2013 Comic Book Awards Pt 3: Best Comics, Stories, Arcs, etc

2013 was a mythic one superhero wise: Thor and Wonder Woman were truly my homecoming King and Queen of the year

Best Comic: Wonder Woman (DC) - written and drawn by Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, Goren Sudzuka, Tony Akins and Matthew Wilson

Best Miniseries: Trillium (Vertigo) - written and drawn by Jeff Lemire

Best Backup Story: Shazam (Justice League - DC) by Johns & Frank

Best One Shot: Demeter (self published) story and art by Becky Cloonan - One of Cloonan’s haunting supernatural love stories

Best Short Story (10 pages): Unfair (Monkeybrain) by Sumner & Jarell - Sad and beautiful tale of a father trying to rescue his kidnapped son. So moving it brought tears to my eyes.

Best Anthology Series/Book: Amazing Forest (Monkeybrain) by Farinas, Freitas & various artists – Think of it as a cynical, sardonic Twilight Zone. There’s not much of a moral to the stories, they’re just a kick in the teeth. The stories can be dark, funny; the art has a raw, underground look to it.

Best Web Comic: Conchela & Eustachia by Han Rickheit - Surreal, disturbing, sexual, violent – there’s no real plot, it’s just a mind exploding acid trip through the dark recess of Rickheit’s imagination.

Best Arc: “Godbomb”, Thor: God of Thunder (Marvel) by Aaron & Ribic – Epic, philosophical, it even offered kernels of humor amongst the bloodshed, It might very well be the single greatest Thor story I’ve ever read (even above “gasp” Simonsen)

Best Event or Crossover: I skipped most events and what I did read was uneven at best. The most exciting and consistent for me was the Throne of Atlantis, Aquaman/JL crossover written by Geoff Johns.

Best Graphic Novel (Original Story): Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang (First Second) these brilliant companion pieces provide plenty of comedy and tragedy. From Wiki... Boxers follows the story of Little Bao, a boy from Shandong (spelled "Shan-tung" in the story) who becomes a leader of the Boxer Rebellion. Saints follows the story of "Four-Girl", a girl from the same village who becomes a Catholic, adopts the name "Vibiana", and hopes to attain the glory of Joan of Arc.

Best Collected Edition: Before Watchmen: Minutemen/Silk Specter by Darwyn Cooke & Amanda Conner - Oversize hard cover, with great stories and art and some nice extras. Also, props to the HC Bandette collection

Best New Series: East of West (Image) by Hickman and Dragotta - apocalyptic alternative history is centered around an unlikely romance. And when Death falls in love, beware all ye who stand in the way of that.

Most Improved Series: Red Lanterns (DC) - Soule & Vitti took the reigns and injected personality and humor into the title.

Most ballsy move that worked: I miss Peter Parker and hope he finds his way back, but I have to admit that Dan Slott’s idea to make Otto Octavious the new Superior Spider-Man has been intriguing. And while the Dr. is too cruel and violent, in many ways he has indeed proven to be a more efficient, and superior crime fighter than Parker was.

Best Comic Book Movie: Man of Steel – Hey, I liked it.

Best Comic Book TV Series: Arrow – Yeah it’s a soap opera, and there’s a lot of dumb (Children go on field trips to maximum security prisons?) Actors? I’m not saying Stephen Amell’s wooden, but I’ve seen 2x4s that were more expressive. And Detective Lance is about 2 degrees from turning into Jim Ignatowski. Still, it entertains me and it draws from the DC crime-fighting Universe better than S.H.I.E.L.D. does with Marvel. There’s thrilling action, intense drama and costumed crime fighters/villains. I loved how the Huntress was a psycho witch, running around shooting mobsters with abandon. I loved how Count Vertigo (in a story penned by Bryan Q Millar) quotes from the Hitchcock movie that bears his name. I loved how mad scary Merlyn was, especially in that nail biting season 1 finale.

Best New Product: Avengers 3D Deco Lights

Best New Figure: Surf Jams Batman

Links
Part 1: 2013 Best Comic Book Characters 
Part 2: 2013 Best Writing, Art, Designs
Part 3: 2013 Best Stories, Arcs, Events, etc