The Stampies: Best Comics of 2025 (Part One)

The Stampies: Best Comics of 2025 (Part One)

Author: Brad & Lisa Gullickson December 18, 2025 Duration: 1:41:49
Friends, let’s celebrate. We’ve made it through another year, and no matter how you felt about the world outside your local comic book shop, you certainly read some great comics. Welcome to our annual award show, The Stampies: Best Comics of 2025. Part One. Every year is a good year for comics. You just have to go out and read them. That’s the secret. We try not to imprison ourselves with characters, genres, publishers, or even our preferred tastes. As long as you’re only interested in good comics, you’ll find them if you read enough, and the brilliant thing about 2025 is that we read a lot, and found so many great comics, but we still didn’t read enough to read all the great comics. Thankfully, we sent out the Comic Book Couples Counseling distress call, and a bunch of our friends from across the industry answered. Peppered throughout our Stampies ceremony are our podcaster, journalist, publicist, and creator friends, each offering their favorite comics from 2025. See a list of them below, and make sure you support their work and follow them on socials. As we do every year, we select our favorite comics and then create the Stampies around them. This two-part episode reflects our weird, collective tastes as a couple. Listeners will recognize several of the titles, but hopefully, we’ve thrown in several surprises, too. You can also find the award categories and (SPOILERS) winners below, listed alongside their timestamps in case you want to hop around or revisit later. For the first time ever, we’ve created physical Stampy Awards to be delivered to the creators. We’re only able to do this thanks to our new sponsor, Global Comix. The all-in-one digital comics platform is currently offfering a great comics bundle when you sign up for their Global Comix Gold program. Make sure you give them a click (more details below), then start browsing their incredible digital comics library. The Best Comics of 2025 Part One Guest-Stars: Lance (Bluesky) and Jeremy (Bluesky) of Comic Book Keepers. Eamon Winkle (Instagram): The Principles of Necromancy, Geiger, etc. Jenna Anderson (Bluesky) of Phase Hero and Go Read Some Comics. Chris Hacker (Bluesky) and Aaron Knowles (BlueSky) of The Oblivion Bar Podcast. Ollie Kaplan (Bluesky) of Comics Beat, Prism Comics, etc. Barbra Dillon (Bluesky): Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Fanbase Press. David Harper (Bluesky) of SKTCHD and Off Panel. Patrick Horvath (Bluesky): Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees. Badr Milligan (Bluesky) of The Short Box Podcast. This Week's Sponsors GlobalComix is the all-in-one digital comics platform offering unlimited reading of thousands of titles from top publishers, indie creators, across comics, manga, and toons. With GlobalComix Gold, members unlock access to more than 100,000 books and genres - superheroes, horror, sci-fi, manga, fantasy, romance, and more. Right now, GlobalComix is running a special Holiday Gold promotion: when you sign up for a year of GlobalComix Gold for $69, you'll get a bonus premium comics bundle from Dark Horse, DC, Kodansha, and Marvel - included for free. This bundle is valued at $67, making the annual plan essentially pay for itself with the bonus alone. How to Redeem: Use the link https://globalcomix.com/holiday-bundle-2025 to sign up. The offer is live now and available for a limited time (through January 4, 2026). Once subscribed, the bonus bundle will be added to your GlobalComix library. This Winter, from IDW Publishing, the Heroes in a Half-Shell take on the King of the Monsters! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles x Godzilla #1 crashes into comic shops on November 12th. Written by Godzilla Kei-Sei Scribe Tim Seeley and illustrated by the brilliant Turtle artist behind the Nightwatcher series, as well as the Stranger Things/TMNT crossover, Fero Pe, this new series finally brings two of our favorite franchises together. How can this reptilian miracle be?  Long before the organization was corrupted by S

Ever wonder what keeps Lois Lane and Clark Kent together, or why the Joker and Harley Quinn’s dynamic is so endlessly dissected? That’s the kind of territory you’ll find in Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast. Hosted by real-life married couple Brad and Lisa Gullickson, this isn’t just a rundown of famous pairs. Instead, they use their own relationship as a lens to examine the loves, feuds, and complicated bonds that define our favorite characters. Each episode feels like a lively conversation between two passionate fans who happen to share a life, digging into the psychology, history, and narrative impact of relationships across comic book publishing and wider pop culture. You’ll hear them analyze everything from classic Golden Age partnerships to the messy modern entanglements in contemporary graphic novels, always with a mix of deep knowledge and genuine curiosity. This podcast offers a uniquely personal and thoughtful way to engage with the stories you love, moving beyond powers and plot twists to ask what these fictional connections really say about us. Tune in for a smart, often funny, and always insightful look at the heart of the narratives.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Matt Bors on The Toxic Avenger [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:24:03
A common complaint within the comics discourse is that new books can’t get past the sixth issue. Well, friends, have you been reading The Toxic Avenger over at Ahoy Comics? Cartoonist Matt Bors, along with several other…
Jared Cullum on Kodi - A Place to Call Home [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:27:08
The only way to have a friend is to be one. Kodi by Jared Cullum perfectly encapsulates the notion. The original graphic novel, published six years ago, told the exquisite story of a lonely girl, Katya, rescuing a bear i…
SDCC 2026: Matthew Rosenberg on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:25
We don’t want to know your favorite Ninja Turtle. We want to know which Ninja Turtle is you. Which Ninja Turtle best represents your personality and behavior? Not everyone is comfortable answering the question, but Matth…
SDCC 2026: Duncan Jones on Rogue Trooper [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:48
This week, we’re once again in the thick of San Diego Comic-Con International, chatting with filmmaker Duncan Jones about his upcoming animated adaptation of Rogue Trooper, based on the iconic 2000 AD character created b…
SDCC 2026: Bill Sienkiewicz on Bill Sienkiewicz - That Polish Guy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:18
Every comic book reader remembers the first time they encountered Bill Sienkiewicz. Whether it was in Moon Knight, The New Mutants, Elektra: Assassin, or a recent variant for Absolute Batman, Sienkiewicz’s art smacks you…
SDCC Day Four: Michael Molcher and Chloe Maveal on 2000 AD [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:40
It’s never been easier to get 2000 AD: The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic in your grubby, American mitts. Stop what you’re doing. Grab your phone. Call your shop. Get your Progs and Megazines in your pullbox. If you need any mo…
SDCC Day Three: Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction on FML [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:57
Something magical is happening between the first and second arcs of FML, the Dark Horse Comics series. Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick is passing scripting duties to her husband, Matt Fraction. Since the book began as a melod…
SDCC 2026 Day Two: Ben Wickey on More Weight [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:49:27
Cartoonist and animator Ben Wickey spent more than a decade toiling away on More Weight. The original graphic novel is an astonishing achievement, recounting the Salem witch trials through extensive research and dusting…