The Best of 2021: Favourite New Discovery
2021 was a big year for The Geeky Waffle. We added four new shows to our network, and expanded our website in so many ways, all thanks to the hard work of our talented hosts and contributors. This week, we’re taking a look back at all the highlights of 2021 as we look to the future of the Waffle in 2022.
I’ve never really been into comic books. I liked the idea of them, don’t get me wrong, but they’ve never felt particularly accessible. Superhero comics from Marvel or DC, in the few times I tried to read them, seemed to require a lot of background knowledge from issues long past, or the full emotional weight wouldn’t land. Fine then, that’s not for me.
But surely I could give the new canon Star Wars comics a go?
In theory, yes. But deciding to dive in years after Marvel restarted the Star Wars run meant I was looking at a huge backlog. A very good backlog, as I’ve heard from many of my friends, but intimidating in its sheer size. So I contented myself with reading one-off mini comic runs, like Charles Soule’s The Rise of Kylo Ren, or the “Age Of…” series, accepting the fact that maybe Star Wars comics would just never be for me.
Enter The High Republic.
My initial plan had never been to overlook the comics. But I figured I was so used to doing without that I could simply wait until the paperbacks were out and catch up at that point. It didn’t take long for the online response to Marvel’s The High Republic and IDW’s The High Republic Adventures main runs to make me reevaluate that stance. I caught up quickly, and have now joined the legions of fans waiting eagerly each month for the next installment.
I’m sorry it took me so long to get into comics properly. Objectively and impersonally knowing that that’s where some of the best storytelling is happening and experiencing it firsthand are two very different experiences. Beyond The High Republic, I got to witness the triumphant return of Qi’ra to Star Wars storytelling, in War of the Bounty Hunters and now Crimson Reign. Sure, the latter promised that the story was going to be a tragedy, but so much of Star Wars is tragedy. And we just love the pain it comes with.
A personal standout for the year is Daniel José Older’s Trail of Shadows series, which as of this writing has released three of the projected five issues. It’s the first comic series I’ve read that feels firmly nestled into a genre beyond the kind of sci-fi action that encapsulates most of Star Wars. It is so film noir detective that I can practically hear the bluesy music intercut with a grizzled voice over. I can smell the cigarette smoke (death stick smoke?).
Because I realize that’s what I’ve been missing all along. Not necessarily a film noir vibe, but written stories that feel more grand and cinematic. I’m a dedicated bookworm and a voracious reader with an active imagination. But when the page tells you how grand something is, or how seedy, or how foreboding, you’re limited by the scope of your own imagination. Telling Star Wars stories in comic form invites you the reader to meld the scope of your imagination with that of at least three other people for an altogether jaw-dropping experience.
The High Republic initiative changed me as a comic reader. When it comes to The High Republic, I’m now the person who gets same day digital, but then buys the trade paperback when its out. I have an account, a pull list and a membership at my local comic book store, a lovely little joint so tiny that you could pack 8 people in there maximum. Who am I? I certainly don’t recognize myself in the person who barely set foot in a comic book store last year. Yes, this might have been a bit vaguer that our other reflections back on 2021, but the importance and value of comic books and the stories they tell is definitely my personal favourite discovery of this year. And not just because it helped push me to 177 books read on Goodreads this year.