Since everything on my portfolio is inherently about what comics do I write and what projects am I a part of, I figured it could be a neat change of pace to list some of the comic that I've actually read.

As the title suggests, this is not a list of my favorite comics that came out in 2024, but rather of those that I first read in 2024. And if you'd like to know what other comics or (audio)books have I read this year or in the previous years, you can check out my Goodreads profile.

10. Our Bones Dust

I've always been a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories (though most of the time preferably without zombies). And Our Bones Dust is a very unique kind of post-apocalyptic story. It's a 4 issue miniseries written and illustrated by Ben Stenbeck.

It has this visceral and bleak while at the same time very sci-fi feel to it, with some interesting approaches to dialogue (or rather lack there of when it comes to some characters) which I can always appreciate. Our Bones Dust was published by Image Comics from 2023 to 2024.

9. Hellboy: The Crooked Man & The Return of Effie Kolb

With the movie Hellboy: The Crooked Man (that I still haven't seen) coming out this year, I decided to check out the original comic story by Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, and Zach Howard. And what I got was a very fun as well as haunting series of stories with some great atmosphere and tension. I also really like how Hellboy stories that are not drawn by Mignola still preserve his distinctive look with the hard shadows and contrast colors, while at the same time offering a unique spin on it.

The original series of stories contained in Hellboy: The Crooked Man & The Return of Effie Kolb was released in 2015 and 2020 and was then collected by Dark Horse Comics in 2024 to accompany the movie.

8. Memetic: The Apocalyptic Trilogy

James Tynion IV. is a very interesting horror writer and I found his Memetic Trilogy to be an especially unique example of nihilistic and apocalyptic horror. It offers three stories that are very different, yet at the same time very consistent in their tone and atmosphere. All three were also illustrated by Eryk Donovan who gives them a very specific and sometimes unsettling look.

If you like bleak stories where humanity faces inevitable doom in the vein of John Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy, I would definitely recommend Memetic. All three stories were originally published by BOOM! Studios from 2014 to 2015 and were then collected into the Deluxe Edition in 2024.

7. Doomsday Clock

I really wasn't sure what to expect from Doomsday Clock. I think that making any kind of followup to Alan Moore's deliberately ambiguous ending of Watchmen inherently misses its point, while I also felt that it's weird to use Dr. Manhattan as an omnipotent plot device to fix DC's broken multiverse timeline.

And even though I still think all of that is true, I must also say that Doomsday Clock is a very compelling story that flows nicely within the guidelines that Alan Moore has set up for Watchmen, while also connecting it to the mainstream DC Universe as well as it probably can be done. It's not really a proper sequel to Watchmen, nor is it just glorified fan fiction. To me, it's something in between. And as that, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Doomsday Clock was written by Geoff Johns, illustrated by Gary Frank, and it was published by DC Comics from 2017 to 2019. The Complete Collection was released in 2020.

6. Blade Runner 2019

The 2019 comic series showed me what I think a perfect Blade Runner story should look like. It starts of with a relatively simple neo-noir detective case that is connected to the larger events of the Blade Runner universe just enough so that it doesn't become distracting. It then evolves in a much bigger story that takes us not only around dystopian California, but also to Off-World colonies that the films always hinted on, but never showed.

Blade Runner 2019 was illustrated by Andres Guinaldo and written by Mike Johnson and Michael Green, who also co-wrote Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049. The only thing that feels odd to me about this series is how it presents the world of Blade Runner as one that still has large and seemingly untouched areas of forests and other vegetation, which I hope might be explored more in its sequels that I'm planning to check out: Blade Runner 2039, 2049, and Origins.

The 12 issues of Blade Runner 2019 were published by Titan Comics and originally run from 2019 to 2020. The series was then collected into a box-set in 2021.

5. Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka

Now this is a bit of a generalization, since it is not one book, but rather a collection of all the main Wonder Woman books that Greg Rucka wrote between 2002 and 2006. Rucka is one of my favorite comic book writers (still looking forward to that Black Magick comeback) and I really like what he's done with Wonder Woman for the Rebirth era in 2016.

His original run is also very interesting. At this point we don't yet know what James Gunn is planning to do with Wonder Woman in the newly established DCU, but I think that a loose adaptation of Rucka's original Wonder Woman run could work nicely not only as a movie, but maybe even as a TV show.

It's a very fun combination of the mundane and the supernatural. Of our world and the world of the Amazons. It's basically half The West Wing, half Clash of the Titans. Volume 1 of Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka was first collected in 2004 by DC Comics, followed by Volume 2 in 2005 and Volume 3 in 2010. Some artists working on this run include James Raiz, Drew Johnson, Sean Phillips, J.G. Jones, and more.

4. Hit Me

I can always go for a good crime thriller. At the same time it may often be a challenge to make it unique enough to stand out among all the others in the genre. And Hit Me written by Christa Faust and illustrated by Priscilla Petraites definitely does stand out. It takes the usual trappings of hard-boiled thriller stories like smuggled diamonds, gambling, or prostitution, and then adds a professional BDSM sex worker as our main heroine into the mix.

While reading Hit Me, I was coencidentally also reading some Hellraiser comics and to be honest, I think that Hit Me was much closer to the original themes of Hellraiser than those. Not because it would have any elements of horror or fantasy, but because of how it balanced the pain and pleasure concepts of BDSM while also slowly blurring the difference between the two.

The 5 issues of Hit Me were published and then collected by AWA Studios in 2022.

3. Peacemaker Tries Hard!

I really like what James Gunn has done with The Suicide Squad as well as the Peacemaker series. And even though the DC Comics continuity doesn't follow the movie universe in any way, Peacemaker Tries Hard! written by Kyle Starks and illustrated by Steve Pugh may as well be a direct continuation of season one. It's dark, funny, bizzare, sometimes offensive, and with a little bit of heart added at the end.

At the time of writing this, we're still at least 8 months away from Peacemaker season 2. So if you need something to make the wait a little more bearable, Peacemaker Tries Hard! is the perfect fix. It is a 6 issue miniseries published in 2023 by DC Comics under their DC Black Label.

2. Strange Adventures

And speaking of DC Black Label, I guess everyone is already familiar with Tom King's Strange Adventures. I vaguely knew about it before, but only read through it this year (and without knowing anything about the original comic book series).

I must admit that Tom King's writing doesn't work for me every single time, but when it hits, it hits hard. Strange Adventures is a great story about analyzing idealistic past under the harsh microscope of the present day. About how war can change people, no matter what their intentions might have been at the start.

Strange Adventures is a 12 issue miniseries that was originally released from 2020 to 2021 by DC Comics under the DC Black Label, written by Tom King and illustrated by Mitch Gerads  and Evan "Doc" Shaner.

1. The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television

December 25th 2024 marked 100th birthday of Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone TV series. So I think it's very fitting that I can now share with you my favorite comic that I discovered this year.

The Twilight Man is a graphic novel biography of Rod Serling written and illustrated by Koren Shadmi. It deals with Serling's early life as well as his career in television and the relationship with his family. It's a fantastic look into one man's creativity and imagination and his struggles against the American television censorship in the 1950s and 1960s.

What is also great about this book is that it not only shows the importance of Serling's work within the wider history of sci-fi, horror, and the television medium, but it also delves into his personal flaws, making The Twilight Man a story about a real person instead of an idealized version of one.

If you are a fan of The Twilight Zone, you should definitely check out this book. If you are not but you are a creative person struggleing with ideas and inspiration, you should most definitely read this book (and then go watch some Twilight Zone).

The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television was published by Humanoids in 2019.