Yesterday, the comics world lost one of its legends. Both an amazing artist and creator, Joe Kubert is one of the true icons in the world of comic illustration. Kubert’s career began in the 1940s and spanned up until 2011. Aside from being a major force behind iconic characters such as the golden and silver age Hawkman and then later Sgt. Rock, Kubert has been named as an influence to many of today’s top artists.

Some sources say that Joe got his start in comics at only 12 years old when he had the opportunity to ink a rush job for Archie for $5 a page, which was a hefty payday back in 1938. After attending Manhattan’s High School of Music and Art, Kubert made his way to All-American Comics (which would become DC Comics). In 1945, Joe would begin his first work on Hawkman in issue #62 of The Flash in 1945.

Joe would be a major proponent of 3D, producing Three Dimension Comics #1 which sold an astounding 1.2 million copies. In 1976, Joe would found the Kubert School which still exists to this day. During his career, Joe would receive multiple awards and be inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Eisner Hall of Fame in 1998

With 2009 coming to a close, the challenge was to pick and rank the 10 best comics from the entire year. I’ve estimated reading approximately 1,500+ issues over that time frame, so obviously it wasn’t the easiest task to complete. Still, after much deliberation, these are my picks for the 10 best comics of 2009.

1. Jonah Hex #50
DC Comics
Writers: Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti
Artist: Darwyn Cooke
Originally reviewed on December 3, 2009

Perfection. Defined as the highest degree of proficiency, skill or excellence, perfection is near impossible to achieve, especially when every comic ever printed is subjective in nature. You know, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and all that jazz. Still, when I thought about all the comics I’ve read this past year, this issue of Jonah Hex kept coming back to me. While not perfect (frankly, what is?), it’s pretty close.

A wonderful done-in-one tale following our “hero” as he diligently goes about his day job, in this specific case while hunting down 50 various bad guys who had it coming to them. A fine story on it’s own. Now add a dash of romance – or the bounty hunter’s version of it – to the mix, sprinkle in a little personal vengeance, and top it off with a jolting reminder of how cruel life can be, and you’re left with a portrait of a man who makes no excuses for who he is or what he does, life expectations be damned.

This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt are joined by special guest Elisabeth Rappe and they waste no time diving into a whole ne batch of topics for the show. Some of these topics include Jim Cameron’s Avatar, Francis Lawrence’s Sgt. Rock movie for Warner Bros., Will Smith’s career and his remake of Oldboy, upcoming holiday movies, Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s career, clones, clones, clones and much more.

The three also made some cool picks this week, as they always do, including Elisabeth’s pick of the Netflix movie streaming service which features tons of great content, Matt’s pick of the sci-fi classic The Last Starfighter and Chris’ pick of the new V series on ABC which features, among others, Lost’s Elizabeth Mitchell, Party of Five’s Scott Wolf and Firefly’s Morena Bacarrin and Alan Tudyuk

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter and at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

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Director Francis Lawrence, who’s previous credits include I Am Legend, Constantine and TV’s Kings has picked up another directing gig. He will take on the big screen adaptation of DC’s comic character Sgt. Rock for producers Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman. The film, who’s previous director Guy Ritchie left to take on DC’s Lobo adaptation, will be scripted by relative newcomer Chad St. John.

Another change announced for this project is the shift from a WWII setting, where in the comics Sgt. Rock leads his “Easy Company” team of soldiers against the Nazis, to the future where, reportedly, the producers feel the film will be more universally accepted due to the comic’s current “pro-America” stance. Plus, the producers are worried about the relative box office success of a big budget WWII action film, Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds notwithstanding.

I guess both of those things make sense. Although, I would argue that WWII is a great place to set a movie and Nazis are always okay as bad guys. Look at the huge success of the Call of Duty video game franchise and Tarantinio’s film as examples. Setting the film in the future, whatever that might mean, just seems kinda like a cop out.

No word on casting or a release date for the film as of yet. Or on what further changes will be made to the premise. We’ll keep an eye on this one and let you know what develops.