The last best-of 2009 list: Sandy Bilus combined 130 best-of lists from one end of the Internet to the other, coming up with a mega-meta-list of the top 100 best-reviewed comics of 2009. It looks like it was a lot of work, and I think the results are well worth it.

Fangirls super-excited about that Birds of Prey announcement: At least judging from the number of posts on the subject that the gals at When Fangirls Attack managed to compile in the space of a day or two.

“‘Human Target’ an action-packed thrill ride”: At least, that’s what the headline for this Reuters review says. “Action-packed thrill ride.” I didn’t know that  phrase even existed outside of press releases and movie blurbs.

“Obviously, no corporate-type person would let me run a newspaper chain in real life!”: Michael Cavna picks up on a long-ish quote from a Comics Journal interview with veteran editor Dave Astor, which just so happens to be an answer to a question regarding the best way to treat comics pages seemingly tailor-made to hearten cartoonists.

“Would you rather be a closet superhero—or outed?”: So asks Asylum…in reference to secret identities, not sexual identities. (Although I suspect some superheroes are in both of those metaphorical closets). Based on the examples given, it seems like all the coolest superheroes are all closeted, right?

“Deadpool, as in the cover boy of the ‘extremely rare Siege #3 Deadpool Variant,’ is a copy of Deathstroke…That’s just salt in the wound, isn’t it?”: David Brothers takes a look at Marvel’s weird 50-DC-books-for-1-variant-cover promotion thingee, and finds cheap shots within cheap shots (And while you’re at 4thletter, check out this post about the recent events on late night television…everything’s funnier with Blackest Night!). Tom Spurgeon’s characterization of Marvel’s antics as those of a rascally rival sports team was pretty funny too.

If you’re interested in pirates, Richard Sala and sexy girls, this should be especially relevant to your interests: Richard Sala shows off some old art, and it’s typically beautiful work. Please be advised that one of the pieces includes seven sexy pirate girls cavorting under water. (Via Flog)

…Springsteen today. Great song.

Man, oh, man. There were a lot of you coming out to tell me I’d missed the bus on Misfit! I just didn’t think the girl had a scalloped cape in the last appearance I read, and frankly I don’t see why they would black out a character who had already been on the team and who isn’t high enough profile to be an “exciting return”. At least I’d be a little surprised to see any of the women I mentioned joining the BoP.

That said, I’m in a hurry and am going to skip the foreplay and just tell you who I think the guy might be.

Hawk (Hank Hall) – Well, we got into a lot of why I think it might be him last night. First off, the idea of the pair being closer together than the rest of the team, and having a big guy and a small girl…I get the notion that this might be Hank Hall and Dawn Granger, who it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to see come out of Blackest Night. Hank is certainly, given his long and checkered history in the DC Universe, undeniably the “iconic” version of Hawk, and if you brought back Don, you’d lose most of what’s defined him for the last twenty years or so. Also, he’s not only big and bulky like that, but his Nightwing-esque short cape would fit the silhouette.

Why not him? Well, he is dead, after all. That tends to be a barrier to joining new teams.

Bane – He’s huge. He’s in the Bat-universe. And Simone has been working with him pretty consistently on the Secret Six. Seeing him interacting with some of Bruce’s friends and loved ones would be really pretty entertaining.

Why not him? Well…he’s Bane. The chance of his working with Barbara for too long is pretty darn slim.

Catman – There’s nothing to say he can’t be on two teams at once, and it’s clear that not only does Simone know the character, and like the character, but she’s pretty good at writing the way he interacts with women.

Why not him? He’s pretty busy with the Secret Six. There’s nothing to say he can’t be here, but it still seems unlikely. Plus, no ears in the silhouette.

Damage – Well, he’s a big dude with a square head, who’s gotten plenty of play in Blackest Night and whose status we don’t know yet coming out of it. We know he’s dead at the moment, having had his heart ripped out…and we know he’ll live through the story, because we’ve seen him on JSA covers.

Why not him? He’s going to be in one of the myriad Justice League or Justice Society titles, so it’s unlikely he’ll be freed up for the birds. Besides which, neither any of these characters nor Gail Simone have all that close a connection to him.

