Top Comics of 2023 (Part 1)

Jan 10, 2024

It’s January here at Do You Know What I Love The Most?, and that means it’s time to sum up the last 12 months with Year End Lists! I’ll be devoting the rest of this month to rounding up and discussing the various media released in 2023 that meant the most to me — just like every other website on the internet! Isn’t that special?

Today we’ll be diving into probably my favorite medium of all, comic books! These are the comics — be they monthly periodicals, graphic novels, manga, or webcomics — released in 2023 that touched me, thrilled me, and sucked me in like no others.

Due to size restrictions for these emails, we’ll be discussing the first half of this list today, and the remaining Friday in Part 2.

Daredevil (Marvel)

2023 was a year of transition for the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, both in his fictional Marvel universe and behind the scenes in our own real world. Much of the year saw Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto bringing their epic multi-year run to a close, crafting a grand finale that not only took advantage of Checchetto’s lush artwork to create gritty, visceral action sequence after gritty, visceral action sequence, but that managed to wrap up Zdarsky’s story in an appropriately bittersweet bow; in typical Daredevil fashion, Matt Murdock can only save the day by surviving the most brutal losses and facing the harshest of consequences, but he comes out looking all the more heroic for it. It’s the kind of ending comic books do best, tying subplots up in a neat bow and closing a definitive chapter in the hero’s life, while still leaving the door open for what comes next. What ended up coming next was writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Aaron Kuder, who ran with the new status quo Zdarsky set up — Matt is now a priest presiding over a foster home for wayward children, with no memory of his life as Daredevil — to squeeze as much domestic drama and personal angst out of the concept as possible. Most surprisingly, Ahmed and Kuder have pitted their hero against the supernatural, demonic entities who have tested not only Daredevil’s mettle as a hero, but Matt’s fundamental Catholic faith. It’s an unexpected direction that nonetheless is a natural fit for Daredevil, and it’s been a joy to follow so far — a worthy new run in one of the most consistent comic titles of all time.

Tales of the Titans #1 (DC)

Over at DC, 2023 has been the year of the Titans. Writer Tom Taylor has spun his wildly successful Nightwing1 run into a Titans ongoing series that finds the formerly teenaged heroes replacing the Justice League as the primary defenders of Earth, and has spun that into the massive, line-wide event Titans: Beast World. Before that, though, came Tales of the Titans, a mini-series that handed each of its four issues off to a new creative team to tell a standalone, spotlight story featuring a different Titan. While all four of these issues were fun in their own way, it’s only Tales’ first issue specifically — a spotlight on Starfire by Shannon and Dean Hale and Javier Rodriguez — that instantly secured its place on this list. Starfire is a character I think is often misunderstood, with writers focusing only on her anger, her relationships, or using her as fanservice. The Hales and Rodriguez, though, understand that Starfire is a character who is driven by love, by feeling every emotion so strongly that she cannot deny them. It’s the foundation all the best Starfire stories are built on, and Tales #1 certainly finds itself a new entry on that list, testing the limits of Starfire’s endurance, compassion, and sense of duty as she’s once again called to help the citizens of her homeworld, and ultimately, boldly declaring her indomitable, unbreakable spirit. Single issues rarely make the impression on me that Tales of the Titans #1 did, and that’s worth recognizing.

The Deviant (Image)

Over the past few years James Tynion IV has transformed from a writer primarily known for working on Batman to a writer best-known for consistently putting out some of the very best horror titles comic books have to offer, and The Deviant looks to be a striking new entry into Tynion’s horror canon. A collaboration with artist Joshua Hixson, The Deviant finds a thirty-something gay writer investigating a Christmas-themed serial killer from his youth, only for the murders to suddenly resume in the present day. The story so far is suitably chilling, but only two issues actually released in 2023, so I can’t fairly judge this title too much yet based off story alone. What immediately stands out about The Deviant, though, is the way it examines the intersection of queerness and horror. For many of us young queers, our first exposure to other queer people is something negative, be it vile homophobic rhetoric from a pulpit or a family member or lurid tales of supposed perversion on TV or the internet. Seeing this part of yourself only portrayed as dangerous or evil over and over creates a stigma, to be sure, but also a morbid curiosity in the dark and taboo, and The Deviant digs to the heart of how that can effect a person throughout the course of their life. It’s remarkably well-observed thematic and character work that has lingered in the back of my mid ever since I finished the first issue.

