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After a short five-year hiatus, we’re back with a longtime CBR tradition. At the end of the year, we polled the many members of the CBR staff that make this site so great and asked them for their for their rankings of the top comics of the year. Every publisher putting out new comics material in English, regardless of genre or format, was fair game; each individual list is then factored in to determine the overall Top 100 that will be unveiled on CBR over the course of this week.
Today, we start unveiling the list with entries No. 100 to 76, with the countdown continuing each day this week. Here’s the schedule (all times Eastern): Tuesday, 12/28, 3 p.m.: Top 75-51; Wednesday, 12/29, 3 p.m.: Top 50-26; Thursday, 12/30, 3 p.m.: Top 25-11; Friday, 12/31, 3 p.m.: Top 10; Saturday, 1/1, 9 a.m.: Master list.
Start perusing the list below, and if you feel so moved, take to Twitter and (politely) discuss your thoughts using the hashtag #CBRTop100.
100. Checkmate
Written by: Brian Michael Bendis
Art by: Alex Maleev, David Stewart and Lee Loughridge
Publisher: DC
This thrilling spy series continued the Event: Leviathan storyline by featuring a motley crew of DC heroes trying to save the world from the evil clutches of the massive criminal organization, Leviathan.
99. Red Room
Written by: Ed Piskor
Art by: Ed Piskor
Publisher: Fantagraphics
A twisted look at a possible evolution of the internet where the dark web is filled with “red rooms” where torture and murders are committed to the delight of a sick public. Is it too far gone to ever be stopped?
98. Scout’s Honor
Written by: David Pepose
Art by: Luca Casalanguida and Matt Milla
Publisher: Aftershock Comics
In this post-apocalyptic world, there lives a group who still live by a code…the code of the Ranger Scouts. But as the story goes, if you build on a faulty foundation, everything will fall, and when one of the greatest scouts discovers the rot at the core of the movement, what will she do to make things right?
97. Dead Dog’s Bite
Written by: Tyler Boss
Art by: Tyler Boss
This dense mystery comic rewards multiple readings with the sheer level of detail that Boss puts into both the characters and the world that they inhabit, a world that is tinged with a little bit of nostalgia, a lot of odd humor and a great deal of the slightly disturbing.
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
96. Sonic the Hedgehog
Written by: Ian Flynn, Evan Stanley
Art by: Tracy Yardley, Evan Stanley, Matt Froese and Matt Herms
Publisher: IDW
Evan Stanley joined Ian Flynn in giving the Sonic regular series two writers telling compelling stories set in the SEGAverse as the book gets ready to hit a big 50th issue milestone.
95. MODOK Head Games
Written by: Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt
Art by: Scott Hepburn and Carlos Lopez
Publisher: Marvel
This compelling miniseries manages to force you to actually feel for MODOK as we travel to the worst recesses of his mind…or Butterville, Ohio. It is hard to tell which one is worse.
94. Stargirl: Spring Break Special
Written by: Geoff Johns
Art by: Todd Nauck and Hi-Fi
Publisher: DC
Stargirl’s creator returned to the now-TV star to tell a delightful new story embracing the best aspects of the DC Universe.
93. High School Family
Written by: Ryo Nakama
Art by: Ryo Nakama
Publisher: Viz
High School Family begins when a young man learns that his Father, Mother, Younger Sister, and Cat will all be attending high school with him. Although it is primarily a comedy manga, the story often finds itself in sincere and thoughtful places where the characters grow between each joke. – Christian Garnett, Anime Lists Writer
92. Gamma Flight
Written by: Al Ewing and Crystal Frasier
Art by: Lan Medina and Antonio Fabela
Publisher: Marvel
This delightfully fun offshot of Immortal Hulk embraced the best aspects of the Marvel Universe with its fun and engaging spotlight on some excellent but underutilized characters.
91. Mighty Morphin’
Written by: Ryan Parrott
Art by: Marco Renna, Dan Mora, Walter Baiamonte, Katia Ranalli, Sara Antonellini, Raul Angulo and Jose Enrique Fernandez
Publisher: BOOM!
BOOM! truly gave readers the best of both worlds when it split the two Power Rangers books up under the same author, as the strong sense of continuity makes it feel like, even though the two books are telling very different stories, they’re still sharing a basic sense of the overall Power Rangers universe.
90. Way of X
Written by: Si Spurrier
Art by: Bob Quinn and Java Tartaglia
Publisher: Marvel
What began as an attempt by Nightcrawler to reconcile the sort of religion that was being built up around the X-Men slowly evolved into a corruption investigation that had a massive reveal that could change the X-Men’s world in a big way.
