The 10 Best New Comics Of 2024, Ranked

It's the end of 2024 — if you think keeping track of all the new movies released this year was a challenge, try keeping your head on straight with new comics. Which of these funny books should you movie fans dive into? I'll offer the cream of the crop from my year-long reading experience, from monthly superhero books all the way to indie graphic novels.

In the interest of brevity, this list will only feature comics that debuted in 2024. Some honorable mentions for ongoing comics I loved this year but didn't meet that cut-off:

• "Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees" by Patrick Horvath

• "Chainsaw Man" by Tatsuki Fujimoto

• "#DRCL midnight children" by Shin-ichi Sakamoto

• "Detective Comics" by Ram V

• "The Ribbon Queen" by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows

• "The Sacrificers" by Rick Remender and Max Fiumara

• "Transformers" by Daniel Warren Johnson and Jorge Corona

• "Vinland Saga" by Makoto Yukimura

Also apologies to all the comics I couldn't get to (yet). But without further ado, these are the 10 best, /Film-endorsed comics of 2024.

Manga is an industry that throws new serialization after new serialization at the wall to see what sticks. One that stuck this year was the dark fantasy shōnen "Centuria." In a medieval-Europe styled world, an enslaved person named Julian escapes aboard a ship in hopes of a better life. When the ship's crew begins killing the enslaved people onboard (hoping for an insurance payout), an octopus-like Sea God rises from the depths and grants Julian the lives and strength of the 100 individuals who are slaughtered, making him nigh-immortal. (Hence, "Centuria," or 100.)

Tohru Kuramori is a former assistant to "Chainsaw Man" and "Look Back" creator Tatsuki Fujimoto, and he's inherited his mentor's drawing sensibilities. The monsters in "Centuria" could easily stand alongside Fujimoto's Devils and across the 30+ chapters so far, Kuramori has shown a preference for sweeping, double-page action spreads.

"Centuria" wears its other influences on its sleeve. Its European setting and themes of finding hope in a violent world echo manga masterpieces "Berserk" and "Vinland Saga." Julian also resembles Van Hohenheim from "Fullmetal Alchemist," a formerly enslaved individual with many souls living inside him. "Centuria" has reached the heights of Kuramori's influences yet, but give it time; it grows riper with each new chapter.

New chapters of "Centuria" can be read on Shueisha's MANGA Plus app.

Keep your eyes on indie presses, lest lots of great work fall through the cracks of your reading priorities. "The King's Warrior" is a simple fairy tale: a lone knight errant, Mara, is riding her stead at the behest of her ruler, out to slay an evil wizard hiding in a dark tower.

Huahua Zhu illustrates this comic in the style of an ancient tapestry, with strong character poses and stark color contrasts; her drawings look like they could've been stitched as much as pencilled. Most of the book is colored in some shade of blue, yet even that shows Zhu's command of aesthetic tone. The comic employs white-hued blue for flashbacks (detailing Mara's history, how she met her steed, and why she serves the king) and darker-blue for night scenes.

The cherry on top is Zhu's creature design; Mara's companion is no mere horse but a Lionsteed, a chimera of a lion and a ram. It has the body shape and horns of a ram, but the mane of a lion. Its head is more goat-shaped too, but when it unfurls its fangs, you see the lion emerge.

"The King's Warrior" is a tight 74-page graphic novel, and it wastes none of its brief time with us. We don't know all the details of this world and its history, but there's enough to understand. It's a book perfect for fans of "The Green Knight," as it also turns a hero's quest into an ominous dirge.

"The King's Warrior" is available to purchase through Bulgilhan Press.

DC's new "Absolute Universe" is only a few issues in, but it's already reenergized reader enthusiasm about the world's oldest superheroes (if sales figures are anything to go by).

Scott Snyder is a veteran Batman writer, but in "Absolute Batman," this crusader has a new cape. Snyder and Dragotta have rejiggered their hero to speak to the 21st century; this Bruce Wayne is not a billionaire playboy, but a civil engineer who lost his father in a mass shooting. By day, he learns the ins-and-outs of Gotham City so that he can put it back together. At night, he too fights the criminals who seek to tear the city down in structure and soul.

Dragotta's design is the beefiest Batman since Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns." Instead of Batarangs, Absolute Batman wields a bat-shaped axe, a weapon worthy of an ancient knight (he's got the muscle of one too). 

The villains of the first "Absolute Batman" arc are the violent gangsters Party Animals, led by a reimagined Black Mask. This, too, evokes "Dark Knight Returns," where Batman was called out of retirement to protect Gotham from violent street gang "the mutants." Snyder and Dragotta have acknowledged Miller's influence on their comic, but their Batman is not an aged legend grasping back for life from a walking death. He's a young, ordinary man reshaping his future as he lives it.

Absolute Batman is the hero we deserve and need right now and, truly, Batman AF. 

"Absolute Batman" issues #1-2 are currently available, issue #3 is set for publication on December 18, 2024.

