sense of doubt

Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.

Sunday, May 24, 2026

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4115 - Best Comics of 2023-Now

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4115 - Best Comics of 2023-Now

Pulling another post from deep in the archives (2023) and adding two years (no list for 2026 yet).

This post serves as much as a reading list as ratings list, especially since I have not read over half of the comics listed.

I went looking for some titles that I thought might be missing and was happy to find them, like Power Fantasy, Immortal Thor, and Absolute Wonder Woman.

I cannot speak to others that I have not read.

This is COMIC BOOK SUNDAY.

Thanks for tuning in.

https://650centplague.wordpress.com/2023/12/25/the-best-comics-of-2023-a-meta-list/

The best comics of 2023: a meta list

Martin de la Iglesia

Dec 25

panels and panel details from Monica by D. Clowes, Roaming by J. + M. Tamaki, and A Guest in the House by E. Carroll

If the Internet is to be believed, comics are getting better and better every year. At the same time, I get the impression that comics are getting less and less online coverage. Most notably, Goodreads have dropped the 'Graphic Novels' category in their year-end awards. Anyway, there's still a sufficient number of best-of-the-year lists around to yield a meaningful result when merging them into a master list (by assigning points to each comic based on its rank or the total number of list items; full explanation of this methodology here). Thus here are...

THE TOP 25 COMICS OF 2023:

Roaming by Jillian and Mariko Tamaki (242 points)
Monica by Daniel Clowes (190)
A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll (146)
The Talk by Darrin Bell (125)
Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed (92)
Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons by Kelly Sue DeConnick and others (88)
Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto (81)
Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham (80)
Akane-banashi by Yuki Suenaga and Takamasa Moue (78)
Do a Powerbomb by Daniel Warren Johnson (77)
Sōsō no Frieren (a.k.a. Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe (74)
The Super Hero's Journey by Patrick McDonnell (71)
Impossible People by Julia Wertz (70)
The Immortal Thor by Al Ewing and Martín Cóccolo (69)
Namok (a.k.a. The Naked Tree) by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim (65)
Batman/Superman: World's Finest by Mark Waid and Dan Mora (61)
One Piece by Eiichirō Oda (58)
Family Style by Thien Pham (57)
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton, tied with
Oshi no ko by Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari (56)
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Blue Lock by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura (55)
Damn Them All by Simon Spurrier and Charlie Adlard, tied with
Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto / Saladin Ahmed and others (54)
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Birds of Prey by Kelly Thompson and Leonardo Romero, tied with
Last on His Feet by Adrian Matejka and Youssef Daoudi (53)

Other notable manga this year are Dandadan by Yukinobu Tatsu (rank 28), The JoJoLands by Hirohiko Araki (rank 34), Hikaru ga shinda natsu / The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren (rank 36), and Kimi wa hōkago Insomnia / Insomniacs After School by Makoto Ojiro (rank 39). As for (non-Anglophone) European comics, Juliette by Camille Jourdy would probably just about make the top 50, while the noteworthiest German comics (so far) would be Anke Feuchtenberger's Genossin Kuckuck and Barbara Yelin's Emmie Arbel which were ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively in the yearly poll of 30 German comics critics.

The following lists were evaluated: AITP (part 1, part 2), Barnes & Noble, Book Riot, CBC, Chicago Public Library, Comickunst (German), Forbes, Gamesradar / Newsarama (comics, manga), German critics' poll via Börsenblatt, Gosh (adult, kids), The Guardian (James Smart, Rachel Cooke), IGN, Kono manga ga sugoi via Anime News Network, Library Journal, Looper (DC, Marvel), NPR, NYPL, Nerdist, Oricon via The Beat, Polygon, Popverse (staff, readers), Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal (graphic novels, manga), Screen Rant (ongoing manga, new manga), Washington Post, YALSA.

https://650centplague.wordpress.com/2024/12/20/the-best-comics-of-2024-a-meta-list/

The best comics of 2024: a meta list

Posted: December 20, 2024 | Author: Martin de la Iglesia | Filed under: review | Tags: 2024, best-of lists, comics, manga, ranking, year-end review |1 Comment

panels from Tōkyō higoro by Taiyō Matsumoto, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book Two by Emil Ferris, and Final Cut by Charles Burns

Once more I compiled a list of what the Internet thinks are the best comics of the year (by assigning points to each comic based on its rank on a best-of list or the total number of list items; full explanation of this methodology here). The number of best-of lists I was able to find has declined again, as websites have dropped a comics category, or paywalled their list, or perhaps they are simply late this year. So instead of the usual top 25, I shortened this year’s list to make it more robust and meaningful. Hence…

THE TOP 20 COMICS OF 2024:

