In the rundown of best 100 comics of 2009 as determined by CBR's staff, five of the blurbs I submitted with my choices were used, leaving five unused (three featured on the list, two that didn't make it). So, I figured I'd present those here, in alphabetical order, just for fun:
The Boys (Written by Garth Ennis; art by Darick Robertson, Carlos Ezquerra, John McCrea, and Keith Burns; covers by Darick Robertson; published by Dynamite Entertainment)
Funny, satiric, sincere, touching, and violent as hell, this past year of The Boys wrap up the first half of the series, set up the second, and tell us the origins of many of the members. While poking fun at superheroes is nothing new, Garth Ennis and the stable of very talented artists he worked with this year do it with style and flair, and always deliver quality books. Plus, they made a fight with 'Nazi Superman' work where most would have failed.
Captain Britain & MI:13 (Written by Paul Cornell; art by Leonard Kirk, Mike Collins, Ardian Syaf; covers by Stuart Immonen and Mico Suayan; published by Marvel Comics)
The concluding storyline of the series, "Vampire State" showed just how creative and imaginative Paul Cornell is as a writer as he made Dracula and vampires seem fresh and original, often ending issues on cliffhangers that seemed too bold for a superhero comic. While this series sadly ended, it went out with class and a great ending rooted in the characters that Cornell and Kirk had built up over the book's year-and-a-half.
Irredeemable (Written by Mark Waid; art by Peter Krause; published by BOOM! Studios)
This series began as a simple 'what if Superman turned bad' book and has grown with each issue in complexity and quality. Waid is examining not just what it takes to be a hero, but how we build up and destroy our heroes, how one little mistake can destroy a lifetime of work, and how we don't simply demand our heroes be super, we demand they be perfect. Waid is delivering career-best work here and Peter Krause is establishing himself as a capable, highly skilled artist.
Scalped (Written by Jason Aaron; art by RM Guera, Davide Furnò, and Francesco Francavilla; covers by Jock; published by Vertigo)
The complex story of life on a rez continued to be a fantastic read this year as Jason Aaron and RM Guere (plus a couple of great fill-in artists) devolved a variety of secondary characters, leading up to "The Gnawing," a story that is putting everything on its head with lots of emotion, action, and bold twists.
Wednesday Comics (Written by John Arcudi, Brian Azzarello, Kyle Baker, Eddie Berganza, Dave Bullock, Kurt Busiek, Ben Caldwell, Dan DiDio, Brenden Fletcher, Neil Gaiman, Dave Gibbons, Vinton Heuck, Karl Kerschl, Adam Kubert, Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Pope, Walter Simonson; art by Michael Allred, Kyle Baker, Lee Bermejo, Dave Bullock, Ben Caldwell, Amanda Conner, Sean Galloway, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Karl Kerschl, Joe Kubert, Kevin Nowlan, Paul Pope, Joe Quinones, Eduardo Risso, Ryan Sook, Brian Stelfreeze; published by DC Comics)
An ambitious project that was by no means perfect, but created excitement for the twelve weeks it came out and delivered fantastic strips like Paul Pope's "Strange Adventures," Kyle Baker's "Hawkman," Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's "Batman," and so many others. If this was a list of the most exciting comics of 2009, it would win hands down.
Enjoy.
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