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Polygon: Best comics of the decade

Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,941

The list is in chronological order and I agree for the most part with these. They did include Hickman's X-Men but not his Avengers/Secret Wars run.

click to read the synopsis's but here are their picks:

I like to say that everybody cares about comics even if they don't know it, but the 2010s were the decade that everybody really did care about comics. Whether they were New York Times bestsellers or the inspiration for an industry-warping trend of box-office-topping movies, comics were the single biggest influence on pop culture in this decade.
The American comics industry itself was shaped by the reflected light of the brilliant Hollywood sun, and also by more local concerns. In 2011, Marvel and DC Comicsbegan to release digital editions of monthly comics on the same day as their physical release. Publishing initiatives like the New 52 and Marvel Now! forever changed the face of superhero comics. The rise of social media fueled the evolution of webcomicsand felled walls between fans and superhero creators (for better and worse).
In (roughly) chronological order, these are the best comics of this decade that could only have been written in this decade.
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Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man
Writing by Brian Michael Bendis, art by Sarah Pichelli
You can read more about the creative goals behind Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man in our feature on Miles Morales, but to sum it up concisely, Bendis, Pichelli, and their editorial collaborators were, basically, trying to make a "sequel" to Spider-Man. In the terms of comic book superheroes, that's like stepping out into a busy street and announcing that you're making a sequel to Jesus.
But they did it. The success of last year's Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a testament to the clarity of purpose with which Bendis and Pichelli endowed Miles Morales from his very first series. We were already going to be talking about Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Spider-Man in 2019. By iterating on "with great power comes great responsibility," Bendis and Pichelli ensured that people will be talking about this Spider-Man in 2059.
Announced in 2010 and first published in 2011, Miles and his series were a preview of the decade to come, kicking off a trend of younger Marvel characters being placed in classic roles (a female Captain Marvel, Thor, and Hulk; a black Captain America). And the backlash against a "black Spider-Man" was a mere precursor to what would become rolling waves of backlash against "progressivism run amok" in comics.
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Batman
Writing by Scott Snyder, art by Greg Capullo


Hark! A Vagrant!
Writing and art by Kate Beaton


Saga
Writing by Brian K. Vaughan, art by Fiona Staples


Hawkeye
Writing by Matt Fraction, art by David Aja and others

Thor
Writing by Jason Aaron and art by many others


"Time"
Writing and art by Randall Munroe


Afterlife with Archie
Writing by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, art by Francesco Francavilla


Lumberjanes, Ms. Marvel, and Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn A. Allen, Noelle Stevenson; G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona; Ryan North, Erica Henderson; and others
In my heart, I know it is unfair to lump these three comics together. But what would be worse would be to give the largest credit to one and list the others as runners up. And to give them all separate entries when I've put them all here for roughly the same reason would be repetitive for you, reader.
The 2010s were a decade when young female characters showed that they could play in the comics sandbox — and not just by doing it in the same way as all the boys. They could be heroes and redefine what it means to be a comic book hero.
In Lumberjanes, young women fronted a wildly successful indie all-ages book full of queer characters, created by queer women. With Ms. Marvel, Wilson, Alphona, and their editorial collaborators proved that you can map a Spider-Man origin story onto a big-hearted, Muslim, first-generation Pakistani immigrant, and books would fly off the shelves.
And with Squirrel Girl, North and Henderson started with a character was basically a joke about how a teenage girl could never be powerful enough to do a superhero's job. As her series wraps this month, Squirrel Girl stands as one of the most sincere and sincerely funny books Marvel has ever made.
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The Wicked + The Divine
Writing by Kieron Gillen, art by Jamie McKelvie and others


Bitch Planet
Writing by Kelly Sue DeConnick and others, art by Valentine De Landro and others


Black Panther
Writing by Ta-Nehisi Coates, art by Brian Stelfreeze


Mister Miracle
Writing by Tom King, art by Mitch Gerads


Immortal Hulk
Writing by Al Ewing, art by Joe Bennett and others


House of X/Powers of X
Writing by Jonathan Hickman, arty by R.B. Silva, Pepe Larraz, and others
 
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Wanderer5

Wanderer5

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
10,983
Somewhere.
Quite a few there that I can agree with, although I probably wouldn't consider Afterlife with Archie, since it was basically abandoned. Really a shame.
 

Deleted member 17388

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
12,994
Shout-out to Charles Soule and Javier Pulido's She-Hulk and Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka's Runaways because those were really good, as I said in that ol' thread of mine (please like and subscribe:'v)

Great that they selected Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, even beat the odds of the mainstream comic book fans who insisted from day one the character was one-note, and the art wasn't enough to find an audience enough to sustain the book.
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,093
No Secret Wars but they have Hawktrash?

