Lower Decks

Later this week I’m going to unveil the top fifty comics I read in 2009, but darned if that wasn’t quite enough to cover everything I thought was noteworthy or at least worth talking about. Now of course, previously for Paperback Reader.com I wrote an exhaustive weekly chronicle of every comic book I read, which was how the QB50 was born (QB standing for ‘Quarter Bin,’ which eventually turned into the excitingly-named ‘Weekly,’ in honor both of my frightening habits and ‘52’), but here at Lower Decks, I’ve only sporadically covered this part of my life. This will be the second year the QBs are covered here (the fourth overall, just so you don’t think you’ve been ignoring some grand tradition), and the first I’ve managed to fill out a more-or-less top hundred. These are the unofficial QBs, mind you. Some of it is very good, some I’m not exactly endorsing so much as warning you about…

In no particular order except alphabetical:

[brackets include any previous QB50 rankings]

1. Age of Bronze (Image) [2008 rank = 49] This is one of the legendary indy works that I haven’t been able to read too much of, partly because Eric Shanower began it before I was able to get back into comics after a college-spanning break in the first half of this decade, and also because he releases very few issues over what others might consider a regular schedule. For instance, even though this is an ongoing adaptation of the Trojan War (covering all kinds of source material, not merely limited to Homer’s ‘Iliad’), I only caught a single issue (#29) this year. Not for the casual reader, but well-worth noting.

2. The Anchor (Boom!) From one of the most thrilling publishers this year came Phil Hester’s latest project, about a holy warrior, quite literally, sent from Heaven to battle Hell’s forces both in the lower depths and on Earth. I’ve been following Phil since his artwork for DC earlier in the decade, notably (for me, anyway) during Devin K. Grayson’s final issues on ‘Nightwing.’ He’s been one of those creators, however, who aren’t content to sit on one side of the fence, and so he’s been spending much of his time as a writer, hardly ever combining both aspects together but rather cultivating each separately. Aside from that fact, this is his Hellboy.

3. The Authority: The Lost Year (WildStorm) One of several Grant Morrison projects that will turn up in this year’s QBs (which is an annual tradition rivaled only by Geoff Johns), this was part of my periodic attempt to catch up with the WildStorm universe, which is by far the most coherent success story of the Image revolution. Still, famously Morrison couldn’t find the time to finish working on this twelve-issue series himself, so Keith Giffen finally took over. I like the idea of the Authority, but I can rarely sit around long enough to find it all that interesting. Maybe some day…

4. Azrael (DC) A character initially launched during last decade’s “Knightfall” saga, the next generation finally came around this year thanks to writer Fabien Nicieza, whose comics career may be long but with whom I’ve only recently become familiar, mostly to a stellar recent run with ‘Robin.’ The first issue of this series was probably the best launch of the year, easily, but subsequent issues haven’t really been able to sustain that momentum.

5. Batman: Battle for the Cowl (DC) This was a pretty huge year for Batman, with Bruce Wayne’s latest step away from the role, so it was one long journey to figuring out what happens next. The last time it happened, well, Azrael made a spectacularly temporary Batman, and Dick Grayson even had his first crack, but in 2009, Tony Daniel, who had been on art with Grant Morrison when “R.I.P.” was altering the status quo, had the chance to tackle the big question all on his own, and basically did a whole “Reign of the Supermen” arc in three issues, eventually settling Grayson back into the cowl.

6. Batman: Gotham After Midnight (DC) [2008 rank = 37] One of several mini-series I was following to conclusion from 2008, this was a Steve Niles project that allowed fans to follow Bruce Wayne’s Dark Knight on a standalone adventure. Lost a far bit of steam at the end, but was still enjoyable.

7. Batman: Streets of Gotham (DC) After working together on ‘Detective Comics’ for the excellent “Heart of Hush” arc, Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen weren’t quite ready to call it quits, so they continued their run on a new book, which might have suffered because, well, they didn’t exactly have Batman all to their own (relatively speaking) anymore. It’s such a popular property it’s easy to assume you don’t actually need Batman, but yeah, you kinda do.

