Publishers Weekly is the first out of the gate with its best of 2012 lists, with Chris Ware's Building Stories (Pantheon), described as "unabashedly rooted in the pre-digital age," leading its overall Top 10. Ware also designed and lettered the magazine's cover (at right).

The six titles in the comics category are:

My Friend Dahmer, by Derf Backderf (Abrams Graphic Arts)

Are You My Mother?, by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

The Voyeurs, by Gabrielle Bell (Uncivilized Books)

Wizzywig, by Ed Piskor (Top Shelf)

Dotter of Her Father's Eyes, by Mary and Bryan Talbot (Dark Horse)

Two graphic novels also make an appearance on the children's fiction list: Hilda and the Midnight Giant, by Luke Pearson (Nobrow), and Drama, by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic/Graphix).

With PW breaking the ice, that means the best-of lists should begin arriving at a fast and furious pace.