Best of 2013 Part 2c: Monthly Comics

A few days ago I did my best of 2013 list for the books I had read in the second half of the year. In a departure from previous such lists I divided the books and the comics into separate posts so that I didn’t have one massive post up. Massive posts are a bit tough to handle, especially when you are promoting them on social media. And with the split posts, the directions are different and there’s no unnecessary crossover.

So, with the novels and graphic novels already having been covered, I now delve into my favourite monthlies of the year. This is the final “best of” list I’m doing for 2013 that involves reading.

You can check out my top-of-the-month lists on my Reading Awards page and this list is both an extension, and a continuation of what goes on there.

Let’s see what makes the cut and which comes close then!

TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady by Ben Bates and Dustin Weaver (Comics Review)

One of the many animated franchises that I grew up with is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The original gang of four and Splinter and April are some of my favourite characters and I remember enjoying their animated adventures a lot, whether on the television or the VHS tapes that my parents would get for me every now and then. I think at one point I even wanted to be a Turtle, Michaelangelo to be specific since we share a love of pizza and a carefree attitude.

Recently IDW announced that in addition to all the TMNT comics it was putting out it was also going to publish a series of one-shots that would focus on all the different villains of the franchise. I’ve only read three so far, Baxter, Alopex and this one, so I’m a bit behind on my reading, but I’ve certainly had a lot of fun. These are characters that I barely remember, if at all, so its fun to get stuck in once again and see them all in a very… modern context.

G.I.Joe: Special Missions #1-3 by Chuck Dixon (Comics Review)

As a long-time fan of Marvel’s original run on G.I.Joe under Larry Hama, and the cartoon series that those comics spawned, I’ve had a really great experience with the various comics that IDW Publishing has been putting out of late. I found out about them last year in June, and I haven’t looked back since. I haven’t been able to catch up to all the comics as yet, and trust me, there are a fair few of them out there right now, but I certainly intend to do just that.

Recently, IDW did a reboot of sorts for their range of G.I.Joe comics, headlined by Fred Van Lente who is the ongoing writer for the excellent Archer & Armstrong series from Valiant Comics, and this reboot has led to at least two spin-offs, Special Missions by Chuck Dixon and Cobra Files by Mike Costa, both of whom have worked extensively on the previous runs of IDW’s G.I.Joe comics. I read the first three issues of Chuck’s Special Missions just an hour ago, and I find myself quite taken with the story.