8. Batman: The Widening Gyre (DC) I skipped out on Kevin Smith’s ‘Cacophony’ mini-series, but this follow-up I couldn’t skip, because this flashback to Bruce Wayne’s tenure featured Dick Grayson prominently, and I’m a big Grayson fan.

9. Blackest Night: Superman/Batman/Teen Titans/Wonder Woman (DC) A variety of spin-off mini-series offered some unique perspectives on DC’s big event of 2009. The highlight of the lot was Greg Rucka’s return to Wonder Woman. If anything, though, a lot of this Blackest Night material only served to dilute the main experience, because it was a lot of telling the same story without offering something insightful to justify it.

10. Booster Gold (DC) [Booster Gold 2008 rank = 38, 2007 = 45, Blue Beetle 2008 rank = 26, 2007 = 6] This title, on the other hand, did a few Blackest Night issues (#s 26-27) perfectly, capturing exactly the best things that Dan Jurgens has been able to do with his own creation since taking over the writing from Geoff Johns (he’s been doing the art since the beginning), centering his stories on a real understanding of Ted Kord’s character and meaning in the life of Booster Gold. I wasn’t the most regular reader of the book until the Blue Beetle second feature began with #21, but I’ve been disappointed that Jaime Reyes hasn’t quite found a successor to the excellent material he got on his own series, which regularly featured in the QB50. While ‘Booster Gold’ as a series is always worth checking out, it isn’t always essential. Sometimes, the wheels are just spinning.

11. The Brave & The Bold (DC) [2008 rank = 29, 2007 = 32] Mark Waid’s last contribution to DC was relaunching this team-up title, which J. Michael Straczynski eventually inherited. I only read a handful of issues this year; Dan Jurgens got me to read what was essentially a bonus issue of ‘Booster Gold’ with Magog as the guest (#23), #25 featured Blue Beatle and Milestone character Hardware, and #30 was an exceptional meeting between the original Doctor Fate and Hal Jordan.

12. Captain America (Marvel) [2008 rank = 7] As everyone knows, Ed Brubaker was busy bringing Steve Rogers back this year. Frankly, I didn’t see the point. The first half of the year allowed James “Bucky” Barnes to continue his run with the shield, but Brubaker was really just spinning his wheels after concluding the Red Skull arc and preparing for ‘Reborn,’ which was an entirely convoluted and non-character specific effort to bring Rogers back after his apparent assassination a few years back. I really do believe that Brubaker is one of comics’ finest writers working today, but he can’t work a sustained schedule, much less arc. He needs someone to work with him on that, but no one’s gonna, because he’s had too much success for anyone to admit it.

13. Comic Book Comics (Evil Twin) Fred Van Lente, who has quickly become one of my favorite comics writers thanks to his work on ‘Incredible Hercules’ with Greg Pak, writes about the history of the medium in this entertaining indy series. This year he released #4, which was a hilarious examination of the Marvel Age.

14. Dark Reign: Young Avengers (Marvel) [Young Avengers Presents 2008 rank = 465 Without a doubt, I would have no interest in Marvel comics today if it weren’t for Allan Heinberg and the Young Avengers, but since Heinberg spends most of his time with Hollywood, Marvel has no idea what to do with the Young Avengers except to periodically trot them out for spin-off mini-series connected to their event books. This time ‘Captain Britain and MI13’ superstar Paul Cornell had a crack at them, and the issue I read was certainly interesting, but it was plainly evident that there was no real point to the book except to use the Young Avengers(who easily trump the ‘New,’ ‘Mighty,’ and ‘Dark’ versions). Marvel, seriously, either get Heinberg back or get someone else to use these characters on a more regular basis. You’ve talent capable of it (imagine the team of Van Lente and Pak!). While you’re at it, don’t just assume Cornell will be excellent on anything you throw at him. You cancel his book and you just expect me to read him elsewhere?

