50 Best Comics of the Decade (2010-2015) Thus Far: Part 5 (#30-26)

Marvel Comics

30. Journey into Mystery (Marvel, 2012-2013, #646-655)

Writer - Kathryn Immonen
Illustrators - Valerio Schiti, Pepe Larraz
Colourist - Jordie Bellaire
Letterer - Clayton Cowles

The Asgardian flagship title Journey into Mystery, the home of Thor and Loki comics for decades, switched gears towards the end of its long life and centered on Lady Sif, going by the title Journey into Mystery Featuring Sif. This was my introduction into the Asgardian corner of the Marvel universe, having read it before I read a single Thor comic. It immediately attracted me to the universe, and I've been reading all of the Thor/Loki/Sif/Angela comics since. Kathryn Immonen's Sif is an instantly likable protagonist, a good hearted warrior woman who, unlike Thor, doesn't fit in well in Midgard, and feels like an outsider to her surroundings. The comic is as much a straight and forward actioner as it is a meditation on Sif's struggle to understand humans. And speaking of actioner, WOW. This is an incredible looking comic, with some of the brightest most tonally appropriate colour palettes courtesy of Jordie Bellaire, and drawers Valerio Schiti and Pepe Larraz who contribute a clean, confident aesthetic, expertly paneled for images to flow into one another. This is a comic that unfortunately could not find an audience and was cancelled after 10 issues, but perhaps that had to do with a series start at #646. The comic would have likely had a better chance at survival had it been launched with a new #1 as its own book, Lady Sif. It's disappointing that two years later, Marvel still isn't ready to give Sif another chance at a solo comic.

Dark Horse Comics

29. Angel & Faith (Dark Horse, 2011-2013)
Writer - Christos Gage
Illustrators - Rebekah Isaacs (#1-4, 6-9, 11-14, 16-25), Phil Noto (#5), Chris Samnee (#10), David Lapham (#15), Lee Garbett (#15)
Colourist - Dan Jackson
Letterers - Jimmy Betancourt, Richard Starkings, Comicraft
Inkers - Rebekah Isaacs, Derek Fridolfs
Executive Producer - Joss Whedon

Yes, there's an arc centered around Willow and the team going to a hell dimension and yes there's another arc featuring Drusilla at a part time Big Bad, and yes there is a one-shot comedy starring Harmony, but for the most part, Angel & Faith is a focused singular narrative, and is maybe the most season-arc structured Buffy or Angel season. Two lost souls feeling more lost than ever, Angel and Faith find camaraderie in one another, both living in England and trying to find a means at resurrecting the recently dead Rupert Giles (more accurately, the grief-stricken Angel is trying to bring back Giles after killing him, and Faith intends to keep a close eye on him to prevent him from going too far). It's a tightly plotted story, and one of the most interesting character arcs Angel's been given in his near 20 years of existence. Gage and Isaacs are an all-star duo and have crafted the two most coherent seasons of Buffy and Angel under Dark Horse. There's only one more Buffyverse comics on this list, I promise.

DC Comics

28. Batwoman (DC, 2011-2013, #0-24)

Writers - J. H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman
Illustrators - J. H. Williams III (#0-5, 12-17), Amy Reeder, Trevor McCarthy, Francesco Francavilla
Colourists - Dave Stewart, Guy Major
Letterer - Todd Klein
Inkers - J. H. Williams III, Rob Hunter, Richard Friend, Sandu Florea, Derek Fridolfs

I followed every Bat-family comic of the New 52 with devotion throughout 2011-2013 (by 2014, my interest in DC waning, along with the happenings in Gotham, only Batgirl remaining a must-read, and that stopped once Gail Simone left). Batwoman was maybe my favourite of them all; Kate Kane my caped crusader. She had earlier stints in Grant Morrison's Bat comics and a brief starring role in a Detective Comics story arc which was published in trade as Batwoman: Elegy (which is basically Volume 0 to her New 52's opening story Volume 1), but this is her only solo comic. In the jump from Detective Comics to Batwoman, they lost Greg Rucka, but gained W. Haden Blackman, and retained the most important member of the team: J. H. Williams III. Everything has already been said about his artwork, and after his stints in this book and The Sandman: Overture, he'll go down as one of the medium's greatest illustrators. He breaks down what it means to plan, panel and put to pencil a page of comic. Constantly reinventing the art form and one-upping himself, his two-page spreads are the most elaborately dense, astonishingly beautiful and jaw droppingly creative in all of American comics in the 2010s. If there's one downside to this run on Batwoman, it's that Williams wasn't able to draw every issue of this comic. He probably didn't have the time; what he's doing probably stretches beyond the capabilities of monthly deadlines. The other artists who worked on this book are great, don't get me wrong, and actually do their very best at retaining the book house style that Williams laid down in the opening issues, but it's not the same.