89. Bite-Sized Archie
Written by: Ron Cacace
Art by: Vincent Lovallo
Publisher: Archie Comics
This charming new take on the classic Archie gag strip concept brings the jokes into the modern age, but keeps the classic joke stylings, which haver never gone out of fashion.
88. Ninjak
Written by: Jeff Parker
Art by: Javier Pulido (and then Beni Lobel and Andrew Dalhouse)
Publisher: Valiant
This series took a thrilling and artistically fascinating new approach to the time-tested spy concept with a series of offbeat adventures that made better use of the comic book format that 99% of the comic books on the market today.
87. Dinos and Comics
Written by: James
Art by: K
Publisher: Dinosandcomics.com
These heartfelt examinations of life dealing with mental health have captured the hearts and minds of millions on the internet.
86. Excalibur
Written by: Tini Howard
Art by: Marcus To and Erick Arciniega
Publisher: Marvel
Excalibur continues to spin a dozen different plates at once, balancing the interpersonal conflicts of the team itself (as Psylocke and Betsy Braddock are always going to have troubles) with the highly political maneuvering of England and Otherworld.
85. Batman: Urban Legends
Written by: Way too many to list them all, but DC’s website has them all here.
Art by: Way too many to list them all, but DC’s website has them all here.
Publisher: DC
This anthology spotlighting various members of the Batman Family is perhaps best remembered in 2021 for the story arc where Tim Drake realized that he was bisexual.
84. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Written by: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art by: Robert Hack
Publisher: Archie Comics
Horror fans got a special treat (no trick) this year with the return of this delightfully twisted riff on the classic Sabrina the Teenage Witch character that was a major influence on the recent hit Netflix series.
83. Aquaman: The Becoming
Written by: Brandon Thomas
Art by: Diego Olortegui, Skylar Patridge, Scott Koblish, Wade von Grawbadger and Adriano Lucas
Publisher: DC
Jackson Hyde goes on a journey of redemption after his life fell apart around him and he will hopefully end up both clearing his name and earning the name of Aquaman by using everything he has learned over his life up until this point.
82. Dr. Stone
Written by: Riichir Inagaki
Art by: Boichi
Publisher: Viz
Things just continue to get crazier in the wild world of Dr. Stone, as the science kingdoms of Senku and Dr. Xenu are at odds and it will likely take all the “power of science” that Senku and his friends can muster up to keep Senku from being killed, let alone defeating Dr. Xenu in this offbeat adventure set in the distant future.
81. Power Rangers
Written by: Ryan Parrott and Rachel Wagner
Art by: Francesco Mortarino, Simone Ragazzoni, Moises Hildalgo, Simona Di Gianfelice, Gilbey Ibarra, Raul Angulo, Jose Enrique Fernandez, Igor Monti and Sabrina Del Grosso.
Publisher: BOOM!
Having the two major BOOM! Power Rangers series share a writer has especially paid off late in the year as the two series have come together in a thrilling crossover adventure.
80. Detective Comics
Written by: Mariko Tamaki
Art by: Dan Mora, Viktor Bogdanovic, Daniel Henriques and Jordie Bellaire
Publisher: DC
The introduction of a great new villain in Mr. Worth and a new look at Gotham City made this Detective Comics run really stand out in 2021, especially with the series of compelling backup stories, as well.
79. One Piece
Written by: Eiichiro Oda
Art by: Eiichiro Oda and Gege Akutami
Publisher: Viz
Most of the English releases of One Piece in 2021 have followed a flashback of Kozuki Oden’s early time on the seas, twenty years before the main story of the series, but these adventures have given us new insights into Oden’s character while also featuring a number of insights into the overall story of the series.
78. Katie the Catsitter
Written by: Colleen AF Venable
Art by: Stephanie Yue
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
This delightful introduction to Katie the Catsitter sees a preteen girl catsitting the apartment of a woman who may or may not be a supervillain and her cats may or may not have various superpowers. When push comes to shove, though, can Katie be trusted to work with the cats to save their owner? Yes, yes she can, but it’s still interesting to see how she gets to that point and HOW they do it!
77. We Have Demons
Written by: Scott Snyder
Art by: Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion and Dave McCaig
Publisher: ComiXology Originals
The reunion of the classic Batman and Death Metal creative team has delivered a delightfully fun new adventure of demons and demon hunters while also spending a lot of time building up the extensive lore of this new world that they have created. It never gets boring, though, as the information you’re learning is thrilling as you want to learn more about it all.
76. UltraMega
Written by: James Harren
Art by: James Harren and David Stewart
Publisher: Image Comics
This series is both a loving homage to kaiju stories and a bit of a satire of the concept all while ramping everything up about 1000% in each issue. You never know what will happen next, in the best possible sense.
Check back with CBR on Tuesday for more of the Top 100!
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