Best of 2009

[CaptainCanada]

In lieu of buying and thinking, since there's none of that where I am this Wednesday, the year in review:


Best Hero (Male) - Hercules
Runners Up - New Cap (Captain America), Patriot (Dark Reign: Young Avengers)

Best Hero (Female) - Black Widow; girlfriend was everywhere this year, and generally in good stories too.
Runners Up - Faiza Hussain/Excalibur (Captain Britain and MI13), Spitfire (Captain Britain and MI13), X-23 (X-Force)

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Master Izo in Daredevil
Runners Up - Amadeus Cho (Incredible Hercules)

Best Supporting Character (Female) - Athena in Incredible Hercules
Runners Up - Artemis (Wonder Woman), Domino (X-Force), Kelda (Thor)

Best Villain (Male) - Dracula in Captain Britain and MI13
Runners Up - Norman Osborn (line-wide), Loki (Thor/Mighty Avengers)

Best Villain (Female) - Hera in Incredible Hercules

Best Story - "The Replacement Thor" in Incredible Hercules (#132, 134, 136)

Best Fight - Hercules vs. Thor in Incredible Hercules #137

Best Moment - in a surprise pick, I'll go with the surprise party at the end of Captain America #50; this isn't a sentimental book by any means, but after arcs ranging from moody to very moody, that was an unexpectedly pleasant little ending.

Best Miniseries - Battlefields: Dear Billy by Garth Ennis and Peter Snejbjerg

Best Ongoing Series - Incredible Hercules

Best Trade* - Sleeper: Season 2 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Best Publisher - Marvel Comics; various complaints aside, they still dominate the list of books I buy and really look forward to.

Best Writer - Fred Van Lente (Incredible Hercules, All-New Savage She-Hulk)

Best Artist - Ivan Reis (Blackest Night)

Breakout Writer - Kieron Gillen; an amazingly rapid ascent at Marvel, producing a couple of strong miniseries early on and getting a high-profile fill-in run that includes important event setup. One to watch.

Breakout Artist - Rodney Buchemi (Incredible Hercules); I had never heard of him before this year, but starting with his #126 story he's quickly become the definitive artist for the series in my mind.


* That came out in 2009.

 

[Drz]

Best Hero (Male) - Dick Grayson

Best Hero (Female) - Kathy Kane (Batwoman)

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Damian Wayne

Best Supporting Character (Female) - Viktoria Hand from Dark Avengers. Insanely loyal to Norman! >_>

Best Villain (Male) - Nekron

Best Villain (Female) - Moonstone i guess? The "current" Mrs. Marvel.

Best Story - Batman & Robin #1-3 arc.

Best Fight - I loved all the action in Ultimate Comics: Avengers #4 alot! Dick Grayson vs. Jason Todd in Battle for the Cowl #3 was awesome aswell.

Best Moment - "This is it. Batman and Robin. Together again for the first time" - Dick Grayson in Batman & Robin #1. Opening scene from Ultimate Comics: Avengers #1 with Nick Fury pondering what the hell has happened was also one awesome "**** yeah!" moment.

Best Miniseries - does Blackest Night count? If not i'll take Ares mini.

Best Ongoing Series - Batman & Robin

Best Publisher -DC

Best Writer - Grant Morrison

Best Artist -Hard to say.. I love Mike Deodato's work on Dark Avengers, but Frank Quitely's 3-issue Batman and Robin arc was just phenonimal.

Breakout Writer - Geoff Johns i guess? I mean Blackest Night is just making him larger and larger while the guy has already been writing lots of great stuff, but if this is like 2009 new comers then,way too early to say but i've enjoyed Tony S. Daniel's writing. Sure Battle for the Cowl had it's problems but his new 6-issue story arc now has been much better (3 out of 6 out) then his 3 issue arc with Battle for the Cowl. I also loved the Arkham Asylum issues by David Hine was also just awesome awesome stuff.

Breakout Artist - Ivan Reis & Ardian Syaf. Both coming to my knowledge from Blackest Night. Ardian Syaf very first job was the Blackest Night - Batman mini-serie and he was ROCKING!

 

[CaptainCanada]

Breakout typically means newcomer/rising star, not Johns or Reis, who are well-established.

 

[Watchman]

Best Hero Character (Male) - Chief Lincoln Red Crow (Scalped)- Dash may be the hero/protagonist but Scalped is Red Crow's stroy. His character and journey is the best part of the book.

Best Hero (Female) - Kathy Kane (Batwoman)- This is the year of great new Batman characters. I'm crossing my fingers that most of these characters stay after the current creative teams leave. Although she has a better chance of staying than the new Robin. Which brings me to...

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Damian Wayne- I'm surprised at how popular Damian has become. When he first appeared nearly everybody hated him. Too bad he has no chance of sticking around once Morrison leaves then he will go the way of Xorn. Then we get to go back to *yawn* Tim Drake.

Best Supporting Character (Female) - The Rumor (Umbrella Academy: Dallas)- I have nothing...I just like the character

Best Villain (Male) - Professor Pyg (Batman and Robin)- Morrison has created some great new Batman characters. Pyg just edges out Hurt for pure entertainment factor.

Best Villain (Female) - Alice (Detective Comics)- I have a soft spot for Batman/Wonderland mash-ups. I think they work so well together. Being drawn by Williams III doesn't hurt either. On that note Batman/Mad Hatter with Morrison make it happen.

