Our Favorite Comics (A Classic Comics Christmas '05)

[dan bailey]

I like to think that I'm crankier, whinier, and generally more stubborn than all of you old timers combined

Odd ... I thought we'd met before.

Clearly, you don't know me from Adam's off ox. (And then there's Cei-U!, who makes me look like Mr. Rogers on Ecstasy.)

[shaxper]

Odd ... I thought we'd met before.

Clearly, you don't know me from Adam's off ox.e

Yeah, but you've got the whole Dr. House thing going on. We expect you to be grumpy, so your kind moments are the ones that stick out.

Sorry. You've been type-cast

(And then there's Cei-U!, who makes me look like Mr. Rogers on Ecstasy.)

I believe I went off on him once, very early on in my time here at CBR, and proving myself the bigger grump, he's been nothing but kind to me since

[dan bailey]

Yeah, but you've got the whole Dr. House thing going on.

Now, see, my curmudgeonliness extends to not having TV (as opposed to a TV), so I have only the vague idea that that's a reference to a show. I take it this Dr. House is not to be confused with Katie Couric.

[shaxper]

I take it this Dr. House is not to be confused with Katie Couric.

I have no idea what you meant here, but that's got to be the funniest line I've heard in weeks.

[Slam_Bradley]

Nice job, Shax. And it made me go back and revisit what I and others had said and I always enjoy that.

[Chris N]

This year's Classic Christmas put me in a mood. So, if you'll permit the indulgence, I'm going to steal a page from shaxper (a fine fellow to steal a page from if ever there was one).

I made a list. Favorite single issues at least 10 years old (though they would have been too new in '05). I also made a rule needed for my own sanity: one entry per writer per title. I stuck to the letter of that rule and only broke its spirit two or three times. Beyond that, what shaxper had to say goes word-for-word for me, so I'l just quote him and pretend I said it:

Only a few years late to this thread...

Honestly, ever since I first became a poster at CBR in 2006, I've wanted to go back and do this one, but it's a very tall order and it took a long time for me to sit down and really consider -- especially since (as most of you know) I'm more into runs than individual issues. I usually find more payoff in tracking long term progressions in stories, and so a lot of the issues I chose only make sense in that context. Many of these actually don't work very well on their own without knowing the long continuities that led up to them.

Anyway, here they are:

12. Daredevil #8, the Devil's Deliverance
by Kevin Smith and Joe Quesada

I'm a big Kevin Smith fan these days, but my first exposure to him was his work on Volume 2 of Daredevil. This was also my first real exposure to Daredevil. (I'd read a couple Daredevil stories I really didn't like, having arrived to late for the work of Miller, Nocenti etc.) And I loved the entire Guardian Devil story. With more context, I appreciate that the story is a love letter to Born Again, a superior story. But I still think this had a few things going for it. A moving goodbye letter from Karen among them.

Smith's idea for the story was to retell Born Again, but changing the idea of hope to that of faith. This issue forms an epilogue to the saga, with the villain defeated at the end of the previous issue. And it features a demoralized Daredevil talking to Spider-Man. Daredevil gives an excellent speech about the absurdity of it all, finally asking: "Can you tell me one thing that makes any sense in that mess whatsoever?!?"

And Spider-Man responds: "You saved that baby girl's life."
​

11. Fantastic Four #262, Trial of Galactus
by John Byrne

One of my earliest Fantastic Four comics as well as the first trade I ever got. Also one of the first comics that blew my young mind. As the living embodiment of the entire universe let people understand the essential part a devourer of worlds plays in the grand scheme of things.

But the cosmic is balanced with the human as well, as we get the touching scene of Xxan Xxar and his failing resolve.


10. Deadenders #3, Stealing the Sun
by Ed Brubaker and Warren Pleece

20 years after the cataclysm, 20 years since the light of the sun has been seen on earth. Except in the rich sectors, which have artificial weather including simulated sunlight. Sector 5, however, is under the real sky, the very bleak sky.

And Beezer's friend Jasper is dying; so he decides to steal the sun. His girlfriend writes about the day sun came to Sector 5, how it's one of those days everyone will remember. But in their crowd, they "will remember it as the day when a boy didn't know how to let go of his best friend, so he made all hell break loose instead."

[Chris N]

9. Spectacular Spider-Man #189, the Osborn Legacy
by J.M. Dematteis and Sal Buscema

Sal Buscema is one of the best storytellers in comics, and I consider this issue the single best spotlight of his talents, illustrating Dematteis' climactic chapter in the saga of Harry Osborn, the story of Peter Parker's best friend driven to madness.

The first truly great Spider-Man story I ever read.

8. Sandman #19, A Midsummer Night's Dream
by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess

I struggled hard with which issue of Sandman to choose. My favorite issues involve Hob Gadling or Emperor Norton, the life-affirming characters to balance the somewhat emo lord of dreams.

​But I went with an issue that I felt like acted as a microcosm for those themes of the series as a whole I find I most connect with.

