2. Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Marvel)
If Superior Spider-Man took a major gamble with the character, changing him completely, Matt Fraction did something so subtle with the character of Hawkeye that it's genius cannot be overstated - he wrote about what Hawkeye did when he wasn't a superhero. That's right, this series follows Clint Barton as he gets a new dog, a new apartment, and helps a friend prepare his father's home for the incoming Hurricane Sandy. Which isn't to say there aren't any superhero action scenes in the series, but in comparison to other Marvel titles, it's noticeably more street level even by Hawkeye's standards! If those kinds of things sound banal, they're not, especially when they're written so well by Fraction whose charming, casual and often sleep-deprived voice he gives Clint makes him an instantly likeable person whose everyday minutiae eclipses comics that literally feature world destroying aliens and intergalactic war (I'm thinking of Infinity in particular). Joining Clint is Kate Bishop, also called Hawkeye, a Young Avenger who leaves for the West Coast, leaving Clint in New York as the East Coast Hawkeye. The cast features two of my favourite characters of the year - the tracksuit Mafia who menace Clint and his tenants in their apartment block and use the word "bro" as verbal punctuation, and Lucky aka Pizza Dog. Artist David Aja illustrated a silent (wordless) comic with issue #11 which was told from Lucky's perspective, so the dog only understood certain words while the rest of its thoughts were interpreted through sight, sound and smell. I can't do the issue justice here because it's a deeply visual issue but you should absolutely pick it up (or if you buy/read the trades, it's in Volume 2) just to see how perfectly this creative team understands the language of comics. David Aja's work has elevated this series with his unique look and imaginative layouts, a quality which didn't go unnoticed at this year's Eisner Awards with Aja walking away with Best Penciller/Inker and Best Cover Artist for his work on Hawkeye. Joining Aja on this series is Javier Pulido, who worked on the awesome two-part Tape story and the Hawkeye Annual this year (which featured maybe the best credits panel of the year - hell, I'm calling it now, it WAS the best credits panel of the year!), and colourist Matt Hollingsworth whose muted, subtle colouring made Hawkeye look the most stylish superhero comic of the year. I can't say enough good things about Hawkeye, it's a winner on every level but more importantly is a really fun, really entertaining story. Hawkeye has a personality - who knew? And he owes it to Matt Fraction.