IDW has been taking advantage of the attention at WonderCon this year, as noted earlier with the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and much more comics news, so you know that we would be getting some news about the high profile Richard Stark’s Parker series of graphic novels adapted by Darwin Cooke, and we are. It’s not the news of a new Parker book is being released, but it’s still awesome.

In July of this year, IDW will be re-releasing Parker: The Hunter and Parker: The Outfit in a brand new, without a doubt beautiful collected slipcase edition entitled Parker: The Martini Edition. The Martini Edition will feature some brand new bonus content including an art gallery, and an 8-page Parker short story, written and drawn by Darwin Cooke that will be exclusive to this collection.

Join us for this episode of Comics of Doom, the official comic book podcast of Geeks of Doom, as we doom Darwyn Cooke‘s adaptation of Parker: The Outfit.

This episode is sponsored by Instocktrades.com and DCBService.com so be sure visit them for great prices on comics and graphic novels.

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Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot of big reveals from either DC or Marvel about their upcoming material that had not already been announced in some form or fashion. Therefore, I am just going to review what DC talked about throughout most of their panels at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.

Two of my most anticipated books that were announced at the Con were Batman Incorporated by Grant Morrison and Flash Speedforce by Geoff Johns. I am super pumped by the descriptions of both of these books and I am already ready to add these books to my pull list. I definitely suggest that everyone keeps their eyes out for these. Also of note but not newly announced is the Batman Earth One by Geoff Johns about a Batman who fails at everything and his gadgets don’t work.

Another year is coming to an end, and what better time than this to look back on the year that was in the world of comics. Of course, the biggest news this year was Disney’s purchase of Marvel Comics and its vast library of characters, with the reorganization of DC comics being just as big a story. In terms of actual product, this was a big year for DC. With Grant Morrison owning the first half of the year with the end of Final Crisis, leading into Batman R.I.P. and the start of Batman and Robin, and Geoff Johns taking over for the last half of the year, with the re-launch of Adventure Comics, reintroducing Barry Allen to the DCU in Flash: Rebirth, and the event he has been building to since bringing Hal Jordan back, Blackest Night.

Across the street at Marvel, things were mostly tied up in the Dark Reign storyline, which has largely been a disappointment for me (how many times can I read the same story? We get it, Norman Osborne is a jerk; it’s time to move on.) There were some bright spots though, with Mark Millar and Steve McNiven mixing Wolverine with Mad Max and The Unforgiven to create Old Man Logan. We also got the return of Steve Rogers (kind of) in Captain America: Reborn and another (mostly) decent year of Amazing Spider-Man, but for me, it was kind of a down year in terms of my excitement for Marvel books.

The land of independent comics was ruled by Chew from Image Comics. This little book that could went through multiple printings of its first and second issues, with early printings going for large amounts before the supply caught up with the demand. Sadly, there weren’t a lot of other Big with a capital B indie books drop this year, although as always, there were pockets of greatness.

So here are the things I have decided were best this year in comics. All these were nominated by me, voted for by myself, and are now presented by I. I have used no scientific measures for these, they are neither fair nor balanced, and were decided largely by my buying habits, which means if I didn’t buy it, it’s probably won’t be nominated. Hey, I mean, I can’t buy everything and even if I could, there’s not enough hours in my day to read everything. Without further ado”¦

Richard’s Stark’s Parker: The Hunter
Adapted and Illustrated by Darwyn Cooke
Edited by Scott Dunbier
IDW Publishing
Release date: July 22, 2009

When artist/writer Darwyn Cooke finished his run on Will Eisner’s The Spirit, I am sure I was not the only one that was eagerly anticipating his next project. Would he continue to play in the DC playground or perhaps venture into Marvel territory? Or maybe he would just forgo the big two and just go the creator-owned route. When the news broke at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con on Cooke’s next project, few would have guessed it would be with IDW Publishing but even more were surprised when the project in question would be an adaptation of The Parker novels by Donald Westlake.

Donald Westlake (for those like myself who was not familiar with the author), was a critically acclaimed crime novelist back in the late 1950’s. Best known for the creation of the Parker character, Westlake had twenty-four of the twenty eight crime novels written under the Richard Stark pseudonym centered on the popular anti-hero. Even if you are not familiar with the character, you be hard pressed not to notice Westlake’s work in the mainstream media.

From Point Blank to Payback, the Parker novels have been adapted numerous times on film but never has the author allowed the Parker name to be used until now. Just before Westlake passed away in 2008, he gave Cooke permission to adapt the story and introduce the Parker character to the graphic novel world in a series of four graphic novels set to come out yearly.