The Best in Comics: 2009

Being an entertainment medium that delivers literally dozens of new offerings on a weekly basis, it's hard to catch everything. Even for a nerd who spends hundreds of dollars a month on the funny books, it's impossible to read every single release and keep up with the happenings of every character while holding some semblance of a social life. 

Luckily for you, I've given up all friends, relationships, and general human contact, so I'll be more than happy to report on the best that 2009 has to offer, in a variety of different categories. 

Did we miss something you absolutely adored? Or perhaps we've chosen something you absolutely despised? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it !

• Best New Series
• Best Original Graphic Novel
• Best Collection
• Best Limited/Mini-Series
• Best Event Comic
• Best Writer
• Best Artist
• Best Single Issue
• Best Ongoing Series

Gabriel Ba's work on Umbrella Academy as a whole is phenomenal, but taking over the cover work from James Jean on Dallas was a move that brought a whole new unity to the series. Don't get me wrong, I love Jean's cover work on Apocalypse Suite, but what I love more is when an interior artist takes the time to provide cover work to his/her issues, something that doesn't happen often enough. 

The last issue of Dallas takes the cake this year, with the pitch-perfect stark contrast of JFK's smiling mug with a saluting Number 5, surrounded by a white gun flare, not only evoking the iconic imagery of a young JFK Jr. saluting at his father's funeral, but also a fitting send off to a mind bending second series of Gerard Way's amazing Dark Horse series.

The Unwritten, written by Mike Carey with art from Peter Gross, is a welcome addition to the Vertigo lineup. Though they've added quite a few titles this year, including the stellar Sweet Tooth and Greek Street, both of those series pale in comparison to the epic stature of Tommy Taylor's adventures through the literary world. 

There's no doubt in my mind that The Unwritten will be looked back upon fondly in the same manner we look back at books like Preacher and Sandman. Yeah, it's that good.

Grant Morrison. Dick Grayson as Batman. A new rogues gallery. Come on. There's no doubt this is the best new superhero book of the year, let alone one of the best new series, period. I'm not sure there is a single Batman fan that wasn't excited about Dick finally donning the cowl, but any naysayers just read the first three issues of Batman & Robin, you'll see what the hooplah is all about.
 

One of the first entries into Vertigo's Crime imprint, Brian Azzarello and Victor Santos' Filthy Rich just happened to also take the cake for my favorite OGN of the year (read our review of Filthy Rich). Beginning with the names of the characters and ending with the contrasting black and white grit of Santos' work, Filthy Rich oozes the noir appeal that Vertigo Crime was born for. 

There's not much I love more than watching relatable characters slum it through the misery of life, and if there's anyone able to deliver such a quality tale, it's Brian Azzarello. 

 

You can call it cheating, but it's my list so I'll do what I want. And to be honest, Peter & Max was one of the most enjoyable comic-related publications to be released in 2009 (read our review of Peter & Max: A Fables Novel). While it's not a "graphic" novel, per se, there are pictures, and it expands the already massive Fables universe. It counts.

Best Collection

The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1



48 issues, over 1000 pages, 8 trade paperbacks and weighing in at 5 pounds. 5 pounds. That's a shitload of comic. And the best part? It's available for under $40 on Amazon. It's undersized in terms of page size, but for a black-and-white comic, you're not losing any of the art quality when it's reprinted in an enormous collection like this. 

This is the end-all, be-all of zombie comic books, and for many, the zombie genre in general. For a creature that's been done to death in every possible medium, it's hard for anyone to make it fresh. Yet somehow, Image Comics and Robert Kirkman were able to do it, and 2009 made it available in one place, at an affordable price.

Runner-up: Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories

Being one of the most sought after, out-of-print, Bat-stories from the 1990's, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's first comic book collaboration that tells the origin story of fan favorite character and Joker gal-pal Harley Quinn was finally delivered in a deliciously wonderful hardcover featuring not only Mad Love, but a collection of other Dini/Timm stories, as well as commentary from the creators. If you're curious what the commotion is about, be sure to check out our Wednesday Retrospective: Batman: Mad Love article.

 I realize that Testament started in 2008, but it wrapped up early in 2009, so guess what? It still counts. And holy crap, is it amazing. Testament is the kind of comic you give to people who "hate" superhero comics, or think that they involve no depth or sophistication. Guaranteed, if you hand this mini-series to one of those people and then reveal to them upon completion that it's X-Men related, they won't have anything to say except "more". 

Writer Greg Pak and artist Carmine Di Giandomenico deliver what is essentially an origin story for Magneto, but delivered with much more gravity than we've ever experienced before. Set throughout young Max Eisenhardt's life living through the Holocaust, Testament takes those heart wrenching first few minutes of Bryan Singer's first X-Men film and stretches iit into a hard-to-swallow five issues that will leave you breathless and more sympathetic to Magento's character than ever before. 

It's a beautiful, tenderly crafted comic that will remain the definitive Magento tale for years to come.

With 52, DC proved the notion of a weekly series was not only feasible, but quite possibly a brilliant concept. With Countdown, they proved the exact opposite, showcasing exactly how to mismanage a weekly book. Then they arrived at Trinity, which was some sort of odd mixture between the two that I honestly stopped caring about. 

With Wednesday Comics, they knocked the god damn ball out of the park. Delivering 12 consecutive weekly issues of Sunday newspaper strip-style comics featuring all-star writers and artists, DC delivered a weekly series that was both a throwback to the Sunday comics of old but something wholly new. Some tales outshone others, but as a collective whole, Wednesday Comics is not to be overlooked, and hopefully we'll see more of it in the future.
 

Best Event Comic

Blackest Night



The comic book industry is chock full of "event books" that are essentially the comic equivalent to the Hollywood summer blockbuster films, but few and far between are as epic and earth shattering as Blackest Night. 

