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!

  1. Saga
  2. Building Stories
  3. Hawkeye
  4. Batman
  5. Prophet
  6. Daredevil
  7. The Manhattan Projects
  8. The Underwater Welder
  9. Uncanny X-Force
  10. Hellblazer
  11. Fatale
  12. Animal Man & Swamp Thing: Rotworld
  13. 2000 A.D.
  14. Avatar The Last Airbender - The Promise
  15. Mind The Gap
  16. The Unwritten
  17. Punnk Rock Jesus
  18. League of Extraordinary Gentlmen, Century: 2009
  19. xkcd
  20. Rachel Rising
  21. Wonder Woman
  22. Locke & Key
  23. Ultimate Spider-Man/Spider-Men
  24. B.P.R.D.
  25. Revival
  26. The Massive
  27. The Boys
  28. Batwoman
  29. Chew
  30. The Zaucer of Zilk
  31. Dial H
  32. Thief of Thieves
  33. Morning Glories
  34. Goliath
  35. Love & Rockets: New Stories
  36. Jennifer Blood
  37. Blade of The Immortal
  38. The Self-Published Comics of Michel Fiffe
  39. Lose
  40. Mind MGMT
  41. Conan The Barbarian
  42. Little White Duck
  43. Wizzywig
  44. A Game For Swallows
  45. The Punisher & Punisher War Zone
  46. Journey Into Mystery
  47. Empowered
  48. Sweet Tooth
  49. Prince of Cats
  50. Fables
  51. Are You My Mother?
  52. The Nao of Brown
  53. Scalped
  54. The Hypo
  55. Glory
  56. A Wrinkle In Time: The Graphic Novel
  57. Alabaster: Wolves
  58. The Sixth Gun
  59. The Silence of Our Friends
  60. Jerusalem: Chronicles from the Holy City
  61. Dorohedoro
  62. 20th Century Boys
  63. Venom: Circle of Four
  64. Aesop's Ark
  65. Wasteland
  66. Casanova: Avarita
  67. The Walking Dead
  68. Hellboy In Hell
  69. Shooters
  70. New Crusaders
  71. Friends With Boys
  72. Nurse Nurse
  73. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 9
  74. FF
  75. Crogan's Loyalty
  76. NonNonBa
  77. Wolverine & The X-Men
  78. Adventure Time
  79. Baby's In Black
  80. Godzilla: Half Century War
  81. Tales Designed To Thrizzle
  82. The Infinite Wait & Other Stories
  83. The Secret History of D.B. Cooper
  84. Dancer
  85. Irredeemable & Incorruptible
  86. Harbinger
  87. Dotter of Her Fathers Eyes
  88. Rohan at the Louvre
  89. Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
  90. RASL
  91. Aquaman
  92. The Shark King
  93. Hell Yeah
  94. Richie Rich GEMS
  95. iZombie
  96. The Shade
  97. Drama
  98. Lookouts
  99. My Friend Dahmer
  100. The Tick