Power Rankings is back after a holiday hiatus, so we’ll be wrapping up the final two months of the year in one mega-edition. Lots of newcomers to the rankings to welcome, so let’s get to it:
Comic Books
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Batman Batman reclaims his number one spot after a massive showing from The Dark Knight III: The Master Race; the Frank Miller-helmed project sold close to half a million copies in November (est. sales: 440,234). At $5.99 an issue that puts 2.6 million dollars into DC Comics’ pockets. Wowza. The Batman ongoing (106,989) and Europe-centric Batman: Europa (80,721) made big showings once again as well, solidifying 2015 as a stellar year for the Caped Crusader. (And a great lead-in for Batman vs. Superman hitting theaters in March.) |
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Star Wars: Vader Down Star Wars: The Force Awakens is shattering records in the box office and Darth Vader returns as the sole Star Wars representative to close out the 2015 AiPT! Power Rankings. Star Wars: Vader Down, the new crossover which features the Dark Lord of the Sith stranded and taking on entire Rebel battalions, was the second highest selling issue of November and has already reinvigorated a Marvel Star Wars line that was pretty damn strong to begin with. Besides, what Star Wars fan doesn’t salivate at the sight of Vader pulling off crazy Force moves like this one? |
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Deadpool The Merc with a Mouth makes his first showing on the Power Rankings with his All-New All-Different #1 issue taking the third spot in November’s sales chart. The Deadpool feature film is only a few short months away and oh yeah, he just started teaming up with some guy named Spider-Man in a brand new ongoing written by legendary DP scribe Joe Kelly — so we should be seeing a whole lot more of the Regeneratin’ Degenerate on the charts in 2016. |
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Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan’s All-New All-Different #1 hit shelves in November and continued the trend of excellence of her preceding ongoing series. She also made the Top Ten of JR’s “Best Comic Books of the Year” list for the second year running. Ms. Marvel has been nothing short of wonderful in the story, art and characterization departments and 2016 looks to be no different. |
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Spider-Man Spider-Man slides down our list alongside Amazing Spider-Man’s dip in sales, but don’t count him out just yet — just as the Zodiac villains were starting to get a bit stale, the latest issue of Amazing turned things around with a new team of villains and a new storyline direction. Also, see our entry for Deadpool above. ::cough::Spider-Man/Deadpool #1::cough:: |
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Honorable Mention
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The Goddamned Biblical themes, violence, gritty art and Jason Aaron on writing duty? You heard right. The Goddamned #1 and #2 both received perfect 10 scores from us back to back… and we can’t think of the last time that’s happened with a brand new series. Ever. ‘Nuff said. |
Writers
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Jason Aaron Wrote Vader Down, Southern Bastards, Thor and The Goddamned. How does this man find the time to write so many choice books? The Goddamned and Southern Bastards are unlike anything else on the stands and the guy still manages to bring his own unique flavor to ingrained characters like Darth Vader and Thor. Aaron wrote the strongest issue of the Vader Down books so far and has proven time and time again that if this guy’s writing — we’re buying. |
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Brian K. Vaughan It’s hard to remember when Vaughan wrote so many titles at once; he was busy before as writer for TV shows like Lost and Under the Dome – but now that he’s got more time for comic books, we’re all for it. Paper Girls is all kinds of ‘80s nostalgia fun, Saga is back from hiatus and We Stand on Guard proved to be a strong statement story about war. |
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Tom King The Vision has never been this complex, compelling and downright disturbing and we love it. Tom King sold us on the series’ premise in the premiere issue and his second showed how downright emotional and upsetting a robot family’s life can make us feel. Meanwhile he’s written a crime story set in Baghdad based on his own experience as a CIA operative over in Sheriff of Babylon. You don’t see that every day and it’s all the more reason to have him on your radar. |
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Brian Azzarello While we’re still waiting to see how DK3 pans out, the first two issues left us wanting more. Batman: Europa is also proving itself as an addicting read—Joker teaming up with Batman? Yes, please! |
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Jonathan Hickman Love or hate Secret Wars you have to admit the story is epic and Marvel hasn’t had an event series feel this damn big in a long time. Plus Hickman had the gall to spoof himself in Secret Wars Too. |
Artists
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Stuart Immonen Star Wars #11 and #12 wrapped up Jason Aaron’s latest arc and with it the last issue Immonen will be on for a while. Cherish this issue much like the 240K people who read it last month. |
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Giuseppe Camuncoli There comes a time when an artist brings their style to a book with a different colorist or inker and you see them in a whole new light. We already loved Camuncoli (he reached #4 last month) but damn does his work on Europa scream, “more of this please.” Though he was working off layouts by Jim Lee he’s still the reason the first issue looked like an event level series. |
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Gabriel Hernandez Walta While the writing in The Vision is stellar, without a steady hand the art could sabotage the whole thing and Walta certainly isn’t sabotaging anything unless it’s other artists’ careers. Seriously though, his layouts make each page in The Vision worth framing, but it’s the quieter more emotional moments that ring clear due to his deft hand. |
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Chris Bachalo This is similar to our number 3 pick as it’s a case where a strong artist is required regardless of how good the writing is. That’s because the world of Doctor Strange – more specifically his house – requires an incredibly imaginative mind that’s at once chaotic, but also able to capture a solid magical world. He does that in droves. |
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Francis Manapul There are two things that make us love his art: Ben-Day dots and textures. Both add layers to Manapul’s art that set it apart from the rest making Darkseid War feel even more weathered and ultimately important. The style he brings makes these stories feel larger than life which is important when all the heroes are literally gods! |
Based on recurring comic book sales, the rankings that our site gives the book as a composite score (that is, not just one person’s opinion) and overall talent/rising popularity taken into consideration.
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