My Year in Review 2025: Part 2

It's time The article I wrote was so long, I felt I had to split it into two parts; or, more accurately, I split off half of question one and all the bonus, members-only sections. I'm known for a good 10,000 word essay or two (or ten) but lists? Lists need some more breathing room. This is also why the article is coming out so late into January. I guess I gotta do what Dave at Comic Book Herald does and compile throughout the year instead of doing it all at the end.

But where's the fun in that?

If you're just reading this on the site, consider subscribing! It's free and you'll be able to access any of the regular member's only content. And if you want to support me even more, paid subscribers get early access.

As a reminder: a few weeks back, I asked a host of creators to answer five questions about this year (and the next) in comics. I couldn’t in good conscience ask them and then not give my own answers. Wouldn't you know it? I wrote so much for question one, I felt I had to split it up. DC and Marvel books in the first half, everything else here.

Let's a-go!

1) What were some of the comics - print, digital, web, etc. - you loved in 2025?

Saga

Despite only getting three issues in 2025, Fiona Staples, Fonographix and Brian K. Vaughn never disappoint.

Transformers (2023)

Ba-weep-grah-nini-bong or something!

Daniel Warren Johnson, Jorge Corona, Mike Spicer and Rus Wooton brought to an end the first era of the Energon “Transformers” in style, passing off the baton to Kirkman and Mora. Do I wish DWJ had drawn some pages for the finale? Yes. Do I wish his run had lasted another year? 100%. Is the book in bad hands?

Did you see the two names I put up there?! Get outta here, you Deceptacon.

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring

I know issue #5 is a 2026 issue but wow. Wow wow wow. I am floored.

I missed the boat on the original “Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees” and caught up just in time to read the sequel I never expected. What more could be told that wasn’t just a rehash of the original? Well, clearly I shouldn’t have doubted Horvath because “Rite of Spring” is a taut thriller that takes my expectations from the original and tosses them into the woodchipper.

Horvath has impeccable control of tone, meticulous like protagonist Samantha. It’s a story that properly moves its subject from a marginally imagined long past era to a more contemporary one, revealing much about the serial killer and slasher genre of both times, reflecting their (and our) fears back. Otsmane-Elhaou continues to show off his lettering chops, an effortless dance of words and balloons and sounds, staccatoed and slipping and hissing and thrumming from mouths, guns, engines, pills.

If they can stick the landing, this is a series that will be talked about for years to come.

The Energon Universe

That’s right folks. Transformers is getting in here twice! I hadn’t read any of the rest of these series in 2024 and used 2025 to set that right. I’m glad I did because it’s a ton of fun.

“Void Rivals” is a space opera masterwork that makes me angry at how well it takes all the space nonsense of these toy tie-in series and makes it into a coherent story. Skuxoid! Who the fuck is this guy?! Why do I love him so much?!!

“Transformers?” Easily one of the most emotional comics I’ve read all year and an amazing story of family, loss, war, and giant robots suplexing each other.

“G.I. Joe” is probably my least favorite of the three. It’s not bad (it’s great!) and I love Tom Reilly’s mid-century yet modern look. The other two books are just so much more my speed. Actually, I do have a reason it’s at the bottom.

All the Cobra-la nonsense.

I hate that shit. Get this planet of snake-people nonsense out of my Joe comics. Cobra Commander being some super competent schmuck human who wants to live his snake guy fantasies on Planet Fash-hiss is boring and not very scary. I know this is all canon to some version of the comics or show and this take is purposely different from the others. Still…

Hama’s original was serious and grounded, with laser guns, guys in taxidermy falcon costumes that can fly, shape-changing Australians, the most inept Mad Max bikers who guzzle grape soda and chocolate donuts, not one, not two, but at least THREE mind control subplots, and a castle that changes shape to look like two different guy’s heads.

Ok. Lemme step back from the bit for a second. I’m no die-hard “Joe” fan. I have zero nostalgia for the property. I was coming off of reading the original 150 issues of “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero” and was shocked at how…prescient Cobra Commander’s characterization was in the original series. He’s a January 6er. He’s some random white guy from Ohio that effectively starts a cult/paramilitary group by fomenting identitarian animus. That he’s an absolute selfish buffoon surrounded by huge egos adds to the comedy and the menace.

