2012 is officially in the rear view, and in celebration CBR has been checking out what's just behind us. All last week, we counted down our Top 100 Comics of 2012, and before we dive into 2013 full on we wanted to offer our readers one last look at some of the best comics published over the last 12 months.
This year, a record 36 publishers, collectives and creators had their work rank on the big list from the standard-bearers of mainstream publishers to the most obscure alternative efforts with a healthy dose of literary comics, modern graphic novels, digital efforts and manga thrown in. No lie, we are personally pleasantly surprised by the breadth of stuff put out each year, and this is consistently referred to by staff as the most fun feature we do all year.
As in previous years, the Top 100 was compiled thanks to the tireless work of a range of CBR's contributors who sent in their own ranked Top Ten lists to me (News Editor Kiel Phegley) with point values being associated to each book which I later edited down to a Top 100 I felt best reflected the vote of the staff. This year's nomination team included the following fantastic writers on comics: CBR News Team members and contributors Alex Dueben, TJ Dietsch, Karl Keily, Shaun Manning, Jeffrey Renaud, Dave Richards, Steve Sunu (bonus helper prize for Steve!), George Tramountanas, Jason Tabrys, Brett White and Brian Warmoth; CBR Columnists Timothy Callahan and Brett White; CBR Reviewers Ryan Burton, Jennifer Cheng, Greg Hatcher, Ryan K. Lindsay, Greg McElhatton, Bill Reed and Doug Zawisza; Comics Should Be Good bloggers Greg Burgas, Connie Cibula, Brian Cronin, Ken Haley, Sonia Harris and Kelly Thompson; Robot 6 bloggers Brigid Alverson, Kevin Melrose and JK Parkin. And last but never least, our rarely seen publicly but always radical duo of Senior Editor Stephen Gerding and Executive Producer Jonah Weiland.
Looking at the hard numbers, DC Comics took the overall lead with 16 titles ranking -nine of them from the publisher's Vertigo imprint. Not to be outdone, Dark Horse and Image tied for second place with a dozen titles each on the countdown while Marvel charted third with ten entries. Other standout performances included Top Shelf and Oni Press with four appearances a piece, Fantagraphics and IDW each with three and the likes of BOOM! Studios, Koyama Press, Graphic Universe, Dynamite Entertainment, Viz and First Second all nabbing two spots. There was an amazing number of one-time appearances from smaller publishers, independent presses and self-published work with 21 entries overall.
I said it above, but it bears repeating. Every year this list is a blast to put together, and every year seeing the assembled titles gets me charged for what's going on in the four-color medium. Also, every year there are any number of totally radical titles that earn votes from staff and fans alike that just don't fit in the Top 100. I think most people would be hard pressed by year's end to come up with 100 great movies, TV shows or video games they experienced over the years, which to me is a sign that comics have it over the other areas of pop culture in spades.
So please take a moment to look over the list one last time, read up on a few comics you may have never seen before and maybe purchase a few of them while you're at it. Afterwards, chime in on the CBR Message Boards to have your say on the best comics of 2012!
- Saga
- Building Stories
- Hawkeye
- Batman
- Prophet
- Daredevil
- The Manhattan Projects
- The Underwater Welder
- Uncanny X-Force
- Hellblazer
- Fatale
- Animal Man & Swamp Thing: Rotworld
- 2000 A.D.
- Avatar The Last Airbender - The Promise
- Mind The Gap
- The Unwritten
- Punnk Rock Jesus
- League of Extraordinary Gentlmen, Century: 2009
- xkcd
- Rachel Rising
- Wonder Woman
- Locke & Key
- Ultimate Spider-Man/Spider-Men
- B.P.R.D.
- Revival
- The Massive
- The Boys
- Batwoman
- Chew
- The Zaucer of Zilk
- Dial H
- Thief of Thieves
- Morning Glories
- Goliath
- Love & Rockets: New Stories
- Jennifer Blood
- Blade of The Immortal
- The Self-Published Comics of Michel Fiffe
- Lose
- Mind MGMT
- Conan The Barbarian
- Little White Duck
- Wizzywig
- A Game For Swallows
- The Punisher & Punisher War Zone
- Journey Into Mystery
- Empowered
- Sweet Tooth
- Prince of Cats
- Fables
- Are You My Mother?
- The Nao of Brown
- Scalped
- The Hypo
- Glory
- A Wrinkle In Time: The Graphic Novel
- Alabaster: Wolves
- The Sixth Gun
- The Silence of Our Friends
- Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City
- Dorohedoro
- 20th Century Boys
- Venom: Circle of Four
- Aesop's Ark
- Wasteland
- Casanova: Avarita
- The Walking Dead
- Hellboy In Hell
- Shooters
- New Crusaders
- Friends With Boys
- Nurse Nurse
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 9
- FF
- Crogan's Loyalty
- NonNonBa
- Wolverine & The X-Men
- Adventure Time
- Baby's In Black
- Godzilla: Half Century War
- Tales Designed To Thrizzle
- The Infinite Wait & Other Stories
- The Secret History of D.B. Cooper
- Dancer
- Irredeemable & Incorruptible
- Harbinger
- Dotter of Her Fathers Eyes
- Rohan at the Louvre
- Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
- RASL
- Aquaman
- The Shark King
- Hell Yeah
- Richie Rich GEMS
- iZombie
- The Shade
- Drama
- Lookouts
- My Friend Dahmer
- The Tick