WHAT LOOKS FINE IN '09

Boy 2008 sure was stinky wasn’t it? That year deflated faster than a flan in a cupboard. But now it’s time to look ahead and see what there is to look forward to in the year 2009.

Muppet/Pixar Comics -- Boom! Studios were able to gain the license to these properties and in March we’ll see the fruits of that labor. From the looks of the solicits they’ve gone top quality all the way with Mark Waid writing The Incredibles and Roger Langridge doing The Muppets (which I and fellow employee Matt Knapik are very excited about) Plus, they're $2.99 for 24 pages of story, a great value in these harsh Dickensian times. Due in March.

Blackest Night -- I’m as sick as anyone of events, I wrote an article about it remember? But Green Lantern has been probably DC’s consistently best book (and DC’s best line: GL Corps is equally good) so I have a lot of goodwill going into this more than I have had in probably any event ever. Should be out in early summer.

Wolverine: Weapon X -- Wolverine is in way, way too many comics if they cut the amount of stuff he was appearing in by a 1/3 it’d still be a lot. So why is this on my list? I’m not much of Wolverine fan, I’m not really looking forward to the movie that this series is being launched alongside of (much like Fraction’s Iron Man book last year.) This is on my list because of Jason Aaron. Scalped is one of my favorite books and always on the top of my list of recommendations for customers. His Ghost Rider is ridiculously fun. And Aaron’s past Wolverine has been darn good. Out in April.

War of Kings -- If my Blackest Night recommendation didn’t make me look like a hypocrite here I come with another event. It does seem that Marvel doesn’t have anything like a Civil War or a Secret Invasion this year and this crossover is regulated only to the cosmic Marvel books. The two Annihilation series, Nova, and Guardians of the Galaxy are among the best comics out there and this follows in that esteemed tradition. This will be super fun. Already gearing up to go but the main mini is due in March.

Flash: Rebirth -- Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, and the return of a silver age DC character. It’s worked before. The Flash has been in a bit of a rut for a while and this should jump start the franchise and bring it back to prominence once again. Hitting the ground running in April

Bits and Pieces -- Quick hits of other things coming ahead:

Ignition City -- Described by Warren Ellis as Deadwood meets Flash Gordon so that’s a good sign. By Avatar in the Spring.

Superman Secret Origin -- Origin stories are always kind of fun if a bit overdone but its done by the Action Comics team of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank so this should be good. Coming in Spring.

Secret Warriors -- The preview in Dark Reign New Nation was good and Jonathan Hickman is always worth a look. Out in February.

Ultimate Avengers -- Mark Millar returns to the Ultimate Universe with this follow-up to The Ultimates 1 & 2 sometime this summer.

Grant Morrison’s Batman -- He’s due back sometime in the summer and one has to wonder where its gonna go now that well…Batman is dead. Who’ll be Batman and is Frank Quitely really doing the art like the internet says? We’ll have to see.