With the dead rising from their graves, Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis have constructed a clever way to both deliver on all fronts of superhero comicdom: action fans get their fist pumping battles, horror fans get their zombies and gore, and drama fans get their share of character development and emotional crises. 

It's not over yet folks, but even only at issue #5, I've shat myself at least six times. That's a pretty good track record. 

Runner-up: Nothing compares.

He may be atop every nerd's list this year, but how can he not be? Blackest Night, The Flash: Rebirth, Green Lantern, Superman: Secret Origin, Adventure Comics, and Action Comics - not to mention a few Blackest Night tie-in mini-series. If there's a more accurate living definition of prolific in 2009, please, show it to me. 

The work of Johns may be up for debate by the unsatisfied few, but there's no questioning his ability to retool some of the most dormant concepts in the DCU and reinvigorate them for the modern age, not to mention his knack for streamlining continuity without absurd explanations or pages upon pages of exposition. 

Johns is a key component of DC's current status quo, reaching as far back as his run on The Flash, but 2009 saw him really step up to the plate and deliver some of the most intensely satisfying moments in comics. 

With Scalped still going as strong as ever, Aaron also dove more head-on into the Marvel universe in 2009, taking on the often used, but seldom used right, Wolverine in the stellar Wolverine: Weapon X, where he set out to tell a new kind of Wolvy story. In addition, his run on the formerly lackluster Ghost Rider continues to make the series worthwhile, and he even dabbled in a two-issue tale in the main Wolverine book. 

Perhaps most noteworthy for Jason Aaron is the debut of his Punisher Max with artist Steve Dillon, where he takes on Frank Castle in a gritty Marvel universe that fans of Scalped will agree is a perfect fit for the writer. Don't forget to take a look back at our interview with Jason Aaron from 2009's Baltimore Comic-Con!

Best Artist

There is something ridiculously charming about Skottie Young's work, and remarkably, it's a perfect fit for all different kinds of books, ranging from Wonderful Wizard of Oz to Wolverine. Though his premiere work of 2009 is definitely his interiors from Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Marvelous Land of Oz, Young has provided tons of great covers to Marvel books including Wolverine: First Class, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, Wolverine: Weapon X, X-Babies, and plenty more.

Perhaps most exciting about Young is his young age. With a career just fully blossoming, I can't wait to see where he goes from here. 

Runner-up:  Philip Tan

Sure, there are plenty of artists with a bigger catalog of work in 2009 than Philip Tan, but his stints on both Green Lantern and Batman & Robin were impressive, especially following up his work on Final Crisis: Revelations and leading into his ongoing gig as artist of The Outsiders, written by none other than DC's Executive Editor Dan Didio. I love watching artists develop into full fledged comics superstars, and Tan is next on the list.

To quote my own review of Batman & Robin #3: "The caverns of Grant Morrison's mind run deep, and it's difficult to think of any other artist that is able to keep up, stride for stride. There is genuine chemistry between Quitely and Morrison - we've seen it in their previous collaborations - but in B&R it has really taken shape and become abundantly clear."

B&R #3 is easily the most effective issue of 2009 - beating out everything, including some of my favorite series like Scalped and Criminal. When it comes down to it, 'twas a superhero book delivered the most collectively enjoyable issue on the stands. 

Morrison solidifies his Professor Pyg as the most intriguing new villain that the Batman rogues gallery has seen in years. He's certifiably creepy, insane, and has some of the best written dialog of the year. As for Batman and Robin themselves, for me, it was this issue that truly defined Dick and Damien as this new Dynamic Duo, both in terms of their personalities and their teamwork. Plus, Morrison delivers a great cliffhanger leading into the next arc, "Revenge of the Red Hood", drawn by the aforementioned Philip Tan.

Quitely gives us some of his finest work here, his bizarre stylings the perfect fit for the maniacal Professor Pyg. The few pages early in the book depicting Pyg's capture of Robin and the Boy Wonder's subsequent escape is one of the most disturbing and beautiful drawn sequences this year.

Though it seems the best days of Daredevil are behind it now that Marvel has damned the title to be linked to their sloppy orgy of event garbage, at least the final arc of Ed Brubaker's great run (along with Michael Lark, though this issue in particular was drawn by David Aja) was a runaway success, garnering critical acclaim across the board.

DD #116 is a prologue to "Return of the King", featuring a story about Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, as he tries to begin a new life with a new love and a family, only for it to be ruthlessly destroyed. I think it's clear that I'm a huge sucker for super villain sympathy, and that's what this issue delivered in spades. Though I was always a fan, it's because of this issue that Kingpin has been elevated to the top of the list of my favorite Marvel villains. 

I'm not sure there is really any question about this one. There is a lot to be said about Green Lantern considering that Blackest Night, primarily a GL-centric tale, has been a huge critical and commercial success. Less than ten years ago, having Green Lantern as one of the flagship titles of DC Comics, let alone our series of the year was unthinkable. 

2009 was a hell of a year for Hal Jordan and his cast of characters, as the year kicked off with issue #36, continuing "Rage of the Red Lanterns" that introduced us to the Red and Blue Lanterns, brought forth the Sinestro Corps once again, and began the prelude to Blackest Night. The year then continued to "Agent Orange", further expanding the various Corps being introduced into Green Lantern's world. Geoff Johns has built an entirely new legacy for the name Green Lantern, and it all came to a head in 2009. 

GL went through a few different artists this year, beginning with regular artist Ivan Reis finishing up after "Rage of the Red Lanterns" and moving onto Blackest Night, with Philip Tan taking the reins for "Agent Orange", until Doug Mahnke took over as the permanent artist. No other book on the shelves has delivered a consistently epic tale that delivers upon every notion of what a superhero comic book could, and should, be.