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GV10 [Results]: Best Licensed Comic: Check Page 2!
DJ Eebs
Moderator, Administrator admin
Moderator, Administrator admin
Our next category is Best Licensed Comic.
This category is for your favorite licensed comic of the last ten years. This means any comic based on a non-comics property, like a movie, video game, tv show, book...you get the idea. This isn't for individual issues, this is for ongoing series or miniseries
Rules
1) Nominate as many comics as you want! There's no limit
2) We're going to go back to needing only one nomination for this, as I don't think there's as many possible choices here.
3) Remember, this is your place to make your case for your favorite comic. Voting will be in a Google form, as usual
4) And: keep it civil. This isn't a place to be shitty to each other.
Alright, and nominations are open...NOW
Put your nominations in BOLD TEXT. You don't need to all caps them, though
This category is for your favorite licensed comic of the last ten years. This means any comic based on a non-comics property, like a movie, video game, tv show, book...you get the idea. This isn't for individual issues, this is for ongoing series or miniseries
Rules
1) Nominate as many comics as you want! There's no limit
2) We're going to go back to needing only one nomination for this, as I don't think there's as many possible choices here.
3) Remember, this is your place to make your case for your favorite comic. Voting will be in a Google form, as usual
4) And: keep it civil. This isn't a place to be shitty to each other.
Alright, and nominations are open...NOW
Put your nominations in BOLD TEXT. You don't need to all caps them, though
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Like say, a Smallville comic or something.
On the surface it's a fun adventure comic in a Transformers setting where the Autobot/Decepticon war is finally over, and a group of Autobots have set out on what is basically a Grail quest to find Cyberutopia, and with it the Knights of Cybertron. While that sounds kinda goofy on the surface (and a lot of the time it is, More Than Meets The Eye is a much more fun series on the whole than it's companion ongoing, Robots In Disguise), that doesn't stop it from packing in way more genuine emotion than one typically expects from a book about giant transforming robots on a quest. Among other things, it has one of the most touching queer romances I've read in any comic, and some fantastic friendships as well. The big quest is only lightly touched on throughout the series, and is more an impetus to get the crew out in the stars finding adventures.
In addition, James Roberts is a crazy person who seeds future plot points years in advance and foreshadows twists as well as anyone I've read. This is not only a book that has made me cry, it's a book that has made me laugh out loud in disbelief more than once when I've realized what he'd managed to sneak by me.
Overall this is a fun, funny, touching, and incredibly smart book.
It's so goddamn prefect I hear all the sound effects and voices in my head. It's the best Star Wars thing I've consumed since the original trilogy.
also transformers: RiD. its faltered recently, but its pre-dark cybertron house of cards with robots schtick was excellent.
and while i'm at it: transformers vs gi joe. scioli channels his inner kirby and the plotting with john barber is enjoyably batshit
I'd like to nominate Adventure Time. It's an absolutely great comic - loves to play with the artstyle of the characters and has awesome little comments on the bottom of each page. The writer and artist are wonderful too - we met them at a con and they signed our first issue to my son and drew a Gunther on it for us.
Seconding Scioli's Transformers vs G.I. Joe.
oh you're in for a treat.
Marvel is making (entirely in-canon) comics set in the time period between A New Hope and Empire Strikes back. Jason Aaron and John Cassaday are on the main Star Wars title, that follows Luke, Leia, Han, and the rest as they try to turn the victory over the Death Star into real momentum for the Rebels, while Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca are the team behind Darth Vader, which follows him as he basically tries to put his reputation back together after being embarrassed by a bunch of kids. There's also a Princess Leia miniseries by Mark Waid and Terry Dodson that is about Leia travelling the galaxy with a pilot/bodyguard trying to save the surviving Alderaanians as the Empire has put a bounty on all of them.
So far they've all been utterly fantastic.
Yeah, second. Marvel has essentially hired the best writers and artists in the industry and put them on their Star Wars books.
