CBR Reveals Their Top 100 Comics of 2008

Earlier this week, Comic Book Resources revealed the results of their contributor poll of the best 100 comics of 2008. It's an interesting list so feel free to read the whole thing, but I did want to point out a few highlights that I was happy (and maybe even a little surprised) to see them give props to.

83. CHECKMATE
















This was interesting to me, because up until the point where Greg Rucka left as writer, this was one of my favorite comics to come around in a long time. It had everything- superheroes, espionage, great plot lines. The things that made Queen & Country so great but set inside the DC Universe. While I was reading it I felt like I had to be the only person in the world who was buying it because I didn't really hear anything about it. In fact I'm pretty sure my comic shop ordered only one copy each month and it was for me. While it went downhill fast when Rucka left, it's really nice to see this on CBR's year end list to maybe encourage people to check out the trades.


42. AIR



















I read pretty much anything Vertigo puts out. Hell, I even collected the entirety of Crossing Midnight when I thought it was actually pretty boring from start to finish (no offense Mike Carey). For some reason, I'm not reading Air but I keep hearing good things about it. This might be something I'll pick up in a collected edition.


30. MADAME XANADU



















Pretty excited to see this so high up on the list, as again it's another comic where I feel like I might be the only one reading it (although I do see it on Negative Man's pull list!). I can't really put it any better than how CBR's Andy Khouri puts it, so take it away Andy:

Arguably the most impressive debut of the year, Matt Wagner has taken a largely arcane DC Comics fortuneteller and breathed into her a whole new life. In the best Vertigo tradition, Xanadu’s magical story spans the ages, and with the help of breakout illustrator Amy Reeder Headly, readers follow the wide-eyed mystic as she rubs elbows with some of the most important figures in human history, from Kublai Khan to Marie Antoinette. With guest appearances by Etrigan the Demon, Merlin, Neil Gaiman’s Death and featuring a reinvigorated version of DC mainstay The Phantom Stranger in a co-starring and bizarrely romantic role, “Madame Xanadu” is poised to become Vertigo’s next classic series.


16. NORTHLANDERS





















Ahhhh, now see- I guess this is turning into a Vertigo love fest and I didn't mean for it to be. I don't really care though, cause I love 'em. You know how we feel about Northlanders here and I am absolutely ecstatic to see someone like CBR put this book in their top 20 best comics of the year. It would probably be in my top 10, but whatever. Vikings. That's really all you need to know. Oh- and that the comic is written by Brian Wood and it kicks ten different ways of ass.


That about does it for what I wanted to point out to you all. Scalped, Criminal and All Star Superman took the top three spots and I ain't mad at any of those. A nine to five, tons of comic reading, a strong 4th Quarter showing of Xbox 360 games and travel kept me from deciding on a top 10 of my own so this list stands as a really good reference to some great stuff you might have missed out on in 2008.

- TFM