I also love the range of stories this series told, its horror/ghost story aesthetic, and the intimacy of Kate Kane's personal and romantic life, and her loving relationship with Maggie Sawye, one of the best things DC had going on (but we all know what happened there...). This was the spookiest and most heart felt of the New 52 Bat-comics, with my favourite of Blackman and Williams' stories probably being "Hydrology" and the Wonder Woman team-up "World's Finest".

Marvel Comics

27. Thor: God of Thunder / Thor (Marvel, 2012-2015)

Thor: God of Thunder #1-25 (2012-2014)
Writer - Jason Aaron
Illustrators - Esad Ribic, Jackson Butch Guice, Nic Klein, Ron Garney, Emanuela Lupacchino, Das Pastoras, Agustin Alessio, R.M. Guera, Simon Bisley
Colourists - Dean White, Ive Svorcina, Lee Loughridge, Giulia Brusco
Letterer - Joe Sabino
Inker - Tom Palmer

Thor #1-8 (2014-2015)
Writer - Jason Aaron
Illustrators - Russell Dauterman, Jorge Molina
Colourist - Matthew Wilson
Letterer - Joe Sabino

Very soon after getting into Journey into Mystery Featuring Sif, a new Thor: God of Thunder launched, further cementing my fanhood with this universe and these characters. I didn't feel especially attached to the Thor character (not like I did Sif), but he's a serviceable foil for compelling fantasy fiction and action comics. "The God Butcher", the opening story arc, sets the formula, which grabbed me right away. Gorr, the titled God Butcher, is an immortal unstoppable killing machine, and the comic details Thor's battles against him throughout three periods of his life; the distant past, the present, and the distant future. Seeing how Jason Aaron juggled three timelines, and making me invested in each one, turned me into a fan for life of the writer, who is now doing even better work on the series.

I enjoy Thor: God of Thunder a lot, but it's the recent incarnation Thor that puts this comic on my list, and is to date my favourite Asgardian comic. I love this new Thor more than I ever did the original, and I actually think original Thor (now called Odinson) is more interesting in phase of his life than he was as a Thor. It's win-win for everyone. The smack-talking female Thor and an Unworthy axe-wielding male Thor. What more could you want?

Jason Aaron's story isn't over yet, as the third Thor series of his career will be relaunching this October, The Mighty Tour, which is one of my top 2 or 3 most anticipated comics of the Marvel relaunch.

Valiant Comics

26. Bloodshot Reborn (Valiant, 2015)

Writer - Jeff Lemire
Illustrator - Mico Suayan
Colourist - David Baron
Letterer - Dave Lanphear

The youngest comic my list, Bloodshot Reborn is not even four months old, only three issues under its belt. How is it so high up, you ask? Because this is already a major work, from a major writer, published by a major company. Valiant has struck gold with Jeff Lemire, who somehow turned the stoic and usually one-note Bloodshot into one of the most nuanced characters in the company's  history. One issue in I was calling this a Best-Comic-of-2015 candidate, and with each succeeding issue my love only grows stronger. In the aftermath of The Valiant, Bloodshot is human, powerless, no direction in life and mourning a recently deceased friend. A string of public shooting spree massacres pop up across America by random civilians who are partially inhabited by Bloodshot's former nanobites, and with the help of two imaginary friends (one of whom is a Looney Tunes-esque version of himself named Bloodsquirt), Bloodshot realizes that only he can control the nanobites and goes about returning them to his body. To do that, he has to murder all the murderers already nanobite infected, taking Bloodshot and friends on a country wide road trip of blood and bullets. Sounds weird, right? It certainly is, and Lemire pours all the comedy and drama out of this premise as possible. Mico Suayan's hyper realistic drawings capture the heart aching melancholy of Bloodshot's story. The detail in his lines is exhaustingly comprehensive. He is another artist I have no idea how is able to meet monthly deadlines, his images are consistently high quality, high detailed, each one an awe inspiring shot. A comic as funny as it is disturbing, as well as a reflection on real-life violence and how our media responds to it, Bloodshot Reborn is off to the greatest possible start, and if it maintains this level of excellence over its 20-to-30 issue run, might honestly become my #1 favourite comic of the entire decade.