Hey, everyone – it’s that time again! Every four years, Brian Cronin over at CBR posts the Top 100 Runs of All Time list, voted on by the readers. I love this poll (Our Former Dread Lord and Master does a lot of them, but this one is my favorite), and I’ve voted in it every time except 2016 (I’m still not sure why I didn’t in that year, but oh well). And every time he does it, I have to break it down (again, except for 2016, and again, I’m not sure why I skipped that year)! So find a comfy chair and some pretzels or other snacking food, because we’re going to be here for a while!
First of all, let’s do some links! I wrote about these runs in detail in 2008, 2012, and 2020. I did NOT write about them in 2016, but you can find the master list for that year here. Meanwhile, in 2008 Brian revealed the various runs that didn’t quite make the list (he might have done this in other years, as I note below, but this year is the only one I know about) in several posts: #107-103, #118-109, #128-119, #138-129, #148-139, and #153-149. The gaps in numbering are due to ties in the points. Those are fun to peruse! Brian emailed subscribers to his newsletter the ones from this year, so you can check those out below!
Ok, so here are the links to his posts with commentary, although you don’t really need them, because I’m going to commentate a lot on them anyway! I like to be thorough, though!
#100-96
#95-91
#90-86
#85-81
#80-76
#75-71
#70-66
#65-61
#60-56
#55-51
#50-46
#45-41
#40-36
#35-31
#30-26
#25-21
#20-16
#15-11
#10-7
#6-4
#3-1
All right, enough of that. Let’s have a look at the list! I wrote about them sort-of in “real time,” which is why I speculate about things further up the list – when I wrote about them, I didn’t know what was coming! As always, I will list where it was in previous polls, with the book’s placement on the list, the point totals, and first-place votes in parentheses. Ok, onward!
100. Fantastic Four #1- by Ryan North (2022-). 90 points, 1 first-place vote. This shouldn’t count, because it’s not over, but that ship has long sailed on these, so I’m just alone in the ocean, clinging to a damp piece of wood. Oh well. I like North, certainly, and might read this down the road, but there’s always something that bugs me about the Fantastic Four. It just feels like every writer has to make Ben moan about not being human, Johnny an immature douchebag, and Reed and Sue the worst parents ever. Break the paradigm, people! If North hasn’t been doing that, good for him. We shall see about this – I assume Marvel will have a giant collection at some point!
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: N/A
99. Vision #1-12 by Tom King and Gabriel Walta (2015-2016). 91 points, 1 first-place vote. I really like this comic, and I have no problem with it being here – it might be a bit low, to be honest. Brian insists that it’s a “run” because it was not meant to be 12 issues (which, if it’s a “maxi-series” like those old-school DC things, would disqualify it), but I don’t know where he gets his information (Brian has lots of sources!), because it seems pretty clear this was a 12-issue story. Still, it’s very good! Interesting drop from the previous two round-ups. I wonder if it’s just non-recency bias or if other King stuff has supplanted it because people think those are better.
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: #73, 152 points (5)
2020: #66, 176 points (4)
98. Elfquest #1-20 by Wendy and Richard Pini (1978-1987). 93 points, 3 first-place votes. I’ve still never read this, but I know it has a lot of fans. Maybe I should get around to it. I have no problem with it being on this list, although it’s kind of strange that it’s appearing for the first time here. I wonder why.
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: N/A
97. The Spirit by Will Eisner (1940-1942, 1945-1950). 94 points, 3 first-place votes. I’ve read some Spirit comics from this time period, and they’re gorgeous to look at and are perfectly nice to read. They’re better for how influential they are, as Eisner really took advantage of the format more than almost anyone had. I don’t love them, but I do think they deserve to be here, because I’m not a tool! The drop in this poll is interesting – back when it was higher, I imagine the Darwyn Cooke series and then the movie raised the profile of the old stuff a bit.
2008: #46, 204 points (7)
2012: #63, 131 points(2)
2016: #93, 100 points (2)
2020: #89, 109 points (2)
96. New Mutants #18-31, 35-38 by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz (1984-1986). 95 points, 1 first-place vote. As always, I don’t think issues #35-38 should be included, because Sienkiewicz only inks them, but such is life. These are great comics, and they certainly deserve to be on this list and probably should be a bit higher, given how good and even influential they are. Oh well. You know you love Demon Bear!!!! Again, a weird drop from the past two polls. Remember, in the first two polls, Brian included this run in with Claremont’s entire run on the book, which I think was a mistake. (Here’s my Comics You Should Own post about this run.)
2008: #66, 144 points (4)
2012: #93, 95 points
2016: #70, 160 points (1)
2020: #74, 155 points (2)
95. Cerebus #1-300 by Dave Sim and Gerhard (1977-2004). 97 points, 3 first-place votes. I’ve never read it, probably never will, but I have no problem with it on this list. It made a bit of a comeback from 2020, so good for that, but it’s still way down from the heyday of the first three polls!
2008: #25, 370 points (8)
2012: #46, 203 points (10)
2016: #56, 230 points (8)
2020: #100, 88 points (3)
94. Promethea #1-32 by Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III (1999-2005). 99 points, 2 first-place votes. As always with this book, I have no problem with it being here, because it’s visually stunning and often fascinating to read, but Moore really goes wacky in the second half, and it doesn’t work as well as he thinks it does. Nobody needs to know that much about the kabbalah unless you’re Madonna, Mr. Moore!!!! Obviously, some people agree, as this is its worst showing in this poll. Other things are supplanting it, I guess!
2008: #40, 220 points (4)
2012: #67, 124 points (3)
2016: #88, 120 points (5)
2020: #63, 181 points (3)
93. Criminal by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (2006-2020). 100 points, 1 first-place vote. This is an excellent comic, so I have no problem with it being on this list. I think it’s a bit underrated, as it’s hard to make something so generic – crime fiction – stand out so much, but Brubaker does it with the odd and colorful characters he creates, and Phillips just draws the hell out of it. It’s also impressive how well they build this world, where everyone is vaguely connected. I doubt if they’ll ever go back to Criminal, because they’re doing so many other things, but it’s cool that it’s there if they want to! I’m not sure what happened in 2020 – maybe the fact that the latest series was new and seemingly the last one? – but this seems to have found a level.
2008: #153, 50 points
2012: #81, 108 points
2016: #89, 115 points (2)
2020: #55, 212 points (1)
92. Uncle Scrooge #1-71 plus other “Disney Duck” comics by Carl Barks (1943-1972). 102 points, 4 first-place votes. As usual, I’m convinced that Brian makes up email accounts with pseudonyms and then votes for these by himself so that he can include them! They’re fine, but nothing I’ve ever seen (which, admittedly, isn’t a lot) convinces me that they’re some of the greatest comics ever made. Oh well – they’ll probably always show up here and I’ll always have an issue with it. Predictability rules!
2008: #146, 53 points (1)
2012: #54, 167 points (1)
2016: #80, 138 points (5)
2020: #76, 151 points (6)
91. The Question #1-36 (plus two Annuals) by Dennis O’Neil and Denys Cowan (1987-1990). 105 points, 3 first-place votes. I mentioned last time that I was surprised this was as high as it was, and some people took me to task. I still think it’s a good comic, just not as good as it placed. It’s way down this time around, and it feels righter than 2020, when it felt too high. This is a good comic, so I have no problem with it being here. I do like how its rise and fall looks on a graph, though!
2008: #96, 99 points (1)
2012: #76, 115 points (2)
2016: #64, 176 points (4)
2020: #69, 168 points (4)
90. Captain Britain comics by Alan Davis (1981-1986). 107 points, 1 first-place vote. I almost fainted when I saw this on the list, as I’ve always had this as my #10 (I think; maybe one time I left it off) and I never thought enough people would agree with me to get it onto this list. Why now? Davis isn’t the hugest name anymore, nor is Moore, nor is Jamie Delano. Betsy Braddock’s profile is a bit higher than it’s been, I suppose, but it’s not like she’s featured in movies or anything. This is just weird, but I don’t care, because these are great comics and I’m very glad enough people finally recognized that!
2008: Nope; #151, 50 points
2012: Also nope
2016: Still nope
2020: When will people realize how good these comics are?!?!?!?
89. Hate #1-30, Annuals #1-9, Hate Revisited #1-4 by Peter Bagge (1990-2024). 108 points, 3 first-place votes. As I’ve noted in the past, I’ve only read a little bit by Bagge and wasn’t too impressed, so I’ll probably never read Hate. Good for it for sticking around, though!
2008: #130, 65 points
2012: N/A
2016: #75, 150 points (2)
2020: #90, 107 points (1)
88. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (1999-2018). 111 points, 2 first-place votes. I liked LoEG until The Black Dossier turned me off a bit, although the later standalone graphic novels were quite good. I haven’t re-read it in a while, so I don’t know how I feel about it. When Moore started it, he was still in “I’m going to tell you a story” mode, but as he got further into the series, he shifted to his “I’m going to lecture you about esoteric things that I think are cool” mode, which wasn’t as much fun. It didn’t get as bad as Promethea, but it still became more about proving how clever he was because he knows more about cultural figures than you do than, you know, telling a story. Of course, it’s been a while, as I said, so maybe I wouldn’t feel that way now. Still, it’s not bad that it’s here, and O’Neill always brought his absolute A-game to the proceedings, so here we are. This is an odd duck, because it seems like Brian shifts whether it’s eligible or not quite a bit. It was on the 2008 list but not since, but I don’t know if that’s because Our Former Dread Lord and Master didn’t allow it in those years but changed his mind, or if it didn’t have the votes. Only he knows for sure!!!!
2008: #64, 148 points
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: N/A
87. Judge Dredd comics by John Wagner (1977-present?). 115 points, 3 first-place votes. I mean, this is fine. I wouldn’t consider this a “run,” and Brian is kind of ambiguous about what he means here, if it’s just every Dredd story Wagner has ever written (he’s still writing them, it seems) or what. Judge Dredd stories are generally fine, but I wouldn’t consider them “top 100” of anything, unless perhaps “top 100 post-apocalyptic characters” is a thing (and why wouldn’t it be?).
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: N/A
86. Daredevil #1-36, Devil’s Reign #1-6, Daredevil #1-14 by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto (2019-2023). 118 points, 2 first-place votes. Some people have said this is really good. I reserve judgment because I run hot and cold on Zdarsky. I don’t really have a huge desire to read this, but good for it making the list! Will it bump the Waid run, which made it four years ago, or simply join it? Will it (gasp) bump the Bendis run? The mind reels!
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: N/A
85. Suicide Squad #1-66 by John Ostrander (1987-1992). 119 points, 3 first-place votes. This is a big faller, which is a bit surprising as it seemed like it was high before the movie stuff, which you might think would inflate its rating. It’s still a great, great run and it deserves to be on the list, but it is a bit strange to see it plummet, as it was ranked pretty consistently prior to this year. (Of course, I have done a Comics You Should Own post about it!)
2008: #28, 336 points (5)
2012: #56, 158 points (1)
2016: #35, 344 points (10)
2020: #36, 399 points (2)
84. Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley (2004-2010). 121 points, 1 first-place vote. Years ago, I read the first volume of this series, and … didn’t love it. I didn’t exactly hate it, I just didn’t see what the fuss was about. I guess I’m in the minority, although this does have an odd history in this poll. Again, I don’t know if it’s the way Brian categorizes things, but it does come and go on this list, so maybe it’s just tenuous!
2008: N/A
2012: #86, 103 points
2016: #61, 193 points
2020: N/A
83. Superman comics by John Byrne (1986-1988). 124 points, 3 first-place votes. I did get the nice hardcovers that DC released collecting this, and I just haven’t read them yet. Some day! As always, I’m sure they’re good, and I have no problem with them appearing on this list.
2008: #77, 119 points (1)
2012: #62, 134 points (3)
2016: #74, 151 points (3)
2020: #45, 288 points (6)
82. Spider-Man comics by Dan Slott (2010-2018). 127 points, 2 first-place votes. I guess. I haven’t read Spider-Man comics regularly in 20 years, mainly because Marvel has allowed them to metastasize so much I can’t even begin to catch up. I know Slott is highly regarded as a Spidey writer, and I did like Superior Spider-Man (which I bought in trade, as it seemed like it could be easily hived off from the rest of the Spider-Verse), so … sure? Although it is interesting to see it fade as we get further away in time from it. Perhaps it doesn’t have staying power?
2008: N/A
2012: #87, 102 points
2016: #39, 325 points (8)
2020: #57, 207 points (3)
81. Green Lantern #76-87, 89, Flash #217-219 (backup stories) by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams (1970-1972). 129 points, 1 first-place vote. This will always be on this list, and I will always point out that it’s more influential than good. That’s ok, though, because I have no problem with it being here – it’s an important comic, and Adams is superb, and you have to give O’Neil credit for tackling big issues even if it’s ham-fisted. And we need more Seventies comics on this list!
2008: #59, 162 points (1)
2012: #64, 129 points
2016: #95, 96 points (3)
2020: #71, 164 points (1)
80. Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai (1987-). 132 points, 8 first-place votes. I own a LOT of Usagi Yojimbo comics simply because Dark Horse put out those really nice collections a few years ago, but I’ve only read a few of them. I like them, but I’m never sure if this really belongs on this list, simply because I haven’t read enough of them. I will note that the people who vote for this usually really like it, as in the last two polls, it’s gotten a very high percentage of its points from first-place votes (this year: 61%, 2020: 67%). So it inspires great enjoyment in a small but passionate group of readers!
2008: #97, 98 points (2)
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: #91, 105 points (7)
79. Avengers comics by Brian Michael Bendis (2004-2012). 133 points, 3 first-place votes. I’ve read some of this, and it’s fine, I guess. Nothing too special, although it is kind of impressive how Bendis, through sheer force of will (maybe that’s why all his hair fell out?) made the Avengers relevant again in the Marvel Universe, so if you want to blame the movies on someone, blame him! These are just ok comics, but a lot of people liked them back then and some still like them today!
