Best of 2025. rename, man, this sucks. (working title)

I didn't rename it because well, it is my favourite comics of 2025.

What you’ll find today.

• the whys of the best of

• honourable mention

• small press

• mainstream floppies

• underground comix

• discount code XMAS on my online shop

So, as we are coming to end of the year, I thought it would be a good idea to do a Best Of kind’a post. Yeah, I know, everybody is at it, it’s not very original, Christ, if you stick on the TV you’ll see the best of anything you could imagine. And do you know what, mine is not going to be any different from the rest. So suck it up and have a jolly old jolly at my picks.

In saying that, if I’m truthful, what I really did was lean over the back of my chair and started picking through the piles of comics I have stashed behind said chair and after not that long of flicking through, I came across some belters I’ve read. And the thing is, their might be more, better, juicier ones buried deep down, sandwiched between mediocre and aye, nae bad, that I could have chosen. But you see, the things is, that’s comics, there are so many good ones it can be impossible to narrow down. Anyway, I did my best and I hope that my choices are worthy of your attention.

So, I’ve got a few to share, my top three reads of the year and my top Small Press read of the year. Actually, I have a fifth one too, let’s call it the Honourable Mention read of the year. I also added in Underground Comix of the year. Like I said, too many to narrow down.

So, we’ll do Honourable Mention first.

Honourable Mention of the year.

It’s basically everything I have read from Image’s Ghost Machine imprint. This has all been top tier stuff, if you haven’t read any of it, go back and start buying the trades, because you will love them, that’s what I did. I had been hearing great things about a lot of their different titles so I picked up the first trade of Geiger and I was hooked and quickly grabbed the second one. At the time of writing I don’t think the third is out, but should be soon I’d imagine. I then randomly picked up Hyde Street and again I tore through the pages, brilliant. Then it was onto Redcoat and pretty much couldn’t put it down.

This is great storytelling with amazing art. They are beautiful to look at and enjoyable to read. That is what you want in a comic.

In 2026 I will 100% be picking up more of these titles as they land, some already have. The next on my list is Junkyard Joe, which I believe was their first title. I’ll probably stick to trades as I am bit….how do you say…comic booky that way. Can’t mix up the floppies with the stiffies. Ya know.

Available everywhere, go get some.

P.s, apparently they are all going to come together and cause a mighty Assemble!

Ok, now we’ve got that out the way, lets get onto Small Press of the year.

Small Press of the year.

Her Hardboiled Heart - David Taylor. This was a great read. Three 40 + page volumes all written, drawn and designed by David himself. To get all three volumes out between April and October is pretty good going, that’s not an easy task.

I loved the story, art and design of this book. Things like the spine of all three volumes had one word scored off on each book so that when you put them together they read Her Hardboiled Heart. It was nice touch. There was also some case file clippings at the end of books one and two and some beautiful artwork at the end of book three.

The art throughout is lovely. No panel borders, instead just the image with either a rough border or none at all. It works well. Each character is easily recognisable, and have that artistic chiselled man and rounded female features. I like that definition in comics, the over exaggerated look but still has an element of realism.

A great storyline with some nice twists, especially in book one. Espionage meets who’s hunting who meets two broken lives broken by their job. The job being hired assassins.

You can find David’s Substack here. Go check it out.

Now then, onto the main event. The big comics of the world. Strangely I’ve picked a single issue, a three part mini and and ongoing, all floppies as I would call them, some would call them regular comics. And because of my choices, I think we have a great roundup of books.

First up

Sin City - The Babe Wore Red. Frank Miller.

I picked this up from the pound shop within the Awesome Comics Podcast Slack community. And up until a few minutes ago I thought I had read something I hadn’t already read from Sin City. I have all seven volumes. However, after a quick Google search I’ve found out that all three stories in this single issue are actually in volume Six - Booze, Broads and Bullets. But I’m still including it and I’ll tell you why.

