We’re continuing our ten-year celebration of borg today with our favorite comic books. If you missed them, check out our Top 40 movies here and our Top 40 TV series here.
We reviewed thousands of books and comics that we recommended to our readers since June 2011, and some even made it onto our favorites shelf. We don’t publish reviews of comic books that we read and don’t recommend, so this shortlist reflects 21 comics and creators we view as the Best of the Best.
So let’s get going!
We’re continuing our ten-year celebration of borg today with our favorite genre books. If you missed them, check out our Top 40 movies here and our Top 40 TV series here.
We reviewed thousands of books and comics that we recommended to our readers since June 2011, and some even made it onto our favorites shelf. We don’t publish reviews of books that we read and don’t recommend, so this shortlist reflects only 23 of the Best of the Best books and book series reviewed from June 2011 to June 2021.
So let’s get going!
Ten years! That’s ten years reviewing TV series in the decade that streaming services began to dominate TV viewing– and binge-watching was born as Netflix began releasing entire seasons at once in 2013. How do you pick the best series? As with yesterday’s list of movie recommendations, our theory from the very first day of publishing borg has been reviewing only those things we like, things we think are fun, imaginative, or just plain cool—because if we think they’re cool, maybe you will, too. What makes a great TV series? Great writing—great storytelling. Also we looked to difficulty level and technology innovation—TV productions tend to get a fraction of the budget of big-screen features, so what they do with their time and money is critical, and some television series in the past decade were all-out feats. The third factor we looked to is re-watchability—we’ll be watching the best series for years to come. The big difference between ranking movies and TV is the change between seasons, that force that inevitably causes most shows to decline with each season. So consistency is a factor. Finally, as with movies the most important factor is the fun—why would you devote so many hours of your valuable time if you’re not going to have a great time?
One more thing: Ten years is a long time so we narrowed the series we’re including to those recommendations that fall primarily within the ten-year window. We covered several fantastic, re-watchable series that cemented their status in reruns or syndication, many beginning before borg began publishing and finishing in the years after, including Burn Notice, White Collar, Warehouse 13, Leverage, House, MD, In Plain Sight, and three landmarks among the best pop culture-packed series of all time, Chuck, Psych, and Community. We were disappointed that some of the best series were canceled and left to only a single season, otherwise they may have gone on to fare better against our top recommendations, shows like Jason Isaacs’ psychological police procedural Awake, Sarah Shahi’s all-for-fun Fairly Legal, Lauren Cohan’s action/spy series Whiskey Cavalier, the Doctor Who spin-off Class, the adaptation of Max Allan Collins’ popular noir novel series Quarry, the slick animated series Tron: Uprising, and the cyborg future-world Almost Human starring Karl Urban, to name a few.
So here are the Top 40 series we recommend, spanning 2011 to 2021. These are our favorites. How should you use lists like this? If you like what we talk about at borg, you’re probably going to like these shows. If you’ve missed any, odds are you have some new series to take a look at. Let’s start at #40 and move our way to #1. As with everything borg, we’re stressing genre series. Title links are to one of our previous borg reviews.
Let’s get started!
This week borg wraps its first decade of daily publishing. We’ve published every day since June 10, 2011, with more than 4,000 updates, locating the next big thing we think you’ll want to check out in movies, TV, books, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, action, thrillers, crime noir, popular art, superheroes, retro fixes… if it looks good to us, we let you know.
Personally, I can’t believe it’s been ten years since deciding to see if I could publish a webzine daily with the goal of providing new content at least once per day (which ended up sometimes as several per day as in the convention season) every day for 10 years–the goal from the very first weeks. Thanks to Elizabeth, Art, JAB, and my canine and feline staff for sticking with me every day, and you readers, especially those who were here from the very start. It seems like only yesterday we were sitting in a Borders Books (which, alas, doesn’t exist anymore) going through cups of Seattle’s Best, strategizing an approach.
Today borg turns nine. We’ve published every day since June 10, 2011, with 3,437 updates, locating the next big thing we think you’ll want to check out in movies, TV, books, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, action, thrillers, crime noir, popular art, superheroes, retro fixes… if it looks good to us, we let you know. The past three months have been rough on everyone. What was the best part for us from the past year? Reading and reviewing more great books than ever before, watching and reviewing TV shows and movies from a year with a wider variety than ever before, and meeting other fans, celebrities, and creators at events throughout the year on the convention circuit. Our borg Hall of Fame keeps growing thanks to inspirational futurists who continue to write and design for us. We anxiously search for each new potential honoree for our kick-ass women in film and TV, revealed each year in December, and look forward to assembling our annual best of the year lists.
So what is coming in Year 10? As we claw our way through the new normal preview of dystopia to our tenth anniversary we’ll continue attacking this new stack of books and comics, continue the daily coverage of the best entertainment at the movies, on TV, in print, or in whatever form it’s available, and… we’ll also begin to take a look back. What was the very best of the past decade? What TV series, movies, books, games, reboots, pop culture, and surprise finds did we like that stuck with us–the new classics that we’ve returned to over and over? Over the next year we’re going to figure that out.