Final Cut by Charles Burns (95 points)
My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book Two by Emil Ferris (91)
Transformers by Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer (88)
Somna by Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay (86)
Ultimate Spider-Man by Jonathan Hickman and Marco Checchetto (82)
Tōkyō higoro (a.k.a. Tokyo These Days) by Taiyō Matsumoto (76)
Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta (70)
The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag (60)
The Power Fantasy by Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard (56)
Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls, tied with
The Ultimates by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri (55)
–
The One Hand and The Six Fingers by Ram V, Laurence Campbell, Dan Watters and Sumit Kumar (54)
Dawnrunner by Ram V and Evan Cagle, tied with
Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis by Dave Maass and Patrick Lay, and
Kagurabachi by Takeru Hokazono (50)
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Jujutsu Kaisen by Gege Akutami, tied with
Polar Vortex by Denise Dorrance (48)
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Sōsō no Frieren (a.k.a. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End) by Kanehito Yamada and Tsukasa Abe (47)
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath (41)
Elena: A Hand Made Life by Miriam Gold, tied with
Self-Esteem and the End of the World by Luke Healy (40)

Rank 6 for Matsumoto’s Tōkyō higoro is the best result for a manga since 2017 (when Kabi Nagata’s My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness made 2nd place). The highest-ranking non-manga comic not originally published in English would probably be either Corps vivante (translated as Portrait of a Body) by Julie Delporte, or Yeon-ui Pyeonji (translated as Your Letter) by Hyeon A Cho, both outside the top 25. Also noteworthy in this regard is the highest-ranking non-Anglophone European comic, the anthology Femme, vie, liberté (translated as Woman, Life, Freedom) by Marjane Satrapi et al., which would also rank somewhere in the top 30.

The following lists were evaluated: AIPT (part 1, part 2), Book Riot, CBC, Chicago Public Library, Comic Frontier, Comickunst (German), /Film, Forbes, Games Radar / Newsarama, Gosh (adult, kids), The Guardian (Rachel Cooke, James Smart), IGN, Kono manga ga sugoi via Anime News Network, Library Journal, NPR, NYPL, Oricon via The Beat, Polygon, School Library Journal (graphic novels, manga).

https://650centplague.wordpress.com/2025/12/28/the-best-comics-of-2025-a-meta-list/

The best comics of 2025: a meta list

Posted: December 28, 2025 | Author: Martin de la Iglesia | Filed under: review | Tags: 2025, best-of lists, comics, ranking, year-end review |Leave a comment

collage of panels from Assorted Crisis Events (Camp/Zawadzki), Cannon (Lai) and Drome (Lonergan)

As always at this time of the year, I aggregated ‘best of the year’ lists on the Internet by assigning each comic on them a score between 1 and 30 according to its rank or total number of comics on that list (full explanation here). Adding the scores together yields the following list.

THE TOP 25 COMICS OF 2025:

Cannon by Lee Lai (110 points)
Assorted Crisis Events by Deniz Camp and Eric Zawadzki, tied with
Drome by Jesse Lonergan (109)
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Do Admit! The Mitford Sisters and Me by Mimi Pond (108)
Black Arms to Hold You Up by Ben Passmore (96)
Absolute Wonder Woman by Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman (94)
Tongues by Anders Nilsen (93)
This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Goux (92)
Spent by Alison Bechdel (76)
The Once and Future Riot by Joe Sacco (69)
The Ultimates by Deniz Camp and Juan Frigeri (63)
Ginseng Roots by Craig Thompson (60)
Batman: Dark Patterns by Dan Watters and Hayden Sherman, tied with
Precious Rubbish by Kayla E. (57)
–
The Weight by Melissa Mendes (56)
Muybridge by Guy Delisle (50)
Talking to My Father’s Ghost by Alex Krokus (47)
Absolute Martian Manhunter by Deniz Camp and Javier Rodríguez, tied with
Bowling with Corpses by Mike Mignola,
Kamui den (a.k.a. The Legend of Kamui) by Sanpei Shirato, and
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Jason Aaron and Juan Ferreyra (45)
–
–
–
Flip by Ngozi Ukazu, tied with
More Weight: A Salem Story by Ben Wickey (42)
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Schweigen by Birgit Weyhe (39)
Absolute Batman by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta, tied with
Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology by Angela Hsieh (38)

Once more I couldn’t find as many lists as up until some years ago, so the aggregated ranking is not very reliable and there are many ties. Anyway, what we can definitely see is that it was a successful year for Deniz Camp who has written no fewer than three comics in the top 25. Although (relative) newcomers Camp, Lee Lai, and Jesse Lonergan take the top spots, we find many industry ‘veterans’ on the list like Alison Bechdel, Guy Delisle, Joe Sacco etc.

