The Year of Comic Books in Review - Part One (January)

I figure it's about time to start reviewing this year's purchases in the comic book world, and determining what I liked and didn't. The plan is to re-visit each month, working from my order forms and the shipping lists, as well as the dated reviews on my review index. The goal of this exercise is to come up with a few nominations each month for "best comic of the year" according to Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog. On December 31st (if all goes as planned) I'll try to pick a best of the year.

January seems to have been a pretty good month, overall. I had 5 books get four and a half starfish. Two of them were Aquaman. Issue two of the current series was a great issue, and seemed to indicate wonderful things to come. And the first Aquaman Archive also came out, reprinting some truly classic Silver Age silliness, complete with yellow gloves. One minor mistake in the table of contents was the only marring of this otherwise fine collection.

The other three books to get four and a half starfish weren't superhero books. Usagi Yojimbo was particularly good that month, with a story about the thief Kitsune that sees Jotaro saying "you must know everybody!" to Usagi, which is echoed later. The last volume of Lone Wolf and Cub also came out in January, and was a dramatic end to that fantastic series. And the last issue of Sandwalk Adventures also came out, ending the dramatized tale of Darwin on a high note.

There were two books that aren't in the running, but certainly deserve to be mentioned again. The last issue of Castle Waiting to date came out in January, and I miss that book deeply and dearly. I hope to see its return. Also out in January was the Interman graphic novel by Jeff Parker... to which I'm still hoping there will be a sequel.

So the nominees for January are: Aquaman Archive Volume One, Aquaman #2, Usagi Yojimbo #63, Lone Wolf and Cub Volume 28, and The Sandwalk Adventures #5.