Grant Morrison's X-Men run I thought was brilliant at first. I thought to myself, "This is the most hilarious satire and superhero parody work I've seen since The Tick." Then someone told it me it wasn't a joke. That it was actually serious. Then I went out a bought a gun. Oh, I never use it. But the way I figure if the end of the world occurs in 2012 like The Aztec Calendar predicts, then I can maybe beat God to the punch when it comes to Scotland's Favorite Egomanical Heroin Addict because everyone's going to die anyway. Either that, or I'll just get really fucking drunk. So when God comes knocking I might not be wearing pants. I'll die happy either way.
Anyway the topic at hand:
Garth Ennis's Punisher Run: Ennis is to Castle what Claremont is to The X-Men. It's just full of fire and testosterone filled fury. It pulls no punches while it rips modern comic book pretentiousness apart. It's a gleefully nihilistic joy ride to Hell. It's anti-military, anti-liberal, and anti-American. And I wouldn't have it any other way. It's everything I love about Ennis.
Geoff Johns Flash Run: Often overlooked because of the hype associated with the return of Hal Boredan. Most Flash villains pretty much sucked ass for the past 50 years. Johns was able to make them interesting for the first time since ever. He was also able to resurrect The Reverse Flash, the only good Flash villain, and bring him into the new age. All of which came together nicely in Rogues War. He added to and played around with the mythology while having nothing but respect for it, unlike other writers I've ranted about.
Garth Ennis's The Boys: Ennis going back to his superhero-bashing, dark comedy roots. The guy has such huge balls to mock and ridicule The Big Two, its a wonder anyone will hire him. In an era of Silver Age Nostalgia and Pretentious Intellectual Statements, The Boys cuts through all of that bullshit like Leatherface alone with a young Co-Ed. And it has a character modeled after Simon Pegg too.
Nextwave: This was probably the best superhero comic Marvel has put out in 10 years. Granted, most of their superhero books are awful but still. A lot of it had to do with the fact that it didn't do what Marvel books nowadays usually do. No shock stunts. No mythology or character rape. No big events. Just fun, sharp, hilarious writing and some of the best action around. So of course no one read it and it was canceled after just two arcs and declared non-canon.
