So I was sorting out my piles of comics books that have stacked up in the past year and thought I'd write a list. Firstly covering the disappointments from the past year or so. Secondly the pleasant surprises.

Disappointments

1. The final X-23 issue, #21. Well firstly the disappointment was that they decided to cancel one of the best series on the shelves. Anyway, this final issue had no words and no real compelling story. It felt like empty, the lack of words felt gimmicky and like Liu didn't know how to end the series strongly. So sent Laura into the woods with wolves and on a spiritual journey...sounds like something Wolverine has done a bunch of times. Didn't we just spend 20 issues establishing Laura isn't Logan? A weak end to a brilliant series.
2. Uncanny X-Force's art since dark angel saga. It's like going from Michealangelo to a 3 year old kid with dyspraxia. The art for the recent arc has been really unpleasant and worse when comparing to the previous artists.
3. Green Arrow in the new 52. First series I dropped, felt to much like a cross between smallville version and a cartoon. No depth, character and poor stories. This is not Oliver Queen.
4. Teen Titans, new 52. Surprised me this one, I love Tim Drake so tried really hard to like it but it just never felt like it got anywhere. Shame as I really liked the art. I dropped it after 5 issues.
5. GL Corps, new 52. Guy & John being badasses, sounds good right? Well it got a bit boring after about the 6th issue of reiterating, Guy's a badass. I've dropped it now but keeping my eye on it as I like Guy & John.
6. DC's digital strategy. When the new 52 was launched I was like hell yes I will pay 50p extra for a digital copy. One of the main reasons I bought my ipad was for reading comics. Thing is when you stack it up those 50p amount to a lot and prices are going up when converted to GBP. Plus the pricing is a joke, it costs £2.49 for me to get a comic on the ipad through comixology, I can order the physical copy for £2.10-£2.60. How does that make sense? (this pricing part also applies to Marvel)
7. Justice League, new 52. I know a lot will disagree with me but I feel that story so far has been really weak. Very formulaic, Darkseid was a silent enemy that got beaten by a kid hacking his tech. It was just so underwhelming, art is great but at the end of the day it needed a stronger story. Go back and read Grant Morrison's starting run on JLA and you'll see what I mean.

Which brings me onto action comics. Now hold on there's a tenet here, I'm conscious we tend to hold Grant Morrison up to higher standards than anyone else, and what seems weak now will usually look genius when you see a Grant series in it's full form. So I'm holdin this one not as a disappointment but as a...wait and see.

Pleasant Surprises

1. Hickman's Fantastic Four run, why I'm surprised I do not know. I loved Hickman's secret warriors and I should have been onto this earlier.
2. Red Hood and the Outlaws. Despite being a little taken aback by the initial Starfire controversy I have really enjoyed the depth this series has brought to Jason Todd and to an extent with Starfire (we'll probably see more of that in the next arc). Roy Harper seems to have a purpose here and the art is great.
3. The Carnage Series', both have been excellent. I love Clayton Crain's art, he was great on x-force but the writing on these books has also been good. Not really a spider-man guy but I bought the books for Clayton Crain. I'm glad I did.
4. GL New Guardians. I love this series, I feel it's the strongest of the GL line up. Some will disagree of course but that's your opinion, while I like the GL series I could drop it GL New Guardian's though has just been really enjoyable. It's the team book that Justice League should have been, slowly building the team dynamic and giving a strong enemy with motivations, not just a mute statue.
5. Batman & Robin. Scott Snyder's Batman is clearly the strongest Batman book in new 52, B&R though hasn't been too far behind, it's great to see the difference in dynamic compared to Dick & Damien. Bruce just doesn't seem to know how to be a father but this book is showing him learning pretty quickly.
6. Daken's finish. For a book I was ready to drop at an early point, this ramped up a lot towards the end. Ever since the x-23 cross over this has been a crazy book, I felt the whole Heat/Roston stroyline dragged on a bit but the way Daken finished his run was pretty damned good and left it open.
7. Marvel's online strategy. Bundling in the codes for no extra cost, Marvel Mondays reducing new series to 69p. I am well on board the Marvel train, they're clearly looking at Music industry model and thinking "you're competing with free, so you have to be better than free". Well bundling is one step, who's going to scan the book when they can just type in a code. And reasonable pricing is a big win, I can't count the amount of Monday's where I've woke up looked and thought, "I'll buy one" 12 issues later and I'm very happy. There are a whole lot of series I wouldn't be on board with if it wasn't for Marvel giving me these tasters.
8. Comicvine being bought. Pleasantly surprised that CBS took comicvine in the sale too, I hope they really invest in the site as it's a great site and the guys have really worked hard. BRING BACK THE UNSCRIPTED REVIEWS!!!