LUCIDMEDIA

Lucid Comics Dec 31 2008

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Wednesday, 31 December 2008 17:25

2008 – The Top 10 Stories

The Unlikeliest of (Super)Heroes – Barack Obama

The man that eventually was elected 44th President of the United States found his natural charisma and hopeful message extend its way to the comic page as he battled Republican John McCain for the White House. Both men had full length comics done about them by IDW, but Obama, however, got the Dragon bump by being endorsed by Image Comics hero the Savage Dragon. Then renowned painter Alex Ross went and copied his image from a 10 year old Superman comics and replaced the Man of Steel in pose for Obama. In the new year, Obama will return to the pages of Savage Dragon, and team-up with Spider-Man.

The Hero with the Best Press – Batman

In some ways it was like 1989 all over again. Line-ups to see a Batman movie, the Joker looking at you from every other t-shirt and when Halloween came along, there was only one costume desired by half the men out there as they donned a purple suit and smeared on a faux Glasgow smile. But outside the record-breaking run of The Dark Knight, hype increased over Batman’s printed page adventures as rumours that the Caped Crusader’s demise at the end of Batman: R.I.P. was a possibility.

The Positive Housing Story – Saving Jerry Siegel’s House

Novelist and comic writer Brad Meltzer spearheaded a campaign to save the house that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman in while they lived in Cleveland in the 1930s. The Siegel & Shuster Society needed $50,000 to make repairs to the outside of the house including the roof, but celebrity donations of items for auction, including original artwork, raised over twice that much. The extra cash will go for further home improvement projects.

The One that Was Gone Too Soon – Michael Turner

After a five year long struggle against cancer, Michael Turner, a popular penciller and co-creator of Witchblade, lost his battle on June 27th and passed away. Getting his start with Image Comics, Turner moved up the ranks and started his own creator-owned line of characters like Fathom and Soulfire. With his illness, Turner had to dial down his work-load but he continued to be a prominent presence, signing with Marvel to do cover art and limited run interiors as well as drawing the re-introduction of Supergirl in Superman/Batman. A month after his death, Turner was paid tribute to at San Diego Comic Con and the first issue of the new series of Fathom was adorned with a blue ribbon to honour him.

The Stupid Gimmick that Turned Out to be a Rather Smart Move – Spider-Man: Brand New Day
It seemed so stupid on so many levels: the Kingpin orders a hit on Spider-Man, whom the world then knew to be Peter Parker following Civil War. The bullet hit Aunt May instead and with his beloved mother figure a hair’s breadth from dying Peter agreed to a deal posed by the demon Mephisto: Aunt May’s life in exchange for the love between Peter and Mary Jane being erased from existence. So after Spider-Man makes A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL! all references to his marriage to MJ is erased; he never revealed his identity, not to Aunt May and not to the world, and he’s still a luckless schlub that lives in Queens with his elderly relative and taking snaps for a tabloid rag.

But out of this mess, which reportedly had then Amazing Spider-Man writer J. Michael Straczynski ready to take his name off his final book, something strange happened: Spider-Man found the fun again. Going thrice monthly and being paired down to just the single book, Amazing has featured a rotating roster of Marvel’s top talent creating new avenues for Spidey to explore as well as new villains to battle. Sure the plot still has holes big enough to drive through, but with Spider-Man’s worst enemy Norman Osborn now the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. replacement H.A.M.M.E.R., things are bound to get more complicated for the Wall-Crawler in the year to come.

The Stupid Gimmick that Could Have Turned Out Better – Red Hulk

It seemed like such a simple idea: take the Hulk and make him red. But then the delays started becoming longer, which only exacerbated an obvious flaw in the book, which was that it seemed to be an excuse for “Rulk” to beat up on a new Avenger every week. Worse still, we’re nine issues in and we still have no idea who “Rulk” is (other than the fact he’s a blank-hole).

The Stupid Gimmick that Still Looks Pretty Stupid – Marvel Apes

The fanboy penchant for finding simians hilarious has finally gone from sad to self-parody with Marvel going ape-$#!t and turning it’s Universe into the Planet of the You-Know-Whats. Now Spider-Man’s a monkey, even though monkeys aren’t apes. But, you know, spider monkeys. Ha, ha, ha. Hilarious.

The Problem with Misprints – DC Comics

Shipping September 10th, Diamond Distributors asked its stores to bin all issues of All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder #10 because all the swear words could be seen through the black bars painted over them because the black used for the bar was lighter than the black used in the lettering. The next week, Action Comics #869 depicted Clark Kent enjoying a frosty beverage with his adapted father during an evening on the Kent Farm. But a minor uproar forced DC to rethink the notion of two grown men drinking a beer and instead the artwork was changed to show them drinking regular, old, non-family values destroying soda pop. Clearly DC Comics has no shame.

The Most Improved Comic, or Comic-related Franchise – Smallville

Going in, apparently everyone but the execs at the CW thought that an eighth season of Smallville was a bad idea, especially with Lex Luthor, and the tremendous talent portraying him, Michael Rosenbaum, departing. Shockingly though, it was the right, swift kick in the tights this show needed. Dropping the dead weight called Lana (Kristen Kreuk), bringing back fan favourite Green Arrow (Justin Hartley), replacing Lex with femme fatale Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman) and introducing Jekyll & Hyde Doomsday (Sam Witwer) has re-energized a show that hasn’t had a lot of energy for years. It’s still far from perfect, but it feels like there’s finally direction. (Even though its depiction of life at a newspaper is still woefully inaccurate.)

