2024 may have been a down year for comic book movies overall, but the same can’t be said for the world of comic-inspired television. In fact, this might go down as one of the best years for comic book TV in recent memory. From animated resurrections to prestige HBO dramas, 2024 had some of everything for comic book fans — and that’s not even counting the DCU-launching Creature Commandos (which premiered after our nominee voting took place).
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For this year’s Golden Issue Awards — voted on by ComicBook staff — the race for Best Comic Book TV Show had perhaps the toughest field of any award we voted on. With options like The Penguin, X-Men ’97, Agatha All Along, Batman: Caped Crusader, and The Boys, this could’ve gone in any number of directions. That said, there can only be one winner.
And the Golden Issue for Best Comic Book TV Show is…
The Penguin!
While this was obviously an incredibly tough category, the result shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The Penguin took fans by storm when it premiered on HBO this fall, and captured our attention for eight straight weeks as it barrelled to its explosive finale.
While there were a lot of great comic book shows in 2024, The Penguin felt like the cream of the crop for many of our voters. It had that HBO prestige about it, delivering complicated character arcs in the middle of high stakes stories that didn’t offer up promises it couldn’t keep. The Penguin made great use of every minute in its hour-long episodes, and knew exactly how much was enough when it came to the more mature rating it received by being released on HBO.
Perhaps the greatest thing about The Penguin, however, were the two performances at the center of the series. The unrecognizable Colin Farrell turned things up to 11 and delivered a deeper, more ruthless take on Oz Cobb than he did in The Batman. Getting an entire season with the villain-in-the-making allowed Farrell to run wild — and he absolutely delivered.
Even more impressive than Farrell was Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone. What a beautiful, haunting, devastating performance from top to bottom. It’s hard enough to keep pace with someone like Farrell scene after scene, but Milioti never wavered, even outshining her counterpart at several points throughout the series. Both of them should earn Emmys for their work here by the time all is said and done.
The competition was stiff, but The Penguin outclassed the field of comic book television in 2024.
The full list of nominees for Best Comic Book TV Show:
- Agatha All Along
- Batman: Caped Crusader
- The Boys
- The Penguin – WINNER
- X-Men 97
