2009 in comics

Notable events of 2009 in comics. See also List of years in comics.

Events

January

• January 1: The direct-to-DVD movie Hulk Vs was released.
• January 6: The third and final volume of Hollow Fields has been released.

February

• The Ultimate Marvel titles Ultimate X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four are both cancelled at milestones: Ultimate X-Men's series finale ends issue #100, while Ultimate Fantastic Four's ends at issue #60.
• To celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama, Amazing Spider-Man #583 presented an all-new story teaming up President Obama and Spider-Man in "Spidey Meets the President!" The title featured five variant covers.

April

• In honor of Wolverine's 35th anniversary, Marvel Comics announced that numerous Marvel titles would feature Wolverine Art Appreciation Variant covers in April 2009. Styles will be reminiscent of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol. The first issues to feature a Wolverine Art Appreciation variant cover were Captain Britain and MI13 #12, Amazing Spider-man #590, Hulk #11, Uncanny X-Men #508, and Secret Warriors #3.

• "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" was a 2009 story featuring the DC Comics character of Batman. The story was published in two parts, in the "final" issues of the series Batman (#686) and Detective Comics (#853), released February and April respectively. Written by Neil Gaiman, pencilled by Andy Kubert, and inked by Scott Williams, the story was purported to be the "last" Batman story in the wake of severe psychological trauma that Batman endures within the Batman R.I.P. story, and his ultimate fate in Final Crisis.

May

• May 1: X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released in theaters.

August

• Textbook publisher Flat World Knowledge publishes a business-themed graphic novel, Atlas Black: Managing to Succeed.

September

• September 9: It was announced that Paul Levitz would step down as President and Publisher of DC Comics to serve as the Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant for the newly formed DC Entertainment and Diane Nelson would serve as President of the new division.

October

• October 7: Haunt, an ongoing series created by Todd McFarlane and Robert Kirkman, was launched by Image Comics. The book is written by Kirkman with layouts done by Greg Capullo, pencils by Ryan Ottley, and inks by McFarlane.

Deaths

January

• January 21: Claude Moliterni, French comics writer, critic and historian and co-founder of the Angoulême International Comics Festival, dies at the age of 76.

May

• May 1: Ric Estrada, long-time DC Comics artist, passes away at age 81.

April

• April 2: Frank Springer, long-time Marvel Comics artist, dies at age 79.

June

• June 9: Dave Simons dies at age 54.

July

• July 22: British cartoonist John Ryan, creator of Captain Pugwash, dies at age 88.

August

• August 9: Golden Age artist Frank Borth dies at age 91.
• August 13: Josette Baujot, Belgian colorist of the Adventures of Tintin, dies at age 88.

October

• October 4: Ricardo Garijo dies at age 55.
• October 12: Letterer Joe Rosen dies at age 88.
• October 15: George Tuska, Captain Marvel and Iron Man artist, dies at age 93.

November

• November 23: Filipino comics artist Sonny Trinidad dies.

