2011 Recap

I decided to take a week's vacation from reviewing after the end of the year. Before I get rolling again with the reviews, it's time to look back.

First areminder of my goals and how I did on them:

1) Write a review every day.

Not quite. Still, given everything else I'm involved in, I did pretty well. I had 321 entries in 2011, but 45 were not reviews (30 were part of the 30-Day Comic Challenge meme, and the remaining 15 were recap/stats posts, convention announcements, etc. So that makes 276 reviews, which is 89 short of a comic a day, and that give me something to shoot for in 2012 (and I missed yesterday, so I'm already behind!).

2) Reduce my pile of unread comics.

I did, indeed, accomplish this, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. I can mostly blame DC Comics for that. I've had a lot of fun jumping on board the New 52, and I feel it adds to the relevance of this blog. I go through phases as far as reading current mainstream comics goes, so I'm not sure how many of these titles I'll be sticking with for the long term, but for the moment I'm definitely going to be continuing to follow at least some of the new DC comics. I'll be trying harder to balance that with reading from my backstock as I move into 2012.

Statistics Time! Let's start with the best and worst from each month of 2012!

January

Best: Amelia Rules: When the Past is a Present (9.5) (!)

Worst: The Avengers #1 (4)

February

Best: American Born Chinese (8.5)

Worst: Captain Universe/X-23 #1 (3)

March

Best: A Beautiful Young Nymph Going To Bed (8.5)

Worst: 2099 Limited (4)

April

Best (Tie): Bisclavret (8.5), XKCD Volume 0 (8.5)

Worst (Tie): Detective Comics Annual #11 (5.5), Mercy Sparx: Under New Management #1 Free Comic Book Day Edition (5.5)

May

Best: With the Light Volume 2 (9)

Worst: War of the Supermen #0 (4.5)

June

Best (Tie): MAMP Vol. 2 #6 (8), MAMP Vol. 6 #5 (8), Locke & Key: Free Comic Book Day Edition (8)

Worst: Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1 (3)

July

Best: Transfusion (8)

Worst: Fear Itself Sketchbook (4)

August

Best: Whiteout: Free Comic Book Day Edition (8.5)

Worst: Wildstorm: Free Convention Exclusive 2009 (3)

September

Best (Tie): Healed #3 (8.5), Girl Genius Volume 2: Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City (8.5)

Worst: Green Arrow Industries #1 (2.5)

October

Best (Tie): Batwoman #1 (8), Salt Water Taffy 1: The Legend of Old Salty (8), Aquaman #1 (8), Hot Tea Cold Water #3 (8)

Worst (Tie): Suicide Squad #1 (3), All Star Western #1 (3)

November

Best: Healed #1 (7.5)

Worst: Justice League Dark #2 (4)

December

Best: Meridian City Preview Edition (8.5)

Worst: Catwoman #2 (2.5)

Best of the Year: Amelia Rules: When the Past is a Present (9.5)

Worst of the Year (Tie): Catwoman #2 (2.5), Green Arrow Industries #1 (2.5)

Most Reviewed Company: DC Comics (73)

Most Reviewed Title: Plastic Farm (19)

Highest Average Title With At Least 3 Reviews: Sky Pirates of Valendor (7.50)

Lowest Average Title With At Least 3 Reviews: Detective Comics (6.33)

Most Fun I Had Reviewing Comics This Year: Reviewing a smurf comic in smurf dialect, and my rhyming review of the first issue of Demon Knights!

Biggest Disappointments of the Year: After strong debuts, the second issues of Justice League: Dark and Catwoman were just horrible.

Favorite Discoveries: Some awesome comics that I probably would not have read if not for this column! Go read these!

The Way It Crumbles
Lai Wan
Kitty Hawk: The Sting of Defeat
Moses And Bean
Plastic Farm
Bisclavret
Locke & Key
MAMP
Whiteout
Satisfactory Comics
Static Shock
Salt Water Taffy
Batwoman
Healed
Meridian City

I hope you have all had a great 2011, and that you will make a resolution in the new year to read and support comics!