Geek4Life: December 2014

It's been another year for the blog, which means it's time for another "Best Of" Post! This was probably the toughest time I had deciding winners for the categories I cover, because this has been such a great year for comic fans. We had awesome movies, great comics, and of course, really good figures. That said, let's dive right in.

Best Figure Line:
Marvel Legends
In all honesty, there were a lot of figure lines that stepped up there game this year. DC Collectibles has released some amazing figures, Mcfarlane Toys Walking Dead series (both comic and TV show) has added some definitive versions of familiar characters to out shelves, and NECA has been killing it in the 1/4 figure line up, but Marvel Legends takes it for me this year. Why? Well when they first came back from Hiatus in 2012, the line was looking great...for the first two waves. Then series 3 was mostly all repaints. After that, series 4 was near impossible to find by me, and the Build-A-Figure's were barely 4 inches tall, blasphemy. So again, the line went into hiatus until they re branded as "Marvel Legends Infinite Series". This year we got three solid waves and one great exclusive figure. The Build-A-Figures were back to being big figures (still not Sentinel size, but it's a hell of a lot better than the crappy Hit Monkey BAF), and they were a lot easier to find in stores, after a while anyway. Better distribution, solid waves, and bigger BAF's make this line my pick for the best figure line of 2014.

Best Comic Book TV Show:
The Flash
This was a tough choice, kind of. Arrow, to me, has been lacking this year. It may just be me, but I'm just not enjoying it as much this year. Of course that could change once the season picks up again in January. Walking Dead has had a great season, but the pacing was a bit weird for me. We met the Cannibals/Hunters/Terminans...Termites? and then they departed 3 episodes later, and we shifted gears to finding Beth/following Abraham and his band of merry pals to Washington. I loved the season, but the pacing just felt...off, I guess. Flash however, managed to take me by complete surprise. I honestly wasn't too excited for it, but the stellar cast, great story, and character cameos drew me in. Not to mention, it's just good old fashioned comic book fun.
Honorable Mentions:
Walking Dead

Best Comic Book Movie:
Guardians of the Galaxy
This was a really tough choice. I loved Winter Soldier, and in terms of comic book accuracy it was damn near perfect. X-Men was also a really well done film, but at the same time, it didn't really make me go "That was incredible." Guardians however is the movie that I didn't think would work, but it did. The cast was perfect, and definitely propelled the film. The humor was really well used and not over done. The CGI was fantastic and most importantly, it was a fun movie, that you can re watch over and over again without getting tired of seeing the same thing over and over.
Honorable Mentions:
Captain America:The Winter Soldier, X-Men Days of Future Past

Best Comic Book Publisher:
DC Comics
I gave the award to DC Comics, because Marvel was pretty iffy for me this year. The only series I really enjoy from them right now are Amazing Spider-Man, All-New Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer, Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man, and Superior Iron Man. I do collect others but they just don't make me go "WOW" like they used too. DC on the other hand, has so many great titles out right now, that I'm finding my pull list is slowly shifting towards DC dominance.

Best Comic Book Series:
DC:
Batman
What can I say? The team of Snyder and Capullo never lets me done. Nuff said.

Honorable Mentions:
Injustice Gods Among Us: Year Three, Superman, Justice League, Action Comics, Batman/Superman, Deathstroke, Superman/Wonder Woman,

Marvel:
Silver Surfer
I took a gamble on this book but it has quickly become the book I look forward to the most every month from Marvel. This book, like The Flash TV show, is just pure comic book fun. The characters are all so well written, and the art is just gorgeous and a treat to look at. I have not had one disappointing issue yet, and I hope the creative team stays on for the entire run of this book.

Honorable Mentions:
Amazing Spider-Man, Superior Iron Man

Image:
Outcast
Out of the three publishers, this was the one that was probably the toughest choice for me to make. The Walking Dead is still going strong with a recent twist (I suppose it was a twist? See issue 132 to know what I'm referring to, I'd rather not spoil it.) that just blew my mind. Wytches has Snyder and Jock together again so, how could I not, but Outcast is just amazing. Kirkman's writing combined with Azaceta's creepy art makes for a golden horror comic.

