CNN's Geek Out | DC Comics

The Best of 2011

There’s still glitter on the streets. Fridges are filled with half-empty bottles of champagne and gyms are extra crowded due to people working on their resolutions. And while we celebrate the beginning of a new year, there’s no better way to ring in 2012 than to reflect on the successes of 2011.

The DC offices were closed all of last week, but that doesn’t mean that press didn’t continue to roll in. Below, take a look at some of the year-end “best of” lists that ran.

CNN’s GEEK OUT highlighted ANIMAL MAN, BATWOMAN, THE FLASH, I, VAMPIRE and JOE THE BARBARIAN in an article about the “unprecedented creativity” in comic books in 2011.

THE ONION’s A.V. CLUB’s list of the best comic books of 2011 included DETECTIVE COMICS, BATMAN, BATWOMAN and ANIMAL MAN. The article also gave individual honors to WONDER WOMAN, O.M.A.C. and JIMMY OLSEN.

GAWKER’s IO9 featured SPACEMAN, ANIMAL MAN, SWAMP THING, BATMAN and FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.HA.D.E. on their list of the best science fiction and fantasy comic books of 2011.

COMPLEX MAGAZINE’s list of top 25 comic books of 2011 included FLASHPOINT, JUSTICE LEAGUE, NORTHLANDERS, SWAMP THING, WONDER WOMAN, BATWOMAN, ACTION COMICS, DETECTIVE COMICS, BATMAN and ANIMAL MAN.

BLOODY DISGUSTING’s list of top 10 comic books of 2011 included SWEET TOOTH, DETECTIVE COMICS, BATWOMAN and ANIMAL MAN.

AFTER ELLEN highlighted BATWOMAN in their 2011 review of books.

SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE named DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 the biggest comic book story of 2011.

POPDOSE included BATWOMAN, SCALPED and XOMBI on their list of favorite comics of 2011.

COMIC BOOK RESOURCES’ list of top 100 comics of 2011 included BATMAN INCORPORATED, HELLBLAZER, XOMBI, FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E., THE UNWRITTEN, SWEET TOOTH, THE SHADE, ALL-STAR WESTERN, JONAH HEX, AMERICAN VAMPIRE, FLASHPOINT: BATMAN KNIGHT OF VENGEANCE, O.M.A.C., FABLES, IZOMBIE, BATGIRL, BATMAN, AQUAMAN, ACTION COMICS, SWAMP THING, WONDER WOMAN, BATWOMAN, DETECTIVE COMICS, SCALPED and ANIMAL MAN.

IFANBOY declared DC Comics as their “Publisher of the Year.” Their list of best new books in 2011 included ANIMAL MAN, SPACEMAN, BATMAN and ACTION COMICS. Meanwhile, their list of the top 10 comic events of 2011 included DC: RETROACTIVE and the STAR TREK/LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES crossover, while FLASHPOINT and DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 took the top two spots. And their list of 2011’s best comic book writers included Jeff Lemire (ANIMAL MAN/FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E./SWEET TOOTH), Brian Azzarello (WONDER WOMAN/100 BULLETS/SPACEMAN), and taking the #1 spot was Scott Snyder (BATMAN/SWAMP THING/DETECTIVE COMICS/AMERICAN VAMPIRE).

To be continued …

Everyone’s Talkin’ About DC COMICS-THE NEW 52, Friday Afternoon (ET) Edition

It's almost the weekend, but that's not stopping people from writing and talking about DC COMICS-THE NEW 52.

CNN’s GEEK OUT interviewed ACTION COMICS writer Grant Morrison. “Superman is very much a physical character,” responded Morrison when asked about the differences between writing Superman and Batman. “The confrontations are very direct - he fights giant robots and monsters and things, so the kind of symbolism the two of them work on are very different.”

COMIC BOOK RESOURCES has your exclusive first look at next week’s BATGIRL #3 by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes.

Meanwhile, the ASSOCIATED PRESS quotes John Rood, DC Entertainment's Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Business Development for a story about the commercial success of DC Comics-The NEW 52. "We like what 'DC Comics — The New 52' is doing to bring new attention to comics and to comic shop retailers. And we like hearing that other publishers are being helped too. . . The market-share battle is not the one we care to win... We are battling to deliver great stories and characters, and to support comic shops so that they're the ones who win every month."

Have a great weekend, everyone. We'll have much, much more next week.

As always, to be continued …

Tags:

ardian syaf, associated press, batgirl, CNN's Geek Out, comic book resources, DC Comics-The New 52, gail simone, grant morrison, john rood, Vicente Cifuentes

(Everybody’s Talkin’ About) DC COMICS-THE NEW 52, Tuesday Morning (ET) Edition

(Ethan Van Sciver’s variant cover for GREEN LANTERN #3)

It's Tuesday morning. Do you know where your previews are? Here's a rundown of exclusive previews from the 13 new issues from DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 on sale tomorrow. Ready?

CNN’s GEEK OUT has your first look at GREEN LANTERN #2 by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke, Christian Alamy and Keith Champagne.

MAXIM has the exclusive preview of BATMAN AND ROBIN #2 by Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’s HEAT VISION previewed FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #2.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES’ HERO COMPLEX debuted pages from MISTER TERRIFIC #2 by Eric Wallace, Gianluca Gugliotta and Wayne Faucher.

IGN gave you your first glimpse at SUPERBOY #2 by Scott Lobdell, R.B. Silva and Rob Lean.

Following yesterday's NEW YORK POST newsbreak, AIN’T IT COOL NEWS caught up with WONDER WOMAN writer Brian Azzarello. “You read some of those stories, those are the most human stories that have ever been written,” Azzarello said of the Greek mythology inspiring his series. “They are as emotionally damaged as a lot of people are. And they’re just as damaging! They’re selfish, capricious, angry, loving, loyal, they betray…they’re like human emotions turned up to 11.”

THE TORONTO STAR chatted with local Canadian artists Jeff Lemire, Francis Manapul and Ken Lashley about their respective series and DC COMICS-THE NEW 52. “I think the books are different, which is something I was looking for,” Lemire said of the relaunch. “Animal Man is a very furious, very dark, emotional story, while Frankenstein is a really big, fun action-adventure, kind of over-the-top sort of thing.”

And while everyone's still talking about DC COMICS-THE NEW 52, there's another major announcement for DC Entertainment today. Timed to the start of the Frankfurt Book Festival in Germany, USA TODAY announced Vertigo's acquisition of pop culture phenomenon The Millennium Trilogy on the front page of their Life section this morning. Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, which chronicles the stories of computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, will get the graphic novel treatment beginning with next year’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. Each book in the trilogy will be divided into two volumes and will be published under DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint. Look for THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE in 2013 and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS’ NEST in 2014.

To be continued …