Wednesday 31 December 2014

My favourites of 2014!!

So, just before Christmas, I submitted a review to Pipedream comics for my favourite comic book issue of 2014, Daredevil #10

However, after doing this I started thinking, what other favourites did I have during 2014?

Well, As its New Year's Eve I decided to have a think about it. So, without further adieu, here they are:

Favourite Comic Book Issue: Daredevil #10 (see above)
Runner-Up: Copperhead#1, because I was originally asked to review this book for Pipedream, but it's very Firefly/Serenity ambience got to me and meant I went and bought my own copy anyway. It was THAT good.

Favourite Comic Book Series: Alex + Ada, because it's well written, beautifully drawn, and is the most addictive book I pick up, most likely because it's just so damn beautiful to read as a story.
Runner-Up: Lazarus, because it's fantastic world-building (which I love) and Forever Carlyle is the best damn written character going.

Favourite Comic Book Writer: Greg Rucka, because what is happening in Lazarus, along with the world it inhabits, is a thing of beauty. Rucka bring major social issues to the table and makes them enjoyable.
Runner-Up: Tom Taylor, because Injustice is epicly addictive, but primarily he got on board Earth 2 and hit the ground running to make it an epic story and DC's best at the time.

Favourite Comic Book Artist: Chris Samnee, because his style is still just gorgeous, even after three plus years on Daredevil. But still it's his rendition of the sonar vision that just makes me drop my jaw every single read.
Runner-Up: Nicola Scott, because I said that Tom Taylor made Earth 2 epic, well he couldn't have done it with anyone other than Nicola Scott because she made hat whole cast look like true gods, with not one bad panel.

Favourite Comic Book Inker/Colorist: Dean White, got to be!! White always imbue any work with real mood in my book and he certainly did that with Black Science, enhancing the art there tenfold.
Runner-Up: Santi Arcas, because his colours on Lazarus give the art a very photo-realistic sense about them, while also suiting the series atmosphere perfectly.

And there you have it. This was as many categories I could actually think of, but it's the important ones (I think) and that's all that counts, and giving these favourites reminds myself of what made my comic reading so much fun. Also, after doing this it makes me look forward to what comics 2015 will bring. Oh well, that'll begin tomorrow.

Saturday 20 December 2014

Welcome 2015! New year, new resolutions and new comics.

And it's over!!! Not that I minded 2014, it was a good year what with getting married and getting a new job (or two), oh, and all the really great comics that came out (of course). That said, the first two on my list certainly did dominate my time and push the latter into the background.

But, it doesn't matter now because 2015 is here!!!

And with 2015 I have a lot planned in regards to my comic related activities (amongst other things, but I don't much worry about them here). All being well, comics will once again be a high priority with me when I get round to doing what I want to do.

New books (lots of them). - First up has to be the most obvious, in 2015 I'm going to buy new comic books, lots more. In truth, 2014 was a pretty good year, with lots of fantastic titles making it into my hands. However, compared to many it was still a rather conservative amount, not helped by half my budget going to Earth 2: World's End. But, with that ending by April (along with some other books), as well as a small increase to standard monthly comic budget, more will be read.

Of course, what matters is that I when I get this extra wedge I put it to good use. Therefore, I'll be implementing a new rule of '1 new comic every month' which means that I will find the money to pick up at least one new release every month. The first three months have already been mapped out this way with Ant-Man, Postal and Descender all on my pull list over the first three months. Hopefully, that will continue into the spring.

Conventions galore. - Last year, due to wedding planning and honeymoons, I missed my local conventions a fair bit. However, this year I'll have more free time and am already planning to hit at least three conventions; Yorkshire Cosplay Con, True Believers Comic Festival and Melksham Comic Con. Sadly, Bristol Expo isn't on this year to get me to four cons (unless someone knows different) but I've got all important budgets locked for the others ready to get lots of great books from terrific creators. I'm definitely looking forward to True Believers opening year.

A Marvel Cinematic marathon. - Now, this summer sees the release of this little film at the cinema called Avengers: Age of Ultron. Personally, I'm actually looking forward to Ant-Man more (though only a little bit more, and I'm not sure why), but that doesn't mean I'm going to prep for Avengers 2. So, one of two things is going to happen; 1. Me and my buddy we going to marathon every Marvel movie to this point over a weekend while our wives go away. 2. (More realistically) I'm going to be doing a 10 week marathon with a movie a week in the lead up to the big event. Either way, I'll finally get to watch them back to back and in order.

More to write about. - And finally, last year was a bit of a let down for me in regards to what I write, with this blog being dropped in favour of Pipedream comics reviews, which in turn got tossed to the side in favour of wedding planning. However, 2015 is a new year with (hopefully) no distractions and so I hope to capitalise on that to write a review a week for Pipedream and a post here every two. It's a grand plan and I just hope I can stick with that past January. If I can though, I might try my hand at a few other things I have planned.

2015 is going to be a great year, I can already sense it. While last year was good for comics, I do feel I missed quite a bit of it sadly and so lost out of reading many top quality books. But a new year means leaving regrets at the door and learning from mistakes, which I will hopefully do with my above resolutions/plans. Touch wood they won't all be regrets when I do this again in a year.