Honorable Mentions:
The Walking Dead, Wytches

Best Single Issue:

DC:
Tie between Batman #37 and Batman Annual #3
These two issues were just jaw droppingly good. I love the Joker, and both of these issues took everything I love to see in a Joker story and amp them up to the max. I tried, I really did, but I just couldn't pick only one of them

Honorable Mentions:
Forever Evil #7 of 7, Adventures of Superman #15

Marvel:
Amazing Spider-Man #1
This year we saw the return of good ol' Peter Parker and it was the perfect return. Superior was an amazing series, but it felt really good to have Parker back in the suit, and reading this issue brought all of my favorite things about him back.

Honorable Mentions:
Silver Surfer #1

Best Mini-Series/Event:
Forever Evil
I haven't read a Marvel event since Age of Ultron. It was just too much, an event every few months that would "change the Marvel universe forever (or until the next film!)". I couldn't keep up. DC however, they know how to do big events. That's where Forever Evil comes in. This event turned some characters that I wouldn't even notice before into favorites, AND we are still dealing with the fallout, some 6/7 months after it ended. I cannot recommend reading it enough.

Honorable Mentions:
Winter Soldier: The Bitter March

Top 10 Figures:
Just to clarify, for a figure to be included on this list, it has to be one that I own. There were a ton of amazing figures, some that I unfortunately wasn't able to get prior to the end of the year, and since I don't own them, I cannot put them on this list.

10.)Marvel Legends Infinite Series Winter Soldier
It's Winter Soldier, how could I not have him on here? In all seriousness though, this is a great figure. The movie design is so close to the comics that he could easily stand in as a comic Winter Soldier in your collection. He has great articulation and sculpt, but the reason he is number 10 is simply due to two things. His lack of weaponry other than an incredibly stupid giant red sniper rifle thing, and he could have benefited from some paint shading. Other than that, great figure.

9.)Marvel Legends Infinite Series Agent Venom
This figure was quite possibly the biggest pain in the butt to find. It was/is a Walgreens (yes, you read that correctly) Exclusive figure, and despite getting 8 in stock at a time, and there being 3 Walgreens near me, he was a nightmare to track down. He was sold out on their website for quite some time leaving only the secondhand market, and I was not going to pay $60+ for it. So finally mid December I find him in person after someone stashed him behind a bunch of 99 cent puzzles. He was worth the hunt. He comes with great accessories, a simple but well executed paint job and a great sculpt.

8.)Marvel Legends Infinite Series Drax
This figure took me be complete surprise. I was never too big on Guardians before the film, and Drax seemed like a rather boring figure from the early shots, but wow was I wrong. He has a great sculpt with all of his tattoos being sculpted on. His paint is, for the most part, well done, it gets a bit iffy around all the tattoos. He comes with his two blades, which is all Drax really needs, and out of all the figures in the wave, his articulation gives him the greatest range of movement. I have had so much fun just posing this figure, and he is definitely one to get.

7.)DC Collectibles Designer Series Greg Capullo Batman
If you are looking for a definitive New 52 Batman figure, look no further, unless you're not a fan of Capullo's style, and if you're not, you're wrong. All kidding aside, this is my definitive New 52 Batman figure. He has amazing articulation for a DCC figure, three Batarangs, and his sculpt perfectly depicts Capullo's art style, making this figure look he leaped right off the page.

6.)The Walking Dead TV Series 6 Rick Grimes
This figure is one that I have been anticipating since the first prototype mold. I got this as a Christmas present and was so happy to have him.Unfortunately he has one flaw that landed him just shy of being in the top 5. Whoever packaged and assembled my figure managed to jam the right non-bandaged hand in at an angle, bending the peg, and causing it to snap if anyone tried to move it, which led to me spending 15 minutes using a eyeglass screwdriver to get the snapped off peg out of the forearm. This is apparently a widespread issue. So if the figure had that issue and landed this high on the list it has to be really good right? Oh yeah. This is in my opinion the definitive TV series Rick figure to get, unless of course they release a Season 5 Rick, but until then, get this figure. That's all I'll say for now, I do have to do a review of him soon, so I need to save my more in depth analysis for that.

