2oo9 in a Shortbox!! Best of the Year

My marathon reading and re-reading of the comics of last year is finally over!! And as last night was Oscar night, here's my Personal Best Comics of 2oo9 List.

Quick important notes: To qualify, a work must be comics and must have been published in its entirety, in English, and for the first time either in print or on the web, between 1/1/o9 and 12/31/o9. The selections are presented by category, but not in any ascending or descending order.

BEST MINIS
"Luke Cage Noir" #1, #2, #3, #4
written by Adam Glass and Mike Benson; drawn by Shawn Martinbrough
One that flew under most people's radar as far as I can tell. Racism is just one of the many themes among class, crime, betrayal, legends, hearsay, and hope at play in this mini-series.
Collected edition has also become available in 2o1o.

"The Life and Times of Savior 28" #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and the collection.
written by J.M. DeMatteis; drawn by Mike Cavallaro
Possibly the most important work done in the superhero genre in a decade, this mini-series challenges one of the long-standing, most-odious elements of the genre: violence.

BEST GRAPHIC NOVELS
"Asterios Polyp"
written and drawn by David Mazzucchelli
A torturously beautiful narrative of love and loss and realizing how much love it was you really did lose. Mazzucchelli broke the mold on utilizing style in visual narrative here. Brilliant. Although it is, in this writer's opinion, almost made a mess by a sudden and inappropriate shock ending. Making it the polar opposite of the following work...

"365 Samurai and a Few Bowls of Rice"
written and drawn by J. P. Kalonji
379 pages of splash-pages drawn by a Swiss man actually make this surprising graphic novel like a steady rhythm of blood pounding in your ears slowly building toward a fittingly beautiful surprise ending. The end result is a beautiful work of art about life, love, and enlightenment.

BEST GRAPHIC NOVELLA
"The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen" Vol. 3 "Century: 1910"
An amazing continuation of Alan Moore's crazy work of historical/fictional fantasy. Characters narrate their own story in period songs they sing as they go about their work. The background items in the League's headquarters get even more outrageous. Horrifying and beautiful.

BEST STORY-ARC IN AN ONGOING SERIES
"Red-Headed Stranger" Prelude in "Amazing Spider-Man" #601, Parts 1 through 3 in #602, #603, #604, and (epilogue) #605
written by Mark Waid, Fred Van Lente, and Brian Reed; drawn by Mario Alberti, Barry Kitson, Robert Atkins, Javier Pulido, Luke Ross, and Yanick Paquette
Issue #601 by Mark Waid and Mario Alberti gets special mention for being funny, action-packed, romantic, working as a stand-alone story, and being gorgeously drawn by Alberti to boot! The prelude and epilogue material by Mark Waid, Fred Van Lante, and Brian Reed is excellent humorous/romantic stuff that connects thematically to Van Lente's main drama/action story in the three issues between them. Mary Jane returns from a long hiatus from Peter's life and Spider-Man's first supervillain, The Chameleon, gets a fantastically creepy overhaul that allowed Van Lente to examine the role of fear in how we shape our identity.

BEST INDIVIDUAL ISSUES
"Counting Up From Zero" from "Invincible Iron Man" #20 and "Digging In The Dirt" from "Invincible Iron Man" #21
ongoing series issues written by Matt Fraction; drawn by Salvador Larroca
My god. If you told me six years ago that "Iron Man" would be one of the best series Marvel was doing, that it would be the MUST HAVE, the book that had you most excited about comics... I would have laughed in your face. Along came Fraction and Salva (although a great debt is owed to the work done a few years ago by Warren Ellis and Adi Granov, too) and completely blew my socks off with these issues. Following on the heels of some great issues in the "World's Most Wanted" story-arc.

"Sandman: The Dream Hunters" #3, #4 and the collection.
mini-series issues written and drawn by P. Craig Russell; adapted from a short story by Neil Gaimen
This mini was mind-blowing, most-especially for someone, such as myself, who has never been fully immersed in the world of Neil Gaimen's "Sandman". I gave the collection to Clare for Christmas and it turned out to be the best Christmas gift I ever gave US.

"Blackest Night" #1
mini-series issue written by Geoff Johns; drawn by Ivan Reis
Strange, I know, to include the first issue of a mini-series and none of those that followed. Never before in a superhero comic-book had I seen so many characters in such a quick succession of pages be re-introduced, re-invigorated, and made respectably realistic. Johns is a master storyteller on an epic scale.

"Ring Out The Old" Conclusion from "Ex Machina" #44
ongoing series issue written by Brian K. Vaughan; drawn by Tony Harris
On a equally epic scale, if with a smaller number of characters, Brian K. Vaughan continues to bring new dimensions to the story of his ex-superhero mayor of New York City. This issue blew my mind with its kooky SF creations mixed with religious terminology.

"The Great Silence" from "Jonah Hex" #50
ongoing series issue written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti; drawn by Darwyn Cooke
A smart, fast, heart-breaking story by Gray and Palmiotti breathtakingly realized by Darwyn Cooke, the sequential art master of our times. One of the only western genre titles out there today, and a damn good one.

