Looks like it’ll be a very, very good year.  This here’s number 11.  Hit the break for more.

20.  The deluxe edition reprint of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s Vertigo miniseries (and “Doom Patrol” spin-off) “Flex Mentallo,” which has been held up in courts for years since Charles Atlas thought the entire concept ripped off their ads about turning a 90 lb weakling into a big muscleman who can punch out obnoxious bullies on the beach.  This may be the only case where a company could have had free advertising, but fought against it.  The book is (finally) set to be released in the fall.

19.  JT Krul and Nicola Scott’s run on Teen Titans.  I’m hoping they can revamp the series that meant so much to me as a kid.  (See below.)

18.  Robert Kirkman’s new book, “Super Dinosaur.”

17.  D.C. letter pages! The other day I was going through some old loose books I had to see what I’ve repurchased in bound form and came across the first issue of the Batman Year One story arc.  I was skimming through and when I hit the letters page I saw a letter written by . . . Me!  I forgot how incredibly cool it was when I was a kid to get my letters printed—they appeared in several issues of ‘Mazing man, Spider-Man, and I’m sure a bunch of other places, too.  It made me feel more connected to the medium—and I even ended up getting a pen pal out of it, who I stayed in touch with for several years.  So I applaud D.C.’s announcement to bring back the letters pages in their books.

16.  The trade of “Sweets” by Kody Chamberlain.  I’ve read a lot about the series, but I’ve never actually seen an issue.  My store doesn’t carry it, and I didn’t know enough to order it in the beginning of the run.

15.  Fear Itself.  The Marvel event. I’m hopeful because it involves Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction and Stuart Immonen.  Also, Shadowland sucked and Marvel’s event track record tends to be good/bad/good/bad.  (Civil War/Secret Invasion/Siege/Fear Itself.)  But I’m skeptical because events tend to fall flat at the end.

14.  “New Teen Titans: Games.”  The last Wolfman/Perez Titans story (should) finally come out this year.  Since that creative team on that superteam is largely responsible for turning me into a comic addict, I’m on the edge of my seat.

13.  The next Pinocchio: The Vampire Slayer book.

12.  Jonathan Maberry’s “Captain America: Hail Hydra.”  His 2010 release (now out in hardcover) “Marvel Universe Vs. The Punisher” was an underrated gem—hilarious, surprising, and exciting—with terrific art by Ennis Punisher artist Goran Parlov.

11.  Rick Remender/Tony Moore’s “Venom” book from Marvel.  Speaking of Rick Remender reinventions, I know that the idea of Punisher becoming a monster was ridiculous but Frankencastle is one of the unsung heroes of 2010 in my book.  The fantasy of the story was no more fanciful than the pseudorealistic over-the-top violence of Garth Ennis’ run on the character, which is widely regarded as the best Pun-run of all time.  It’s comic books people.  It’s supposed to be fantastic, fanciful, and unrealistic.  That’s what makes Jonathan Hickman’s S.H.I.E.L.D. so cool.  You can’t tell me you can’t accept Frankenpunisher but you can accept a radioactive spider?  I hope superhero books stay super and take risks, like Rick Remender did with Frankencastle.  If anything, he might have stayed at the party too long (the story arc could have been abbreviated by a few issues, and the drawn out Dakken arc didn’t amount to much of anything) but that’s the execution, not the idea.  The idea—to revive the legion of monsters and to make Frank Castle do something other than take pot shots at drug dealers—was fanfrickintastic.  Same thing with Red Hulk, by the way.  The first 7-10 issues of that book were incredible, ridiculous, glorious violence.  It deteriorated as it went on, but again—that’s execution, not concept.  I want more of that.  More super stories, less attempts to make superheroes “real.”  If I want “real” I’ll stare at my dwindling bank account.

10.  The 1200 page Simonson Thor Omnibus.

9.  Fantastic Four “3.”

8.  “Stuff of Legend” by Mike Raicht, Brian Smith and Charles Paul Wilson III.  A superb, underread and underreviewed indie series.

7.  Andy Diggle leaving Daredevil.  At this point, I think anybody could do a better job with the character.  Even Jeph Loeb.

6.  The re-release of “Fish Police.”  One of my favorite B&W indie books of all time….

5.  “Daredevil: End of Days.”  After the complete mess Diggle made of one of my all-time favorite Marvel characters—a mess that culminated in DD being kicked out of his own title—I can’t wait to see this pending collaboration by some of the greatest people ever to touch Matt Murdock: Brian Michael Bendis.  David Mack.  Klaus Janson.  Bill Sienkiewicz.  The only one missing is Frank Miller.

4.  Frank Miller & Jim Lee’s “All-Star Batman and Robin” conclusion.  If it actually comes out.

3.  The next trade paperback installment of Jeff Lemire’s “Sweet Tooth.” What a gripping, haunting book . . . And also the trades of books I couldn’t afford to buy in loose issues, like Batwoman, Lemire’s Superboy, Fred Van Lente’s Taskmaster mini, Avengers Academy, etc.

3.  Bendis and Bagley on “Ultimate Spider-Man.”

2.  Amazing Spider-Man: Big Time.  So far, so great.

1.  Batmen!  I’m anxious to see how D.C. handles the oversaturation of Batman—Grant Morrison’s genius in Batman, Inc., is that he now gets to repopulate the DCU with a bunch of characters that he himself created.  Eliminates the need for retconning.  So far, the new Batbooks have been terrific: Detective, David Finch’s Dark Knight book, and Batman, Inc., are all great, and Batman: Europa looks like it will be awesome as well.  Toss in the next Batman movie, and 2011 looks like a great year for one of our oldest superheroes.