Kilowog – Again, I’m going to say he’s a big dude and we don’t know what’s going to come of him after Blackest Night, which is a story where he’s gotten plenty of play. He’d fit in quite nicely with Oracle, and provide the team with both muscle and technical expertise.

Why not him? It’s unlikely to see him back on earth for any period of time as long as the Green Lantern Corps stays intact, besides which…if all I’m going on is the shape of the silhouette? This bloke doesn’t seem to have big, Kilowog-shaped ears.

With Blackest Night behind him, Booster Gold was back to business-as-usual this month, with the first really “ordinary” issue since Dan Jurgens took over the title. Between chaotic crossovers, time travel disasters and fill-in teams, Jurgens stepped into his role as writer of Booster Gold and almost immediately started running flat-out.

As most of you know already, that run will be coming to an end soon, as former Justice League International masterminds Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis are joined by former Infinity Inc. penciler Chris Batista to take over the title sometime this spring.

What most of you don’t know, and what Jurgens tells The Gold Exchange this week, is that this is more of a Gail Simone-on-Birds of Prey kind of departure than a Gail Simone-on-Deadpool kind. Jurgens, the man who created Booster Gold and has had a hand in writing or drawing almost all of the character’s solo stories for the last twenty-four years, is planning to come back to his creation after taking what he calls “a temporary reprieve from Booster Gold to handle something else.”

But that’s getting ahead of ourselves. Booster Gold #28, out yesterday, featured our time-traveling, toothpaste-shilling superhero busting it up with the Royal Flush Gang (again) before being summoned to help Rip Hunter with a crisis in time. Clearly a lot more comfortable in his role as “time cop” these days, Booster asks Rip if it’s a bunch of nuts trying to kill Hitler again, and while Rip says no, it is an assassination attempt…and the target, NASA mission commander Hank Henshaw, is someone who’s responsible for millions of deaths in the DCU.

Henshaw, whose experimental rocket was bombarded with radiation in a Jurgens-written issue of Superman about ten years ago, would ultimately be the last surviving member of the craft’s four-person crew. Having lost his wife and two friends in a tragedy that Superman arrived moments too late to prevent, Henshaw blamed Superman for his sorry luck and, when he ultimately took on the ability to embody and manipulate machinery, he set out to ruin Superman’s reputation. In the months after Superman’s death at the hands of Doomsday in Superman #75 (also written and drawn by Dan Jurgens), Henshaw assumed the identity of the Cyborg Superman, and was responsible for the destruction of Coast City. Apparently some years from now, the United States government aims to send the first-ever time traveler back in time. That traveler’s mission? To stop the destruction of Coast City by any means necessary. (more…)

In a move that’s no surprise to anyone, former DC editor and current Green Lantern Corps writer Peter Tomasi, who is one of the architects behind the upcoming Brightest Day project, has extended his exclusive agreement with DC Entertainment.

“There’s so many incredible stories coming down the pike that it’s truly gonna be a helluva ride,” Tomasi told DC’s blog The Source, discussing his shift from Green Lantern Corps writer to full-on DC Universe architect.

Tomasi’s announcement comes on the heels of DC’s recent exclusive acquisition of David Finch, who will be drawing covers for Brightest Day, and the rumored courting of a Marvel-exclusive artist to work on a Wonder Woman project with writer Grant Morrison.

If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!

First, a disclaimer — I don’t believe this, considering there’s absolutely no primary sources on any of this. But maybe you’ll enjoy the lulz or something. Then again, I thought the same thing when I heard about Sony rebooting this franchise, so you never know, right?

A couple of gossip sites, including Daily Fill, are reporting that Twilight heartthrob Robert Pattinson could be on the short list to play the all-new, all-younger Peter Parker in the 2012 Spider-Man film. I think that even if they could surgically remove Pattinson’s evocative haircut, it might be a tough sell — but then again, check out these clips from the Bad Mother’s Handbook, in which he played quite the geek:

Other names that Daily Fill used were Michael Cera (I just felt a great disturbance in the Force typing that, as if millions of fans suddenly cried out in terror, and then were suddenly silenced) or Chace Crawford (a name I’ve seen pop up a couple of times in regards to this, actually). What say you, Rama readers? Who would you pick to play your friendly neighborhood webslinger?

