Weekly Comic Book Review

FORWARD

Welcome to WCBR’s year end comic book industry report card. In essence, this report card is a list of offerings we’ve enjoyed and disliked for the entire year 2009. There was definitely a lot of debate over each editor’s pick, and in the end we just decided to let everyone have their say. Let us know if we’re out of our minds, or if you concur.

BEST ON-GOING SERIES

Detective Comics - Detective has reached consistently dizzying heights throughout the year.  The sheer creativity and astounding quality this title has seen in 2009 is simply mind-blowing.  From March to April, we had Gaiman’s “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader.”  Then, we quickly moved into Greg Rucka and JH Williams’ landmark work on Batwoman.  Gorgeous artwork met epic storytelling all year long.  We started out with a beautiful farewell to one great character, only to be introduced to another.  -Alex Evans

Captain America – Ed Brubaker’s smart, suspense and intrigue stories with a doubting, redemption-seeking hero really top the game in the ongoing category.  -DS

Detective Comics – Greg Rucka and JH Williams took this B-list character from the forgettable pages of 52, and made 2009 her year. Batwoman in Detective Comics makes a strong case for a series of her own. -Ray

BEST NEW SERIES

The Unwritten – The Unwritten is the smartest book on the racks today.  It’s an English major and literary critics dream and by series end, I expect it to be appearing on the university syllabuses of more liberal-minded professors, right next to Sandman.  Yet, despite all that, it’s also got enough mystery and fancy to entertain and pull in the average reader.  And of course, its pop culture awareness is more than enough to grab anyone’s attention.  This is a must-read.  -Alex Evans

Batman and Robin – It’s difficult to argue against Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely, dealing with the heir apparent to DC’s second biggest pair of boots (some might argue biggest). The amount of conflict, psychological tension and sheer creepy villainy set the bar for the noir avenger corner of the superhero industry.  -DS

Sweet Tooth – This is indie genius hitting mainstream, while managing to maintain its literary charm. Jeff Lemire’s Vertigo title offers us a fresh new journey/ coming-of-age story, while providing us a bizarre and post-apocalyptic world filled with violence and isolation– all the ingredients for an entertaining and relevant series.  -Ray

BEST MINI SERIES

Incognito – This is really Ed Brubaker doing what Ed Brubaker does best, and truly cutting loose.  It’s wonderfully pulpy and sensational.  Ultimately, Incognito is a series of paradoxes: it’s flashy, yet murky.  It’s full of bad people that you end up liking for reasons you can’t explain.  It feels thoroughly “old school,” but modern enough that it obviously could not have been written at any period of time.  It’s also a very existential book that, as its title suggests, calls the very notion of identity into question.  -Alex Evans

Captain America: Reborn - If we put aside the scheduling disaster that blew a lot of the tension out of this series and the event, I think that the quality of the writing and art, and the magnitude of the story made this the best mini in a year of strong minis.  -DS

Superman: Secret Origin – It’s two of DC’s greatest reinterpreting Superman’s secret origin, what more can you ask? This six-part mini series isn’t complete yet, and it’s new-reader friendly. So for those that haven’t picked up a Superman book for a while, or for those looking to read a Superhero coming-of-age story, they should definitely look into picking this series up.  -Ray

BEST STORY (OR STORY ARC)

Hellboy: The Wild Hunt - Hellboy: the Wild Hunt does many impossible things that only Hellboy can get away with.  It gives you completely ludicrous plot developments out of nothing, scattered, almost ethereal, storytelling, and characters it assumes you know better than you really do.  In most series, these things would be major flaws.  In Hellboy, all of it just lends the book a surreal, uncomfortable, and very, very large aesthetic.  Dark and labyrinthine in atmosphere, Wild Hunt is not at all what it seems.  Its namesake is a mere prologue to much greater things to come and the series is perhaps more minimalist and introspective than any previous Hellboy arc.  But hey, if all else fails, the big red guy never fails to deadpan you back to reality.  -Alex Evans

Batman and Robin: The Revenge of the Red Hood (#4-#6) - The first arc (Batman Reborn) was great, but it was also a setup arc that had to do a few things. Revenge of the Red Hood was brilliant, with Freudian and Shakespearean themes running throughout and was executed nearly perfectly.  -DS

Detective Comics: Go (#858-#860) – I honestly haven’t read an origin story that’s as compelling, modern, and tragic as Kate Kane’s transformation to Batwoman. Greg Rucka and JH Williams give us one of the most unforgettable stories of 2009.  -Ray

BEST ARTIST

JH Williams III -What Williams does in Detective Comics defies explanation.  It’s the sort of book that makes you linger, while also causing you to question the limits of the modern comic book.  Forget Williams’ excellent technical abilities, it’s not just artistic horsepower.  Williams’ layouts and storytelling are highly experimental for a DC Comic and endlessly creative but never baffling.  Meanwhile, his character designs are mysterious, horrific, beautiful, surreal, and larger than life.  No one deserves this award more than him in 2009.  In Detective, Williams feels more like a team of artists than a single man.  -Alex Evans