"A Battle Within" from "Batman" #687
ongoing series issue written by Judd Winick; drawn by Ed Benes
Batman stories narrated even partially by Alfred have ended up being my very favorite Batman stories. When asked if he's okay after Bruce Wayne's death, he replies: I'm not okay. My son is dead.

"Saviour" from "Atomika" #8
mini-series issue written by Andrew Dabb; drawn by Sal Abbinanti
After four years of publishing, we finally see Atomika turn that moral corner, realize he is a monster and become a mature... god. It is at this point he embarks on the road to heroism that we will see him complete when the last, twelfth issue comes out.

"That Which Does Not Kill Us" from "The Infinite Horizon" #4 of 6
mini-series issue written by Gerry Duggan; drawn by Phil Noto
Excellent adaptation of "The Odyssey" recounting a soldier's moments of weakness. Circe's magic is replaced by a morphine addiction. Tough choices are made, as the road back home can only continue if the Captain breaks his own leg so that the previous unsuccessful bone setting can be re-done. Holy jesus.

"Planetary" #27
ooooooongoing series' final issue written by Warren Ellis; drawn by John Cassaday
The major work in the superhero genre in the past fifteen years come to a close. The final hurrah was worth the wait. Science fiction at the intersection of hope and history.

"32" from "Daytripper" #1
mini-series issue written and drawn by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Bá
This extremely talented team of twin brothers present their first mini-series. And it is a very auspicious start. We are introduced to their main character, Bras, at 32 years old.

"Comic Book Comics" #3
mini-series issue written by Fred Van Lente; drawn by Ryan Dunlavey
The men behind this comic are the unsung heroes of the comic-book medium right now, because they are attempting to create a history of the comics medium in the comics medium and they're having fun doing it! Honestly, they deserve props for the concept of the comics industry's self-infantilization (which they label the "Logan's Run Effect") alone.

BEST SHORTS
"Photograph"
mini-comic written and drawn by Nicholas Breutzman
A simple story in simple xeroxed pages without so much as a staple between them. A boy and a girl wake up in bed next to each other and through narration from the fella's point-of-view we slowly get a picture of who these people are and how they ended up in so intimate a position.

"...And Call My Lover MODOK!" from "Strange Tales" #1
short graphic anthology story written and drawn by Nick Bertozzi
Awkward, ridiculous, yet moving portrayal of a supervillain and his... concubine? Done in FOUR PAGES. Amazing.

"The Black Widow" from "Strange Tales" #2
short graphic anthology story written and drawn by Matt Kindt
A great, quick spy story set against the Marvel universe. Apparently, superheroes get in the way of your job when your job is being a secret agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. Great use of text, great characterization, all in so few pages!

"Martha" from "MySpace Dark Horse Presents" online Issue 19
webcomic written and drawn by Dave Chisholm
A remarkable little tale of highway violence and familial re-connection. The surprise ending makes this the best thing I read on the web last year.

Here's hoping 2o1o is as good a year! Or better!

[2oo9: The best to the right, the rest to the left! Not quite a shortbox, is it?]

and finally...
The Comics I Would Probably Have Put On The List Had I Bought Them and Read All Of Them
"Stiches" graphic novel written and drawn by David Small
"3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man" graphic novel written and drawn by Matt Kindt
"I Kill Giants" #7 of 7 mini-series final issue written by Joe Kelly; drawn by J. M. Ken Niimura

Gorga's Looking Forward to Wednesday 11/4/2oo9

Oh my god this week is a shitload of shit I've got to buy...

First, the maybes...
"Batman: Widening Gyre" #3 of 6
Issue número two of this series was a bit disappointing but I think I'm going to try for the long haul. We'll see what this issue has in store for me.

"Black Widow: Deadly Origin" #1 of 4
This interview on Marvel.com with the mini-series' writer Paul Cornell makes this sound WONDERFUL. I will be taking a peek here.

"X-Men Origins: Iceman"
This series has been hit or miss in my opinion. The Jean Grey issue was amazing. The Beast issue blew more than it had any right to. We'll see.


Then, the definites...
"Assault On New Olympus: Prologue" one-shot
Not only is this a Spidey appearance, but it's also the beginning of a crossover event. Seeing as how I almost wrote my college dissertation on crossover events...

"Atomika" #11
Oh ho ho! The penultimate (yes, I know what that means) issue of this magnificent series.

"Strange Tales" #3 of 3
I enjoyed "Strange Tales" #2 more than #1 (as you'll find out when we get to reviewing it) so I'm excited for this last issue.

and lastly:
"the Amazing Spider-Man" #610

Now I ask you, how amazing is this?

(Click the image to make it open, legible, in a new window. Click here to see the program from whence it came.)

