It is officially 2009 so I thought I thought for my hundredth post on this blog I would take a look back in this past years worth of titles. So here is some noticeable things that happened in the world of comics in 2008.
Best Creative Teams
Brubaker/Eptings/Perkins – Brubaker along with artists Epting, Perkins, and other artist have made Captain America into one of the best, if not the best, comics on the market today. It is just incredible how Brubaker and his artist were able to kill and replace an icon as big as Steve Roger’s as Captain America with Bucky Barnes without people complaining about the move. This team has definitely created something epic in Captain America.
Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning/Various Artist – DnA have done such a wonderful job reviving Marvel’s Cosmic Universe along with their various artist that the Cosmic Universe may be even stronger that the Core Marvel Universe. It is incredible since Marvel’s Cosmic Universe was dead for a long time and now all the Cosmic titles are just great reads. DnA’s War of Kings is one of the books I am looking forward too this year and it is due to their work on Marvel’s Cosmic Universe.
Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely – All-Star Superman was one of DC’s best comic and the last issue of this series was definitely one of the best single issues of the year. For as much as I bash Morrison for his work this past year his work on All-Star Superman along with the great artwork from Frank Quitely made that title a must read.
Best Titles
Marvel:
Captain America – It is just incredible to think that Brubaker and his art crew just finished a long 40+ issue story arc that began with the very first issue of this series and it never lost any of its readers or made anyone complain about the pacing of the story. Also Bucky’s transformation into becoming the new Captain America was done in such a natural way that there is no question Bucky deserves the mantle.
Guardians of the Galaxy – This was maybe the best new ongoing title of the year. This may also be the first team title were I liked each and every member of the team and I can’t wait to see how DnA will continue building to War of Kings in this title.
Nova – This is the other DnA Cosmic title that has just been money all year long. DnA have done a great job making Nova into Marvel’s answer to DC’s Green Lantern. Richard Rider is definitely very similar to a young Hal Jordan and it is great that the Nova Corps was revived
Thor – The delays have not hurt this title at all. Straczynski and Coipel have Thor relevant again and is a title that is a must have whenever it comes out.
Ultimate Spider-Man – This is a title that doesn’t seem to get much love just because of how it has been consistentely one of the best titles on the market since issue #1 that 128 issues later it is hard to come up with things to say about this title that have not been said before. USM is the best example why Bendis should go back to writing solo books instead of team books because he is just a great writer when he is writing about one main character and a big supporting cast.
DC:
Action Comics – Geoff Johns has done such a great job finally making Superman interesting to me. The ‘Brainiac’ story arc was one of the best Superman stories I have read and I can’t wait to get ‘New Krypton’ in TPB.
All-Star Superman – This was just a wonderful read and the final issue was a great emotional read that is a must for any Superman fan.
Green Lantern – While this series slowed down a bit with the ‘Secret Origins’ arc Johns is still keeping this title a must read especially now that Johns is building to ‘Blackest Night’ with the introduction of the other Corps
Nightwing – Peter Tomasi has done such a great job, along with Morales and Kramer, making Nightwing a great read. Though I am sad that this title is being cancelled in March due to ‘Battle for the Cowl.’
Teen Titans: Year One – This was just a fun series that is a must for any Titans fan.
Worst Titles
Marvel:
Hulk – Loeb’s work on Marvel has just been horrible and while I only read the first issue of Hulk I could tell with that one issue this series is just bad.
Ultimates 3 – Another Loeb work that was horrible that it is unbelivable that Loeb was able to take a title that was a must read under Millar and Hitch into one of the worst reads ever.
Uncanny X-Men – As a long time X-Men fan this title has just been such a big disappointment that 2009 may be the first year were I will not be picking up any of the team X-titles.
DC:
Countdown to Final Crisis – In no way dealt with Final Crisis and was just a horrible series with no sense of direction and no pay off at the end.
Final Crisis: Superman Beyond – This is just Morrison to his most extreme and sometimes enough is enough with experimenting with storytelling and Superman Beyond is an example of that.
Titans – Winnick worked his magic again and this time on the classic team of the Teen Titans. It is unbelievable how Winnick could turn this title into an unreadable mess that I hope DC quickly takes Winnick off this title. And until then I am not reading this title with one of my favorite teams of all time.
Storyline of the Year
Marvel:
The Death of Captain America – Just an amazing epic that started with issue #1 of Captain America that did such a wonderful job replacing its title character and making it seem natural. If you haven’t read Captain America yet I recommend reading this story from the first TPB to the last because it reads so well in TPB form. And if you do have all the issue go back and read the story again in one sitting it is just a all-time great story.
DC:
Batman RIP – Even though I fell in the middle with this storyline Morrison and Daniel did a great job creating a lot for Batfans to talk about, whether good or bad. In the end when a story is able to make so many people talk about the story and overload message board than it did its job. Morrison and Daniel’s did just that with this storyline.
Overall 2008 was a good year in comics and the Big Two gave fans a lot to talk about. Hopefully 2009 will be an even better year, which I suspect it will be with a lot of big things happening this new year.