If you’ve read Death of Comics Bookcase, you may recognize the werewolf priest from the first story, the one co-created by myself and artist Anna Readman. Father Lupe Hidalgo is a folk hero-ish border priest, bitten by a supernatural dog and turned into a werewolf. Hunted by U.S. Border Patrol, he starts fighting back…and off our story goes.

Alden did an absolutely tremendous job not only drawing the character but capturing his essence, from the rosary around the neck to the stellar, detailed ofrenda in the foreground. I LOVE this piece, which has me equal parts excited to do more with this character (hopefully news on that front soon) and to follow Alden’s career from here. Really amazing work!

Zack’s Favorite Comics of 2024

And with that, it’s time to get into my personal favorite comics of 2024, presented below in alphabetical order. This is FAR from a definitive list. In fact, as I write this, there’s a stack of critically-acclaimed books within arms reach I haven’t even cracked yet. I also didn’t include books that appeared on The Beat’s Best of List, since I already played a part in spotlighting those elsewhere.

In some ways, this little list is just a great encapsulation of my personal year reading comics, and because of that it skews a bit toward direct market and crowdfunded releases. I read maybe too many direct market single issues for my column at The Beat, and I also read a TON of crowdfunders since that’s the space I use to sell and make my own comics.

Anyway! Here’s hoping you find a book or two on here that sounds good to you as well…enjoy!

A Ghost Arm Made of Angry Ghosts
Writer/Colorist: Oliver Mertz
Artist: Alex Diotto
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Publisher: Self-published
I had the distinct honor of running my Death of Comics Bookcase Kickstarter concurrently with my favorite crowdfunded book of the year — this idiosyncratic comic that mashes up superpowers and the punk rock music scene in Washington, D.C. It’s one of those books that’s so good it reminds you that crowdfunding is a great space to find some of the industry’s biggest, weirdest swings. Oh, and it’s getting a full book release down the road from Oni Press, so keep an eye out for that!

Dandelion
Creator and Writer: Sabir Pirzada
Artists: Martín Morazzo, Vanesa Del Rey, Eric Koda, Roy Allan Martinez, Gegê Schall, Thomas Campi, Adrian Rivero, Juha Veltti, Marquis Rogers
Colors: Juha Veltti, Jacob Phillips, Lee Loughridge
Letterers: Aditya Bidikar, Taylor Esposito
Publisher: Image Comics
Obviously, I don’t mind books that tell one story through a bunch of vignettes drawn by different artists (ahem), and I especially don’t mind them when they are as well done as the near-future sci-fi comic Dandelion. I’m really surprised this book isn’t popping up on more Best Of lists. It’s a stunning look at how technology can alter our familiar world in gigantic, inhumane ways without it becoming unrecognizable. I loved it.

The Dead and the Damned
Writer: Sebastian Girner
Artist: Kelly Williams
Letterer: Jeff Powell
Publisher: Goats Flying Press
Similar to A Ghost Arm of Angry Ghosts, The Dead and the Damned is another crowdfunded book that is so good it makes me proud to be part of the Kickstarter comics community. This dark, medieval fantasy war comic is really a treasure when read physically, with an oversized format that perfectly suits the many gritty and grandiose spreads inside. Word has it a third and final issue is on the way to Kickstarter next year via publisher Goats Flying Press…don’t miss it!

Dying Inside
Writers: Pete Wentz and Hannah Klein
Artist: Lisa Sterle
Letterer: AndWorld Design
Publisher: Vault Comics
This graphic novel — the first from Vault Comics new music-related Headshell line — takes the Elliot Smith phase that many (all?) of us went through in adolescence, combines it with witchcraft, and turns it into a really poignant graphic novel. This book does a great job of capturing certain feelings that felt enormous at the time…and have become just faint wisps to me now. I loved going back, and I loved the characters and story I found there.

Grommets
Writers: Rick Remender and Brian Posehn
Artist: Brett Parson
Colorist: Moreno Dinisio
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image Comics - Giant Generator
Speaking of going back to a very specific and bygone time in life, one of my favorite series this year was the Sacramento-set skate coming-of-age comedy, Grommets. The artwork is gritty and detailied and hilarious, and the kids in this book are so well-written as they tumble between skating and smoking weed and the embarassments of young romance. It’s a breath of fresh air in a sea of monthly comics about swords and zombies and spaceships.

Hello Darkness - The War
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Becky Cloonan
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
In a year where horror anthologies were seemingly everywhere, my favorite story to appear in any of them was The War. It’s a different, grounded sort of horror comic that hyper focuses on a handful of relatable, city-dwelling people, and shows what the practical reality of nuclear war would be for them over a certain amount of time. I found it chilling in how real and devastating it all felt to me. I loved it.

Into the Unbeing
Writer: Zac Thompson
Artist: Hayden Sherman
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Artist Hayden Sherman had one hell of a year, one that saw them work on everything from marquee superhero initiatives (Absolute Wonder Woman) to much darker, indie fare…like this book. In this comic, Zac Thompson’s scripts evoke Jeff VanderMeer’s modern classic Southern Reach series, teeing Sherman up to deliver some of the best alien imagery to appear in any comic all year. I’m very excited this series will be picking up in the New Year with Into The Unbeing Part 2.

