The Year of Comic Books in Review - Part Three (May and June)

More nominees for the Best Comic Book of 2004 according to Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog.

Time for May and June. There are four books that got my high rating in these months: Best of Dork Storm Press #2, Astonish Comics #1, True Story, Swear to God: 100 Stories by Tom Beland, and Aquaman #18. This doesn't leave me with a lot of room for extra nominees if I want to keep the list managable, but I want to mention the return of Colonia, the debut of Dorothy of Oz, and the wide variety of strong Free Comic Book Day books including The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty #1. You'll not that two of my nominees for high ratings are from Free Comic Book Day, too. Another nominee, one that months of reflection makes inevitable, is Astronauts in Trouble: Master Flight Plan.

Best of Dork Storm Press #2 featured a new PS238 story, along with Nodwick, Dork Tower, and Dr Blink Superhero Shrink. A new PS238 short alone would have been enough to put it over the edge, but add in the rest and this one became a must-have.

Astonish Comics #1 gave me a reason to seek out more Astonish books, but I haven't really followed up on it. I would love to read more Herobear and the Kid as well as Dreamland Chronicles.

True Story, Swear to God: 100 Stories by Tom Beland was a surprise to me, as I got it from good ol' Larry Young and it instantly became a story that I just wanted more of... One of the best books I've read in a long, long time.

Aquaman #18 shows more of Pfeifer and Gleason hitting their stride, and includes the page I wish I could get the original artwork from. It's very nice to see good Aquaman.

Astronauts in Trouble: Master Flight Plan rounds out the list of nominees for these months. I had heard of this book, even seen the artwork at a con once, but thanks to Larry's generosity I got to finally read it. I was a little disappointed by the smaller size of the artwork in this collection, but having a nice hardcover version is very good. It's one I knew I would reread, especially the second story Space: 1959.