You never know what’s coming, and how much your life can change in a decade. Or a year. Or a month. Or a week. Or a day. COVID-19 stole from us a summer of movies (check out all that still haven’t been released yet here in our annual list of 2020 movies), delayed book releases, and all but ensured a weak volley of TV shows this coming Fall. But all the good stuff is just stacking up, ready to get piled back on us any day now. If you want to see more of anything, let us know in the comments or drop us an email.
Thank you for reading. A special thanks to our friends, family, Elite Comics, and all of you who subscribe to borg via email updates or via social media outlets. Running borg is all about having fun and sharing the good stuff. Your positive feedback fuels us onward in a time when ad returns are dropping and search engines constantly favor big corporation Internet traffic. Thanks to all the comic book publishers out there that continue to provide us with previews and review copies, as well as non-fiction and fiction book publishers, TV and movie studios, and gaming and collectible companies that allow us to give you the first look at what’s coming next. Stay safe and keep hanging in there.
Onward and upward!
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
Today borg turns eight. We’ve published every day since June 10, 2011, with 3,065 updates, locating the next big thing we think you’ll want to check out in movies, TV, books, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, action, thrillers, crime noir, popular art, superheroes, retro fixes… if it looks good we let you know.
What was the best part for us from the past year? Reading and reviewing more great books than ever before, and watching and reviewing TV shows and movies from a year with a wider variety than ever before. Meeting other fans, celebrities, and creators at events throughout the year on the convention circuit. Our borg Hall of Fame continues to grow thanks to creative writers, artists, and designers. We anxiously search for each new potential honoree for our kick-ass women in film and TV, revealed each year in December, and constantly drive forward to our annual best of the year lists.
So what is coming in Year 9? We’ll start by attacking this new stack of books and comics. We’ll continue the daily coverage of the best entertainment at the movies, on TV, in print, or in whatever form it’s available. That includes big movies coming in the remainder of 2019 (don’t forget to keep up with our annual movie list here and keep an eye out for our periodic Trailer Park updates of what is coming next). We rarely agree with Rotten Tomatoes and mainstream critics, so if you want a different view from a fellow pop culture fan, you’re in the right place. We’ve just added a new advanced search engine in the right column, and you can scroll down to the bottom of the home page to find a full archive of the site and the day’s top read articles. If you want to see more of anything, let us know in the comments or drop us an email. On a personal note, borg writer Elizabeth C. Bunce is also award-winning author Elizabeth C. Bunce, and I hope you all read her new mystery series coming next spring. Set in Victorian England, it follows a girl detective and her irascible neighbor cat, beginning with the first volume, Premeditated Myrtle. I’ve read the first two books in the series and think you’re going to be blown away. More to come on that later this year!
Thank you for reading. A special thanks to all of you who subscribe to borg via email updates or via social media outlets. Running borg is all about having fun and sharing the good stuff. Your positive feedback fuels us onward in a time when ad returns are dropping and search engines constantly favor big corporation Internet traffic. Thanks to all the comic book publishers out there that continue to provide us with previews and review copies, as well as non-fiction and fiction book publishers, TV and movie studios, and gaming and collectible companies that allow us to give you the first look at what’s coming next.
Finally, thanks to my family, my friends, especially my partner in all things Elizabeth C. Bunce, my pals Art Schmidt, William Binderup, Elite Comics, and the Elite Flight Crew for their friendship, and my intrepid feline support team.
Onward and upward!
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg
Yesterday borg.com turned (lucky!) seven. That means we’ve published 2,555 days straight, every single day, locating the next big thing you probably want to check out in movies, TV, books, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, action, thrillers, crime noir, popular art, superheroes, retro fixes… and all things borg.
What was the best part for us from the past year? Reading and reviewing more great books than ever before, and watching and reviewing more fun movies, too. The availability of excellent television programming is at an all-time high–the days of 500 channels and nothing to watch are gone. And interviewing writer/director Nicholas Meyer here last year was a sci-fi fan’s dream come true. Our borg.com Hall of Fame continues to grow, and we anxiously search for each new potential honoree for our kick-ass women in film and TV, revealed each year in December.
So what is coming in Year 8? We’ll start by attacking this new stack of books and comics. We’ll keep previewing movies in advance of release when possible. We’ll continue the daily coverage of what seems to be the most interesting content around at the movies, on TV, in print, or in whatever form we find it.
Thank you for reading. A special thanks to all of you who subscribe to borg.com via email updates or via social media outlets. It’s tremendous fun (and we put a lot of hours in) keeping up on the best genre entertainment out there, and your positive feedback fuels us to continue on. Thanks to all the comic book publishers out there that provide us with previews and review copies, as well as non-fiction and fiction book publishers, TV and movie studios, and gaming and collectible companies that allow us to give you the first look at what’s coming next.
