Derik Badman's Journal

The Comics Journal had an aggregate article of people talking about their favorite comics of the year. It got me thinking. My comics reading has gone down a lot over the years, and I haven't kept track of all my reading in a few years, so it's hard to always remember what I read in the past year, but certainly a few book stick out in the mind.

Pittsburgh by Frank Santoro: I read this last year in the French edition but it was a delight to read it in English this time where I didn't spend as much time being slowed down by the words (and then often not slowing down enough for the images as I try to not lose the text's flow).

Crepax Vol.4: Private Life by Guido Crepax: I already wrote about this for TCJ earlier in the year.

I Roved Out in Search of Truth and Love by Alexis Flowers: A webcomic (with print collections) of fantasy, that I discovered this year. It's part high fantasy, part sword and sorcery, and part sex comic. I think I learned about this one via the D&D/RPG blogs I read, as I've never heard about it from any of the comics people I follow.

The River at Night by Kevin Huizenga: I think the impact of this one was blunted a bit by the long running serialization, making this seem less "new" than it should. Still a smart, formally inventive, funny, and moving comic.

Fauves by Warren Craghead: It's always a delight to find these brightly colored short comics about his daughters in my Instagram feed. I'm still waiting for a collection.

Various works online and in small press by Alyssa Berg, Madeleine Jubliee Saito (née Witt), and Rachna Soun. All three of these women make quiet, beautiful, poetic short comics.

Emanon series by Kenji Tsuruta: A not really new to me manga series (I read scanlations of the first two volumes, years ago), that got an official translation this year. A quiet sci-fi series about a woman whose memory extends back to the beginning of the universe, that is lushly drawn by Tsuruta.

Is This How You See Me? by Jaime Hernandez: It's hard to not put a Jaime book on every year's list.