10 best comics and graphic novels of 2009

2009 will be remembered as the year where the batshit recession hampered our (typically) reckless spending habits. But with Christmas around the corner and the prospects of impulse-spending on the horizon, comic lovers will want to avoid burning their hard-earned cash on pages of D-grade comic wankery–we've done that silly deed for you! By Odin's beard, less chatter and onto the best comics and graphic novels of 2009*!

*Criteria: comics/graphic novels in the form of single issues, completed story arcs or trade paperbacks, published before the end of 2009.

Invincible Iron Man: World's Most Wanted
^{Writer: Matt Fraction, Artist: Salvador Larocca, Publisher: Marvel Comics}

So everyone hates Tony Stark cos a) he's way smarter than you are, b) he's filthy rich and c) he shags supermodels for breakfast. Jealousy aside, Matt Fraction's Most Wanted run on Iron Man is a series that even Iron Man haters can enjoy: Tony gets his comeuppance in a big way, perfectly illustrated by his entry on fmylife.com:

"Just fended off a Skrull invasion but got cockblocked by Norman Osbourne. Dick. He took my job and made me a fugitive. Had to eraze my brain (LOL!) and shave off my moustache (epic fail). I'm on the run from the world police and some Afghani kids just shot me in the neck. FML"

Accompanying soundtrack: 'Paranoid Android' - Radiohead

I Saw You… Comics Inspired By Real Life Missed Connections
^{Editor: Julia Wertz, Publisher: Three Rivers Press}

Rewind: awkward high school days, cargo pants, inherent desire to be an anti-conformist thanks to a misguided belief that life is like the movies. You hang out at music/book stores dressed in your wittiest 'slogan' t-shirt (i.e.: 'My Penis Mightier Than The Sword!'), hoping for a chance encounter with that girl right out of Reality Bites/Garden State. Two hands reach for the same CD/book of an obscure band/author. Is she the one? You turn to catch a glimpse and perhaps, ask her out for coffee and talk about Nietzsche but the girl runs away into the darkness. You never got her name. Dumb bitch. I love you.

This my friends, is an example of a Craigslist "missed connection" moment.

Illustrated by over 80 different artists, I Saw You is an anthology of comics based on real-life missed connection ads posted on Craigslist. With each artist offering their own interpretation/narrative on themes that range from chance encounters, unrequited love to creepy voyeuristic cyber-stalking, each comic charms its way into the hearts of romantics and cynics alike thanks to its wry humor and honesty.

I Saw You is a highly recommended collection of comics that capture the dramatic irony of loneliness and longing and is perfect for projecting the impression of being a sensitive, new-age, faggoty kind of guy who will rock your world. In bed. 

Accompanying soundtrack: 'Walking After You' - Foo Fighters

Incognito
^{Writer: Ed Brubaker, Artist: Sean Phillips, Publisher: Icon Comics (imprint of Marvel Comics}

Incognito is not your typical crime noir mixed with a dose of super-heroics - you won't find an affable and selfless protagonist going through the motions on a matter of principle. Instead, you'll get bad guys and even-worser guys and grateful damsels who repay heroes with some "business" time (cue Flight Of The Conchords).

Protagonist and 'Name Of The Year Award' recipient, Zack Overkill, once feared super-criminal and object of super-criminal groupie lust, longs for the reckless thrill of his evildoing days. Having been robbed of his Herculean powers after enlisting in a witness protection program, Zack struggles to adapt to his life as the sad office bastard (the one that stays late to surf for porn).

By an accidental pot-smoking incident, his powers return and he's off causing mayhem on his road to self-rediscovery. Kind of like that Britney Spears movie, Crossroads only minus the cowshit. 

Accompanying soundtrack: 'Wicked Game' - Chris Isaak 

War Of Kings
^{Writers: Various, Artist: Paul Pelletier, Publisher: Marvel Comics}

If you like your space operas epic, rooted in royal empire warfare, peppered with tons of cosmic explosions made by superbeings in colorful tights, then Marvel's War Of Kings is for you!

Pitting the Shi'Ar empire led by mad despot, Vulcan against the splintered remains of the Kree Empire and their newly appointed Inhuman leaders led by Marvel's most powerful mute, Black Bolt - War Of Kings offers little restraint in the damage and mayhem department, opening the story with a sequence where the Shi'Ar gatecrash a royal Kree wedding in brutal fashion, killing all asunder.

Predictably, this leads to war. And double page spreads of superbeings in colorful tights going at it.

Accompanying soundtrack: 'Supermassive Black Hole' - Muse

Irredeemable
^{Writer: Mark Waid, Artist: Peter Krause, Publisher: Boom! Studios}

The premise of Irredeemable is simple: Plutonian (a pristinely moral superhero modeled after Superman) protects humankind. Plutonian discovers (thanks to that handy super-hearing of his) that humans are inherently evil, ungrateful, smegma-like beings and are undeserving of compassion. Plutonian pops on some Pantera and decides to go aggro on Earth's ass, killing anyone who's willingly ever bought a Nickelback album.

And boy does he kick the shit out of everyone (see: incinerating a defenseless woman and her infant child).

Irredeemable is an unapologetically shocking and cynical take on superheroes and the pedestals on which they (questionably) stand on. It's especially enjoyable if you're one of those people who look forward to the day when Bono is found guilty of running an Ethiopian child labor rig for designer socks.

