Spicy

Elektra & Agent Garrett.

Elevator Pitch: Tom Scioli answers the question on everyone's mind: who would win in a fight: Godzilla or the Great Gatsby? Warning! This book features way more monsters than you could believe!

This book is incredibly illustrated, with a cast of hundreds, featuring every major city, wild steampunk inventions, and pretty much all of The Great Gatsby as well. Like a great Simpsons episode, the opening action leads us to places you couldn't believe.

As the carnage continues, wills are tested as once allies turn enemy, leading to one of the craziest fight scenes in comics. Period.

Scioli handles the whole enchilada on this one, and does not disappoint. A creator of limitless imagination, who doesn't ask "why?" but "why not?!"

After his party is interrupted by the appearance of the great lizard, Jay Gatsby assembles the G-FORCE, to hunt Godzilla to the ends of the earth. As Gatsby travels the globe, he gains more lit-heroes for his team, from detectives to time travellers, and even some monsters of their own.

THE SPICY LIST: TOP TEN COMICS OF 2025

GODZILLA'S MONSTERPIECE THEATRE by Tom Scioli

Maybe the greatest "What If" ever told, Tom Scioli pits the literary heroes of the yore against the king of monsters!

Still, there is nuance to all the awards hype. Though “Sinners” looks to be a major Oscar player, that voting body has never nominated Jordan for his acting or Coogler for his directing — indeed, no Black filmmaker has ever won in the latter category. Asked to join the academy in 2016, Coogler declined the invitation. “It’s not out of animosity,” he told me, noting that he’s stretched thin with commitments to his film school and unions. “And I’m not good at judging things, bro. The act of ‘Hey, pick the best thing’ is very stressful for me, even when there’s no stakes involved.” He is more drawn to the everyday elements of his career than to the glamorous ballrooms. “People see the tuxedo, they see the red carpet, but it’s real blue-collar folks making these movies happen,” Coogler said, adding that he truly fell in love with filmmaking once he understood that, at its core, it’s a job.

A photo of Ryan Coogler

Ryan Coogler explains why he declined the invitation to join the Academy www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/m...

When the police won't even sign onto your new racist policy, you know it is a special kind of racism. Timmy is a joke and only knows how to deflect blame.

We’re back! #absolutemartianmanhunter #denizcamp #javierrodriguez #dccomics #December

A full page press release from the Sipekne’katik First Nation Band Council in Nova Scotia, which declares the premier an undesirable who is banned from Sipekne’katik lands.

Sipekne’katik First Nation has issued a press release saying Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, Attorney and Justice Minister General Scott Armstrong, and L’nu Affairs Minister Leah Martin are “banned as undesirables” from Sipekne’katik lands. The fine for trespassing is $50,000.

Elevator Pitch:A picture is worth a thousand words. Gods, barbarians, giant crabs, wars, heartbreak, death. A fantasy epic told through many lenses.

He doesn't just break panels, he reconfigures them, makes the cut thru time, and becomes three-dimensional. Add to that beautiful colouring that uses purples pinks and blues like no other.

As with many well-layed plans, lust and greed intercede, as the heart of the demigoddess and the world itself become a battlefield.

Lonergan is that kind of artist that you are just happy to see draw anything, but when he comes to you with a sprawling fantasy epic, you thank the gods.

Jesse Lonergan (MAN'S BEST, MISS TRUESDALE) pushes the form of comics literally off the page.

A tale as old as time, gods playing a game. A world is created, and filled with dangers. A powerful demigoddess is sent to quell the beasts and rule the world.

THE SPICY LIST: TOP TEN COMICS OF 2025

DROME by Jesse Lonergan

2025 has been a great year for comics. Not just in the top notch quality & storytelling but in that they do stuff only comics can do. DROME may be the best example of this.

A golden retriever holding an octopus in its mouth, so it looks like tentacles

The Thing (1982, John Carpenter)

Elevator Pitch: That bubblegum flavour you liked is coming back into style. Old Man Murdock gets his powers back and must stop a massive chemical attack before they are gone. Old friends stop by.

McNiven brings the big guns to this one (hell he even coloured the first issue) as he pays homage to Miller & Varley's classic. Heartbreaking, bloody, and pretty badass, COLD DAY IN HELL is a perfect book for our times. Where perhaps Hope is the strongest ability there is.

When a chemical attack reawakens Matt's powers, he must once again take up the mantle of DAREDEVIL as he tries to save the life of one girl, and the future in the process.

In an unknown future, war has caused many of the world's heroes to lose their powers, or turn away from their calling. Matt Murdock, no longer the man without fear, now just another blind man looking for direction.

Another book featuring a tenured artist pushing his art in new ways, COLD DAY IN HELL is as much a farewell to the Marvel Universe for McNiven, as it is a love letter to one of the greatest comics ever, ELEKTRA LIVES AGAIN.

THE SPICY LIST: TOP TEN COMICS OF 2025

8. DAREDEVIL: COLD DAY IN HELL by Steve McNiven, Charles Soule & Dean White

Elevator Pitch: 3 young brothers have their entire family taken from them by a ruthless gang. They seek revenge with what little power they have. Cold vengeance coloured with gorgeous art.

They seem determined to explore new ground. Especially Risso, whose typical flat blacks & hard lines, are replaced with gorgeous water colours and a softer line. This new approach creates a beautiful western landscape, with oranges, purples, blues, and greens.

We follow the young brood as they attempt to find their mother and kill the man who killed their father. 4 issues take the young men right close to death, meeting both friend & foe and not truly knowing which is which.

Instead of a future dystopia, Azzarello & Risso (100 BULLETS, MOONSHINE) look at the dystopian past as they tell the tale of the Blood Brothers, three young boys who have everything taken from them in an instant.

THE SPICY LIST: TOP TEN COMICS OF 2025

9. THE BLOOD BROTHERS MOTHER by Brian Azzarello & Eduardo Risso

By the end of this list, you will definitely notice a theme in most of the comics I enjoyed this year. Like SEARCH & DESTROY, TBBM is a story of family & revenge.

A small child approaches his scientist father who is working at a large, strange, contraption. His face pressed to a viewing tube. “Are you looking forward to Christmas, papa?” Asks the child. “Yes,” replies the scientist“ turning round, “that is exactly what I am doing” then he adds “Thank you for the socks.” We can now see that the viewing tube breaks the border of the comics panel, passes through complicated machinery and allows the scientist to see into the next comic panel: Caption: December 25th A Christmas scene. The child and father-scientist open presents before a Christmas tree. The father has just unwrapped some socks.

My latest cartoon for @newscientist.com