The Four Color Media Monitor

IGN's written a puff piece for what they want everyone to believe is utterly the best of this year, and when Daredevil comes up, this is whom they fawn over:

In the end, however, it was a superhero who won the day. Marvel’s monthly Daredevil series claimed the top prize, narrowly edging out Chainsaw Man with 37.5% of the vote.

It was certainly a big year for Daredevil, as writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Marco Checchetto wrapped up their long collaboration on the series. Their run didn’t just fundamentally transform Matt Murdock, but also Elektra Natchios and Wilson Fisk, too. The final leg of the series chronicled Daredevil’s attempt to reform a faction of The Hand into The Fist. We got to see what happens when Daredevil commits wholly to his costumed persona and gives up being Matt Murdock. And it all culminated in a powerful, emotional finale.

By now, Zdarsky and Checchetto have claimed their place among the all-time great Daredevil creative teams (Frank Miller, Brian Bendis and Alex Maleev, etc.). But it’s worth pointing out that the series is still going strong even after they’ve left. New writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Aaron Kuder have begun picking up the pieces, and their relaunched series is off to a promising start. Year in and year out, Daredevil continues to be one of the best superhero comics on the stands, and that’s why it’s our ultimate pick for the best comic book series of 2023.

Seriously, this sounds just so forced. Most atrocious of all has got to be their citation of Ahmed, after all the revolting statements and scriptwriting he's done. It's to be hoped Marvel/DC will distance themselves from Ahmed after October 7, because anybody who'd say stuff as horrific as he did on social media does not belong in comicdom. As for Bendis and also Maleev, wow, that's just plain hilarious.

Even Bam-Smack-Pow did a list of overrated comics they claim are this year's best, and began with the following:

Whether you're a fan of Marvel, DC, or another company, 2023 was a fun year for comic book fans. It seemed like something major was going on every week. In Marvel Comics, the Avengers prevented Mephisto from destroying the Multiverse. DC Comics changed their premiere superhero team. Instead of the Justice League, the Titans are charged with protecting Earth. Meanwhile, Image Comics has brought in writer Robert Kirkman to start the Energon Universe (more on that later).

I have no faith in how Marvel employs Mephisto as a character at this point, nor in how DC employs the Titans as a prominent team. The sugarcoating of the mainstream is what makes these puff pieces very problematic. And then, here's some of their choices:

Best Ongoing Comic Book: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest
Writer: Mark Waid

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest has everything you’d want from a comic book. Action, adventure, and two of the greatest heroes ever created. The best part is this series takes place in the past. That means things don't have to connect to the current timeline. Also, seeing a young Dick Grayson fan over Superman is great. What’s even better is Batman’s reaction to it. He was obviously jealous.

Underrated Comic Book of the Year: She-Hulk
Writer: Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell gave comic book readers a different kind of series. Think of Sex and the City but with a better story and more punching. As cliche as it sounds, Jennifer was trying to have it all. Along the way, she falls in love with an unlikely partner, joins a fight club, and saves New York City. In short, She-Hulk is the most fun series of the year.

Waid's run out of energy long ago, but even more decidedly not to be trusted would have to be these modern takes on She-Hulk. Considering what kind of awful tropes Sex and the City built upon (and its sequel "And Just Like That", perpetuated some of the worst wokeism to boot), it's insulting to the intellect to do a variation on a series now tainted with the co-starring of Christopher Noth, and certainly to compare it to such. Based on Marvel's terrible modern path, that's why it'd be ill-advised to assume this She-Hulk volume's worthwhile. The next examples are certainly telling:

Best New Comic Book: Wonder Woman
Writer: Tom King

Wonder Woman by Tim King is special. Normally, a series with so few issues wouldn’t make a best-of list. However, this series has to be mentioned. Diana is taking on the world by herself and doing it with style. That includes when she hit a tank with another tank. Only Diana Prince could make that look smooth.

