Best Comics of 2009

Here are my favorite comics that were published in 2009.

10. Britten and Brülightly, by Hannah Berry

Wonderful art and a neat noir mystery.  Here's my review.

9. Stitches, by David Small

A memoir of an unhappy childhood. This was very difficult to read. Here's my review.

8. Driven by Lemons, by Joshua Cotter

This replica of Cotter's sketchbook is unlike anything I've ever read. It's as if he spent every school year doodling until every doodle was perfect and immensely complex.

7. Ganges #3, by Kevin Huizenga

Ganges #2 was on my list last year, and while I liked that one better, this one was still great.  Huizenga's comics are just really enjoyable to read. The full page image of Glenn inside his own head is really something else.

6. Johnny Hiro, by Fred Chao

Smart, funny, and fun, starring a couple of total sweethearts. Great action scenes, too.

5. Batman and Robin, by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely

I loved a lot of things about Morrison and Quitely's three-issue run: the way Robin seemed to float in the air in all of the action scenes, the sound effects drawn into the art, those weird bad guys that are both laughable and dangerous. I also loved that the two people underneath the masks -- Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne's son Damian -- had flaws, and those flaws led to dramatic conflict, and that conflict drove the story. And the big bad, Professor Pig, was extra creepy.

4. Gogo Monster, by Taiyo Matsumoto

Matsumoto nails the daydreams and anxieties of childhood like nobody else.

3. Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter, by Darwyn Cooke

So damn stylish. Here's my review.

2. Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzucchelli

Mazzucchelli puts every tool in the comics medium to good use. There is a lot going on here, but at bottom he's just telling a love story about how two people complete each other.

1. Pluto, by Naoki Urasawa

This series has everything: fascinating characters, a suspenseful and dramatic plot, awesome action, terrifying and complex bad guys, important themes, and outstanding art. Every chapter amazes me. Here's my review of the first volume.

Honorable Mentions:

I had fun reading lots of other comics that were published this year, too, including Matt Furie's Boy's Club #3, Lucy Knisley's Pretty Little Book, Simon Roy's Jan's Atomic Heart, Kate Beaton's Hark a Vagrant, Jacques Tardi's West Coast Blues, Joe Daly's The Red Monkey Double Happiness Book, Joss Whedon and Fabio Moon's Sugarshock, Peter Milligan's two Thor specials, and that John Romita Jr.-drawn Doctor Octopus story in Amazing Spider-Man #600.

Related: My favorite comics of 2008.