After what has seemed like momentary stagnation, comic books and graphic novels reflected a turbulent, erratic year with vital, innovative, diverse stories. From superheroes to fantasy landscapes in the backyard or someone’s mind – or both – comics like Absolute Batman took big chances and delivered in big ways for readers.
My biggest regret in 2024 is I didn’t read nearly enough. The real world drove a truck through my ability to do much of anything from the summer on, so it was a challenge to even get to the comic book store. The effort was more than worth it. While this list will have some big omissions thanks to how thin my TBR was for once, it’s by no means comprehensive. Much broader year-end lists can be found here and here, and paint a much clearer picture of how alive 2024 was.
With that said, here are my favorite books of 2024, in no particular order:
Helen of Wyndhorn, Dark Horse Comics
Helen of Wyndhorn reunites the team of writer Tom King, artist Bilquis Evely, and colorist Matheus Lopes from Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow, an instant modern classic. By turns Conan The Barbarian, Turn of the Screw, and an Isekai adventure, Helen of Wyndhorn shouldn’t work but it does. Oh, does it work.
It’s a portal fantasy laid over with the paranoia and suspicion of Gothic fiction, all packed inside the very tidy box of sword and sorcery. The degree of difficulty here is immense, but like Supergirl, which was essentially True Grit in space, King mashes genres like few others. Evely creates a dynamic partner who renders beautiful imaginary worlds with scrupulous and scrumptious detail. Her intricate work evokes Mobius, but it’s far more fluid.
Evely’s sublime, immaculate art immerses you in a dense, layered mystery that counts among King’s most complex narratives, playing with literary structures to create a story constantly questioning its own authenticity.
Absolute Wonder Woman, DC Comics
Superhero comics always go through cycles, and there was a sense in 2023 that the genre, in comics and beyond, was getting a little stale. The Absolute DC Universe, an initiative from DC Comics that takes classic heroes and reimagines them for the modern day, introduced a massive jolt of energy into the genre. Of the three available titles so far, Absolute Wonder Woman stands apart.
That’s saying something.
The entire program excels in delivering timeless characters with a fresh new perspective, but Absolute Wonder Woman #1, written by Kelly Thompson with art by Hayden Sherman and Jordie Bellaire, arguably takes the biggest chances. The first three issues deliver a familiar but very different Diana, who is now the last Amazon, the daughter of Circe, and consequently a witch. These dramatic differences in her story offer possibilities and make concrete – or clay – what had been a somewhat nebulous origin in the mainline universe. Wonder Woman is an icon, but it’s debatable if she’s always been a character.
Here, she feels like a fully dimensional character with her own solid and distinct origin that leans on previous continuity while also springing from it. Each issue delivers a classic comic book battle between the hero and impossible odds, while also providing quiet character moments where Thompson leverages her best creative choices. Issue #3 is an instant classic, where Diana’s classic decision to leave Themiscyra for Steve Trevor is deepened, personalized, and made even more mythic in a moment that fans have been talking about since it dropped.
Ultimate X-Men, Marvel Comics
Along the same lines as Absolute DC, Marvel found its greatest commercial and creative success of the year in its rekindled Ultimate line. Returning to the brand that also kickstarted a creative renaissance in the early 2000s, Marvel took Spider-Man, X-Men, and others into a new era. Ultimate X-Men, written and drawn by Japanese superstar artist Peach Momoko, is perhaps the most ambitious and creatively distinct superhero comic of 2024, let alone the decade.
Momoko recasts the classic X-Men dynamic in a Japanese school, and while the franchises’ expected visual markers may not be there, with her unique work in watercolors and manga-influenced style, the book isn’t like any other in the genre. Ultimate X-Men is a coming-of-age story that pulls no punches, depicting the wonders and horrors of being a young person coming into superpowers in ways that challenge and shock. Suicide, body horror, and other heavy themes play out in the book, taking classic X-Men tropes and rendering them in a modern way.
Final Cut, Charles Burns
Final Cut by Charles Burns twists artistic ambition with cold, hard reality and delivers a powerful story about love, obsession, and creative boundaries. Burns, who readers most likely know for the seminal Black Hole, blurs the line between fantasy and reality, with the comic book panel becoming a lens into the sci-fi movies the main character Brian loves so much. Brian’s desire to make his own movies, featuring his unrequited love Tina, goes to some unexpected places.
Burns’ iconic thick, heavy line chisels a practical reality that is constantly under threat by the fantasy playing out in Brian’s head – maybe – and pushes the limits of what the comic book page can do. One of the medium’s most gifted independent creators, Burns delivers another classic readers will be scouring through for years to come.
Absolute Batman, DC Comics
As much as I’m reluctant to go to the superhero well too much, let alone the Absolute DC one, there’s no question that Absolute Batman is among the best comics of not only 2024 but recent years. Writer Scott Snyder and artist Nick Dragotta utterly reinvent The Dark Knight textually and visually, creating a lively, compelling, and fun new take that is as much The Wire as it is Batman.
We now have a blue-collar Batman, with none of the wealth or all those wonderful toys that come with it. He operates in a much darker Gotham, under attack from forces as rich and powerful as his mainstream counterpart. The book speaks to the moment, not only in its upending of the traditional class dynamics in Batman comics but also in the art style. Dragotta delivers a more manga-influenced Caped Crusader, rendering pages both dense and nimble at the same time.
The book is modern commentary, pure superhero pulp, and a testament to everything that came before in Batman comics. It’s a fascinating read and a welcome one, given the fact the first issue is the highest-selling comic of 2024.
Honorable Mentions: When We Transform: A Superhero Tale of Transition (Tomi Trembath), Something Is Killing The Children (BOOM!), Poison Ivy (DC), Ultimates (Marvel), Batman and Robin: Year One (DC), Saga (Image), Ultimate Spider-Man (Marvel).
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