Conventions

• January 23â€"25: Phoenix Comicon (Mesa, Arizona) â€" 7,000 attendees; official guests: David Beaty, Lou Ferrigno, Tiffany Grant, Erin Gray, Matt Greenfield, Reuben Langdon, Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt, Christophe Tang, and Wil Wheaton
• January 29â€"February 1: Angoulême International Comics Festival (Angoulême, France)
• February: Convention du Lac (Lake Charles, Louisiana)
• February 6â€"8: New York Comic Con (New York City, USA)
• February 14â€"15: Hi-Ex (Inverness, Scotland) â€" guests included John Higgins, Leah Moore, Mike McMahon, and Frank Quitely
• February 27â€"March 1: MegaCon (Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida) â€" 40,000 attendees; guests include Peter S. Beagle, Jim Cheung, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Aaron Dismuke, Lou Ferrigno, Caitlin Glass, Peter Mayhew, Vic Mignogna, George Moss, Paul Pelletier, George Pérez, William Tucci, and Mark Waid
• February 27â€"March 1: WonderCon (Moscone Center, San Francisco, California)
• March 7: STAPLE! (Monarch Event Center, Austin, Texas)
• April 4â€"5: Emerald City ComiCon (Washington State Convention & Trade Center, Seattle, Washington, USA) â€" 13,000 attendees; guests: Humberto Ramos, Barry Kitson, Darwyn Cooke, Mark Brooks, Joe Casey, Christos Gage, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Frank Cho, Stuart Immonen, Adam Hughes, Steve Niles, Joseph Michael Linsner, Adi Granov, Mark Waid, Matt Fraction, Stan Sakai, Tony Harris, Brian Michael Bendis, Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Losos, James Kochalka, David Peterson, Paul Smith, Patrick Gleason, Mark Texeira, Brian Denham, Joe Jusko, Stephen Silver, Rick Remender, Gene Ha, Mike Huddleson, and Tim Sale
• April 18â€"19: Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo (S.P.A.C.E.) (Aladdin Shrine Center, Columbus, Ohio)
• April 18â€"19: Stumptown Comics Fest (Double Tree Convention Hall, Portland, Oregon) â€" guest of honor: Craig Thompson
• April 18â€"19: Toronto ComiCON Fan Appreciation Event (Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
• May 9â€"10: Bristol Comic Expo (Ramada and Mercure hotels, Bristol, UK) â€" guests include Dan DiDio and Bob Wayne
• May 9â€"10: Toronto Comic Arts Festival (Toronto Reference Library, Toronto, Canada)
• May 15â€"17: Motor City Comic Con (Rock Financial Showplace, Novi, Michigan, USA) â€" guests include Art Baltazar, Dwayne McDuffie, Guy Davis, Carrie Fisher, John Schneider, Aaron Douglas, Michael Hogan, Kristy Swanson, Julie Newmar, Doug Jones, Catherine Bach, Garrett Wang, and Joyce DeWitt
• May 15â€"16: East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention (Free Library and Crowne Plaza Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) â€" guests include Kevin Grevioux, Jamal Igle, Reggie Byers, Leslie Esdaile Banks, and Eric Battle; presentation of the Glyph Comics Awards
• June 6â€"7: MoCCA Festival (69th Regiment Armory, New York City, USA)
• June 12â€"14: Adventure Con 2009 â€" Summer (Knoxville Convention Center, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA) â€" guest of honor: Arthur Suydam
• June 19â€"21: Heroes Convention (Charlotte Convention Center, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA) â€" guests include Mark Bagley, Liz Baillie, John Beatty, Brian Michael Bendis, Ivan Brandon, Ed Brubaker, Cliff Chiang, Jeremy Dale, Guy Davis, Vito Delsante, Colleen Doran, Nathan Edmondson, Matt Fraction, Bryan J. L. Glass, Michael Golden, Adam Hughes, Jamal Igle, Bob McLeod, Carla Speed McNeil, Steve McNiven, Chris Moreno, Jim Ottaviani, George Pérez, David Petersen, Don Rosa, Jeff Smith, Ben Templesmith, Loston Wallace, and Daniel Way
• July 18â€"19: London Film and Comic Con (Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England, UK)
• July 23â€"26: San Diego Comic-Con International (San Diego, California, USA) â€" 126,000 attendees; guests include Forrest J. Ackerman, Sergio Aragonés, Kyle Baker, Ralph Bakshi, Mike W. Barr, Lynda Barry, Frank Beddor, Ray Bradbury, Steve Breen, Max Brooks, Ed Brubaker, Matt Busch, Jim Butcher, Eddie Campbell, Howard Chaykin, Kim Deitch, Mark Evanier, Al Feldstein, Keith Giffen, Neil Googe, Victor Gorelick, Mike Grell, Paul Gulacy, Joe Hill, Bryan Hitch, John Howe, Al Jaffee, Geoff Johns, J. G. Jones, Todd Klein, Dean Koontz, Tite Kubo, Verne Langdon, Jim Lee, Rutu Modan, Noel Neill, Floyd Norman, Jim Ottaviani, Mike Peters, Wendy Pini, Steve Purcell, Robert J. Sawyer, James Shoop, Jim Starlin, Joe Staton, J. Michael Straczynski, Adrian Tomine, Ethan Van Sciver, James Warren, Jeff Watts, Signe Wilkinson, Bill Willingham, Connie Willis, Jim Woodring, Bernie Wrightson, Dean Yeagle, Neil Patrick Harris, and more
• August 6â€"9: Wizard World Chicago (Rosemont, Illinois, USA)
• August 15â€"16: "CAPTION is Away with the Fairies" (East Oxford Community Centre, Oxford, England, UK)
• August 15â€"16: Dallas Comic Con 13 (Richardson Civic Center, Richardson, Texas) â€" guests include Paul Smith, Steve Niles, Bill Sienkiewicz, J. Scott Campbell, Cal Slayton, and many more
• August 22â€"23: "miniMegaCon" (Orlando, Florida) â€" guests include Buffy the Vampire Slayer actors Charisma Carpenter, Emma Caulfield, Amber Benson, and Adam Busch
• August 28â€"30: Fan Expo Canada (Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) â€" 59,000 attendees; guests include Leonard Nimoy, Bruce Campbell, Linda Hamilton, Thomas Dekker, Avery Brooks, Beau Bridges, Mary McDonnell, Billy Dee Williams, Walter Koenig, James Kyson Lee, Robert Duncan McNeill, Emma Caulfield, Lou Ferrigno, Dave Thomas, Leslie Nielsen, Larry Thomas, J. Michael Straczynski, Roger Corman, Udo Kier, Barbara Steele, James Duval, Max Brooks, Rick Green, Jack Ketchum, Joe Quesada, Chris Bachalo, Mike Deodato Jr., Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, Terry Dodson, David Finch, Olivier Coipel, Len Wein, Bill Sienkiewicz, Stuart Immonen, Yoshinori Ono, Scott McNeil, Crispin Freeman, Brad Swaile, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Aaron Dismuke, Monica Rial, Derek Stephen Prince, Steve Downes, Victor Lucas, Lil Poison, Scott C. Jones, and surprise guest Tobin Bell
• September 4â€"7: Dragon Con (Hyatt Regency Atlanta/Marriott Marquis/Atlanta Hilton/Sheraton, Atlanta, Georgia, USA) â€" 30,000+ attendees; guests include William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Adam Savage, Terry Gilliam, Malcolm McDowell, Lois McMaster Bujold, Mike Mignola, and Tom Felton
• September 11â€"13: Pittsburgh Comicon (Monroeville Convention Center, Monroeville, Pennsylvania, USA) â€" 9,000 attendees; guest of honor: Stan Lee; other guests include Beau Smith, Billy Tucci, Khoi Pham, Robyn Moore, Bethany Barbis, Scott James, Sean McKeever, Joe Jusko, Pat Olliffe, Ron Frenz, Brian Pulido, Dawn Best, and Dan Fraga
• September 19â€"20: Montreal Comiccon (Place Bonaventure, Montreal, Quebec) â€" 4,000 attendees; guests include Lou Ferrigno, Jeremy Bulloch and The Honky Tonk Man, with Brad Swaile
• September 26â€"27: Small Press Expo (Bethesda, Maryland, USA)
• October 3â€"4: Mid-Ohio Con (Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, Ohio)
• October 10â€"11: Baltimore Comic-Con (Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland, USA)
• October 16â€"18: Wizard World Big Apple Comic Con (Pier 94, New York City, USA) â€" first iteration of the show under Wizard Entertainment
• October 17â€"18 Alternative Press Expo (San Francisco, California, USA)
• October 24â€"25: Adventure Con 2009 â€" Fall (Pigeon Forge Convention Center, Grand Hotel, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA)
• October 31-November 1: Manitoba Comic Con (Winnipeg Convention Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) â€" guests include Adam West, Julie Newmar, Marv Wolfman, Tommy Castillo, Nigel Sade, Echo Chernik, and Lucie Brouillard

