My Favorite Comic Books of the First Half of 2022
During the last couple years of my time running NunesMagician, we released half-year and annual “top comic book” lists pulling rankings from a few of us and then discussing the top 10–15 specific issues.
Continuing with that tradition, I’m looking at my favorite comic books of the first half of 2022. Rather than a strict “ranking,” I’m just naming a collection of individual issues I’ve enjoyed most from across several publishers. If there are other current titles I need to add to my pull list, by all means, please let me know. I always enjoy checking out new storytellers.
(warning: spoilers ahead)
Marvel: Inferno #4 (Jonathan Hickman/Stefano Casselli)
Admittedly, Hickman is the creator who really got me to appreciate the X-Men, and I think what he’s started with the Krakoan Age has turned nearly every X book into a must-read since 2019. Bringing back Destiny in the way he did was a risk, but one handled deftly and in a manner that completely reshuffles the board for the next X-Men arc.
In the months since Hickman departed the X-Men books, the remaining creators have been able to pick up the baton and run with it rather well — which is a major credit to them. I also think that there’s plenty of credit also due to Hickman’s world-building and the hiding-in-plain-sight mysteries he’s populated the Mutants’ stories with, so there are a ton of threads still to pull.
The one pulled here with Moira is an interesting swing, but one that also has long-term ramifications I’m already hooked on.
BOOM! Studios: House of Slaughter #5 (James Tynion IV & Tate Brombal/Werther Dell’Edera)
The end of the first 20 issues of Tynion & Dell’Edera’s Something Is Killing the Children starts to explore the origin of the House of Slaughter through Erica’s eyes. But House of Slaughter opts to keep looking at what makes the rest of the story’s characters tick, without most of their attachments to Erica too, where applicable.
For instance, here in this first five-issue arc, I didn’t know I needed more on Aaron. And yet, I was quickly pulled into his complicated relationship with the House of Slaughter, Jace and the rest. It all comes to a head in the fifth issue in a way that really exposes how fragile the House truly is from top to bottom. Issue six doesn’t return here, but I’m excited to see if it does, especially as Something Is Killing the Children has sort of lost some of its previous momentum (in my opinion) this year.
Dark Horse: Break Out #1 (Zack Kaplan/Wilton Santos)
What I really appreciated about Break Out is how it addresses a post-pandemic America and the realities of it — lack of faith in government response, lack of safeguards and the “we can’t live like this forever” message — without directly talking about the pandemic. Here, the continued threat is what initially appear to be alien floating cubes that are abducting young people at random.
It’s still early, but at least through a couple issues, it’s a fun and interesting sci-fi concept that still feels grounded in aspects of our real world.
DC: Human Target #4 (Tom King/Greg Smallwood)
King and Smallwood working together once more is not a hard sell for me — or many comics readers. And here, he again excels while bringing additional pathos and intrigue to a previously C-tier character. From the start of this run, Christopher Chance has 12 days to solve his impending murder. Episode four leads Chance and Ice to Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) with pressing questions about Booster Gold. The answers wind up being a revealing look into Kord and Booster’s relationship, along with a larger examination of heroes and hero work.
King’s dialogue is engaging throughout, but Smallwood’s art really makes this book and series to-date jump off the page, getting you excited to keep going. Perhaps best of all, the story never gets bogged down by the seriousness of trying to solve a murder in real-time, retaining its humanity and sense of humor throughout.
Marvel: Black Widow #14 (Kelly Thompson/Elena Casagrande)
Thompson’s Black Widow has been one of Marvel’s best ongoing books going since 2020, lending a ton of personality and emotional depth to Natasha while also erecting families both real and imagined around her. By doing so, Thompson is able to adjust the typical story-telling around the Black Widow character, push her forward and really raise the stakes even within a confined world.
Here, her encounters with the Living Blade reveal an unnerving fear that you don’t usually see with Natasha, and the colors lent to Casagrande’s art by Jordie Bellaire and Elisabetta D’Amico help ramp up that stress even further. It’s a bummer that this team didn’t get the opportunity to do more with this world they’ve built. Alas…
Image: Eight Billion Genies #1 (Charles Soule/Ryan Browne)
Much like Soule’s Curse Words, Eight Billion Genies is a simple yet absurd concept. Here: What hell is unleashed by everyone getting what they want at the same time? And how do normal people — in this case, encased in a strategically protected bar — deal with all of that.
The first issue manages to do minimal exposition while still setting the stage for the world that would quickly be inhabited by a genie per person. There are some immediate “good” and “bad” characters, for sure. But mostly, it poses some interesting philosophical questions around fulfillment that will ultimately get explored throughout the rest of the run.
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There were plenty of other great series and individual issues out there this year, and I certainly haven’t been able to read all of them yet. And since this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, perhaps I’ve read already read something that’s not included above, and just wasn’t as much of a fit for this brief group.
With that in mind, a few honorable mentions are below. But always open to other recommendations.
- BOOM! Studios: Once & Future #24 (Kieron Gillen/Dan Mora)
- Marvel: Strange #1 (Jed Mackay/Marcelo Ferreira)
- DC: Batman: The Knight #1 (Chip Zdarsky/Carmine Di Giandomenico)
- Image: Step By Bloody Step #1 (Si Spurrier/Matias Bergara)
