10 Best Comic Books Of 2019

8. Sara - Garth Ennis, Steve Epting & Elizabeth Breitweiser

Sara TKO
TKO/Steve Epting

If you hadn't gathered already that 2019 was a great year for comics, it also saw the introduction of TKO Studios. The new publisher, co-founded by writer and director Tze Chun, is determined to change the way readers consume comics. Their books can be read in a whole manner of shapes and sizes, and one of the best to emerge this year was Sara, written by Punisher alum Garth Ennis with art from Steve Epting and Elizabeth Breitweiser.

Sara revolves around an eponymous Soviet sniper tasked with taking the war to the Nazis on the Eastern Front, and it's simply sublime. Those familiar with Ennis' bibliography will know this type of story is right up his street, with the writer having previously retold Frank Castle's origin in the Vietnam War during Punisher MAX, while also writing WW2-era fiction in both War Stories and the Adventures in the Rifle Brigade. Epting, too, is no stranger to war comics, having handled art duties on Ed Brubaker's seminal Captain America run in the late noughties.

The point is that both creators are in their element, and Sara illustrates that perfectly. It's wonderfully paced, balancing the more explosive moments of action with quiet, tense exchanges between snipers in the cold.

Ennis and Epting's comic also divests from old military clichés. The Soviet focus and the decision to spotlight the women-led snipers of the era works to the comic's benefit, providing something for those regular readers of WW2 fiction, as well as those after something new and different.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.