Giant-sized - Comics year in review, best publisher, event, and awards

This is an extra-long episode with categories predetermined and agreed upon. Here are the nominees...

Best comic to show a lapsed fan

• House of X / Powers of X
• Black Hammer
• Hellblazer
• Green Lantern
• The Immortal Hulk
• Middlewest

Biggest Disappointment

• Fallen Angels
• Batman: Damned
• 2099
• Spider-Man by Abrams
• Return of Wolverine
• Last Knight On Earth
• Invisible Kingdom

Best Comics Trend

• Team listed as Co-Creators
• Sexploitation characters are now written by fabulous writers (Red Sonja, Deja Thoris)taken seriously
• Major publishers embrace horror/genre
• Grand Design
• ALPHA / OMEGA issues
• Kitschy properties are being given fun and clever books (Six Million Dollar Man, Barbarella)

Worst Comics Trend

• Solicitations Too Far Out
• Too Many Event Tie-Ins
• Constant Re-Scheduling
• Creator’s rights in jeopardy (Watchmen)
• Political Avoidance
• An overabundance of Elseworld Batman stories (Last Knight on Earth, Bat-dad in King’s run, Curse of the White Knight)

Biggest Surprise:

• DC Restructures into age bracket model
• Vertigo shuttered
• Young Animal returns
• DC Zoom and Ink a success!
• X-line complete relaunch
• Marvels are annotated and BACK
• Conan under Marvel and in every book

Biggest Surprise

• X-Men Immortality
• Hot claws NO MORE
• Walking Dead ends abruptly
• Black Hammer & Justice League
• Doomsday Clock finally completed

Best Publisher

• Marvel
• DC
• Image
• Vault
• Dark Horse

Best #1

• John Constantine: Hellblazer
• Silver Surfer: Black
• Captain Marvel #1
• ACTS OF EVIL: PUNISHER ANNUAL #1

Best Ongoing

• Immortal Hulk
• Justice League
• Venom
• The Dreaming
• Thor
• Black Hammer (+ various tie-ins)
• Gideon Falls

Best Event

• War of the Realms
• HoX & PoX
• Absolute Carnage
• Leviathan
• Year of the Villain

Best Reboot

• The X-Men Line
• Young Justice
• Daredevil
• Fantastic Four
• Batman/Superman
• Buffy
• Hellblazer

Most Memorable Retcon (bad or good)

• Moira X
• Wolverine and the Infinity Stones
• Xavier and Magneto working together
• Doomsday Clock
• Venom creates children on purpose

Best Romance

• Gambit and Rogue
• Krakoa Polyamory
• Batman and Catwoman
• Spider-Man and MJ
• Harley and Poison Ivy
• Betsy and Blob (X-Tremists)

Best Hero

• Venom
• Xavier
• Miles Morales
• Dora (The Dreaming)
• Doctor Strange
• Hum (Coda)
• Martian Manhunter

Best in-comic Team

• Excalibur
• Marauders
• The Marvelous X-Men
• Young Justice
• Doom Patrol

Best Villain

• Mister Sinister
• Knull
• Morbius
• Leviathan
• Lex Luthor
• Batman Who Laughs

Best Costume

• Captain Britain (Betsy Braddock)
• Batman Who Laughs
• Captain Kitty Pryde
• Green Lantern Sojourner “Jo” Mullein
• Skulldigger and Skeleton Boy
• Dark Captain Marvel

Best Series Debut

• Little Bird
• Silver Surfer: Black
• Spider-Man: Life Story
• The Batman’s Grave
• Far Sector
• Peter Cannon
• Die
• Sandman Presents: Hellblazer