The cover of DC’s The Brave and The Bold #31, on sale January 20:

The cover of DC/Vertigo’s Air #17, on sale January 20:

It’s a common enough story: Company A makes the best darn little widgets and builds up a reputation. Along comes Company B who buys out Company A and sucks the soul out of what it bought. That is a fate that Top Shelf Productions, a leading publisher of indepenent graphic novels and comics, has avoided. So, it’s wonderful news from Top Shelf that they have entered into a deal with genuine kindred spirits that they’re excited about that should actually enhance the company. The deal is with new media entrepreneur John S. Johnson and independent film producer Anthony Bregman’s company, Likely Story. They have bought a 33 % interest in Top Shelf Productions.

The deal seems as fair as one could hope for. Co-founders Chris Staros and Brett Warnock  get to keep a controlling interest and Johnson and Bergman provide their substantial resources to take things to the next level. What makes things appear promising is the impressive line up of movies that Bergman has produced over his career which include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lovely & Amazing and Sense & Sensibility. Currently, his production company, Likely Story, have two films premiering at Sundance: Please Give, starring Catherine Keener and The Extra Man, starring Kevin Kline.

Johnson and Bergman will have a first-look option on all new Top Shelf publications for possible film and TV development. Could this inhibit seeking out more experimental comics that may not transfer all that well to other media? And what are the particulars of the first-look option?

The first Top Shelf book to benefit from this new arrangement is Too Cool To Be Forgotten by Alex Robinson which is considered to be his best work yet. About a dad who must come to terms with his bad habits, namely smoking, the story transports him back in time as a teenager with a unique chance to get things right. As for Top Shelf, it looks like they have the most unique chance of all to continue to get things right.

You can read the full press release over at the Top Shelf Productions Web site.

So, Marvel sent out a press release today announcing that they’ll trade a Deadpool variant cover of Siege #3 for every 50 stripped covers from DC’s Blackest Night tie-ins that retailers send in. Neat idea. But you know what would be an even better idea, Marvel? How about instead of Blackest Night tie-ins, you let retailers send in stripped covers from Dark Reign: Lethal Legion, Dark Reign: Zodiac, and all those other Dark Reign minis you guys published a few months ago? At least the Blackest Night books are selling. No one gave a rat’s ass about Dark Reign.

I hate to be that guy–you know the one–but the cover for the new issue of Toyfare has a major mistake on it:

Here we see the B.J. Penn figure from Jakks Pacific’s UFC line choking out the Chuck Liddell figure from the same line. The problem is that Penn and Lidell fight in different weight classes–Liddell is the former UFC light heavyweight champion, while Penn is the current UFC lightweight champion (and former welterweight champion). So, while in the early days of the UFC, it was perfectly acceptable for fighters in different weight classes to fight one another (hello, Royce Gracie), these days, Penn and Liddell would never fight in a sanctioned match. You fail, Toyfare.

All kidding aside, Jakks has done an awesome job with these UFC toys, and judging by how scarcely they seem to show up in the local toy aisles, they seem to be pretty successful as well. Jakks produced toys based the WWF/WWE for thirteen years before Mattel got the rights to the wrestling juggernaut starting this year; so I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do with one of the world’s fastest growing sports.

Does 007 have aliens in his crossfire?

Since Robert Downey, jr turned down the “Cowboys & Aliens” adaptation, and according to Collider Daniel Craig is in talks to take over the role now.

Hrm. I couldn’t think of a better replacement if the deal actually goes through, but what do you Rama readers think of this announcement?

Marvel Comics just released a press release saying that they’ll be allowing retailers to return stripped covers of fifty unsold comics in exchange for a Deadpool variant cover version of The Siege #3. The promotion runs through February 16, just over a month from now, and will, according to Marvel, give retailers a chance to return over-ordered product in order to obtain what they call an “extremely rare” variant of their big event book.