2008: #134, 62 points (1)
2012: #59, 152 points (1)
2016: #76, 146 points (1)
2020: #56, 211 points (6)
78. Chew #1-60 by John Layman and Rob Guillory (2009-2016). 144 points, 1 first-place vote. You might recall that I was a big cheerleader for Chew from the time its first issue came out, and I still think it’s one of the best comics of this century. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Layman, because he’s become a bit busier in the past few years after he was burned out on comics for a while, so we haven’t found a time to get together for lunch (and he’s threatening to move out of the Basin, so I should text him to see when we can get together!), but that doesn’t mean I don’t think this is a great comic! Just read it, people – you won’t regret it!
2008: N/A
2012: #90, 98 points (1)
2016: #67, 167 points (1)
2020: #73, 159 points
78. Conan the Barbarian #1-115 and Savage Sword of Conan #1-79 by Roy Thomas (1970-1982). 145 points, 2 first-place votes. I’ve finally read most of this, and, sure, it’s pretty good. I still think it can’t be too hard to write a good Conan story, but Thomas did it for a really long time, so he deserves a ton of credit for that. Of course, the early stories have Barry Windsor-Smith working his magic, and his art is spectacular. This has gone up slightly since 2020, and I wonder if Titan’s push with Conan over the past few years has helped its numbers.
2008: #139, 56 points
2012: N/A
2016: #66, 170 points
2020: #94, 100 points (2)
76. Lone Wolf and Cub by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima (1970-1976). 148 points, 2 first-place votes. Much like in 2020, I own this, and haven’t read it. I’ll get to it someday! I have nothing much to say about it, and I think it probably deserves to be on this list, so let’s move on!
2008: #95, 100 points
2012: #83, 106 points (5)
2016: N/A
2020: #93, 101 points (3)
75. Nightwing #78-118 by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo (2021-2024). 150 points, 4 first-place votes. I’ve heard nothing but good things about this run, so I’ll probably read it eventually, and I don’t have any problem with it being on this list. It feels a bit high, but whatever.
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: N/A
74. Astonishing X-Men #1-24 and Giant-Size #1 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday (2004-2008). 151 points, 2 first-place votes. I famously (?) disliked the first trade of this series, which pissed a lot of people off back in the day, so I never read any more of it (I think I may have read a random issue or two and didn’t change my opinion). This has faded a bit over the years – in 2020 I was surprised it didn’t suffer more of a “Whedon backlash,” but seeing it drop even more from its heights of 2012 and 2016, maybe it had begun in 2020 and continued this time around? Or maybe people realized I was right and it’s just not that great!!!!
2008: #38, 229 points (2)
2012: #21, 463 points (8)
2016: #23, 570 points (7)
2020: #37, 360 points (5)
73. Flash #164-225 by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins (2000-2005). 153 points, 2 first-place votes. This always makes the list, and I always say, “Meh,” and move on. I’ve never been a big Flash fan, and I’ve definitely never been a big Johns fan, so this doesn’t move the meter for me. I’m sure it’s fine, but I have no desire to read it. I wonder what happened in 2012, though.
2008: #56, 168 points (2)
2012: N/A
2016: #59, 202 points (5)
2020: #59, 198 points (4)
72. Avengers #35-104 by Roy Thomas (1966-1972). 157 points, 1 first-place vote. Here’s another one that always makes the list, and I shrug. I’ve read the Kree-Skrull War, which is fine, but nothing else from this run. Thomas is fine, but I’ve never been all that interested in the Avengers. I have no problem with this run being here, though.
2008: #86, 109 points (2)
2012: #42, 228 points (4)
2016: #52, 261 points (10)
2020: #77, 148 points
71: G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #1-7, 10-19, 21-118, 120-142, 144-152, 155 by Larry Hama (1982-1994). 158 points, 3 first-place votes. Yet another run that always makes the list, and I say, “Meh.” I’ve only read a little of it, and I don’t have much desire to read more. It’s fine, but nothing special. I mean, yes, it’s impressive that Hama was able to take a toy line and make it something that people remember fondly, but still. I don’t have a problem with it being here, and I always think it should just sneak in instead of being solidly in. But what do I know?
2008: #126, 68 points (1)
2012: #77, 114 points (4)
2016: #71, 159 points (3)
2020: #81, 138 points (3)
70. X-Men #94-107 (and #145-164) by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum (1975-1977). 160 points, 2 first-place votes. Our Dread Lord and Master and I disagree on this (I mean, it’s not like we sit around in one of his hipster bars in Manhattan and argue about it, but still), because the “Cockrum” part of the early X-Men is clearly part of Claremont’s big design to make Jean Grey into Jesus, so separating it from the later Byrne stuff is misguided. I get that, if you don’t allow it to be separate, Cockrum won’t be featured on this list because no one is voting for his “second run” on the title and Byrne will be the artist everyone talks about with regard to the Phoenix stuff, but Cockrum can handle the rejection! This is fine here, I guess. Issues #98-101 are keen.
2008: #144, 54 points
2012: N/A
2016: #68, 164 points (1)
2020: #38, 353 points (2)
69. Strange Tales #110-111, 114-146 by “Stan Lee” and Steve Ditko (1963-1966). 162 points, 3 first-place votes. I still haven’t read this, but I will soon enough. I’m sure it’s fine here – probably underrated, to be honest – and it just keeps chugging along on this list. In 2016, I imagine the Marvel Mania of the Movies helped it, but this year, it rose a bit as well, so who knows. Freaky-deaky stuff!
2008: #88, 108 points (2)
2012: #74, 117 points (1)
2016: #57, 212 points (3)
2020: #85, 127 points (2)
68. Scalped by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera (2007-2012). 165 points, 1 first-place vote. The roller-coaster ride of Scalped cracks me up, and I can’t really explain it. It’s down a bit from 2020, but not as big as a drop from 2012 to 2016, so I guess it’s just finding a level. Here’s my Comics You Should Own post about it.
2008: N/A
2012: #33, 289 points (4)
2016: #99, 90 points (3)
2020: #44, 296 points (3)
67. Fantastic Four #60-70, 500-524 by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo (2002-2005). 167 points, 3 first-place votes. This run has beefed up a bit, and I’m not sure why. Could it be Waid’s recent resurgence at DC, which is making people revisit his older stuff? Beats me, but it’s fine. As I’ve noted in the past, the first bit of this run – when Doom becomes a sorcerer – are really good, and it kind of coasts after that. It’s certainly not bad, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights of those early issues. I have no problem with it being on this list. I assume in 2016 that it just missed the cut-off!
2008: #62, 150 points (1)
2012: #89, 99 points
2016: N/A
2020: #92, 104 points (1)
66. Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (2008-2013). 172 points, 5 first-place votes. Whenever I do these posts, I note that I read the first trade of this, wasn’t super-impressed (although it wasn’t terrible), and I never went back. It’s a steady presence here, though, so good for it!
2008: N/A
2012: #88, 100 points (3)
2016: #58, 209 points (6)
2020: #61, 191 points (1)
65. Detective Comics #395, 397, 400, 402, 404, 407-408, 410 and Batman #232, 234, 237, 243-245, 251, 255 by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams (1970-1974). 180 points, 4 first-place votes. I’m a bit surprised this fell so much. It was slowly climbing in points (although, weirdly, its place on the list fell precipitously between 2012 and 2016), and while I was a bit surprised it gained so much in 2020, falling like this is a bit odd. It will probably always hover around here, I guess, and that’s fine – these are terrific comics!
2008: #109, 87 points
2012: #69, 122 points
2016: #85, 129 points (5)
2020: #52, 245 points (7)
64. 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso (1999-2009). 184 points, 2 first-place votes. I’m not entirely sure why this book didn’t make the list in 2020 but made a solid comeback in 2024. I mean, sure, it plummeted a bit in 2016 from its 2012 peak, but I figured it would hang around in the lower third of this list, not drop off completely. And now it’s made a big comeback to its second-best point total! Is there a television show announcement I missed that would get it back in the zeitgeist? Anyway, this is a great book for … the first half, maybe? I thought it petered out a bit, and Azzarello’s commitment to the 100-issue bit didn’t work as well as he wanted it to. I’ll read it again down the line, and I don’t have an issue with it being here, I just suspect it’s a bit overrated.
2008: #62, 150 points (?)
2012: #43, 226 points (?)
2016: #82, 132 points (4)
2020: N/A
63. Deadpool #1-33 by Joe Kelly (1997-1999). 187 points, 3 first-place votes. I would put the Duggan/Posehn run above this, as this is a bit overrated. It’s fine, I guess, and the “Deadpool in that issue of Spider-Man” issue is funny, but overall, this is just fine. Maybe it’s my bias against late-Nineties Marvel shining through. This is another one that made a strong comeback after dropping off the list in 2020, and I can’t help but think a certain movie event had something to do with it …
2008: #47, 202 points (?)
2012: #80, 111 points (?)
2016: #97, 94 points (4)
2020: N/A
62. JSA #6-77, 81, Justice Society of America #1-26 by Geoff Johns (2000-2006, 2007-2009). 188 points, 2 first-place votes. A perennial that I haven’t read and probably never will, although it went down in the point total pretty significantly. I wonder if it’s Johns fatigue, or just new comics that everyone digs more!
2008: #48, 192 points (1)
2012: #70, 121 points (3)
2016: #48, 274 points (3)
2020: #47, 272 points (4)
61. Y the Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra (2002-2008). 190 points, 3 first-place votes. This is a fairly shocking drop for a perennial Top-20 book, and while its peak in 2012 was probably a bit of a recency bias fluke (I know it ended in 2008, but by 2012, everyone who was going to read it had probably caught up), dropping this far is a bit surprising. I wonder why. Did all the people who pushed it so high stop voting? Did Vaughan say something stupid that pissed people off? I’ve always thought this was overrated to be so high, so this, it feels, is more appropriate, but it’s still weird. I guess Y will not be a Top-20 mainstay like so many other books! (I mean, we all know what the Top 10 is going to look like, right, and we can probably guess at the Top 20!)
2008: #13, 547 points (6)
2012: #5, 855 points (23)
2016: #13, 665 points (12)
2020: #18, 630 points (12)
60. Invisibles by Grant Morrison (1994-2000). 197 points, 3 first-place votes. I’ve never finished reading this, as I was a bit unimpressed with the early issues and stopped buying it, only to catch up with the trades later. I’ll get around to it, but it doesn’t start too well, in my humble opinion. I guess it gets better? I wonder what was going on in 2008 – that was around the time Morrison was hitting their peak on Batman, so maybe a lot of people were going back and reading this? It’s fallen since then, but seems like a fairly reliable sticker on this list.
2008: #27, 349 points (10)
2012: #45, 204 points (4)
2016: #77, 145 points (6)
2020: #53, 239 points (3)
59. The Boys by Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, and Russell Braun (2006-2012). 203 points, 3 first-place votes. My hatred of The Boys transcends the internet, as people stop me on the street and ask me why I hate The Boys so much and how they can hate it too! Ok, that doesn’t happen, but I still hate this comic with the white-hot fury of a thousand suns. I don’t know if I still have the first six issues – I’ll have to dig them out and re-read them at some point … and watch, I’ll have completely changed my opinion!!!! I assume the bump this has gotten is from the television show, so good for Ennis and Robertson, who I assume make some money off of it!
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: #88, 118 points (1)
58. Ultimates volumes 1 and 2 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch (2002-2004, 2005-2007). 208 points, 2 first-place votes. I really liked volume 1, and then I began my Mark Millar Boycott and I haven’t read volume 2. You know all this! I always assumed this fell because the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn’t as big a thing as it was back in ’08 and ’12, but it’s made a bit of a comeback this year. Good for it! This being on the list is perfectly fine.
2008: #32, 315 points (5)
2012: #35, 265 points (2)
2016: #94, 98 points (2)
2020: #78, 146 points (1)
57. Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson (1997-2002). 212 points, 2 first-place votes. I wondered in 2020 if the revelations about Ellis would hurt this, because it didn’t seem to, but maybe their was some lag time? I suppose that Ellis not working all that much these days might have something to do with it, too – his name isn’t in the zeitgeist as much. This is still a very good comic – I always thought it was a bit overrated, so maybe this is a better place for it. That’s a serious drop in point total, though.
2008: #23, 418 points (11)
2012: #31, 336 points (6)
2016: #40, 322 points (6)
2020: #42, 319 points (1)
56. X-Factor #1-50, 200-262 (plus Madrox #1-5) by Peter David (2004, 2006-2013). 225 points, 5 first-place votes. This has dropped a bit, too, and I assume it will find a level and stick there, as I can’t imagine it having too much of a resurgence from now on. Maybe it will, sure, but it would take something odd. I loved this book when it was coming out, and I assumed that when I re-read it not too long ago, I would write a Comics You Should Own post about it, but … it was just fine. I still like it, but it didn’t feel as good as when it was coming out. I think David’s propensity to stick with a book until someone pries it from his cold, dead fingers worked against him on it, honestly – it just felt like he was going from crisis to crisis without really having a grand story to tell, which can work – the book is still a good read – but makes it less of a classic. With his Hulk, he simply re-invented the title every so often, but he didn’t really do that with X-Factor, despite some attempts. This is a good comic, and I don’t have a problem with it being on this list, but even though it dropped a little, it still feels a bit overrated.
2008: N/A
2012: #49, 189 points (2)
2016: #28, 418 points (6)
2020: #43, 314 points (9)
55. Daredevil #1-36, 1-18 by Mark Waid (2011-2015). 231 points, 3 first-place votes. This is an enjoyable run with great art, and I have no problem with it being on this list. I can’t really explain its yo-yo-ing, though – it’s kind of weird, isn’t it? As I noted above, maybe Waid’s recent work is making people remember his older work?
2008: N/A
2012: #71, 120 points
2016: #32, 341 points (3)
2020: #72, 163 points (2)
54. Squirrel Girl #1-8, 1-50 by Ryan North and Erica Henderson (2015-2020). 246 points, 3 first-place votes. This is a terrific series, so I’m glad people have put it on the list. I’m honestly a bit surprised it made such a leap from 2020 to this year. Is it an indication of where it will eventually hover on this list, or will it slide back down next time? No man can say!!!!
