When I was a kid, I read Marvel superhero comics – X-Men, Avengers, Cloak & Dagger. I was a big fan until around the late ’80s, when I got sick of the supes and the capes and most of all, the cash-in cross-overs a la Secret Wars II. In the ’90s I picked up comics again, and this time I read the indies – Chris Ware, Dan Clowes. Angsty kids in ultra-realistic suburbs drawn by top-notch cartoonists. And that’s good stuff, although eventually I moved away from that as well.

Then in the last couple years I started reading again, and I stuck to a middle ground – offbeat and independent titles that are still based in some kind of sci-fi or fantasy, or magical realism. Sure, I like the high-art indie comics as well – but generally, I read comics sometime around midnight when I’ve been working all day and I just want to chill. I look for stuff that doesn’t insult my intelligence, but that doesn’t push it too hard either.

So – I haven’t read enough comics this decade to make a real “best of the decade” list. But here are some books I’ve been digging.

Air, G. Willow Wilson and M. K. Perker. What initially looked like a pedestrian story about post-9/11 air travel turns into something more fantastic in this international, multicultural piece of magical realism. In just over a year they’ve already given us an air stewardess who can fly planes with her mind and chat with Quetzalcoatl; stories of Muslim identity in the modern world; and the return of Amelia Earhart.

There’s a love story, too.

Sugarshock!, Joss Whedon and Fábio Moon. Do you like Joss Whedon? Thinking about getting his Buffy comics, or his often great run on Astonishing X-Men, or that arc that drove Runaways into the ground? Tell you what – just get this. It’s fantastic, and Dandelion just jumps off the page.

Boys, Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Along with Air, this is the book I most look forward to every month. But I’m also torn. Ennis and Robertson do a “superheroes are actually schmucks” thing, and boy, do they love showing superheroes acting like assholes. There’s so much raunchy superhero sex that they had to do a spin-off mini-series, Herogasm, to hold it all.

But: the book is also often excellent, with an amazing alternate history of 9/11, good characters with real camaraderie, and as many great arcs as lazy ones. The latest issue, #37, tells the totally absurd origin story of “Frenchie,” and if you’ve ever made fun of the French, you need to run to the store and buy it now.

Sleeper, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips. The team of Brubaker and Phillips have produced the excellent crime comics Criminal, and Incognito was a good read. Brubaker’s work on Captain America also sucked me in – he’s created an excellent and multidimensional story around a character that I had always assumed was pretty one-note.

But for my money, the best Brubaker of the ’00s has been his project for Wildstorm, Sleeper – one of the most original, most oppressive, and most rewarding double-agent books I’ve ever read, with a cast of brilliantly cursed supervillains like Genocide, Miss Misery (the greatest of Brubaker’s many, many femme fatales), and of course, creepy criminal mastermind Tao.

The first trade will make you tense; the second trade blows it all to pieces. And no prior knowledge of the Wildstorm supes is necessary.

Umbrella Academy, Gerard Way, Gabriel Ba. When I first picked this up, I thought it would be a little too clever: a team of orphans raised in wealth and trained to be superheroes, who fight weird and pop-culture-ready enemies. Turns out it is clever, but it’s riveting too – not so much for the pop culture references or the oh-so-British quirk, but for the fact that all the ideas add up to something.

Amulet, Kazu Kibuishi. Filling the gap left by the end of Jeff Smith’s Bone, Kibuishi – better known for editing the Flight books – has been writing this elaborate fantasy about two kids who disappear into a strange world that, two volumes in, we still don’t quite understand. The art’s fantastic, and the kids are troubled and brave. My kid is obsessed with it, and I dig it too.

Cursed Pirate Girl, Jeremy Bastian. This is so, so great – just seek it out and take in the incredible detail of the Caribbean setting, the busy street scenes, the billions of little rocks and critters in the ocean, all the weird giant heads – plus the pure kick-assing of the titular pirate girl. Seriously, just swing by a comic store and spend an hour taking a look at this thing, or read more here.

Mouse Guard, David Petersen. Another family favorite: a well-crafted world about brave mice fighting giant animals, and each other. The story is simple but the world’s deep and the heroes are true. And it acknowledges all its debts to Star Wars.

Ultimate Spiderman, Brian Bendis, Mark Bagley, Stuart Immonen. Let’s say you don’t really read superhero books. But you wouldn’t mind reading at least one. You can’t go wrong with Ultimate Spiderman, a modern version of Marvel’s premier hero that starts right at the start, with the radioactive spider, Uncle Ben, and all the rest.

At first I assumed this was just a cash-in, to get a new generation interested in one of its core properties. Instead, it’s a pitch-perfect telling of a classic story – with, yes, some new twists (like punk-as-fuck Gwen Stacy, or transgender Spiderwoman). Start with the first trade and keep reading; it’s great until the end of the first run, when they mysteriously botched the entire “Ultimates” line in a giant, awful cross-over bloodbath.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been reading. What does everyone else like? Anyone mad I didn’t mention Brian Vaughn?

UPDATED: I forgot about …

Unwritten, Mike Carey and Peter Gross. I was skeptical at first: a book about a man who’s named after a character in a Harry Potter-style fantasy book – and who, in fact, may be that fictional character come to life? Sounded like a simple premise, but the mystery behind Tommy Taylor gets odder every month – it started quirky, got evil and now it’s a must-read.