Revisiting 2015, Part 3
Let's take a look at what I read, laughed at and listened to in 2015...
As usual, I read a lot of autobiographical books written by very funny ladies like Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling or Jennifer Saunders, but I also read one non-fiction book that deeply impressed and influenced me:
Otherwise I mostly read tons of comics and will talk about them in a minute, but first:
THE YEAR IN MUSIC
I know, my taste in music is not the greatest or the most interesting, and I didn't listen to enough new stuff, but here we go anyway.
Favorite 2014-album that I listened to a lot this year:
Favorite Song of the Year:
3.
2.
1.
Favorite Musical Cast Recording of the Year (Controversial Choice!):
Runner-up: Hamilton, of course
FAVORITE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR.
6.
Björk - Vulnicura
5.
4.
3.
2.
Quiet Company - Transgressor
1.
STAND-UP COMEDY
The only stand-up comedy album I bought on vinyl this year:
Brooks Wheelan - This Is Cool, Right?
My favorite Stand-up Specials of the Year:
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
Which brings us to...
COMICS
2015 was a great year for comics. We got a lot of funny Marvel books, several even girl-centric, and Secret Wars was a successful, exciting summer event. Archie Comics continued to surprise with crazy crossovers and awesome reboots. Valiant tried some interesting experiments. Image was steady as ever. Boom! became a major player for me with a lot of delightful new series. I even started to read a few DC titles. Filling out my Top 20 was not a problem, not putting more comics on that list was difficult. In the end I chose to ignore several older, reliable titles (Alex + Ada, Sex Criminals, Manifest Destiny) and those with less than four issues published in 2015 (which meant both last year's top comic Afterlife with Archie and last year's favorite new series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina didn't make the list).
THE MOST PROMISING NEW SERIES FOR 2016.
Runner-up:
PRETTIEST COMIC OF THE YEAR.
MY FAVORITE HEROES OF THE YEAR.
Also, ex-Robin-turned-superspy Dick Grayson is cool and sexy:
Midnighter is the gay psychopath I wanna have as a pal:
And whenever they meet each other, it's a delight:
MY FAVORITE WRITER OF THE YEAR.
After Howard the Duck, Kaptara and Jughead, I will follow Chip Zdarsky anywhere.
MY FAVORITE SINGLE ISSUES (in alphabetical order).
Giant-Size Little Marvel AvX was one of this year's funniest comics (along with Scottie Young's other big series, I Hate Fairyland), and its second issue is a delight.
Godzilla In Hell was only good for half of its short run, but the second issue with its painted art ended up as one of the most gorgeous comics of the year.
This fun stand-alone issue is a great showcase for writer/artist Javier Pulido.
The "Gwenpool Holiday Special" is an entertaining anthology combining some of my favorite Marvel-stars - She-Hulk, Ms Marvel and both Hawkeyes.
The mundane adventures of HYDRA agent Hank Johnson as envisioned by new Veep showrunner David Mandel are hysterically funny.
Flashback time! Lumberjanes #13 shows us how the five friends met on the first day of camp and is a charming new starting point for the series.
Damn you, Manifest Destiny! The dark ending to its latest story arc in issue 18 shocked me and is still on my mind weeks later.
Just when I thought Sex Criminals can't surprise me anymore, issue 13 came along and told the stand-out backstory of a young asexual woman.
The current Silver Surfer will never shake off the Doctor Who-comparisons, but I don't care as long as we get ambitious puzzles like issue 11.
We Are Robin's fourth issue is a character study of a teenage girl coming to terms with grief and her need to be heroic, told in a unique and radical style.
MY FAVORITE MOMENT OF GAY REPRESENTATION IN 2015.
I'm so happy to live in a time of heroes being joined by their new boyfriends in the shower after a fight, as happened in Midnighter #3:
I also loved this cute moment in Silk #1:
WEB COMIC OF THE YEAR.
Ronald Wimberly's short commentary on race and skin colors in comics is a must-read for everyone.
MY FAVORITE SINGLE PAGE OF THE YEAR.
Kingpin showing off his art collection to a blind Matt Murdock in Daredevil #16.
...and now:
MY FAVORITE ONGOING OR LIMITED SERIES OF THE YEAR.
20.
19.
18.
17.
16.
15.
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
09.
08.
07.
06.
05.
04.
03.
02.
01.