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: #79, 144 points (3)
53. Journey into Mystery #97-125, Thor #126-177, 179 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (1963-1970). 247 points, 5 first-place votes. This has been rising (almost) constantly since Brian began this, and I wonder why. Is it just that more people are discovering it because Marvel is always making it accessible? I doubt if it’s the movie factor, unless there’s a Loki Wave from the television show. Beats me. It’s a solid performer on the list, though!
2008: #83, 112 points (1)
2012: #98, 89 points (2)
2016: #78, 142 points (3)
2020: #70, 167 points (1)
52. Detective Comics #469-479 by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers, and Terry Austin (1977-1978). 253 points, 4 first-place votes. As always, Brian cheats to make sure the six issues that everyone loves – #471-476 – make it onto this list, as it wouldn’t otherwise qualify. I don’t care if he cheats, because they’re superb comics. Here’s my take on them. I wonder – do the same three people always vote this #1?
2008: #49, 184 points (3)
2012: #55, 161 points (3)
2016: #81, 137 points (3)
2020: #67, 171 points (3)
51. The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard (2003-2019). 259 points, 3 first-place votes. As I always note, I read the first 12 issues of this and didn’t feel any need to read any more. Zombies just don’t do it for me, man, and this felt like it was going to be fairly repetitive (and I guess it was, to a certain degree). It’s fine here, I guess. I wonder if the some of the new spin-offs have increased awareness of this, as it was falling the past few times and has now seen a resurgence. Who knows?
2008: N/A
2012: #28, 351 points
2016: #60, 195 points (2)
2020: #96, 95 points (1)
50. The Punisher by Garth Ennis (2000-2008). 262 points, 2 first-place votes. Still nope. Every time I bring this up, people say I have to read the MAX run, and I tell them I read 12 issues of the MAX run (plus “Welcome Back, Frank”), and it didn’t do it for me, and if you need longer than 12 issues to do it for me, that’s on you. This might be great. It’s not for me. It has fallen off a bit this year, which is a bit odd, as it always seemed strong. We’ll see what happens next time.
2008: #24, 389 points (5)
2012: #24, 380 points (5)
2016: #42, 310 points (2)
2020: #34, 405 points (4)
49. Hellboy by Mike Mignola (1993-2016 or current, if you really want to get technical). 271 points, 5 first-place votes. I very much dig Hellboy, and it’s fine right here. It might be a tad high for me, but not egregiously so. Mignola just does a nice job with it, and his art, as always, is wonderful. This is amazingly consistent, as you can see.
2008: #51, 179 points (2)
2012: #39, 247 points (5)
2016: #51, 265 points (3)
2020: #46, 279 points (5)
48. Batman #1-51 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo (2011-2016). 284 points, 2 first-place votes. The meteoric fall after a meteoric rise continues, as this increasingly feels very “flavor of the month” from 2016, when Snyder and Capullo finished it and everyone thought it was the greatest thing ever. With the benefit a few years, I imagine people have begun to realize it’s kind of hot garbage, and I’m curious to see if its reached a level or if next time it will plummet some more. I have no problem with this dropping completely off the list, as, I might have mentioned, it’s hot garbage!
2008: N/A
2012: #72, 119 points (2)
2016: #8, 1010 points (20)
2020: #32, 457 points (2)
47. Immortal Hulk #1-50 by Al Ewing and Joe Bennett (2018-2021). 288 points, 3 first-place votes. This is a very good run, and it seems like it’s going to live here for a bit. I don’t know how it will age, as it’s still pretty fresh in everyone’s mind, but I don’t have a problem with its placement. Maybe a bit high, but nothing to get exercised about.
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: #49, 263 points (3)
46. Avengers #227-279, 281-288 by Roger Stern (1982-1988). 294 points, 3 first-place votes. I would have said the 2020 results were because of the Marvel movies, but they had been going on in 2012 and 2016, too, and this run didn’t get a bump. Weird. This seems to be its level, as this year’s placement is remarkably in line with 2012 and 2016, so I don’t know who was voting in 2020 – Avengers Fanboys, maybe? I still haven’t read this run, nor do I have any particular inclination to do so. I don’t have any issue with it being here, as I imagine it’s decent.
2008: #58, 164 points (3)
2012: #42, 228 points (4)
2016: #45, 290 points (7)
2020: #28, 497 points (6)
45. Love & Rockets by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez (1982-). 297 points, 8 first-place votes. This was strong for two years, fell off for two years, and is back to its 2008 and 2012 heyday. I can’t explain it, people, I just catalog it! As always, I have to mention that I don’t get Los Bros. Hernandez. They’re perfectly competent comics creators, but they just don’t do it for me. Sorry!
2008: #35, 236 points (5)
2012: #40, 231 points (8)
2016: #62, 191 points (8)
2020: #62, 185 points (5)
44. Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #133-148, New Gods #1-11, Forever People #1-11 and Mister Miracle #1-18 by Jack Kirby (1970-1974). 304 points, 4 first-place votes. Yep, still haven’t read these, although I have them all in nice trade paperbacks. This is the best showing yet, which is odd. Has Kirby been in the zeitgeist a bit more recently? Did all the people read DC’s ALL IN Special and think, “That Darkseid is pretty cool – I wonder where he came from?” and discovered the King of Komics? Beats me. Good for Kirby, though!
2008: #50, 180 points (2)
2012: #51, 176 points (2)
2016: #54, 250 points (5)
2020: #75, 154 points (1)
43. Amazing Spider-Man #224-227, 229-252 by Roger Stern and John Romita Jr (1981-1984). 315 points, 4 first-place votes. Here’s another run with a somewhat inexplicable rise – it did well in 2012, but seemed to be at a nice level until this year, when it shot up. Why? Beats me. I can’t keep track of Marvel Cinematic Projects, but there hasn’t been a Spidey thing recently, has there? Is something going on in the regular Spidey books that references this run? Dunno. I don’t own much of the early issues of this run, but I did write about the Juggernaut two-parter and the Hobgoblin Saga, and they’re very good comics!
2008: #55, 170 points (4)
2012: #44, 214 points (1)
2016: #63, 180 points (3)
2020: #68, 170 points (1)
42. Hawkeye #1-22 by Matt Fraction and David Aja (2012-2015). 320 points, 2 first-place votes. This seems to have found a level, although there’s always a possibility of movement, as we’ve seen. I think this is stable – I can’t imagine people who like it giving up on it, but I’m not sure it’s going to gain more adherents. I could be wrong, though! As I’ve noted, this is a fine run, although Fraction does spin his wheels a bit as he goes along. And remember: if you don’t like it, its editor will show up and chide you!
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: #46, 285 points (2)
2020: #40, 339 points (2)
41. Avengers #1-15, 19-56 by Kurt Busiek and George Pérez (1998-2002). 324 points, 4 first-place votes. Here’s another really consistent placer, as it just keeps trucking along with similar point totals, its place on the list only determined by what’s going on around it. That’s fine and dandy – I’ve read some of this, and it’s a perfectly solid superhero comic. I always think it’s a bit high, but not in any ragey way!
2008: #41, 218 points (1)
2012: #29, 342 points (6)
2016: #43, 306 points (5)
2020: #39, 349 points (4)
40. Captain America #1-50, Captain America Reborn #1-6, Captain America #600-619, Captain America #1-19 by Ed Brubaker (2005-2012). 337 points, 3 first-place votes. This is a very good comic, although it does feel like Brubaker lost the plot a tiny bit once he killed Steve and brought him back. It was still very good, but not quite as excellent as the early stuff. It happens. This has fallen a bit, which is odd because it seemed to have found a level in the top 25 or so, so I wonder what happened. The vagaries of taste, I guess!
2008: #17, 504 points (4)
2012: #22, 445 points (8)
2016: #20, 612 points (3)
2020: #26, 523 points (5)
39. Warrior #1-21, Miracleman #7-16 by Alan Moore (1982-1989). 342 points, 4 first-place votes. Despite Fraser’s obviously wrong opinion, this is a tremendous comic. For the most part, the art is stunning (Chuck Austen is, naturally, the exception), and Moore really does a nice job with the humanity of the characters (or lack thereof in some cases). Moore can make you feel bad for government officials, which is an impressive thing! This is another one that dropped off in 2020, but perhaps Gaiman’s completion of “The Silver Age” renewed some interest in it, hence the comeback?
2008: #36, 234 points (3)
2012: #38, 254 points (6)
2016: #53, 252 points (6)
2020: #60, 194 points (8)
38. Thor: God of Thunder #1-25, Thor #1-8, The Mighty Thor #1-23, #700-706, The Unworthy Thor #1-5, Thor #1-16, War of the Realms #1-6, King Thor #1-4 by Jason Aaron (2013-2019). 361 votes, 5 first-place votes. Another example of Marvel’s ridiculous renumbering policy, Aaron’s run on Thor is very, very good (Marvel released them in two giant omnibuses, so I got to read them). I don’t really have much to say about this run – I’ve only read it once, so I haven’t chewed over it too much, but it’s very good. I’m not sure why it fell off from 2020, but it’s close to the 2016 numbers, so maybe it got a spike from … the movies?
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: #34, 350 points (6)
2020: #14, 680 points (17)
37. Amazing Spider-Man #39-96 (basically) by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr (1966-1971). 372 points, 4 first-place votes. This just keeps trucking along, although it spiked a bit this year, which is a bit odd. These are very good comics, so I don’t have any problem with this being here, but I wonder why its point total went up so dramatically.
2008: #34, 270 points (3)
2012: #37, 262 points (3)
2016: #44, 302 points (2)
2020: #50, 254 points (5)
36. House of X #1-6, Powers of X #1-6, X-Men #1-21, New Mutants #1-2, 5, 7, Inferno #1-4 by Jonathan Hickman (2019-2022). 394 points, 3 first-place votes. Did you know the “X” in Powers of X is a TEN? GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH, this run is so bad!!!!! My only hope is that in four years, people will have come to their senses. No, I didn’t read most of it. The first combo mini-series (House of and Powers of) were so, so terrible that I couldn’t see any way it could possibly get better. What the what with this thing. Jeebus. Let’s move on!
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: N/A
2020: #82, 136 points (1)
35. Animal Man #1-26 by Grant “I still see you!” Morrison and Chas Truog (1988-1990). 415 points, 4 first-place votes. I mean, of course this is an excellent comic, and it’s always done pretty well in this poll. It slipped a bit in 2016 and now this year just a tic, but I have no doubt it will always place in the high 20s/low 30s or thereabouts. It’s the kind of comic that always kind of lurks in readers’ consciousness, and when they’re trying to figure out how to round out their list with slots 8-10, they think, “Oh, yeah, Animal Man!” Maybe that’s cynical, but given that the first-place votes have fallen off, I don’t think it’s completely off-base. I wrote about it here!
2008: #21, 430 points (13)
2012: #23, 393 points (6)
2016: #47, 280 points (3)
2020: #29, 483 points (5)
34. Fables #1-150 by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (2002-2015). 421 points, 3 first-place votes. As I’ve mentioned before, issues #1-75 of this series are superb, but it begins to trail off after that, to the point that I dropped the book somewhere in the … 120s? I ought to go back and get the issues I’m missing just for completists’ sake. But man, those first 75 issues are really excellent, aren’t they? This is another one that seems to lurk in our brains somewhere, as it never got a huge amount of first-place votes, and I assume the recent 12-issue mini-series made people think of it again, because it made a nice comeback from 2020, when it fell off a bit.
2008: #22, 428 points (6)
2012: #27, 358 points (4)
2016: #37, 340 points (5)
2020: #48, 269 points (1)
33. Incredible Hulk #331-359, 361-388, 390-467 by Peter David (1987-1998). 438 points, 9 first-place votes. I still don’t understand why Brian considers this a complete run, when it’s so clearly divided into six parts, one of which just isn’t that great. But it’s still a great comic, and I imagine it will always hang around here, because the voters just have it in their mind that it’s a great run (which, again, it is). I wisely broke it into five parts: one, two, three, four, and five.
2008: #19, 484 points (7)
2012: #26, 365 points (7)
2016: #38, 332 points (4)
2020: #25, 526 points (11)
32. Gotham Central by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker (2003-2006). 465 points, 5 first-place votes. As I noted in 2020, I’ve read this but not in a while, and while I remember liking it, I don’t know if it’s the 32nd-best run ever. I’ll get around to reading it again someday! I’m curious about its up-and-down placement in the poll. It’s quite bizarre!
2008: #74, 122 points (1)
2012: #30, 340 points (8)
2016: #79, 138 points (4)
2020: #58, 201 points (2)
31. Hitman by Garth Ennis and John McCrea (1996-2001). 481 points, 4 first-place votes. This is the second-best run in comics history, so naturally, I think this is a bit low. However, for some reason it’s really leapt up in this year’s poll, and I’m not quite sure why. Ennis isn’t really doing anything so different from years past, so it’s not like he’s a media star all of a sudden and people are discovering his old stuff. I mean, is his name prominently featured in the credits for The Boys? And, I mean, that was a series the last time Brian did this. So, I don’t know why Hitman has shot up the list a bit, but I don’t care, because it’s just that good. Of course I have written extensively about this!
2008: #37, 232 points (6)
2012: #53, 168 points (1)
2016: #50, 270 points (2)
2020: #65, 178 points (1)
30. Strange Tales #178-181, Warlock #9-15, Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 by Jim Starlin (1975-1977). 495 points, 5 first-place votes. We’re getting to some strange totals in this poll, as I’ll note. This was chugging along, slowly gaining votes, but this is a weird leap. I have no idea why it jumped so much. These are perfectly good comics, to be sure, but that’s a big leap!
2008: #86, 109 points (1)
2012: #79, 112 points
2016: #55, 238 points (2)
2020: #51, 248 points (2)
29. X-Men #114-154 by Grant “You’ll love Emma Frost as much as I do, fanboys!” Morrison (2001-2004). 497 points, 3 first-place votes. Meanwhile, this is an odd fall. This seemed to be safely ensconced in the top 20, even if the point totals had fallen since its 2008 peak, but this is a decent drop. I wonder why. These are, after all, darned good comics.
