Absolute Ten Best Comic Series or Graphic Novels

[doordoor123]

What are the absolute best DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics and Indie Comics you have ever read?

[abugeorge]

These are in no order:

Ultra: Seven Days
Maus
Starman series
Batman: Detective/Death in the City/Private Casebook/Heart of Hush (Paul Dini's Detective run)
Midnight Nation
Superman: Secret Identity
Thor by JMS
Marvels
The Crow
World's Greatest Super-heroes

[Let's Kill Hitler]

Sort of in order;

Preacher
Swamp Thing (Alan Moore)
The Sandman
All Star Superman
Hellblazer (Garth Ennis)
Runaways (Volumn 1)
The Walking Dead
Batman: Year One
The Dark Knight Returns
Calvin & Hobbes

[DaronK]

In order:

1.Starman (Robinson & Harris)
2. Y-The Last Man
3. Kingdom Come
4. The Flash (Waid's first run & John's first run)
5. Captain Marvel (PAD's first series)
6. Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt
7. Captain America (Waid's Run)
8. The Golden Age
9. Legion of Superheroes/Legionnaires (Post Zero Hour)
10. Daredevil (Bendis' run - before he started repeating himself)

[TheGoodDoctor]

All-Star Superman
Batman: Year One
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Kingdom Come
Stormwatch (Warren Ellis's run)
The Authority
The Sandman
The Walking Dead
The Watchmen
V for Vendetta

[Tar22]

It became to hard to differentiate between "best" and "personal favorite," so I made two lists (with a few that overlap). Sue me. :biggrin:

In no particular order:

Best:
Sandman
Understanding Comics
A Contract with God
Maus
Jimmy Corrigan
The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
Usagi Yojimbo
Watchmen
All-Star Superman
The Goon


Personal Favorites:
The Dark Knight Returns
Scott Pilgrim
Jack Staff
Planetary
Final Crisis
Hellboy
Ex Machina
New X-Men
All-Star Superman
The Goon


Others that easily could have been included: Bone, We3, Miller's Daredevil run, Bendis' Daredevil run, Criminal, Sleeper, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 1), Sin City (especially The Hard Goodbye), Pluto, Y: The Last Man, Lee/Kirby's Fantastic Four, Persepolis, DC: The New Frontier, Simonson's Thor, Batman: Year One, Punisher: Welcome Back Frank, Lee/Romita's Spider-Man, The Walking Dead, Akira, Nextwave

[Dekay]

More of just my personal favorite, and sort of in order.

1. Hellboy/B.P.R.D.
2. Planetary
3. Swamp Thing (Alan Moore)
4. The Walking Dead
5. Batman The Long Halloween
6. Batman A Serious House On Serious Earth
7. Sandman
8. Hellblazer (Garth Ennis)
9. We3
10. All Star Superman

I tend to like horror and sci fi genre stuff.

[CSPDX]

In no particular order...

From Hell (Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell)
Goodbye, Chunky Rice (Craig Thompson)
Batman: Year One (Frank Miller, David Mazuchelli)
Love and Rockets: The Death of Speedy (Jamie Hernandez)
Preacher (Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon)
The Maxx (Sam Keith, et al)
Sandman Mystery Theater (Matt Wagner, Guy Davis, et al)
Torso (Brian Michael Bendis)
Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth (Chris Ware)
Immortal Iron Fist (Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja)

[dancj]

In order:

1 - The Dark Knight Returns
2 - Batman: Year One
3 - Alan Moore's run on SWAMP THING
4 - Grant Morrison's Animal Man
5 - Daredevil: Born Again
6 - Frank Miller's 1st Daredevil run
7 - Peter Milligan's Detective Comics run
8 - Garth Ennis's The Preacher
9 - The Ultimates 1+2
10 - Warren Ellis's Stormwatch

[Blue_Beetle]

In no order...

Trades
"Batman: Year One"
"Batman: The Dark Knight Returns"
"All-Star Superman"
"Kingdom Come"
"Astro City: Confession"

Runs
Keith Giffen & J.M. DeMatteis' "Justice League America"
Grant Morrison's "Animal Man"
Grant Morrison's "Batman"
Geoff Johns' "Green Lantern"
Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid & Keith Giffen's "52"

[byron lomax]

My top two are my top two, while the rest are in no particular order:

Enigma
Watchmen
Ballad of Halo Jones
Sandman - Season of Mists
Runaways volume 1
The Maxx (first twenty issues or so)
Suicide Squad
We3
Animal Man (Morrison plus Milligan!)
Grant/Breyfogle Detective Comics

[AdzPower]

In no particular order:

Scott Pilgrim
New x-men
Astonishing x-men (Joss Whedon era)
Blackest night
Age of apocolypse
Sinestro corps war
Fray (Buffy spin off)
Batman and robin (Grant Morrison)
Second coming
The ultimates 1 and 2

[chrisgiff]

Watchmen
Preacher
Dark Knight Returns
Batman: Year One
Final Crisis (yes, that's right.)
All-Star Superman
Maus
Kingdom Come
Swamp Thing (Moore's run)
Ennis' Punisher epic

[Scott Taylor]

Astro City: Tarnished Angel by Kurt Busiek
Creature Tech by Doug Ten Apel
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
A Contract with God by Will Eisner
DKR by Frank Miller
Batman Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
The Great Darkness Saga by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen
Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont and John Byrne
The Walking Dead Vol. 1 Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore
What Ever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow by Alan Moore, Curt Swan and Kurt Shaffenberger

Honorable mention to Watchmen, Batman RIP, All-Star Superman, Ultimate Spider-Man:Learning Curve, the rest of the Morrison Batman run and Flash of Two Worlds.

[Flamebird]

Offhand, for me I'd have to say J.M. DeMatteis and Jon J. Muths'
Moonshadow.
The only books so good they were published as a series in Marvels Epic line; then as a hardcover; Then as a series at Vertigo and then another trade version.
This was the first comic that I ever read that made me not miss "superheroes" when that was pretty much all I ever read.

[Ebon]

Astro City
Perez and Wolfman Teen Titans up until Titan's Hunt
Ultimate Spider-Man
The Invisibles
Usagi Yojimbo
Cerebus up until sometime after High Society
Robin
Watchmen
Dark Phoenix Saga
Impulse

Honorable Mention: PS238

[dmb1138]

In no particular order:

Grant/Breyfogle Detective Comics
Stan Lee/Steve Ditko Dr. Strange
Kurt Busiek's Astro City
Jack Kirby's New Gods
Roy Thomas/Barry Smith's Conan the Barbarian
Grant Morrison/Howard Porter JLA
Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers Detective Comics
Mike Mignola's Hellboy
James Robinson's Starman
Len Wein/Berni Wrightson Swamp Thing

[Ari Gold]

I've actually been working recently on a personal list of the 5 comics/creators that most influenced me. It's far from finalized but here's where it stands so far.

1) Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison (hon. mention Batman and Son)
2) Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman (hon. Pax Romana)
3) Alan Moore - most notably Saga of the Swamp Thing & Tom Strong
4) Gotham Central by Greg Rucka & Ed Brubaker
5) Thor by JMS

[Kyle!]

Lucifer is definitely the best comic series I have ever read, bar none.

After that, in no particular order:
Transmetropolitan, Final Crisis, Sandman, Fables, Northlanders, All Star Superman, Runaways, Invincible, Morrison's Batman run

Honorable mention to everything DnA did with Marvel's cosmic stuff.

[DaronK]

I've actually been working recently on a personal list of the 5 comics/creators that most influenced me. It's far from finalized but here's where it stands so far.

1) Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison (hon. mention Batman and Son)
2) Nightly News by Jonathan Hickman (hon. Pax Romana)
3) Alan Moore - most notably Saga of the Swamp Thing & Tom Strong
4) Gotham Central by Greg Rucka & Ed Brubaker
5) Thor by JMS

I totally forgot about Gotham Central! That books was fantastic. I should go back and edit my list...

[frankiedetroit]

Walt Simonson's run on Thor was the first series that I just LOVED.

Also:
—Batman: Year One, which I read before Dark Knight Returns, so holds a more special place in my heart
—Astro City: The Confessor and Steeljack sagas, in particular
—Kingdom Come
—Sandman, all of it, but especially once The Dollhouse began
—Watchmen, which I love everytime I read it
—The first arc of Maus. The second one was great too, but it affected me in a different way
—Personal fave that no one else seemed to like: Supreme Power, the MAX version

[MonteMike72]

01. The Nefaria Trilogy (Avengers #164-#166)
02. Fantastic Four #236 (Terror in a Tiny Town)
03. Avengers #160-#162 (The Grimm Reaper, Ant-Man and Ultron)
04. The Dark Phoenix Saga (X-Men)
05. The Great Darkness Saga (Legion of Super-Heroes)
06. X-Men #56-#59 (Neal Adams art -- The Living Monolith and Sentinels)
07. Daredevil #181 (The death of Elektra)
08. The New Teen Titans #23-#25 and Annual #1 (Blackfire)
09. Micronauts #1-#12 (Marvel series)
10. Silver Surfer #4 (Surfer vs. Thor)

[doolbnoom]

off the top of my head, really quickly (i'll probably return with a full list):
1. Watchmen
2. Ronin
3. Crisis on Infinite Earths
4. V for Vendetta
5. (Flash) Terminal Velocity- Waid
6. Arkham Asylum- Morrison
7. Black Orchid- Gaiman and McKean

that's all i can think of for now.

