Favourite Trade Paperbacks

[The Drummer]

I posted the same thing in the Marvel forum. What are everyones favourite DC trade paperbacks they would reccomend to pick up?

[DC_FanBoy]

If you havent read JSA or Flash I would recommend all the JSA books and the Geoff Johns Flash books

[Smallville]

I like Superman Birthright and Nightwing: Year One quite a bit.

[stealthwise]

Superman: Secret Identity and Superman: Red Son, as well as Batman: Year One.

[MarvelKnight]

Batman: The Long Halloween

[ExoKnight]

So many good to great tpb out there.

Some of my favorites:

Batman: Year One
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: Dark Victory
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing
Grant/Mark's JLA
JSA and Flahs by Geoff.

[DC_FanBoy]

Identity Crisis, if ya at all got into Infinite Crisis, this was something that set it all up. Also, Superman/Batman Public Enemys is Awesome if you like both of them together.

[huck1eberry]

y the last man, 100 bullets, batman Bruce Wayne Murderer (any frank miller) fables.

[Hellpop]

If you're talking in the DCU:

Grant Morrison's JLA (particularly Earth Two)
Any and all Greatest Stories Ever Told books
The recent Alan Moore collection (don't know the name)
The New Frontier
Superman: Red Son
Cosmic Odyssey
World's Finest (the Steve Rude one)
Batman Year One

[LordEd1976]

all the JSA trades by Geoff Johns (particularly Lost, Stealing Thunder, and Princes of Darkness)
Kingdom Come
Cosmic Odyssey
Villains United
Batman: Long Halloween
Golden Age

[Steel Spider]

Batman: No Man's Land Vols. 1-5
Birds of Prey: Of Like Minds
Birds of Prey: Sensei & Student
Birds of Prey: From Dawn 'Til Dusk
Superman: Red Son
Kingdom Come

[spideyrules99]

Kingdom Come
Batman year one
JLA year one
Batman in the 70s
JLA Showcase

[van-zee]

Morrison's run on Animal Man
Funeral For a Friend
Superman -- No Limits
Superman -- President Lex
Superman -- Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite
Superman -- Exile
The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told

[JulianPerez]

My favorite trade would have to be the Don Rosa LIFE OF UNCLE SCROOGE. It has after each issue nearly two pages that are the equivalent of "director commentary," explaining the references: to Carl Barks, 1940s cinema, versions of Uncle Scrooge comics in other countries, historical details we missed the first time around, etc. Absolutely worth buying, even over the actual issues themselves.

If you mean JUST DC trades...

GREATEST BATMAN STORIES EVER TOLD. I mean the original published in 1983. In addition to an amazing introduction, it also has cross-sections from every part of Batman's history: amazing stuff by Dick Sprang, and to top it off, a pair of Alan Brennert stories!

ZATANNA'S QUEST. This long-awaited trade gathered together the original story arc, one of comics' first crossovers, penned by Gardner Fox. And the amazing Gil Kane and Sekowsky art is frankly, amazing.

THE DCU STORIES OF ALAN MOORE. 'Nuff said. Though if only they can do one now for Alan Brennert...

all the JSA trades by Geoff Johns (particularly Lost, Stealing Thunder, and Princes of Darkness)

Oh, hear-hear! Johns is the best thing to happen to DC since the invention of color. Although his run on JSA has the same problem as the recent breakup of the Englehart AVENGERS into TPB: Johns does long-term story arcs that reward a long-term reader. Get all of them, or get none.

Kingdom Come

As much as I love Alex Ross's art, I wouldn't put this as one of the "great" TPBs list at all.

It was very classy how they dedicated the book to Christopher Reeves, though.

Cosmic Odyssey

Hear-hear! One of the more amazing and fascinating crossovers, with Hawkships and ooze monsters from Rann.

Villains United

Excellent choice. And isn't Catman the coolest?

Batman: Long Halloween

I'll have to reread this sometime before I form an opinion. However, I remember it being more reminiscent of modern cop movie cliches (with a villain as charismatic and flamboyant as Julian Day hidden behind glass and growling) instead of tapping into a sort of pulp fiction vibe, where Batman works best. But it may be better than I remember.

Golden Age

Say it ain't so, Ed!

Rarely have I seen a work where they get nearly everything all wrong, but GOLDEN AGE is among them. In addition to the overlap with far superior works like Roy Thomas's LAST DAYS OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY, it transplanted '80s style angst onto the primary colored heroes of the 1940s, doing for the Golden Agers at DC what the Ultimate line does for Marvel characters: transforming them into grotesque self-parodies with tiny flaws magnified to the point they become living caricatures. Hawkman and Hawkgirl as weirdos obsessed with Ancient Egypt? Starman as a stuttering hollow shell of a wreck? Hourman as a drug addict addicted to Miraclo (okay, granted, this wasn't Robinson's idea, but nonetheless it is a story so cliche and often used it shows a dearth of imagination for being used at all).