5.)The Walking Dead Comic Series 3 Rick

I love the Walking Dead comics, and once Mcfarlane started work on the TV series figures, the comic series seemed to have taken a bit of a back seat. This year we got a new wave of four figures and my first pick up from it was none other than Rick Grimes. This is my personal favorite version of Rick from the comics. I'm not too keen on his new style, so I was glad they made this version before the new version. This figure is, in my opinion, the definitive comic book Rick Grimes figure. He comes with all the accessories you would want him too, has great paint, the new updated articulation, and this sculpt brings Charlie Adlard's art to life perfectly. I believe in Rick Grimes, and so should you. Get this figure.

4.)Marvel Legends Infinite Series Build-A-Figure Groot
This is only the second BAF I have completed in my 17 years of collecting Marvel Legends, and it is oh so satisfying. This is an amazingly detailed figure, with a gorgeous sculpt, and great articulation. Yes the paint could use a bit more of a wash, but damn if this isn't a great BAF, I don't know what is.

3.)The Walking Dead TV Series 5 Daryl Dixon with Chopper
Daryl Dixon, arguably the most popular character from the TV Show finally got the proper 5" figure treatment he deserved. This was the beginning of the new articulation model for Walking Dead figures, and he came with the first vehicle in the figure line. His sculpt is great for the most part, and he has great paint apps, and all the accessories you would want him to have, but what lands him the number 3 spot is the fact that all of that combined with the new articulation model allows for endless poses and tons of fun.

2.)DC Collectibles Bizzaro
This is the shining example of a DC Collectibles figure done right. The sculpt on the figure is amazing. The lower torso is based on Superman's new costume while the upper is the reversed Superman t-shirt seen in the early issues of Action Comics. The face sculpt allows for so many different expressions depending on the light, and the paint work is superb. The articulation is, in my opinion, what the standard should be. While he does have the same amount as the Capullo Batman, this figure has a much better range of movement with the joints. This figure was so much fun to mess around with and pose, that he more than earns the number two spot.

1.)NECA 1/4 The Dark Knight Joker
This was my most anticipated figure of 2014, without a doubt, and as soon as he popped up online I jumped on it. He is probably the best version of the Dark Knight Joker (besides the Hot Toys of course). He comes with three accessories that are perfect for the character and has great articulation, especially in the torso and the legs. His face sculpt is eerily lifelike and the paintwork is perfect. He is just an amazing display piece that will surely have anyone who sees it talking.

Honorable Mentions:
The Walking Dead TV Series 6 Hershel, The Walking Dead TV Series 6 Abraham, DC Collectibles Arkham Origins Deathstroke, Marvel Legends Infinite Series Nova, Marvel Legends Infinite Series Superior Spider-Man, DC Collectibles Deluxe Armored Lex Luthor, Marvel Legends Infinite Series Black Widow

And that wraps up the year in geekdom. It's been a great year and I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store. Thank you guys for stopping by, and have a Happy New Year!

After New Years, I have a bunch of reviews to get out. As of now, they will most likely be text based. Most of them are coming from my Christmas haul:
The Walking Dead TV Series 6 Rick
The Walking Dead TV Series 6 Hershel
The Walking Dead TV Series 6 Carol
The Walking Dead TV Series 6 Abraham
The Walking Dead TV Series Deluxe 10" Rick Grimes

The rest, will be of figures that I unfortunately wasn't able to get out before the year's end, such as a ton of Pop Funkos, and the DC Collectibles Designer Series Greg Capullo Mr. Freeze, and The Walking Dead TV Series Flashback Series Michonne.