Cullen Bunn is one of America's most prolific horror comic writers; his latest is "The Autumn Kingdom," a C.S. Lewis-style story of children transported to a fantasy sword-and-sorcery realm. It still has horror trappings, though, like a haunted house, scary monsters, and mortal peril.

Fantasy author Andrew Kier rents a Swedish cabin for himself and his family, hoping to break through his writers' block with a vacation. Then in the dead of the night, the family is attacked by Fae right out of Andrew's book. His daughters, Sommer and Winter, must take up swords to rescue their parents from becoming blood sacrifices for the Autumn Kingdom, the dying realm of the fairies.

"The Autumn Kingdom" is half-book within a book; images from Andrew's new novel, "The Wraithbound Queen," are rendered in full next to panels of Sommer and Winter, paralleling and contrasting the quest of heroine Elesthriel with both Sommer and Winter's. Mitten delineates between classical fantasy drawings for Elesthriel with a more forested look for Sommer and Winter, but both settings have memorable and terrifying monsters to face.

"The Autumn Kingdom" issues #1-3 are currently available, with the fourth and final issue scheduled for release on December 25, 2024.

Ram V and Dan Watters are two of the most exciting writers in comics now, and they have a history of collaboration. They revived "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" for Skybound Entertainment together and Watters wrote back-ups stories during V's "Detective Comics" run.

2024 saw their greatest team-up yet: "The One Hand" & "Six Fingers," two intertwining series that tell a single story. "The One Hand" (by V) focuses on Ari Nasser, a retiring police detective who, in his glory days, caught both the original "One Hand" serial killer (named because he left a handprint at crime scenes) and a later copycat. When the killings resume, he postpones his retirement. "The Six Fingers" (by Watters) focuses on the killer: archaeology student Johannes Vale. The books are meant to be read in alternating order. (So, "One Hand" #1, then "Six Fingers" #1, then "One Hand" #2, so on and so forth.)

The structure aside, this might sound like pretty typical hardboiled noir, but what sneaks up on you is that the book is science-fiction. It's set in a fictional city named Neo Novena, and while this looks much more like New York than "Blade Runner," the city is still filled with androids ("Cogs"). As this hand and all (six) of its fingers stretch out, you feel this story might be less "Silence of the Lambs," and more "The Matrix."

All 10 collective issues of "The One Hand" & "Six Fingers" are currently available. The collected edition, which features all issues in the intended reading order, is out on December 24, 2024, and is currently available for pre-order.

Skottie Young and Jorge Corona are a comics team to watch. (I'm a big fan of their haunted house tale, "The Me You Love In The Dark.") Their latest miniseries — "Ain't No Grave" — is a macabre Western and a dark fantasy spin on "Unforgiven."

Ryder is a former outlaw who turned away from gunslinging to motherhood. But then an unfriendly guest pops in to interrupt her idyllic life with her husband and daughter — not an old rival, but a terminal illness. So, Ryder sets out on one last quest, riding out on the road to Hell to kill Death himself. That's why the title apes a classic Western tune about defying death (famously sung by Johnny Cash).

There are five issues, each one titled after one stage of grief. Ryder's quest is one long denial, spending the little time she has trying to change fate instead of making new memories with the two people she's fighting for. And why, Death asks, does Ryder deserve this reprieve when she's already ended so many lives? Because to quote William Munny,  "Deserve's got nothing to do with it."

Corona's art hews cartoony (see Ryder's unnaturally white hair), but the world of "Ain't No Grave" feels really rendered. The first issue is packed with long shots of Ryder on horseback slowly traveling across Western landscapes; you can feel both the blistering sunshine of the day and chill of the night. The comic's ending page knocked my socks off with a heart-piercing melding of text and paneling, showing the last gunshot of Ryder's journey with a simple "bang!"

Image Comics

"Ain't No Grave" is currently available from digital retailers, with a print edition scheduled for release on December 24, 2024.

 "Resurrection of Magneto" was easily the highlight of "Fall of X" (the finale to the X-Men's Krakoa-era), when Storm journeys into Hell to convince Magneto the world still needs him.

Magneto is a character of contradictions, ones heightened by his character being twisted, again and again, by different writers with competing understandings of him. Magneto is both the greatest enemy and friend to Charles Xavier, a victim who became a murderer himself, and man who fights for liberation yet calls his followers the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. In the final accounting of his deeds, he's ended countless lives but saved even more.

Marvel Comics

 "Resurrection of Magneto" is a character study that takes the whole of Magneto's history and forges it together. In issue #3, Magneto (wearing a black-and-white costume, conveying good and evil residing with him) literally talks to an apparition of his Silver Age self (the bloodthirsty Magneto, with a fitting red costume), who can only rave about the destined dominance of "Homo Superior." Magneto does not deny or excuse his sins or rage, but accepts them and his shadow self as part of his whole being.

Marvel Comics

Ewing's Marvel comics often draw on spirituality (the Kabbalah especially) and in "Resurrection of Magneto," Vecchio bases his drawings on tarot cards.

