Best of 2011: Suprise Hit

As 2011 comes to a close, it’s safe to say that it has been a banner year for the comics industry and fans alike. Here at Comic Booked, we have always taken our comics pretty seriously, and after a stellar year of new material, we are pleased to present you with our awards for Best of 2011! For this year’s awards we asked each of our team members for their input and nominations to see who they thought were the best of the best in the comic book industry over the past year! After a few weeks of careful thought, consideration and deliberation, we’ve selected these titles as our choices for the best that 2011 had to offer!

In the comic book industry, we’ve been taught to expect the unexpected. Occasionally, something still manages to come along and blows away any kind of preconceived expectations we may have had! That’s where this category comes in- Surprise Hit of 2011. This is where we honor any comic book titles or industry decisions that worked out way better than anyone really expected them to, or even just managed to catch us off guard with the sheer quality of the content. Here are our nominees for Surprise Hit of 2011!

• DC Comic’s The New 52. Honestly, did any of you really expect the DC Universe reboot to go over as well as it did? When DC first announced their massive universal reboot, the internet practically imploded from the immediate fan reaction. The transition to the DCnU went a lot smoother than I think anyone really expected it to, and while there are still plenty of people complaining about some of the changes, the majority of readers have accepted the DCnU for what it is and are beginning to embrace this new take on their favorite characters. – Jordamus Prime

• Godzilla: Kingdom Of Monsters. I had only expected to enjoy this as a fan of the character but had no idea the book was going to be so epic in scale. It’s just like watching a Godzilla movie and shows that Eric Powell really understands the franchise.- Skott of Fables

• Aquaman. Yes, it’s a Geoff Johns book, so the fact that it’s good really isn’t surprising, but come on. I’m buying an Aquaman book and I have no immediate plans to drop it. If you told me a year ago that that would be the case, I would have laughed in your face.- Nick C
• Aquaman! It pulled out all the stops and tackled the jokes about how lame Aquaman is head on. Add on great writing and stellar artwork to that, and you‘ve got a clear winner. – James Halstead

• The New 52 Batman. I picked it up because I like the writer, and was just expecting a nice enjoyable read, and received so much more. The plot is epically captivating, and that speech with the gargoyles in issue #2? Ah. Brilliant. If you’re not reading it, go read it! – Nicole Sixx

• Batwoman! It seems like I am the only one talking about Kate Kane, but her book is awesome and she is going to be a star. I just have to make sure everyone else knows it. – Jason Padua

• Batgirl #1. I was very hesitant to pick this up, for reasons that have been recounted by too many people all across the web. Then I read it, and any doubt of putting Babs back in the cowl and having her run around in a cape was dashed by this excellent treatment of her recovery and return to superheroics.- Robert LeMoyne

• The New 52’s Superman. Fans whined and cried at first, but after three issues are finally starting to realize there has always been more to Superman than a pair of red undies.- Jeremy Boreske

• Can I nominate Supergirl for this? As one of the New 52 that I just picked up on a whim, I was really shocked by how good the first issue was. Green and Johnson really capture Kara’s confusion in the mayhem of landing on Earth and being attacked by giant machines. And the quality hasn’t dropped off in the following issues, as it’s taken a strange, but still interesting, turn. – Michael Wirth

• Spider-Island: Cloak & Dagger. Two B-list characters who were created to fill out a Marvel anti-drugs PSA were given their due by Nick Spencer and the phenomenal Emma Rios. Spider-Island was a rare in that the main storyline and its spin-offs had a high quality. Cloak and Dagger were the pick of the litter. -Emmet O’Cuana

Winner, Comic Booked’s Surprise Hit of 2011-

Aquaman

Congratulations to Aquaman’s creative team of Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, as well as DC Comics for being Comic Booked’s Surprise Hit of 2011! A special congratulations also goes out to all of the other nominees for being some of the best titles available this year!