Popverse's best comics of 2023

The day before yesterday the Popverse team shared our favorite movies of the year. Yesterday, we did our favorite television. Today, it's time to talk comics.

Now we are all comics fans over here at Popverse, so it's particularly exciting to put together and share this list. On that note - It's good to remember that Best Of lists are personal and subjective... yours may be different (and if it is, let us know in our Best Comics of 2023 survey).

As for us, here is the Popverse team's Best Comics of 2023...

Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

Sometimes there are parts of your life you try not to remember. Adolescence, my guess, is that for most people. And yet, there’s something to prodding the bruise every once in a while, and nothing makes you feel more like a young adult than reading Roaming, Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki’s quiet ode to the awkward first years of moving away from home, from your childhood friends, and trying to navigate w world you barely know. -Tiffany Babb

Alan Scott: The Green Lantern by Tim Sheridan and Cyan Tormey

Last year I chose Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo’s Nightwing series from DC Comics which continued to dominate my 2024 reading. There’s only been one comic book issue that made me cry. Tim Sheridan and Cyan Tormey’s Alan Scott: The Green Lantern is a really special comic book series doing really special things. At the time I write this it’s only a mini series and my dearest hope is it becomes on going. If you haven’t checked it out issue #2 is the one that got me – so you might as well read the first two and have your heart broken as well! -Ashley V. Robinson

Peacemaker Tries Hard by Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh

I should have known that the combination of Kyle Starks, Steve Pugh, and Peacemaker was going to make for one of the most enjoyable reads of the year, but even so, I wasn’t prepared for just how pitch-perfect DC’s Black Label mini ended up being: at once hilarious and surprisingly sincere, it’s the James Gunn TV show taken to the next level. We can only hope a sequel is in the works. -Graeme McMillan

The Second Fake Death of Eddie Campbell & The Fate of the Artist by Eddie Campbell

I’m a massive Eddie Campbell fan, and especially when he leans into the autobiographical elements of his work. No surprise, then, that his new graphic novel — at once a revision and sequel to his 2006 graphic novel The Fate of the Artist — is such a joy to read, with Campbell ruminating on old age, COVID shutdowns, and what it means to be “authentic” in the current day and age… all wrapped up with a wry smile and no small amount of playfulness. A master at work, and making it look easy. -Graeme McMillan

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll

If comics could have a ‘great American novelist’ like a Cormac McCarthy, we have that in Emily Carroll. Her 2023 one-shot A Guest in the House paints in broad strokes, being simultaneously deep while also airy – letting me (and you hopefully), find the story for yourself. While some might categorize this as horror, it’s a broader story about the human condition that a label of just ‘horror’ would be limiting. -Chris Arrant

Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thein Pham

Family Style isn't just an incredible personal story about cartoonist Thein Pham's family's long journey from Vietnam to settling in the United States, it's also an example of masterful and restrained cartooning. With an incredible eye for how kids see the world (and a strong understanding of what the adults are going through) Pham really imbues this book with a quiet love for the whole family, threaded through the many different ways food interacts with our lives. -Tiffany Babb

Do a Powerbomb by Daniel Warren Johnson

Some things you enjoy with your heart, some things you enjoy with your head – this I enjoyed with my whole body. Using art, words, story, and movement, Daniel Warren Johnson’s Do a Power Bomb is one of the most honest and earnest works of fiction I’ve seen in years. Yes, it’s about pro wrestling – but its not done at arms length, and isn’t trying to be too inside. It’s a human story about inside a strange world – showing us humanity is even stranger than anything we could ever make up. -Chris Arrant

As the year wind downs, it's time to look back and all you've read and watched. Popverse has picked the best movies, best comics, and best TV shows of the year.

But who really cares about what we think? This year, we had you vote for your best movies, best comics, and best TV shows of the year too. Check the lists and mix and see if you agree with our (and your) top choices of the year!