The catch? All qualifying titles are DC Comics. Recent issues of Adventure Comics, Booster Gold, Doom Patrol, Justice League of America, Outsiders and R.E.B.E.L.S., which were ordered by retailers in huge numbers because of their connection the DC’s Blackest Night event and its related ring giveaway, are going to be bartered back by Marvel, presumably in hopes that they can embarrass DC with a press release trumpeting big numbers of “unwanted” comics that retailers felt obliged to order to get the much-in-demand rings.

The books in question all saw substantial sales gains in the month that they were propping up Blackest Night, both before and after the ring promotion month–but many retailers complained that the quantity they were being asked to buy in order to qualify for the rings was simply too high, and that while retailers bought a lot in order to get the rings, many of them ended up with too much product on the shelf. Given Blackest Night’s continued sales success, and a perception by some fans that Marvel isn’t dominating the sales charts in the same way as they had in recent years, the House of Ideas probably sees this as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by promoting The Siege by attacking Blackest Night.

That said, as Bleeding Cool observes, it’s primarily going to benefit large retailers and some of the online clearinghouses; many of these comics sold out at small and medium-sized retailers whose customers got swept up in the enthusiasm for Blackest Night. ”Not a slight against Marvel but I’m sure I don’t’ have fifty copies of those books left,” said Jeff Watkins, the manager of Cloud City Comics in DeWitt, New York, who referred to the ring promotion as one of the smartest things done in comics this year. ”I probably don’t have ten of those books; a lot of those books are complete sell-outs.”

Watkins operates a fairly small store in a suburb of Syracuse, but says that the ring promotion worked better than many similar gimmicks because the product was good. “I think it worked so well because people who bought them for the rings weren’t unhappy with the titles themselves; they put out some really good issues of R.E.B.E.L.S. and Outsiders.”

Still, they’re asking for an awful lot of copies in order to get one comic back from Marvel, so one has to wonder how many retailers will just hang on to all or most of their leftovers and figure that selling them in the dollar bin might be a more economical idea.

Alright, so that’s the most random Rolling Stones quote of the week. But I’m trying to put two and two together, something I’ve done fairly successfully in the past, about who might be the shadowy figures on the cover of the new Birds of Prey #1 by Gail Simone and Ed Benes.

When the series relaunch was announced this morning on DC’s blog, the general sense of enthusiasm for a Simone-helmed Birds of Prey relaunch was almost enough to drown out the people who started speculating right away as to who the pair of shadows in the team’s midst might be. There appears, from my point of view, to be a male (this would be the first time a dude was “officially” part of the Birds of Prey) and a female, largely because I can’t think of a single female in the DC Universe who would be large enough to account for the figure standing on the ground.

As ever, I’ll start with the character(s) I think most likely to be the one pictured and work my way down the list. After the top two or so, the order stops having any order whatsoever, as I figure the odds of the people down there to be somewhere in the 10% or less range anyway. For the female (flying) character, we’ve got: (more…)

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, has announced their 21st annual Media Award nominees — and a bunch of solid comics are in close competition for the prize!

The best comic book nominees are perhaps no surprise, as they all had strong, three-dimensional takes on gay and lesbian characters:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Jane Espenson, Steven S. DeKnight, Drew Z. Greenberg, Jim Krueger, Doug Petrie, Joss Whedon (Dark Horse Comics)

Detective Comics by Greg Rucka (DC Comics)

Madame Xanadu by Matt Wagner (Vertigo/DC Comics)

Secret Six by Gail Simone (DC Comics)

X-Factor by Peter David (Marvel Comics

To be honest, it’s hard to pick a particular book — although my personal pick would have to be Detective Comics, after Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III took such a strong stand against the “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule. What say you, Rama readers? Which book would you pick to win?

Find out more about Global Freezing here on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or at ComicsByEgg.com.

The Best online comics criticism of 2009: As chosen by some of the best online comics critics of 2009. Check out the list here; there’s plenty of good reading there, especially if it’s your first time encountering some of the pieces listed.

“The Arrival is a piece of exciting, uplifting theatre that should be embraced by all who have the good fortune to experience it”: That’s Jack Teiwes reviewing a stage adaptation of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival. You can read the piece and see an image here.

And if they ever make a movie, maybe you can play yourself!: Boom Studios and Westfield Comics are having a contest in which the winner will be drawn into an upcoming issue of Phil Hister and Brian Churilla’s (pretty damn good) comic book The Anchor. You can check out the rules here.