First issues by title

Batman and Robin

Release: June by DC Comics. Writer: Grant Morrison Artists: Frank Quitely, Philip Tan.

Go Beerkada: Rise of the Jhologs

Release: October. Writer and Artist: Lyndon Gregorio

Black Panther Vol. 5

Release: February by Marvel Comics. Writer: Reginald Wudlin Artist: Ken Lashley.

Blood Upon the Rose

Release: by O'Brien Press. Writer and Artist: Gerry Hunt

Cowboy Ninja Viking

Release: August by Shadowline. Writer: A.J. Lieberman Artist: Riley Rossmo

The Flash: Rebirth

Release: March by DC Comics. Writer: Geoff Johns Artist: Ethan Van Sciver.

Blackest Night

Release: Summer by DC Comics. Writer: Geoff Johns Artist: Ivan Reis.

Mysterius: The Unfathomable

Release: March by Wildstorm. Writers: Jeff Parker Artist: Tom Fowler

Push

Release: January by Wildstorm. Writers: Marc Bernardin and Adam Freeman Artist: Bruno Redondo

R.E.B.E.L.S.

Release: February by DC Comics. Writer: Tony Bedard Artists: Andy Clarke, Claude St. Aubin.

Tumor

Release: October by Arcaia Studios Press. Writer: Joshua Hale Fialkov Artist: Noel Tuazon