Best Story - Umbrella Academy: Dallas by Gerard Way and Gabrial Ba- I was very apperhensive when I heard that Way was writing comics but after all the good reviews I dove right in now they are some of my favorite comics. Dallas is even better than the first one packed with so many crazy ideas and Way never misses a beat.

Best Fight - Batman and Robin vs. Proffesor Pyg's Circus of the Strange (Batman and Robin #2)- Quitely sure can draw some great comics, huh? His panel work is unbeatable and his fluidity between each panel is unmatched.

Best Moment - "I never lied to you." (Young Liars #18)- Amazing, underrated series and....and... **** you all. Seriously, we get what 8 Deadpool books a month and this series gets cancelled **** you....

Excuse me...this line just put the entire series on it's head. Issue 18 was such a fantastic issue.

Best Miniseries - Seaguy: Slaves of Mickey Eye by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart- It always a great time to see Morrison doing Vertigo work and a return to the world of Seaguy no less. Cameron creates a amazing Disney like world of superheroes combined with Morrison imagination. I can't wait for the third part.

Best Ongoing Series - Scalped (Jason Aaron, R. M. Guéra)- Aaron's crime epic is nothing short of amazing. One of the few monthlies that I can't wait for. Just edges out Batman and Robin.

Best Trade- Tales Designed to Thrizzle (Michael Kupperman)- Perhaps the funniest comics I've ever read.

Best Publisher - Vertigo- Yeah I'm counting them as a seperate entry as DC. The big two release so much meh and things that I don't care about Image, although publishing Chew and Walking Dead, is currently suffering from '90s nostalgia that it is laughable. Dark Horse is aces with the BPRD/Hellboy, Umbrella Academy, Goon, and many great collections. Vertigo seems to always be publishing my favorite books.

Best Writer - Grant Morrison (Batman and Robin, Seaguy, Final Crisis)- My favorite comic book writer of all time. He's the kind of writer that superheroes need. Unrestrained imagination not restrained by the silly notion "realism" of superheroes. Not to mention that depth of his writing. When was the last time you seen a critical disscusion of a Batman comic.

Best Artist - David Mazzucchelli (Asterios Polyp)- More widely known for his Batman and Daredevil work Mazzucchelli adapts a new style. With an almost New Yorker cartoonist look his art structure...well just about everything is flawess.

Breakout Writer - Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four)- He's actually been around for a while but only a few people here read his indie stuff. All of sudden he blew up at Marvel and is now writing their longest lasting title. I like Secret Warriors but I consider his Fantastic Four leaps and bounds better. He gets the Four and one of the strongest trait they have as a book, you can do anything with them.

Breakout Artist - Francis Manapul

 

[hippie_hunter]

Best Hero (Male) - Dick Grayson, the man who was reluctant to take on the role of Batman due to his desire to respect his mentor's hopes for Nightwing and Robin, but was forced to accept the fact that Gotham needs a Batman. He's a man who is trying to mold his mentor's son into a person who Bruce would be proud of and try and keep him from going back into the murderous persona he once was. And no matter what book you're reading him in Batman & Robin, Batman, or Batman: Streets of Gotham, Dick's characterization has been nothing but top notch.

Runners Up
Iron Man
Hank Pym

Best Hero (Female) - Batwoman, Greg Rucka has really turned one of his weakest creations from the token lesbian in 52, to the really strong female character that we all love and admire in his run on Detective Comics. It's a shame that her tenure on Detective Comics is coming to an end, but I can't wait for the new Batwoman ongoing next year.

Runners Up
Supergirl
Wonder Woman

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Damien Wayne, who would have thought that becoming Robin would do dramatic wonders to this annoying little ****. When he acts like a little ****head in Paul Dini's Batman books and in Batgirl, it's hilarious. And you really see the molding that Dick Grayson is trying to build onto him develop in the various Batman titles into someone that is not a member of his mother's League of Assassins into an upstanding man who fights for what his father stands for in honor of his memory.

Runners Up
Amadeus Cho
Master Izo

Best Supporting Character (Female) - Victoria Hand, Dark Reign would not be the way it is now without Norman Osborn's loyal assistant Deputy Director of H.A.M.M.E.R., Victoria Hand.

Runners Up
Maria Hill
Soranik Natu

Best Villain (Male) - Nekron, creating a Black Lantern Corps that has not one but three Supermen, Firestorm, the Martian Manhunter, several speedsters, and the creepiest comic book character of all time (Terry Long). Excuse me while I piss my pants in the corner.

Runners Up
Norman Osborn
Vulcan

Best Villain (Female) - Hera, just look at how she's been acting in Incredible Hercules, Hera is without a doubt the best female villain of 2009.

Runners Up
None, Hera is just that good to where you can't even consider anyone else

Best Story - Assault on New Olympus (Assault on New Olympus One Shot and The Incredible Hercules #138-141), Assault on New Olympus is off to a great start with a great balance of humor, action, characterization, the threat that Hera poses, and so much more. This is what Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente's mythological epic The Incredible Hercules, has been leading up to and in my opinion will go down as one of the greatest runs in comics of all time with stories like this.

Runners Up
World's Most Wanted (The Invincible Iron Man #8-19)
Batman: Reborn (Batman & Robin #1-3)

Best Fight - The Incredible Hercuthor vs. the Mighty Thorcules (The Incredible Hercules #136, one of Hercules' special moves on Thor was a purple nerple with a purple colored nerp sound effect. 'Nuff said

Runners Up
American Son vs. the Iron Patriot (Amazing Spider-Man #599)
Thor vs. Dr. Doom (Thor #605-606)

Best Moment - Dick Grayson becomes Batman (Battle for the Cowl #3), admittedly Battle for the Cowl was a bit of a mess but it really nailed Dick Grayson's characterization on his path to becoming Batman and it had a perfect ending of Dick finally saying that he is Batman.