A Spider-Man issue. On the top 10 in THREE slots.
And it's the end of a story-arc picking up threads from the Clone Saga, the supposedly most reviled Spider-Man storyline of all time.
Wow. Just... wow.

UPDATE: 11/9/2oo9
I can now show you my haul, because I now have my books:
Why did I wait so long to pick up my books? And why so many? Because of the 25th anniversary sale at St. Mark's Comics, that's why! Among the many remarkable things about St. Mark's Comics: when they declare a sale, even their brand-new-THIS-WEEK'S comics go on sale. 25% off for 25 years on St. Mark's Place. I went with Clare, as it is her favorite shop in the city and she was home for the weekend!

Yeah, I broke and bought the "Sugarshock" one-shot. They even had that damn elusive "Cowboy Ninja Viking" #1 I've been trying to find. If you've been following the blog, you've probably gotten the feeling that I talk about picking up indie books and then never do. Well, that's because often I get to really buying the thing and I say "Ugh, this doesn't look like it's worth my money" and I end up buying most of my indie stuff at awesome conventions like the MoCCA Fest where you can meet the creators face-to-face and your encouraged to almost read the thing right there. These books look gorgeous and fun. So I bought them.

OMG. Capital G for God. Capital C for Crazy.

"Atomika" #10 from Mercury Comics (formerly from Speakeasy Comics)

This book is just about as I remember it. That is to say: It's fucking crazy.

(I haven't read issues #5 through #9 for reasons kinda complicated and stupid. Therefore I will not bother with them.)

Have you read the final fight between Superman and Doomsday from "Superman" #75, the 'death' of Superman issue from 1992? Do you think back on that fondly as an intense comic you read in your youth? Atomika spits in your face and says, "That is not the truth, you can't handle the truth!" In THIS comic-book a supremely powerful god-like being in a tattered red cape fights a giant immortal monster described as "Koschei The Deathless" in the sky and beats him by THROWING HIM INTO THE SUN. This book does not skimp on intense superhero action. In fact, it never has. Almost every issue of this series that I've read feels like the series could end right HERE, because THIS is the most intense fight the character has been in.

Now, is that a bit grating over and over again? Yes. Read on.

(The cover of "Atomika" #5)

The thing that makes this book wonderful is that it has utter disregard for the rules of superhero comics. More importantly, it's got fantastic prose text-boxes and it's really smart. (In this issue, Atomika looks at a Russian city FILLED with statues and reliefs of himself and says: "I built this world in my image, and it terrifies me.") The main character Atomika IS Twentieth Century Soviet Russia. He is the child of Mother Russia stolen in his youth by Arohnir (the god of Greed? War? something like that...) and infused with the power of the Atomic Bomb. It's like what it would be like if the "Watchmen" character Dr. Manhattan was raised by a Russian child molester and had to fight gods on a daily basis. Like I said: Fucking crazy. Furthermore, the character is changing as he grows older. The time given in this issue is the year 2ooo and Atomika was born in (guess when?) 1917, so, in his own words, "Now I am older, and wiser, and afraid."

Why aren't more people picking this up? Well because the art matches the story. It's sometimes hard to decipher. Abbinanti goes for scratchy and dramatic on almost every panel. This comic IS over the top and DOES take itself seriously. But that is another part of what I find so refreshing about it.

This is a book that does not pander to the mainstream tastes. Instead it rocks them in the same way the 1960s Stan Lee stuff did. Physically, the same thing happens every issue: Atomika defeats another "old god". Emotionally, something very different is happening inside the main character.

This Tuesday's Lookin' Forward!

For Wednesday, Jon's a-lookin' forward to

(From my regular pull-list...)

"the Amazing Spider-Man" #602
The second part of the return of Mary Jane to the world of Spider-Man! I'm two (soon to be three) issues behind on this title because #600 is 104-freakin' pages long!

(...and the take-a-peek selection.)

"Atomika" #10
This series is still coming out!? Sweet. Gods of Russian mythology clashing with a deified manifestation of the state during the Cold War. Sweet. A year in between issues? Not so sweet.

"Blackest Night" #2
I read Clare's copy of #1 and was very, very blown away until the last three pages or so. They left me with that particular sour taste of "Huh? Where did the character work go?" We shall see if Geoff Johns can tempt me back to his cosmic-superhero-horror epic.

"Blackest Night: Batman" #1
Well... seeing the "Flying Graysons" back from the dead is NOT something I want to see, but Tomasi is a pretty fantastic writer. Another maybe.

"Captain America: Theater of War: To Soldier On"
The first one of this series looked very cool and Paul Jenkins is an excellent writer. And Josh put it on his pull-list, so I'm curious.

"The Marvels Project" #1
I don't think I'll be able to stop myself from reading this one. Really. Can anybody?

"The Unwritten" #4
I have been trying to get a hold of #1, because this story sounds amazing! Will I break and buy #4 without reading #1-3? You'll have to read in a few days to find out!

"Red Herring" #1 of 6
Intriguing, no?

That's a wrap! 'Til tomorrow that is!