Great Scott! Can it be? Has a third of the year gone by without us posting one of our ballyhooed Top 5 lists? I&Ndefensible we say! So, for you completists, here it is: our Top 5 books of January. Coming soon: our Top 5 of Feb! And March! (We swear!)

5. The Multiversity: Guidebook #1 (DC): Grant Morrison takes the unwieldy mess that is the DC multiverse and turns it into a strength; a rich tapestry, (illustrated by an impressive bevy of artists) at once alien and familiar, ripe with possibility. He not only accomplishes the herculean feat of making sense of it all, he tells one barn burner of a story while doing it. His expansive view seemingly embraces everything, the odder and more trivial the better. I don’t what DC has planned after its next clearing of the decks, but it could do a lot worse than using this as its Guidebook. (DM)

4. Lady Killer #1 (Dark Horse): “Top 5 Books of January calling!”  Wow!  What a killer debut from Joëlle Jones and Jamie S. Rich!  As evidenced by the cover–a kitchen done up in classic post-war abattoir–they’re mopping the floor with genre tropes and gender notes, the highest being Josie, of course, their Bride of Fifties-stein, who is June Cleaver living up to her name, that’s for sure!  She’s one tough mother–one who’s not afraid to use her assets to get the job done.  It’s the nature of the assassin–and of clever creators–to play a game of cat and mouse with her prey, isn’t it?  Consider the final page, fellow readers: we are most assuredly the mice.  (SC)

3. Wild’s End #5 (BOOM!): Abnett and Culbard’s Wild’s End–our #9 book of 2014–has been about as perfect as a book can be after five issues.  In this installment, the stakes are wildly high, what with the killer lamppost lighting around and lighting up our motley zoo crew, who, all along, keep–relatively–calm and carry on as well as they can with a six-legged, extraterrestrial death ray on their tails.  Love the ribbon tied to the end of the issue: revealing the irrepressible Ms. Peardew’s written account of the big adventure and her pretty assertive assessment of Lewis Cornfelt.  With its tentacles 100% wrapped around me, if Wild’s End were the only fiction left in the world, I’d be quite satisfied.  (SC)

2. Silver Surfer #8 (Marvel): Fresh off their claiming the #4 spot on our Top Ten Books of 2014, Dan Slott and Mike Allred offer up a grave planet of survivors–each the last of his or her or its species–and a tidal wave of guilt upon which the former herald of Galactus rides, leaving a wake of cosmic energy that leads the Devourer of Worlds to perhaps his most satisfying meal yet.  It’s a brilliant premise that brings together a universe of victims and pulls apart our otherwise perfect pair, the Surfer and Dawn Greenwood, as emotionally affective individually as when side by side–and, in a very fun moment, with Dawn at the wheel for the first time, “Ha ha ha!”–they ride the temperamental Toomie.  What’s that?  You’re right: When it comes to superhero books, there is none higher, and #8 is further proof.  (SC)

1. Mind MGMT #30 (Dark Horse): In one fell swoop Matt Kindt takes everything you knew about this title and turns it on its head. He gathers up threads from earlier issues and ties them together with a revelation that changes the perspective of the entire series. Not content with that, he tells the modern-day story as though it were a pulp sci-fi novel of the 1960s. The meta conceit however is merely a filter for the viewpoint of the narrator, one that makes total sense given her past. Furthermore this narrator, through the use of the (always challenging to pull off) second person, becomes “you.” Confused yet? Perhaps the biggest miracle in this is that Kindt doesn’t lose you, even for a second. A masterpiece. (DM)

The Biggest Dis(appointment): Loki: Agent of Asgard #10 (Marvel) – What could have been just another movie franchise tie-in, turned out, in the early going, to be remarkably entertaining due to Al Ewing’s witty, exuberant writing. Alas, just as Loki himself seems unable to escape his destiny, this book was unable to steer clear of getting embroiled in a “Big Event.”  Since then the jocularity has been drained of this once surprising title, its imaginative gold spun into cumbersome lead. (DM)

Turning pages,

Derek & Scott