Runners Up
Peter Parker exposes Norman Osborn (Dark Reign: The List - Spider-Man One Shot)
Black Lantern Batman (Blackest Night #5)
Daredevil becomes leader of the Hand (Daredevil #500)

Best Miniseries - The Flash: Rebirth, Dear Wally West fans, I will say that even though Wally West is one of my favorite characters, Geoff Johns has gotten me excited for Barry Allen's tenure in his revamp of the Flash franchise. Yeah it sucks that Wally's co-feature has been dropped but we can still get some awesome Flash stories with Barry Allen in the lead, just like we've gotten awesome Green Lantern stories with Hal Jordan. P.S. Man, f**k Barry Allen was funny only one time and now is incredibly old..

Anyways, I've been really enjoying The Flash: Rebirth and take it as more of a celebration of DC's speedsters with Barry Allen at the steering wheel than something that certain extremist Wally West fans take it as.

Runners Up
The Marvels Project
War of Kings

Best Ongoing Series - Batman & Robin, I look forward to every time I can to the next issue of Grant Morrison's Batman saga. With his takes on both Dick Grayson and Damien Wayne and what they go up against, I give Batman & Robin the top notch of ongoing books this year.

Runners Up
The Incredible Hercules
Green Lantern

Best Event - Blackest Night, now this is how you do an event. DC really stepped it up with this series and I can't wait to see the aftermath.

Runners Up
Captain America: Reborn

Best Trade* - None, sorry but I don't buy trades anymore so I can't judge on this

Runners Up
If I didn't give an award for this, why would there be any runners up?

Best Publisher - DC Comics, DC has massively improved itself from the mess it created from One Year Later. But slowly and surely that have fixed a lot of what has been wrong. The Batman and Green Lantern books are top notch. I've been really enjoying what's going on in the Superman books. And Blackest Night is excellent. Do they have some things that need to be fixed? Absolutely but my excitement over what DC has published this year has far outweighed what I've been annoyed with (their treatment of the Titans excluded).

Runners Up
Marvel Comics (Duh)

Best Writer - Geoff Johns (Blackest Night, Green Lantern, Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps, Action Comics, Superman: Secret Origin, The Flash: Rebirth, Blackest Night: The Flash), without a doubt 2009 was the Year of Geoff Johns with his revival of Barry Allen and Blackest Night

Runners Up
Fred Van Lente (The Incredible Hercules, Deadpool Team Up, The Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men: Noir, Marvel Zombies 3, Marvel Zombies 4, Marvel Zombies Return)
Dan Slott (The Mighty Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man)
Grant Morrison (Batman & Robin, Seaguy: The Slaves of Mickey Eye)
Matt Fraction (The Invincible Iron Man, Uncanny X-Men)

Best Artist - Marko Djurdjevic (Thor, various covers), if you have seen Djurdjevic's covers to Daredevil #500 and Thor #600, you guys know what I'm talking about

Runners Up
Ivan Reis (Blackest Night)
J.H. Williams III (Detective Comics)

Breakout Writer - Kieron Gillen (S.W.O.R.D., Thor, Dark Avengers: Ares, Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter) to quote CaptainCanada "an amazingly rapid ascent at Marvel, producing a couple of strong miniseries early on and getting a high-profile fill-in run that includes important event setup. One to watch." Gillen's start of the S.W.O.R.D. ongoing is off to a strong start despite art that has a horrid portrayal of Beast and his run on Thor is an excellent follow up to JMS' run.

Runners Up
Jonathan Hickman (Secret Warriors, Fantastic Four, Dark Reign: The List - Secret Warriors, Dark Reign: Fantastic Four)
Sterling Gates (Supergirl, World's Finest)

Breakout Artist - Adrian Syaf (Blackest Night: Batman), Syaf's start in mainstream comics was great and I hope that DC will give him more work.

Runners Up
Rodney Buchemi (Incredible Hercules)
Francis Manapul (Adventure Comics)

 

[runawayboulder]

Best Hero (Male) - Captain America (Steve Rogers) - 2009 was all about his return to the Marvel U

Best Hero (Female) - Ms. Marvel - War of the Marvels was a great read

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Amadeus Cho

Best Supporting Character (Female) - Victoria Hand (I almost forgot about her. I had Black Widow at first and Maria Hill was just as good in 09.)

Best Villain (Male) - Norman Osborn

Best Villain (Female) - Madam Masque (was fantastic in Worlds Most Wanted)

Best Story - Worlds Most Wanted (Invincible Iron Man)

Best Fight - Punisher vs Daken (Punisher: The List)

Best Moment - Daken killing Punisher (Punisher: The List)

Best Ongoing Series - Daredevil

Best Publisher - Marvel Comics (it's all I read anymore with the exception of Hellblazer)

Best Writer - Ed Brubaker

Best Artist - Mike Deodato Jr. (Dark Avengers)

Breakout Writer - Victor Gischler (Deadpool MWAM and Punisher Max: Welcome to The Bayou)

Breakout Artist - Javier Pulido (ASM)

 

[Phaedrus45]

Best Hero (Male) - Kind of a tough year for heroes; as, many that we've seen in years past have kind of gone away. Superman is pretty much non-existant, except in his rather boring maxiseries; Bruce Wayne is still dead; Bruce Banner has been replaced by every other color and type of Hulk; and, Iron Man has spent the majority of this year getting his mind erased. At least Captain America came back.

