2020: A year of many new comics (but not much time to read them)!!

So, 2020 has really been something, huh? 

To say it's been an odd year could be considered the understatement. For me, like most Brits, I've gone through nine months of seeing no one, two lockdowns covering most of that time, having all my interactions over a video and through masks, the majority of which everyone the world over has also had to go through (unless you delusionally think that some of these notions don't apply to you).

So, in real life, this year has sucked quite a bit.

However, when it comes to comics, I've felt that this has been a pretty good year, even if I've not managed to make the time to read everything I've managed to add to my 'to read' pile.

From the very beginning, right up to last week, it has felt like COVID-19 could do nothing to knock down the comics industry and community (except that 2-3 month hiatus during Spring). Of course, that hasn't stopped either the pandemic or other factors from trying.

For me, the year started really well when I took a punt on Superman Smashes the Klan, which turned out to be a Godsend of a series as it told an all-ages story with an important message based on an old radio serial episode of the Man of Steel's fight against a KKK analogy.

From that point on my year was pretty Fantastic Four heavy within my pull list as not only did I get eight issues of the regular series (it would have been nine, but I wasn't able to pick #27 before New Year), but I was also blessed with two four-issue mini series in the form of Zdarsky/Dodson's X-Men/Fantastic Four and Waid/Adams' Antithesis as well as two one-shots (Grimm Noir and Road Trip) and a couple of First Family centric bookends for the Empyre event (which the regular series had a tie-in story. Now of all of these titles, only the one-shots had any real impact, with X4 not really meeting the standards I had in my head and the ongoing being wildly inconsistent (except for the art teams, all of whom were stellar) but it was nice to be able to read so much FF after years of getting nothing (Note, as I write this I hadn't gotten around to Antithesis).

Of course, my pull list wasn't exclusively Fantastic Four as I also picked up a few other titles here and there. The Lazarus story continued in the Quarterly digest issues, Lazarus Risen. Unfortunately, the pandemic along with the long gap between issue releases meant that this book moved very little as I only acquired one issue (the recent issue 5 apparently hasn't made it into Britain). Fortunately, other comics were a little more dependable with the terrific Star Trek: Hell's Mirror keeping me hooked on IDW's mirror universe instalments and X-Men #9, which was an accidental purchase but gave me the chance to partake in a little reading experiment.

That said, the contents of my pull list paled in comparison to the actions of Comixology during 2020, who really stepped up with numerous free releases of some pretty incredible comic collections to help readers get through their respective Lockdowns. Not only that but they did this again to honour the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman with a giveaway of every (and I do mean EVERY) single issue Black Panther comic that had ever been released to that date). For me, who took advantage of all giveaways, this meant a LOT of free comics, which has (obviously( resulted in a backlog of my reading material (made worse by a recent birthday haul) which can only mean I'll never be without reading material again.

Not that I ever am, of course, thanks to my constant supply of small press comics to review for Pipedream Comics. It was here, with this corner of the comics community, where I really felt comics saw their major strength of 2020 with a tremendous number of quality comics. These included titles like video game tie-in Crayta, the kickstarters for Burn Residue, Gunrunner and Commander Rao (to name a few), the full trade of Tom Woodman and Rupert Smisson's Future, the terrific Quarantine, the continuation of the 'Our Final Halloween' series, Joe Glass' tremendous Acceptable Losses, Jordan Thomas and Clark Bint's Frank at Home on the Farm, Jed MacPherson's The Show and a whole host of other comics (mostly released by Vault comics or, such as with Afterlift and the Pride, Comixology Originals) as well as some great webcomics (which, admittedly, are not new this year) like Vanguard, Theatrics and re-reading Breaks (this time for a Pipedream review). While you can't say that every release has been a winner (although that's subjective because everybody likes something different), I've really felt that this year has seen a truly incredible array of creator-owned, self financed releases.

Of course, as Star Wars movies have taught me, there is always a balance of dark side to light and 2020 has sire seen its share of the bad (excluding the obvious). Diamond withholding orders (and payments), Dynamite having CG ties (after their previous goodness in 70 free first issues on comixology), harassment revelations about some big name creators, the Slott 'mocumentary', I really feel 2020 has revealed a lot of the 'dark side' of comics. That said, I have thought that the reactions by the world at large to all of these is a great indicator that the majority of comics are indeed great people.

So, all in all, despite being trapped in my house for near 95% of the time I don't think 2020 has been that bad a year in regards to comics (everything else though I can't admit the same to). If anything though, 2020 has felt like a year that, through being locked in, has given me focus as to what I want to do in 2021 because I now have a lot of plans.

Therefore, roll on the new year!!!

Oh, and before I forget...

Boxing Day saw the beginning of Pipedream Comics annual Top 50 comics of the Year. For 2020, we again selected the best half century of small press and independent comics (well, in our opinion anyway).

I'll be honest, I have some knowledge of the inclusions, but not the full list and so I'm equally in the dark and gaining the same surprise as everyone else as to who is on there and what placement.

As of writing this, 50-41 and 40-31 have already been posted, so I'd recommend you check it out, especially if you are looking for a new, top quality comic to read.