[Serviettedetable]

If I can include french stuff:

Thorgal 1-14 (Van Hamme/Rosinsky)
Donjon (Trondheim/Sfar/Multiple artists)
Peter Pan (Loisel)
Corto Maltese (Hugo Pratt)
Rubrique-à-braque (Gotlib)
Julius Corentin Acquefaque (Marc-Antoine Mathieu)
Fables
Preacher
Batman The long Halloween/Dark Victory
Maus (probably my #1)

[americanwonder]

Off the top of my head, in no particular order, limited by the fact I haven't read everything, subject to personal bias and open to change at any time: :biggrin:

- Strangers in Paradise
- Batgirl: Year One
- Wonder Woman by Rucka (esp, The Hiketeia)
- All-Star Superman
- Birds of Prey, vol. 1

- X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills
- Promethea
- V for Vendetta
- Daredevil (Bendis and Maleev)
- Fantastic Four (Waid and Wieringo)

eta: this was hard. and now I feel kinda guilty leaving off other beloved works. :frown: :redface: :tongue:

[Ebon]

—Personal fave that no one else seemed to like: Supreme Power, the MAX version

I thought about including it, and would have if it was 12 or 15 slots :) It's quite good.

[svp]

01. The Nefaria Trilogy (Avengers #164-#166)


this is a book?

[Libaax]

This is the best series, trades i have read.

1. Torpedo by Jordi Bernet,Abuli - awesome hardboiled, dark humor series.
2. Batman The Dark Knight Returns - the most important Bat story to me.
3. Max Punisher:Garth Ennis, i choose this before Hellblazer as fav Ennis work.
4. Jonah Hex: PG,Bernet - best american western series by far.
5. Criminal: Brubaker/Phillips - this creator team has perfected crime,noir series today.
6. Daredevil: Born Again - Frank Miller did the best two stories for my fav two heroes.
7. The Walking Dead: Kirkman/Aldred - the best ongoing in recent years.
8. Sandman Mystery Theatre - great blend of noir,vigilante.
9. Hellboy - Mignola drawn Hellboy was vintage horror,supernatural series.
10. Sin City: - mostly for the vivid,coolest black,white art i have read from any artist in western comics. Frank Miller will always be greater artist than writer to me because of SC.

Shows my taste in american comics, 8 of my 10 fav comics are not superhero. Only Batman,Daredevil comics made it in my top. I prefer creator owned,imprint comics with more creative freedom as this list shows me.

[Laurence]

From Hell
The Filth
The Nikopal Trilogy
The Incal
Cerebus
Pretty much all of R. Crumb, but I especially like Weirdo
Lee/Ditko on Dr Strange
Steranko on Nick Fury
The Invisibles
Preacher

[Kid Omega]

There has been a lot of discussion on this topic here:

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=152611&highlight=greatest+comics

[carabas]

Image comics are indy comics...

My list, in no particular order:

- Hitman (Garth Ennis)
- Preacher (Garth Ennis)
- Transmetropolitan (Warren Ellis)
- The Invisibles (Grant Morrison)
- Starman (James Robinson)
- Sleeper (Ed Brubaker)
- Sandman (Neil Gaiman)
- StormWatch/The Authority (it's one work, really, Warren Ellis)
- Birds Of Prey (Gail Simone)
- Secret Six (Gail Simone)

Bonus: Watchmen.

[svp]

this is a book?

I would totally pay over price for this book but I don't think
the Avengers Nefaria ( est. #168 #169 #170) is a book. Is it a tpb book or something?

EDIT***************
oh 0h I re read it and it says 'comic series' OR 'GN'. oops my mistake. sorry.

Here are some favorites that I have re-read numerous times

1. Spider-man Kraven last hunt
2. X-force-famous mutants and mortals-
3. Hulk future imperfect-David
4. Avengers
5. Marvels- Busiek
6. Elektra -Asassin F.M. and Bill S.
7. Fantastic four 1234- jai lee
8. Daredevil- Born Again Frank Miller
9. House of M crossover event
10. X-men Age of Apocalypse/Dark Pheonix Saga

11. Astro City -Busiek
12. BlackSad -Canales and Guarnido
13. Indian Summer- Manera -Pratt
14. Walking Dead - Kirkman
15. Black Hole - Charles Burns
16. B.P.R.D. -Mignola, Arcudi and Davis
17. Fables- Willingham
18. David Boring- Daniel Clowes
19. Elephantmen -Richard Starkings
20. Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children Pirana press

[Ivan Isaacs]

01. Yotsuba&! (Kyohiko Azuma)
02. Ordinary Victories (Manu Larcenet)
03. A Drifting Life (Yoshihiro Tatsumi)
04. Uncle Scrooge (Don Rosa)
05. La Quête de l'oiseau du temps (Serge LeTendre/Régis Loisel)
06. Eden! It's an Endless World (Hiroki Endo)
07. Yoko Tsuno (Roger Leloup)
08. Breakfast After Noon (Andi Watson)
09. Optic Nerve (Adrian Tomine)
10. 20th Century Boys (Naoki Urasawa)

[Cavemold]

Don't have a top ten but my favorites are batman beyond hush, and sinestro corps war.