Independent Comic Book of the Year: Something is Killing the Children
Writer: James Tynion IV

James Tynion IV wrote an emotional and violent 12 issues of Something is Killing the Children. It isn’t just the kids getting killed. Erica Slaughter’s story has been tragic and keeps getting worse. The Order of St. George is hunting her, can't see monsters anymore, and keeps failing to protect kids.

Don't be shocked when this comic book is on the list again next year.

Something tells me Tynion's story doesn't provide much to think about beyond its main premise. And with all the recent horrors in real life, we could honestly do without more of these horror-themed tales. As for their choice of King's writing, wow, now that was predictable. I'm sure it was no accident a writer as woke as he is would make their list. And the following is no better:

Comic Book Fight of the Year: Batman vs. The Bat Family
Comic books: Batman No. 137 and 138

During DC Comics' Gotham War, Batman had two intense fights with his family. During the first, Batman was holding his own until the numbers became overwhelming. If Damian didn’t step in, Bruce would have been captured. In the next issue, Nightwing and Tim Drake put a beating on Bruce. Again, Batman was lucky he escaped.

Biggest Reveal in a Comic Book: Nightcrawler’s father
Comic books: X-Men Blue: Origins

For years, comic book fans believed Azazel was Nightcrawler’s father. X-Men Blue: Origins set the record straight. Mystique isn't Kurt's mother. She impregnated Destiny. This proved that Mystique does more than shape-shift. Now she's stronger and more dangerous than ever.

No surprise these knee-jerk propagandists would fawn over a story emphasizing scraps between heroes more than battles of heroes versus villains. And, no shock they'd fawn over an embarrassingly bad retcon to Nightcrawler's origins, and IIRC, the Azazel part only came up after the turn of the century, so I'm not sure why they see that as such a big deal either. This is just plain atrocious, right down to how they put words in the mouths of fans, as though the characters were real life people. And lest I forget, if they think I'd want to see 2 of Batman's closest allies assaulting him, they're throughly mistaken. I wouldn't want even Huntress and Black Canary forced into such positions. Inner-hero strife, by today's standards, is tasteless. Next:

Underrated Comic Book Hero of the Year: Nightwing
Writer: Tom Taylor

There aren’t enough people talking about Nightwing. This has been Dick Grayson's biggest year in a long career. He helped prevent the destruction of the multiverse without the Justice League (Dark Crisis). He did this by leading the younger heroes of Earth. This is why his Titans have replaced the Justice League. That’s on top of him making Bludhaven a better city.

With Taylor as writer? Nope. The whole notion of emphasizing one team over another as though the "younger" team makes it a better series is stupid. With such writers in charge, is it any wonder nobody wants to talk about the former Teen Wonder? And here's one more item that's gross:

Surprise of the Year: Batman is getting worse

This writer assumed that Bruce Wayne’s luck would have improved by now. It’s been a couple of years and he’s still broke and Alfred hasn’t returned. Unfortunately for Batman, neither happened. In fact, things have gotten worse.

Batman’s hand was cut off, he alienated his family (Gotham War), his actions were influenced by Zur-En-Arrh, his house is owned by a villain, and a henchman learned his secret identity. Things are only going to get worse in 2024.

They already have from a merit-based view, none of which matters to the writers of this puff piece. And gee, do we really need to see more variations on what Aquaman went through in the mid-90s, getting his hand mauled by piranhas in the Peter David series of the time? The problem is that today's writers are so bent on shock value it makes even some of the 90s examples look tame by comparison. Sure, this may eventually be reversed. But that doesn't make the current direction worth reading, and with such awful people in charge, it'd be foolish to put our money in their pockets. Also note how the columnist's got no issues with a direction that looks to be built on misery. Let's be clear: Batman shouldn't be held hostage to this as a character any more than any other superhero. Tragically, this is the result of Dan DiDio's editorial mandates when he got his foot in the door at DC over 2 decades ago.

Labels: Daredevil, dreadful artists, dreadful writers, islam and jihad, marvel comics, misogyny and racism, moonbat artists, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, Wonder Woman, X-Men