And if you missed it, here's my list for 2014.
As usual, I read a lot of autobiographical books written by very funny ladies like Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling or Jennifer Saunders, but I also read one non-fiction book that deeply impressed and influenced me:
Otherwise I mostly read tons of comics and will talk about them in a minute, but first:
THE YEAR IN MUSIC
I know, my taste in music is not the greatest or the most interesting, and I didn't listen to enough new stuff, but here we go anyway.
Favorite 2014-album that I listened to a lot this year:
Favorite Song of the Year:
3.
Click to view2.
1.
Favorite Musical Cast Recording of the Year (Controversial Choice!):
Runner-up: Hamilton, of course
FAVORITE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR.
6.
Björk - Vulnicura
5.
4.
3.
2.
Quiet Company - Transgressor
1.
STAND-UP COMEDY
The only stand-up comedy album I bought on vinyl this year:
Brooks Wheelan - This Is Cool, Right?
My favorite Stand-up Specials of the Year:
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
Which brings us to...
COMICS
2015 was a great year for comics. We got a lot of funny Marvel books, several even girl-centric, and Secret Wars was a successful, exciting summer event. Archie Comics continued to surprise with crazy crossovers and awesome reboots. Valiant tried some interesting experiments. Image was steady as ever. Boom! became a major player for me with a lot of delightful new series. I even started to read a few DC titles. Filling out my Top 20 was not a problem, not putting more comics on that list was difficult. In the end I chose to ignore several older, reliable titles (Alex + Ada, Sex Criminals, Manifest Destiny) and those with less than four issues published in 2015 (which meant both last year's top comic Afterlife with Archie and last year's favorite new series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina didn't make the list).
THE MOST PROMISING NEW SERIES FOR 2016.
Runner-up:
PRETTIEST COMIC OF THE YEAR.
MY FAVORITE HEROES OF THE YEAR.
Also, ex-Robin-turned-superspy Dick Grayson is cool and sexy:
Midnighter is the gay psychopath I wanna have as a pal:
And whenever they meet each other, it's a delight:
MY FAVORITE WRITER OF THE YEAR.
After Howard the Duck, Kaptara and Jughead, I will follow Chip Zdarsky anywhere.
MY FAVORITE SINGLE ISSUES (in alphabetical order).
Giant-Size Little Marvel AvX was one of this year's funniest comics (along with Scottie Young's other big series, I Hate Fairyland), and its second issue is a delight.
Godzilla In Hell was only good for half of its short run, but the second issue with its painted art ended up as one of the most gorgeous comics of the year.
This fun stand-alone issue is a great showcase for writer/artist Javier Pulido.
The "Gwenpool Holiday Special" is an entertaining anthology combining some of my favorite Marvel-stars - She-Hulk, Ms Marvel and both Hawkeyes.
The mundane adventures of HYDRA agent Hank Johnson as envisioned by new Veep showrunner David Mandel are hysterically funny.
Flashback time! Lumberjanes #13 shows us how the five friends met on the first day of camp and is a charming new starting point for the series.
Damn you, Manifest Destiny! The dark ending to its latest story arc in issue 18 shocked me and is still on my mind weeks later.
Just when I thought Sex Criminals can't surprise me anymore, issue 13 came along and told the stand-out backstory of a young asexual woman.
The current Silver Surfer will never shake off the Doctor Who-comparisons, but I don't care as long as we get ambitious puzzles like issue 11.
We Are Robin's fourth issue is a character study of a teenage girl coming to terms with grief and her need to be heroic, told in a unique and radical style.
MY FAVORITE MOMENT OF GAY REPRESENTATION IN 2015.
I'm so happy to live in a time of heroes being joined by their new boyfriends in the shower after a fight, as happened in Midnighter #3:
I also loved this cute moment in Silk #1:
WEB COMIC OF THE YEAR.
Ronald Wimberly's short commentary on race and skin colors in comics is a must-read for everyone.
MY FAVORITE SINGLE PAGE OF THE YEAR.
Kingpin showing off his art collection to a blind Matt Murdock in Daredevil #16.
...and now:
MY FAVORITE ONGOING OR LIMITED SERIES OF THE YEAR.
20.
19.
18.
17.
16.
15.
14.
13.
12.
11.
10.
09.
08.
07.
06.
05.
04.
03.
02.
01.
And if you missed it, here's my list for 2014.