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!
It’s been a little more than two years since BOOM! Studios took over the Firefly comics license from Dark Horse Comics. Since then BOOM! has offered up the twelve-part Unification War story arc, a second twelve-part New Sheriff in the ‘Verse arc in compilation editions (Vol. 1, Vol. 2, and Blue Sun Rising so far), and the one-shots The Sting and Watch How I Soar. BOOM! has also followed Marvel Comics’ template after acquiring Star Wars and is reprinting the Dark Horse classics in new omnibus “Legacy” editions. For its next series BOOM! is shooting ahead 20 years, long after the crew of the Serenity has departed, and the ship is now captained by someone entirely new: Emma, the child of Wash and Zoe. Meet the same ‘Verse in different time periods–the future and a look to Earth before the TV series–in the new six-part series Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse. Can there really be a Firefly without Jayne? Find out in this new series.
Check out a preview of the first issue, and some variant and future covers in the series below.
As previewed in the superhero crossover Marvel vs. Aliens covers, a new Alien series begins next month under the Marvel Comics label, and it’s going to arrive with a first issue full of variant editions. The best news? You’ll meet a new Jonesy-inspired cat aboard the ship, this time a black cat, likely to blend in the shadows. So let’s see Marvel’s take on the franchise–below check out an inside look at the new franchise cat, a dozen Alien series covers, and a shiny tie-in comic storage box available at comic shops. And in case you missed the Marvel vs. Aliens covers, we’ve included the 22 covers Marvel is rolling out, too.
Hellboy is doing more traveling in his next adventure from Dark Horse Comics. In 1847 we meet Hellboy–Young Hellboy–the mini red, brick-armed, demon with sawed-off horns–as a curious little chatterbox. As you’d expect he gets into trouble in the first scene. Taking place before Hellboy: The Midnight Circus, where we last saw the young incarnation of the character, the new mini-series Hellboy: The Hidden Land catches up with him accompanied by Professor Bruttenholm. They’re both heading to South America for an archaeology dig, where Hellboy might just get to meet his hero–if they can get off the ground first.
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola teams up with writer Thomas Sniegoski, artist Craig Rousseau, and colorist Dave Stewart for the latest fun. Check out our preview of the first issue and Mignola/Stewart variant cover below.
Review by C.J. Bunce
Another pandemic delayed production finally makes its way to TV audiences this week. It’s the Syfy Channel series Resident Alien, based on the crazy-good Dark Horse Comics sci-fi/crime/mystery mash-up comics by Peter Hogan (2000 AD, Tom Strong) and Steve Parkhouse (Milkman Murders, Doctor Who)–first reviewed here at borg back in 2013. Airing Wednesday nights, the show stars Alan Tudyk as the extra-terrestrial hero who survives a ship crash on what was supposed to be a quick mission to Earth, Coneheads-style. Taking on the part of Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle, he is able to mask his appearance using his otherworldly powers. Like E.T. he just wants to go home, but he must wait until his friends come to find him in the town of Patience, Colorado, an Everwood-style small town full of medical crises that he must attend to after the town doctor is found dead. He gets pulled into a murder mystery, which he takes to like Agent Cooper in the town of Twin Peaks. It’s this police procedural drama-meets-sci-fi blend that is taken forward in the story.
Thirty-seven years after the premiere of the cult film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, the screenplay writer has penned a sequel. For fans of the quirky sci-fi movie, this sequel was of the eagerly-awaited variety. You’re about to get your money’s worth as Earl Mac Rauch, who wrote the script and a novelization of the movie, is delivering the hefty, 568-page volume this summer, available now for pre-order here at Amazon. With another long title, Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League et al, –A Compendium of Evils, continues the adventures of the scientist-surgeon-entertainer-daredevil played by Peter Weller.
In the graphic novel 47 Ronin, independent comics pioneer Mike Richardson (Star Wars: Crimson Empire) and Japanese-born American legendary comics artist Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo) re-created the famed 1700-1701 historical event of a group of loyal Japanese ronin (leaderless samurai) who avenged the death of their leader. The award-winning book from Dark Horse Comics is filled with action and intrigue, a dramatic account of the importance of loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that influenced the culture of Japan ever since. Initially released in hardcover, at last the graphic novel is getting its first trade paperback edition. The more affordable edition is available for pre-order now here at Amazon and we have a look inside for borg readers below.
Our borg Best of 2020 list continues today with the Best in Comics and Games. If you missed them, check out our review of the Best Books of 2020 here, the Best Movies of 2020 here, the Kick-Ass Heroines of 2020 here, and the Best in Television 2020 here.
We reviewed comics from every major publisher this year, and were pleasantly surprised with all the new characters and content available. You’ll find both some new creators on the list this year and some fan favorites who keep making better comic books each new year. We also include some great games and more from 2020.
Let’s get started with The Best in Comics…
Best Comic Book Series – Bounty Hunters (Marvel Comics). Writer Ethan Sacks and artist Paolo Villanelli played with the entire Star Wars universe in a single series, bringing back the cyborg Valance and a host of our favorite bounty hunters. The result is a great series full of action and throwbacks.
Best Sci-Fi Comic Series, Best Limited Comic Book Series, Best Interior Artwork – Strayed (Dark Horse Comics) by writer Carlos Giffoni and artist Juan Doe. In the future a military-industrial complex reigns over all humanity and actively destroys distant alien worlds. The galaxy’s only hope can be found through an unlikely pair: an astral-projecting cat named Lou and his human Kiara. Honorable mention: Rogue Planet by writer Cullen Bunn and artists Andy MacDonald and Nick Filardi (Oni Press).
If Neil Gaiman’s prose adaptations of historical works haven’t held your interest, perhaps this new visual adaptation of his novelistic collection of stories in Norse Mythology may be a better entry point. Adapted by writer-artist P. Craig Russell (whose adaptation of Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung should be required reading for all graphic novel enthusiasts), this new series is sure to get those with Viking heritage their needed fix for all things Nordic. Thanks to key visual contributions from Russell and artists Mike Mignola, Jill Thompson, David Mack, and Jerry Ordway, and color work by Dave Stewart and Lovern Kindzierski, get ready to get immersed in some ethereal, surreal, classical surroundings with the stories of Thor, Loki, Odin, and more.
One of the masters of modern horror comics is back with another twist on Frankenstein. Mike Mignola has created a prequel to his 2015 series Frankenstein: Underground, which found Mary Shelley’s famous monster left abandoned and driven underground to the very center of the Earth. In Mignola’s new series, Frankenstein: Undone, Frankenstein’s creator lies dead in the Arctic, and his creature must search for a new purpose. The creature moves north, out of the world of Shelley’s novel, and into the world of Mignola’s Hellboy.
