Robot 6 has pointed to some early “Best of 2009” lists, one from Publishers Weekly and another from Amazon. Just like Christmas advertisements, it feels like best-of season is starting too early.
And just because it’s Monday and I’m in something of a grumpy fog (because one of my dogs marked our return from a weekend away by waking us up every hour on the hour), I feel the need to make a provocative remark. As much as I admire Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s A Drifting Life and recommend it, 2009 was (in my opinion) a spectacular year for new and ongoing series. So while I would certainly put A Drifting Life in my top ten, I don’t think it would rank first.
Update: Over on Twitter, Danielle (Manga Before Flowers) Leigh says what I meant: “I think Drifting Life is the most *significant* manga published, but not the all-round “best””
Update #2: The final roster of nominees for the 2010 Great Graphic Novels for Teens list is up over at the Young Adult Library Services Association’s web site.