Welcome to the GlobalComix Most Popular of 2024, our annual feature series celebrating the most popular stories over the past year on GlobalComix. Each day, we'll feature the top 10 from publishers and the top 10 from creators for each category. We’ll cap things off on December 31st, 2024, with two features: the top 10 from publishers, and the top 10 from creators.
Without further ado, here are the top 10 most popular Vertical series by Publishers:
1. DIGIMON LIBERATOR, 421 pages - Published by Bandai Card Games, (cc/ @BandaiCardGames)
Shoto Kazama, a boy who has never been able to win at card games because of his habit of giving up on things easily, enters the immersive world of Digimon Liberator through the invitation of his childhood friend, Arisa Kinosaki. The game allows players to engage in highly realistic card battles. At first, Shoto is hesitant towards it, but through his engrossing encounters with the Digimon there, he becomes a fan of the game. Encounters with wild Digimon such as Pteromon and battles with NPCs who have gone rogue. These various happenings set the wheels of fate in motion for Shoto and his companions. ——This is a story about Digimon, and the world.
Story and Art by Bandai Card Games
2. Witchblade (Verticals), 198 pages - Published by Top Cow, (cc/ @vincelongo)
Sara Pezzini is back in an all-new origin story! A reimagining of the classic storyline, this high-octane supernatural thriller starts at the beginning with familiar characters and new story arcs. New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini's life was forever fractured by her father's murder. Cold, cunning, and hellbent on revenge, Sara now stalks a vicious criminal cabal beneath the city, where an ancient power collides and transforms her into something wild, magnificent, and beyond her darkest imaginings. From co-creator Marc Silvestri (The Darkness, Cyber Force, Batman and the Joker: The Dearly Duo) and writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Batwoman, DC Bombshells) with Artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Suicide Squad, Power Rangers, Red Sonja) comes a bold new era of Witchblade!
Story and Art by Arif Prianto, Giuseppe Cafaro, Marc Silvestri, Marguerite Bennett, Troy Peteri
3. Barbaric (Verticals), 425 pages - Published by Vault Comics, (cc/ @VaultComics)
Owen the Barbarian has been cursed to do good with what remains of his life. His bloodthirsty weapon, Axe, has become his moral compass with a drinking problem. Together they wander the realm, foredoomed to help any who seek assistance. But there is one thing Owen hates more than a life with rules: Witches. Welcome to the skull-cracking, blood-splattering, mayhem-loving comic brave enough to ask: How can a man sworn to do good do so much violence? Hah! F***ing with you. It’s just BARBARIC.
Story and Art by Addison Duke , Jim Campbell, Michael Moreci, Nathan Gooden
4. Money Shot (Verticals), 368 pages - Published by Vault Comics, (cc/ @VaultComics)
In the near future, space travel is ludicrously expensive and largely ignored. Enter Christine Ocampo, inventor of the Star Shot teleportation device with a big idea: She'll travel to new worlds, engage—intimately—with local aliens, and film her exploits for a jaded earth populace trying to find something new on the internet. Now, Chris and her merry band of scientist-cum-pornstars explore the universe, each other, and the complexities of sex in MONEY SHOT! A story about scientists having sex with aliens for the glory of mankind—and money.
Story and Art by Crank!, Kurt Michael Russell, Rebekah Isaacs, Sarah Beattie , Tim Seeley
5. Stranger Things (Verticals), 252 pages - Published by Dark Horse Comics, (cc/ @GCpartnerships)
When Will Byers finds himself in the Upside Down, an impossible dark parody of his own world, he's understandably frightened. But that's nothing compared with the fear that takes hold when he realizes what's in that world with him! No one escapes a Demogorgon unscathed . . . Based on Will's unseen journey during season 1 of the hit Netflix show Stranger Things. ''Blends 80's comic aesthetic with modern sensibilities to triumphant effect.'' – Multiversity Comics
Story and Art by Chris Roberson, Greg Pak, Jim Zub, Jody Houser
6. Casual Fling (Verticals), 115 pages - Published by AWA Studios, (cc/ @ChrisF-AWA)
Jennifer Ryan has the perfect life. A loving family. A high paying job in corporate law. A luxurious apartment in upper Manhattan. Then one day she steps out of her marriage...and finds that her new lover isn’t the one night stand she expected. Stalked and threatened with exposure, Jennifer attempts to unravel the true identity of her tormentor, discovering valuable clues in the trail of destruction left in this mysterious man’s wake.
Story and Art by Dalibor Talajić, Jason Starr, Marco Lesko
7. The Last Book You'll Ever Read (Verticals), 209 pages - Published by Vault Comics, (cc/ @VaultComics)
The Last Book You’ll Ever Read tells the terrifying story of a woman who knows the horrific truth about the past — and future — of humankind, and, when captured in her book SATYR, it becomes the catalyst for worldwide, mind-numbing violence. Civilization is a lie. Hidden deep in our genes is the truth. And it is slowly clawing its way to the surface. Olivia Kade knows the truth, and she has become the prophet of the coming collapse. Her book, SATYR, is an international bestseller, and it is being blamed for acts of senseless violence and bloodshed all over the world.
Story and Art by Andworld Design, Cullen Bunn, Leila Leiz, Vlad Popov
8. The Darkness (Verticals), 151 pages - Published by Top Cow, (cc/ @vincelongo)
Following in the wake of the hugely successful The Darkness video game and the summer's smash hit, First Born, The Darkness returns in a brand new ongoing series by Phil Hester (Deep Sleeper, Green Arrow) and Michael Broussard (Unholy Union)! Irrevocably changed by the events of First Born, Jackie Estacado has relocated to the secluded nation of Sierra Munoz. But every paradise has dark secrets under the surface. And what does the mysterious Professor Kirchner stand to gain by allying himself with Jackie?
Story and Art by Marc Silvestri , Michael Broussard, Phil Hester
9. The Rush (Verticals), 210 pages - Published by Vault Comics, (cc/ @VaultComics)
Historical horror that chills to the bone, THE RUSH is for fans of Dan Simmons’, The Terror mined with a Northwestern Yukon gold rush edge. Answer the call of the wild north and stampede to the Klondike… This Hungry Earth Reddens Under Snowclad Hills. 1899, Yukon Territory. A frozen frontier, bloodied and bruised by the last great Gold Rush. But in the lawless wastes to the North, something whispers in the hindbrains of men, drawing them to a blighted valley, where giant spidertracks mark the snow and impossible guns roar in the night.
Story and Art by Addison Duke, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Nathan Gooden , Si Spurrier
10. The Autumnal (Verticals), 242 pages - Published by Vault Comics, (cc/ @VaultComics)
Her estranged mother's death brings Kat Somerville back to Comfort Notch, New Hampshire, a hometown she can barely remember. As she and her daughter Sybil try to settle into a new life, Kat discovers that sometimes home is best forgotten. Following the death of her estranged mother, Kat Somerville and her daughter Sybil flee a difficult life in Chicago for the quaint—and possibly deadly—town of Comfort Notch, New Hampshire.
Story and Art by Chris Shehan, Daniel Kraus, Jason Wordie, Jim Campbell
Want to check out more of the end-of-year features? Keep your eyes peeled every weekday here: Most Popular of 2024.