Accompanying soundtrack: 'Megalomaniac' - Incubus

League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Century: 1910
^{Writer: Alan Moore, Artist: Kevin O'Neill, Publisher: Top Shelf Production}

A new league, a new story arc but the same top-notch story-telling we've come to expect from Alan Moore, LoEG returns with the third volume in a series that features super-powered Victorian-era literary characters who form a super group to battle evildoers. Specifically, occult groups and rapists.

As per usual, LoEG succeeds in making its reader feel both smart and stupid at the same time, delving deeply into characters and themes from 20th century fiction (i.e.: Carnacki the Ghost Hunter,  A.J. Raffles the Gentleman Thief and Berthold Brecht's 'The Threepenny Opera'). Yes, unless you're a pompous lit-snob and classical music aficionado, a WTF would be appropriate right about… now.

Some might find the obscurity and the lack of Hollywood explosions unappealing, but Moore's character and plot development and the absorbing dialogue make this a deeply engaging read. Some might argue that this is sub-par compared to the previous LoEG volumes, but even a half-baked Alan Moore piece is better than other writers' best efforts.

Obscure references, cult writer, neo-Victorian artwork - yep, this a must-have item for your bookshelf according to  the Hipster Wanker Handbook.

Accompanying soundtrack: 'The Modern Age' - The Strokes

Chew
^{Writer: John Layman, Artist: Rob Guillory, Publisher: Image Comics}

Chew is the story of Tony Chu, a criminal detective who happens to have a peculiar ability - he can take a bite out of anything organic and instantly discover where it's been, who's handled it and what it last did. This includes potatoes (last vision: being mashed), beef (last vision: cow brethren being slaughtered) or more disturbingly, a corpse (last vision: tripping on shoelace before falling into an alligator-infested manhole).

This is very handy for solving homicide crimes. It is also horribly disgusting.

Seemingly absurd and undeniably twisted, it might be the most original comic book to have come out in a long time. And in an industry ridden with rehashed concepts and rip-offs, Chew's offbeat humor and warped dementia makes this a truly delectable treat.

Accompanying soundtrack: 'Pork and Beans' - Weezer

Planetary #27
^{Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: John Cassaday, Publisher: Wildstorm (DC Comics)}

11 years is too long a time span for a 27-issue comic series to finish but Planetary keeps you hooked like a lapdog.

Based on a secret organization tasked with unearthing the "secret history of the world", Planetary is a truly unique mix of science fiction and mystery, propelled by arguably, some of the best comic-writing of all time, courtesy of Warren Ellis.

With a deep storyline that unravels with ball-crunching plot twists and complex characters who themselves seem to be treading the same path of discovery and revelation as the reader, Planetary also tastefully intersperses the plot with peculiar references to pop-culture and history (i.e.: Japanese giant monsters, Tarzan, James Bond.. etc).

*A word of warning, issue #27 assumes you've read all the previous 26 issues so it would be best to look out for the trade paperback to be released early 2010.

Accompanying soundtrack: 'Pioneers' - Bloc Party

Wolverine: Old Man Logan
^{Writer: Mark Millar, Artist: Steve McNiven, Publisher: Marvel Comics}

Set in an alternate future where the good guys lost and the villains rule the world, comic-dom's most identifiable badass gets turned into a docile, peace-loving hippie who has renounced violence in exchange for a life of peaceful subservience. Or at least, that's how the story begins.

The paradox of a pacifist Logan is exactly what makes this one of the most gripping reads of the year - the endless possibilities of a universe that runs in inverse (see: a blind Hawkeye, a Venom-symbiote infected alligator and a hillbilly Hulk family).

There's not a lot that can be said without giving away some spoilers but the twists hit you hard and, just like the reaction you had when you first saw Goatse, leave your jaw gaping (find out the horrific reason that compelled Logan to keep his claws sheathed for over fifty years).

Accompanying soundtrack: 'Grateful When You're Dead' - Kula Shaker

Umbrella Academy: Dallas
^{Writer: Gerard Way, Artist: Gabriel Bá, Publisher: Dark Horse Comics}

Dallas is the second installment in (My Chemical Romance frontman) Gerard Way's critically and commercially acclaimed Umbrella Academy series - a postmodern take on the superhero genre along the lines of the X-Men/Doom Patrol franchises.

Fueled by Way's cinematic dialogue and Gabriel Ba's kinetic artwork, Umbrella Academy is marvelously enjoyable read, centered around a dysfunctional family of super-powered orphans tasked with saving the world whilst fending off the many (bizarre) skeletons in their closets.

Throw a freewheeling melange of off-the-wall strangeness into the mix (a talking monkey mentor named Pogo, Vietnamese vampires and time-traveling assassins in cartoon masks) and you get a refreshing and furiously imaginative tale keeps you hooked from the first page till the last.

Accompanying soundtrack: 'Legacy' - Mansun

Honorable mentions:
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
All Star Superman: Volume 2 by Grand Morisson & Frank Quitely
Blackest Night by Geoff Johns & Ivan Reis
Stitches by David Small

Read more:
10 best albums of 2009 (by Smek, Killeur Calculateur)
5 superbabe costumes that make your manhood weak
5 bands that DON'T live up to their awesome superhero names