The Best & Worst of ‘09

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

New Avengers #58 – Review

by Brian Michael Bendis (writer), Stuart Immonen (pencils), Wade von Grawbadger (inks), Dave McCaig (colors), and Albert Deschesne (letters)

The Story: It’s New Avengers vs. Dark Avengers as Luke Cage goes under the knife.

What’s Good: Well, there’s a bunch of action in the comic, and that’s never a bad thing.  However, what’s best about that action is that for once, it’s not the New Avengers desperately trying to survive.   It’s great to see the team actually get the upper hand and kick some ass for once.  As a New Avengers reader, it’s almost a cathartic experience seeing them fight the Dark Avengers on equal terms.

Best of all though is that the comic has more or less moved past groaning and stumbling Avengers and the awfully ambiguous “power drainer” plot device.  As a result, the comic feels like it’s back in working order.  Everything feels fairly sensible and logical again, and the comic has gone back to clicking along at a brisk pace.

While the comic is mostly about the action, we do get some solid character moments.  The chase sequence between Ms. Marvel and Iron Patriot is a lot of fun and very beautifully illustrated by Immonen.  Danvers comes across great, but through her, Bendis also legitimizes the New Avengers in Dark Reign: they’re an actual team, whereas the Dark Avengers lack that cooperative, organized dynamic.  Indeed, the good guys still have something over the bad guys.  Meanwhile, Night Nurse and Jessica also receive solid treatment, with Jessica’s scenes in particular carrying the necessary emotional weight, while also addressing a logical difficulty regarding her current status.

On art, Immonen’s art certainly is a lot of fun in a “comfort food” sort of way.  It’s accessible and very “Saturday-morning,” but his heavier inks also get across the Dark Reign vibe.

What’s Not So Good: Despite my enjoyment of Immonen’s art, I still am not sold on his being the artist on New Avengers.  His work just doesn’t have that blockbuster, modern Marvel feel, and thus in some ways, it almost reduces the book’s importance.  The fact that the Night Nurse looks a bit more like a “Lady of the Night” doesn’t help either.

Probably the biggest problem with this comic is how little characterization there is of the actual team.  Other than those admittedly cool moments with Ms. Marvel and Jessica, it almost feels like the New Avengers are still too large a team, even with Cage unconscious and Wolverine gone.  Outside of being present in group shots, every character is reduced to getting one punch in during the battle and perhaps one line of action-banter.  Spider-Woman doesn’t even get the latter.  In other words, other than Ms. Marvel, has a significant presence or any room to shine.

If it were an issue of page count, it’d be forgivable, but keep in mind that the Night Nurse gets two pages of characterization and dialogue.  Why such a tertiary character that we may never see again should get such preferential treatment to the actual team members who share the comic’s name-sake, I have no idea.  Pile in a bunch of Hood and Osborn, and most of the characters we should be hearing from lose their voices.

Conclusion: A fun action comic that turns the tables on what we normally get from New Avengers.

Grade: B –

-Alex Evans