Mauro Cascioli - Holy cow! Despite my comments below on Cry for Justice, buy this series just for the art! Cascioli is amazing!  -DS

Frank Quitely - Although he only did three issues, each book was packed with his signature brutality and amazing action scenes.  -Ray

BEST NEW ARTIST

Nic Klein - Bimonthly series Viking from Image Comics is an entertaining crime yarn and a solid book.  But really, it’s Nic Klein’s show.  With his amazing, lush painted artwork, combined with a cartoonist’s sensibilities, an impeccable sense of shadows and lighting, and his enlarging the book to Golden Age dimensions, Viking is as much artbook as it is comic book.  The storytelling is certainly there, but this book is as much a showcase of Klein’s abilities as it is a narrative medium.  -Alex Evans

BEST WRITER

Jason Aaron - 2009 has been Aaron’s best year yet.  He’s had another strong year on creator-owned series Scalped. The gritty series was as gripping and uncompromising as ever in 2009, and perhaps more personal.  Meanwhile, Aaron also closed out his sensational, grindhouse-themed run on Ghost Rider.  But what cinches this award for him is that he did the impossible not once, but twice in 2009.  First, he put out a Wolverine ongoing that managed to be completely fresh, fun, and creative in perhaps the most Wolverine saturated year ever.  Then, in November, Aaron took over Punisher MAX and finally proved that there is life after Garth Ennis.  -Alex Evans

Greg Rucka - Rucka’s work on Blackest Night: Wonder Woman and Batwoman in Detective Comics has shown that he is capable of creating characters of depth, passion, compassion and strength.  -DS

Greg Rucka – Greg Rucka is no stranger to appearing in numerous “Best Writer” lists, that’s why it’s no surprise he’s mentioned twice in this section. Ask anybody that’s been reading Detective Comics this year, they’ll tell you that Rucka should have his own series for Batwoman the way Bendis does for Spider-Man.  -Ray

BEST TRADE PAPER BACK OR ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVEL

Madame Xanadu: Disenchanted – It’s hard to find a better value, as this book provides the first ten issues of this Eisner-nominated series.  Wagner traces his heroine’s tumultuous history, effortlessly leaping through time and space.  We visit everywhere from Camelot, to Ancient China, to Jack the Ripper’s hunting grounds.  Nonetheless, each era and location feels true to itself.  Then there’s the cat-and-mouse game played by Xanadu and the Phantom Stranger.  It’s an intricate, ambiguous, and complex relationship, one that is both friendship and bitter rivalry, love and debate, stretching through the ages.  It’s truly engaging stuff, all brought to life by the awesome work of artist Amy Reeder Hadley, whose anime-infused art is some of the liveliest and most lovable stuff you’ll find on stands today.  -Alex Evans

Marvel Masterworks Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 - This is an old school choice for me, but this reprinting of the iconic Giant-Sized #1, and issues #94-#100 are sheer brilliance from the unfettered Claremont and Cockrum.  -DS

The Alcoholic – Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel team up to tell us a tale of how life easily crashes and how it’s a non-stop struggle; all through the eyes and experience of an alcohol/ substance-dependent man.  -Ray

BIGGEST SURPRISE

Powers Relaunches As A Monthly Ongoing - I figured this would happen eventually, but I certainly didn’t expect it to happen in 2009.  As Bendis juggles no less than four other ongoings, not to mention Spider-Man’s part in Ultimatum and an incoming major event in early 2010, I really didn’t think he’d have time for Powers, let alone in monthly format.  I’ve waited so long, I’ve seen issues canceled, and frankly, given Bendis’ hectic schedule and high profile workload, I was almost positive that Powers had gone the way of many a Warren Ellis penned series.  Never have I been happier to have been so wrong.  -Alex Evans

Batgirl Beats Expectations - The DC boards are alive with talk of runaway hit. I don’t know how much of that is true, but Batgirl is a smart and engaging series.  -DS

Detective Comics/ Batwoman Kick Ass - Who woud’ve thought that you would be looking forward to Detective Comics each month? Yes, people, it’s that damn good.  -Ray

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT

The Great Fables Crossover - I love Fables.  I loved Jack of Fables.  What could go wrong?  Suffice to say, there was nothing “Great” about this debacle.  It was poorly timed, interrupting a vital Fables story for no discernible reason.  It brought in way too many characters.  It was nowhere near as funny or clever as it seemed to think it was.  And worst of all, it was far too long. What resulted was a shallow, chaotic mess that was stretched from thin to breaking.  While Fables seems to have recovered post-crossover, Jack of Fables remains lost.  -Alex Evans

Sentry’s Recurring Appearance – Although Justice League: Cry for Justice is turning out to be a train wreck on the writing side, nothing can top my scorn for the Sentry. His omnipotent, erratic presence in any story ensures that plot holes will abound, readers will be treated like they are dumb, and that we’ll be forced to say things like “Well, I guess Secret Wars II wasn’t that bad.”  -DS

