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[Comics Beat] The 100 Best Comics of the Decade

Dr.Social

Dr.Social

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Oct 25, 2017
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The decade from 2010-2019 was a transformative one for comics. While perhaps not quite as game changing as the aughts (which saw the rise of the graphic novel in bookstores and the decline of the bookstore), it nevertheless saw comics and comics culture permeate "regular" culture to a degree that few could have foreseen.

While part of this takeover was from the explosion of comics media and media in general — the streaming wars are real, people — comics themselves also hit new heights. Both with a sales level unheard of since the TV-less Post-War days and, if you ask The Beat staff, a level of quality, diversity, and imagination that have never been surpassed.

American comics have long been jealous of the comics cultures of France and Japan where it seemed like anything goes. Well, we've finally caught up, with the aid of many Japanese and Euro imports, but most of all, stories that range from the epically cerebral to the intimately sociological to old fashioned action yarns that reveal deep truths about our world.

From memoirs of distinct cultures (Vietnamese immigrants, '60s era civil rights activists) to grand adventure (architects in space! Batman!) to humor (updated Nancy Drew! time stopping sex thieves) to just real (a middle-grade girl who knocks out her two front teeth) comics of the Teens had everything you could imagine — and much that you couldn't. And in presenting the following 100 titles to you, we're trying to capture that magic and energy.

Of course we could have had another 100 titles on the list, and there were some heartbreaking omissions. In fact, look for an addendum when we recover from this!
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Our methodology: we asked the entire Beat staff to nominate any book they thought might be deserving. The resulting list of more than 250 titles was voted on and all books with more than four votes were included on the list. Titles with fewer votes were added via "Judges' Choice."

Important: We are aware that our list is lacking in manga titles. Erica Friedman and Morganna Santilli are working with a team on an expanded list that we will be publishing in the next few days.

FINALLY: We know this list will inspire passionate debate and people will want to run us over with a pick-up/cancel us over books that didn't make the list. Truth: there are simply too many wonderful comics worlds to be encompassed in a single list like this — use it as a starting point, not a destination.
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The list is unranked and in alphabetical order. Really interesting list with tons of stuff I've never heard of. Only about 17 superhero comics.

Full write ups for each comic in the article.
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20th Century Boys
Afterlife With Archie
All-New Wolverine
Archival Quality
The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye
Basquiat
Batman: The Black Mirror
Batman: The Court of Owls
Beautiful Darkness
Becoming Unbecoming
The Best We Could Do
Big Kids
Bitch Planet
The Black Hammer Universe
Boxers & Saints
Brazen
Building Stories
Clyde Fans
Copra
Criminal
Daredevil by Waid and Samnee
Daytripper
Dotter of Her Father's Eyes
The Encyclopedia of Early Earth
The End of the Fucking World
Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles
Fatherland: A Family History
The Fifth Beatle
Frontier #7
Gawain's Girlfriend and the Green Knight
Generous Bosom
Giant Days
Girl Town
Goodnight Punpun
Guts
Hark! A Vagrant
Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja
Hellboy in Hell
Here
Hilda & The Black Hound
Hip Hop Family Tree
The Hospital Suite
Hot Comb
House of X / Powers of X
How To Be Happy
How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less
Hyperbole and a Half
The Immortal Hulk
Is This How You See Me?
It Never Happened Again
The Last Look Trilogy
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me
Lore Olympus
The Love Bunglers
Lumberjanes
The March Trilogy
Mister Miracle by King and Gerads
Monstress
Ms. Marvel
The Multiversity
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters
My Friend Dahmer
My Hero Academia
My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness
The Nao of Brown
The Nib
Nimona
O Human Star
On a Sunbeam
The Oven
Prince of Cats
The Private Eye
The Property
The River At Night
Rock Candy Mountain
Sabrina
Saga
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour
Sex Criminals
Sex Fantasy
A Silent Voice
Silver Surfer by Slott and Allred
Smile
Southern Bastards
Spider-Gwen
Sunburning
Super Late Bloomer
This One Summer
Thor by Jason Aaron
Through the Woods
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Upgrade Soul
The Vision by King and Walta
The Walking Dead #193
The Wicked + The Divine
The Wilds
The Witch Boy Trilogy
Why Art?
Young Frances
Your Black Friend and Other Strangers
 
VeePs

VeePs

Prophet of Truth
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Oct 25, 2017
17,359

Afterlife With Archie
All-New Wolverine

Batman: The Black Mirror
Batman: The Court of Owls

Daredevil by Waid and Samnee

Hawkeye by Fraction and Aja

House of X / Powers of X

The Immortal Hulk

Mister Miracle by King and Gerads

Ms. Marvel
The Multiversity

My Hero Academia

Sabrina
Saga

Silver Surfer by Slott and Allred

Southern Bastards
Spider-Gwen

Thor by Jason Aaron

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

The Vision by King and Walta

I read the above. All are fantastic, tho I didn't like Saga as much as the others. I would probably replace Deadly Class with Saga.

