10 Best Comic Books Of 2019

7. Spider-Man: Life Story - Chip Zdarsky, Mark Bagley & Frank D'Armata

Spider-Man Life Story
Marvel Comics/Chip Zdarsky

Chip Zdarsky has kept himself particularly busy this year. Daredevil was a particular highlight, but the former Spectacular Spider-Man writer hasn't just restricted himself to street-level Marvel. Zdarsky has been hard at work penning a great revival of The Invaders, while also bringing a new independent title, The White Trees, to Image Comics back in August. All have been great, but - just like in 2017 - Zdarsky's best comic this year is all about everyone's favourite friendly neighbourhood web-slinger.

With art from Spider-Man legend Mark Bagley, Spider-Man: Life Story was Zdarsky's attempt to chronicle the life and times of Peter Parker in a reality free from Marvel's sliding timeline. He covers every era, from the time the wall-crawler first emerged in the 1960s all the way up to the 2010s, reappraising the character's literary history whilst integrating it with each decade's respective zeitgeist.

Life Story is a conscious effort to take Spider-Man as he would be in a world where he actually aged. In doing so, Zdarsky never once pulls his punches, with the comic exemplifying the tragedy and spirit that has defined the character's comics since his first appearance in 1962.

It's remarkably heartfelt, and doubly so, in its more reflective moments. You won't find a Spidey comic quite like it.

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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.