Now, personally my favorite Hero-Male is Ender Wiggins from the Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow books. It's just an amazing series of books, and it's so nice to see a character being so defined.

As for the standout character, male...I would have to say this year the title clearly goes to Deadpool. Man, this was his year. He made the appearance in the movie, Wolverine Origins; and, then Marvel had him appear in practically every other comic they produced in the last half of the year.

Best Hero (Female) - Two female characters stood out above all others for me this year...and, neither is from the Big Two. First is Terry Moore's Echo. This comic just keeps getting better and better, and Terry writes some of the best female characters I've ever read. (Sadly, his stint on Runaways and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane just didn't compare to his usual excellence.) The other is the main female character from Luna Bros.' Sword, Dara Brighton. She kicked some serious butt this year....and, she's not finished. Four more issue to go, and the Luna's have their best series to date, outshining their previous Girls.

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Three characters that were pretty much secondary characters really came on strong this year: Damien from Batman, Winter Soldier in Captain America, and Daken from Wolverine. I think I have to give the title to Daken, because I sooo hated his character previous to him taking over Dark Wolverine. Now, he's become one of the most interesting.

Best Supporting Character (Female) - This might be the easiest to judge. Rucka's done such a great job with Batwoman, that she deserves it hands down. How supporting was she? Hell, until Bruce's death, I had completely forgotten about her. (BTW, Officer Montoya just stinks as The Question. Please just have her go back to being a cop again.)

Best Villain (Male) - This is Norman Osborn's year. Of course, it all depends on how he is written; as, sometimes the writers make him a bit of a goof. A very close second to Dr. Doom. He's really coming on strong at the end of the year, being written better than any time in the last decade.

Best Villain (Female) - This is a tough one. There isn't one female villian that really stands out for me. I probably have to go independant on this one, and say the final female God-like sibling in The Sword. She's really proven herself so much smarter and devious than either of her now-dead brothers. Dara not only has to best this final foe, but she must convince the government and the people watching at home that she's on the side of right.

Best Story - I'd have to think more on this one.

Best Fight - Punisher vs. Daken, easily! Punisher loses!!!

Best Moment - Going with above, the decapitation of Frank Castle. It was the best The List story done, and has changed his character completely.

Best Miniseries - Ender's Shadow and Ender's Game. Hardly anyone is reading it; but, a lot more people should. I think everyone would be amazed at how good both minis really are.

Best Ongoing Series - Man, this is a hard one. I'm going waaay out in left field, and say the best ongoing series that anyone can pick up and not have a single problem enjoying...Brave and the Bold! You aren't bogged down in events or long storylines. These are some of the best stories coming out of DC, and putting J. Michael Straczynski on it was a either a stroke of genius or a waste of great talent on one of their main titles. Either way, readers win.

Best Trade* - I Kill Giants!!!! Joe Kelly delivered an amazing story, and it's now available in Trade.

Best Publisher - Probably Marvel...but, you also cannot go wrong with Radical Comics. They've done an amazing job, and it's the rare comic company that I tell my comic shop to give me everything they put out.

Best Writer - Jeff Parker. I get everything he writes, and I haven't read a bad issue yet!

Best Artist - JH Williams III, from Batwoman. There is nobody better!

Breakout Writer - Paul Tobin. This guys doing some amazing work. He actually took Marvel Adventures and made it a comic that I want to read.

Breakout Artist - JH Williams. I didn't know his name before Batwoman...but, I sure do now!!!

 

[BrianWilly]

Best Hero (Male) - Dick Grayson definitely.

Best Hero (Female) - Batwoman
Honorary mention - Madame Xanadu's been having a heck of a series.

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Amadeus Cho, showing all other supporting characters how this s*** should be done.
Honorary mention - Bill, born of Bills.

Best Supporting Character (Female) - Ko-Rel
Honorary mention - Soranik Natu
Honorary mention #2- Crystal
Space is where the best girls are at!

Best Villain (Male) - Norman Osborn
Honorary mention - Black Hand

Best Villain (Female) - Genocide Hera

Best Story - Blackest Night

Best Fight - Thor vs Hercules

Best Moment - Final Crisis #6. Just barely made the cutoff date!

Best Miniseries - War of Kings
Honorary mention - The Great Ten miniseries has all of two issues out and is still one of the best things I've read this year; if it had come out earlier it'd probably take this spot easily. Has the makings of something incredible, and definitely a pleasant surprise.
Honorary mention - Dark Avengers: Ares
Honorary WORST mention- Justice League: Cry for Justice

Best Ongoing Series - Green Lantern Corps remains my absolute most favorite thing to read.
Honorary mention - Detective Comics. Even loving Rucka as much as I do, I was wholly unprepared for the sheer talent and raw awesome of this series. Issue 859 is probably the best comic book issue of the year.

Best Publisher -DC
Honorary mention - Marvel

Best Writer - Greg Rucka, bringing his A-game back to DC.

Best Artist - Ivan Reis, who was born to draw Blackest Night.

Breakout Writer - Sterling Gates, for doing the near-impossible with Supergirl.
TIED WITH! - Kieron Gillen. Who **** is this man? This legend?