When I got this through, this single issue floppy comic, I found a nice time to sit and read it with a coffee. It clearly had been a very long time since I had read the trade paper back (volume 6) which contains these stories plus more. I ripped through it, loving every page, admiring the art, the silhouettes Miller does so well, the black and white contrast, the slow burn of the words as the take your eyes from panel to panel, page to page, the noir of it all, the dialogue, the god dam sexiness of it. It was brilliant. I’ve read it a tonne of times since. That’s what a comic book should do, that’s what any book should do quite frankly, in fact, that’s what any kind of entertainment should do. It should grab you and excite you. It shouldn’t be passive shit you just put on or scroll through. And this floppy single issue comic did that for me. And the amazing thing is, I had already read it and I’ve read it again since. I have volume six on my pile for Christmas and whisky

.

Check your local back issue shop first then check eBay.

Next up

Daredevil a Cold Day in Hell. -

This was a great three part mini, that came out of the blue for me. Big Chris at City Centre Comics in Glasgow stuck it in my pull list and I was glad he did. Old man Matt Murdock in a war torn New York up against old foes and witnessing long term friends and allies fall and rise again. Great stuff.

The art is second to none with more detail than I have seen in a comic for a long time. It gave me that Hard Boiled feel by Geof Darrow. Truly beautiful.

I have no idea if there is a trade as I got this in single issues. Which I think added to the experience. Check with your local first and if they don’t have, then you know what to do. Google it.

.

Ok, last up

Absolute Batman - Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta

Are you surprised? Because I’ve been banging on about it for months!

This has been the standout title for me this year by a country mile and I think a lot of that reason is because I have been getting it monthly. It really has rejuvenated my comic shopping habits. I am loving making my monthly trip into my local and picking up my ever growing pull list. Chatting with some of the people that are doing the same and every so often bumping into some mates that I have shared beers with, even made comics with.

When it comes to Absolute Batman in general, it’s some story. I’m not precious when it comes to what a character should be…well, to a certain point anyway. As long as they keep the fundamentals, their core characteristics, I’m fine with however the tell their backstory etc. Absolute Batman does that, this is still Batman but absolutely bigger in every way. His core values are the same, he fights crime without guns, he builds his own gadgets and transports only in a more real way, he’s big and he can punch, kick and knock the bejesus out of you. He’s smart, he has allies but only a small few. He has friends but as the we move through the story we begin to see them change and become people we know are going to cause him all kinds of misery. Some of the big bads are truly unbelievable, fantastical even, however I would say more horrific.

I’ve heard Scott and Nick have 40 issues planned out. Let’s see if they keep going the way they have been, because it’s been a wicked ride so far

Available everywhere, you know where to check first.

No best of comics should go on by without a mention of some proper Underground Comix. Let’s face it, without this style of zine, drug fuelled cartoon or just absolutely hypnotic madness, comics would never progress, or at least a lot slower. I don’t read enough of this style and I really should. I feel that the proper Underground stuff is the barrier braker, the envelope pusher, the middle finger to everyone. Comics need them and we should champion them more. They are the adult version of the Beano, Oor Wullie, Asterix & Obelix and even Tin Tin. What’s not to like?

So,

Underground Comix of the year

I reached round (hey hey) OVER my chair and I grabbed these two pictured below. If I delved deeper and pulled out even more comics I would have come across the rest but I had already piles of them lying about the place and my wife was giving me the eye…lol, I wish it was that kind of eye but it was not.

First up was the Tribute Press Spring Catalogue, containing four different comics of wild wonder. A tonne of small press creators in this collection and well worth checking out. You can find them here

Second up is Ganjaman Presents #5. Another cracker by one of Glasgow’s finest. This book also pays tribute to the late great Alan Grant alongside a strip by the man himself. Full of madness it’s another one to check out. You can find the Ganjamn on Instagram here.

And that is a wrap my peeps,

Discount Code XMAS

Oh, sorry, I forgot. I also have a discount on my online shop, 20% off everything. I’ve also reduced the prices on a few items, so worth checking out. Just use promo code XMAS on checkout, go hero for books or to get some snazzy threads go here.

Ok, I think that’s it for now. I’ll be more or less signing off for the festivities, I might try and do a little reflection post in between Christmas and New Year, but we’ll see.

In the meantime, enjoy yourselves, read comics, add them to your Christmas list, add them to other peoples Christmas list, add them to your shopping list. JUST GO GET COMICS.

And spend time with friends.

Cheers,

David