Top 10 Tuesdays - 10 Things to Look Forward to in 2009

It appears I forgot to include a preview of things to come in 2009 when I did my Best of 2008 feature for the The Monthly Crisis magazine. As such, I decided to dedicate a Top 10 Tuesdays post to throwing out the things that have me excited for the rest of the year.

I tried to restrict the actual choices to events or new projects as I expect the Must Read books to remain in good standing and didn't want to have every other choice a random single ongoing title that interests me.

You can catch my list of things I'm looking forward to in 2009 after the jump, but feel free to let me know what you're looking forward to, as well.

TOP 10 TUESDAYS - 10 Things to Look Forward to in 2009

1. GREEN LANTERN: THE BLACKEST NIGHT

To be honest, I should have named this entry simply, "Anything Green Lantern", as the GL titles are smoking hot right now and they looks to continue the trend with the upcoming Agent Orange and Battle for Daxam storylines.

In fact, I don't even think colour blind people will be able to complain about Blackest Night and it's kaleidoscope of Lantern colours when it comes around this summer. Fans have been waiting for this event since it was first teased at the end of the Sinestro Corps War and with how amazing the Green Lantern titles have been lately, the only thing I can see derailing this freight train of an event will be if DC editorial starts throwing mandates around.






2. FLASH: REBIRTH

Flash Fact: I will be buying Johns' Flash: Rebirth when it comes out.
Flash Fact: You better damn well be, too!

I've recently been catching up on Johns and Kolins' original Flash runs and they were fantastic. Combine the sensational job they did on the Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge tie-in and their genuine enthusiasm for Barry Allen's return and it all adds up to some amazing stories coming out of the Flash book(s?) later this year.

Furthermore, add Van Sciver, Johns' Green Lantern: Rebirth collaborator, who helped bring that title back from obscurity, to the mix for the actual Rebirth issues and April can't come soon enough.




3. WATCHMEN MOVIE

Honestly, I never thought I'd be able to say I am looking forward to a movie adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen, a comic many have claimed is unfilmable. However, director Zack Snyder has made me a beleiver and everything I've seen or read about the movie version has left me with an overwhelmingly positive impression of the film.

Will this be as good as the comic? I doubt it. But I honestly believe it will be one hell of a movie when it's all said and done.











4. THE MARVELS PROJECT

For a comic project that wasn't even announced until the recent New York Comic-Con, it's quickly become the book to watch for me. Described as the Ultimate Origins for the 616 Marvel Universe, The Marvels Project is being helmed by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, the two creators behind the critically acclaimed Captain America ongoing series.

Based on what I've read in interviews, this series looks to be the logical progression of the flashback scenes to the pre-WWII and early days of Captain America eras of the Marvel Universe from the Cap comic. Considering I love how Brubaker and Epting have integrated those scenes into the Cap ongoing, I can't wait to see what they do with a full mini-series worth of space to flesh out this time period of the Marvel Universe.




5. WAR OF KINGS

Much like my Blackest Night pick, I'd like War of Kings to include everything from the cosmic Marvel Universe, including Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy, as we build up to that event.

However, I'm not completely sold on the main event, as I'm not a big fan of Vulcan and his rise to power as the Shi'ar's new emperor. On the other hand, it has Black Bolt as the new leader of the Kree, which, if you read the prologue issue, was a freaking awesome scene. I'm so conflicted and that puts this one lower on the top 10 list.








6. JASON AARON ON WOLVERINE

This one makes the cut because I'm a huge Jason Aaron fanboy. I absolutely loved his Wolverine: Get Mystique! arc and had been praying Marvel would give him the Wolverine series when Millar and McNiven finished up.

While they didn't exactly follow through on that (Way is spotlighting Daken in the main Wolverine, now Dark Wolverine, title), they did give him his own Wolverine book to play with and all is right in the world. Can't wait to read this one. Oh, and buy Aaron's Scalped if you haven't been reading it. Worth every penny.










7. GREG RUCKA'S BATWOMAN

Holy lipstick lesbian, Batman! Ya, I know, I'm tired of the mainstream media throwing out those ridiculous headlines, too. Despite the mouth breathing mass media's undue attention sidelining Greg Rucka and JH Williams' planned Batwoman series for so long, we'll finally get to see it later this year as the duo take over the Batman-less Detective Comics, which they will use to showcase Batwoman.

The previews from NYCC looked amazing and I'm actually looking forward to finally seeing the Batwoman character fleshed out now that DC and Warner Bros don't have to worry about having, oh noes, a lesbian Bat-person with a Batman movie set to come out. Why, children might have read those books and society as a whole would collapse and they wouldn't have made eleventy billion dollars off The Dark Knight if they put out a Batwoman comic at the time.

Sorry, ranting over retarded media and executive decisions. Can't wait to read the book, though!



8. DARK REIGN

To be honest, I was almost burned out on most of Marvel's comics by the end of Secret Invasion, with the exception of the cosmic stuff and the odd one here and there. I had almost completely written off the Dark Reign books by association.

Thankfully, I gave them most of them a shot and I haven't been this impressed with Marvel's direction since the Initiative at the end of Civil War several years back. It's as if most of the creators mired in the Secret Invasion tie-ins have been freed of their editorial constraints and are running wild again.

Thunderbolts, Secret Warriors, Dark Avengers, Thor, Captain Britain & MI13 and the myriad of other titles that have taken the impetus of Dark Reign and used it to catapult their books forward have renewed my interest in Marvel again. At least until the next big year long event comes around.




9. ULTIMATE COMICS

Cheap renaming gimmick to drum up sales and interest? Most definitely.

However, I can't imagine many people that aren't pleased with a return to basics for the line. While I'm not pleased with the relaunches, I'll be the first in line to re-add Ultimate Comics Spider-Man to my pull list and who isn't happy to see Mark Millar back on the Ultimates, sorry, Ultimate Comics Avengers again?

And, after a year of ultimate failures across the line, I know I'm actually considering picking up a new Ultimate X-Men or Fantastic Four if they relaunch with the new line, which is what Marvel is probably hoping for with this stunt. If they can recapture the magic of the original launch, then I'm all for it.





10. DARWYN COOKE'S PARKER CRIME NOVEL ADAPTATIONS

Darwyn Cooke is one of the best writers AND artists in the business. The Richard Stark penned Parker novels are excellent, too, and sync up perfectly with Cooke's strengths as a writer and artist. Combine the two and it's a must buy for me.

The only problem, however, is that there's been very little information about the project since it was first announced at SDCC in 2008 and the first novel adaptation is scheduled for a tentative 2009 start date. This bit of doubt hanging over the project puts it on the bottom rung of my list.

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