Breakout Artist - JH Williams III. No one knew who this mofo was, until now.
Honorary mention - Francis Manapul

 

[hippie_hunter]

Crap, how the hell could I have forgotten Francis Manapul, Soranik Natu, War of Kings, and Sterling Gates?

 

[CaptainCanada]

Crap, how the hell could I have forgotten Francis Manapul, Soranik Natu, War of Kings, and Sterling Gates?

It was Lieberman's fault.

 

[hippie_hunter]

It was Lieberman's fault.

LIEBERMAN!!!!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Best Hero (Male) - Conner Kent. I know, he was dead for most of this year, but when he came back, he was great. I loved how Johns had him fully embrace his heroic legacy in his own unique way. The scene where he forgives Wonder Girl for all the crazy s*** she did in his absence was especially poignant. Unrealistic for a teenager/young adult to be so understanding? Sure. But he's the heir to f***ing Superman; with that pedigree, I'd sort of expect him to be better than any normal person could hope to be, and he's finally living up to that now, which has been a pleasure to read (when he's actually in his own comic).
Honorable Mentions: Nova, Hercules, Vril Dox, Bucky.

Best Hero (Female) - Faiza Hussain from Captain Britain and MI-13. Really nice to see her journey from superhero groupie to a worthy bearer of Excalibur.
Honorable Mention: Soranik Natu from Green Lantern Corps.

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Bug! Back from limbo and kicking ass with the Guardians of the Galaxy like he should've been all along.
Honorable Mention: Bruce Banner. Great idea setting him up as the deceptive conscience of his son Skaar.

Best Supporting Character (Female) - Strata from REBELS. She's been a great, sardonic foil for Dox, although her prominence in the cast has unfortunately shrunk as the cast has grown.
Honorable Mention: Athena from Incredible Hercules.

Best Villain (Male) - Loki. He was everywhere and he was awesome. (I know he was a she for most of '09, but that had a very specific reason and he was born male, so I'm counting him as a male.)

Best Villain (Female) - Miss Jeannette from Secret Six. The Six are just on the fringe of being anti-heroes, but they still tend to choose pretty villainous paths at every opportunity to do something more outright heroic, so I'm counting her as a villain. It was wonderful fun getting to know her in the series. She's definitely tied with Bane as my favorite member of the team at this point.

Best Story - Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter. Loved it. Gillen was pretty ballsy pulling Bill in such an extreme direction, but it paid off in the form of one fantastic story--probably the best I've ever read with the character, in fact.

Best Fight - Hercules vs. Thor in Incredible Hercules #137

Best Moment - "Vril Dox of Colu, you have the power to instill great fear. Welcome to the Sinestro Corps."

Best Miniseries - I Kill Giants. Beautiful story that has made me cry twice out of the three times I've read it so far. The fact that I've even read it three times is noteworthy in itself, since I'm not one to reread comics very often.

Best Ongoing Series - Captain Britain and MI-13. Canceled, yes, but every single issue had me tingling with excitement and I can't recall a single one that left me feeling unsatisfied. That's a tough act to keep up for such a long time.
Honorable Mentions: Nova, Thor, Incredible Hercules, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America, and REBELS.

Best Trade - I guess Locke and Key. I happened to read that in trade (hardcover, actually) form. Normally I'd read everything in individual issues, though, so I don't really buy that many trades.

Best Publisher - Marvel Comics. While I still don't like a lot of what Marvel does, I sure as hell like it more than what DC's doing. I don't read other publishers' comics in the kind of quantities I do Marvel and DC's, so they're basically out of the running right from the start.

Best Writer - Joe Kelly. I've loved everything he's done this year (that I've read). I Kill Giants and Four Eyes are especially wonderful.

Best Artist - Olivier Coipel. Every single issue he drew of Thor was jaw-droppingly gorgeous. He made Thor's world come alive in such a distinct way that every new artist feels like they're striving to emulate him, as opposed to Kirby's original vision of Thor or even the revered Simonson era.

Breakout Writer - Kieron Gillen. Never heard of him before this year, yet he absolutely blew me away with Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter.

Breakout Artist - Francis Manapul. His work on Legion of Super Heroes was good, but switching to his new coloring style made a world of difference. His art is now distinctive and beautiful, as opposed to just solid but unremarkable fare.

 

[BrianWilly]

I forgot Faiza! Fraks, I forgot all about that series.

For shaaaaaaame

 

[CaptainCanada]

Winter Soldier in Captain America, and Daken from Wolverine. I think I have to give the title to Daken, because I sooo hated his character previous to him taking over Dark Wolverine. Now, he's become one of the most interesting.

Best Supporting Character (Female) - This might be the easiest to judge. Rucka's done such a great job with Batwoman, that she deserves it hands down. How supporting was she? Hell, until Bruce's death, I had completely forgotten about her.

None of those guys are really supporting characters; they're leads in their own comics (Daken was, I suppose, until midway through the year).

 

[Dread]

These are always hard in some way, but here goes!

DREAD'S BEST OF 2009!

