HOLIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE :: Former Employee Dan Morris Says--

2007 was a great year for comics. I can say that if it was possible, I probably would have spent all of my money on comics this past year since there were so many comics out there that I just wanted to own. Anyways, this is a list of all the stuff that I read throughout the year that I dearly enjoyed. Warning though: most of my tastes tend to skew towards the oddball!

Best Ongoing Series: Cold Heat
Cold Heat was one of the weirdest and wildest books I read this past year. The best way to describe it is as an acid punk teen epic. Frank Santoro's art perfectly captures the weirdness and alienation inherrent in being a teenager with his blue and pink color scheme while Ben Jones' plot takes things about as weird as they can go. This was a comic as bizarre as it was rewarding. Though it ended at issue four, I can't wait for the conclusion in the graphic novel that's coming out in 2008.

Best Limited Series: Delpine
I've enjoyed the work of cartoonist Richard Sala for years but I think that he's never been better than he has with this series. A retelling of Snow White, Sala keeps making the story creepier and creepier as he leads us (and his protagonist) through twists and turns that make me eager for the next issue.

Best Mature Series: Y the Last Man
I finally got into reading this series this year and of course I'm late to the party as this comic is just about to wrap up. However, better late than never I say. I'm consistently amazed at how Brian K. Vaughn has created a main character who I actually don't like and yet keeps me reading with every issue. I'm interested to see how it's all going to turn out at the end.

Best Collection: The Complete Terry and the Pirates vol. 1: 1934-1936
Thank IDW for giving us a huge chunk of Milt Caniff!

Best Comic Book Movie: TekkonKinkreet
I almost didn't have one as I didn't see 300 and I wasn't wowed by any superhero movies. Then I remembered this movie, an animated adaptation of Taiyo Matsumoto's manga of the same name, that blew me away. The movie really translated Matsumoto's visual style into animation, which is not as easy as you would think is, and created this amazing movie. It's definitely one of the best animated movies to come out of Japan from a studio not named "Ghibli."

OTHER STUFF
Favorite single issue: Multiple Warheadz #1
If there was any one comic that I forced people to read this past year, it was this one. Brandon Graham's dystopic sci-fi story takes a number of influences, puts them in a pot, adds a little absurdism and sex, and created one of the most satisfying comics I read this past year. I look forward to future issues of this series.

Favorite Online Comic: Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell
I don't read a lot of webcomics but I sure like this one. Gunnerkirgg Court is an all ages story about a young girl going on adventures in a mysterious school full of monsters, robots, and magic. Gunnerkrigg easily keeps me coming back with it's wonderful characters, lovely art, and fun story.

Favorite Event: World War Hulk
HULK SMASH PUNY MARVEL UNIVERSE

Favorite Comic Named After Music Sub-Genre: Black Metal
A book I liked because it didn't take itself too seriously and was a lot of fun.

Favorite Hero: Iron Fist
Let's put it this way. After reading that last Immortal Iron Fist hardcover, the Essential Iron Fist seemed alot more essential.

Favorite Villain: Skrulls
Mostly because I can now accuse people of being Skrull spys.