It’s Jeff! (Marvel)

Writer Kelly Thompson first introduced Jeff the Landshark in her tragically short-lived West Coast Avengers run, and the adorable rascal has come along with Thompson to just about every Marvel title she’s written since, passing hands from Gwenpool to Kate Bishop to Deadpool — and rising in prominence in the process — until finally receiving his own digital/infinite comic It’s Jeff! (its first two “seasons” have been released in print as It’s Jeff! 1 and It’s Jeff! The Jeffverse 1). These stories are a delight, three-to-five page, mostly silent tales of Jeff, that scamp, getting in and out of trouble, bothering his various handlers, and coming to the aid of other animals. Thanks to the Japanese art team known as Guihiru, Jeff is the cutest creature ever to be put on the printed page, and his adventures are full of sweet and silly ideas, laugh out loud moments, and some damn good cartooning. It’s Jeff! is a great pick for adults and kids alike, and never fails to put a smile on my face. Jeff should be in every Marvel book.

The Days / At The End (Kickstarter)

I first encountered Tommy Stella on Twitter in his capacity as the assistant of prolific comic writer Charles Soule, but it turns out he’s a writer in his own right, releasing two comics via Kickstarter in 2023, and both made deep impressions on me. The Days, with artist B.A. Roth, is a somber, touching look at a family in grief told from the perspective of a young child that managed to both genuinely move and surprise me. Meanwhile, At The End, with artist Jenna McMullins, is a more adult take on The Monster At The End of This Book. At The End introduces us to Garf, a gregarious, lovable purple monster who only wants to be our best friend, before informing us that Garf will die at the end of the book. Garf begs and pleads with us, the reader, not to finish the book and consign him to death, but the closer Garf gets to death, the more existential he becomes. It’s a story that’s silly and incredibly clever in its meta touches, but also genuinely touching, thought provoking, and life affirming. I was blown away by how much I liked these books, and if you can get your hands on them, I highly recommend them.

Superman (DC)

I didn’t realize how much I needed a “Back to Basics” approach to Superman until I picked up Joshua Williamson and Jamal Campbell’s new Superman run earlier this year. I’ve loved much of what’s been done with Superman over the past decade — especially the father/son stories with him and Jon — but there’s something exhilarating to me about returning to the Daily Planet, with stories revolving around Clark and Lois, Jimmy and Perry, and even Lex and Mercy, dealing with new and old villains alike. Reading this book genuinely feels like getting a new episode of Superman: The Animated Series every week, except the mostly standalone adventures are also, in the background, slowly building a compelling serialized story in its own right. This back to basics approach isn’t retreading old ground either — these classic characters continue to move forward into new roles, and Williamson and Campbell are creating new villains, incorporating newer figures in the Superman mythos such as Jon Kent, and are exploring an unwitting buddy cop dynamic between Superman and Lex Luthor that’s as funny and charming as it fresh. This run on Superman has been an absolute delight, and I can’t wait to see where it heads next.

ABOUT

“Do You Know What I Love the Most?” is a newsletter from Spencer Irwin about his relationship with the stories he loves. Spencer is an enthusiast and writer from Newark, Delaware, who likes punk rock, comic books, working out, breakfast, and most of all, stories. His previous work appeared on Retcon Punch, One Week One Band, and Crisis on Infinite Chords, and he can be found on Twitter at @ThatSpenceGuy. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe and share with your friends!

Nightwing made my Best Comcs lists in both 2021 and 2022, and to be completely honest, it remained one of my favorite titles in 2023 as well, but at this point I simply do not have much new to say about it that I haven’t already said somewhere else in this newsletter. I’m happy to give some other series some live instead.

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