The Dumbest Super-villain Crime of All – Spencer Taylor

Not heard of Spencer Taylor? Well, he’s the genius that said to himself, “I want that Dark Knight memorabilia from the movie theatre lobby and I know just how to get it.” So he dressed up as the Joker (including make-up), marched down to the Three Rivers 6 cinema and proceeded to take posters off the wall and tried to grab other goodies before being detained by theatre staff till the police arrived. The 20-year-old Michigan man was arrested on felony larceny and malicious destruction of property charges, and a special place on the “What were they thinking?” list.

The Awards

Best Publisher – Dark Horse

Celebrating 20 years and still going strong, Dark Horse managed to have a great year with a new Hellboy movie, the continuation of the Umbrella Academy saga and a big event crossover set in the Star Wars universe. Dark Horse even got into the soda business this year when The Goon and Emily the Strange being put on the labels of limited edition Jones flavours. Better still is that my pick for Best Series is a Dark Horse title…

Best Ongoing Series – Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8

There were so many interesting series this year, but only one managed to be consistently entertaining; fulfilling the promise to its readership to delivery the moments they’ve been dying to see. This past year Dracula returned; the big bad (Twilight) made his bow; there was a trip to the future with Fray, where Dark Willow ruled; we got a glimpse at the once and future BTVS Animated Series; and Buffy experimented with girl on girl action. In 2009, look for the return of Harmony and Faith.

Best Miniseries/One-Shot – Joker (DC Comics)

Whether intentional or not, Joker by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo was the perfect tie-in for a comic reading public anxious for more following The Dark Knight. Providing new and original takes on Batman’s Rogues’ Gallery, Joker gave the fanatical and the casual reader something cool to chew on.

Best New Series – Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel Comics)

The two chapters of Annihilation managed to make Marvel’s space characters the most under-valued menagerie in the publisher’s arsenal. Smartly, editor’s decided to put many of those characters together on one team and gave it the name of the lamer groups from the 90s. The result was an oddly compelling adventure serial that made stars out of characters like Star Lord, Rocket Racoon and half of the old Infinity Watch.

Best Writer – Ed Brubaker

On any one of his books alone, Brubaker is undoubtedly qualified to be on the short-list for this honour. But consider the following: Captain America, Uncanny X-Men, Daredevil, Immortal Iron Fist, and Criminal. There probably isn’t a more prolific, talented and eclectic scripter working in comics right now.

Best Artist – John Romita Jr.

Nothing beats a classic, and Romita Jr. proves that time after time. Starting off the year still basking in the success of World War Hulk, JRJR went on to a triumphant return to Spider-Man for the perfect storm of Green Goblin, Venom and Eddie Brock in the “New Ways to Die” storyline. Plus, he helped Mark Millar bring to life the hype magnet known as Kick Ass, which is currently being turned into a big budget movie, even though the series still isn’t finished yet.

Best Character (Hero) – Green Lantern

Geoff Johns is on fire with this character and this series. In spite of all the Final Crisis related upheaval, the Green Lantern books remain not just a rock, but a cornerstone in the DC canon. A combination of cop show politics and space-faring adventuring, Green Lantern shines brightly outside the glare of “The Big Three.”

Best Character (Villain) – Cobra Commander

In what must seem like an unusual choice, I offer G.I. Joe: America's Elite #34. At the end of the “World War III” storyline, C.C.’s plans are partially thwarted by his son Billy, and as punishment the main snake had his kid executed and then displayed, crucified, on a poll in the middle of the Cobra compound with a note saying, “Nobody is untouchable.”

Best Event –Secret Invasion

Say what you want about Secret Invasion, but it was insular, inclusive, epic and, most importantly, it came in on time. It lulled in the middle, and I remain rather uncertain about the ending, but it at least fulfilled the promise of a company-wide crossover, and didn’t get bogged down in the minutia of random, obscure bits of mythology. (Hint*Final Crisis*Hint.)

Best Reissue – Camelot 3000 (DC Comics)

About ten years out of circulation, DC finally gave us back this unique take on the Arthurian saga with a new deluxe edition. When aliens invade in the future, King Arthur fulfills the prophecy, returning to help England in its time of greatest need. But the Knights of the Roundtable are changed be it a different race, sex or even species. With art by Brian Bolland (Batman: The Killing Joke), Camelot 3000 is a golden example of the epic maxi-series of the 80s.

Best Comeback – (tie) Hercules and Spawn

If you told me a year ago that somebody would find a compelling way to do a book about the superhero Hercules, I probably would have laughed. But Greg Pak did though, and did it with tremendous style by mixing the mythology with the modern and transplanting the labours to a Fugitive-like tale. Meanwhile, Todd McFarlane returned to co-write Spawn and as a result, for the first time in a long time, I went to the racks on a Wednesday and found an empty spot where the new Spawn comic should have been. Coming in March: McFarlane draws.