2008: #10, 701 points (14)
2012: #13, 584 points (9)
2016: #16, 634 points (3)
2020: #20, 614 points (5)
28. Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (1995-2000). 521 points, 4 first-place votes. I wonder why this has fallen off a bit. I still think it’s a bit overrated, especially when compared to Hitman and Hellblazer, but it’s not a bad comic. I imagine it started strong because it was fresher back in the day, plus there was the television show. That’s gone, and it’s been a while, so maybe it will continue to slip?
2008: #8, 857 points (21)
2012: #9, 792 points (22)
2016: #12, 790 points (16)
2020: #31, 474 points (3)
27. Flash #62-129 by Mark Waid (1992-1997). 558 points, 5 first-place votes. Here’s another weird one that seemed to be steady, then jumped last time and stayed there this time. The television show and movie helped, I imagine, but the show is over and the movie was garbage, but I guess this stuck in voters’ minds! I haven’t read most of this, but what I have read is … fine.
2008: #39, 228 points (2)
2012: #36, 263 points (6)
2016: #36, 341 points (3)
2020: #22, 588 points (4)
26. Avengers #1-44, New Avengers #1-33, Infinity #1-6, Secret Wars #1-9 by Jonathan Hickman (2013-2016). 563 points, 5 first-place votes. I haven’t read this, but based on what I’ve read of Hickman’s Marvel work, it can’t be that good. It seems to have peaked in 2020 and has slid back down, so we’ll see which way it goes next time around.
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: #27, 419 points (7)
2020: #12, 734 points (10)
25. Fantastic Four #232-293 by John Byrne (1981-1986). 571 points, 5 first-place votes. This is, of course, one of the more annoying runs on this list because even after 60 issues, it didn’t get a good “conclusion.” Byrne famously left the book for … reasons? I imagine he got bored, because he seems like that kind of creator, but maybe Marvel didn’t want him anymore? Look, I don’t know the circumstances of something that happened 40 years ago, people! Anyway, this is an enjoyable run, despite the fact that it contains one of the worst decisions a comic company ever made!!!! You know what I’m talking about! This has dropped a bit, which is weird. Another one that’s fading in memory a little?
2008: #16, 508 points (7)
2012: #24, 381 points (4)
2016: #19, 620 points (4)
2020: #13, 686 points (9)
24. Bone by Jeff Smith (1991-2004). 640 points, 12 first-place votes. Here’s another book that made a big leap this year, after being the model of consistency, at least in placement on the poll, for the past three go-arounds. Why the leap? Was there a cartoon adaptation? Smith hasn’t done much since the end of Bone (the comics have been good, but very few and far between), so I don’t think there’s been anything to get his name into the consciousness of the voters. So this is weird. No matter – Bone is a terrific comic, so good for it!
2008: #31, 321 points (7)
2012: #41, 230 points (2)
2016: #41, 312 points (5)
2020: #41, 335 points (8)
23. Daredevil #26-50, 56-81 by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev (2001-2006). 703 points, 7 first-place votes. This is very good, of course, and while I think it’s a tad bit high, it’s fine. Its placement is consistent, but it’s another one that got some more votes this time around. I don’t keep track of how many people vote, but I think it’s been increasing every year, so while this got more votes, others higher than it did too, so it stayed in the same place in the poll!
2008: #20, 480 points (9)
2012: #16, 514 points (7)
2016: #22, 585 points (8)
2020: #24, 532 points (8)
22. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (2012-). 721 points, 8 first-place votes. Won’t this ever end?!?!?!? Obviously, I think this is too high, as I was not super-impressed with the first 18 issues (frustrated, sure, because some issues were brilliant), and I don’t get the love for it. Oh well. Let’s move on!
2008: N/A
2012: N/A
2016: #26, 521 points (10)
2020: #35, 402 points (3)
21. Ultimate Spider-Man #1-160 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley (2000-2011). 725 points, 9 first-place votes. I mentioned this last time around – Bendis ends this run, basically, in a separate comic, which annoyed the hell out of me. I think it faltered a bit toward the end, but yeah, it’s a solid superhero comic. A bit overrated, maybe, but fine here.
2008: #26, 365 points (3)
2012: #17, 501 points (6)
2016: #21, 590 points (10)
2020: #33, 424 points (4)
20. Astro City by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson (1995-2018). 727 points, 12 first-place votes. I miss Astro City. It’s so good!
2008: #30, 323 points (4)
2012: #48, 198 points (2)
2016: #31, 402 points (14)
2020: #15, 673 points (11)
19. Doom Patrol #19-63 by Grant “The Shadowy Mr. Evans never gets enough credit!” Morrison and Richard Case (1989-1993). 731 points, 14 first-place votes. I mean, it’s only the best comic ever, so yeah … slightly underrated, voters!!!!
2008: #14, 524 points (12)
2012: #32, 333 points (8)
2016: #33, 361 points (4)
2020: #23, 540 points (13)
18. Invincible by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley (2003-2018). 740 points, 10 first-place votes. What the what? I guess the cartoon really left an impression, because this had a HUGE leap since 2020. There it was, moseying along in the bottom half of the poll, which was fine, as it’s a good superhero comic that goes on a bit too long, and then, we get 2024, and it’s one of the 20 best runs ever? Dang. I can’t think of any reason except the cartoon. This is, of course, a bit overrated.
2008: #79, 115 points (1)
2012: #60, 149 points (5)
2016: #65, 172 points (1)
2020: #64, 179 points (2)
17. Justice League #1-60 by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis (1987-1991). 744 points, 17 first-place votes. Note that in 2008, it finished 9th with, essentially, the same number of votes. More voters, people! I very much dig this comic, and although I always feel it’s a bit overrated, I love that a silly superhero book consistently makes the top 20.
2008: #9, 742 points (13)
2012: #20, 474 points (8)
2016: #25, 525 points (8)
2020: #16, 658 points (16)
16. Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday (1999-2009). 757 points, 13 first-place votes. Planetary is Ellis and Cassaday’s masterpiece, so it’s probably always going to be on this list, and I would suspect that it got a bump this year from Cassaday’s untimely death. It’s sad, but possibly true?
2008: #18, 493 points (7)
2012: #19, 489 points (8)
2016: #24, 535 points (6)
2020: #30, 479 points (9)
15. Legion of Super-Heroes #281-313 and Legion of Super-Heroes #1-5 by Keith Giffen and Paul Levitz (1981-1984). 765 points, 9 first-place votes. As always, I don’t have much to say about anything Legion-related. I’ve never been a big fan of the Legion, and that’s just the way it is. I thought “The Great Darkness Saga” was … fine, but nothing special, and every other time I’ve tried the Legion, it just hasn’t done it for me. This is a big jump for this run this year, even though it’s been trending upward since whatever happened in 2012 happened, and I wonder if Darkseid being such a big part of the “Absolute” thing made people remember this run fondly. We shall see if it remains strong in four years!
2008: #29, 328 points (10)
2012: #47, 201 points (5)
2016: #30, 414 points (10)
2020: #27, 597 points (3)
14. Starman by James Robinson, Tony Harris, and Peter Snejbjerg (1994-2001). 773 points, 17 first-place votes. After a very strong showing in the initial poll, this seems to have found its level, and that’s fine. It’s a superb run, and while I do think it’s a bit underrated, such is life. Obviously, I wrote a lot about this here!
2008: #7, 921 points (35)
2012: #11, 637 points (22)
2016: #18, 622 points (9)
2020: #19, 628 points (15)
13. Fantastic Four #570-611 and FF #1-23 by Jonathan Hickman (2009-2012). 831 points, 13 first-place votes. As I’ve noted in the past, I read the first ommibus and didn’t think much of it, so I have never read the rest. It also rose quite a bit since 2020, which depresses me, because it’s just not that great. Hickman’s galaxy brain thinking works, I think, much better on his own creations, because when he does it with Marvel books, he has to fit the characters into the plot, and sometimes, they just don’t “act” like they always have, and it doesn’t work. That’s my theory, anyway. This is, remember, the run where Valeria called Franklin the “r-word.” So much fun with that!!!!
2008: N/A
2012: #52, 171 points (3)
2016: #17, 630 points (8)
2020: #21, 611 points (10)
12. Green Lantern: Rebirth #1-6, Green Lantern #1-67, Blackest Night #1-8, and Green Lantern (New 52) #1-20 by Geoff Johns (2004-2012). 969 points, 16 first-place votes. Here’s another that had a bit of a comeback from 2020, and another that depresses me. I guess it’s entrenched in the Top 20 now after a probably appropriate showing in 2008, and that just sucks. I mean, Rebirth is just dull, and while I haven’t read this run, whenever I read any random issue of it, something horrible was happening and Johns seems to have a bit too much glee inflicting horrible things on the characters. Whatever. This is overrated, people!
2008: #53, 174 points (1)
2012: #18, 498 points (11)
2016: #10, 812 points (24)
2020: #17, 635 points (9)
11. Batman #655-658, 663-683, 700-702, Batman and Robin #1-16, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1-6, Batman Inc. (Vol. 1) #1-8, Batman Incorporated #1-13 by Grant “Sure, everything happened, but that doesn’t mean I give Cornelius Stirk any love!” Morrison (2006-2013). 974 points, 18 first-place votes. This year’s poll is a bit odder than recent ones, as runs seem to be moving with a bit more volatility than they have in the past. Case in point: Morrison’s Batman, which didn’t fall too far (and gained points, of course), but still dropped out of the Top Ten. We shall see what happens in the coming years! I still haven’t re-read this, but I suspect this is a bit overrated.
2008: N/A
2012: #8, 830 points (27)
2016: #7, 1036 points (22)
2020: #8, 903 points (24)
10. Uncanny X-Men #165-279 and X-Men #1-3 by Chris Claremont (1983-1991). 980 points, 17 first-place votes. As I noted back in 2020, you can clearly split this run up pretty easily: issues #167-175, issues #182-200, issues #201-227, and issues #228-280.
2008: N/A (it was split up into different runs), 472 points (5)
2012: #15, 533 points (14)
2016: #11, 795 points (21)
2020: #10, 769 points (19)
9. New Teen Titans #1-40, Tales of the New Teen Titans #41-50 and New Teen Titans #1-5 by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez (1980-1985). 1066 points, 23 first-place votes. I’ve mentioned before that I just can’t get into this run, and that’s still true. I’ve tried, I really have, but it just doesn’t do it for me. But, hey, the art’s nice! These are good superhero comics, of course, so I don’t mind that it always places so high, it’s just … not for me, I guess. It surged a bit this year, which I can’t explain. I ghoulishly attribute things to death, but Pérez died a couple of years ago, which might account for it, but … might not?
2008: #11, 643 points (15)
2012: #14, 560 points (13)
2016: #15, 651 points (9)
2020: #11, 743 points (21)
8. The Mighty Thor #337-355, 357-382 by Walt Simonson and Sal Buscema (1983-1987). 1099 points, 15 first-place votes. These are Comics You Should Own, so of course I have no problem with it being here. After that first year, this has been ensconced in the Top Ten, and I doubt if it will go anywhere. It’s a really good run.
2008: #15, 514 points (5)
2012: #10, 701 points (16)
2016: #9, 887 points (19)
2020: #9, 892 points (13)
7. JLA #1-17, 22-26, 28-31, 34, 36-41 by Grant “YOU’RE a superhero! and YOU’RE a superhero!” Morrison and Howard Porter (1997-2000). 1217 points, 16 first-place votes. This has gained points every year Brian has done this, which is pretty impressive, especially because they’ve been pretty big leaps the last two times. I mean, it’s a terrific run, so sure, it belongs here. Is this the last time the Justice League has been really great for any length of time? That’s a damned shame.
2008: #12, 574 points (7)
2012: #12, 607 points (7)
2016: #14, 661 points (4)
2020: #7, 934 points (15)
6. Fantastic Four #1-102 and Fantastic Four Annual #1-6 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (1961-1970). 1414 points, 15 first-place votes. I’m not sure what happened in 2020 – its placement was still there, but its points went down and far fewer people had it at #1 on their list. The point totals went back up this year, but the first-place votes didn’t, and perhaps the people in the first three polls simply found something to replace it. As always, when we reach the highest tier of this poll, I’m going to think some things are overrated, and this is one of them. It’s far more influential than great, although it’s certainly not bad. But, what the heck, right?
2008: #3, 1030 points (37)
2012: #4, 863 points (29)
2016: #5, 1260 points (32)
2020: #6, 938 points (12)
5. Sandman by Neil Gaiman (1988-1996). 1498 points, 32 first-place votes. In a minor upset, Sandman fell from its perch in the Top Two to #5, and I do wonder if the allegations against Gaiman (damn it, Gaiman!) have anything to do with it. I mean, it dropped almost 200 points and lost a lot of first-place votes, and it didn’t get worse and nothing above it got better, so I wonder. Obviously, this is a great comic book, and the fact that it dropped from the height is a bit baffling, unless fewer people voted for it because of the news about Gaiman. [I wrote this, and obviously people voted for it, before the truly monstrous news came out about Gaiman. I wonder what will happen to this next time, especially if lawsuits move forward against him.]
2008: #1, 1318 points (42)
2012: #1, 1375 points (45)
2016: #2, 1474 points (40)
2020: #2, 1677 points (47)
4. Swamp Thing #20-58, 60-61, 63-64 and Swamp Thing Annual 2 by Alan Moore (1983-1987). 1541 points, 39 first-place votes. Just chugging along, this is better than the three in front of it, but it’s not superhero-ey enough for the people, so it gets slotted here. I doubt if it will ever go higher, because the superhero stuff will always be there to block it!
2008: #5, 942 points (30)
2012: #3, 1184 points (27)
2016: #4, 1311 points (39)
2020: #3, 1656 points (48)
3. Amazing Fantasy #15 and Amazing Spider-Man #1-38 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (1962-1966). 1587 points, 38 first-place votes. The first beneficiary of Sandman‘s “fall” is this, which jumps into the Top Three. As always, I have no problem with it being here, even if, like FF, it’s a bit more influential than great. These are very good comics, nevertheless, as Ditko was the perfect artist to launch the series. You may not like Lee’s hucksterism, but the dude had an eye for artistic talent!
