Whedon might well have won if he'd been at his best.

Best New Comic: X-Factor only got started in the last month of 2005, but it's already a strong contender. Young Avengers gets the nod, I think, though. It's a bunch of new characters and it's tied to the Avengers (a team I've never been too interested in), but it managed to be fun right out of the gate.

Most Underrated Comic: Runaways again, hands down.

Most Overrated Comic: Can't think of any this year that I actually read - I think I managed to drop most of the titles I considered overrated.

Best Comic Arc: I think I have to give it to Ultimates... even though it's not quite finished yet, all of what's published in 2005 seem to be part of one big arc, and it's a good one. Ultimate X-Men gets honorable mention for Magnetic North.

Worst Comic Arc: Peter Milligan's Golgotha arc.

Biggest Comic Surprise: I think it has to be the huge upswing in quality after Andersen Gabrych took on Batgirl. It went from a title I kind of enjoyed, to one of the ones I really looked forward to. Technically he started in November of 2004, but the first two issues were a crossover so it was hard to judge from those.

Biggest Comic Disappointment: House of M, and more particularly Decimation. House of M had some good ideas but had huge holes in the plot. Milligan taking over X-Men also has to rank up there, because I was actually looking forward to it, and now I almost wish Austen was back. Then there's the cancellation of Batgirl. I think I have to go with House of M and Decimation, lumped together as one, because I can't think about how they handled the depowering and yet left the A-list characters mostly untouched, without feeling an urge to yell CHEAP at the top of my lungs.

Favorite Theatrical Genre Release: Serenity. No question about it. Far better than Revenge of the Sith.

Favorite SF Book(s): This is always a tough category, both because I read a lot and don't remember when I read a given book, and because I don't typically read many 'new' books. I think I've read 3 books that were new (or at least, new in Paperback) in the last year. Reflex, by Stephen Gould, Song of Susannah by Stephen King, and Dies the Fire, by S.M. Stirling. None of the three have full reviews yet, but I'll call Reflex my favorite, with Song of Susannah a close second.

Favorite Genre DVD: Serenity again. Although we really should have had a bit more in the way of bonus features, and a better cover. And getting some of the cast in on the commentary track would have been gold. I bet they're saving that for some two-disc collector's edition down the line though.

Favorite Outgoing SF Series: I can't think of too many SF shows that got the axe in 2005. The big, obvious, one is Star Trek: Enterprise. And yet, I can't say I'm at all disappointed at that one. It was time to give the franchise a rest, and Enterprise was never anywhere near as good as the peak of the franchise (Deep Space 9, for the record). Still, because I can't recall any other examples, I'll give this category to Star Trek as a whole - it's been almost 20 years since we've not had a ST show on the air. Alias was announced as cancelled this year, but doesn't actually end till next, and it falls into the same category as 'it's time'.

Favorite Returning SF Series: This is another tough one, because there's actual a fair bit out there nowadays. Battlestar Galactica, 4400, Dead Zone, the two Stargates, Lost... it's actually a pretty good time to be a SF fan. Even though it's probably not my absolute favorite of the returning shows (which would probably be a tie between several) I'll give the category to Lost, because it's managed to keep the tightrope of being good and being popular.

Favorite New SF Series: The new version of Doctor Who probably qualifies as a 'new' series, since the last series version was in the 80s. Other 'new' series I might consider are either already cancelled (Threshold) or are really continuations of a miniseries (4400), so I think Doctor Who is the only real choice. It has its ups and downs, and is a bit cheesy at times, but it's still a lot of fun and Eccleston made a great Doctor.

Favorite Male TV/Movie Character: Malcolm Reynolds, from Serenity. The charismatic rogue who just keeps going despite losing everything, and does what he thinks is right.

Favorite Female TV/Movie Character: Kaylee from Serenity I suppose. I can't think of many standout female TV or movie characters aside from Serenity (where sadly none of them got as much play as they should have save River, who was a bit too crazy to be a favorite).

For 2006:

What I'm looking forward to:

In Comics: As a big fan of the New Universe from the 80s, I'm both eagerly anticipating and dreading their celebration of the 20th anniversary... they're due to do several 'Untold Tales of the New Universe' one shots, and then, in August, do a reimagining of the whole concept with Warren Ellis writing. It could be good. It could be horrible. We'll see. Also, even though it started this year, I'm hoping X-Factor will really hit its stride in 2006. Finally, there's Runaways... the New Pride storyline is coming up, so I really hope it'll wow me.

In Books: Now that the last Dark Tower book is out in TPB form, I really can't think of anything on the horizon that I'm really anticipating. With books, it's almost more about the joy of a random discovery rather than anticipations. Although I guess I am looking forward to _reading_ the last Dark Tower book (which is still on my To-Read pile), so I'll go with that.

In Movies: There is the Ultimate Avengers direct-to-DVD movie, which is supposed to follow the first few issues of the Ultimates fairly closely. V for Vendetta also has the potential to be very good - there's good source material, and, although I've heard some troubling things about changes made for the movie, none of what I've heard is enough to make me worry about it as a whole.

In TV: There are no upcoming new shows on the horizon that have caught my eye yet, so I have to stick with existing ones... so I'll go with Stargate SG-1's upcoming 10th season. I still like what they're doing, and the cast addition should keep things fun.

What I'm dreading:

In Comics: Decimation has really reduced my interest in the core X-Books. Likewise, DC's One Year Later event is poised to reduce my DC list to two.

In Books: Nothing really.

In Movies: The third X-Men movie. Sure the trailer looks all right, but it also matches up too much with some of the bad early reports, and they've made too many questionable decisions. I really hope this isn't the one to end the franchise.

In TV: Probably May, where I always have to face the fear that one of the shows I've grown attached to isn't coming back. - Well, that's it for my picks. If you're at all interested, here's what I thought of 2004. Please, join our forums and discuss your own picks for the best and worst of the year here.
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