50 Best Comics of the Decade (2010-2015) Thus Far: Part 6 (#25-16)

Kadokawa Shoten / Viz Media

25. Neon Genesis Evangelion (Kadokawa Shoten/Viz Media, 2010-2014, Volumes 12-14)

Writer and Illustrator - Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

Shortly after Hideaki Anno conceived the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime in 1993, he met with comics creator Yoshiyuki Sadamoto and together they collaborated on a manga adaptation that was set to premiere shortly before the anime to help boost interest in the television series. While the 26-episode series aired in entirety over just six months, the manga - which retold the same story, more or less - ran for nearly 20 years, not completing its run in Japan until 2013 (with Viz publishing the final volume in 2014). Being a mostly faithful adaptation of the greatest anime series of all time pretty much guarantees the manga to be solid as well, but what makes it so valuable to the Evangelion diehards is the little differences that set the manga's version apart. Sadamoto makes this story his own, consistently evoking different moods than Anno, and filling in interesting sections of narrative that the anime left vague. Many Evangelion fans likely view the manga as just supplementary material, but even so, it's a story so incredible that it works nearly as well in comics as it does in anime.

Boom! Studios

24. Adventure Time (kaBoom!, 2012-2015)
Writer - Ryan North
Illustrators - Shelli Paroline, Braden Lamb, Mike Holmes, Jim Rugg
Colourists - Lisa Moore, Studio Parlapa, Chris O'Neill, Whitney Cogar
Letterers - Steve Wands

Boom Studios! sure knows how to cash in on a hot property, publishing many different Adventure Time comics over the last three and a half years (most of them very good), but it's the one that started them all that probably remains the best. Ryan North didn't tell stories that would have made great television episodes, he told stories that could only be told in the comics medium. He toyed with his medium just as well as the TV series does, and just as episodes like "Shh!" and "Food Chain" are experimental of animation and moving pictures and can only be told in their respective medium, the same can be said of "Choose Your Own Adventure Time!", "Adventure Me", and the visually inventive issues #15 and #25, which push the conventions of comics construction so far they become intertwined with their medium. Few mainstream comics writers are as gleefully meta in their writing as Ryan North, who can consistently write jokes and craft stories around the mechanics of comics, while honouring the spirit of what has made Adventure Time such a television hit.

(The series continues running today with a new writer. I haven't yet read any of the series made after Ryan North's departure.)

Dark Horse

23. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 10 (Dark Horse, 2014-2015)

Writers - Christos Gage, Nicholas Brendon
Illustrators - Rebekah Isaacs, Richard Corben, Karl Moline, Cliff Richards, Megan Levens
Colourists - Dan Jackson, Beth Corben Reed
Letterers - Richard Starkings, Jimmy Betancourt
Inker - Andy Owens

Back in April I wrote a Comics Communion entry devoted entirely to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 10 and why it not only a top-tier Buffy comic, but an excellent comic overall. 5 issues later, and I stand by everything I wrote there. Now in its second half, Season 10 is as exciting as ever.

Marvel

22. Moon Knight (Marvel, 2014-2015)

Writers - Warren Ellis, Brian Wood, Cullen Bunn
Illustrators - Declan Shalvey, Greg Smallwood, Ron Ackins
Colourists - Jordie Bellaire, Dan Brown
Inker - Tom Palmer
Letterers - Chris Eliopoulos, Travis Lanham

Prior to the launch of launch of Moon Knight on March 2014, I had never read any of the character's previous comics, had only caught glimpses of him in various Events without paying him any mind, and knew nothing about him. Today he is one of my favourite Marvel heroes, and I have this series for thank; he's even a character I've even been motivated to collect in back-issues in my spare time (I've currently collected one-third of his 1980-1984 series, his entire 6 issues miniseries from 1985 and two-thirds of his 1989-1994 series). With the help of Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire, Moon Knight captured my imagination; with its minimalist storytelling, sublime illustrations and wizardly colours, it knocked me out month after month with its episodic adventures. And I'll go against the grain and say that Brian Wood/Greg Smallwood/Jordie Bellaire and Cullen Bunn/Ron Ackins/Tom Palmer/Dan Brown runs are also great. If you dropped Moon Knight after #6, you're missing out.

Valiant

21. X-O Manowar (Valiant, 2012-2015)

Writer - Robert Venditti
Illustrators - Cary Nord, Lee Garbett, Trevor Hairsine, J.G. Jones, Diego Bernard, Rafa Sandoval
Colourists - Moose Baumann, Brian Reber, Ulises Arreola, Matt Hollingsworth, Romulo Fajardo, Wil Quintana, David Garcia Cruz
Inkers - Stefano Gaudiano, Alejandro Sicat, Allison Rodrigues, Jordi Tarragona, Ryan Winn
Letterers - Dave Lanphear, Dave Sharpe

In fifth-century Europe, Aric of Dacia is a Visigoth warrior engaged in combat against the Roman Empire.  A man forged into being through violence, fighting is all Aric has known. His threat becomes all more frightening when he and the rest of the Visigoths are kidnapped by an alien race called The Vine. After being slaves for the Vine for several years, Aric stages a revolt, overthrows the aliens, and gets the ship to take them back to Earth, while in the process stealing a highly advanced piece of alien armor that has chosen Aric as its owner. Unfortunately for him, 1600 centuries have passed during his time spent in space, and Aric, now the X-O Manowar, is more lost and alone than he's ever been, his attempts at fitting back into the world a constant struggle. X-O Manowar is probably this decade's greatest ongoing action comic, with superbly choreographed and illustrated battle sequences in every story arc; with its deep emotional core dictating Aric's decisions at every turn, X-O Manowar's battles are never trivial; always fought with a heavy heart. The flagship title of Valiant Entertainment, X-O Manowar is their only comic to have surpassed 25 issues, and will be hitting its #50 milestone in 2016.