Invalidated hard
 
Tace

Tace

Avenger
Nov 1, 2017
35,506
The Rapscallion
Secret Wars/Avengers story line should be in here

Not sure how I feel about the Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man inclusion. The book was never actually that good and a huge reason a lot of people(myself included)found Miles boring.

Into The Spider-Verse is what made him interesting, not his comic
 
The Vathlonian

The Vathlonian

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,690
Tace said:
Secret Wars/Avengers story line should be in here

Not sure how I feel about the Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man inclusion. The book was never actually that good and a huge reason a lot of people(myself included)found Miles boring.

Into The Spider-Verse is what made him interesting, not his comic
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People were screaming for Miles years before Spider-Verse came out. So that film can't possibly be the source of the interest in the character.
 
Freddy=Legend

Freddy=Legend

Drive-in Mutant
Member
Oct 29, 2017
5,125
Afterlife with Archie and it's sister book Chilling Adventures of Sabrina were both amazing. Too bad Aguirre-Sacasa can't find time to write one damn issue of either in years.
 
Naijaboy

Naijaboy

The Fallen
Mar 13, 2018
15,281
The Vathlonian said:
People were screaming for Miles years before Spider-Verse came out. So that film can't possibly be the source of the interest in the character.
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Let's word it better: Spiderverse made Miles much more interesting than in the comic. It's a bit of a take, but I was never that big on him until Spiderverse. He's a historic character for sure, but I don't think he was that great of a character starting out.
 
Arebours

Arebours

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,656
People here always tell me there's so much more to american comics than superheroes and marvel/dc but 90% of the stuff here is exactly that. What am I missing?
 
mjc

mjc

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
5,879
Hickman's Avengers run into Secret Wars should be there. The Black Order was picked up in the MCU just years after their creation, that's a huge influence.
 
HStallion

HStallion

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
62,262
Feels like they're omitting a ton of great but less mainstream stuff for a lot of decent cape comics.
 
El Toporo

El Toporo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,122
Arebours said:
People here always tell me there's so much more to american comics than superheroes and marvel/dc but 90% of the stuff here is exactly that. What am I missing?
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Check out Saga and The Wicked + The Divine. Both are on the list. The latter *might* qualify as a superhero comic, but I think that moniker would be misleading.
 
whatsinaname

whatsinaname

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,058
Arebours said:
People here always tell me there's so much more to american comics than superheroes and marvel/dc but 90% of the stuff here is exactly that. What am I missing?
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You are reading a listicle from Polygon.

If you really want good recommendations, look up a nicer listicle source - like Paste.

Their "25 best comics of 20XX" lists are usually great.






Or if there are are specific genres you are looking for, feel free to ask (here or in the comicsera thread)!
 
VeePs

VeePs

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,369
No Deadly Class, Power Rangers, Vision, Tomasi's Superman or Grayson? Love the addition of Hickman's Xmen, Immortal Hulk, Mister Miracle, Batman, and Hawkeye. All are fantastic.

Aaron's Thor has some eh points but tbh as a whole its a fantastic journey.

Ultimate Spider-man was great. And I know it's divisive but I enjoyed Slott's run on Spider-man as well. His Silver Surfer book was a lot of fun too.

Edit: Seems like American Vampire started in 2010 as well. Not sure what the comic communities stance is on it but I loved it.

Edit 2: Saw someone mention Waid's Daredevil. I LOVED Waid's Daredevil, Archie, and Remender's Venom.

Edit 3: Oh wait, is that the Ultimate Spider-man featuring Miles? Yea... quality wise it doesn't deserve a spot on the list imo.
 
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JDSN

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,129
Society will not evolve in terms of racism unless we come to terms with the fact Coates is a wack comic book writer, talented black writers are not flawless, and that is okay.

Also, that Tynion Detective Cómics run is not there.
 
VeePs

VeePs

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,369
JDSN said:
Tynion Detective Cómics run is not there.
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Loved it. Watching Tynion go from Talon (eh) to Detective Comics, wow. What a jump in quality.

JDSN said:
Coates is a wack comic book writer
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I read 2-3 issues of his Black Panther and just couldn't enjoy it. I thought I was missing something. Idk. There was another BP book that came out around that time that I enjoyed more.
 
ZeroX

ZeroX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,266
Speed Force
At least from what I've read DC's been consistently good, but nothing incredible so I'm not shocked at the lack of them. Snyder Batman is great.
 
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