End of year lists

I don’t usually bother with end of year lists or top tens but I enjoy seeing other peoples books and pull lists so what the hell, why not? Not a comprehensive list of everything I read in 2022, just a few personal faves.

First up, Short and Curious by PJ Holden available on gumroad.

I know, I know… I’ve posted about this before but I bloody love it! I also wanted to show off the lil A5 copy I printed on the big old duplex copier at work… even dusted off my long arm stapler too.

The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering by Nate Piekos. While the book primarily focuses on using Adobe Illustrator there’s lot’s of useful guides and info. I’m really gonna have to make time to try out the stuff here and see if I can adapt the workflows in Affinity Designer.

Cyberpunk 2077: Blackout by Bartosz Sztybor and Roberto Ricci was a must-buy for me after seeing Roberto’s process posts on twitter.

The Dragon Path by Ethan Young was an absolute delight from start to finish. Some fanart is well overdue for this fantastic book.

Dream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon. I’ve had this on my bed side table for the past year and have read it now at least ten times. The stories collected are simply phenomenal, from the eeriness of ‘Guests’ to the sheer joy of ‘Beyond the sun’.

Kroma by Lorenzo De Felici. One of my favourite books on the stands at the moment, Lorenzo is producing something incredible with Kroma.

SKYBOUND X has been on my pull list since it started and issue 25 was excellent. Battle Beast, Kirkman, Ottley, need I say more?

Ok, that’s enough of that, happy new year dweebs!

Pull List – December 2020

17/12/20

  • Solid Blood #17 (W) Robert Kirkman (A/CA) Ryan Ottley, Cliff Rathburn (L) Rus Wooton
  • Barbalien Red Planet #2 (W) Tate Brombal (A/CA) Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire (L) Aditya Bidikar
  • Fire power #6 (W) Robert Kirkman (A/CA) Chris Samnee, Matthew Wilson (L) Rus Wooton
  • The Plot #7 (W) Michael Moreci, Tim Daniel (A/CA) Josh Hixson (C) Kurt Michael Russell (L) Jim Campbell
  • The Autumnal #3 (W) Daniel Kraus (A/CA) Chris Shehan, Jason Wordie (L) Jim Campbell
  • I Walk with Monsters #1 (W) Paul Cornell (A) Sally Cantirino, Dearbhla Kelly (L) Andworld Design (CA) Nathan Gooden, Tim Daniel
  • Origins #2 (of 6) (W) Clay Chapman (A/CA) Jakub Rebelka, Patricio Delpeche (L) Jim Campbell
  • Crossover #2 (W) Donny Cates (A/CA) Geoff Shaw, Dee Cunniffe (L) John J. Hill
  • Stealth TP (W) Mike Costa (A) Nate Bellegarde, Tamra Bonvillain (L) Sal Cipriano (CA) Jason Howard

Fire Power #6 was EPIC! such a great end to the second arc, the choreography by Samnee continues to blow my mind with each issue.

Finally got my hands on a print copy of Stealth by Mike Costa, Nate Bellegarde, Tamra Bonvillain, Sal Cipriano & Jason Howard. I’m a HUGE fan of Nate’s work so I was ecstatic to learn about this series and his return to drawing comics at Image again after his outstanding run on Nowhere Men. If, like me you missed out on Stealth due to lockdown/speculators I’d highly recommend picking up this trade.

Solid Blood #17 was a MASSIVE surprise this month, an awesome homage by Kirkman, Ottley & Rathburn to all the early 90’s Image books that defined the period. It’s clear Ryan Ottley had a blast here with overly elaborate character designs, splash pages and his signature spatter practically featuring on every page. The inks by Cliff Rathburn are equally impressive, his colouring perfectly evokes the retro style of books like WildC.A.T.S, Stormwatch, Prophet, etc… and THAT paper, oh boy… just glorious… so great to read a book printed on newsprint again!

  • Batman Black and White #1 (of 6) (W) Various (A) Various

I love collections like this, different interpretations of a well known character by various creative teams/creators. I’ve read the previous volumes and couldn’t resist grabbing this latest issue as I’d already seen some previews of Greg Smallwood’s art for “Metamorphosis” written by G. Willow Wilson with letters by Clem Robbins (above).

  • Wonder Woman Dead Earth #4 (W) Daniel Warren Johnson (A/CA) Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer
  • Hedra (W) Jesse Lonergan (A/CA) Jesse Lonergan
  • INVINCIBLE #1 (LCSD 2020 GOLD FOIL LOGO) (W) Robert Kirkman (A/CA) Cory Walker

29/12/20

  • 2000 AD #2212 XMAS 2020 SPECIAL (W) Various (A) Various
  • Katsuhiro Otomo (Seisei) (French) Paperback (W/A/CA) Katsuhiro Otomo
  • Nightlights Vol 1 (W) Lorena Alvarez (A/CA) Lorena Alvarez
  • Marvel Greatest Comics: 100 Comics that built a universe (W) Melanie Scott, Stephen Wiacek

Got some great gifts this Christmas, hope you all had a good one!