Your Favorite Things of the Year! (Est. 2017)

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

In previous years, this was a memory box so we didn't miss any good nominations for the Cappies. With the Cappies hypertimed away, that doesn't mean we have to discontinue these threads. I've always liked going back at the end of the year and seeing the books and stories and moments that people really champion -- including plenty of stuff that I've forgotten about come Christmastime. 

So have at it, Legionnaires! It's a bold new year! What in 2017 has knocked you out?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

We seem to have fallen out of the habit after the shutdown, but there are still some remarkable things being released on a weekly basis. For example, the latest EC collection spotlight the work of "Ghastly" graham Ingles.

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

As a friend of mine were talking about, I'm sure its only because he appears in Wonder Woman 1984, I've really enjoyed Maxwell Lord being in the Wonder Woman series. It has been great fun, and he has brought in much needed humor to the series. Plus, he is much more interesting than Steve Trevor.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

This looks interesting...

Read about the riveting stories of Black artists who drew, mostly behind the scenes, superhero, horror, and romance comics in the early years of the industry.

The life stories of each man's personal struggles and triumphs are represented as they broke through into a world formerly occupied only by white artists. Using primary source material from World War II-era Black newspapers and magazines, this compelling book profiles pioneers like E.C. Stoner, a descendant of one of George Washington's slaves. Stoner became a renowned fine artist of the Harlem Renaissance. Perhaps more fascinating is Owen Middleton who was sentenced to life in Sing Sing. Then there is Matt Baker, the most revered of the Black artists, whose exquisite art spotlights stunning women and men, and who drew the first groundbreaking Black comic book hero, Vooda!

Gorgeously illustrated with rare examples of each artist's work, including full stories from mainstream comic books to rare titles like All-Negro Comics and Negro Heroes, plus unpublished artist's photos and art. Invisible Men: The Trailblazing Black Artists of Comic Books features Ken Quattro's over 20 years of impeccable research and writing. The social and cultural environments that formed these extraordinary artists are deftly detailed by Quattro in this must-have book!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ETERNALS MONSTER-SIZE HARDCOVER

Experience the Eternals like never before in this super-sized edition! The limitless imagination of Jack "King" Kirby unleashed countless creations into the world of comics. Captain America. The Fantastic Four. The Avengers. The X-Men. Each timeless creation was imbued with Kirby's inescapable graphic power, his boundless capacity for capturing the human condition and his eternal search for meaning in the cosmos. And Kirby's The Eternals revealed an entire new realm of heroes! Once worshipped as gods, this fantastic group left Earth to explore the stars after warring with the Greek, Roman and Norse pantheons for supremacy over humankind. But the Eternals are just one part of a cosmic mythology. Their opposites - the Deviants - also secretly populate Earth. And the towering cosmic entities that created both - the Celestials - are fated to return and judge us all! Collecting ETERNALS (1976) #1-19 and ANNUAL #1.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

This is it! The very last volume. Gould's Dick Tracy is now available in its entirety in hardcover. Whereas this volume is not representative of his best work (if you've never read Dick Tracy before and thought you might like to give it a try, DON'T start here!), it holds a special place in my heart as being (more or less) the point at which I started. 

THE COMPLETE CHESTER GOULD DICK TRACY Vol. 29

After 46 years, 2 months, and 21 days writing and drawing Dick Tracy Chester Gould retired at the age of 77. In these historic final strips, Gould pits his dynamic detective against the latest in a long line of grotesque villains. Tracy, meanwhile, takes his law and order campaign to television, while his past catches up to him when a criminal he helped convict twenty years ago puts the detective on his "to kill" list. To round out this volume, the squad room is kept busy with two members of B.O. Plenty's extended family who are anything but law-abiding-Perfume Plenty and her larcenous cousin Dade. All this and more in the ultimate volume of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, collecting strips from March 15, 1976 to December 25, 1977.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

NORSE MYTHOLOGY Vol. 1:

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman was one of my favorite prose books of 2017. when it was adapted into comic book format by P. Craig Russell I bought the first issue as a sampler. Then I specifically did not buy any of the subsequent issues in anticipation of this collection.

And is it a coincidence that the third volume of Walt Simonson's Ragnarok will be released the same day? [Answer: Since they are released by different publishers, Yes.] 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Nice! I'll keep an eye out for that; that was a book that I was certain I'd want collected, so I didn't buy any of the individual issues. I didn't realize it'd be out tomorrow!

And Ragnarok volume 3 nearly wasn't out tomorrow. On a recent Word Balloon Drink n' Draw, Walt Simonson mentioned that he'd got word from IDW that the collection might be delayed: It was printed in China, and the container ship bringing Ragnarok (and lots of other things) over to the US hit a bad storm, and lost some of its cargo. Luckily, Ragnarok didn't hit the drink and made it here OK and on time.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"Comics and cultural superstar Alison Bechdel delivers a deeply layered story of her fascination, from childhood to adulthood, with every fitness craze to come down the pike: from Jack LaLanne in the 60s ("Outlandish jumpsuit! Cantaloupe-sized guns!") to the existential oddness of present-day spin class. Readers will see their athletic or semi-active pasts flash before their eyes through an ever-evolving panoply of running shoes, bicycles, skis, and sundry other gear. But the more Bechdel tries to improve herself, the more her self appears to be the thing in her way. The gifted artist and not-getting-any-younger exerciser comes to a soulful conclusion. The secret to superhuman strength lies not in six-pack abs, but in something much less clearly defined: facing her own non-transcendent but all-important interdependence with others."

Here's the NPR coverage (six minute listen).

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Oh, thanks for that -- I'll keep an eye out for it!

I'm not buying this book, but this upcoming Mike Del Mundo variant cover to X-Men 20 is an absolute classic.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Classic Comics Press is pleased to present the second volume of Frank Godwin's masterful comic strip Rusty Riley. This volume continues where Volume 1 left off, reprinting dailies of this almost forgotten American comic strip from November 20, 1949 to August 4, 1941 with an introduction by Zoran Djukanovic.

[Richard Willis]

Did you mean August 4, 1951?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

I copied that from Preview's online catalog so I guess they did.