In our final set of awards, we put on our Bastard Hats, set aside our Yuletide cheer, and dole out some much-deserved kickings to the comics that have caused us personal offence this year.

Every year has its peaks and troughs. After a few days of celebrating the highs, today we’re going to commiserate the lows. One thing we at Comics Daily have never done is be meek about our opinions. We rave about the good and relentlessly mock the bad, but we always try to be constructive at the same time. Let us never be accused of excessive negativity, though – after all, we think all our negativity is entirely proportional. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like it when comics fans rant about what they don’t like, stop reading now, and come back tomorrow when we’ll be spotlighting our “hopes for 2009″ in the final awards instalment. Everyone else, read on, and prepare to see us get particularly, er, constructive… (continue reading…)

This week, we’re handing out the First Annual Comics Daily awards – one per day – between Christmas and New Year. Each award has been written up by a member of the Comics Daily team after a consensus was reached, and highlights what we feel have been the best of superhero comics this year.

Best Moment : “We Just Don’t Like To Make A Fuss”, Captain Britain and MI:13

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There have been so many incidents in comics this year that, in theory, should stick in the memory. DC alone has delivered arguably the definitive Batman story, together with the culmination of a plan for their universe three years in the making. Over in the Marvel side, we’ve seen Brian Bendis bring to fruition his carefully seeded magnum opus, while Jeph Loeb has torn apart the company’s second continuity with glee. Although many of these limited series-based “name” events have disappointed many readers, its hard to think of a single franchise which hasn’t had its moment in the sun, from the five-hundredth issue of Uncanny X-Men to the long awaited arrival of James Robinson on Superman. Strangely enough, though, this category proved the easiest to choose, with myself, James and Seb’s decision quickly becoming unanimous. But what makes the resurrection of one of the most niche characters in comics such a punch-in-the-air triumph?

At the climax of the third issue of Captain Britain and MI13, we see the entire ethos of one of the most unusual books on the market. For all the solidity of the story, that’s not the focus here, with the response of the cast to a sheer force of nature stealing the scene. British patriotism is an almost-impossible concept to write, with the very idea of acknowledging pride in the country almost instantly destroying it. With one moment of self-deprecation, however, Cornell succeeds spectacularly. Leonard Kirk also rises to the occasion, nailing Braddock’s new look so perfectly that the reader doesn’t initially realise that there’s been a redesign. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect combination of plot, mood and characterisation.

Runners Up: “And was that fear in his eyes?” [Batman #681, Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel]; “This is the one… this is going to change everything” [All-Star Superman #10, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely]; The “Machine-Signal” [Ex Machina #34, Brian K Vaughan and Tony Harris]; “Disappointed, Ms Frost?” “Astonished, Ms Pryde” [Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1, Joss Whedon and John Cassaday]; “What if I just killed everyone first?” [Doktor Sleepless #8, Warren Ellis and Ivan Rodriguez]

This week, we’re handing out the First Annual Comics Daily awards – one per day – between Christmas and New Year. Each award has been written up by a member of the Comics Daily team after a consensus was reached, and highlights what we feel have been the best of superhero comics this year.

Best Single Issue: All-Star Superman #10

At a time when the comics industry is forever padding out weak story ideas into meandering 6-issue arcs, Morrison and Quitely’s All-Star Superman has been an absolute beacon of hope for the single-issue format. Never was this more true than in All-Star Superman #10, which didn’t just provide a perfect single-issue story, it did so while nailing not only the character of Superman, but both the medium of comics and the very concept of Superheroes at the same time. That’s an achievement worth recognising.

The issue itself sees a dying Superman using his accelerated powers to create an Earth on which he never existed. The climax is a fourth-wall-bending piece of meta-fiction so powerful that it bypasses normal comprehension and gets you right in your heart, as in a 1930s Cleveland apartment, an artist’s hand draws… Superman. As if to make it even more poignant, the issue was released in virtually the same week that the rights to the character were jointly awarded to the estate of his original creators, partially righting one of the biggest wrongs in comics history.