That’s a villain for 2025! That’s meaty and a great fit for a (slightly) more grounded piece of the Energon Universe. Destro’s got the mercenary capitalist angle on lock and he would fit in great with that. Let Serpentor or something be from outer space. The book could be a little less sci-fi, a little more political thriller, and I’d be singing its praises with no reservations.

Planet of snake people. Feh.

More Weight

This book left me speechless. Gorgeously unnerving and gloriously rendered, thickly inked cartooning. A haunting portrait of the Salem Witch Trails and a wrestling with the legacy in the popular consciousness, as well as the lack of wrestling within Salem itself. It isn’t interested in answers to the whys of the trials, i.e. motives and such. Instead, it prefers to paint the lives of the town: the dead, the killers, the accusers and the accused, and all those around them. Thoroughly researched with nearly a hundred pages of commentary and footnotes, it is both a marvelous work of fictionalization and a harrowing accounting of a phenomenon that America never seems to be able to shake.

Oddity Woods

I had plans to do a full review of this when it came out but I never quite got it together. One of my favorite webcomics is now in print, redrawn and with an all new chapter one! The first of hopefully many graphic novels, it’s wonderful to have and to hold. I missed the adventures of Mari, Ghost Pup, and Wyatt. It’s good to be back.

I have my criticisms, of course, mainly around said new (actually, replacement) chapter. It was a necessary change, resetting Mari’s arc so she’s more of a wannabe detective than a Detective Conan-esque outsider and setting up some of the longer-term mysteries at the top. However, the new opening feels like it was written under the auspices of a middle grade editor rather than for a more general audience as the rest originally was. It’s a bit incongruous and more

Kay’s new art style, too, took some getting used to. I miss the slightly more cartoony aesthetic of the webcomic, I have to admit, though how much of that is nostalgia and how much is a real criticism I leave to you. In achieving consistency and some more detail, we lost some of the oddball charm and exaggeration that the original captured. It wasn’t always technically correct but that kind of model breaking shows the hand of the artist and, of course, for a webcomic that’s the whole point. In publishing, one isn’t meant to be demonstrating learning as the book goes on. 

Regardless of my gripes, “Oddity Woods” was a joy to read. The coloring was sumptuous, the characters are wonderful little beans, and it satisfied my craving for a new Layton game. I’m so, so very excited for Book 2. New “Oddity Woods” I’ve never read! A whole new mystery and, probably, supporting cast! 2027 can’t come fast enough.

Impossible Jones

There was only one issue of “IMP” this year but damn if it wasn’t a great one. I hope Karl and Hahn are doing well and that 2026 is the year of the IMP.

Metal Hurlant

I feel strange putting “Metal Hurlant” on this list. Humanoids and its president have had a, shall we say, interesting 2025 and not everyone has nice things to say about the company or the way the magazine presents itself relative to “Heavy Metal.” To be fair, I missed the heyday of both of these titles and, well, kinda agree that “Heavy Metal” isn’t what I’m looking for in a comics anthology.

I know! I know! Sacrilege as an American. I’ve bought into the snooty hype!

“Heavy Metal” always struck me as a magazine that had comics in it, like how “Playboy” had stories in it. Those aspects were critically acclaimed and, in the case of “Playboy,” payed a hell of a better rate than most, but that’s not really what the magazine was. “Metal Hurlant?” That was an experimental comics magazine.

The new iteration is a mix of classic and new comics, published quarterly with a different theme each issue, and split every so often by these one-page editorial frames. Basically, there’ll be a chunk of stories and then an editor will pop in to wax poetic about the next batch and give a little unifying thought to them all. It’s more hit than miss thus far and I love the unexpected nature of it.

I’m discovering all these new creators from Europe and beyond as well as getting the chance to read a bunch of long out of print shorts by legends Moebius and Drulliet; and holy shit are those Drulliet pieces something! As someone who reads a lot of anthologies, this one’s up there for quality and curation, though they can always do better at diversifying creators. I’m just happy to have a curated series that comes on time (lets see if that keeps up.) 

Banana Sioule

Sliding in under the wire with this one. I was introduced to Michaël Sanlaville’s work via “Lastman” and really enjoyed the kineticism of his art. You really get the weight of a punch or the power of a jump. It’s exaggerated, of course, living with cartoon/shonen physics but that’s what makes it great. His latest work is “Banana Sioule” and thanks to Magnetic Press, I got to read it in one big omnibus.

