2009 a year of comics in Review

I broke up the video into two halves for easier digestion and just to make uploading less of a pain. I did activate the ads so please sit through them as they should provide the site with some income. With that here is,

Part 1: The Best, Worst, and Most Surprising Comics of 2009

Part 2: The 4 best trades I’ve read this year

Thanks for watching.

The Worst Comics of August ’09

Saturday I stated what I believed to be the best comics of last August. I did promise the worst comics list for Sunday but due to Labor Day holiday and other things, the list got delayed. Moral of the story: do all reviews and articles in advance especially when you promise a release date. With that out of the way here is my personal Worst Comics of August ’09. Remember this is all personal opinion and not truly fact.

Batman: The Widening Gyre #1

This is the only pick on my list that I might receive hate for. I personally found this comic to be boring, dull, and horrible. Despite the fact Kevin Smith, the man behind some of my favorite films, wrote this I hated the writing. It was out of character for Batman, the dialogue was cheesy, and the narration was just plain out horrible. I didn’t expect traditional Batman style story, but I expected something more than this. The art was great, but anyone who has read comics will tell you, great art won’t save a story.

Dark Avengers #8

This is the exact issue where I regret saying that Utopia is as good as Messiah Complex. Everything that made Utopia have this eerie chill went out of the window in this book. This issue had what was set up to be the main villain being promptly resolved in two panels after building them up for 4 issues, an unsurprising triple cross, and the return of a relic from the 90’s that wasn’t really wanted. On top of it all the art was ugly, murky, and too flat. I would rather have Greg Land or Rob Liefeld any day of the week than have this crap. This comic blows and thinking about it makes me regret promoting the story in the first place. Matt Fraction, you have disappointed me, good sir.

Justice League: Cry For Justice #2

While this is the best of the series so far, that isn’t saying much. Between the controversial Hal Jordan three-way, the random use of Congorilla, the mistakes in the issue’s own continuity, and the bad dialogue it his hard to pick out what is wrong about this issue. The art is amazing and a treat to see in a monthly title; it doesn’t save the book.  The worst part is after this issue hit store shelves it was announced that the JUSTICE! league will actually become the JLA after the series wraps. At least this book has four more months to iron out the team aspect of the team and fix the dialogue. I hope Cascioli is the main artist on that series. If not, God help us all.

Uncanny X-men #514

You know how I said Dark Avengers #8 is where I regretted my praise of Utopia? Well Uncanny X-men #514 is where I started to have my doubts. The decline in quality between Dark Avengers #7 (the chapter before this one) and Uncanny X-men #514 is very noticeable. When you open the book you will notice the art was different, the style of writing changed, and the overall focus shifted from the previous chapters. Instead of focusing on the Dark Avengers’ mistreatment of mutants and the rising anti-mutant sentiments of the city, the book decides to focus on the stupid Dark X-men and worst of all not even the interesting Dark X-men like Weapon Omega or Mimic. No. We had to deal with Daken, the whiny emo git that somehow came from the loins of Wolverine, and his dislike of the Dark Avengers.  This issue marks the decline of Utopia and the point where I regret even liking the first issue. I will be finishing Utopia still but only to see where it goes and from there I will decide whether or not to continue buying X-men.

Thanks for reading. Join me later when I will post the comics I am most looking forward to in September. It’s kinda late I know, but we are only a week into the month and many more comics are coming out.