All-Star Superman #10 is a virtual essay on the role of superheroes in our society’s collective imagination, and at the same time shows just how much can be done with little more than a few well-placed speech bubbles and pencil drawings. It’s the jewel in the crown of All-Star Superman, which itself signals nothing less than the end of the Watchmen-inspired era of deconstructive Superhero stories. With this issue specifically, Morrison and Quitely have defined the idea of “reconstructive” Superhero comics, and if there’s any justice or sense in the industry, it’s influence will extend years beyond its publication.

Runners Up: Batman #681, Captain Britain #4, New Avengers #48, Blue Beetle #23, Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1, Local #12.

This week, we’re handing out the First Annual Comics Daily awards – one per day – between Christmas and New Year. Each award has been written up by a member of the Comics Daily team after a consensus was reached, and highlights what we feel have been the best of superhero comics this year.

Best Artist : Jamie McKelvie

Though 2006 saw him explode onto the scene with Phonogram, and 2007 saw the launch of his own miniseries Suburban Glamour, we reckon 2008 is the year that McKelvie became a bona fide comics star.

Now, just to head off any accusations of nepotism – Jamie would be getting this award whether we were friends with him or not. In fact, to tell you the truth, we’re only really friends with him because we like his art. It’s not like we actually like him or anything. So we have legitimate comics-based reasons for declaring him our artist of the year, even if it means heading off the likes of Frank Quitely (magnificent, of course, but also far from prolific – and besides, we’ve got him mentioned in a later category).

It kicked off with the closing couple of issues of Sub Glam, in which the progression in his style and storytelling ability was clear. The move to colour worked wonders, and in those two issues there were some truly beautiful, expansive images (click the thumbnail above if you haven’t read the series, and get ready to pick up your jaw). Moving out of the familiar environment of Image, meanwhile, saw a surprise appointment in the spring by Marvel to draw a short Matt Fraction-penned story in the X-Men : Divided We Stand mini. Again, bias aside, it happened to be the best part of the issue – as strange as it was to see his work inked and coloured in the “house” Marvel style, and although it wasn’t really a full-on superhero action tale, it was nevertheless an environment in which he was immediately comfortable, and we await his upcoming stint on Cable with great interest.

The real capstone to the year, though, was the opening issue of Phonogram : The Singles Club. Compared with how much there was to say about Gillen’s writing, we didn’t talk a huge amount in our review about the artwork – but it really is a stunning piece of work, showing an increased level of flair and confidence, and some absolutely top-notch character design and expression. One thing that can’t be understated is his ability to perfectly craft an accurate atmosphere – using just the right amount of background detail (without ever overloading it – much like his sparing use of linework, in fact) allied to an almost obsessive eye for the styles, fashions, haunts and faces of Young People Today.

His comics are easily among the most instantly, classically aesthetically pleasing on the racks (second only to Quitely in my book, although the emergence of Mario Alberti might just be a challenger), and we eagerly wait to see where his talent will take him next. Upwards, surely.

Runners Up : John Romita Jr (Kick Ass, Amazing Spider-Man), Marcos Martin (Amazing Spider-Man), Mike Choi (X-Force), Frank Quitely (All-Star Superman), Mario Alberti (X-Men/Spider-Man)

This week, we’re handing out the First Annual Comics Daily awards – one per day – between Christmas and New Year. Each award has been written up by a member of the Comics Daily team after a consensus was reached, and highlights what we feel have been the best of superhero comics this year.

Best Writer : Warren Ellis

Only two years ago, Warren Ellis was publicly contemplating retirement from comics – the medium as a whole is richer for his change of heart. The lynchpin of the writer’s year has been the launch of his Astonishing X-Men run, which has become arguably the most successful superhero book on the market. While maintaining Joss Whedon’s character driven approach, Ellis has delivered a much-needed injection of sci-fi concepts and dramatically improved the pacing, ensuring that each issue is a satisfying read in its own right. This one book alone would place Ellis as a strong contender for writer of the year, but it’s not even half of his contribution to Marvel during 2008. His Ultimate Human miniseries has easily been the highlight of the line this year; a world removed from the failures in its sister series. The conclusion of his Thunderbolts run further cemented his mastery of all types of team books, effortlessly ratcheting the pressure-cooker atmosphere towards an explosive climax. The outcome of Secret Invasion has made clear that Ellis’s working of Norman Osborn could turn out to be Marvel’s most significant character makeover since Emma Frost.