Blackest Night – Before you scroll down and start spewing hate comments on this post, I just wanted to air a few things about this event– which I had great expectations with. First and foremost, it bothers me that this has become somewhat of a crossover event, where random titles are stamped with Blackest Night. Why couldn’t DC just keep this within the GL and GLC lines, like Sinestro Corps War and Rebirth? Instead, we’re treated to an inconsistent event that’s packed with lots of lame stories and lame characters back from the dead. DC really cranked it out on this one to take your money. And second, not enough Hal Jordan. Things have gotten too crowded and sometimes convoluted within the books outside of the main titles.  -Ray

WORST ON-GOING SERIES

Hulk - Jeph Loeb’s Hulk really is something of a straw-man, and I’m sure I won’t be the only WCBR editor to choose this series for this “award.”  For these reasons, I really wanted to try my best not to pick it.  But Loeb introduced Red She-Hulk.  I’m sorry, but I can’t ignore that.  He still has yet to reveal Red Hulk’s identity, and his solution is to bring in another red character who even fewer people will care about.  It’s just so mind-numbingly moronic that it borders on being child-like.  Worse still, Greg Pak’s return to Incredible Hulk has only made Loeb’s work look all the weaker by comparison.  -Alex Evans

Green Arrow and Black Canary - I tuned in, fresh and open, for a few issues, and found only contrived situations, ridiculous premises and false conflicts.  -DS

Batman – WTF Judd Winick? Your run was god-awful! And Tony Daniel, who gives $#^! about the Black Mask. Thank you both for another crappy year for the Dark Knight.  -Ray

WORST NEW SERIES

Haunt - In reality, there are many series that debuted this year which were far worse than Haunt.  That said, I can’t think of any that were as disappointing, nor can I think of any that had fewer excuses for sucking.  The creative team on Haunt is a star-studded assembly that we should’ve gotten great things from.  Instead, what we have is a muddy, hollow, immature series that feels like a bunch of recycled McFarlane b-sides from the 90s.  There’s nothing creative here.  There’s nothing intelligent here.  There’s just a lot of wasted time and even more wasted dollars.  And a main character whose last name is ‘Kilgore.”  -Alex Evans

Strange - I know it’s just a mini (thank Vishanti), but Strange was the worst new series. I mean, come on, Dr. Strange is not even the main character. It was a tremendous, tremendous waste of an opportunity, which means that my favorite Master of the Mystic Arts will be on the back-burner for a few more years because execs will equate this failure with the character instead of the execution.  -DS

Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man - With the same stupid haircut, and the horrible manga art, this new series off to a bad start. Bendis and Garcia have failed in delivering the goods in the new chapter for USM.  -Ray

BEST CHARACTER

Tony Stark/Batwoman– For me, it’s impossible to choose between these two because they both had huge years in completely opposite ways.  One was on the decline, while one was ascendant.  One was a new character, while the other was an old character from a new perspective.  Where Stark fell, Kane rose; and in both cases, the stories were excellent.  In their own ways, both Tony Stark and Kate Kane felt incredibly human, yet also iconoclastic.  Of course, both also had the sass, charisma, and good looks make their readers love them, even through the darkest days.  -Alex Evans

Batwoman - Greg Rucka has created a real, mutlidimensional, kickass superheroine. Her obsessive call to service is honest, as are her flaws and trials.  -DS

Batwoman - Batwoman is not only the woman of the year, but without a doubt, the character of the year. Rucka and Williams have given us not only one of the most badass superheroines in a long time, but also the most human character in all comics. Following Batwoman will give you the familiar thrill and sympathy you get when reading a good comic book with an iconic character.  Kinda like a good Spider-Man story…  -Ray

MOST ANTICIPATED SERIES or EVENT of 2010

New Flash Ongoing Series - Geoff Johns.  Francis Manapul.  The Flash.  That should be pretty much all you need to know.  Geoff Johns did amazing things during his lengthy run on the Flash, and he’s now returning to the character he loves.  Meanwhile, Manapul’s art on Adventure Comics turned heads for all the right reasons.  This is guaranteed to be amazing work.  The fact that there’s a Wally West back-up illustrated by Scott Kolins only sweetens the deal.  It’s almost like a continuation of Johns’ last run, but with Francis Manapul.  It doesn’t get any better.  -Alex Evans

Batman: Earth One – It’s going to be my favorite duo (Geoff Johns and Gary Frank) working on everyone’s favorite hero/ vigilante… Once this year ends, it’ll be two years of Batman nonsense and cryptic esotericness. TWO YEARS! First the mind-fart gibberish in Morrison’s run, then the gruesome twosome in Winick and Daniel… It’s about got-dang time we get a Batman book that will not only be worth buying, but one that will also bring in new readers. A modern Batman book brought to you by two of DC’s best talents, what more can you ask for?  -Ray