For the first time in the few years we've been doing this, we have a tie. Actually, not only one, but two three-way ties. The ties were for two of the top three positions, so you know the competition was as tough as it was tight. Our Top 10 Comics of 2006 is a rather eclectic list, skewing toward the superhero genre but not dwelling there exclusively. Take a look at the results (and the Off The Presses section entries that got them there).

We have, as always, excluded our own products from this category. We do, however, think the award winning Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney's Comics & Stories are definitely worthy of your attention.

Since there are two ties, our count-down actually starts with number six:

6. Owly: Flying Lessons
Top Shelf Productions; $10.00
The third volume of Andy Runton's wonderful Owly is no less charming and no less of a page turner than the first two. This book remains a spectacular example of "all ages" entertainment.


5. Hawkgirl #50
DC Comics; $2.50
One of the “One Year Later” titles tied into the big Infinite Crisis events, the Hawkman series has morphed into the Hawkgirl series. At the same time, it's gained a creative duo who have only worked together sparingly despite decades of friendship. Writer Walter Simonson and artist Howard Chaykin have previously teamed only sporadically (some pages in a benefit comic, a back-up story in Orion, some mutual assistance when they were studio mates), but they clearly clicked on this first issue out of the gate. At the recent New York Comic-Con, Simonson told us how enthusiastic he was about the project, and it shows.


4. Daredevil #82
Marvel Comics; $2.99
There's a great tradition of great tenures on Daredevil being followed by not-so-great stints. Even some of the greatest creators in the business have tanked on the assignment. Following Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev is not going to be easy. Or maybe it will.

Ed Brubaker, who has been doing wonderful things as the writer of Captain America, has teamed with artist Michael Lark for the latest attempt to follow a great stint on Daredevil, and they smacked it out of the metaphorical park. The story, both in tone and style, is a relatively seamless transition to Matt Murdock's new reality. You have to go a long way back to find a new team successfully building on what's been left to them without trashing a lot of the previous material. These guys, at least in this first issue, have done it. Another forty or fifty issues like this one and it'll be “Brian who?”


3. [Tie] Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #1
Marvel Comics; $2.99
Eisner award-winning writer Sean McKeever and artist Takeshi Miyazawa return to the subject of their two previous Mary Jane mini-series for this new on-going title. We loved the originals and, no big surprise, we love this one too. It should be compulsory reading for everyone who complains about there being no romance comics!


3. [Tie] The Lone Ranger #1
Dynamite Entertainment; $2.99
Even if you're the strictest Lone Ranger purist around, there's not much to quibble with on this new interpretation of one of the most popular and enduring western characters ever. In fact, if there's ever been a comic that more successfully straddled the line between reverence for old stories and the desire to tell new tales with some teeth to them, we haven't seen it. We've enjoyed many comics from Dynamite in their short existence - Red Sonja, Army of Darkness, Highlander - and but the first issue of The Lone Ranger is the single best comic they've produced to date.


3. [Tie] Cobb: Off The Leash
IDW Publishing; $3.99
In a career marked thus far by diverse characters from a variety of publishers, ranging from The Black Terror at Eclipse Comics to Guy Gardner at DC, Beau Smith has established himself as a writer with a distinct take on things. Whether he's been working on someone else's characters, such as Wildcat, or his own, like Wynonna Earp, his characters have had a certain rough-and-tumble directness to them, a straight forward honesty akin to John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. That said, even Smith's diehard fans might not find themselves ready for Cobb #1. Matched with the fluid linework of artist Eduardo Barreto, Smith has poured himself and his sensibilities into this new series and the results are outstanding, a real page turner of a read. This first issue introduces Cobb and his world and sets up what is no doubt going to be a seriously fun story.

2. Captain America #21
Marvel Comics; $2.99
Could this comic be any better? Well, sure. We guess. You know, somehow.


1. [Tie] Astonishing X-Men #14
Marvel Comics; $2.99
Who can play mind games better than the mutant psychics of the X-Men and their foes? Well, apparently Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator and Astonishing X-Men writer Joss Whedon and artist John Cassaday. Good stuff.


1. [Tie] Action Comics #844
DC Comics; $2.99
Geoff Johns and Richard Donner (director of Superman: The Movie and Superman II) join artist extraordinaire Adam Kubert (X-Men, Ultimate X-Men) for “Last Son,” which introduces a small child from the planet Krypton, rocketed to Earth with powers beyond imagination. The child's future potential is limitless; especially when Superman finds him!


1. [Tie] Enigma Cipher #1
Boom! Studios; $5.99
Enigma Cipher #1 is one of the most gripping thrillers we've read in a long time, and it may very well be the best thing that Boom! Studios has published to date (and if you look at their track record, that's saying quite a lot). If the concluding chapter of this two-issue mini-series lives up to the opening salvo, it's going to be a superb ride.

During World War II the Nazis employed a machine known as The Enigma Cipher to encrypt and decrypt their communications. When a modern day grad student cracks the code as part of a class assignment, she discovers that the Enigma Cipher is still in use. When her professor and classmates are subsequently killed, she is thrust into a global conspiracy involving members at the highest level of government and she must run for her life.

Written by Andrew Cosby (creator of the Sci Fi Channel's show Eureka) and Michael Alan Nelson, Enigma Cipher #1 is drawn by Greg Scott and features a cover by Jeff Johnson.

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