Before we march into looking at the comics of 2016, let's spend a bit of time looking back at 2015. Our favorite comics of 2015 lists will be hitting the website beginning next week but for your weekend reading, here's what 2015 looked like here at Panel Patter. This isn't a complete view of the year but it is a pretty good wrapup of all of our critical writing here. To see everything, you can always check out our archives located in the sidebar to your right.
And just a quick THANK YOU! to all of the contributors to Panel Patter this year. While we were never a daily site, everyone did a lot of great writing here that really spent time looking at the wide range of comics beyond the Marvel and DC landscape.
And thank you to the readers, the creators, the publishers, convention organizers, Kickstarters and Patreon campaigners and the other wonderful comic websites that are all out there. Your work, your support, and your inspirations has been what's kept us going week after week.
And thank you to Marvel and your 1981 calendar. Without it, I would not have known what day of the week it was this year. This was the greatest gift of all.
January 2015:
- A Look at the Coloring in Dash Shaw's Doctors (AJ)
- More than Meets the Eye-- Transformers Vs. G.I. Joe V 1 (Scott)
- Interview: Carey Pietsch Talks Adventure Time: Marceline Gone Adrift (Rob M.)
- Whit Taylor Interviews Chuck Forsman (Whit)
February 2015:
- Satellite Sam Volume 2: Satellite Sam and the Kinescope Snuff by Matt Fraction & Howard Chaykin (Scott)
- Whit Taylor Interviews Noah Van Sciver (Whit)
- Cluster #1 (James)
- Princeless: The Pirate Princess #1 (James)
- The Life After V1 by Joshua Hale Fialkov & Gabo (James)
- Master Keaton Vol 1 (Rob M.)
- In No Particular Order: 8 Graphic Novels That Helped Me Through Hard Times (Guy)
- Panel Patter Anthology Quick Hits: Komikaze 13, Wild Ocean, Here We Go and Felony Comics 01
- Lilith Wood Reviews Plunder #1 by Swifty Lang, Skuds McKinley, and Jason Wordie (Lilith)
- Criminal Special Edition (Scott)
March 2015
- Panel Patter Quick Hits: Translation Time with Canales/Guarnido, Lindgren/Van Nyman, Manchette/Tardi, Hubert/Kerascoet, and Max
- The Short Con by Aleks Sennwald and Pete Toms (Rob M.)
- Get on board the Southern Cross: Southern Cross #1 (James)
- Panel Patter Science Fiction Quick Hits: Montey's Universe, Cardini's Vortex and Faerber/Godlewski's Copperhead
- Rob Kirby Reviews Bunny Man: My Life in the Easter Charade by Sean Seamus McWhinny (Rob K.)
- Giant Days (1 of 6) (James)
- Get Over It by Corinne Mucha (Emilia)
- Interview with Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki (Scott)
- Kinski by Gabriel Hardman (Rob M.)
- Jem and the Holograms #1 is Truly Outrageous (James)
- Don't Confront Me With My Failures- a review of Love and Rockets New Stories #7 (Scott)
April 2015
- Panel Patter Quick Hits: Dylan Edwards, Williamson/Bressan/Lucas, and Sarah Lazarovic
- Sleepless Knight by James Sturm, Andrew Arnold, and Alexis Frederick-Frost (Rob M.)
- Rat Queens 10 (Rob M.)
- Whit Taylor is Interviewed by NEA! (Rob M.)
- We've barely scratched the Surface - The Surface #1 - 2 (James)
- Queer Quick Hits Featuring the Beyond Kickstarter, Blue Delliquanti, Derek Marks, and Gilbert Hernandez
- Calvin and Hobbes 20 years later- a look at Exploring Calvin and Hobbes (Scott)
- Linework NW Preview: Space Riders #1 (James)
- Linework NW Preview: Lost Property by Andy Poyiadgi (Rob M.)
- Linework NW Preview: The Pants Dropping Truth in Jason Little's Borb (Scott)
- The Temptation of Empty Promises in Frontier #7 by Jillian Tamaki (Scott)
- Operation Pineapple Sparkle by Francois Vigneault (Rob M.)
- Quick Hits: Moreton's Smoo 8, Wes Craig's Black Hand Comics, Lust's Today is the Last Day, and Sacco's Notes from Gaza
May 2015
- FCBD Spotlight: Breaking the Rule by Talking Fight Club 2/Goon/Strain
- FCBD Spotlight: AJ McGuire on Hip Hop Family Tree 3 in 1 (AJ)
- FCBD Special: Quick Hits Featuring Our Free Comic Book Day Round-Up
- The Maddening Spirals of Junji Ito's Uzumaki (Scott)
- You'll Never Leave Harrow Alive- a review of Harrow County #1 (Scott)
- Dead Drop #1 (James)
- Dreaming of Football, God and Southern Bastards (Scott)
- Rat Queens, Volume 2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'Rygoth (Mark)
- Injection #1 (James)
- ApocalyptiGirl: An Aria for the End Times (James)
- Dealing With the Past in Seth's Palookaville #22 (Scott)
June 2015
- Death Vigil #7 by Stjepan Sejic (Mark)
- Interview with Eric Roesner of Yeti Press (Guy)
- Strange Fruit Uncelebrated Narratives from Black History Vol 1 by Joel Christian Gill (Rob M.)
- Inaction Comics 1 Productivity (Rob M.)
