The 2018 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Returning TV Series

Welcome once again to the annual ComicBook.com Golden Issue Awards! Every year, the staff here at ComicBook.com takes a look back at the year as a whole and selects the best of what comics, movies, television, anime, and video games had to offer.

While there were a metric ton of new TV shows to check out in 2018, with every possible streaming service and network releasing its own original content, there was still a lot of great work done by the programs that had already made waves with audiences. Many of our favorite shows from every different platform made triumphant returns in 2018, delivering powerful veteran seasons that took their mythos and quality to even higher heights. However, of all the great TV series that came back in 2018, there was one that soared above the rest.

And the winner of Best Returning TV Series is...

Marvel's Daredevil on Netflix!

Honestly, this shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone who watched the third season of this gritty comic adaptation. The previous installment dealt with a bit of a sophomore slump, and had fans wondering whether Matt Murdock had lost his touch in addition to his sight. New showrunner Erik Oleson proved the doubters wrong, delivering what might go down as the best single season of any Marvel/Netflix TV series.

From the story to the action, everything about the show this season was fantastic, but the villains will certainly be remembered as the standouts. Vincent D'Onofrio once again delivered a masterful performance as Wilson Fisk, and the show used newcomer Wilson Bethel to create an absolutely incredible, terrifying backstory for one of Daredevil's most notorious rivals, Bullseye.

It's unfortunate that anytime someone brings up Daredevil Season Three it will be accompanied by the conversation surrounding the broken relationship between Marvel and Netflix. Like Iron Fist and Luke Cage before it, Daredevil was abruptly cancelled by the streaming service, and there still hasn't been a particularly solid reason given as to why. It's a difficult pill to swallow, especially after the show delivered such a strong outing in 2018.

We'll likely never find out what was going to happen to these characters in Season Four, but we'll always have the spellbinding third season to remind us how great it could have been.

List of Nominees:

• Daredevil [WINNER]
• Gotham
• DC's Legends of Tomorrow
• Luke Cage
• Westworld