[Libaax]

Image comics are indy comics...

My list, in no particular order:

- Hitman (Garth Ennis)
- Preacher (Garth Ennis)
- Transmetropolitan (Warren Ellis)
- The Invisibles (Grant Morrison)
- Starman (James Robinson)
- Sleeper (Ed Brubaker)
- Sandman (Neil Gaiman)
- StormWatch/The Authority (it's one work, really, Warren Ellis)
- Birds Of Prey (Gail Simone)
- Secret Six (Gail Simone)

Bonus: Watchmen.

The Authority is my fav alltime superhero team book i had it just outside top ten. I removed it for Hellboy,SC.

We have similar taste in Ennis,Brubaker. I choose Max Punisher before Hitman just barely as fav Ennis. Criminal over Sleeper.

I didnt want too much superhero in my list.

[king mob]

These are in no special order.....


Charley's War by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun

Love & Rockets by the Hernandez brothers.

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

American Flagg! by Howard Chaykin

Maus by Art Speigleman

Asterix by Goscinny and Uderzo

Hate! by Peter Bagge

The Fourth World saga by Jack Kirby

Black Hole by Charles Burns

A Contract With god by Will Eisner

[Deep_Sleeper]

I won't say best, but I will say these are the books that I thought were/are either wonderfully constructed or just blew my mind:

Earth X
Supreme Power
Authority
Planetary
Watchmen
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
Daredevil: Born Again
The Walking Dead
All-Star Superman
Inhumans by Jenkins & Lee

[dupersuper]

Only 10? Too hard.

Morrisons JLA and Animal Man, triangle era Superman books, Moores Swamp Thing, From Hell, Tom Strong, Supreme, V, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Maus, Stuck Rubber Baby, I Kill Giants, Kill Shakespeare, Strangers in Parasdise, Air, Vext, JLI/A/E, Simones Secret Six and All New Atom, Giffens Doom Patrol, Waids Flash and FF, Busiek/Perez Avengers, Ex Machina, Marvels, Watchmen, We3, Seaguy, Preacher, Cerebus, Transmet, Aetheric Mechanics, Love&Rockets, 'Mazing Man, Calvin&Hobbes, Doonesberry, Dilbert, Walking Dead, Davids Young Justice, F N Spider-Man, Star Trek and Supergirl, Priests Steel, Ostrander/Yale Suicide Squad books, Fables, 100 Bullets, Sweet Tooth, Understanding Comics, Astro City, Doctor Who, Kingdom Come, Secret Identity, Red Sun, JLA: The Nail, Superman Adventures and several others all spring to mind though.

[Brother Justin Crowe]

This might change tomorrow, but here's fifteen (best I could do), in alphabetical order...

All-Star Superman (Morrison & Quitely)
Cable & Deadpool (Nicieza, Brown, Zircher, et al)
Courtyard, The (Moore, Burrows, et al)
Death-Ray, The (Clowes)
Essex County Trilogy (Lemire)
Ex Machina (Vaughan, Harris, et al)
Filth, The (Morrison, Weston)
Neonomicon (Moore & Burrows)
Nightly News, The (Hickman)
Nobody, The (Lemire)
Pax Romana (Hickman)
Planetary (Ellis & Cassaday)
Transmetropolitan (Ellis & Robertson)
Watchmen (Moore & Gibbons)
Y: The Last Man (Vaughan & Guerra)

[greenthings]

Hard for me to make this list without manga, and I'll qualify that this is "of what I've read"... in no particular order.

Hellboy
Sandman
Swamp Thing (Moore)
Understanding Comics
Calvin and Hobbes
The Dark Phoenix Saga
Batman Year 100
The Dark Knight Returns

...nope, can't do it. Manga:

Vagabond
Mushishi

[JohnDelaney]

American Splendor
Any R. Crumb graphic novel
Transmetopolitan
I Kill Giants
Wartchmen
Lenore
Johnny the Homocidal Maniac
Tank Girl
Ghost World
The Walking Dead

Alot of great comics out there, ten is just the tip of an iceberg.
Good reading
Jd