2008: #6, 926 points (19)
2012: #6, 849 points (24)
2016: #6, 1242 points (25)
2020: #5, 959 points (28)
2. Daredevil #158-161, 163-191 by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson (1979-1983). 1598 points, 16 first-place votes. The other beneficiary of Sandman sliding down is DD, which barely gained any points but moved into the Top Two. Good for it! (I guess Miller’s past as a, you know, xenophobic quasi-fascist isn’t as problematic as Gaiman’s past.) I know it always make someone unhappy, but this is a bit overrated, even more so this year. Top … Twenty or Thirty all-time? Definitely. Second-best run of all time? Uh, no.
2008: #4, 988 points (12)
2012: #7, 838 points (17)
2016: #3, 1449 points (28)
2020: #4, 1591 points (15)
1. Uncanny X-Men #108-109, 111-143 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne (1978-1981). 2181 points, 53 first-place votes. I mean, of course. The threepeat champion is excellent, of course, but it also gets a lot of votes from middle-aged white dudes who read this when they were first beginning to experience some urges in their nether regions and Jean Grey in a corset was just too much for their frail, pale, trembling little bodies. YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE!!!!! These are classic comics, sure, but we should not discount the sexual element!!!!
2008: #2, 1182 points (28)
2012: #2, 1233 points (39)
2016: #1, 2356 points (55)
2020: #1, 2063 points (51)
Here is my Top Ten, because you care!
1. Doom Patrol #19-63. Duh.
2. Hitman #1-60. Double Duh.
3. Chew #1-60 by John Layman and Rob Guillory. This was my #3 last time, and I didn’t see any reason to drop it out. Perhaps I will next time!
4. Planetary #1-27. Yep.
5. Nick Fury comics by Steranko. I’m still shocked that this has only made the list once. What the heck, people?
6. Phonogram by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie. I assumed this still counts, as it’s 18 issues, but I told Brian to put The Wicked + The Divine at #10 if it didn’t. I don’t think WicDiv is the tenth best run ever, but I wanted to vote for Gillen and McKelvie, damn it! I wrote about the first two series here (still one of my favorite things I’ve ever written about comics), and one day I’ll get to the third series!
7. Zot! #1-36 by Scott McCloud. Issues #11-36 are the ones everyone loves, but #1-10 are pretty good, too!
8. Grendel by Matt Wagner. All of it, truly. Grendel Tales. The new old Hunter Rose stuff. The space journey and return to Earth of Grendel-Prime. A marvelous modern epic.
9. Rex Mundi by Arvid Nelson, EricJ, and Juan Ferreyra. A terrific mystery/conspiracy with excellent art from both artists.
10. Captain Britain comics by Alan Davis. Yay, this finally made the list!
Some of these are new here, and that’s by design. I’ve mentioned before that after my top two (and possibly top 3-4), there are probably 15-20 series I could pick as #4-10, so I try to mix it up a bit. If that means Shade, the Changing Man doesn’t get as many votes and misses the Top 100, so be it! Last time, for instance, I had Gødland and the Claremont/Byrne X-Mens on my list. I had recently re-read those X-Men and was reminded how freakin’ good they are, but they don’t need my help, so I skipped them this time. I added Rex Mundi and Grendel and dropped Gødland just for fun. Who knows what I’ll do next time?
I love doing graphs for these, and as we get more data, the graphs become more fun. Let’s have a look! I’m just listing the point totals for each poll, just so you know!
Fantastic Four by Ryan North. N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, 90. Obviously, this run just started, which means it shouldn’t be eligible (no, I will never stop beating that dead horse!), and it enters the poll here. It’s a fun graph, but it doesn’t tell us anything except that this run bumped others that are completed and should have placed. Let’s move on!
Vision. N/A, N/A, 152, 176, 91. As I noted above, I’m not sure why this dropped. King is still prominent, but he’s also done a lot of recent stuff that may have split the vote a bit (not that his other, more boutique work has shown up here). Perhaps people didn’t consider this a “run” because it’s only 12 issues, and his other 12-issue stuff is clearly designed to be that way (which Brian insists this isn’t; he says it’s just a book that got canceled after 12 issues). Anyway, I guess we shouldn’t hold out hope that this will stick around next time, as it’s dropping precipitously!
Elfquest. N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, 93. This is fairly inexplicable, as the “revival” of the book ended several years ago (before the 2020 poll, right?) and there hasn’t been a big movie or television show made from this and it’s not like the Pinis are big celebrities elsewhere. Why now? Very weird. We shall see if this is a one-time thing or if this actually has staying power!
The Spirit. 204, 131, 100, 109, 94. This is dropping steadily, which is depressing because, as some cranky oldsters complained four years ago, there aren’t a lot of old comics on this list, so if this keeps dropping there will be one less. Will it survive in 2028? No man can say!!!!
New Mutants. 144, 95, 160, 155, 95. This has dropped before, back in 2012, and made a comeback, so we’ll see what happens next time. Much like a lot of these older comics on the fringes, I fear newer things will supplant them!
Cerebus. 370, 203, 230, 88, 97. I have a feeling that this isn’t getting new readers, so the people who once voted for it moved on and nobody new is “discovering” it. If you haven’t read it by now, you’re probably not going to, and I doubt if this will make much of a comeback. Will it continue to fall? It gained some points this time, so perhaps it will simply hang on at the back end of the poll.
Promethea. 220, 124, 120, 181, 99. Promethea‘s up-and-down existence in the poll continues, as it came back in 2020 but dropped quite a bit this year. I couldn’t explain its resurgence then, and I can’t explain its drop now!
Criminal. 50, 108, 115, 212, 100. This fell quite a bit, which I guess has to do with the fact that Brubillips isn’t doing much with it anymore, and while they’re still working at a high level, if it’s not a regular, single-issue-comes-out-monthly series, too many people seem to ignore it. What I’m saying is that you should buy their graphic novels, because they’re really good!
Uncle Scrooge. 53, 167, 138, 151, 102. This fell as well, and I’m not sure why. Are there more young whippersnappers voting who just don’t appreciate the genius of Carl Barks? Consarnit!
The Question. 99, 115, 176, 168, 105. Another comic with an arc, another one that slips a bit from memory as others replace it, possibly? The character – not Vic Sage, I guess, but the Question – hasn’t really not been obscure over the years, but perhaps the Vic Sage iteration is just losing steam?
Captain Britain comics. 50, N/A, N/A, N/A, 107. This graph is a bit of a cheat, because Brian didn’t do a list of the ones LOWER than 100 in 2012, 2016, or 2020 (he did one this year, so that will be fun to check out!), so this might have hovered around 50 points over the past few years – who knows? Will this stay on the list or sink back down past 100 and into oblivion? It should stay, because these are awesome!
Hate. 65, N/A, 150, 107, 108. Maybe this got a bit of a bump in 2016 because Bagge returned to it? I don’t know if the dates line up.
League of Extraordinary Gentleman. 148, N/A, N/A, N/A, 111. As I noted above, I’m fairly certain this wasn’t eligible at least one of those middle years. Maybe this year it was eligible but people didn’t realize it, so it fell a bit? Or it could just be fading in people’s memories.
Judge Dredd comics. N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, 115. I have no clue why this suddenly appeared on the list. Good for Dredd, though!
Daredevil by Chip Zdarsky. N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, 118. Too new to draw any conclusions. We shall see in 2028!
Suicide Squad. 336, 158, 344, 399, 119. Kind of a surprise, but I guess that’s the way it is!
Scott Pilgrim. N/A, 103, 193, N/A, 121. As I noted above, I don’t know if the drops are because of the way Brian counts a “run” or if the support for this really is that volatile. It’s strange, but not unprecedented, to have a comic fall at least 40 places, which this would have had to do from 2016 to 2020.
Superman comics by John Byrne. 119, 134, 151, 288, 124. Another odd big fall, as there doesn’t seem to be any reason for it – Byrne hasn’t pissed anyone off recently, has he? – and with Supes kind of re-entering the zeitgeist with the new movie and all (I know voting took place before the new trailer dropped, but it’s been in the nerd news for a while), it’s strange that this would drop so far.
Spider-Man comics by Dan Slott. N/A, 102, 325, 207, 127. This peak isn’t surprising – it was during the run, so it was fresh in everyone’s mind, and it hadn’t wrapped yet, so Slott hadn’t disappointed anyone yet (I’m not saying he did, just that a screwed-up ending can color the entire run). I don’t know how it ended, because I didn’t read it, but its crash isn’t too surprising … just a little surprising!
Green Lantern/Green Arrow. 162, 129, 94, 164, 129. This is pretty steady. I’m a bit surprised by its showing in 2016, but it’s still just a steady presence on this list, and I doubt that will change.
Usagi Yojimbo. 98, N/A, N/A, 105, 132. I imagine this was just outside the Top 100 in 2012 and 2016, but I don’t have those point totals. This is a nice riser this year – we’ll see what happens next time!
Avengers comics by Brian Michael Bendis. 62, 152, 146, 211, 133. This had an uptick last time, around the time the Avengers were really big in theaters (Endgame came out in 2019), so I imagine that might have helped. This point total seems more its level.
Chew. N/A, 98, 167, 159, 144. This seems to have found a level, and while it should be higher up on the list, it’s fine. There’s a giant complete collection coming out soon (let’s hope the binding is solid!), so check it out if you haven’t yet!
Conan comics by Roy Thomas. 56, N/A, 170, 100, 145. This had a big rise in 2016 for some reason, from not being on the list (Brian gave us the point totals for the runs that didn’t make the list in 2008, which is why I know them), and it’s been hanging out here ever since. Pretty solid.
Lone Wolf and Cub. 100, 106, N/A, 101, 148. This was hanging around in the 90s, which probably explains its drop off the list in 2016, and then this year, it roars up a bit. I wonder why!
Nightwing. N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A, 150. We shall see next time if this run has staying power.
Astonishing X-Men. 229, 463, 570, 360, 151. That’s a big drop! I wondered above if this is a residual “Whedon backlash,” which I have to think it is. It didn’t get a “death bump” from Cassaday’s tragic and far-too-soon death, which seems strange.
Flash by Geoff Johns. 168, N/A, 202, 198, 153. That drop in 2012 remains weird, because it’s pretty consistent otherwise. I wondered what happened back then!
Avengers by Roy Thomas. 109, 228, 261, 148, 157. Another one that got a bit of a movie bump, I think, before coming down a bit. That makes sense, doesn’t it?
G.I. Joe. 68, 114, 159, 138, 158. This jumped into the Top 100 in 2012 and has stayed steady since. I don’t imagine that changing too much.
X-Men by Claremont and Cockrum. 54, N/A, 164, 353, 160. I don’t know what everyone was smoking in 2016, when this skyrocketed. Very weird.
Strange Tales. 108, 117, 212, 127, 162. I imagine this got a ‘Batch Bump from the movie back in 2016, as it seems pretty consistent otherwise. It’s not like it jumped too far, but it did rise a bit oddly then, so let’s credit/blame the movie!
Scalped. N/A, 289, 90, 296, 165. I still can’t explain this, but it makes for a fun graph!
Fantastic Four by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo. 150, 99, N/A, 104, 167. You’d think this started strong and then would just keep falling, but it’s rallied the last two polls, so who knows what happens next time?
Locke and Key. N/A, 100, 209, 191, 172. That’s pretty consistent after that first time on the poll. I imagine it will stay that way.
Batman comics by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams. 87, 122, 129, 245, 180. A decent fall, but not too bad. I imagine that this is its home area.
100 Bullets. 150, 226, 132, N/A, 184. This is so weird. Why did it fall off completely in 2020, and why did it make such a decent comeback in 2024? So bizarre.
Deadpool. 202, 111, 94, N/A, 187. Why did it fall off completely in 2020, and why did it make such a decent comeback in 2024? So bizarre. (Hey, wait a minute …)
JSA. 192, 121, 274, 272, 188. I assume this will always hang around in this area, as Johns continues to be a big name in comics and this seems like one of those runs that people like if they like Johns.
Y the Last Man. 547, 855, 665, 630, 190. Did the failure of the television show have such an adverse effect on this comic?
Invisibles. 349, 204, 145, 239, 197. A weird up-and-down comic, but nothing that indicates it’s going to fall too far down. It certainly might, but it seems fairly reliable around here.
The Boys. N/A, N/A, N/A, 118, 203. We shall see what happens in four years, when the television show isn’t around anymore.
Ultimates. 315, 265, 98, 146, 208. It’s having a comeback, but I don’t know why!!!!
Transmetropolitan. 418, 336, 322, 319, 212. Does it have a comeback in it in 2028? We shall see!
X-Factor. N/A, 189, 418, 314, 225. It’s not trending in the right direction, but it’s an X-book and it’s Peter David, so I imagine it will always hang around on this list.
Daredevil by Mark Waid. N/A, 120, 341, 163, 231. Trying to find a level, but having some issues! Did the news of a new DD series have anything to do with this having a bit of a resurgence?
Squirrel Girl. N/A, N/A, N/A, 144, 246. Maybe this has to do with North’s higher-profile gig at Marvel? There’s some reason it climbed so much!
Thor comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. 112, 89, 142, 167, 247. Interesting jump here, but I can’t think of a good reason why!
Detective Comics by Englehart and Rogers. 184, 161, 137, 171, 253. Another regular on the list that will probably never go away.
The Walking Dead. N/A, 351, 195, 95, 259. What a weird, wild ride up and down the list for Kirkman’s zombies!
The Punisher. 389, 380, 310, 405, 262. Will it continue to drop, or come back strong?
Hellboy. 179, 247, 265, 279, 271. That is some consistency there!
Batman by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. N/A, 119, 1010, 457, 284. I’m not sure if there’s a bigger spike/drop on this list!
Immortal Hulk. N/A, N/A, N/A, 263, 288. This ended after the poll last time, and it gained some points. I reckon that bodes well for its future on this list.
Avengers by Roger Stern. 164, 228, 290, 497, 294. That 2020 spike seems anomalous. We shall see what happens next time!
Love and Rockets. 236, 231, 191, 185, 297. This seems fairly steady. Will it rise again in four years?
