Comic Book ReviewsJosh’s Favorite Comic Book Series of 2025 — Part One!

Josh’s Favorite Comic Book Series of 2025 — Part One!

Welcome to the last of my Best of 2025 lists!  Click here to read my list of my favorite movies of 2025, and click here to read my list of my favorite TV shows of 2025.

And now, here is my list of my favorite comic book series of 2025!

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Let’s start with a few fantastic 2025 graphic novels and one-shots:

It Rhymes with Takei by George Takei, Steven Scott, Justin Eisinger, & Harmony Becker — I loved George Takei’s graphic novel They Called Us Enemy, and I’m just as much in love with this wonderful, lengthy graphic novel by the same creative team that looks back at Mr. Takei’s life and career, focusing on his journey to come out of the closet in 2005 and become a staunch public advocate of LGBTQ+ rights.

The Knives by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips — A new Criminal graphic novel!!  This makes me so happy!  I’ve been a fan of Brubaker & Phillips’ Criminal series, telling a series of interlocking crime yarns, ever since it began twenty years ago.  This latest installment was pure joy.

The Avengers: The Veracity Trap by Chip Kidd & Michael Cho — This playfully mind-bending tale forces the Avengers to reckon with their true nature as fictional comic book characters!  I loved the clever story by Mr. Kidd, and I was blown away by Michael Cho’s sumptuous art, that manages to be a loving homage to the look of classic 1960’s Jack Kirby artwork while also incorporating modern flourishes.  I loved every page.

Spectators by Brian K. Vaughan & Niko Henrichon — This extremely NSFW graphic novel (I mean it — EXTREMELY NSFW) tells the story of two voyeuristic ghosts and explores the different ways in which we as a culture treat violence and sexuality.  Each page of Niko Henrichon’s gorgeous hand-painted art was an experience in and of itself.

Phenomena Book Three: The Secret by Brian Michael Bendis and André Lima Araújo — This third book wraps up Mr. Bendis’ playful fantasy epic, a fun adventure brought to glorious life by Mr. Araújo’s mesmerizing artwork.

The Golem of Venice Beach: Vol. 2 by Chanan Beizer, Vanessa Cardinali & more — This modern Golem story is a hoot, elevated by the involvement of some big-time guest artists, like Frank Quitely, Jae Lee, and David Mack!  I backed this on Kickstarter, and I enjoyed the finished project.

Superman: Hero for All by Dan Jurgens & Bruno Redondo — This beautiful, oversized “Treasury Edition” comic was everything I want to see in a modern superhero story.  Dan Jurgens’ story was clever and of-the moment, while Bruno Redondo’s stunning artwork gave the piece a timeless feel.

Let’s turn now to comic book series.  There were a LOT of fantastic comic book series published in 2025!

Here are a whole bunch of Honorable Mentions — books that I loved in 2025 but that didn’t quite make my “best of” list:

(NOTE: For most of the comics listed below, I’ve provided links to collected editions.  If collections aren’t available yet, I linked to the first issue.)

Batman: The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween by Jeph Loeb and various artists — That title is a mouthful (why not just call this Batman: The Last Halloween??), but I enjoyed this final tale in Jeph Loeb’s “Long Halloween” saga that has spanned decades.  Sadly, Mr. Loeb’s long-time partner, artist Tim Sale, passed away before this final story could be completed, so each issue of this 10-issue mini-series was illustrated by a special guest artist.

Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell by Charles Soule & Steve McNiven — This three-part “last Daredevil story” featured gorgeous art by Steve McNiven that mimicked the look of Frank Miller’s art in the classic Elektra Lives Again graphic novel, combined with the16-panel grid Mr. Miller used in The Dark Knight Returns.  It’s an interesting approach by Mr. McNiven.  I could look at those pages for hours.

Assorted Crisis Events by Deniz Camp & Eric Zawadzki — Each issue of this anthology series is a stand-alone short story about time, cleverly playing with aspects of comic-book storytelling to tell brilliant and heartbreaking mini-epics.

The Mummy by Faith Erin Hicks & Lee Loughridge — I was swept away by Ms. Hicks’ clever reinterpretation of the classic Universal Monsters Mummy story, and her lovely artwork was note-perfect for this tale.

Battle Beast by Robert Kirkman & Ryan Ottley — It was a joy to see the Invincible team of Mr. Kirman & Mr. Ottley reunite for this gloriously over-the top violent, very silly story.  Every page was fun.

The World to Come by Christopher Priest & Joe Quesada — I was thrilled to return to the world of the “Marvel Knights” imprint that I loved so much a few decades ago with this tale of a dark future of the Marvel universe.  I loved seeing Joe Quesada back drawing interior pages!  Each page was beautiful to behold!

Robin & Batman: Jason Todd by Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen — A few years ago this team created Robin & Batman, a story of the early days of the partnership between Batman/Bruce Wayne and Robin, the young Dick Grayson.  I was thrilled to have that creative team back to tell a similar story, but this time focused on the second (and very different) Robin, Jason Todd.

Star Wars: Jedi Knights by Marc Guggenheim & Madibek Musabekov — I was surprised how much I enjoyed this saga of prequel-era Jedi.  Each issue told a stand-alone story focusing on a different Jedi knight, though the issues fit together into a larger tale.  The series had fun exploring familiar Jedi (Qui-Gon Jin, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dooku, etc.) as well as a number of new characters.  The detailed artwork by Mr. Musabekov was terrific.  I wish this had continued beyond the 10 issues we got!

Batman ’89: Echoes by Sam Hamm & Joe Quinones — This second Batman ’89 mini-series continued telling new stories set in the continuity of Tim Burton’s Batman films!  I love this idea, and it was great to get screenwriter Sam Hamm involved, along with the talented Joe Quinones, whose artwork beautifully captured the feel of the Burton Batman films and the actors who played those roles.  The only downside was it took forever for these six issues to come out, and the final issue was too rushed.  I’d love to get more stories set in this universe.

More honorable mentions:

Both Saga (by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples) and The Deviant (by James Tynion IV & Joshua Hixson) are wonderful series that would have made my “best-of” list if they’d published more issues in 2025.  (Saga published two issues and The Deviant only its ninth & final issue.)

Then there is Lazarus: Fallen (by Greg Rucka & Michael Lark).  I am a HUGE fan of the Lazarus series, and I’ve been waiting years for the series to return with this concluding storyline!  But I’ve decided to re-read the series from the beginning before reading these latest issues, and I haven’t gotten to that yet.  I suspect this would have been at the top of my list had I been able to read it before making this list!

Finally, I have to mention Mike Mignola’s Hellboy.  For my first decade or so of writing these lists, the Hellboy universe books overseen by Mike Mignola were always my #1 choice.  But I’ve fallen way behind on those titles, and I have a dream of doing a re-read of the entire saga from the beginning.  I want to do it, but I haven’t found the time… and meanwhile I’m now several years behind on these books.  Oy!  I know I’ve included a note like this on my last few years of “best comic book” lists.  But I can only say again that hopefully by next year I’ll be caught back up!

OK, with all of that out of the way, the decks are cleared — I hope you’ll come back tomorrow for my list my favorite comic book series of 2025!

Thanks for reading!

I’d love it if readers of this site would try some of my own comic books and graphic novels!  Take a look:

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Comic Book Reviews, Written Post