2010 is officially in the collective rearview of the comics industry (and, you know, the whole world), but before we here at CBR shift all our attention to what's to come in 2011, we wanted to offer readers one last look at some of the best comics published over the last 12 months with a compilation of our Top 100 Comics of 2010.
"This is the most diverse list of winners we've ever had on CBR, with 35 different publishers represented," site executive producer Jonah Weiland said. "We're very happy to shine our spotlight on a wide swath of genres and styles the comics industry offers, from the standard bearers of the superhero and genre mainstream to the masters of literary comics, from the cutting edge of the indie world through the forward-looking webcomics community."
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 controbutors Chris Arrant, Alex Dueben, Shaun Manning, Jeffrey Renaud, Dave Richards, Steve Sunu, George Tramountanas and Brian Warmoth; CBR Columnist Timothy Callahan; CBR Reviewers Benjamin Birdie, Greg Hatcher, James Hunt, Ryan Lindsay, Greg McElhatton, Chad Nevett and Doug Zawisza; Comics Should Be Good bloggers Greg Burgas, Brian Cronin (Sorry I spelled your name wrong the other day, guy!), Sonia Harris and Kelly Thompson; Robot 6 bloggers Brigid Alverson, Sean T. Collins, Chris Mautner, Michael May, Tim O'Shea and JK Parkin; and last but never least, Spinoff Online and Robot 6 blogger Graeme McMillan.
In terms of hard numbers, DC Comics led all publishers with 20 books total, dominated by the Vertigo line with 12 entries clocking in from the mature readers imprint alone. Marvel Comics came in a close second with 15 total comics -- a whopping 13 of which came from the Marvel Universe line. Fantagraphics had a strong showing in third place with a total of 10 titles placing while taking the #4 position of total wins was the webcomics category with a surprising nine entries --including critical darlings "Achewood" and "Axe Cop" who both saw material collected in print by Dark Horse this year in addition to their online presence. Image Comics rounded out the top five publishers with six titles making the cut.
With so many different voices championing such a wide variety of comic books, graphic novels and webcomics, it's no wonder the competition was fierce, and many fan favorite titles may not have even made the list. We take that as evidence that more great comics are being made now than perhaps at any time in the medium's history and hope to continue to celebrate the diversity of comics through 2011 and beyond. Take a last look at the best comics of last year below, and sound off with your thoughts on the CBR Message Boards!
- Acme Novelty Library #20: Lint
- The Batman Comics of Grant Morrison
- Daytripper
- Parker: The Outfit
- Scalped
- King City
- Love & Rockets New Stories
- Thor: The Mighty Avenger
- American Vampire
- Wilson
- Morning Glories
- Return of The Dapper Men
- Chew
- Demo 2
- Brightest Day
- Duncan The Wonder Dog
- Beasts of Burden/Hellboy: Sacrifice
- The Walking Dead
- The Unwritten
- Stumptown
- Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour
- Hark! A Vagrant
- X'ed Out
- Scarlet
- S.W.O.R.D.
- Wally Gropius
- Uncanny X-Force
- Set To Sea
- Special Exits
- Fables
- The Sixth Gun
- Secret Avengers
- Market Day
- You'll Never Know: Collateral Damage
- PunisherMAX
- Weathercraft
- The Abominable Charles Christopher
- Irredeemable
- Sweet Tooth
- Blacksad
- The Unsinkable Walker Bean
- The Flash
- Two Cents Plain
- Hereville
- Make Me A Woman
- Solomon's Thieves
- BB Wolf and the 3 LP's
- Atlas
- Action Comics
- Orc Stain
- Ectopiary
- H Day
- Hellblazer
- Hawkeye and Mockingbird
- Power Girl
- DV8: Gods And Monsters
- Troop 142
- Joe The Barbarian
- Smile
- DeadpoolMAX
- Afrodisiac
- The Olympians Series
- Axe Cop
- The Boys
- Shadoweyes
- Mercury
- It Was A War Of The Trenches
- Strange Tales 2
- RASL
- Supergod
- Werewolves of Montpellier
- How To Understand Israel In 60 Days Or Less
- Little Nothings
- Taskmaster
- Freak Angels
- The Stuff of Legend
- Amazing Spider-Man
- Ultimate Spider-Man
- Avengers: The Children's Crusade
- Superman: Earth One
- Fantastic Four
- Guinea Pig, Pet Shop Private Eye 1: Hamster and Cheese
- Bug
- Usagi Yojimbo
- Thor
- Achewood
- Prison Pit Vol. 2
- Warlord of iO
- The Image Superhero Comics of Robert Kirkman
- Tom Strong And The Robots Of Doom
- Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam
- Saturn Apartments
- The Muppet Show Comic Book
- Spider-Girl
- Last Days of American Crime
- Drinking At The Movies
- Twin Spica
- Lola: A Ghost Story
- A Drunken Dream And Other Stories
- Big Questions