15. Detective Comics (DC) [2008 rank = 33] There was actually quite a bit of excellent work done in this title throughout 2009, and it would easily have made the QB50 if the competition weren’t so fierce. Dini and Nguyen, for instance, revisited Hush (and Catwoman) in #852, Neil Gaiman concluded “Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?” in #853, and Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams started Batwoman’s tenure with #854. If there’d been some consistency on the title (when was the last time ‘Detective Comics’ was a true anthology? #27?) or the Batwoman run gelled a bit sooner (#858 was the sweet spot), it would have been QB50 for sure. Still, as others have noticed, Williams did some of the best art this year in this title. Just absolutely astonishing.

16. Die Hard: Year One (Boom!) Comics legend Howard Chaykin tackles one of cinema’s great additions to the cultural canon without being too obvious about it. The book is more a love letter to New York in an earlier time than it is a strict examination of John McClane.

17. Doom Patrol (DC) I only sampled this series, but can report that it’s absolutely worth reading…for the reunion of Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire on the Metal Men second feature.

18. Dr. Horrible (Dark Horse) A lot of creators have been attempting to find a fresh approach to superheroes (the QB50 this year is littered with them), but with all apologies to Mark Millar and ‘Kick-Ass,’ soon to be a major motion picture, no live action version in recent memory has done a better job than Will Smith’s ‘Hancock’ and Joss Whedon’s ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog,’ which this one-shot recaptures brilliantly.

19. Ex Machina (WildStorm) Try as I might, even though I thoroughly adored ‘Y: The Last Man,’ I just can’t get into Brian K. Vaughan’s other signature series, which was announced during 2009 as heading into its final issues. I sampled, thinking I might duplicate my late-blooming affair with ‘Y,’ but just couldn’t manage it.

20. Fringe (WildStorm) The comics adaptation of ‘Fringe’ (which Lower Decks regulars will know I review regularly) featured an intriguing glimpse into the history between Walter Bishop and William Bell, and was recently finally collected.

21. Image United/Haunt (Image) Surely a contender for any standard version of the most notable 2009 projects were these launches from Image, one of which was a dream jam project between the original creators and the other Todd McFarlane’s return to regular monthly art. Both were saddled with Robert Kirkman as writer, however. Much as I admire his work on ‘The Walking Dead,’ I can’t help but think that his acclaim, from work such as ‘Invincible’ (basically ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ outside of Marvel comics), is based more on the fact that he’s someone Image has been able to recruit in its later years and have some loyalty out of and get some real buzz around, and not so much based on the overall quality of his writing.

22. Incognito (Icon) Ed Brubaker keeps looking backward in exactly the way Geoff Johns doesn’t (for instance). This was his version of Doc Savage, pulp storytelling that in its early issues had me reading precisely for the essays on the classic characters this material didn’t really reflect.

23. Justice Society of America/JSA All-Stars (DC) [JSA 2008 rank = 5, 2007 = 22, Shadowpact 2008 rank = 46] Another DC property mired in transition. Geoff Johns concluded his remarkable run with “Thy Kingdom Come” and the Gog arc. There were a few issues with Black Adam and Jerry Ordway, and those should have been stellar must-reads, but I’m not sure they were, but eventually Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges took over. I don’t read ‘Fables’ (even though it seems to be right up my alley), so I really only have ‘Shadowpact’ as a frame of reference. Willingham was excellent on that book, but Sturges kind of screwed it up. He later redeemed himself quite well on ‘Blue Beetle,’ but I’ve still been approaching their run with the legacy team with trepidation, even though to this point it’s been entertaining.

24. Last Days of Animal Man (DC) Being one of the key players from ‘52’ as well as one of Grant Morrison’s early wonder projects, it’s always a tall order when I approach Buddy Baker, and Gerry Conway initially knocked it right out of the park, introducing an alternate future filled with all sorts of magic, but subsequent issues only kind of inched along. Still, a worthwhile read throughout.

25. Magog (DC) Speaking of tall orders, this is the solo book for the signature original creation of Mark Waid’s seminal ‘Kingdom Come,’ finally introduced into regular continuity by Geoff Johns in ‘Justice Society of America.’ Competing with ‘The Shield’ as DC’s military hero book, there’s a lot of ground to cover with this one, a lot of learning just what Magog can do on his own, but Howard Porter’s on art, and I love Howard Porter, so I’m inclined for a lot of patience.

26. Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular (Marvel) The House of Ideas doesn’t always know a good thing when it sees it (see: Young Avengers, ‘Captain Britain and MI13’), and this was a side project where it teased all sorts of interesting things from its toy chest. Jason Aaron and Richard Isanove, for instance, make nobody American Eagle look like a million bucks. Marvel, this is the sort of thing Grant Morrison does all the time. Just saying…

27. Outsiders (DC) I came to this title pretty late, even though I’m a big fan of Pete Tomasi, only when I learned that Dan DiDio was going to be taking over. Its Blackest Night issues (#s 24-25), however, were standouts, and I can now say that in this version, at least, it was DC’s own ‘Captain Britain and MI13.’

28. Planetary #27 (WildStorm) I’m not the biggest fan of Warren Ellis (he’s basically a less-inspired version of Grant Morrison in my book), but I had to see what he was going to do in this much-anticipated conclusion to one of his signature works. I’d caught up, insofar as a single issue may truly be considered catching up, in a ‘Watchmen’-inspired reprint of the first issue earlier in the year. Interesting stuff, anyway.

29. R.E.B.E.L.S. (DC) The annual featuring the big debut of the “true” Starro the Conqueror (much-hyped as it was in DC’s own books) was what brought me to this book, but I was happy to stick around, at least for a little while, as Vril Dox, Brainiac 2.0, intersected Blackest Night and briefly became a member of the Sinestro Corps. Tony Bedard is a writer to watch.

30. The Red Circle (DC) J. Michael Straczynski’s DC debut was curious in that he keeps working on every character other than those that might be considered standard DC characters. This series of one-shots reintroduced The Shield, The Web, The Hangman, and Inferno, and were pretty entertaining. Not quite enough to make me forget that Straczynski is shirking ‘The Twelve’ over at Marvel for this, but entertaining all the same.

31. Red Tornado (DC) Brad Meltzer spent a good portion of his ‘Justice League of America’ relaunch examining what makes Red Tornado human, but Kevin VanHook is doing the opposite, what makes his uniquely artificial existence worth looking at, too, exploring a heretofore unknown “family” that includes the Red Inferno, the Red Torpedo, and the Red Volcano, who represent other classic earthen elements.

32. Rex Mundi/Deadlocke (Dark Horse) With the long-anticipated (by me, anyway) final issues of ‘Zero Killer’ finally released this year, I thought it was a good opportunity to see what else Arvid Nelson was up to, and that included the final issue of his more famous ‘Rex Mundi’ and a one-shot.

33. Robot 13 (Blacklist) I’ve already made a Hellboy reference with ‘The Anchor,’ and I’ll be making another one in the QB50, but I’ve never read a Hellboy comic. I saw both movies! But I have yet to read a Hellboy comic. It’s distinctive enough to reference, though, pretty easily. Robot 13 is another Hellboy kind of project that’s had two issues printed so far, and the art’s pretty good and there seems to be some kind of story, too, just not one that’s terribly apparent just yet. Worth keeping an eye on.

34. The Siege: The Cabal (Marvel) Although I’m reading a lot more Marvel these days than I ever thought possible pre-2005, I’m still not what you’d call a Marvel Zombie (a term that’s so ironic at this point it’s also died and come back from the dead and died again). I didn’t buy into ‘Civil War’ and thought ‘Secret Invasion’ was a huge missed opportunity, which only led into still more convoluted “status-altering” scenarios, which meant that eventually, even Marvel comic was taken over by Dark Reign, for about a year. Finally, Brian Michael Bendis is ready to turn things back around from “Avengers Disassembled” and ‘House of M’ (which screwed things around with the mutants without any real logic or lasting, in-main title ramifications), meaning he’s going to let Marvel superheroes just be Marvel superheroes again (I mean, without pretense, anyway). This one-shot starts it. Apparently, supervillains can’t actually play nice.