Will there be a storm of controversy over Storm in the Barn’s award?: Matt Phelan’s graphic novel The Storm in the Barn won the 2010 Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, becoming the first graphic novel to do so in the process. One of the judges, Roger Sutton, responds to questions of whether or not a graphic novel should be eligible here.

“What the hell is going on here? What is this book, anyway?”: That’s the opening of Matthew J. Brady’s review of Al Columbia’s Pim & Francie: The Golden Bear Days. It would make a fine blurb for the back of any future editions.

The most important question regarding the imperiled future of the Spider-Man movie franchise: Will J. K. Simmons still play J. Jonah Jameson? I haven’t seen it addressed in any of the (admittedly few) dissections of the (extremely lame) let’s-not-continue-this-successful-franchise-by-talented-people-but-just-reboot-for-no-reason development so far, but Simmons so owned that role that I think it’s the most pressing question. Maybe J.J.J. will get his own rebooted spin-off franchise, like I hear Venom was rumored to be getting…?

“Why did Sarah Palin cross the road?”: Former Get Your War On cartoonist David Rees proves he can still be devastatingly funny without panels, images or dialogue bubbles in this contribution to True/Slant, “10 jokes about Sarah Palin joining Fox News.”

Green Lantern finally has a bad guy. And yes, he’s going to get a big head over it.

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Peter Saarsgard (of Shattered Glass and Jarhead fame) will be playing Hector Hammond in the upcoming Green Lantern film.

Hammond, for those who don’t know, was a private consultant with a creepy fixation on Carol Ferris. When he was exposed to an otherworldly meteor, he gained telepathic powers… as well as a head so enlarged and distended he requires metal braces to keep it steady.

The film, directed by Martin Campbell and with comics scribe Marc Guggenheim as one of its writers, is scheduled to be out in 2011.

January brings department store re-sets, and among the new assortments rockin’ the planograms is DC Universe Classics Wave 11 (the “Kilowog” wave). There are seven base figures in the wave (John Stewart, Katma Tui, Shark, Cyborg Superman in Sinestro Corps outfit, The Question, Deadman and Steppenwolf), two variants (Steppenwolf in his green outfit; a clear deadman), and three “All-Star” figures that round out the shipping case (Batman, Superman, The Flash). These are already popping up at Wal-Marts in the midwest; I caught Wave 11 in one fell swoop, and will be revisiting them with a review soon.

One of the interesting things here is that while online sources like Entertainment Earth have been making DCUC assortments available for pre-order and, well, order, for a while, this is the first time that Mattel’s site, MattyCollector.com, has offered a full DCUC assortment for order. It remains to be seen what kind of impact that situation might have on store sales, as many fans are sure to opt for the convenience of the online order.

I’ll be straight about it: I wouldn’t have bought these at Wal-Mart had they been available at Matty or EE when I went to place my order. Both were temporarily out of stock, which is just bad timing on my part. Had I not seen the full Wave 11 at once, I likely would have waited for the online grouping to just be available again.

So, gang, what’s your preferred purchase method on DCUC? You up for Wave 11? Let’s hear it.

[Image via Entertainment Earth]

Well it looks like the Predators from Predator and the Aliens from Alien are at it again. This week Dark Horse launches a new six-issue miniseries about the two warring races, the Tom and Jerry of sci-fi horror franchises. It’s entitled Aliens Vs. Predator: Three World War, it’s written by Randy Stradley, it’s drawn by Rick Leonardi and Mark Pennington and it’s preview-able here.

I assume they’ll be settling their differences in the usual ways: Stabbing, biting, shooting and acid saliva dripping upon, although I hold out hope that one day Dark Horse will publish a series where Aliens and Predator compete in a planet vs. planet version of the Olympic games. Which is why I drew the Alien bobsled team above. Their aerodynamic heads make it one of their race’s better winter sports, I bet.

Speaking of things that go downhill, join me after the jump for a look at what else is due in comic shops this week.

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If you like what you’ve read so far (c’mon, how can you not?) totally check out more super cute comics at:www.sosuperduper.com!