Marvel

20. She-Hulk (Marvel, 2014-2015)

Writer - Charles Soule
Illustrators - Javier Pulido, Ronald Wimberly
Colourists - Muntsa Vincente, Rico Renzi
Letterer - Clayton Cowles

She-Hulk was too good for this world. That Marvel initially brought on Charles Soule to write a 12-issue series based on the female superhero isn't surprising, what it is surprising that the massive acclaim this comic earned didn't convince Marvel to renew its life span. Real-life lawyer Soule puts a greater emphasis on the occupational side of Jennifer Walters' life than typically seen in her comics, filling his court room scenes with accurate terminology and appropriate wordiness, but avoids  alienating the reader and makes it just accessible enough. Like many of Marvel's female solo series of recent years, She-Hulk has a lighter, humorous tone than typical for a Marvel series, and Pulido's drawings and Vincente's colours help make it a stylistic marvel; a series both simplistically pleasurable and with an innovative graphical design sensibility. She-Hulk was an all-ages delight and made a perfect entry point into the greater Marvel universe for inexperienced readers Again, Marvel: where is our All-New All-Different She-Hulk?

Valiant

19. Divinity (Valiant, 2015)

Writer - Matt Kindt
Illustrator - Trevor Hairsine
Inker - Ryan Winn
Colourist - David Baron
Letterer - Dave Lanphear

Valiant Entertainment has achieved a great deal of success reinventing their characters from the 1990s into the modern day comic scene, and have done such a phenomenal job at making the former '90s relics feel so modern and relevant that it can be easy to avoid the obvious question, when will they create a brand new major hero? With Divinity, they did just that, and it's one of the most emotionally driven and genuinely surprising story arcs that Valiant has told in the last four years. At a mere four issues it is packed with pathos and philosophy; a meditative science fiction tale that pushes forward the Valiant universe in a genuine way.  I don't even want to give away any of the story, because it's a large treasure to see unfold. Divinity is going to be a major player in this company and universe's future, but they're smart enough to not over-utilize him, making us wait until April 2016 for Divinity II, an entire year after the first series closed.

Marvel

18. Hawkeye (Marvel, 2012-2015)

Writer - Matt Fraction
Illustrators - David Aja, Javier Pulido, Steve Lieber, Jesse Hamm, Annie Wu, Francesco Francavilla, Chris Eliopoulos
Colourists - Matt Hollingsworth, Jordie Bellaire
Letterers - Chris Eliopoulos, Clayton Cowles

Though riddled with long delays between issues in the final stretch, Fraction/Aja's Hawkeye fanbase remained faithful and grateful to the end, in what is already being canonized as the definitive Hawkeye comic and one of the greatest superhero comics that focuses more on a hero's downtime. Its oh so many think pieces can better describe just what makes this such a special comic, and one that has influenced a crop of lighter-in-tone and visually-bright-and-exuberant comics from Marvel these last few years, including She-Hulk, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and Howard the Duck.

Valiant

17. Archer & Armstrong (Valiant, 2012-2014)

Writer - Fred Van Lente
Illustrators - Clayton Henry, Emanuela Lupacchin, Pere Pérez, Khari Evans
Colourists - Matt Milla, David Baron
Letterers - Dave Lanphear, Simon Bowland, Dave Sharpe
Inkers - Pere Pérez, Guillermo Ortego

At this month's New York Comic Con Valiant announced the return of Archer and Armstrong, in an ongoing series titled A&A, which is to debut March 2016. I'm feverishly anticipating the return of the oddball duo, who have not been together since the end of 2014, making their only major 2015 appearances in a solo capacity (Archer in Dead Drop and Armstrong in Ivar, Timewalker). While Quantum and Woody is the most purely comical of Valiant's titles/characters, Archer & Armstrong scores big for being arguably the weirdest of Valiant's ongoing titles (while also being really, really funny). Its central premise is almost too bizarre to work; an 18 year old assassin raised by a fanatical cult family and given a sheltered existence away from the real world is set out to target and kill a party animal and alcohol loving immortal. Upon discovering they're both pawns in some wild conspiracy, the two become unlikely friends and travel together, on the run for their lives while also unearthing a series of convoluted mysteries. It's strange to me that Archer & Armstrong existed in the 1990s under the original Valiant, because this is so perfectly suited to Fred Van Lente's sensibilities I'd swear he invented the characters himself.

Image

16. Pretty Deadly (Image, 2013-2014)

Writer - Kelly Sue DeConnick
Illustrator - Emma Ríos
Colourist - Jordie Bellaire
Letterer - Clayton Cowles

I previously wrote about Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios' Pretty Deadly for PopOptiq shortly after the completion of its first series. The much anticipated second volume launches next month.