Fourth World comics by Jack Kirby. 180, 176, 250, 154, 304. This will always hover around, for two reasons: it’s Kirby, and DC keeps mining these characters, so they’ll always be on the radar.
Amazing Spider-Man by Roger Stern and John Romita Jr. 170, 214, 180, 170, 315. Does this spike portend more rising in the future?
Hawkeye. N/A, N/A, 285, 339, 320. This feels like where this will remain.
Avengers by Kurt Busiek and George Pérez. 218, 342, 306, 349, 324. Another model of consistency.
Captain America comics by Ed Brubaker. 504, 445, 612, 523, 337. This is a weird drop. I assume other things just supplanted it, but Brubaker has been off doing his thing outside of Marvel for a while now, so maybe his name isn’t out there as much (which is ridiculous, but this is a superhero-, Marvel-and-DC-oriented poll!).
Miracleman. 234, 254, 252, 192, 342. I have to assume this will always hang around in this area, especially as it is now more accessible. I very much doubt we will get a continuation of it, unless Marvel can find a different writer!
Thor comics by Jason Aaron. N/A, N/A, 350, 680, 361. Another fun graph, but we’ll see what happens next time to see if it’s found a level or will continue to be volatile.
Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee and John Romita. 270, 262, 302, 254, 372. Like a lot of runs on this list, I wonder if this is one people just slot in without thinking too much about it. Nothing wrong with that, but while it gets some first-place votes, doesn’t this feel like something a lot of people put it at, say #8, just because that’s what they always do?
X-Men comics by Jonathan Hickman. N/A, N/A, N/A, 136, 394. I can hope this starts falling, can’t I?
Animal Man. 430, 393, 280, 483, 415. Steady as she goes.
Fables. 428, 358, 340, 269, 421. A nice comeback for this book, perhaps aided by the short “sequel” that was coming out when voting started?
Incredible Hulk. 484, 365, 332, 526, 438. This seems pretty safely ensconced around here.
Gotham Central. 122, 340, 138, 201, 465. This was a big leap, which is odd. I wonder why.
Hitman. 232, 168, 270, 178, 481. Is this new high point total sustainable? Only time will tell!
Warlock comics by Jim Starlin. 109, 112, 238, 248, 495. Another big leap, another question about sustainability!
X-Men by Grant Morrison. 701, 584, 634, 614, 497. Will this continue to fall?
Preacher. 857, 792, 790, 474, 521. A bit of a comeback, but will this also be a slow faller as we get further away in time from it?
Flash by Mark Waid. 228, 263, 341, 588, 558. A leap that stayed strong – we shall see what happens in four years!
Avengers comics by Jonathan Hickman. N/A, N/A, 419, 734, 563. Another faller. Is it inevitable?!?!?
Fantastic Four by John Byrne. 508, 381, 620, 686, 571. This is weirdly volatile, but we shall see if it’s stabilized next time.
Bone. 321, 230, 312, 335, 640. Steady … steady … steady … big leap!
Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis. 480, 514, 585, 532, 703. Another fairly steady performer.
Saga. N/A, N/A, 521, 402, 721. I fear this will always hover around this area, which means I’ll always be reminded of it!
Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis. 365, 501, 590, 424, 725. A decent rise for a book that’s been done for some years.
Astro City. 323, 198, 402, 673, 727. Did this rise because it’s “finished” (yes, I know there’s supposed to be more), and people re-read it and re-discovered how good it is? I wonder.
Doom Patrol. 524, 333, 361, 540, 731. Still too few points!!!!
Invincible. 115, 149, 172, 179, 740. Yeah, I can’t figure it.
Justice League comics by Giffen and DeMatteis. 742, 474, 525, 658, 744. Keeps truckin’ along. I wonder if this got a “death bump.” I think Giffen died before voting closed.
Planetary. 493, 489, 535, 479, 757. A steady showing that rose a bit dramatically.
Legion of Super-Heroes. 328, 201, 414, 597, 765. Continuing its upward trajectory!
Starman. 921, 637, 622, 628, 773. A mainstay in the Top Twenty, I doubt it’s going anywhere, because it’s not only good but remembered very fondly.
Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman. N/A, 171, 630, 611, 831. People are still digging this, and it looks like it’s here to stay!
Green Lantern comics by Geoff Johns. 174, 498, 812, 635, 969. A big drop last time, an even bigger rise this time!
Batman comics by Grant Morrison. N/A, 830, 1036, 903, 974. A pretty steady performer. One day I’ll re-read it!
Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont. 472, 533, 795, 769, 980. Of course this will always do well, it features the Outback Era!
Teen Titans comics by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez. 643, 560, 651, 743, 1066. Another mainstay gaining some points this year!
Thor by Walt Simonson. 514, 701, 887, 892, 1099. Just a steady Top Ten book. Not surprising.
JLA by Grant Morrison. 574, 607, 661, 934, 1217. We see the point totals really rocket now!
Fantastic Four by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. 1030, 863, 1260, 938, 1414. A surprisingly yo-yo type chart. Odd.
Sandman. 1318, 1375, 1474, 1677, 1498. Voting finished before the magazine article about Gaiman, of course, and I wrote the thing above before the article, and now that the allegations are far more detailed (and far more damning, as they’re much more specific), I wonder what will happen between now and the next time this poll is run. I mean, the quality of the comic won’t have changed, but man, Gaiman sounds like a profoundly disturbed individual, and I’m not completely sure people will look past that. I mean, we’re living in a world where apparently men can do anything and not get punished, so maybe in the wider world Gaiman will still do all right, but I wonder if comics fans of Sandman will shun the work from now on. We shall see.
Swamp Thing. 942, 1184, 1311, 1656, 1541. A bearded weirdo who likes writing fairy-tale porn and whining because he can’t get the rights to his most popular creation because it’s too damned popular doesn’t look too bad in comparison, does he?
Amazing Spider-Man by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee. 926, 849, 1242, 959, 1587. Shooting up the charts!
Daredevil by Frank Miller. 988, 838, 1449, 1591, 1598. Number Two? Just … no.
X-Men by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. 1182, 1233, 2356, 2063, 2181. The UNCONQUERABLE!!!!
Brian also gave us the rest of the list, which he also did in 2008 (I’m not sure if he did it in the other years, because this time he sent it out in emails, and he may have done that in other years and I just didn’t get them). Let’s take a quick look, with no commentary, just the point totals and first-place votes!
101: Wilson’s Ms. Marvel (89, 1)
102: Michelinie’s Iron Man (88, 2)
103: Immortal Iron Fist (86, 2)
104: Steranko’s Nick Fury (85, 2)
105: The Wicked + The Divine (84, 3)
106: King’s Batman (83, 1)
107: Eightball (81)
108: Gruenwald’s Captain America (80, 1)
109: Stray Bullets (79, 1)
110: Wolfman/Colan’s Tomb of Dracula (78, 2)
111: X-Force/X-Statix (76, 2)
112: American Flagg! (75, 2)
113: Sin City (74, 1)
114: Grant/Breyfogle’s Detective (72, 1)
115: Alias (71, 1)
116: Top 10 (69, 1)
117: Uncanny X-Force (67)
118: Shade, the Changing Man (66, 1)
119: Furman’s Transformers (65, 2)
120: Supreme (64)
121: Pak’s Hulk (63)
122: Giffen/Bierbaum’s Legion (62, 1)
123: The Spectre (60, 0)
124: Slott’s She-Hulk (58, 0)
125: Giant Days (57, 1)
Many of these have made past lists, but they’ve just gotten squeezed out a little. Will any of them make it back to the Top 100? Some others have, so we shall see!
As always, I’m going to break down the numbers a bit, but I thought I’d check out when these runs are from. I don’t always show the dates, but I wanted to this year, so let’s take a look! (I will not be breaking it down by character and creator – the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Thor, and Batman are popular! Stop the presses! Kirby, Morrison, Moore, Byrne, and Hickman are popular! Quelle surprise!) Anyway, here’s the breakdown, with the decade in which the run began (not necessarily when it ended, though!):
1940s: 2 – The Spirit; Uncle Scrooge
1950s: 0
1960s: 6 – Dr. Strange; Thomas’s Avengers; Kirby and Lee’s Fantastic Four; Ditko and Lee’s Spider-Man; Romita and Lee’s Spider-Man; Kirby and Lee’s Thor
1970s: 13 – Cerebus (of course, this kept going for many decades); Conan; Miller’s Daredevil; O’Neil and Adams’s Detective; Englehart and Rogers’s Detective; Elfquest (through the 1980s; this feels like an Eighties book, doesn’t it?); Fourth World; Green Lantern/Green Arrow; Judge Dredd (kind of timeless, but technically, a Seventies comic); Lone Wolf and Cub; Warlock; Cockrum’s X-Men (some of which was in the Eighties, of course); Claremont and Byrne’s X-Men
1980s: 22 – Animal Man; Stern’s Avengers; Captain Britain; Doom Patrol (most of this is from the Nineties); Byrne’s Fantastic Four; G.I Joe; Incredible Hulk; Giffen and DeMatteis’s Justice League; Legion of Super-Heroes; Love & Rockets; Miracleman; New Mutants; The Question; Sandman; Stern’s Spider-Man; Suicide Squad (which straddled the Eighties and Nineties almost equally); Byrne’s Superman; Swamp Thing; Teen Titans; Simonson’s Thor; Usagi Yojimbo (another one that feels timeless); Claremont’s X-Men
1990s: 17 – Astro City (yet another one that feels timeless); Busiek and Pérez’s Avengers; Bone; Deadpool; Waid’s Flash; Hate; Hellboy (which, of course, continued long into the new century); Hitman; Invisibles; Morrison and Porter’s Justice League; The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (another one that lasted well into the 2000s, but still feels very end-of-the-century); 100 Bullets (most of which came out in the 2000s); Planetary (like the other WildStorm books from 1999, this lasted well into the 2000s); Preacher; Promethea (despite most of this coming out in the new century, this still feels like a Nineties comic); Starman; Transmetropolitan (which straddled the new century nicely, which feels right)
2000s: 26 – Astonishing X-Men; Bendis’s Avengers; Morrison’s Batman; The Boys; Captain America; Chew (most of which came out in the 2010s); Criminal; Bendis and Maleev’s Daredevil; Fables; Waid and Wieringo’s Fantastic Four; Hickman’s Fantastic Four; Johns’s Flash; Gotham Central; Green Lantern; Invincible; JSA; Locke & Key; The Punisher; Scalped; Scott Pilgrim; Ultimate Spider-Man; Ultimates; The Walking Dead; X-Factor; Morrison’s X-Men; Y the Last Man
2010s: 12 – Hickman’s Avengers; Snyder and Capullo’s Batman; Waid’s Daredevil; Zdarsky’s Daredevil (most of which has come out in the 2020s); Hawkeye; Immortal Hulk; Saga; Slott’s Spider-Man; Squirrel Girl; Aaron’s Thor; Vision, Hickman’s X-Men
2020s: 2 – North’s Fantastic Four; Nightwing
So, that’s 2, 0, 6, 13, 22, 17, 26, 12, 2, which isn’t all that surprising. Most of the readers/voters were probably born in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s, so the runs would skew toward when they were kids, which is when things imprint on our spongy memories more than they do later in life (which is why I’m positive Manimal is awesome, even though I haven’t seen it since I was 12). Out of 100 runs, 78 began in the 1970s through the 2000s, which makes sense. Not only is it when voters were younger and more likely to fixate on things, but, as I’ve noted in the past, prior to that, what we tend to think of as “runs” – a coherent, structured story that just happens to be serialized – wasn’t really a thing. Lee, Kirby, and Ditko were doing proto-runs in the 1960s, but even those were usually standalone or two-part stories that you could easily pick up and read without knowing much of the backstory. Only in the 1970s did “runs” as I think of them start to become a thing, so I’m not surprised that’s the first big decade when people began to remember them fondly. I could be completely wrong, of course, but that’s my prerogative!
Moving on, it seems (I’m not entirely positive) that more people voted this year than ever before, but only Cronin knows for sure. To check this out, I thought I’d show how many points put a comic at the 100th spot, the 90th spot, the 80th spot … you know the drill! Let’s take a look, beginning in 2008:
100: 95, 83, 86, 88, 90
90: 106, 98, 104, 107, 107
80: 114, 111, 138, 140, 132
70: 134, 121, 160, 167, 160
60: 159, 149, 195, 194, 197
50: 180, 184, 270, 254, 262
40: 220, 231, 322, 339, 337
30: 323, 340, 414, 479, 495
20: 480, 474, 612, 614, 727
10: 701, 701, 812, 769, 980
1: 1318, 1375, 2356, 2063, 2181
That’s a pretty significant jump the past three times Brian has done this. 2012 seems like the least voted-upon, but there’s clearly a jump in 2016 that hasn’t really abated. In 2008 and 2012, the #10 books – Morrison’s X-Men in 2008, Simonson’s Thor in 2012 – wouldn’t have made the top twenty this year. Because I like making graphs, here’s one that shows the difference between the #100, #50, and #1 comic on each list (for all of these, I don’t know why it lists every two years; my graph-making skills aren’t that good, I guess!):
You see there’s not too much difference between #100 and #50, but the difference between #50 and #1 is HUGE. That’s probably not too surprising, but it is interesting. Here’s a graph showing the point totals of each 10 place-slot on the list, which is also interesting:
The difference between #10 and #1 is pretty huge, too. The people like the top picks a whole hell of a lot! Finally, here’s a graph showing the difference between #2 and #:
The difference between #1 and #2 the first two polls (Sandman was #1, X-Men #2) wasn’t that big, but starting in 2016, the Claremont/Byrne run leaped into the lead and put significant distance between itself and the #2 comic (Sandman increased a little in 2016, but nowhere near the jump of the X-Men). I don’t know what happened with the Claremont/Byrne run – it’s always been good, people! – but since 2016, it’s been a juggernaut.
