Conor’s Top 5 Reasons To Be Comic Book Thankful This Thanksgiving

Conor’s Top 5 Reasons To Be Comic Book Thankful This Thanksgiving

1. Batman

Boy, it’s a good time to be a Batfan, is it not? It’s mostly because of Scott Snyder but also because of Greg Capullo, Peter J. Tomasi, Kyle Higgins, Patrick Gleason, Eddy Barrows, Judd Winick, Guillem March, J.H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman, Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf, Tony S. Daniel, Paul Jenkins, and David Finch. I might not enjoy all of the books as much as I do some others, certainly. But on the whole? It’s been a dog’s age since the entire Batline has been, on the whole, this fun and exciting. Especially Batman. That book is so good that it’s truly becoming an event every time it comes out. Will it last? Who knows? I’m not worried about that. I’m too busy enjoying the ride.

2. Digital Comics

I’ve been dreaming of digital comics for years now and in 2011 we took a giant step forward. It took DC Comics to jump into the game and wake up the rest of the big companies (and believe me, it did) and now the digital landscape is completely different than it was barely a year ago. I can’t tell you how much I love being able to roll out of bed on Wednesday and download the week’s offerings from Image Comics via Graphicly. (Full Disclosure: iFanboy is owned by Graphicly, a digital comics platform.) We still have a long way to go with digital comics. It’s still early and everyone is still figuring everything out, but this year saw a big, and important, step.

3. Young Justice

The world just doesn’t feel good for me unless there is a fantastic superhero cartoon on TV, and right now that’s Young Justice. Now in its second half of its first season on Cartoon Network, it’s basically a mash-up of the Teen Titans, but since I wasn’t all that thrilled by the new comic book, the show is filling that sizable Teen Titans hole in my heart. With the sizable Justice League playing supporting cast, and a seemingly endless line of DC guest stars, every episode is a ton of fun.

4. Daredevil

My goodness, I love this book with my whole heart and with part of the heart of the closest person in the room. Despite his fantastic work on Irredeemable, I feel like a lot of people had forgotten just how damn good Mark Waid is at writing comic books. And now they’ve been reminded with the comic book equivalent of Mark Waid walking up to comic book fans and slapping them in the face and saying, “I’m Mark Waid. I’m fucking good at this.” Waid and artists Paolo Rivera and Marcos Martin have brought us a swashbuckling Matt Murdock who is loving life as much as I am loving this comic book. Daredevil was, for over a decade, one of my favorite comic books but I just couldn’t take the dreariness anymore. The first issue of this new brighter, more fun-loving Matt Murdock was like a cold drink of water on a hot and humid day. And each issue has been an utter joy to read since.

5. Paul Montgomery

You really have to work here to fully appreciate why, but Paul is awesome and we couldn’t do half of what we do without him.