Sean T. Collins’s Best Things of 2007

Caveats

1. All these lists are in order of preference.

2. The comics lists are by no means intended to be a comprehensive overview. There are just so many books that came out this year that I didn’t have a chance to read yet.

3. Every year, it seems like I end up listing my favorite comics in a different way. Sometimes it’s in alphabetical order. Sometimes it’s in order of preference with no regard to genre. Sometimes it’s a no-nonsense list. Sometimes it’s with explanations. This year it’s in order of preference, separated into two different categories, Artsy and Genre-Ish. That just felt right to me. And I limited myself to 15 each.

4. The movie list isn’t comprehensive either, because I never got to see There Will Be Blood or Control, to name a couple movies I think I might have liked a lot. No limit this time–I just listed the six movies I really liked.

5. The album and song lists aren’t comprehensive either, but I say that mostly because I haven’t gotten the new Wu-Tang Clan and Ghostface Killah records and haven’t gotten a chance to really listen to the new Beirut and Jens Lekman albums. A lot of the kinds of albums you tend to see on these lists don’t really interest me. I basically listed all the albums I really connected with; for songs, I stopped at 15.

6. There’s kind of miles and miles between the first three items on my TV list, which are three of my all-time seven favorite shows, and the rest. I stopped at 10. And I’ve never watched The Wire, so that explains that. (I know, I know.)

7. A lot of the things I first experienced and really got a lot out of this year, from Children of Men to Amusement Parks on Fire’s Out of the Angeles to Matt Furie’s Boy’s Club, actually came out earlier than 2007, so I didn’t list them. It’s all about ’07 baby! Woo!

Sean T. Collins’s Favorite [Blanks] of 2007

Comics (artsy)

1. The End, by Anders Nilsen

2. Asthma, by John Hankiewicz

3. Love & Rockets digests, by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez

4. Cold Heat, by BJ and Frank Santoro

5. Notes for a War Story, by Gipi

6. The Blot, by Tom Neely

7. Skyscrapers of the Midwest, by Josh Cotter

8. Garage Band, by Gipi

9. The Salon, by Nick Bertozzi

10. Mome, by various

11. Pulphope: The Art of Paul Pope, by Paul Pope

12. House, by Josh Simmons/Batman, by Josh Simmons

13. Johnny Ryan’s XXX Scumbag Party, by Johnny Ryan/Blecky Yuckerella Vol. 2: Back in Bleck, by Johnny Ryan

14. The Monkey and the Crab, by Shawn Cheng and Sarah Edward-Corbett

15. Uptight, by Jordan Crane

Comics (genre-ish)

1. The Immortal Iron Fist, by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja, and various artists

2. BPRD, by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and Guy Davis

3. Captain America, by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and Mike Perkins

4. All Star Superman, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

5. 52, by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Keith Giffen, J.G. Jones, and various artists

6. Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus, by Jack Kirby

7. Jack Kirby’s Silver Star, by Jack Kirby

8. Dragon Head, by Mochizuki Minetaro

9. I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets: The Comics of Fletcher Hanks, by Fletcher Hanks, edited by Paul Karasik

10. Green Lantern, by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver, and various artists

11. Daybreak, by Brian Ralph

12. Runaways, by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona

13. Criminal, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips

14. Daredevil, by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark

15. The Perry Bible Fellowship, by Nicolas Gurewitch

Movies

1. No Country for Old Men

2. 28 Weeks Later

3. 300

4. Darkon

5. Eastern Promises

6. Beowulf

Television Programs

1. The Sopranos

2. Lost

3. Battlestar Galactica

4. The Soup

5. Dr. Phil

6. 120 Minutes

7. America’s Next Top Model

8. Judge Judy

9. Scrubs

10. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Albums

1. Underworld: Oblivion with Bells

2. LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver

3. Radiohead: In Rainbows

4. Robyn: Robyn [UK]

5. Muscles: Guns Babes Lemonade

6. Beirut: Lon Gisland

7. Nine Inch Nails: Year Zero

8. Klaxons: Myths of the Near Future

9. Editors: An End Has a Start

10. Digitalism: Idealism

11. Kylie Minogue: X [UK]

Songs

1. Underworld: Beautiful Burnout

2. Radiohead: All I Need

3. Gus Gus: Moss

4. LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver

5. Beirut: Scenic World

6. Maria Taylor: A Clean Getaway

7. Robyn: Should Have Known

8. Muscles: One Inch Badge Pin

9. Editors: An End Has a Start

10. Klaxons: Atlantis to Interzone

11. The Horrors: Count in Fives

12. Tori Amos: Bouncing Off Clouds

13. Rihanna: Umbrella

14. The White Stripes: Icky Thump

15. Kings of Leon: Arizona

8 Responses to Sean T. Collins’s Best Things of 2007

  1. Sean says:

    Noooooooo!

    Is it too much to ask to just watch a damn TV show???

  2. Paul Karasik says:

    Thanks for including my book, “I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets: The Comics of Fletcher Hanks”, in your list. I remain stunned that such a weird book of truly twisted tales could prove to be so popular.

    Readers unfamiliar with Hanks work may want to slide over to the BONUS page of my website for a slideshow of a full length Fantomah story that does NOT appear in the book:

    http://www.fletcherhanks.com

  3. Gardner says:

    For what it’s worth, there was no new Wire in 2007, so you’re off the hook for that one. 🙂

  4. Ken Lowery says:

    Ah, god, I love that LCD Soundsystem album, and Year Zero did not budge from my car’s CD player for a full three months… and now that I have the remix CD, I’m right back into it.

  5. Brian W says:

    Your inclusion of Dr. Phil on this list really brings the whole post together in a sort of cosmic sense.

    Was the new Robyn album really that good though? I try to stay up on my Swedish pop stars, but this one got past me somehow.

  6. Sean says:

    Paul: No sweat, and thanks for dropping by!

    Gardner: I wondered about that, but I thought the new season had started right after Christmas. Ah well. I’ll netflix it eventually…

    Ken: I thought about getting the remix CD but I’m not sure how much I need remixes by other people. Worth it?

    Brian: Dr. Phil brings EVERYTHING together in a cosmic sense. His is the mustache of universal equilibrium.

    And yes, the Robyn album is really that good. It’s kind of like a “Kylie from the block” kinda deal. Featuring production by the Knife! I think it originally came out in Sweden in 2005 and is FINALLY getting an American release late winter/early spring ’08.

  7. Ken Lowery says:

    Worth it. I’m enjoying it quite a lot, actually. Also, there’s remix.nin.com to hear a whole bunch more for free.

    If you’re really interested, I can zip up a few tracks and shoot them your way.

Comments are closed.