Resurrection of Magneto included a bunch of Tarot references and parallels. Here's a list:
(Spoilers) pic.twitter.com/WzchUga0AI

— Luciano Vecchio (@LucianoVecchio) August 27, 2024

The comic's opening page places Magneto into the Five of Cups (symbolizing sadness or disappointment), with the cups replaced by the different helmets he has worn as Magneto, all scattered and discarded on the ground. The comic's final page is the World card, showing the end of one cycle and beginning of another. "Resurrection of Magneto" says we should remember iterative history, so of course the story's themes are framed with classical images.

"Resurrection of Magneto" is available to purchase and read on the digital reading service Marvel Unlimited.

Speaking of characters unable to grow, "Ultimate Spider-Man" was Marvel's biggest runaway success this year. This Peter Parker is not eternally mid-20s, but married to MJ with two kids. This is what Spidey fans have been demanding since the infamous "One More Day," and what Marvel editorial has denied them. Loathe as I am to say it, the fanboys were right.

"Ultimate Spider-Man" reimagines Spider-Man as Peter's mid-life crisis. Thanks to the machinations of the evil Maker, he never got bitten by that radioactive spider and missed his destiny. So, he becomes Spider-Man 20 years late — but as the book stresses, things still aren't going to go the way they were meant.

This Spider-Man's already got a partner-in-crime fighting: the Green Goblin, this time Harry Osborn instead of Norman. (Boy, am I dreading this breakup). The superheroing is also just one part of the book; just as important is Ben Parker (who, yes, is still alive) and J. Jonah Jameson's journalistic crusade. They start an indie outlet ("the Paper") to compete with the compromised Daily Bugle owned by the Kingpin himself, Wilson Fisk.

I know these characters like the back of my hand, but I read every issue of "Ultimate Spider-Man" with anticipation and uncertainty of everything except I'll probably love it.

"Ultimate Spider-Man" issues #1-11 are currently available, with issue #12 scheduled for December 18, 2024. "Ultimate Spider-Man" Volume 1 ("Married With Children"), collecting issues #1-6, is also currently available.

It's not just anime and manga that tell mecha stories, for "Dawnrunner" is one of the most beautiful comics of this year. The set-up is especially similar to Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim," where humanity built giant robots to combat extra dimensional monsters. In "Dawnrunner," though, the portal opened in Central America, not the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

The book picks up a century after the monsters (called the "Tetza") first emerged. Fighting them has become so commonplace that the mecha ("Iron King") battles are televised and the pilots are stars. This adds a dash of "The Hunger Games" to the stew, but while "Dawnrunner" can look like a homage to a homage, it never feels stale.

The story's primary hero is pilot Anita Marr, chosen to pilot the new Iron King named "Dawnrunner." But this one is no ordinary robot; it contains the memories of Major Ichiro Takeda, a soldier who fell when the Tetza first came to Earth. While piloting Dawnrunner, Anita drifts from past to present; she fights to secure treatment for her ill daughter, and must experience Takeda's loss of his own children.

A mecha containing a human soul calls to mind "Neon Genesis Evangelion," while the pilot merging with it, again, evokes "Pacific Rim." Cagle draws the Iron Kings as being halfway between the Jaegers and the Evas; they've got the features of the former but the eerie lankiness of the latter. They also have cyclopean heads with a HAL-9000/Cylon-esque red eye, adding another dash of inhumanity. 

Character design isn't the only part when Cagle excels; his textures and backgrounds are downright Mœbius-esque. In "Dawnrunner," V and Cagle work in as perfect sync as Anita and her Iron King do.

"Dawnrunner" issues #1-5 are currently available, with the collected edition scheduled for December 24, 2024.

Like it or not, comics are inextricable from superheroes. However, easily the best that genre put forth in 2024 didn't come from Marvel or DC's bloated shared corporate brands. No, it was "The Power Fantasy," a comic that runs on how "superpower" means both a fictional hero's fantastical ability and a nation that can destroy the world if provoked.

The comic takes place in an alternate history when superpowered people start appearing after the first atomic bomb went off. The superpowered are divided between "Atomics" (with nuclear-spawned powers) and "Magicians" (who channel extra dimensional energy). There are about 15-25 million superpowered people in this world, and most of their powers are hardly Earth-shaking. One of the main characters, Tonya, is an atomic who can snap small fireworks from her fingers, Jubilee style. She's not a superhero, just an everyday journalist.

But there are six "Superpowers" (three Atomics, one Magician, one Angel, and one Demon) with cataclysmic abilities. If they unleash their full power or come into conflict, the world will (and has) suffer great damage. The comic jumps from (non-sequential) flashbacks detailing the Superpowers' 20th century history and a running plot in 1999 as their Cold War keeps heating up.

Gillen has described "The Power Fantasy" as ideas he couldn't push far enough when writing "X-Men" — Etienne Lux, the first Superpower we meet, is a telepath like Charles Xavier. Unlike the X-Men, who will always return to the false comfort of stasis, every issue of "The Power Fantasy" makes it feel like the world's axis could tip over.

"The Power Fantasy" issues #1-4 are currently available, with issue #5 scheduled for December 18, 2024, and Volume 1 (collecting the first five issues) set for February 11, 2025.