35. Spider-Man: Clone Saga (Marvel) At the time, I was reading “Knightfall” and “Doomsday,” so didn’t really have time to appreciate what quickly degenerated into the least respected, longest running arcs in comics, which took full advantage of the fact that Marvel never “officially” resets canon. Finally, the Clone Saga is getting some respect, and this book tells the whole thing over again. It gets better as it goes along, really!

36. Star Wars: Purge (Dark Horse) As I may have mentioned previously in HYGOTS, I don’t read Star Wars comics because it seems like those creators will do anything because their readers will read anything, no matter if any of it matters or really compares to any of the work done in the films at all (like the endless stream of novels), just so long as a new version of continuity persists. Still, this one-shot cleverly connects ‘Revenge of the Sith’ to ‘A New Hope,’ following Vader’s early days as he tracks down what he thinks is the last of the Jedi. I’ll be writing about Star Trek comics in the QB50, about how it really is possible to tell original stories in a way that’s actually relevant to fans of screen material. This is a fine example.

37. Supergirl (DC) Sterling Gates has been a godsend to this title, bringing in much-needed clarity and relevance. This year, he was tested quite a bit, trying to keep all of it tied in with the World Without Superman arc, balancing Supergirl’s activities both on Earth and Krypton. I didn’t stick around for every issue (in fact, I skipped what was probably the signature arc of the year, the mystery of Superwoman), but when it really mattered, like the Reactron arc (#s 46-47), I was there.

38. Superman (DC) [2008 rank = 27, 2007 = 48] Once “New Krypton” ended, I had to struggle to keep myself interested in James Robinson’s complicated (convoluted?) attempts to weave various elements together in Metropolis in the absence of Superman. If he’d stuck with Mon-El, or Guardian, it would have been fine. Instead, he tried to tie Mon-El and Guardian together, and the whole General Lane saga was rickety from the start, a poor substitution for Lex Luthor. Still, it wasn’t a complete waste, just a series of missed opportunities.

39. Timestorm 2009-2099 (Marvel) I loved the 2099 books last decade. I loved ‘X-Men 2099’ and ‘X-Nation 2099’ (the latter, at least, when Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos were briefly running it, which was for that moment one of the best books of the 1990s), and while I didn’t have a lot of experience with it, ‘Spider-Man 2099.’ This was an attempt to revisit that era, and it was a huge whiff.

40. The Torch (Marvel) I love Alex Ross, but Alex Ross, you are not a writer. You’ve been proving it with Project Superpowers.’ I guess the whole ‘Earth X’ saga made you think so, and your partnership with Jim Krueger, but really, you are not a writer. You are an unbelievable artist, once-in-a-lifetime, but you are not a writer. Every time you try, you get people who are all nostalgic for ‘Marvels’ and ‘Kingdom Come’ to support you (how else to explain the success of the generic ‘Justice’?), but you can’t find your own best collaborators. Mike Carey isn’t it, either. He’s a fine writer, but in the Ed Brubaker tradition. Good ideas do not make good stories. ‘The Torch’ started out brilliantly. It was a QB50 selection at first. Then I kept reading, and the wheels started spinning. Maybe it ends strongly. I’m not sure I’ll be around to find out.

41. Trinity (DC) [2008 rank = 24] The last of three consecutive weekly books was an excellent exploration of both the Big Three and DC lore in general, but there was not a year’s worth of material in it. The 2008 half was QB50 material. The 2009 half wasn’t. Still, kudos to Mark Bagley and Scott McDaniel on art.

42. Ultimatum: Spider-Man Requiem (Marvel) [Ultimate Spider-Man 2008 rank= 47, 2007 = 39] How do you screw up a perfectly good thing? You quit treating the Ultimate line as a series of standalone books. This would have been a great point to put it all to rest (especially with the rare chance to see J. Jonah Jameson as a sympathetic figure, which can also be seen in ‘Spider-Man: Reign’ and…). I never thought ‘The Ultimates’ series were to par with ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ and ‘Ultimate X-Men’ (which to my mind are still almost only what the Ultimate line should have ever been) anyway. This is a true requiem. Then the line was relaunched.

