These are the 10 best ongoing comic runs of 2010, in my modest opinion. Feel free to click the link of anything that sounds interesting to buy it.

Honorable Mention: Atlas and Guardians of the Galaxy/Thanos Imperative. The dearly departed were among my favorite books of 2010, but Atlas just didn’t have quite enough issues to make the list, while Guardians and TI is two separate books, which would be top 3 were they combined- I didn’t look forward to anything more!

10. Wolverine by Jason Aaron

This is technically two titles, Wolverine: Weapon X and the Wolverine Goes to Hell in the re-launched Wolverine title. Either way, Aaron’s voice on Wolverine has been excellent. I haven’t liked the character in years due to overexposure and being a generic badass, but Aaron writes a well-rounded Wolverine with a supporting cast that humanizes him while putting him in absurd situations that play off of how over the top the character has become without making him a joke. Really, this is great stuff any fan of Wolverine should read.

9. Secret Warriors

Jonathan Hickman will be on this list more than any other writer. This has been a truly excellent book, with much of the last year taken up with “Last Ride of the Howling Commandos” an excellent look into the sacrifices and difficulties in being Nick Fury, a man who gives up everything to stop evil as only he can. This mix of spy and war story is the best work done with Fury since Steranko

8. Secret Six

Gail Simone’s Secret Six has been one of the better books DC produces monthly. It’s immensely difficult to tell a story about villains without making them anti-heroes or unlikable, but Gail has managed to do so for years. This would be higher up the list if not for a bit too many crossovers in the past y ear.

7. Batgirl

Bryan Q Miller helms what is easily DC’s most consistent book. Unbothered by creative direction or crossovers, Miller has been spending the past year making Stephanie Brown a relatable, fun superhero in the vein of early Spider-Man or a Dick Grayson Robin book. But don’t take my word, check out what Grey Scherl has to say.

6. S. H. I. E. L. D.

Hickman’s second book on the list is absolutely made of imagination. Taking Shield as an ancient organization of warring near-immortals like DaVinci and Newton, we have a great mix of this and Marvel lore with Howard Stark and Nathaniel Richards facing off with Tesla. There’s no way to be sure who’s right or what’s going on, but these ideas are great and fun and the build is phenomenal, which is to say nothing of Dustin Weaver’s epic art, my absolute favorite of the year.

5. Invincible Iron Man

Fraction is writing the best Iron Man run ever. Sure, it might not be as immediately memorable as Armor Wars yet, but this is a years long run with slowly building stories from the very first to today, truly epic in scope given all that’s done with the character outside of Fraction’s own book. This is a pivotal piece of character work and among the best reasons to write a company owned character. Fraction has something to say with Tony Stark and saying it is one of the best superhero books in years.

4. Action Comics

Paul Cornell does nothing but write great books no one reads. Like the literary world where Twilight outsells great new literature, those who pay attention get the best books. Cornell, like the majority of the rest of the list, shows an amazing imagination in all his stories and, especially here, an incredible knack for delivering a great character piece. Lex Luthor, DC’s most important villain besides maybe Joker, goes on a tour of evil in the DCU. This allows of brining out specific character points, huge ideas, and contrasting him with the other major players of the company. Truly, this is fantastic as both a character study and a lesson in how to create fun comics.

3. The Walking Dead–

The television show (which you can buy here- The Walking Dead: Season One) made everyone notice the best work done with zombies ever. This is an amazing look at not only how zombies work long-term, but the affects of stress and extreme situations on the human mind. Ultimately, zombies work especially as a character study of mortality and what it means to be alive. Robert Kirkman gets that in his phenomenal book and somehow keeps finding more and more situations to place his main characters in to further view a world where everything has gone and continues to go wrong.

2. Batman and Robin

Grant Morrison’s Batman and Robin is just amazing. Dick Grayson as Batman, especially after Morrison’s convoluted Batman RIP, had many worried. Folks needn’t have been so concerned. Morrison told a ridiculously fun and complex Batman story with Grayson and Damian that made Grayson too much fun as Batman to remove from the role. Successfully creating a legacy character is tough. Doing it with Batman should be nearly impossible. But here we are. Dick Grayson is Batman and the stories are great, all thanks to this book.

1. Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four was once the most important comic in the world. The greatest comic magazine is exactly what it was. For one more year, at least, Hikcman has made it the greatest ongoing superhero comic magazine again. Sure, it can be predictable, but it’s character driven with great emotional gravitas to every moment and a truly inventive scale letting the four be explorers again, finding adventure and building to tragedy.

Tags: Action Comics (Superman & related), Batgirl, Batman and Robin, bryan q. miller, Fantastic Four, Gail simone, Grant Morrison, Invincible Iron Man, Jason Aaron, Jonathan Hickman, matt fraction, Paul Cornell, Robert Kirkman, Secret Six, secret warriors, SHIELD, The Walking Dead, Top 10, Wolverine