As I’ve noted in the past, Brian counts these by giving 10 points to a person’s #1 choice, 9 to #2, and so on. So first-place votes can make up a significant amount of the points a comic gets. As I always do, here’s a list of the comics sorted by the first-place votes it received (sorry for the gaps; when I combined it into one image, it was too small):
Weirdly, every comic on the list got a first-place vote, which doesn’t always happen. Good job, comics! More fascinating, to me, is the percentage of points each comic got from those first-place votes. Usagi Yojimbo always scores high here: the people who vote for Stan Sakai’s epic really love it, but it doesn’t get much support outside of those people. Of course, the ones high on the list get a lot of first-place votes, but I’m always fascinated by those that finish down on the list but get a lot of first-place votes. The voters dig what they dig!
As I like to do, here’s a list of comics that have appeared on this list in the past (and where they placed), but didn’t make it this year. Why do these books fall? The world may never know! (As always, I should point out that Brian tweaks the rules sometimes, so that might account for it. The ones in bold only made one appearance on any list! Stand strong, one-timers! All Star Superman isn’t eligible anymore, for instance, as it’s clear it was never supposed to go past 12 issues. I imagine that’s why Tom King’s Vision gets on this list and his DC work, which is pretty acclaimed, doesn’t – Vision, it seems, got canceled, while his DC work is designed to be “self-contained” and is therefore ineligible. Hey, Brian makes the rules, not me!)
2008: Acme Novelty Library (t100). Alias (t93). All Star Superman (52). The Authority (60). Black Panther (Priest) (73). Captain America (Gruenwald) (89). Concrete (77). Daredevil (Miller/Mazzucchelli) (43). Detective Comics (Grant/Breyfogle) (65). Excalibur (74). Green Arrow (Grell) (91). Grendel (97). Groo (85). Hellblazer (Ennis) (t93). Howard the Duck (41). Lucifer (80). Master of Kung Fu (t100). Nextwave (92). Nexus (53). Plastic Man (t100). Powers (70). Runaways (33). Shade, the Changing Man (67). Sleeper (81). StormWatch (Ellis) (83). Strangers in Paradise (99). Supreme (Moore) (56). Top 10 (68). Wildcats (Casey) (78). X-Factor (original David) (69).
2012: Acme Novelty Library (91). The Authority (68). Daredevil (Brubaker) (82). Detective Comics (Grant/Breyfogle) (58). Eightball (100). Ex Machina (50). Immortal Iron Fist (61). Journey into Mystery (Gillen) (75). Nextwave (65). Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (99). 100 Bullets (43). Plastic Man (96). Runaways (34). Secret Six (94). Sin City (92). Strangers in Paradise (97). Top 10 (84). X-Factor (original David) (95).
2016: Alias (69). Captain America (Gruenwald) (86). Eightball (98). Nextwave (92). 100 Bullets (82). Shade, the Changing Man (83). She-Hulk (Slott) (91). Sin City (84). Supreme (Moore) (90). The Wicked + The Divine (100). Wonder Woman (Azzarello) (87).
2020: Batman (King) (84). East of West (80). Giant Days (87). Iron Man (Michelinie) (97). Legion of Super-Heroes (Giffen/Bierbaums) (99). Ms. Marvel (86). The Spectre (98). Stray Bullets (83). Uncanny X-Force (54). X-Force (Milligan) (95).
Some of these just managed to crack the Top 100, and they might be hanging around, ready to leap in again, while some are definitely “flavor-of-the-month” comics that don’t have staying power (despite being very good; East of West and The Wicked + The Divine are excellent, and Travis swears by Giant Days!). Some, as I’ve noted before, were pretty high – Runaways placed in the Top 40 the first two lists, and then disappeared, while Breyfogle’s Detective seemed like something that would just hang around in the bottom half of the list, but it too has disappeared. The vagaries of voting, people!
Finally, let’s take a look at the Top 20 every year. This is kind of fun, I think:
There’s always some volatility in the bottom half of the Top 20, with some weird titles bubbling up and down (Y the Last Man has gone from a perpetual Top 20 placer and #5 in 2012 to #61 this year, while Invincible has gone from never finishing above #60 to #18), but generally staying fairly stable. This year, these titles fell out: Morrison’s X-Men (from #20 to #29), Y (from #18 to #61), Aaron’s Thor (from #14 to #38), Byrne’s FF (from #13 to #25), and Hickman’s Avengers (from #12 to #26). These titles jumped in: Doom Patrol (from #23 to #19), Invincible (from #64 to #18), Planetary (from #30 to #16), Giffen and Levitz’s Legion (from #27 to #15), and Hickman’s FF (from #21 to #13). Some of these are returning to the Top 20, while some are new. Will the newcomers be able to hang on?!?!?
So there you have it. Yes, it’s far too much analysis, but I have fun with it, and I hope you do, too. This took me entirely too long, mainly because Brian dragged his feet getting the final few posts up and then, of course, our blog has been acting wonky. But hey, I managed to get it together, so yay! I always dig this poll, so I’ll probably always do this kind of thing the next time! I hope you had fun chopping your way through it!
Ok If I read all your post before commenting, I think I would end up not commenting(because I read slower these days it appears).
From ranking 100-90:
-I like Ryan North, but only because I love his dinosaur comics(never read anything else by him) So kudos to North for being here.
-My wife, a noncomic reader, has read all the issues of Promethea. She really enjoyed the kabbalah stuff(I think that’s why she got around to reading it? Maybe)
-I have to get some of those Scrooge comics, maybe my kid will like them?(She’s 9)
I posted a lot of things about 89 to 50, but It got lost T_T
So anyway, the keypoints are:
-I really, REALLY love Usagi Yojimbo. Go grab volume 6, Circles, and if it doesn’t grab you then maybe the series is not for you.
-You should do a “Comics you should own(In case you need extra rough toilet paper)” so you can talk about The Boys. I really hate this comic btw, so you are not alone in the hate.
Der: Take your time! It’s not going anywhere! 🙂
I like North, too, and I’ll probably end up reading his FF. Not right now, though!
The kabbala stuff is well written, certainly, and I can see how it would appeal to a non-comics reader. But I’m a mouth-breathing troglodyte and I wants my action!
So sad your comment got eaten! Stupid blog!
I enjoy Usagi Yojimbo whenever I’ve read a bit of it, so I’m sure I’ll like it. I just haven’t gotten around to reading it yet!
I’ve thought about doing something like that with regard to comics I really hate, but I don’t have as much time as I used to and I’d rather concentrate on the good stuff. I would have some fun ripping it to shreds, though!
Ennis gets bored with the piss-taking fairly quickly, dammit!
It’s mainly a love story paired with a searing polemic against the military industrial complex, the CIA, the dominance of Big Two comics, and the futility of vendetta!
But yeah, the first 12 issues or so are legitimately off-putting, even by Ennis’s standards.
But that’s the same issue I had with his Punisher. If it takes THAT long to get good, I’m already gone. Ain’t no one got time for that! 🙂
PunisherMAX starts with Born, dagnabbit!
So the omnibus reading order opens with a “Holy shit” four issues set in ‘Nam, then 6 issues of setup (plus some loose ends), then 6 issues of Ennis ranting about Provos and the jackasses who romanticize (and funded) them.
(Something I rather enjoy, surround as I am by Zoomers who don’t remember the Troubles and love to scream “Up the ‘Ra,” so I can only imagine how he felt among that ilk in early-aughts NYC).
And then we get Mother Russia (with an appearance from his Nick Fury!), and shit hits the fan!
American support for the IRA is a long-standing annoyance. Particularly during the aughts when our government was shrieking about Tough On Terrorism (for certain definitions of terrorism).
The film adaptation of Patriot Games, for instance, switches the villains from the IRA to Fictitious Irish Terrorist Group Allied With Evil Arabs.
JSA by Johns is much more in common tonally with Starman and his Hawkman than his other stuff!
Also, 3 Hickman Marvel books and nothing from Gillen shows what this list is worth, haha – I enjoy his FF/Avengers epic for what it is, but his Marvel stuff is very much a dumb person’s idea of a smart story…and the point about his breaking the characters to fit into his megaplot is perfectly said.
(Also, North’s run’s been going on for over 2 years, and it’s legitimately Fantastic! Ben’s happily married, Johnny’s smart, thoughtful, and a good uncle, and there’s an entire issue showing how much better of a man/parent Reed is than Doom.)
Zdarsky’s Daredevil is great as well (very much operating in his Newburn register, with amazing art) and I think Taylor’s Nightwing is perfectly placed…can’t have it above Fraction Hawkeye or Waid’s Daredevil, but just damn solid pop storytelling that doesn’t insult the adult reader’s intelligence by overpromising (looking at you, Hickman).
Criminal figured to have shot up because it has an Amazon show coming out this year…and the next BruPhillips OGN is going to be a Criminal book!
(Also, the Invincible rise is completely down to the show – it’s a legitimate phenomenon, and the best superhero show I’ve ever seen. Can’t wait for S3 on Friday!)
My own list:
1) Planetary
2) Swamp Thing
3) Starman
4) Hitman
5) Astro City
6) Sheriff of Babylon (it was supposed to have a Season 2, so I’m calling it canceled!)
7) Simonson Thor
8) Bendis Daredevil
9) Supreme
10) Die
If we’re not counting Sheriff of Babylon, I’ll put Preacher at 10.
Honorable mentions go to Brubaker’s Catwoman, Alias, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, Secret Six, and Animal Man.
That’s a good list. I don’t know if Sheriff of Babylon is eligible, according to Brian’s rules. But let’s say it is! 🙂
Good analysis Greg. Looking at your top ten, I wonder if my tastes were just shaped by reading your blog since when I was kid getting into comics for the first time, or if it’s just similar tastes overall. Going to challenge myself a bit as I am going to list the top ten runs that I have read in their completion (so no Hitman, sadly), but a lot more manga.
1. Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison (never enough duh). I also think Richard Case is underrated as an artist, as he brings a nice design work that other artists in the video games and Manga sphere get praise for, such as the persona series or Jojo’s bizarre adventure.
2. Chew . A hilarious but ultimately tragic story about what it takes to break a good man. Also, Poyo is just really, REALLY badass.
3. Chainsaw man chapters 1-97. Basically, what if you took Chew, and had the author be REALLY into horror movies and make a teen superhero story about a kid with nothing going through the hierarchy of needs. Hot-cold.on the newer stuff, but part one is untouchable.
4. Berserk by Kento Miura. Sadly, the author passed a few years ago, but when it was coming out, this was a dark fantasy series that was as thrilling as it was emotionally devastating.
5. Battle Angel Alita. Ghost in the Shell gets the rep for talking about the mind body debate in a cyber punk setting, but this does it better and has top notch kung fu action sequences.
6. Vinland saga. Cheating a bit, as I have read only what’s available in English, but what I have read is just that good. The trials of living peacefully in a wartorn land, even during its slow parts the comic is still more entertaining and thoughtful than anything else.
7. Ellis Stormwatch up until change or die. I am separating the art from the artist on these next two, but this comic nailed the super powers in geopolitical thinking that other writers have attempted with various degrees of success. The series overall ended with a whimper, and Authority just feels like a cash in, but at its best Stormwatch watch was the better series.
8. V for Vendetta. I have to put something by Moore here, and having not finished Swamp thing, this was where he felt like he had the most to say while still telling a story ( in terms of a longer series)
9. Walter Simon’s Orion. Only the odd issue of his Thor run, but this was such a good adventure story that despite being open ended, provides a greater sense of closure to the New Gods saga than anything that followed.
10. Unknown Soldier by Joshua Drystart. Thinking of so many others I can put in, from Bone to Bendis Daredevil, but Moses’s conflict of warrior and pacifist has one of the more satisfying conclusions in comics, and deserves more recognition.
Vinland Saga’s absolutely incredible, but it’s still ongoing!
Gotta hope Thorfy makes it out of this one.
Currently making my way through Berserk – absolutely gorgeous, but it’s taking an emotional toll.
Berserk is a dark read, but there are moments of levity and catharsis to it all that make the journey worth it. Pace yourself if it is starting to be a bit much.
That’s a solid list, Adrien. I’m terrible at keeping up with manga, but I do like what I’ve read of The Vinland Saga!
Posting again just for some mild musings.
I like your description of Usagi Yojimbo, as having a small but passionate leadership pretty much describes the majority of the leadership of most comics
I think what I am seeing is a bit of a recency vs older stuff bias. Yeah, the newer stuff gets a boost because it is fresher in people’s heads, but the older work is rarely going to go down as most of the readers won’t be revisiting them with a modern perspective. Meanwhile, the people who would vote for a comic that came out in the aughts or 2010s may have revaluated their tastes, or simply moved past the hobby, so the 2000’s stuff may make less of a showing. I mean, Frank Miller’s Daredevil is influential, but Miller only had to top the guy who was making Matt pretend to be his own twin brother. Plenty of other writers from Bendis to Zdarsky, and even later Miller on Born again did better work.
Speaking of Miller, I think because he never directly caused physical harm like Gaiman is accused of doing, people are willing give Miller a pass, especially as he made his tirade over a decade ago. Members of the comics literati are even willing to assess Holy Terror on its visual merits separate from its Islamophobia. That’s their decision though, not mine, as I am not willing to give Miller a pass just because he made some good comics decades ago.
I think that Miller receives more grace because he’s since gotten sober after trying to drink his way through undiagnosed PTSD following 9/11.
Whereas Gaiman’s, y’know, seems to be an unrepentant serial rapist who sexually abused his child.
One of these things is not like the others.
But also his Daredevil is wayyyy too high, and I like his Daredevil.
Oh for sure. Apologies if I wasn’t clear, Gaiman’s behavior is monstrously the worst of the two.
Oh, I never meant to impugn otherwise!
Just saying that Miller’s been slotted into the Alan Moore “Cranky asshole” category, despite being far, far more of one.
But yeah – Miller doesn’t find his voice as a writer until Roulette, the literal last issue of the awarded run.
Only justification for its placement is if people are folding in Born Again, Assassin, Lives Again, and Man Without Fear…all of which are outside the purview of the List.
Hell, “Miller Post-1982 Daredevil/Elektra projects” would be a worthy contender for the Top 10, haha!