Morning Star
Writers: David ‘DB’ Andry & Tim Daniel
Artist: Marco Finnegan
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Letterer: Justin Birch
Publisher: Mad Cave Studios
This book is a 1950s-set story of a firefighter who loses his life in the woods…and what happens to his family afterward. In many ways, it’s a deep and smart family drama about loss and continuing on. It’s also a great-looking comic, colored to absolute perfection by Jason Wordie, who is easily one of this era’s best colorists. I enjoyed reading this story quite a bit month-to-month, but I think it will read even better in trade, if you happened to have missed it.

Night People
Based on the Novel By: Barry Gifford
Writer: Chris Condon
Artist: Brian Level, Artyom Topilin
Colorist: Ronda Pattison
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Publisher: Oni Press
I don’t know that I’ve ever called Wild At Heart my absolute favorite David Lynch movie, but it’s up there. I bring that up because that movie, like this comic, is based on a novel by Barry Gifford. And I think this comic has a similar energy as a result. It’s a story of dark, gritty turns for normal people, and it’s unpredictable and hard to look away from. Chris Condon’s comics adaptation of it is great, as is all the artwork from his collaborators. In a year that was brimming with good dark and weird, this was one of the best.

One For Sorrow
Story, Art, Colors: Jamie McKelvie
Colors: Courtney Vokey
Letters: Ariana Maher
Publisher: DSTLRY
Okay, so I know this book only put out one over-sized issue all year (and the second issue is not due until February!), but I was so intrigued by this comic, that I just had to have it on my list here. Jamie McKelvie weaves a complex and immersive and very smart story in this book, and also illustrates it to look polished and absolutely gorgeous (as all McKelvie comics tend to be). I enjoyed quite a bit of what DSTLRY put out in 2024, but for me personally, this one (even with just a single issue) was the standout.

Paranoid Gardens
Writers: Gerard Way and Shaun Simon
Artist: Chris Weston
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Nate Piekos
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
I absolutely love a good comic wherein I have no idea what it’s even trying to do, and Paranoid Gardens was certainly that. I mean, I knew the art was excellent and the story was intriguing, but I found the rest of this series weird and unpredictable in the best ways from month to month. The closest comp I can think of is the Morrison, Case run of Doom Patrol, albeit with fewer superheroes…and that comp is high praise indeed, since that’s one of my all-time favorite comics.

Plastic Man No More
Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Artists: Alex Lins with Jacob Edgar
Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo
Letterer: Becca Carey
Publisher: DC Comics - Black Label
I absolutely love character-specific takes that involve heroes from DC or Marvel’s deep benches…and this is one of the best I’ve read in recent memory, probably since Mister Miracle. It does an interesting thing with using two artists and to convey the dichotomy of Plastic Man, a character often deployed as comic relief, in spite of having a pretty dark backstory. Pair that with a heartrending father-son relationship that is central to this four-issue mini, and you’ve got one of the best capes comics of the year.

The Sickness
Writers: Lonnie Nadler and Jenna Cha
Artist: Jenna Cha
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
This book — which launched its second story arc with a sixth issue in October — was one I reviewed for The Beat this year…and I absolutely loved it. It’s a haunting period piece that follows two characters, and it’s primarily driven by some of the most disturbing artwork (complimentary) in all of comics. Smartly told and subtle, this is my exact type of comic.

Sink
Writer: John Lees
Artist: Alex Cormack
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Publisher: Comix Tribe
Reading Sink had been on my to-do list for a very long time…and I finally caught up with it this year, crushing the entire series up through the new issues that just recently hit kickstarter. Sink has its fans, certainly, but for how great this book is, it still feels like it deserves more readers. It’s just so well done. In fact, it’s in the conversation for best horror comic of recent years, and it just might be at the top. I highly recommend tracking down all 15 issues and binging away. You won’t regret it.

Spectators
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Niko Henrichon
Letterer: Fonografiks
Publisher: Exploding Giraffe
This is an incredibly NSFW comic that is also an incredibly contemplative and empathetic treatise on dying and death (we’ve got a couple of those this year…). It was an absolute joy to follow this book week-to-week as Brian K. Vaughan and Niko Henrichon shared pages via a newsletter that also felt like a supportive and often-hilarious old school online community. It concludes its run online next week, ahead of a physical release for the full 300-page book in 2025.

Who Killed Sarah Shaw?
Writer: Frankee White
Artist: Adam Markiewicz
Publisher: Self-Published
One of the highlights of my comics year was easily following this book as the creators slowly doled out new pages, and, as a result, the truth of what happens in this excellent mystery story. I don’t want to say too much about this one, because I’m going to write a full review of it ahead of this book’s crowdfunding campaign (it has so far only been published as a webcomic, via Adam Markiewicz’s patreon).

Conclusion

Thanks so much for checking out the list! It’s maybe an odd one, given the parameters I self-assigned to it, but hey, odd is interesting. I’m also happy to spotlight some books that you won’t find elsewhere.

Moving forward, this newsletter will hit your inbox on the first Tuesday of every month, starting in January. I’ve got new artist commissions finished through February, with more underway — so lots to be excited about in the New Year.

The big thing for me (and I may talk about this more in January) will be my new comic. Making Death of Comics Bookcase and seeing the support and excitement out there for the project was easily the highlight of my year. I’m judicious about the comics I make, since crowdfunding requires individual support, and that rightly is finite. But I think this one is going to be my best work yet. Stay tuned.

With that bit of ambiguity…happy holidays to you and yours, and take care!

-Zack Q.