When it comes to the indie comic scene and picking the best miniseries of 2019, there was a wide range of genres and options to choose from. Image Comics put out many creator-owned miniseries that could have been included on this list, but in an attempt to provide a diverse selection, only the best of the best were chosen for this list.
AHOY COMICS! also continued to make their mark on the industry as they to publish some of the best and innovative series by adopting the six-issue "season format" and offering an extended reading experience with the added back material as standard practice. There were many miniseries that could have been included in this list, but the following are the ones that really stood out among the crowd.
Second Coming
Publisher: Ahoy Comics!
Mark Russell's and Richard Pace's Second Coming is the story of Jesus Christ returning to Earth during the age of superheroes and was perhaps the best miniseries of 2019. The series, which found a new publisher with the newly formed AHOY COMICS! was finally released after the successful online campaign to stop DC Comics from initially publishing the series.
The story starts, well, IN THE BEGINNING…with Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden. The story then highlights a few of the major Old Testament events and Jesus' first trip to Earth before shifting to the present day. Once in the present, Sunstar, the Last Son of Krispex and resident superhero, who catches the attention of God, and thinks that his son could learn a thing or two from the superhero about being popular. After God appears to Sunstar and his girlfriend and asks Sunstar to teach his son how to be more like him, Jesus becomes Sunstar's sidekick.
Russell's writing pulls no punches, and Richard Pace's art perfectly matches the tone of the book as the distinctive art styles he uses to differentiate between the events that take place in and Heaven and Earth add another layer to the overall product.
Second Coming is delightful, and a must-read from the first page to the last. While the book is full of satire, it remains respectful of the basic teachings of peace and compassion that the Christian faith is supposed to espouse. It also raises important philosophical and theological issues, along with the tongue in cheek presentation along the way, making the series much deeper that one might expect.
Oliver
Publisher: Image Comics
The award-winning screenwriter Gary Whitta (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Book Of Eli) and artist extraordinaire Darick Robertson (Transmetropolitan, HAPPY!, The Boys) joined forces to take Charles Dickens’ literary classic and give it a post-apocalyptic and futuristic Twist. Oliver finds literature's the most famous orphan reimagined as a human/clone hybrid who is fighting to liberate a war-ravaged England while searching for the truth about his mysterious origins. Oliver soon discovers the devastating, life-changing truth about his origin. This revelation puts his entire adoptive community in danger as when rebels against the oppressive regime that wants him dead. Oliver's mission then inspires his adopted family of genetically engineered former soldiers to rise up against their oppressors and fight for the rights that were taken from them once they were no longer deemed useful.
This is not your high school English teacher's Oliver Twist, which is not only evident by the writing but also the stunning art and panel work by Robertson. Like his other work, Robertson's art is not for the faint of heart, which is evident throughout the series, but especially at the end of the series where Oliver launches himself at a helicopter as it comes in for a landing and gauges the pilot’s eye out with his staff.
The miniseries may have been overlooked as it did suffer from its release schedule, which saw the first three issues released at the beginning of 2019, and the final issue released five months later. This issue aside, this is definitely worth a read and recognition on this list.
Clue: Candlestick
Publisher: IDW Entertainment
Clue: Candlestick is the follow up to the 2017 miniseries staring the suspicious characters based on the timeless board game Clue. The book is written and drawn by cartoonist auteur Dash Shaw and is not a straight forward story as each issue is packed with puzzles, secrets, and lies. Thought the story is only three issues, Shaw wasted no space as he unleashes his murderous imagination on the quirky, thrilling, and mysterious world of Clue.
Overall, Shaw has created something more than a simple comic book and more of an interactive reading experience.
Little Bird
Publisher: Image Comics
Director/screenwriter Darcy Van Poelgeest and Ian Bertram's hyper-detailed miniseries Little Bird takes place in a world where an oppressive American regime rules. From the first page to the last, readers are thrust into this bitter and violent world and the conflict between the Canadian Resistance and the United Nations of America.
The story unfolds and follows Little Bird, the daughter of the Canadian Resistance leader, who, after her mother is captured, sets out to continue the fight to free her people and find her mother.
The writing, art style, and coloring all complement each other very well and work to bring Little Bird's world to life. The action sequences are incredible and have a very smooth fluidity that is rare in comics today. This series also stands out due to the attention and detail given to world-building aspects of Little Bird's environment. This series also does a great job providing the reader everything they need to know at precisely the right moment without giving too much away or causing the action to get caught in a lull of extended exposition.
All these components blend and work in harmony together to present a story based on gritty realism, ancient mysticism, horror, and violent excess, which define the story making it unforgettable. Bertram’s artwork is an absolute feast for the eyes here with its mixture of genuinely unsettling visual design with the minute obsessive levels of detail on every page, and Hollingsworth's colors are vibrant and set the atmosphere as the story unfolds.
Little Bird takes risks in its storytelling and the overall construction as a comic and pays off over and over throughout the series and is a shining example of why Image Comics is the leading publisher of creator-owned indie comics.
Battlepug
Publisher: Image Comics
The Last Kinmundian and his faithful Battlepug return as the epic tale of blood and drool continue as the Eisner Award and Harvey Award-winning webcomic created by Mike Norton and Allen Passalqua returned in September of 2019 after the webcomic ended in 2016.
Battlepug is Norton's love letter to Conan the Barbarian, old school fantasy comics, and of course Pugs. The story finds Kinmundian, the last survivor from a race of warriors who were brutally murdered by an overlord named Catwulf, and his Battlpug, a giant pug who serves as his trusty steed embarking on their next adventure after defeating Catwulf, which happened in the webcomic series. The hero also has some new friends along as the mage Moll and her dogs named Mingo and Colfax, also from the web series.
Originally billed as an ongoing series, Norton revealed that the monthly schedule was not going to work for the series but The Last Kinmundian and Battlepug will return soon as another miniseries installment.
Black Hammer/Justice League - "Hammer of Justice!"
Publisher: Dark Horse / DC Comics
This might be cheating since the book includes the Justice League, but since the writer of the (creator-owned) Black Hammer Jeff Lemire crafted this story, we're just giving credit to DC for recognizing it was an indie title worth getting in on. Jeff Lemire's heroes from his creator-owned Black Hammer series crossed over with DC Comics' Justice League into one of the best miniseries of the year.
Black Hammer, the Eisner award-winning series that premiered in 2016, tells the story of six superheroes who saved Spiral City from the Anti-God, but in the process became trapped in Rockwood, a town straight out of the Twilight Zone where time stands still. The heroes have very little hope of ever escaping.
The Black Hammer/Justice League crossover with art by Michael Walsh is one of the most inventive and satisfying intercompany crossover events in a long time. The main plot of the series is strong, but Lemire's writing really shows in the smaller character moments. Lemire does not shy away from the emotional ordeal of the Farm, and what it’s done to the Leaguers and the Black Hammer heroes suddenly find themselves free of their prison. As the Black Hammer and Justice League members find themselves in the other team's universe, it is easy to see how the characters are analogs as they settle into their new surroundings.
While it is implied that the members of the Justice Leaguers probably won’t remember these events, the last page promises future implications for the characters of the Black Hammer universe. This aspect of the story makes "Hammer of Justice!" not just an imaginary story but one that will have lasting repercussions in the future. It was without a doubt one of the best miniseries in the indie genre of the year.