[matewan1990]

Saga of the Swamp Thing
Flash: Return of Barry Allen
Animal Man volumes 1-3
Swamp Thing: Love and Death
Swamp Thing: The Curse (any of the Alan Moore Swamp Thing trades will do)
Batman: Tales of the Demon
Any of the Batman stories by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
Warlord: Savage Empire
Hawkworld
Jonah Hex: Two-Gun Mojo
Grant Morrison's JLA (the Mark Waid stuff is where the lame JLA starts so don't waste you money on anything past Morrison's stories)
Showcase Presents Jonah Hex
Showcase Presents House of Mystery
The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told (if only for the Cary Bates explanation of the whole Trial of the Flash saga and Flash's subsequent death in Crisis)
Crisis on Infinite Earths
Identity Crisis
Plastic Man by Kyle Baker volumes 1-2
Batman Year One (much better than Dark Knight)
Watchmen
The Art of Walt Simonson (took me years to finally get a copy)
Manhunter by Archie Goodwin and Walt Simonson
Batman: Dark Detective
Batman: Son of the Demon
Greatest Justice League Stories ever told (if only for the Dick Dillin reprints of JLA 166-168)
and many, many more...
Mike B.

[algertman]

Morrison JLA
Formlerly known As Justice League
Can't believe it's not the justice league

[Shade]

Say it ain't so, Ed!

Rarely have I seen a work where they get nearly everything all wrong, but GOLDEN AGE is among them. In addition to the overlap with far superior works like Roy Thomas's LAST DAYS OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY, it transplanted '80s style angst onto the primary colored heroes of the 1940s, doing for the Golden Agers at DC what the Ultimate line does for Marvel characters: transforming them into grotesque self-parodies with tiny flaws magnified to the point they become living caricatures. Hawkman and Hawkgirl as weirdos obsessed with Ancient Egypt? Starman as a stuttering hollow shell of a wreck? Hourman as a drug addict addicted to Miraclo (okay, granted, this wasn't Robinson's idea, but nonetheless it is a story so cliche and often used it shows a dearth of imagination for being used at all).

This is all so wrong my mind is still hazy from the wrongedness.
GOLDEN AGE took the glossy, polished war era heroes and implanted them into a real, and yes, dark template, while remaining true to what the characters were at their core. This wasn't "angst" just for the sake of being gritty but believable development given the absurdity of the characters and the very real world they were suppose to be a part of. It certainly wasn't the JSA we had seen before but that doesn't make it any less powerful and relative.

"Last Days" on the other hand came off as just what it was, which was an attempt to put the characters away on a shelf so they would not be used by anyone else or confused by readers seeing other characters with the same names. It was merely a quick shot to put the characters away in limbo for preservation til a later date.

I'm sorry I'm in agreement on the rest of your list but comparing "Golden Age" to Marvel's Ultimates just boggles the mind.

[JulianPerez]

This is all so wrong my mind is still hazy from the wrongedness.
GOLDEN AGE took the glossy, polished war era heroes and implanted them into a real, and yes, dark template, while remaining true to what the characters were at their core.

I don't agree, the characters were written entirely out of character, and entirely inconstant with how they have previously been portrayed as being.

The best example is Robotman: for a guy with a brain in a machine, he was an upbeat character that had a really groovy time, one of the best Jerry Siegel creations. He spoke in slang and wisecracked with the bad guys years before witty banter became a part of every superhero fight. You’re having a guy with a ROBOT DOG SIDEKICK splatter blood from people he’s killed onto himself?

This wasn't "angst" just for the sake of being gritty but believable development given the absurdity of the characters and the very real world they were suppose to be a part of.

It certainly wasn't the JSA we had seen before but that doesn't make it any less powerful and relative. [/quote]

You are right it wasn't the JSA seen before, but that wasn't the problem. The problem is that everything in GOLDEN AGE was seen before, and nothing makes something less "powerful or relative" than familiarity.

Other books have shown us the last days of the JSA and the connection with the HUAC. Tredging all this up again isn’t showing us anything new. Hitler’s brain surviving and placed into a being of power is not new. A hero becoming addicted to the drug that gave him his powers is not new. And heck, even the so called deconstructionist attitude the book took on the JSAers is not new, either.

I'm sorry I'm in agreement on the rest of your list

Anybody that likes Geoff Johns and Gardner Fox is okay by me. ;)

but comparing "Golden Age" to Marvel's Ultimates just boggles the mind.

The comparison to the Ultimates is fairly accurate.

I won’t deny there are many, many interesting stories that could be told about the Hawks being reincarnations of Ancient Egyptian Royalty (and Geoff Johns has certainly proved that). However, come GOLDEN AGE, this aspect of the characters is used to make Carter and Shayera look as unsavory as possible. One aspect of the characters is exploded to beyond reasonable dimension, just like in the Ultimates, where Tony Stark is a lush...and very little else, taking a chug of booze before going out on missions, and Hank Pym, who previously only struck the Wasp ONCE in a moment of madness and weakness at the lowest point in his life, come the Ultimates, becoming a regular wifebeater.