BEST HERO (MALE): A tough call between James Barnes/New Cap, Hercules, or even some of the Guardians of the Galaxy or MI-13. But I think I'll give it to Nova. The year began with Richard being stripped of his Prime rank and powers by the mad Worldmind, who was being run by Ego, and watching as Nova Centurions were recruited en masse, including his brother. What followed was a brief turn as Quasar, some butt-kicking and a lot of redefinitions. Spanking Ego? Check. Getting powers back? Check, check. Wowing Dr. Necker's world? Triple check. Beating the stuffing out of Gladiator's cousin in a SIX PAGE PREVIEW? Quadruple check. From lone star hero to commander, Nova's had a heckuva year.
Honorable Mentions: Hercules (who missed it by a hair), James Barnes, Hank Pym, Invincible (Image), Blue Beetle (DC)

BEST HERO (FEMALE): Going with Tigra here from AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE. 2008 had her become Hood's near-rape victim, but 2009 was all about her getting her groove back thanks to Christos Gage. She's kicking butt and taking names, and is hardly apologetic about it. She's declared she'll be no man's "furry sex toy". Perhaps an even bolder decision, she has (so far) decided to keep the child that she unknowingly conceived with Hank Pym's Skrull impostor. It has been amazing watching Gage do Tigra justice this year.
Honorable Mentions: Faiza Hussain/Excalibur, Black Widow, Nomad/Rikki Barnes, Atom Eve

BEST SUPPORTING CHARACTER (MALE): This one goes to Amadeus Cho, easily. While he still doesn't quite have the chops to be the star of INCREDIBLE HERCULES right now, he's still one of the best sidekicks a hero like Herc could get. His bit at the end of the year about wanting to keep Herc alive because he's practically family to him was very touching for such a snarky kid.
Honorable Mentions: Bug, Cosmo (sniffle), Jack Flag from GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. Can I just put the whole team here? Oh, and Carlos from BLUE BEETLE; he's always hilarious.

BEST SUPPORTING CHARACTER (FEMALE): I'll say Ko-Rel, whose biting commentary in NOVA is always awesome.
Honorable mentions: Pepper Potts, Mantis, Brenda from BLUE BEETLE.

BEST TEAM: Very tough this year. How about I have the Agents of Atlas, the Slott Mighty Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy all share this award?
Honorable Mentions: DYNAMO 5.

BEST VILLAIN (MALE): The Magus from Guardians of the Galaxy. Great banter, vast threat, he isn't quite dead despite the team getting a Cosmic Cube assist from Kang himself, AND he was so heartless that he wasted Cosmo in one panel. COSMO! You can kill a hundred Captain Americas, but offing psychic Commie space-dogs? Uncool. Although I can understand him not wanting to be like Thanos, who lost to a bunch of animals this year.
Honorable Mentions: Loki, Red Skull, Dracula, Norman Osborn (by sheer default; I am seriously sick of him now, more than I was when Mackie revived him); Angstrom Levy, Zechariah (Image, ASTOUNDING WOLF-MAN; any vampire mentor who all but ****s his werewolf enemy's daughter? That's cooooold).

BEST VILLAIN (FEMALE): This goes to Hera, easily. Even after a few thousand years, she's still the most evil step-mother a hero ever had. Aiming to erase reality, and willing to throw her "favorite" daughter Hebe out skyscraper windows on a whim. Plus, she has more mood swings than a thousand Amazons on the rag.
Honorable Mentions: Madame Masque. Her turn in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN has been downright creepy on a BASIC INSTINCT level.

BEST STORY: Right now, it is "ASSAULT ON NEW OLYMPUS", easily.
Honorable Mentions: The Marvels Project; Conquest (from INVINCIBLE), "The Riddle of the Sphinx" from NOVA; "Vampire State" from CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13.

GOOD STORY, BOTCHED BY NEANDERTHAL LEVEL SCHEDULING: Captain America: Reborn.

WORST STORY: Ultimatum, with runner up likely Hulk. Yes, Loeb out-sucked Bendis this year. Hail to the king, baby! He's even making Chris Claremont's twilight writing look good!

BEST FIGHT: This one has to go to Invincible vs. Conquest in INVINCIBLE #61-64. The sheer scale of damage, the brutality, the "omigod did Kirkman REALLY just kill Atom Eve" fake-out. This was the first real attempt at a DBZ style brawl in an American comic book.
Honorable Mention: Hercuthor vs. Thorcules in INCREDIBLE HERCULES. "Nu-Krack" for the win. Also, Black Bolt vs. Vulcan in WAR OF KINGS #5-6.

BEST MOMENT: Hercules and Hebe patching things up in ASSAULT ON NEW OLYMPUS #1, because I'm a softie, and because Herc lost to Nova in the Hero award.
Honorable Mention: Nova vanquishing Ego with one final blast in NOVA; Faiza taking out Dracula in CB&MI13; "Headbutts of Death" that ended the Invincible/Conquest fight in INVINCIBLE.

BEST ONGOING SERIES: This time I refuse to choose between INCREDIBLE HERCULES and NOVA, because I don't have to. I buy both.
Honorable Mentions: Three canned series; BLUE BEETLE (died Feb. 2009), AGENTS OF ATLAS, and CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13. Those still alive, INVINCIBLE, AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE (which really had a great year), BOOSTER GOLD, DYNAMO 5, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, CAPTAIN AMERICA (before hiatus).

BEST MINI-SERIES: THE MARVELS PROJECT is kicking all kinds of ass now.
Honorable Mentions: NOMAD: GIRL WITHOUT A WORLD; WAR OF KINGS; GHOST RIDERS: HEAVEN'S ON FIRE.

BEST PUBLISHER: Marvel, which continues to publish many quality titles in spite of itself.
Honorable Mention: Image

BEST WRITER: Very, very hard this year. I'll list the ones I like and that will have to be enough. In no particular order: Ed Brubaker, Christos Gage, Fred Van Lente, Jeff Parker, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Greg Pak, Matt Fraction, Dan Jurgens, Robert Kirkman.

