Wayfarer Special: Top 10 Indie Comics of 2011 (Part 2 of 2)

And so once more into the breach dear friends, as I bring us to the second half of this happy little countdown of the Indie comics that I loved the most this past year. Yes, I know, it's been a long gap since Part 1 of this little countdown and the New Year is well into it's first quarter, but it is what it is - I felt that coverage of our Comic Con in Delhi and all that came out of it took precedence and this could wait just a bit.

Before I get to the final leg of the countdown, a quick listing of the books that almost made it to this top ten but fell just shy. I wish I could have made this list longer and perhaps I will review them all in the near future, but in the meantime I think they all deserve an Honourable mention:

• The Goon (Writer/Artist: Eric Powell)
• G.I.Joe Cobra (Writer: Christos Gage and Mike Costa, Artist: Antonio Fuso)
• Scarlet (Writer: Brian Michael Bendis, Artist: Alex Maleev)
• Scalped (Writer: Jason Aaron, Artist: R. M. Guéra)
• Artifacts (Writers: Ron Marz, Marc Silvestri & Matt Hawkins, Artists: Michael Broussard, Stjepan Sejic)
• Super Dinosaur (Writer: Robert Kirkman, Artist: Jason Howard)
• Fallen Angel: Return of the Son (Writer: Peter David, Artist: J.K.Woodward)

So thank you for your patience and now without any further rambling along on my part, lets just get to it shall we?

05. HELLBOY

Click to enlarge

Writer: Mike Mignola w/ John Arcudi

Artist: Various

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

For those of you that have been following Mike Mignola's worlds as they've evolved in the Hellboy, B.P.R.D and related series, I think you know what I mean when I say that for so many years now they have been the most consistent, creative and amazingly put together comics – among the best comics as a medium have to offer in a sense. For those that have not, you are really missing out on something special.

The various story arcs and such together form such an amazing, long-running and vast story-line and world that it's amazing they've managed it for such a long period of time – and the hand of creator Mike Mignola is definitely visible in every single book, even the one's he has not directly scripted himself. Of course credit where it's due to the talents who've worked with him and been able to strike a nice balance between their own work and style but ever retaining the unique look and feel that Mignola brought to the comic-medium. The truly awesome part being that it remains this damn good even after 17 years!

Wayfarer Special: Top 10 Indie Comics of 2011 (Part 1 of 2)

Welcome back to another wayfaring edition of my rambling and meanderings through the world of comics folks!

Today I have something special for you however. You see I decided that with 2011 now over for a time, there was a massive surge of independent titles and creativity that really brought something new to the industry. Image Comics in particular had a banner year and produced fantastic series after series that left readers breathless.
With this in mind I decided to create a short-list of some of the best and brightest of what I had read this past year. Now bear in mind this is a subjective list and merely my listing things out off the top of my head, first instinct and all that!

There were some magnificent titles that are worthy of praise and celebration but unfortunately my decision to keep this a “Top Ten” list limits the titles I can talk about here. So I will address the ones that got missed here in a later post, for now lets just start our countdown shall we? Good!

(...and as always, all images can be clicked for larger versions! Enjoy.)

10. AXE COP: BAD GUY EARTH

Writer: Malachai Nicolle and Ethan Nicolle

Artist: Ethan Nicolle

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

What can one say about this series? It is hands down the single most fun and creatively outrageous series possibly ever written. For those that don't know – this mini-series was originally a web-comic written and drawn by 29 year-old Ethan based on stuff that he and Malachai (now about 7?) came up with while playing together. Seriously. Think on that a moment.

Centred on our hero – Axe Cop – who is basically a cop who sleeps only a couple of minutes a day because he works the “always shift” and is the ultimate bad-ass, we see dinosaurs, aliens, Ninja Moon Warriors, a pet T-Rex with gatling gun arms and anything and everything you can imagine. Filled to the brim with entertainment and (I repeat) sheer wall-to-wall fun, you don't need backstory or continuity or anything – this is just simple enjoyable comic reading and in an industry trying very hard to be taken seriously, this book just throws it all out the window with style.