My Top 10 vs. CBR Top 100

CBR has posted the final batch of its Top 100 Comics of 2008, and I thought it might be interesting to see how my votes compared to the final tally. Please note that the Top 10 I voted for is slightly different than the Top 10 I listed in my WWC column because, for the CBR voting, I wanted to include some things that I ranked in my Best Collected Editions list. I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's what I did, so Local and Omega bumped Bottomless Belly Button and Hellboy out of my Top 10 for voting purposes.

Anyway, here's what I submitted for the voting, with each comic's final CBR rank in parenthesis:

#10 Marvel 1985 (Didn't make CBR's Top 100)
#9 Powr Mastrs (#96 on CBR)
#8 Local (#89 on CBR)
#7 Omega the Unknown (#15 on CBR)
#6 Criminal (#2 on CBR)
#5 Batman (#11 on CBR)
#4 Scalped (#3 on CBR)
#3 Acme Novelty Library (#12 on CBR)
#2 All-Star Superman (#1 on CBR)
#1 Casanova (#13 on CBR)

CBR's Top 100 list is all in fun, and it gives a wide range of contributors a chance to make their case for the best comics of the year. I'm really surprised not a single person besides me voted for Marvel 1985, which is Millar's best work of the year, and looks absolutely gorgeous thanks to Tommy Lee Edwards. I think it will have a much longer shelf life in hardcover/tpb form than much of the other stuff in the Top 100.

It's nice to see that everything in my Top 7 made the CBR Top 15, and I was glad (and surprised, but mostly glad) to see Scalped ranked even higher on the consensus list than on my list. I've been a champion of Scalped since the beginning, and I hope it sticks around for a long, long time. Hopefully it's extremely high ranking on this list will prompt more readers to give it a shot.

I just can't help but be a bit critical about some of the choices on the list. It's all subjective, I realize, but the voting was based on submitted Top 10 lists, and here are some of the comics I cannot believe were on ANYONE'S Top 10: Booster Gold (#17[!] on CBR, and completely mediocre by any standard), Madame Xanadu (#30 on CBR, and I know Andy Khouri likes this one a lot, but I gave it four issues and I thought it was cliche-ridden nonsense with pretty art), Final Crisis: Rogue's Revenge (#39 on CBR, and, I mean, it was fine for what it was, but how was it on anyone's Top 10?), Family Dynamic (#53 on CBR, and, sure, it was under-promoted and axed too early, but that doesn't make it a great comic), Trinity (#57 on CBR, and keep in mind that all of these comics ranked way higher than Local), and I could go on, but I won't. If you think any of these comics are honestly better than anything that ended up in the CBR Top 10, please feel free to try to convert me. Because I just don't see how it's possible.

But, no matter how much I may disagree with the final tally (and, really, the Top 20 is mostly filled with excellent stuff that I would highly recommend, so there's not much to complain about -- except Booster damn Gold), I love this kind of thing, and I'm glad I could be a part of it. Gotta love the lists!

My Exotic Tastes for Comic Books

Apparently, I have wildly unorthodox tastes in comics (even though I think my tastes are approximately 90% mainstream and 10% quirky and 100% correct) because CBR just posted Part One of the big "Best 100 Comics of 2008" list, and two of my Top 10 picks didn't even crack the Top 90, which means, I suspect, that nobody else voted for them besides me.

Thus, we get a list in which Powr Mastrs (#98, and not for everyone, I'll admit) and Local (#91, and which is for everyone) get bested by the likes of Judd Winick's Green Arrow/Black Canary (#89) and Dwayne McDuffie's JLA (#88).

I wonder what will make the consensus Top 10?

I would assume All-Star Superman would make it, but based on this first batch I really have no idea what else will show up.

I wonder how high Secret Invasion will be. I'll place the over/under at #42. You?

My Christmas Gift to You: Top 10 Comics of 2008

The list you've been waiting for is here: My Top 10 Comics of 2008. Check out the newest installment of "When Words Collide" and find out what you should have been reading, the good stuff you've been reading, and what you completely disagree with. You'll never guess what my number one comic of the year is! Never!

The picture accompanying this post may or may not be a clue.

Hope your holidays are splendiferous!

WWC: Top 20 Comics of 2008 -- #20-#11

My Best Comics of 2008 countdown begins today, with #20 through #11. What's on the list? What did I save for the Top 10 next week? How awesome is the All-New Orb? How many non-superhero comics will make the cut?

All these questions answered, partially, a little bit, kinda, in this week's "When Words Collide."

Because if I don't give you a "Best of" list, who will?

When Words Collide: Best of 2008 Collected Editions

Thus, it begins.

My 2008 "Best of" lists, that is. In this week's "When Words Collide," I count down the Top 20 Collected Editions of 2008.

Why do it before the end of the year? (1) I've looked at the release schedule and I don't think anything else will dethrone these 20 in the next two weeks, and (2) You'll soon be absolutely bombarded with "Best of" lists -- they've already started to trickle out -- and that means it's time to act!

As the CBR blurb states, I have kind of an eclectic list. Not REALLY eclectic, as it's still Marvel/DC heavy, relatively speaking, but I do throw in a few choices that, while obvious to some, might make the mainstream crowd scratch their heads.

And since writing the list last week, I did read one other collected edition that might have had a chance to crack the Top 20: American Elf Vol. 3. But even that would have landed just outside the 20 best, so no worries -- the list is still accurate! Admit it, you were a little worried, right?

Anyway, enjoy the list and buy all the collected editions and read 'em up.