WORST WRITER: This was Jeph Loeb's year. His "poison touch" is even killing the relaunch of Incredible Hulk sales wise. Ultimatum did nothing but ward readers from Ultimate. THE LONG HALLOWEEN was, indeed, a LONG time ago.

MOST OVERRATED WRITER: Bendis or JMS.

BEST BREAKOUT WRITER: Probably Kieron Gillen, producing high quality for a run no one will remember in two years time on THOR, sandwiched between JMS and Fraction like Gerald Ford between Nixon and Carter.

BEST BREAKOUT ARTIST: I'd never heard of Rodney Buchemi before INCREDIBLE HERCULES, but now he's up there with Clayton Henry and Reilly Brown on that book. To be fair, Brown had really only been known for DEADPOOL before Herc too.

MOST OVEREXPOSED HERO OF 2009: Named after the last DIRTY HARRY film, it's Deadpool easily. Although he shares this award with, as always, Wolverine. I could go a year without any of them. Deadpool in March will be in 9 books, proving that Marvel hasn't learned their "overdo them while they're hot and run them into the ground" lesson from Punisher, Ghost Rider, and Venom of the 90's. Ah, Marvel, no one repeats mistakes better than you, aside for DC.
Dishonorable Mentions: Sentry; seriously, who HASN'T kicked his ass this year? Take your meds and go back to rehab with Britney, Bob.

MOST OVEREXPOSED VILLAIN OF 2009: Is there any doubt that it is Norman Osborn? And to think everyone screamed when Howard Mackie revived him to end the Clone Saga at the end of the 90's; where would Marvel be without him? They'd have had to have chosen a different villain to replace Iron Man as media darling who wasn't a tried and convicted serial killer/domestic terrorist. That would have been very hard.
Dishonorable Mention: "Look, I'm a bad ass because I'm wearing Dormammu's bed-sheet and Bendis says I am," the Hood. He and Norman are like twin cysts that won't leave us alone yet. Hood's like a demonic Linus from PEANUTS, cuddling his security blanket and suckling on a handgun or two.

BEST NEW CHARACTER YOU'D LIKE TO SEE AGAIN, BUT PROBABLY WON'T: I have faith we'll see Faiza Hussein again, so I'll go with Blue Marvel here. He's a better stab at a premise like the Sentry than the Sentry ever was.

THE "CRAP OR GET OFF THE POT" FRANCHISE OF 2009: Still Young Avengers. Their annual mini series from Paul Cornell and Mark Brooks was an ambitious failure in many ways. When a third of them have to rely on being in MIGHTY AVENGERS for development, you know that is bad. Have Sean McKeever write it with Nomad and his Gravity character on the team already!

BEST EDITORIAL LINE OF THE YEAR: Joe Quesada, upon being told on a blog that even with all of his fudgy math excuses and a few mulligans, he was off on INCREDIBLE HULK #600 by at least one issue:

"Math is hard."

Note this "math" isn't even freshman algebra.
Honorable Mentions: Vows that CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI-13 wasn't canceled, when it clearly was. Or any hokum Dan DiDio says about Wonder Woman or Aquaman.

BEST FRANCHISE PUSH OF 2009: The AGENTS OF ATLAS. They and Jeff Parker were everywhere the last half of the year, and look to repeat that through Spring 2010. Marvel's really devoted to this one, and for once it's deserving!

My "Best 725 Comics Of The Decade" article is at the Examiner link below!

 

[Optikal]

Best Hero (Male) - Deadpool. Though I don't like the character personally, his star has shone above all others this year in the Marvel U at least. Plus, it's nice to see someone different taking the spotlight for a change.

Honourable mentions: Nick Fury, Dick Grayson, Gladiator

Best Hero (Female) - Black Widow. Her story running through various books as well as the recent mini have been surprisingly entertaining. It makes me look forward to seeing her in IM2 this coming summer.

Honourable mentions: Soranik Natu, Mockingbird, Mera

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Ares. The God of War really has shone throughout Dark Reign, gaining a lot of character development that built upon his 5 issue mini a from a couple years back. He's quickly found a place as one of my favorite characters.

Honourable mentions: Ghost, Headpool, Saint Walker

Best Supporting Character (Female) - Pepper Potts. As Tony spent the better part of 2009 destroying himself to save everyone else, Pepper was right there with him, even stepping up into an actual hero role herself. A nice bit of evolution for the character.

Honourable mentions: Victoria Hand

Best Villain (Male) - Taskmaster. Taking the (Dark) reigns of the Initiative, Taskmaster has found himself with strength and purpose, so much so that he's been welcomed into Normans Cabal. A good year for the Merc.

Honourable mentions: Black Hand, Larfleeze, Norman Osborn, Daken

Best Villain (Female) - Madame Masque. She only wins because no matter how hard I work through everything I've read this year, I can't find a truly significant female villain I've enjoyed.

Best Story - War of Kings. I usually hate Cosmic Marvel and uber hate the Shi'Ar, but WoK was a huge surprise and comes very highly recommended.

Best Fight - Punisher vs Daken from The List: Punisher. It was visceral, gory and really made you sit back in shock at the brutality of it.

Honourable mention: Black Bolt vs Vulcan at the climax of War of Kings. Beautifully drawn and coloured with the right balance of good dialogue and nice art.

Best Moment - For me it was seeing Gladiator crowned as Majestor of the Shi'Ar at the end of War of Kings. A reluctant leader of the people, I am really enjoying seeing his personal story unfold from here.