And thanks to my family, my friends, especially my partner in all things Elizabeth C. Bunce, my pals Art Schmidt, William Binderup, Elite Comics, and the Elite Flight Crew, all for their ongoing friendship and support.
Onward and upward!
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
Six years have gone by already? How did that happen?
It seems like it was only yesterday I was writing our five-year celebratory email. I won’t go through highlights of all the fun we’ve had again right now, but check out my rundown here from last year to revisit some of our past highlights.
So what shall we do this coming year? We’re planning to continue the daily coverage of what seems to be the most interesting content around, entertainment, sci-fi, fantasy, action, thrillers, at the movies, on TV, in print, or in whatever form it’s in. Thanks to you for reading. It’s a lot of fun (and hard work) keeping up on all the great genre entertainment out there. I also want to thank all the comic book publishers out there that provide us with previews and review copies, as well as book publishers and TV and movie studios and collectible companies that allow us to give you the first look at what’s coming next.
Thanks to my family, my friends, especially my partner in crime Elizabeth C. Bunce, Art Schmidt and Jason McClain, my support team, and William Binderup at Elite Comics and the Elite Flight Crew.
Onward and upward!
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
Masters of the Universe. Red Dwarf. Mortal Kombat. And we revisit Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek.
Let’s start this year’s borg.com Hall of Fame ceremony by talking a little about who is NOT in the Hall of Fame who might come close if borgs were more loosely defined. We still haven’t included the non-organic: like automatons, androids, or robots. Think Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation before he met the queen in Star Trek: First Contact–despite his perfectly life-like appearance. For the bulk of the series Data was always an android, not a cyborg. He’s just a highly advanced C-3PO–until First Contact.
Droids from Star Wars, Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, Robot B-9 from Lost in Space or Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet, the Autobots and Decepticons of Transformers, the police force of THX-1138, Box in Logan’s Run, the perfectly human appearing kid-like star of D.A.R.Y.L., the several automatons of episode after episode of The Twilight Zone, Beta in The Last Starfighter, Tron and Flynn and the other microscopic, human-like bits of data in Tron, Hellboy II’s Golden Army, the future Iowa Highway Patrolman in Star Trek 2009 (we assume he’s just wearing some police safety mask), Rosie the maid in The Jetsons, Hogey the Roguey from Red Dwarf, Marvin the Android in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, X-Men’s Sentinels, Lal and Juliana Tainer from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the title character of CHAPPiE, or Iron Giant, despite their human-like or bipedal nature, none are actual borgs because they lack biological matter, living cells, or the like.
The same applies for the robotic hosts in Westworld–Michael Crichton’s original was clear these were merely automaton robots and we’ve seen nothing from 2016’s HBO series to show that has changed (even the NY Times got it wrong). Which explains why The Stepford Wives aren’t on the list, or Fembots, either from The Bionic Woman or the Austin Powers series, or the Buffybot in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
So who’s in?
Here is Round 4, the twenty-eight 2016 borg.com Hall of Fame honorees, in no particular order, some from 2016 and others from the past, bringing the roster count to 134 individuals and groups:
First up is Time, yep… Time itself. From Alice Through the Looking Glass, a powerful Father Time-esque human/clockwork hybrid who rules over Underland–
From George Lucas’s original Force-wielding character as envisioned by Mike Mayhew: Kane Starkiller from Marvel Comics’ alternate universe story, The Star Wars:
The Major, from 2017’s Ghost in the Shell:
Max Steel got his own movie in 2016:
Steel hails from the Mattel action figure who received multiple super powers due to an accidental infusion of nanobots:
Cave Carson from the update of the classic DC Comics comic book series spelunker, the new series Cave Carson has a Cybernetic Eye:
Although he was a charter member of the borg.com Hall of Fame, Darth Vader returned in Rogue One, providing some new images of the classic borg:
More of our inductees, after the cut…
Just a quick thanks to YOU, regular and new readers, for coming back and making the borg.com odometer tip over the 1 million benchmark today!
Every day since June 10, 2011, this site has been about what I want to read and watch and talk about, and I’ve hoped others would jump on board as I went along. Thanks for coming on over.
Special thanks to Elizabeth, Art, Jason, J.A.B., the Elite Comics flight crew, my 4-legged support staff, and my other pals for your friendship and prompting new ideas throughout the year.
And how about a shout-out to Joss Whedon. He and the production crew of the new online release In Your Eyes secretly mailed out gifts (some substantial) worldwide to the first people who paid $5 to download his new film. Press coverage of Whedon this weekend pointed hundreds of viewers to my 2012 San Diego Comic-Con article about Whedon (one of my favorite posts to write). And that’s what pushed us over the 1 million mark today. Very cool.
Onward and upward!
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