G.I.Joe Cobra - The IDW book started as a dark, noirish story of an undercover G.I.Joe agent infiltrating a mysterious group in the days before Cobra's identity existed and evolved to become a series of character studies about the twisted personalities and their plots within the organization. It's a great example of how even a licensed property can provide the hook for great stories when the creators take their jobs seriously.
Planet of the Apes - A loose collection of series examining the political and social upheavals in the future world of Ape vs. Man that shows how well IDW can handle a licensed property. Honestly, while Cobra and Planet of the Apes are the best, any of the licensed IDW books are worth a look. The company does a good job with their licensed property.
Does Flash Gordon count? It started as a comic strip, moved to movies/serials and has had multiple comics runs in the past. If so, Dynamite's Flash Gordon books have been a ton of fun.
Conan - Dark Horse's Conan books are a master class in how to respectfully adapt a property. The stories are well written, with a consistent tone and art style that really helps to make them feel like the part of a greater whole.
And then, I put forth Regular Show because I need that sort of weird in all areas of my life. In all honesty, this is the medium for the series. As much fun as the cartoon is, I prefer it in this form.
Bravest Warriors takes all of the superhero tropes at a different sort of angle. Often dark it isn't as twisted as some deconstructions of the sidekick and has some fun yet crazy moments that entertain well.
Bee & Puppycat because of it's relation to the previous nomination.
Samurai Jack -- I don't know what to tell you. This was a mindblowing cartoon when it debuted that was cut short. Now it's back in comics to finish what was started.
oh dude, you are gonna be so psyched.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
That reminds me, Dynamite's Pathfinder comic and tie-ins are really good.
I'd also nominate Brian Wood's Conan the Barbarian
Steam
It's amazing.
Nominating TMNT, a solid series that hasn't really disappointed, it just does a solid retelling of the turtles without being way out there.
Like how More than Meets the Eye gets nominated and not just Transformers
Second Conan and Bravest Warriors
but would something like Batman Beyond work here? A character that started off in a comic TV show and eventually got into a comics ongoing?
PARKER, YOU'RE FIRED! <-- My comic book podcast! Satan look here!
Quite honestly, this will probably be a best of IDW category, considering that their business model is based entirely around publishing comics for licensed properties.
Dynamite, too, although their line gravitates more toward vintage pulp characters than the 80s/90s nostalgia properties that IDW favors. Both companies put out good books.
That said, I expect Marvel's Star Wars books to take the top spots. Those books have been an event - Star Wars #1 was one of the bestselling single issues since the 90s boom - which is saying something considering that there hasn't exactly been a shortage of Star Wars comics on the stands in the last couple decades.
That said, are we excluding licensed properties from the best "non-big-2" category? Could be a lot of overlap there.
The Dresden Files A group of mini-series, some based off actual books, some original.
Richard Castle's Derrick Storm books. Getting a bit meta with this nomination.
Daniel Abraham's A Game of Thrones adaptation.
Eric Shanower's Wizard of Oz books - Because Skottie Young is awesome.
Avatar: The Last Airbender filling in the gaps between the two series.
My Little Pony I'll be the one to bite the bullet on this, there are a couple of different series, but the difference is basically arcs vs one-shots so I'm sticking them together.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Serenity. Because Joss, duh.
Did you know there was a MacGyver mini a while back?
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Let's finish up with some good old Disney Afternoon: Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck and Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers.
Feel free to rule out any you don't think count, or feel are an Abomination Unto Grodd.
I'm going to second DC's Masters of the Universe because it's one of the only licensed books I've read in recent times. I'll also second the new Marvel Star Wars.
Steam: MightyPotatoKing
Doh, completely forgot about this, though I voted for Skottie Young for best artist. Seconded, thirded, fourded..
I'll also second My Little Pony - I read the first few issues and it is a surprisingly smart comic for kids.
Finally I'll second Regular Show - it's a great fit for the comic format.
Failing that, I choose to second Star Wars, TMNT and Ghostbusters.
You could expand it to the entire IDW Star Trek series. The full series is a direct continuation of the style and look of that mini.