Best Miniseries - The Black Terror. Alex Ross and Co write a wonderful of a hero out of his time valiantly battling in the name of lost friends and against dark memories. A really strong story about the fact that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Honourable mentions: SuperGod, Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter

Best Ongoing Series - Secret Warriors. Coming from nowhere, Secret Warriors has stormed to the top of my reading list and has been the most consistent book I've read all year. Fury is a bad ass mo'fo' once more and his young team continue to develop nicely.

Honourable mentions: X-Force, Green Lantern, Justice Society, Cowboy Ninja Viking

Best Trade - 2009 has been all about older trades for me this year. From Moon Knight to Hawkman, it's all retro. So no vote from me.

Best Publisher - Marvel Comics. Whilst Dark Reign has dragged in places, it's excelled in others. A good centerpiece event in their books along with a strong showing at the box office with Wolverine this year, as well as the hype building for both Siege and next years Iron Man 2, 2009 was definitely Marvels.

Best Writer - Greg Pak. The guy is just consistenly good and he gets better year upon year. I can't recall a single issue of any given character that Pak has wrote that I didn't enjoy.

Best Artist - the tag team of Mike Choi and Sonia Oback. Absolutely stellar art from them both every time they work together.

Breakout Writer - Jonathan Hickman. Go read Secret Warriors and I won't need to explain.

Honourable Mention: Kieron Gillen. Solid work on the recent Ares and Beta Ray Bill Mini's. He also took over Thor seamlessly from JMS.

Breakout Artist - Francis Manapul. His art bears a lot of similarities to Ed McGuiness (possibly my fave comic book artist)

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Aw, I forgot about Ko-Relmind. She's definitely an honorable mention for best female supporter. Actually, she might even overtake Strata and win the category, the more I think about her. Between her stint as the Worldmind's personality and her time as an actual Nova Centurion, I don't think any new character has so effortlessly won my affection.

 

[CConn]

Best Hero (Male) - Captain America

Best Hero (Female) - Kathy Kane

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Damian Wayne

Best Supportign Character (Female) - Catwoman (Gotham City Sirens)

Best Villain (Male) - The Flamingo (Batman & Robin)

Best Villain (Female) - Alice (Detective Comics)

Best Story - Superman's New Krypton Saga

Best Fight - Captain America vs. Red Skull in Captain America: Reborn

Best Moment - Batman appearing lost in time in the final pages of Final Crisis

Best Miniseries - Wednesday Comics

Best Ongoing Series - Detective Comics

Best Event - Blackest Night

Best Trade - Daredevil Omnibus Vol. 1

Best Publisher - DC

Best Writer - Geoff Johns

Best Artist - J.H. Willaims

Breakout Writer - Jonathan Hickman

Breakout Artist - Francis Manapul

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

Best Hero (Male) - Captain America (Bucky)
Runners Up - Daredevil, Spider-Man, Mitchell Hundred

Best Hero (Female) - Batwoman
Runners Up - Question (Rene Montoya), Spider-Woman

Best Supporting Character (Male) - Master Izo
Runners Up - Robin (Damian Wayne), Amadeus Cho, Ragdoll

Best Supporting Character (Female) - one of Spider-Man's hos?
Runners Up - the rest of Spider-Man's hos?

Best Villain (Male) - Norman Osborn, baby
Runners Up - Kingpin, Loki

Best Villain (Female) - Suzanne Padilla in Ex Machina
Runners Up - Syn, Victoria Hand, Loki

Best Story - Batwoman in Detective Comics
Runners Up - Return of the King in Daredevil, Batman Reborn in Baman and Robin, Bad Night in Criminal

Best Fight - Hercules vs. Thor in Incredible Hercules #137

Best Moment - Daredevil takes over the Hand in Daredevil #500

Best Miniseries - Incognito By Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips (only picking mini's that have ended)
Runners Up - Zero Killer, Local, Wednesday Comics

Best Ongoing Series - Daredevil
Runners Up - Criminal, Ex Machina, Detective Comics

Best Trade* - Age of Bronze Vol. 3: Betrayal (that came out this year, right?)

Best Publisher - Marvel Comics

Best Writer - Ed Brubaker for Daredevil, Criminal, Captain America, Marvels Project
Runners Up - Brian Michael Bendis, Greg Rucka, Brian K. Vaughan

Best Artist - J.H. Williams for Detective Comics
Runners Up - Sean Phillips, Michael Lark

Breakout Writer - Brian Michael Bendis?

Breakout Artist - J.H. Williams, I've only see him do covers before

Best New Series - Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man
Runners Up - Batman and Robin

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

Yeah, my list is totally better than your guys' lists

 

[runawayboulder]

Yeah, my list is totally better than your guys' lists

Except for Bendis as breakout writer. The guy has been around forever.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

CTOAN's a diehard Daredevil fan. You can't really trust his opinion on anything.

 

[BrianWilly]

Guys?

Guys.

I just read the Ares miniseries.

HOLY FRARK. It is the best thing ever.

Guys

Who the **** is this Gillen? Where did he come from??

Going to make some changes to my list...

 

[Optikal]

The Ares mini is indeed pretty badass

 

[TheCorpulent1]

He's from England, he started out writing music and video game reviews, his big break in comics was Phonogram, he's currently also writing SWORD and Thor, he's responsible for one of the greatest Beta Ray Bill stories ever (Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter), and he's a pretty nice guy on his blog.