43. Uncanny X-Men #512 (Marvel) To my mind, there are only a handful of mutant stories that’ve added to the canon in recent years. One would be “Messiah CompleX,” which did its best to salvage the ‘House of M’ nonsense (and has been a recurring but inconsistent arc since, including the main theme of the latest ‘Cable’ series). The other is this issue, an entirely random and relevant glimpse into the past, 1906, a sort of mutant origin story featuring Beast and other extraneous characters.

44. The Unknown (Boom!) Mark Waid periodically experiments in concepts that have nothing to do with superheroes, and this was one of his latest, an odd detective/adventure story that has now gone through two mini-series which become less and less satisfying, the less they deal with the dying central figure and more with stories that are only briefly explored.

45. The Walking Dead (Image) Robert Kirkman done right, a minimalist, classic story that’s familiar but handled distinctly. One of the standout books in modern comics, but not essential, exactly. Kirkman talks about taking this into the hundreds of issues, but he doesn’t have that much material, or at least is extremely reluctant to advance the plot.

46. The Web (DC) A QB50-caliber spin-off from the Red Circle books doesn’t appear to have garnered much support from DC even though Amanda and Roger Robinson knocked the material that was already the strongest of the lot out of the park. Maybe I’m just biased, because I’ve been waiting ten years to have Roger back on main art duties. But in a year dominated by attempts to innovate the superhero, the Web was a standout.

47. Who Wants to Be a Superhero? The Defuser (Dark Horse) In recent years Stan Lee has been struggling to remain relevant, and he’s even turned to reality TV in those efforts. The show’s a cheeky guilty pleasure, but the chance to introduce a new superhero no matter the background was always the best aspect, possibly because so few actual creators seem to think it’s worth doing. This second one-shot was unexpectedly compelling in its own right.

48. Wonder Woman (DC) Gail Simone, you’re competent and all, but you’ve ruined the combined efforts of Greg Rucka, Allan Heinberg, Jodi Picoult, and a few select others to make Wonder Woman a relevant star of her own book. Your run started out well enough, but by the time you reached “Rise of the Olympian,” you reached your peak concept, but lost everything that would have made it interesting. I have no idea what you think you’re doing. Wonder Woman really isn’t that hard to make interesting. How is it that she still has only one book? Because of creators like Gail Simone.

49. World’s Finest (DC) Sterling Gates’ other chance to be noticed was this update of a classic concept made possible during a year where Bruce Wayne was gone and Kal-El was busy being Kryptonian. Their various surrogates meet in different combinations here.

50. Zorro (Dynamite) [2008 rank = 10] I thought this was going to be a perennial QB50 book, but once he got past the origin story, Matt Wagner never caught my interest again. I’ve wondered before why it’s so hard to make a Zorro comic interesting. Well, apparently he’s the male equivalent of Wonder Woman. It’s not the character that’s the problem, it’s the lack of imagination on the part of the creators. If Grant Morrison can make everyone believe Dick Grayson and Damian can launch a new Batman book, can it really be that hard? Or you can be Ed Brubaker, Gail Simone, or Matt Wagner and deliberately sabotage yourself, whether you realize it or not.

That’s the lesson of comic books in 2009. It really isn’t that difficult. Just get out of your own way.

On Friday, the official QB50 listings, which include my picks for best writer, artist, and single issue of the year! Strictly for the record, while 2008’s QBs were the subject of HYGOTS #11, this particular supplement’s ancestor can be found in HYGOTS #9. You can see how I saw 2009 at the half year mark in HYGOTS #38, which might give you a pretty accurate preview of what you can expect to find in the ranking. I spent a whole year recording all this stuff, racking up a total of 175 unique listings. While I fudge a lot to cram only about a hundred of them for this dubious distinction, it means you don’t have to read so many titles and god only knows how many issues to know what I thought the best comics were, which doesn’t even include what I might have thought of the stuff I didn’t read! Imagine if someone was actually paying me to do this?