Recency bias always comes into anything like this. I watch ESPN and the people arguing over who’s the best quarterback ever, and no one ever mentions anyone prior to the 1980s, because that’s when they were watching football. I mean, Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady are great, don’t get me wrong, but there were other good quarterbacks before you people were born, you know! 🙂
I was joking a bit about Miller versus Gaiman. I just always find it fascinating what we’re willing to forgive based on often random things. Gaiman seems much more personable in public settings than Miller, so I do wonder if that will play into our reaction to his crimes. It shouldn’t, but it might.
If anything, it’s working against Gaiman. A lot of the reaction among people who’ve met him is the contradiction between his charming, funny, feminist public face and the ugly reality.
Notes.
Good point about how people write the FF.
Elfquest is available digitally, for free. That may have made a difference.
I love the Spirit.
Please notice I’m not saying anything about the awfulness of Sienkiewicz. No pointing in beating a dead horse with a stick. Or anything else.
Don’t care for Cerebus. Tried the first volume and it didn’t seem to have any ideas beyond “Look, Conan is an aardvark!”
Promethea killed the illusion I’d enjoy anything Moore wrote.
Uncle Scrooge — I enjoy them but no, I don’t feel they’re as awesome as die-hard fans do. But that’s what makes horse races.
I loved LXG when it came out. Rereading it’s impossible for me not to notice how much Moore loves writing rape scenes. And Century and the final series are just Moore being a grumpy old fart (I get it Mr. Moore, you hate Harry Potter and James Bond. But I don’t care).
I didn’t like Scott Pilgrim much, though it’s DKR compared to the author’s other series, Snotgirl.
It is much harder than it looks to write Conan well, as witness multiple authors who’ve done it badly (I’m thinking more print than comics)
Lee/Ditko Dr. Strange is one of my favorite Silver Age runs.
Fraction’s Hawkeye is like most of Fraction’s stuff — he’s so clever and whimsical I never like the story as much as I want to.
Lee/Ditko Spider-Man is great.
All I have time to cover.
I liked Promethea, my wife liked it, but it was more fun(to me) when it was just adventure stuff instead of a kaballah tutorial(but my wife enjoyed that, so what do I know). Also I got the Top 10 and Tom Strong Compendiums recently(like a month ago or so) and I really, really enjoyed what I read there. Moore can write fun comics that are just that, fun comics, and I forgot that the dude can do fun comics too. The Smax mini is a high point for me because of that.
Short version:
My list: (in random order after East of West)
East of West
Chew
Planetary
Manhattan Projects
Hitman
Atomic Robo
Astro City
Thief of thieves
John Byrne’s Next Men
Preacher
That’s a very good list, sir! 🙂
Longer version:
Some random thoughts/comments
Vision – Got that one after kind words from you. No regrets.
New Mutants – Upgraded a TPB to the first Omnibus. Love Sienkiewicz. Even Stray Toasters.
Criminal – On my pile of shame
LoEG – Love the Kevin O’Neil art. Love his Marshall Law
Judge Dredd – Stuff I somehow read every 3 to 4 years. Got the complete Titan Books set.
Suicide Squad – Pre-ordered the first Omnibus to replace the floppys
Superman (Byrne) – After reading up until Death/Return I sold everything except the limited serie. It says all it has to say about the character.
Lantern/Arrow – Have to re-read this. It’s been a while.
CHEW – See my list
Conan the Barbarian – Only the first Omnibus because of BWS
Astonishing X-Men – So sad Cassaday passed away wayyy to soon.
X-Men (all the way from 94 up to Inferno) – Just read until # 200 so still a long way to go until the end of Inferno
FF by Waid – Pile of Shame
Batman O’Neil/Adams – Great stuff in 3 HC’s. Had it in dutch floppys but lost them somehow
The Boys – Tried until # 10 and than sold them
Ultimates – Upgraded from floppys to Omnibus. Like both stories. You should try but I know about your boycott.
Daredevil / Waid – Especially the Samnee stuff.
Punisher / Ennis – Too bad the Max stuff didn’t work for you. Liked it a lot.
Hellboy – He stopped too soon imo
Batman / Snyder – Sold everything after #12. The first 11 are ok in my book.
Avengers – When I get the 12th Epic Collection I’m gonna read it until #300.
Hawkeye – Soo sad it lost steam near the end
Avengers Busiek/Perez – Pile of shame
Spider-Man Lee/Romita – Such great comics
Hulk / David – Very good run. Maybe if the prices are right upgrade to Omnibus
Hitman – See my list
X- Men / Morrison – Wanted more Quietly art
Preacher – See my list
FF / Byrne – Agree about the weird ending
Bone – Great stuff
Astro City – See my list. When will it ever return?
Doom Patrol – It didn’t make my top 10 but really good stuff
Justice League – Halfway throught the first omnibus
Planetary – See my list
Starman – Pile of shame after the Harris stuff
FF / Hickman – Somehow I liked this and got both omnibuses. A minority on this site?
Green Lantern Rebirth – Sold it after reading. Indeed dull.
Batman / Morrison – Almost in my top 10
Thor / Simonson – my first ever omnibus. Such great stuff.
JLA / Morrison – Indeed terrific. All in HC. Read it twices and a third time coming up
Spider-Man / Lee-Ditko – Got the masterworks and after that omnibuses. Why did they fucked it up later with all the renumbering and armor etc
Daredevil / Miller – Agree that it’s got #2 spot, but what does this dutch boy know?
Phonogram is on my pile of shame. Bought the HC after your words of praise.
Orion didn’t make the list (nearly in my top 10). How is that possible?
I like the Hickman FF!
I prefer the Bendis/Ellis/Millar UFF, plus Waid and (especially) North’s mainline runs, but it scratches a certain bombastic itch…and the Spider-Man issue after Johnny “dies” is the most human Hickman’s dialogue has ever sounded.
Which Harris stuff? His ranting about female cosplayers or the not finishing commissions for people?
Since we’re discussing great runs, I’ll mention that I found the first volume of the British “Charlie’s War” at the library. The WW I story is every bit as amazing as everyone told me.
Oooh, nice!
I’m definitely trying to track down Hellman of Hammer Force, thanks to the Battle Action revival – Ennis has so much fun any time he writes one.
On that subject – I think Battlefields beats War Stories, all told.
Just consistently devastating, without trending to misery porn.
I want to do my top 10 runs but I really never got how Brian decides what is a run and what is not a run. So can I say that I don’t know, a series like Scott Pilgrim, made to have a concise ending and last a few volumes is a run? Shouldn’t other writers/artists get a shot of the title to be considered a run? I mean, why is Bone a run? This will always confuse me.
I love several manga titles, but I don’t know if I should consider, let’s say, Yotsuba(one of the best mangas out there) a run, when it’s made by a single artist and he will take it to his/her grave? Same with Usagi Yojimbo, One Piece, etc, etc. But fine, let me do a top 10 “runs”:
In no particular order:
-Yotsuba: One of my favorite mangas of all time, it starts kinda slow but that’s the point of the manga, you can binge it, or read a chapter every other month and you will enjoy it either way. Also, after I don’t know, 3-4 volumes the artist shows that he is a freaking master of the medium.
-Usagi Yojimbo: I mean, what can I say, this is really good stuff. If
-The Eternaut: Old school sci fi with excelent art and excelent story too. I’m talking about the original version, haven’t read the sequel or wahtever extras are out there
-Man of Steel: I mean, this is my list and those are not “The” best comics, but I enjoyed the 3 volumes of Man of Steel I got.
-Swamp Thing: Is this the best comic Alan Moore has done? Maaaaaaybe?
-Batman Knightfall: This is just nostalgia speaking, ignore me
-Planetary: Really good, just re-read it a few weeks ago and still holds up no problem
-Sandman: yeah yeah, still a good comic in my opinion
-Conan: Mainly Savage Sword of Conan, but I love Conan the barbarian by Thomas too. But let’s group in in a single run because I said so.
-Phoenix: Tezuka died before he could finish it. Some of the volumes are “weak” but others are top notch.
Brian usually explains what a “run” is whenever he does this, and he does tweak it occasionally. A single creator or creative team on a book is always eligible, depending on how many issues it is. If it’s an ongoing, it counts, even if it’s creator-owned and will only be done by that creator. Of all of yours, I think only the Knightfall stuff wouldn’t count, because it was done by many different creators across many different titles.
With the additional information of 101-125 I see 2 big falls.
East of West previously number 80 is the only one of the top 100 in 2020 to not make the new top 125.
Rick Remender’s Uncanny Xforce down from 54 (219pts) to 117 (67 pts)
Of my own 10 votes 9 made the top 100
the one that didn’t was Reckless (Brubaker and Philips) – as an open-ended series of 5 (so-far) graphic novels, it fits Brian’s rules
of the DC titles I voted for, one was the Wolfman/Perez Teen Titans as it was my main “gateway” into DC comics (before I was reading Marvel and watching Adam West on TV)
My other DC votes were for Swamp Thing and Doom Patrol
I also voted for my main gateway into Marvel which was Starlin’s Adam Warlock – I had been reading Marvel UK’s Star Wars Weekly and Warlock was a notable backup strip which led to me getting the follow-ups and expanding out from there.
My other Marvel picks were Hawkeye and Simonson’s Thor
On the independents, I was one of the 8 championing Usagi Yojimbo
I also voted for Cerebus – while it started off as a Conan parody it took shape in the second volume (High Society) and reached it’s peak in Church and State with some extremely dramatic sequences (like issue 87’s race up a mountain).
I also voted for the Boys (Please don’t hate me)
John: Ha! I will never hate anyone for digging a comic, no matter how wrong they are! 🙂
I’m a bit surprised at the absence of Reckless – I do wonder if people didn’t think it was eligible, although only, really, Scott Pilgrim made it as a series of graphic novels, and that was a pop culture phenomenon, so maybe not enough people have read Reckless!
Man time flies because it just felt like just yesterday that we were talking about the previous list. Here’s what I voted for and not much has changed with the exception of swapping in Hitman and Stern and JRjr’s Amazing Spider-Man. When I voted the last time, I had Lee/Ditko’s Amazing on my list but Stern for me wrote the best contemporary Spider-Man ever so that’s now my all time favorite Spider-Man run with Lee/Ditko a close second.
1. Grant Morrison’s “Batman”
2. Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Terry Austin’s “X-men”
3. Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s “Daredevil”
4. Grant Morrison, Howard Porter, and John Dell’s “JLA”
5. Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s “New Teen Titans”
6. Chris Claremont’s post-Byrne/Cockrum “Uncanny X-men”
7. Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr.’s “Amazing Spider-man”
8. James Robinson’s “Starman”
9. Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson’s “Astro City”
10. Garth Ennis and John McCrea’s “Hitman”
That’s a good list. One day I’ll re-read Morrison’s Batman and see what I think, as I ran so hot and cold on it when it first came out!
Egads! I’m a week late to the party!!!!! I’m surprised we saw Gaiman take a small tumble and North’s FF run shows that recency bias is in full swing!
My own list:
1. Sandman by Gaiman. Man those allegations are awful. It actually hurt me a bit to hear and read about them and I’m mortified. Even still, I can’t deny that Gaiman’s Sandman is my favorite comic book at all time. It’s what got me back into the hobby in college when I snagged a copy from the library, and its the yardstick of craftsmanship I compare every other comic to.
2. Claremont/Byrne X-Men. This is the greatest superhero comic ever produced without a doubt. Any time I think about it for more than a minute or two I become strongly tempted to rereading it. I lump the earlier Cockrum stuff in with this run as it’s essential to it. Really the whole series from #94 to #175 is GOLD. And even the stuff after that is nothing to sneeze at.
3. Batman by Morrison. One big love letter to the character that is an easter egg laden puzzle and fun to boot. Damian Wayne I think is the best modern addition to the mythos and though it flags a bit in the third half, does provide a fairly solid ending to the run which is rare in comics. Morrison’s work here is weird, but somewhat constrained which I think makes the experience almost perfect.
4. Warlock by Starlin. This little slice of seventies goodness blew my mind when I read it five years ago. Cosmic Space Opera? Existential Angst? Two oversized annuals with knock down drag out fights? It has everything you could want and a riveting story. For maximum enjoyment, you should immediately pick up Starlin’s work on the Silver Surfer, Thanos Quest, and the Infinity Gauntlet mini. You will be glad that you did. SO MUCH FUN.
5. Swamp Thing by Moore/Bisette/Totelben. I resisted reading this for years and I was stupid for doing so. It’s a pitch perfect horror comic, has a strong emotional core, and I even love the freaky space issues. A dry run for Vertigo, this stuff holds up.
6. FF by Lee/Kirby. When it comes to 60’s comics you either love this or Ditko Spider-Man. I choose this. The book is insane from #30 to #87 or so and you see the Marvel universe take shape. I love the frenetic pace, and although there is strong corniness, I think it remains pure fun.
7. X-Men by Morrison. This run starts with a white hot bang and this really was a shot in the arm for the franchise. Subsequent writers would mine this material to death and the heavy use of Emma and even his background characters (though not Beak which annoys me) shows you just how influential this run is. Morrison tosses off ideas in throw away panels that are so genius it will make your eyes bug.
8. Captain Britain by Davis/Moore/Thorpe/Delano. I too am a HUGE fan of this era of Captain Britain comics and I imagine the reprinting of this material is finally getting it some traction. The reality warping battle between Jaspers and Fury is seared into my brain. For maximum pleasure, read EXCALIBUR by Claremont and Davis immediately after.
9. Bone by Jeff Smith. LOTR by way of funny animal comics, this comic will make you laugh, cry, and cheer in equal measure. I binged this over the summer and it was a top notch time.
10. TIE Immortal Hulk and Hulk by Peter David. David’s run is long and has multiple status quo’s which keeps the run fresh and evergreen. There is something about a long run which is just SATISFYING as the writer can build their mythos. Immortal Hulk is just awesome and actually has an ending too which feels nice and lord do I love the horror vibes in the comic.
That’s a good list. I’ve never loved space stuff, so while I do like Starlin’s Warlock and Captain Marvel, I never really got into the other stuff. It’s fine, but not really my thing. I also dig Excalibur, but not as much as the Captain Britain stuff. And of course Bone is awesome!