It’s not to pigeonhole the author in one particular genre, however. Unbelievably, you could consume nothing but Ellis this year and still have a balanced diet. While establishing himself as Marvel’s intellectual powerhouse, the writer has still maintained his relationship with independent publisher Avatar, launching No Hero and taking his Doktor Sleepless ongoing title from strength to strength. The latter has allowed the writer to maintain the freedom to explore his own idiosyncratic interests, perfectly balancing his more mainstream work. Not quite everything the writer has touched this year has turned to gold; his attempt at a Mrs Peel-vibe in Anna Mercury fell a little too close to softcore pornography, and the relaunch of his newuniversal property stumbled after only two issues. For sheer volume of quality, however, no other writer can complete.

Runners Up: Matt Fraction (Casanova, Invincible Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men), Ed Brubaker (Captain America, Criminal), Paul Cornell (Captain Britain and MI:13, Fantastic Four : True Story), Andy Diggle (Hellblazer, Thunderbolts), Grant Morrison (All-Star Superman, Batman, Final Crisis)

This week, we’re handing out the First Annual Comics Daily awards – one per day – between Christmas and New Year. Each award has been written up by a member of the Comics Daily team after a consensus was reached, and highlights what we feel have been the best of superhero comics this year.

Best Miniseries : Kick-Ass

My momma always said that that Mark Millar is like a box of chocolates : you never know what you’re gonna get. For every Ultimates there’s a Marvel Knights Spidey; every Red Son a Civil War; every Authority a Wanted (sorry, I’m just not a fan). So with the announcement of a creator-owned, ultra-violent “real world” superhero miniseries, and one of the most self-aggrandising promotional pushes yet seen in modern day comics, it looked a little more likely that we’d see Bad!Millar at the helm rather than Good!Millar.

Thankfully, we were proven wrong. Kick-Ass may be incredibly pleased with itself (and it’s just plain bizarre that the movie version is already being shot before the series has finished – particularly when Nic Cage was announced as being cast as a character who at that point hadn’t even appeared), but at least it kind of has justification for being so. It’s deeply “of its time”, of course – stuff like the use of Youtube works brilliantly, though some references such as to Whedon’s X-Men grate a little in their unsubtlety – and one suspects that this may prevent it from becoming a timeless classic; but the world that Millar and Romita put on the page felt very firmly like our world, today. That first issue did a wonderful job of showing the realistic effect of someone deciding to go out and become a hero (in addition to delivering one of the lines of the year with “How come people want to be Paris Hilton, but nobody wants to be Spider-Man?”), and it’s only a shame that it hasn’t been followed up on in subsequent issues. The ultra-violence and downright ludicrousness has still made for a fun read, but one that requires far more suspension of disbelief than initially seemed to be the case.

Helping the book stand out was (well, is) an absolutely stellar artistic turn from John Romita Jr. I don’t recall ever seeing work from him that I didn’t like, but even with that in mind, this ranks among some of the best art he’s ever turned in. Gleefully cutting loose on the violence as only a truly great action-artist can, he also dealt – almost more impressively – with the longer swathes of setting-up and non-action content in the first couple of issues. It’s assured, clear, and at times bloody gorgeous-looking – everything you’d expect from the great man, in other words.

Now, it’s not like Kick-Ass is mind-blowingly, awe-inspiringly brilliant, or anything. 2008, in truth, hasn’t been a particularly amazing year for miniseries (particularly if you’re strict with the definition and discount All-Star Superman, while I’m behind on Casanova and have yet to read volume two, so that’s out) – some quite decent ones have shown up, each with plenty to recommend them without being absolute “everyone interested in comics must read this” affairs. Kick-Ass gets the nod, then, for being a supremely confident and very well put-together series, for managing to be entertaining while also being pretty appalling (in terms of the brutal violence and the downright punchability of its lead character), and for the novel ways in which Millar has sought to involve online fandom in the promotion of the book. And definitely not because James’ review for That Other Site was quoted on the back of issue four. Nope.

Runners-up : 1985, Suburban Glamour, Magneto : Testament, Ultimate Human