Let's Name The Top 100 Comic Book Storylines/Events Together

[mrc1214]

Let's name the top 100 comic book series together.This is for what series you think are the best of all time. You can add numbers if you want to be more specific. Or you can just put a whole series that you enjoyed

Rules:
-Please Post Only 1 Post Per Entry
-Please Allow Others To Post Before Posting Again
-This is not supposed to be in chronological order, just add as we go.
-Please post the issues your talking about if applicable..a full series would count if its (or you consider it) a complete storyline
-lets not turn this into an argument thread
-Have Fun!

I'll start.

1. Astro City

[shaxper]

Are we using any kind of criteria (favorite, highest quality, most successful, most influential, etc)?

I'll say Cerebus. Definitely the most impressive, philosophical, artistic, experimental, well written, beautifully drawn, inked, and lettered comic I have ever read, and it truly resonated with me in a long term sort of way. Say what you will about Sim's warped and ever-changing beliefs; his work was still genius. You know, the true kind of mad genius that's often accompanied with illogical rants and angry outbursts.

Really, the only thing about this series that I don't think it did better than virtually any other comic was the plotting, both long and short term. You had volumes like Jaka's Story (which pushed my patience) and Melmoth (which was a totally unnecessary nonsequitor), and then you have abrupt shifts in overall theme and direction numerous times throughout the series. I suppose you have to expect this when one guy takes 30 years of his own ever-changing life to write the series, but the lack of any kind of editorial guidance in respect to the direction and pacing of the series is probably its only drawback.

[rasx]

Chris Claremont's 80's X-Men run.

[shaxper]

Chris Claremont's 80's X-Men run.

I would definitely add the 70s stuff to this. The Phoenix Saga and the introduction of Kitty Pryde were major strong points in the series, as far as I'm concerned. Maybe this could even be expanded to "Claremont's 70s and 80s X Franchise" as I feel the New Mutants was sometimes even a stronger magazine than the X-Men. And, while I've never read Excalibur, I've heard good things.

[dan bailey]

The Friedrich-Ayers-Severin Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandos, roughly (on the first 3 Severin inked himself; a few of the final issues were [co-]scripted by Archie Goodwin or Bill Everett; #80 was a reprint) #s 44-81.

[MDG]

I've got a few other things in mind that I'm pretty sure others will mention, so I'm gonna say:

Eightball

(BTW--is this U.S. only or global?)

[Cei-U!]

George Carlson's Jingle Jangle Tales, if only because A) no Top 100 list should be all super-hero/adventure strips and B) it's f'ing brilliant.

Cei-U!
I summon the overlooked classic!

[dan bailey]

George Carlson's Jingle Jangle Tales

Has this ever received any kind of decent reprint treatment? I've been intrigued by it ever since reading Harlan Ellison's rhapsodic account of the strip & Carlson's creativity in All in Color for a Dime as a kid; was reminded of it again a couple of nights ago via the write-up in Richardison's & Duin's cursedly unputdownable (if intriguingly error-prone at times ... I mean, for instance, the real-life Ray Palmer edited precisely as many issues of Weird Tales as I did) Comics Between the Panels.

[Polar Bear]

Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman (first appearing serially in Raw).

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

A couple of Jingle Jangle stories were reprinted in the Smithsonian book. There might have been select reprints in more recent books, as well.

I'm not sure how broad or narrow an entry should be. My first instinct is to say "The Immortal Superman" in Action Comics 385-387, by Bates/Swan/Roussos. This story probably influenced Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Grant Morrison--among others.

[CromagnonMan]

an obvious one...Conan the Barbarian by Thomas/Smith

[shaxper]

no Top 100 list should be all super-hero/adventure strips

For what it's worth, only 2 of the 5 comics nominated prior to your post fit this description. Give it up for the diverse tastes of this community!

[Richard Bishop]

Preacher by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.

While the series began to show some signs of age by the end, Ennis told a complete story from beginning to end, wrapping up all of his plotlines and giving the reader a satisfying conclusion. While many of the supporting characters were vile and some of the ideas he espoused were controversial, to say the least, one cannot deny the quality of his work.

[mrc1214]

Are we using any kind of criteria (favorite, highest quality, most successful, most influential, etc)?

I would like to keep it your favorite, good runs. What a list so far heres the list so far next next person who goes after me just put 11 before your answer or copy and paste the list I dont want to loose anything.

1. Astro City
2. Cerebus
3. X-Men (Claremont)
4. Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos (344-81)
5. Eightball
6. Jingle Jangle Tales
7. Maus
8. Conan the Barbarian
9.Preacher
10. Avengers- Busiek/Perez

[Scott Harris]

I'm going to go with the entire Sandman Mystery Theater series. It is made up of individual arcs, but the real story isn't the different cases Sandman takes on, it's his relationship with Dian Belmont, which also happens to be the best, most interesting and most "realistic" romance in superhero comics. With Dian being in my opinion one of the best female characters in comics, period.

And the secondary theme of the series, which details the development and emergence of superheroes in the DC universe, is also handled brilliantly.

The ending of the series -- SMT #1 begins with Dian and Wesley meeting for the first time and #70 ends with their marriage -- could not possibly have been better or more fulfilling for both storylines, though I wish it had happened after another 100 issues just so I could read more about the characters. Re-reading this series is something I try to do at least once every couple of years and I am looking forward to my next reading greatly.

1. Astro City
2. Cerebus
3. X-Men (Claremont)
4. Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos (44-81)
5. Eightball
6. Jingle Jangle Tales
7. Maus
8. Conan the Barbarian
9.Preacher
10. Avengers- Busiek/Perez
11. Sandman Mystery Theater