Apart from the venerable Kamui den (originally published in the 1960s), two other noteworthy manga that almost made the top 25 are Miss Ruki by Fumiko Takano and Veil Volume 1: Temperature of Orange by Kotteri – both unusual manga though, as they are fully coloured.

The next-highest ranked European comics after the German-language Schweigen would be the French-language Deux filles nues by Luz and Revoir Comanche by Romain Renard.

The following lists were evaluated: AIPT (part 1, part 2), A.V. Club, The Beat (best kids comics), Book Riot, CBC, ComFor (German), ComicBookClub, ComicBook.com, comic.de (German), Comickunst (German) Comic Frontier, Forbes, Gosh (adult, kids & young adult), The Guardian, IGN, K-Comics Beat, Kono manga ga sugoi via ANN, Library Journal, The New York Times, NPR, NYPL (strip collections, comics and graphic novels), Oricon via Screen Rant, Publishers Weekly (comics, manga), School Library Journal (graphic novels, manga), SKTCHD, YALSA.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2605.24 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3979 days ago & DAD = 633 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

No comments:

I am Christopher Tower the gmr

I am Christopher Tower (or Chris), and I am a writer of stuff. I grew up in Michigan; I now live in the Portland, OR metro area. I play Ultimate, ride a bike, and supposedly educate college persons while myself being educated in college. I am married with two kids, a beagle, a curly lab, and a fiesty pug/frenche mix. I like sushi. I love all SF, fantasy, comic books, D&D, board games, and Gnosticism. I am a Jungian. I am currently studying Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Walden University.

SENSE OF DOUBT STATUS AS OF 0705.04 - 16:45

Sense of Doubt is not currently dedicated to any themes or special interest. The subject matter is mine and may range from comic books to ultimate or from Baseball to feminist-centered media criticism. Until I feel I have enough content for multiple blogs, or until I am seized with a desire to create multiple blogs, this is it, and appropriately so. "Sense of Doubt" came about in Bowie’s Berlin period and the dark, ambient collaborations with Brian Eno. Like the Bowie of 1978, I have my own darkness that steals over me and through me, infecting everything. At the risk of sounding far too melodramatically obsessed with my own self-flagellations, this blog dedicates itself to that darkness, that infection. But it’s fun, too. Hey, I can be amusing? Or not. It’s the way of the [w]rench. Neurosis compelling action in insecure double-checking and misunderstanding evasions. It is my way.

More from the original description text that needed editing in 2015: Furthermore, Sense of Doubt is dedicated to the random. The theme is no theme. Just questions, doubt, and uncertainty. Feel the power of not knowing the answer. So dedicated on the last day of July 2006 by the Galactic Monkey Wrench.

The Galactic Monkey Wrench

This is the logo of the Galactic Monkey Wrench. I was given the nickname Galactic Monkey Wrench in college by a friend of mine who felt that I threw the monkey wrench into the cosmos at every available opportunity. Later, in discussions with my best friend, who is the Lord of Chaos (the Loc), he asked for my title and when I told him, without thinking, he blurted out "the gmr!" Since this was random and we appreciate randomness, I became the gmr, even though technically I should be the gmw. But gmw sounds like a car or some industrial manufacturing firm that makes a strange widget of which one has never heard. This acronym fetish may make no sense to anyone else, but my friend and I are quite driven to provide acronyms for many things. At the very least, it allows us to keep our conversations obscure and often private as no one knows about what we're talking.

Monkey Wrench Books

Chris's books

A Feast for Crows

by George R.R. Martin

This book is a little slower than the others. But if you become invested in this series, it provides key information about the history of Westeros and the lands across the Narrow Sea. It may not contain chapters with my favorite characters ...

A Game of Thrones

by George R.R. Martin

Do I really need to review this book? It's one of the best books I have ever read. Martin is a great writer. All the books are great, and I am loving my time rereading them. If you have not checked out these books, start here and get ready ...

The Golden City

by John Twelve Hawks

These books are immensely entertaining. Treat yourself to some strong writing, great action, compelling characters, and a mix of metaphysics and theology. The ending of this third book, which is presumably the last, is anti-climactic and so...

Pathfinder

by Orson Scott Card

This was a fun book. Not OSC's best but very good OSC nonetheless. The best thing about is the time travel, slowing, and speeding powers of the characters and how OSC engages the reader in discussion of causality and time paradox. For fans ...

Swamplandia!

by Karen Russell

This book came to me via my wife Liesel who discovered it and urged me to read it. Beautifully written with compelling characters and a sense of the magical (yet realistic, somewhat). Funny yet full of the pathos that marks a good if not gr...

Hey, Mom! The Explanation.