​ "Things need not have happened to be true; stories and dreams are the shadow truths that will live on when mere fact is but dust and ash and forgot."

"He did not understand the price; mortals never do. They see only their dreams, their heart's desires. But the price of getting what you want is getting what you once wanted."

And the idea of change so prominent in the series shows up as well, just as powerfully, if less poetically. When Titania tells Dream he has changed, he rebuffs her: "I do not change."

​

7. Infinity Gauntlet #4, Cosmic Battle at the Edge of the Universe
by Jim Starlin, Ron Lim, and George Perez

An empowered Thanos dispatches with each of Earth's superheroes one by one, until only Captain America is left standing.

"As long as one man stands against you, you'll never be able to claim victory."

"Noble sentiments from one who is about to die."

"I've lived my life by those sentiments. They're well worth dying for."

Probably the comic that truly made me fall in love with comics (and superhero comics in particular)

[Chris N]

6. Ultimate Spider-Man #5, Life Lessons
by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley

The first 5 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man are an expanded retelling of an 11 page story I consider the greatest ever told. Which makes it an odd choice for this list.

But this retelling has a couple things the original missed. One is Ben delivering the speech about power and responsibility. The other is found in this issue, the moment of decision to become a hero. In possibly my favorite page in comics history, master storyteller Mark Bagley gives us Peter on a roof flashing back to the key events: Ben's speech, his letting the crook past, Ben's murder and finally Ben asking him, "Do you understand."

Resolve forms in his face as he clutches his mask and says, "I do now."


5. ​Marvels #0
by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross

Almost any issue of this amazing miniseries was a contender for this list, but it is this promotional prelude that I love the most. This retelling of the origin of the Human Torch adds an emotional weight to the story I felt it previously lacked. But what I really love is the final lines, that interpret the Human Torch's escape as the beginning of a story, a story of Marvels.
​

4. Zot! #28, Autumn
by Scott McCloud

I'm afraid of growing up. I thank graduate school for helping me put it off as long as it did. Now I'm 30, have a career, and am looking seriously into home ownership. Fortunately still single. ​And I've seen too many friends give up dream jobs in order to cope with financial realities.

All my worst fears are summarized in this issue. As Jenny's mom looks at her life, the car and the house and all the goals realized, and understands that something was missed. Something was lost which should never have been. Something she associates with the smell of burning leaves in the yard in autumn.

[Chris N]

3. Avengers annual 7, the Final Threat
by Jim Starlin

I love the strange death of Adam Warlock. From both perspectives. And I love the story of Thanos gaining ultimate power to present Death with a mighty gift only to let it slip through his fingers. Every time it's been told. This was the best.

2. Astro City #1/2, the Nearness of You
by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson

I love Astro City and the shifted perspective on superhero stories we all know well. In Dreams, The Scoop...

This offers not only that great new take on a familiar story, but also manages to remind me hauntingly of my own life. That realization that what you've lost was never real to begin with. I know that with that comes a strong desire to forget. But Michael Tenicek, in a moment of true heroism, chooses to remember. And finds contentment.

1. Spider-Man, from Amazing Fantasy #15
by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Duh.

[Chris N]

The absence of X-Men, Usagi Yojimbo and Swamp Thing (or anything by Alan Moore) from the above saddens and confuses me. But this is what I came to.

The self-imposed rule about one entry per creator per title was all that made the above possible in my mind. My original draft list was way too long and was overfilled with issues of Astro City and Marvels.

[shaxper]

Nice selections! I'm going to have to go back and reread the Infinity Gauntlet after reading about the impact #4 had on you.

[Deason]

I get an error when trying to follow the links at the end of the first post in this thread

i.e.

The First Day of Classic Comics Christmas
The Second Day of Classic Comics Christmas
The Third Day of Classic Comics Christmas
The Fourth Day of Classic Comics Christmas
The Fifth Day of Classic Comics Christmas
The Sixth Day of Classic Comics Christmas
The Seventh Day of Classic Comics Christmas
The Eighth Day of Classic Comics Christmas
The Ninth Day of Classic Comics Christmas
The Tenth Day of Classic Comics Christmas

[Cei-U!]

I get an error when trying to follow the links at the end of the first post in this thread

The threads those linked to were erased a few months ago by the tech guys for valid but boring reasons. None of us here at Classics are thrilled about it but, as an old roommate of time used to say, "it bes what it bes." We miss 'em too.

Cei-U!
I summon the bummer!

[dan bailey]

Yep. Man, if I'd known that was gonna happen, I'd have saved those & burned them to disc or something; I'm sure I'm not the only one. *sigh*

Hard to believe that this'll be the 8th Christmas countdown.

In four years we'll be able to rank them in order of preference, from 1 to 12. Or maybe -- in the spirit of the original installment -- 2 years.

[Cei-U!]

I've been thinking about making "Favorite Comics" next year's theme to mae up for the loss.

Cei-U!
I summon the insider info!