I've heard good things about Lumberjanes I might jump on that soon.
 
dancingphlower

dancingphlower

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Oct 27, 2017
12,055
Yo Mister Miracle, Daredevil, Batman, and House/Powers of X were some damn good superhero comics. I would have included Hickman's Avengers run on there too (and Remender's X-Force if that's this decade as well).
 
HadesHotgun

HadesHotgun

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Oct 25, 2017
871
The are a lot of excellent picks here but the general absence of Japanese comics is pretty hard to see as anything but embarrassing Western chauvenism and willful ignorance.
 
Kurdel

Kurdel

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Nov 7, 2017
12,157
They are sleeping on Eternity Girl!

Love seeing Snagglepuss, everyone should read that one!
eternity-girl-young-animal.gif
 
Pizza Dog

Pizza Dog

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
1,477
Surprised not to see Paper Girls on there, but there are a whole lot I do agree with. Giant Days is fantastic, as is Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and of course Hawkeye.
 
Joni

Joni

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Oct 27, 2017
19,508
Mass_Pincup said:
At least there's some nods here and there, I haven't seen a single Franco-belgian comic anywhere on the list.
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Indeed. They should just be honest and just focus on the American stuff.

HadesHotgun said:
The are a lot of excellent picks here but the general absence of Japanese comics is pretty hard to see as anything but embarrassing Western chauvenism and willful ignorance.
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I wouldn't call it Western chauvinism when they forgot the entirety of European comics. But it is stupid they managed to miss Attack on Titan.
 
ElBoxy

ElBoxy

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Oct 25, 2017
14,127
Kurdel said:
They are sleeping on Eternity Girl!

Love seeing Snagglepuss, everyone should read that one!
eternity-girl-young-animal.gif
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A surprising lack of DC in general. Not even Flintstones is on here which was heavily praised everywhere.
Curt Baboon said:
Crtl+F Brandon Graham's Prophet

...

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About that:
womenwriteaboutcomics.com

Regarding Brandon Graham - WWAC

Recently, comics creator Carta Monir leveled the accusation that Brandon Graham, creator of King City and editor of Image’s recent anthology series Island, is what’s known to the community as a “chaser,” specifically of trans women. The term is typically one leveled at individuals who pursue...
womenwriteaboutcomics.com womenwriteaboutcomics.com
Yeah..................
 
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Curt Baboon

Curt Baboon

Avenger
Mar 13, 2018
3,560
ElBoxyBrown said:
A surprising lack of DC in general.

About that:
womenwriteaboutcomics.com

Regarding Brandon Graham - WWAC

Recently, comics creator Carta Monir leveled the accusation that Brandon Graham, creator of King City and editor of Image’s recent anthology series Island, is what’s known to the community as a “chaser,” specifically of trans women. The term is typically one leveled at individuals who pursue...
womenwriteaboutcomics.com womenwriteaboutcomics.com
Yeah..................
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Aw man that sucks.

At least the collaborative nature of Prophet makes it easier for me to keep enjoying it and I do believe the work itself deserves to be praised solely on its artistic merits, but this definitely puts a big fat asterisk next to one of my favorite comics ever.
 
Dalek

Dalek

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Oct 25, 2017
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As someone who just finished Doomsday Clock, it's criminal that it didn't make the list of too 100 books of the decade.
But I'm happy to see Squirrel Girl and Multiversity.
 
Tace

Tace

Avenger
Nov 1, 2017
35,471
The Rapscallion
House of X/Powers of X and My Hero Academia made the list, nice

Waid and Samnee's Daredevil was really good. Man I miss Samnee's art, feels like I haven't seen his work in forever
 

Deleted member 46948

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Aug 22, 2018
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No Scalped? Yeah, I don't think so.
(it launched in 2007, but finished in this decade, same as Hark A Vagrant, so it should be eligible).
 

Vault

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Oct 25, 2017
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20th Century Boys finished in 2006 and it's Urasawa's weakest work.
 
Christian

Christian

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Oct 25, 2017
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Wow, I'm shocked to see All-New Wolverine on there, but I'm thrilled. What a wonderful, underrated run.
 
Serene

Serene

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Oct 25, 2017
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Like the list

I would probably add Secret Wars just solely off the fact that it managed to cap off a years-long arc in a way that was actually satisfying instead of falling on its face like most of those types of events do.
 
DirtyLarry

DirtyLarry

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Oct 27, 2017
4,112
Awesome enough I have contributed to one of the comics on the list.
For the Volumes of Hip Hop Family Tree, Ed Piskor had artists contribute someone in the back of each volume and referred to it as the Pin Up Gallery.
I contacted him cold via email as I was a big fan of the series overall thanks to binging the first two volumes, shared some of my art and just said I would love to contribute something.
6 months later I heard back with a deadline of less than a week (I no doubt believe someone who was asked backed out but fuck it), and next thing I know my illustration of De La Soul was part of Hip Hop Family Tree Volume 4 about 6 months later.