Like the Ultimates, GOLDEN AGE retreads tired stories that have been explored elsewhere. Returning to Ultimate Iron Man's boozehoundery...hasn't he already worked out his problems with that in the book? What can it possibly show us about it that we haven't seen before? Hell, when Tony Isabella had Demon become addicted to the drug that gave him his powers in JUSTICE MACHINE in the 1980s, this story felt tired and overused.

[LordEd1976]

Say it ain't so, Ed!

Rarely have I seen a work where they get nearly everything all wrong, but GOLDEN AGE is among them. In addition to the overlap with far superior works like Roy Thomas's LAST DAYS OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY, it transplanted '80s style angst onto the primary colored heroes of the 1940s, doing for the Golden Agers at DC what the Ultimate line does for Marvel characters: transforming them into grotesque self-parodies with tiny flaws magnified to the point they become living caricatures. Hawkman and Hawkgirl as weirdos obsessed with Ancient Egypt? Starman as a stuttering hollow shell of a wreck? Hourman as a drug addict addicted to Miraclo (okay, granted, this wasn't Robinson's idea, but nonetheless it is a story so cliche and often used it shows a dearth of imagination for being used at all).

This is all so wrong my mind is still hazy from the wrongedness.
GOLDEN AGE took the glossy, polished war era heroes and implanted them into a real, and yes, dark template, while remaining true to what the characters were at their core. This wasn't "angst" just for the sake of being gritty but believable development given the absurdity of the characters and the very real world they were suppose to be a part of. It certainly wasn't the JSA we had seen before but that doesn't make it any less powerful and relative.

"Last Days" on the other hand came off as just what it was, which was an attempt to put the characters away on a shelf so they would not be used by anyone else or confused by readers seeing other characters with the same names. It was merely a quick shot to put the characters away in limbo for preservation til a later date.

I'm sorry I'm in agreement on the rest of your list but comparing "Golden Age" to Marvel's Ultimates just boggles the mind.

I thought Golden Age was a great read. It took the characters and placed them in a situation where they found themselves in world were the war they fought was won. but the bright future they fought for was not coming to past. Alan Scott was still the same Green Lantern we know and love, its just he now had to deal with fighting the HUAC, a group that is part of the government he but goies after people he considers friends. This is what happened in the 50s. GA just showed us how a superhero would try to handle it.

Hourman was shown as an addict, but Julian, you got it wrong. He was addicted to the rush of being a superhero. The first we see Hourman, his concern is that the Miraclo formula lasted less than 30 minutes, meaning he was a superhero for less time than he wanted.

You are right that Hawkman was shown to be a little too obessessed with ancient Egypt, however, Hawkgirl was only shown in one panel so its not that fair to say both were portrayed as weirdos.

Starman's problems came from the fact that he had a hand in creating the atom bomb. I don't know about you, but I can see someone going bonkers if they had a hand in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sure, it was said to help us win the war, but its a hard thing to have live with the idea that you caused the loss of so much life.

The only characterization I have trouble getting is Robotman. I would have really liked some sort of explanation about why he lost his humanity and why he decided to willingly go along with the plans of Thompson and Dynaman.

A big plus for me about GA is how many lesser known characters got the spotlight. Sure we had Green Lantern, Atom, Johnny Thunder, Hourman, Starman, and Hawkman, but also we had a focus on guys like Captain Triumph, Tigress, Robotman, the Paul Kirk Manhunter, Mister America and Fatman, Johnny Quick, Liberty Belle, and Tarantula. Heck, Captain Comet even showed up at the end to lend a hand (and get his boys smahed in. ouch).

The series may be a drak look at characters that are usually seen in a brighter context, but I'd hardly call it an Ultimates-style book.

[LordEd1976]

You’re having a guy with a ROBOT DOG SIDEKICK splatter blood from people he’s killed onto himself?

He didn't splatter the blood on himself. It splattered on him when he butchered the robbers.

[BeastieRunner]

Batman: Year One
Batman: Year Two
Batman: Broken City
Batman: Crime and Punishment
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: Dark Victory
Batman: Haunted Knight
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: A Death in the Family
Batman: Tales of the Demon
Batman: Ras Ah Gul Year One (Ras' Origin, very cool)
Flash: Rogue War
Flash: The Secret of Barry Allen
Flash: Volumes 1-5
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight & A New Dawn
Green Lantern: The Power of Ion
Showcases are great for history and the mystery one is fun.
Supergirl (Can't remember the name of the first Peter David trade)
Supergirl: Many Happy Returns

It's a little biased towards one character, but I only read DC (other than pretty much all Vertigo titles) for Batman, the occational Flash stories, and I really like Ion right now.

[powerforward]

all of the starman trades
the jsa run so far
i personally love the golden age
new teen titans the judas contract

and of course watchmen/batman year one

[jade_nova]

JLA: Tower of Babel
Batman: Year One
A World Without Superman
Dan Slott's Arkham Asylum
Flash: Return of Barry Allen
Green Arrow: Archer's Quest