2012 in comic books: 'Saga' soars among the superheroes

• Best series: 'Saga' by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
• Best writer: 'Batman' scribe Scott Snyder
• Best new comics: 'Hawkeye' and 'Bedlam'

Image Comics was born 20 years ago, but 2012 will be remembered as the year it grew up, graduated college early and elbowed its way into the top echelon of comic-book publishers.

Image launched a slew of the best new comics in recent memory — from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' monstrously good Fatale to the weird science of Jonathan Hickman and Nicolas Pitarra's The Manhattan Projects, and lots in between — to help make this a stellar year for comics and their fans.

DC Comics continued its "New 52" relaunch and dusted off the seminal 1980s comic Watchmen for a series of prequels. And Marvel Comics found time to pit their two iconic superhero franchises against one another in the explosive Avengers vs. X-Men plus ignite the "Marvel NOW!" initiative to give top talent and new creators new titles in an outstanding round of comic-book musical chairs.

Dark Horse sent Hellboy to Hell, had Buffy the Vampire Slayer tackle abortion and launch a bunch of very cool books like Mind MGMT, Ex Sanguine and Colder, while IDW found a hit in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, continued their strong G.I. Joe line — essential reading before March's G.I. Joe: Retaliation movie — and began to prepare for the end of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez's all-time classic Locke & Key next year.

And lest I forget, Valiant Comics came back huge in 2012, too, revisiting such 1990s titles as X-O Manowar, Archer & Armstrong and Harbinger by paying homage to the past and creating entertaining reads for those who are being introduced to their characters for the first time.

Kickstarter also became a place for both top comic folks and newbies to crowd-fund and go the DIY route for their creator-owned books, and buoyed by the impressive reach of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead in both comic and TV form, 2012 also found Hollywood paying more attention to comics, and not just superheroes: Kirkman's Thief of Thieves was optioned by AMC, the BBC landed Kurtis Wiebe's Peter Panzerfaust, RZA wants to get into the Grant Morrison business with a Happy! movie, Zenescope's Wonderland got a TV deal, and many signs point to Locke & Key getting turned into a film trilogy. Huzzah for all that.

Capes and superpowers are still big business, though, and next year we get a new Superman movie in Man of Steel and a pair of Marvel flicks that hope to ride the success of The Avengers: Iron Man 3 and the sequel Thor: The Dark World.

Before we head into 2013, though, here are the best things that happened in comics in 2012 (and as always, if anything sparks interest, find your local comic shop with comicshoplocator.com or go digital with Comixology, Amazon and other online options):

Best writer: Scott Snyder. No one had this guy's quality body of work, starting with a continuation of one of the most historic runs on Batman in recent times, putting the Dark Knight through hell in the "Night of the Owls" story line and then bringing back the Joker in epic fashion in "Death of the Family." Oh, and he still found time to pen Swamp Thing and do a "Rotworld" crossover with pal Jeff Lemire's Animal Man, plus introduce a groovy hot-rod greaser in American Vampire. Honorable mention: Brian Michael Bendis. Ending a memorable eight-year run on all things Avengers is enough to land him this spot, but he overachieved, too, writing Ultimate Spider-Man, the insta-classic Spider-Men miniseries bringing together Miles Morales and Peter Parker, the all-ages Takio, the brand-new All-New X-Men, the ace procedural Powers and issues of AvX.

Best cover artist: Rob Guillory. The crazy world inside a Chew comic is a thing to behold, but it's the insanely talented Guillory's covers of fried-chicken masterpieces, dead baseball players, chocolate sculptures and chogs that make the issues jump off the comic shelf and into your waiting hands. Honorable mention: Skottie Young. He's cornered the market in pint-sized kid versions of Marvel superheroes, and his variants for Marvel NOW! books, depicting such scenes as the new Thunderbolts sitting on mounds of bullets and the Hulk laying waste to building blocks and his toy box, tap into the heart of these characters as well as our own youthful enthusiasm for them.

Best artist: Riley Rossmo. The one thing you can say is his illustrations look like nothing else in comics — in a most excellent way — whether it's depicting the hostage-taking teens of Ales Kot's Wild Children, the mad world of Madder Red in Nick Spencer's Bedlam, or his own zombie book Rebel Blood that will haunt your nightmares. (Those bad dreams will look really fantastic, though.) Honorable mention: Greg Capullo. Somebody's got to bring Gotham City to life on a monthly basis, and the Batman artist gives punch and style to its darkest characters as well as its Dark Knight.

Best ongoing series:Saga. Those wondering if Brian K. Vaughan still had the mojo of Y: The Last Man and Runaways in the 2000s learned that he's gotten even better with age with his Image sci-fi epic with artist Fiona Staples. His welcome return to comics came in the form of Marko and Alana, two lovers of warring races trying to get by with their baby with seemingly the whole universe out to get them. Honorable mention:Batman. Snyder and Capullo have managed to put Bruce Wayne through the worst situations, and watching how he manages to not only survive but prevail is a true pleasure.

