Best Comics Of 2020

The New Mutants, one of the only comic book movies released in 2020, shoots for a Breakfast Club-meets-horror vibe that never quite balances out. Appropriately, a successful version of that same idea showed up around the same time the movie debuted, in a different medium. 

We like to describe writer Simon Spurrier and artist Chris Wildgoose's Alienated as E.T. The Extraterrestrial blended with Akira, with maybe a hint or two of FLCL. But reducing the story of three kids named Sam and their adorable, terrifying alien pal to a list of influences does it a major disservice. 

Spurrier conjures high-stakes emotional moments out of his charges, despite the relatively short six-issue period we spend amongst them. According to Alienated, person-to-person interactions are an inevitable source of trauma — and an absolute necessity for survival. Needless to say, it's a fitting read for 2020. Alienated explores fractured families, imagines fabulous alien landscapes, and satirizes edgelord YouTubers with insight, precision, and (surprise!) a sizable helping of empathy. It's too late to fix The New Mutants, but maybe someone at Marvel should call up writer Simon Spurrier, seeing as how he does alright with angst-ridden super teens in Alienated. Oh wait — they already have. As usual, Jonathan Hickman's three steps ahead of us.

If someone held a gun to our heads and forced us to pick a comic of the year, we'd point to John Constantine: Hellblazer by Simon Spurrier and artists Aaron Campbell and Matias Bergara, and declare it superior to all other 2020 comics. 

Tragically cut off after only 12 issues, this modern-day tale of the reluctant sorcerer sees him struggle amid a dangerous moment in British history. But not every malignant force emerges from supernatural origins. In addition to the usual demons, devils, and other adversaries of that ilk, Constantine takes on xenophobia, nationalism, misinformation, and, on top of all that, the numerous unpleasantries attached to his own legacy. No wonder he hasn't quit smoking.

Campbell generally handles the night-time issues, while Bergara draws the new age-y, occasionally stomach-turning sights of London in the daylight hours. Their work is spectacular, and continually innovative. While there are dozens of vampire comics being produced at virtually all times, how often do we see unicorns in mainstream horror stories? What about mermaids? Or, for that matter, what about mermaids who are also allegories for exploitation under unfettered capitalism? 

When it comes to getting the most out of their intergalactic IPs, Marvel's had it all over DC in recent years. To demonstrate this, we don't even need to point out the day-and-night contrast between Guardians of the Galaxy and Green Lantern. The first Guardians did better at the box office than Man of Steel, DC's only solo Superman movie of the era. And the second Guardians movie also beat Superman. 

Perhaps the entire spectrum of DC-branded media could take a hint from Far Sector. It could be Green Lantern requires no fixing, only a willingness to embrace the mythos' infinite possibilities. After all, pretty much anyone can wear a power ring and use it to travel pretty much anywhere — why not go a little further afield?

Far Sector, from writer N.K. Jemisin and artist Jamal Campbell, follows Lantern Sojourner Mullein as she attempts to unravel a murder mystery tied to a conspiracy that threatens all who reside within the City Enduring. The City Enduring is a glittering, cosmic municipality where emotions are outlawed, occupied by aliens with species names like The Nah and the @At. Often, when you pick up a Green Lantern comic book, it turns out to be a Hal Jordan story that's pretty much entirely about other, older Hal Jordan stories. Far Sector presents us with a cyberpunk Green Lantern story with timely social commentary, innovative sci-fi ideas, and sleek visuals. It's much more awesome this way.  

Out of the handful of projects James Tynion IV wrote this year, DC's headlining Batman series is the least interesting by a mile. So, professionally speaking, if his lamest thing is Batman, he's had a better-than-okay 2020.

After the early buzz for Something Is Killing The Children convinced Boom! Studios to upgrade it from a limited to an ongoing series and demand for the premiere issue warranted a sixth printing, Tynion unleased yet another horror title: The Department of Truth with Martin Simmonds. As of issue #1, which dropped in September, DoT plays out like a meditation on 20th century American history, charged with the reality-agnostic dark energies of the The X-Files and Twin Peaks: The Return.

But since we'd feel weird about putting two Tynion comics on this list, let's go with SiKtC. Adult readers might assume they've outgrown their instinctive fear of what lurks in the nothingness. That theory will not hold up against the bleak fairy tale nightmarescapes of artist Werther Dell'edera. SiKtC concerns the aftermath of the initial five issues, an arcane order of monster hunters with ulterior motives, and a big bloody pile of small town misery.  Let us emphasize that the title is not a euphemism. This series is definitely not for everybody — but if it's for you, you're in for a great time.

With 2018's Mister Miracle, Tom King penned one of the greatest DC comics of the millennium so far. Whether he'll ever equal this feat remains to be seen. But following a very inconsistent 2019, he pulled out a pretty stellar 2020. 

With only one issue out, it's too early to form an opinion on King and Clay Mann's Batman/Catwoman. The first three issues of King's second-newest DC series, Rorschach, with Jorge Fornés, have not been universally praised, but that's to be expected, as it's a violent political(ish) thriller set in Alan Moore's formerly sacrosanct Watchmen universe. Any project fitting that description will ruffle some feathers, regardless of its merits. Meanwhile, with more than half of Strange Adventures on the shelf, we're pretty sure we can describe King's other 2020 superhero book as a rousing success without anyone getting mad at us. 

The 12-issue miniseries Strange Adventures switches between present-day conditions on Earth depicted by Mitch Gerads and flashbacks to Adam Strange fighting in the war over the Pykkts' invasion of Rann, his adopted home world, drawn by Evan "Doc" Shaner. The art serves a thematic purpose beyond just creating awesome outer space laser battles — which isn't to say there aren't plenty of awesome outer space laser battles in Strange Adventures. But the contrast between Gerads' off-kilter realism and Shaner's idealized retrospection brilliantly emphasizes the disconnect between heroic myth-making and the morally ambiguous, and maybe even shameful, truth. 

We'll admit that we fudged the rules a bit with this one. X of Swords is a crossover event encompassing Marvel's entire line of X-books from the summer of 2020 — it's not a series unto itself. But since Wolverine, Hellions, X-Men, Cable, Marauders, and X-Force all make a case for inclusion on this best of 2020 list, and X of Swords ties all six and more together in a mutant fantasy epic of a magnitude unseen since 1988's The Asgardian Wars, perhaps some rules were meant to be whimsically rewritten on the spot. 

Where 2019's House of X and Powers of X address the hard sci-fi side of the X-Men via sociopolitical metaphors, time travel, and resurrection, X of Swords pulls from the grab bag of surreal, supernatural elements Wolverine and pals have encountered amid their decades of published history. The story involves the lost island of Arakko and its population of mutant warriors, the previously unmentioned wife and children of Apocalypse, and, most importantly, a combat tournament orchestrated by The Omniversal Majestrix Opal Luna Saturnyne. In one highly memorable scene, Illyana Rasputin loses an arm wrestling contest to a giant alligator-type being known as Pogg Ur-Pogg. But fret not — humanism and humor take precedence over incomprehensibility, delightful though it may be. 

This 22 chapter undertaking was overseen by writers Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard, and includes contributions from more writers and artists than we have room to list. They all do fabulous work.