With that little humble brag out of the way, so many comics I feel are missing from the list. A few that easily come to mind are
The Sheriff of Babylon, Nameless, Black Science, We Can Never Go Home, 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, and so many more I am blanking out on. I also have come to realize I have much different taste than most comic book readers.
 
kmfdmpig

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,354
DirtyLarry said:
Awesome enough I have contributed to one of the comics on the list.
For the Volumes of Hip Hop Family Tree, Ed Piskor had artists contribute someone in the back of each volume and referred to it as the Pin Up Gallery.
I contacted him cold via email as I was a big fan of the series overall thanks to binging the first two volumes, shared some of my art and just said I would love to contribute something.
6 months later I heard back with a deadline of less than a week (I no doubt believe someone who was asked backed out but fuck it), and next thing I know my illustration of De La Soul was part of Hip Hop Family Tree Volume 4 about 6 months later.

With that little humble brag out of the way, so many comics I feel are missing from the list. A few that easily come to mind are
The Sheriff of Babylon, Nameless, Black Science, We Can Never Go Home, 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, and so many more I am blanking out on. I also have come to realize I have much different taste than most comic book readers.
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Any chance you can share the image? I'd love to see it.
Also, I agree regarding Sheriff of Babylon, but suspect the inclusion of Vision and MM made them less likely to also include Sheriff (personally I like Sheriff more than MM).
 
Christian

Christian

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Oct 25, 2017
9,636
Spider-Man: Life Story probably should be on there, too, but what do you take off?

Actually, I'd be cool taking Spider-Gwen off
 
DirtyLarry

DirtyLarry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,112
kmfdmpig said:
Any chance you can share the image? I'd love to see it.
Also, I agree regarding Sheriff of Babylon, but suspect the inclusion of Vision and MM made them less likely to also include Sheriff (personally I like Sheriff more than MM).
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That's a tough one as I absolutely love MM as well, but I see more than a few titles I would have removed in order to include SoB myself.

And yep of course I can (apologies to everyone else who did not ask to see it). As you will see It is not very comic book like in the traditional sense of things but one thing I noticed as a fan from reading the volumes was he seemed to make sure to include artists who were not traditional comic book artists, which is honestly the primary reason I even attempted reaching out as I thought maybe I had a shot since that it was he did. I have been reading comics for 40+ years and always wanted to be a part of them, but I am too lazy (and also not good enough if I am being super honest), to illustrate a whole comic by myself, so I saw it as perhaps a chance to do something related to comics but still be my style.

So here it is. This is the colored finished piece that wound up being printed...

This is the original drawing that when I look back on things, I wish I had used instead...

The one part I left out about him giving just a week deadline is it was also on December 21st, which also happens to be my birthday believe it or not. He not only reached out with a week deadline 4 days before Christmas, me and my wife were going on vacation on the 26th. So I absolutely had to rush which I also wish was not the case, but there was no way I was saying no I could not do it. So all things considered, overall I am okay with it but also know it could have been better. It is what it is though.

EDIT - Looks like the site I always have used in the past is now blocked, had to use IMGUR, so just links included.
 
kmfdmpig

kmfdmpig

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
19,354
DirtyLarry said:
That's a tough one as I absolutely love MM as well, but I see more than a few titles I would have removed in order to include SoB myself.

And yep of course I can (apologies to everyone else who did not ask to see it). As you will see It is not very comic book like in the traditional sense of things but one thing I noticed as a fan from reading the volumes was he seemed to make sure to include artists who were not traditional comic book artists, which is honestly the primary reason I even attempted reaching out as I thought maybe I had a shot since that it was he did. I have been reading comics for 40+ years and always wanted to be a part of them, but I am too lazy (and also not good enough if I am being super honest), to illustrate a whole comic by myself, so I saw it as perhaps a chance to do something related to comics but still be my style.

So here it is. This is the colored finished piece that wound up being printed...

This is the original drawing that when I look back on things, I wish I had used instead...

The one part I left out about him giving just a week deadline is it was also on December 21st, which also happens to be my birthday believe it or not. He not only reached out with a week deadline 4 days before Christmas, me and my wife were going on vacation on the 26th. So I absolutely had to rush which I also wish was not the case, but there was no way I was saying no I could not do it. So all things considered, overall I am okay with it but also know it could have been better. It is what it is though.

EDIT - Looks like the site I always have used in the past is now blocked, had to use IMGUR, so just links included.
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Looks good! It's particularly impressive given the incredibly short amount of time that you had to create it. Have you done other work in comics?
 
TheLucasLite

TheLucasLite

Member
Aug 27, 2018
1,446
No Prince and the Dressmaker or Castle in the Stars. Hmmmm. At least This One Summer and Daytripper are on there. As for Manga, this list is missing Witch Hat Atelier.
 
Kurdel

Kurdel

Member
Nov 7, 2017
12,157
rude said:
No Pax Americana makes this list a joke
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It's there under Multiversity!

Of course, the showstopper of the entire event is certainly still the Eisner nominated Pax Americana, his re-teaming with the "Adams to his O'Neil" Frank Quitely as they produced the best Watchmen follow-up and one of the most audacious experiments I'd ever seen in mainstream comics. The Multiversity is the perfect summation of everything that makes superheroes awe-inspiring. — Kyle Pinion
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I read Multiversity in like 2 sittings and barely rememeber anything from it.

I really need to revisit it!
 
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