Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Each year, CBR wraps its coverage of the comics industry with a virtual nerd cage match to determine the very best comics of the year. Every single CBR staffer — from our crack news team to our well-researched columnists and from CBR’s many daily bloggers to our legion of comic reviewers — had the chance to chip in their favorite books of the year with only the highest vote-getters ranking up on our massive Top 100 Comics list, and as always, neither the staff nor the comics disappointed.

The watchword for the comics market in 2011 was "soft" as sales continued to shift in a weak economy and publishers faced challenges from retail upheaval to digital distribution. But no matter what came along to impact the business of comics this year, the creative work proved to stand as tall as ever. From groundbreaking graphic novels to the reinvention of a number of flagging franchises to the quieter entries from the manga field to the all-ages excitement in print and on the web, comics had an impressive year by any critical standard.

And while it’s nearly impossible for even the combined staff of CBR to have read every single ongoing series, miniseries, one-shot, graphic novel and webcomic published in and throughout 2011, we are confident that you’ll find no better indicator of the breadth and quality of the industry as it stands today than right here. If you missed yesterday’s countdown of #100 through 76, check it out now, and then continue on to today’s countdown of a mind-bending digital offering from a print comics master, some of the most acclaimed and innovative superhero comics of the year, a revived project from a film legend, kids comics, vampire tales and more!

#72. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 9

Written by Joss Whedon & Andrew Chambliss

Drawn by Georges Jeanty

Covers by Steve Morris

Published by Dark Horse Comics

"I was among the many ’Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ fans that followed Buffy from television over into comics without missing a beat (of course, I was already here reading comics, so arguably it was an easier transition for me). Like many fans I loved the Season 8 series…until the end, where it went wildly off the rails. After that, I had some hesitation about the new series, but Andrew Chambliss and Georges Jeanty, with Joss Whedon working brilliantly behind the scenes, came in and just blew the doors off the new series. There’s a pervasive problem in big two superhero comics in that there’s very little consistency in books as creators are shuffled around ad nauseam. That’s a problem that Buffy never has – the creators that make the real decisions are always the same - and as a result the final vision is cohesive and is one that shows a deep affection for and intimate knowledge of the characters. It’s the kind of thing that makes all the difference in creating great comics. ’Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 9’ is smart and fun, beautiful and consistent - in truth, it’s what all great monthly comics should be."

— Comics Should Be Good Columnist & CBR Reviewer Kelly Thompson