Time for so more highlights and lowlights, this time from Sean Robinson

Highlights

1. /Saga/

I could sit here and tell you what Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga is closest to in forms of other literature. I could tell you it’s Star Wars meets Game of Thrones, but that would most certainly not give it the recognition it deserves. Saga is more than an amalgamation of many science fiction and fantasy works. It is the fully realised story of two people on different sides of a war who fall in love, with more character development in a single panel than most series do in one issue.

Combined with Staples’ glorious art and design and we have a series that is one of the best, and I hope will keep on going for years to come.

Favourite issue:  #14 has my favourite page in a comic this year too.

2. /Rachel Rising/

I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard of this horror series written and drawn by Terry Moore. I haven’t had a chance to review it just yet, only having discovered it not too long ago, but this has quickly jumped up to being one of my most anticipated series each month. A slow burning horror series centred on the resurrection of the title character Rachel, it is probably most impressive in what Moore doesn’t write, letting the images speak for themselves for pages on end, creating a truly creepy world. A masterpiece of horror in any medium.

Favourite issue: Seriously the entire run is fantastic, can’t pin a single issue down.

3. /Young Avengers/

I never read the original Young Avengers run that people held so dear, so I can’t speak to the quality or the legacy which that series holds.  What I can tell you is that the second volume of Young Avengers is awesome in its own right. Sure, it’s creepy that Loki is a kid again, but a hilariously told tale from Keiron Gillen about growing up as a superhero, with all the awkwardness of being a internet-age  teenager, completed by a brilliantly designed page layout from Jamie McKelvie. It’s coming to an end soon, so you best be getting on the train while you still can.

Favourite issue:  Issue #7, complete with Loki’s newsfeed. Great stuff.

Lowlight of 2013

/Joker’s Daughter #1/

This issue is a travesty – a mess of storytelling and sub par art work. A character that doesn’t need to exist, who has the most tenuous ties to the Joker. Regardless, could work with an able writer, but Ann Noncenti messes it up so horrifically that I never want to see or hear from this character again. Shame on you DC.