“Banana Sioule” is a fantasy sports comic about a world with a sport called Sioule. Think Rollerball with no rules meets WWE. Our protagonist finds out she’s preternaturally good at this sport and goes off to become the best there is by attending the elite Sioule Academy, making and breaking friendships along the way, and finding drama at every turn.

It’s a fairly straightforward story but that doesn’t make it any less compelling. Sanlaville’s bouncy art and intense pacing keeps you moving forward while never letting the emotional core out of sight. My only gripe? The damn thing ends on a cliffhanger! This is a real problem with a lot of bandes dessinées where you think it’s finished but it's not and there’s no real idea when the next installment is coming. Grrrr.

The Confessional

Vampires, religious guilt, desire and power abused in 1920s New Orleans. All told in pink and blue with an Art Nouveau flair. While not quite as sumptuous as that moniker would suggest, Hender’s art is at home in the era. I particularly love the posing of the characters, telling us much about who they are and enhancing the gothic atmosphere. It’s a tense book as we watch our protagonist Cora struggle with her vampirism and the conflicting feelings within her. Another one I couldn’t put down the second I started.

Stardust: The Super Wizard Anthology

Folks. This public domain character is a seven-layer cake of bonkers. I love his awful brand of fist based justice and vibe-filled power set. The man drop-kicks gangsters into space! This anthology, long in the waiting from Zoop, features a host of whos-who creators playing around with Stardust as well as a small intro to the character and his pretty shitty creator, Fletcher Hanks. (Read Fantagraphic’s “Turn Loose Our Death Rays and Kill Them All” for more Hanks and his biography.)

And I mean, I couldn’t read an anthology about “Stardust the Super Wizard” and not mention it. That would get me hit by his insto-destructo-beam and punted into the sun.

Chainsaw Man

Michigan sword! 

Akane-Banashi

Let it be on record that I am a fan of time skips in series. Stories that span decades in-world often go to some very wild and different places. This isn’t there yet, but it did jump forward with the most confident mic drop I’ve seen in a shonen manga in ages. Truly one of the greats right here.

Vinland Saga

There was a new volume of Vinland Saga this year and it may be one of the last times I get to talk about the series. Only one more volume remains after this and who knows when it’s coming out in the states! Easily a contender for best manga of the decade, “Vinland Saga” lives up to its name, giving us a meditation on war and violence that eschews platitudes and easy answers to make a compelling case for pacifism and the absurd difficulties of said worldview.

In this volume, Yukimura wrestles with the myth of Vinland: an unspoiled land free from war. While past volumes laid the groundwork, this is where it comes to ahead, pitting human nature, paranoia, and the realities of disease and prejudice against idealism. It also gives its most damning indictment of our propensity for violence and how easily it corrupts. One sword. That’s all it took. One damn sword.

“Vinland Saga” has always been a tragedy. This doesn’t diminish the hard-fought victories and growth the characters have been through. Instead, it highlights them; that in a world this harsh, this painful, this unjust, we can work and fight and build with each other. We can accomplish so much. Even if it doesn’t work out in the ways we hoped, it wasn’t for naught. It wasn’t for naught.

Pia & the Little Tiny Things

I’m just going to recycle what I wrote for 2024 with the year changed here because nothing is different besides the fact that I’m now a patron and get pages a week or so early.

I really love this webcomic. I’ve reviewed it a number of times before and not much has changed from then. It’s beautifully melancholic, filled with the kinds of flawed, fearful, complicated people one would find in a small town and is paced in ways only webcomics seem capable of nowadays. Literary and romantic, I devour every page I can as soon as I am able and 2025’s pages have been particularly juicy. 

3rd Voice

Evan wrapped up Second Passage aka Book 2 of “3rd Voice” this year and it fucked and trucked. This is the kind of fantasy story that’s semi-impentrable because you’re just dropped in but that you pick up as it goes. It’s like little else out there and deserves your attention. I just re-read the First Passage and damn was it as propulsive as I expected. I want Third Passage immediately but will have to wait until Dahm takes a well deserved rest. [Update! As I was writing this, Third Passage began to update. Huzzah!]

That’s it for the public part. Members! You’re in luck. More opinions! More recommendations! More!!!! Read on. Read on!