Best new series:Hawkeye. The witting and winning Internet-approved series by writer Matt Fraction and artist David Aja takes the Avengers' archer out of the purple togs and into a regular life dealing with local Tracksuit Draculas who overuse the word "Bro" and the female apprentice who matches him quip for quip. It's one of the smartest books out there featuring a superhero. Honorable mention:Bedlam. Visceral and inventive, Spencer and Rossmo's book mines the disturbed psychology of a supervillain psychopath who's been "rehabilitated" and returns to the town he worked to destroy not knowing of his murderous past.

Best miniseries:Punk Rock Jesus. Sean Murphy deftly explores "America's runaway entertainment complex" and what happens when Jesus Christ is cloned for a reality show, grows up seeing how people treat each other, and rebels against religion and his corporate overlords by joining a punk band. Like Preacher, it's a thought-provoking book that takes an even-handed look at religion, extremism and loyalty. Honorable mention:Happy! Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson team an ornery hitman and a cheery imaginary blue horse for a violent and entertaining Christmas buddy adventure.

Best digital series:Masks & Mobsters. Part of Chris Roberson's MonkeyBrain Comics line, Josh Williamson and Mike Henderson's title is one of the best deals in comics — 99 cents an issue for an intriguing black-and-white tale about gangsters, snitches and the first caped do-gooders. Honorable mention:Masters of the Universe. Sure, I have a soft spot for He-Man and his pals, but this series does justice to the fantasy denizens of Eternia by pairing well-known creators — Geoff Johns, Kyle Higgins, Mike Costa, etc. — with connected stories such as a noir-esque take on femme fatale Evil-Lyn, a peek into the backstory of Trap Jaw, Battle Cat going solo, and a new origin for She-Ra.

Best horror comic:Revival. Tim Seeley and Mike Norton out-zombie The Walking Dead by setting their "farm noir" in Wisconsin and putting a cool spin on the undead genre: In this town, the dead come back to life and people like someone's dear departed grandma or a cop's younger sister maintain some semblance of lucidity about their new fate in life. Honorable mention:Ferals. David Lapham's Avatar Press book mashes up crime fiction with monster-filled horror and gives werewolves a cool new mythololgy.

Rookie of the year (creator): Ales Kot. You'll be hearing that name much more in the future after the impact he made in 2012 with his graphic novella Wild Children, which had students taking their school hostage and revolting against their education, and the launch of Change, a mix of science fiction, cult weirdness and L.A. scenesters. Honorable mention: James Tynion IV. A former student of Scott Snyder's, Tynion came into his own this year writing must-read backup stories in Batman, penning a memorable Mr. Freeze story with Snyder in the Batman Annual, and launching Calvin Rose into the DC Universe with Talon.

Rookie of the year (character): Fillmore Press/Madder Red. You can't take your eyes off either side of Bedlam's main character: the quirky Fillmore in the present who always seems just a little off, or the masked Madder of the past who's as evil as he is charismatic. Honorable mention: Billy Lane. Willow, Angel and Spike have received their own Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoffs from Dark Horse, and so should Billy, the gay teenage slayer and new Scooby Gang member who's the best thing to happen to the franchise since The Master.

Best book you may not be reading but should:Ursa Minor. Why aren't were-bears a thing yet? Maybe an influx of extra readers for Big Dog Ink's fantasy horror series will help, since it does a remarkable job of delving into the seedier places where vampires and were-creatures hang out. Honorable mention:Transfusion. Steve Niles is awesome. Menton3 is awesome. Them together? Well, do the math. Everybody who digs horror, comic fans or not, should be getting into this book where vampires and robots need blood and humans have to avoid both at all costs.

Best comic-book movie:The Avengers. Joss Whedon took Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk and Thor and turned them into the coolest guys in the world — and really profitable ones to boot — in the pinnacle thus far of cinematic superhero team-ups. Everything from now on will be compared to this, and we can only hope that a sequel can be just as Earth-shaking. (If Thanos is involved, it just might.) Honorable mention: Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts. Thought I was going to type The Dark Knight Rises, didn't you? Patrick Meaney's documentary about the iconoclastic comic scribe is a fascinating journey into the private and public lives of Ellis, his works and other creators who come in and out of his sphere of influence. After watching it, you're more liable to want to share a pint with Ellis than Batman.

Best comic-book TV series:The Walking Dead. It's been a hit ever since it shambled onto AMC, but the show has borrowed more from its comic source material in the third season and, coincidentally or not, has hit a stride of great episodes after two mostly OK seasons. Or maybe it's the David Morrissey Effect, since the British actor has been phenomenal as the evil Governor. Honorable mention:Ultimate Spider-Man. The Disney XD cartoon borrows the tone feel of Bendis' comic and the larger scale of the Marvel movies, teaming the teen hero with pals like Nova, Power Man and Iron Fist — under the watch of Nick Fury — against an array of classic villains from Spidey lore.