- Missed Opportunities in The Valiant (Scott)
- High Water Anthology Pictures Life after Climate Change (Rob M.)
- Series Review: We Can Never Go Home (James)
- The Disciples #1 by Steve Niles, Christopher Mitten and Jay Fotos (James)
- Stray Volume 1 (Rob M.)
- Mulan Revelations #1 by Robert Alter, Marc Andreyko and Micah Kaneshiro (Mark)
- Fantasy Sports #1 by Sam Bosma (Rob M.)
July 2015
- Everything is Material: Material #1-2 (James)
- Series Review: Ei8ht 1-5, by Rafael Albuquerque and Mike Johnson (Rob M.)
- The Amusing Disturbance of Gilbert Hernandez's Blubber #1 (Scott)
- Graphic Nonfiction: Salt Soap by Lucy Bellwood (Rob M.)
- Transference #1 by Michael Moreci, Ron Salas and Tamra Bonvillain (Mark)
- Taking Off With Alex Toth's Bravo For Adventure (Scott)
- Rob Kirby on 3 Pacific NW Minis by Kelly Froh, Robyn Jordan, and Tom Van Deusen (Rob K.)
- The People Inside (Emilia)
- Wart - Book 2 by Ammar Al-Chalabi and Chris Welsh (Mark)
- The Photographer (Emilia)
- Boom!'s Strange Fruit #1 is Bitter (Rob M.)
- Wolf #1 (James)
- Advance Review: Hellboy in Hell #7 (Scott)
August 2015
- Quick Hits: Vym Magazine and Drug Dogs Zine
- Maximum Rocknroll #383 - Comics & Arts Issue (AJ)
- Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl #1-- "Is it life or just to play my worries away?" (Scott)
- Advance Review: Zodiac Starforce #1 (Mark)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: The Little Red Fish #2 by James Moffitt and Bizhan Khodabandeh (Emilia)
- Captain Midnight Series Review - Part 1: The Effects Of A Legacy (Mark)
- Captain Midnight Series Review - Part 2: "We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them" (Mark)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Claire Connelly (Guy)
- Perchance to Dream in Little Nemo's Big New Dream and Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland (Scott)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Rob Kirby Interviews Kevin Budnik (Rob K.)
September 2015
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Carla Speed McNeil (Guy)SPX Spotlight 2015: Nobrow Press's New Mini: Cyber Realm by Wren McDonald (Emilia)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: March Book Two by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell (Scott)
- How Low Can You Go: Low Vol. 1 (James)
- Lady Killer Volume 1 by Joëlle Jones, Jamie S. Rich, and Laura Allred (Mark)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Danielle Corsetto (Guy)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Noah Van Sciver's Fante Bukowski (Scott)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Cartozia Tales (Mark)SPX Spotlight 2015: Monica Gallgher (Brianne)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Dylan Edwards and Valley of the Silk Sky (Rob M.)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Rachel Dukes (Guy)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Christine Skelly (Brianne)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Michael DeForge's Lose #7 and Dressing (Scott)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Rob Kirby and "What's Your Sign, Girl?" (Rob M.)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Isabella Rotman (Guy)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Andrew MacLean (James)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Molly Ostertag (Brianne)
- SPX Spotlight 2015: Pranas T. Naujokaitis (Guy)
- Banned Book Week: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (Scott)
October 2015
- Banned Book Week: Lilith Wood on Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Lilith)
- Banned Book Week: Drama by Raina Telgemaier (Scott)
- A Visit to SPX 2015 (Guy)
- The New Deal by Jonathan Case (Mark)
- Halloween Horror/Graphic Nonfiction: Andy Warner Scares You with the Bunny Man (Rob M.)
- Halloween Horror: Interview with Chris Welsh: Co-Creator and Writer of Wart (Mark)
- Halloween Horror/MICE Preview: Boston Comics Rountable's Hellbound Five (Rob M.)
- 40 to Life on Bitch Planet (Scott)
- Halloween Horror: Rowans Ruin #1 by Mike Carey, Mike Perkins and Andy Troy (Mark)
- Halloween Horror: Gris Grimly's Frankenstein (Brianne)
- Halloween Horror: Emily Carroll's Web Stories (Rob M.)
- Halloween Horror: The New Deadwardians (Rob M.)
- Halloween Horror: Junji Ito's Gyo (Scott)
November 2015
- Graphic Nonfiction: Avi Ofer on the Vincent Van Gogh (Rob M.)
- The Statement of Randolph Carter adapted by Guy Thomas (Rob M.)
- The Goddamned #1 - Biblical Bastards (James)
- Basewood by Alec Longstreth (Rob M.)
- Oddly Normal by Otis Frampton: Awesome Fun! (Brianne)
- Blackmailing a Superman in Venture (1-3) by Jay Faerber and Jamal Igle (Rob M.)
- Plans We Made by Simon Moreton- "We were sure we'd never see an end to it all" (Scott)
- 7STRING - Volume 1 by Nich Angell (Mark)
- Huck #1 (James)
- Monstress #1 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Mark)
December 2015
- Rich Tommaso's Dark Corridor (Rob M.)
- Alphabet Anthology Kickstarter (Maia)
- The Poetry of Comics found in Caitlin Skaalrud's Houses of the Holy (Scott)
- The Evocative Optimism of Low Volume 2: Before the Dawn Burns Us (Scott)