Best event:Avengers vs. X-Men. The battle between two superhero teams was as explosive you'd think it would be, but the event series excelled at boosting the profiles of Hope Summers and Scarlet Witch, having the Phoenix Force divided into five characters instead of one as one of its key plot twists, and turning Cyclops into the Marvel Universe's most-wanted villain. Honorable mention: DC's "Zero Month." While not technically a crossover, having a special origin-style zero issue for each of the company's superhero titles nicely filled in backstories and other important info not touched on yet with the "New 52" relaunch.

Best single issue:All-New X-Men No. 2. The core conceit of Brian Michael Bendis' new X-book is bringing the original X-Men from the past to the present to see what Cyclops has done and what they need to do to fix the wrong that's been caused, and this issue digs into the humor, the heady situation and the emotional consequences these five youngsters will have to face. Honorable mention:The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century 2009. Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's LXG series have spent a lot of time in a steampunk past, but 2009 brings the heroic group into modern times to battle the Antichrist — who happens to be more like Harry Potter than not — amid many nods to current pop culture.

Best villain: The Joker. After a year away from Gotham City following his face being ripped off, the Joker is back and as homicidally nutty as ever putting his master plan in place to take down Batman and his friends in the pages of Batman, Batgirl, Suicide Squad, Red Hood and the Outlaws and DC's other Bat-books. Plus, courtesy of Greg Capullo, he now has a face only Leatherface's mom could love. Honorable mention: Cyclops. The X-Men's leader has been on a mission to save mutantkind, no matter what, ever since he first appeared in the Marvel Universe, but the power of the Phoenix Force proved corruptible in AvX, sending him on a bad path that ultimately led to him murdering his mentor, Charles Xavier. Say it ain't so, Chuck!

Best Superman moment: Clark Kent quits the Daily Planet. Print looks to be dead at least for the mild-mannered reporter, who quit his long-time newspaper employer in Superman issue 13. Will he be a blogger? A vlogger? The new Arianna Huffington? The fourth estate will have to wait and see. Honorable mention: Supes and Wonder Woman flying above the trees, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. The smooch heard 'round the comics world in Justice League issue 12 will hopefully play out to dramatic effect in a pair of comics next year: Snyder and Jim Lee's much-ballyhooed Man of Steel series and Geoff Johns and David Finch's Justice League of America, starring Wonder Woman's ex Steve Trevor.

Best gutsy decision: Creator-owned publishing outfits. Starting any business in today's economy is an iffy proposition, but many creators are going their own way — and with some success. Not wanting to deal with the "Big Two" of Marvel and DC, Chris Roberson and his wife Allison Baker started their own MonkeyBrain Comics, with a bunch of good books available for a good price on Comixology. Mark Waid continues to pioneer digital comics with Thrillbent, and 44Flood — including artists Ben Templesmith and Menton3 — had two Kickstarter projects this year alone that annihilated their initial funding goal. Honorable mention: Alan Moore didn't want it to happen. Many in the industry didn't want it to happen. But Before Watchmen launched anyway, delving into the pasts of Rorschach, the Comedian, Silk Spectre and others. For better or for worse, the project was not lacking in chutzpah and brought together an impressive array of talent including Brian Azzarello, Darwyn Cooke, Lee Bermejo and Amanda Conner.

Best comic to save for my daughter:Captain Marvel. There are two things that play big in my household — comic books, obviously, and my 3-month-old baby girl — and I can't wait to one day introduce her to Kelly Sue DeConnick's take on Carol Danvers, who is relatable in her insecurities but can stand next to Captain America in terms of sheer heroism. Honorable mention:Batgirl. Writer Gail Simone and heroine Barbara Gordon are a team for the ages, both are role models in their own ways, and Batgirl's recent journey back from emotional and physical adversity is something that should be viewed by all genders.

Best comic with retro characters:The Spider. Garth Ennis being paired with The Shadow won the headlines, but Dynamite found vintage gold with David Liss and Colton Worley's reintroduction of the classic hero from 1930s pulp novels. Honorable mention:Ghostbusters. Characters from a 1984 movie might be stretching the "retro" term a smidge, but Erik Burnham and Tristan Jones have given new ectoplasmic life to Peter Venkman and crew, making up for the horrible film Ghostbusters 2 and keeping fans appeased at least till Ghostbusters 3 hits theaters.

Best use of a kung-fu chicken:Secret Agent Poyo. The Chew one-shot by John Layman and Rob Guillory took the world's most dangerous cybernetic rooster from the depths of hill to the English countryside, and threw in some raining sheep for good measure. Honorable mention: None. No one else does a kung-fu chicken like Layman and Guillory.