Favorite Comics

FIFTH WORLD'S ALL-TIME LIST OF COMIC-BOOKS

Everything & anything by Grant Morrison.

The undisputed greatest of all time. All works by Morrison are must reads. My personal favorite is Animal Man, but all of the DC work is perfect.

• Doom Patrol + Flex Mentallo
• Aztek: The Ultimate Man
• The short run on The Flash
• JLA
• The entirety of DC One Million
• Seven Soldiers + JLA Classified
• 52
• Batman + Batman & Robin + Batman INC + Arkham Asylum + Gothic
• Final Crisis
• All-Star Superman + Action Comics
• Multiversity
• The Green Lantern
• Superman & The Authority

The few Morrison MARVEL books are some of the best ever published by that company.

• New X-Men
• Marvel Boy
• FF 1234

Morrison's creator owned work is also great. The Invisibles changed my life, The Filth + WE3 + Annihilator + Nameless are all terrific. I'm running out of adjectives. Onto the other recommendations.

Alan Moore is an easy number two on the list. His contributions to the medium are mythology at this point.

• Saga of the Swamp Thing
• Miracleman
• Watchmen
• Captain Britain
• From Hell
• The Superman stories & all other DC Work.

Neil Gaiman's Sandman is brilliant. I am particular to the first four volumes of the series. Preludes & Nocturnes is a masterclass in continuity weaving.

Gaiman also has a very nice short called Green Lantern/Superman: Legend of the Green Flame.

Jack Kirby is the greatest comic book artist of all time. MARVEL is completely indebted to him, they would not be the titan of industry they are without his imagination and talent. Fantastic Four is THE comic book of the Silver Age.

Kirby's work at DC is all-time as well.

• New Gods
• Mister Miracle
• The Forever People
• Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen
• OMAC
• Kamandi
• The Demon

Gardner Fox is another genius of the Silver Age. His run on JLA is packed with iconic stories that I hold near and dear to my heart.

Frank Miller's work with Batman cannot be overstated. The Dark Knight saga (even the controversial ones) is bizarre and enthralling. Miller channels beat poetry with the scale of William Blake.

• The Dark Knight Returns
• Batman: Year One
• The Dark Knight Strikes Again
• The Master Race

Darwyn Cooke's passion for classic DC was unbound. His magnum opus DC: The New Frontier along with his single issue of Solo are amazing.

Another writer/artist that must be mentioned is Tom Scioli. His comic-biography Jack Kirby is beautiful. The work on Fantastic Four: Grand Design + the Super Powers back-up stories are so much fun.

Warren Ellis wrote a very good love-letter to the history of comic books called Planetary. The last quarter of the run is flawed, but it stands with some of the best at its peak.

Jesse Moynihan wrote & drew the greatest web-comic of all time called Forming. You can read it for free on his website.

Now for the dump. Here are my other favorites from both DC & Marvel organized by publication date. I am biased towards DC, which explains the inequality of preference.

DC

• Superman #30 - "The Mysterious Mr. Mxyzptlk"
• Detective Comics #235 - "The First Batman"
• The Flash by Broome & Fox & Infantino
• Green Lantern by Broome & Kane
• Batman #156 - "Robin Dies At Dawn"
• Superman #149 - "The Death of Superman"
• JLA by Len Wein
• JLA: No Man Escapes The Manhunters by Englehart & Dillin
• Action Comics #544 - "Luthor Unleashed"
• Superman #400 - "The Living Legends of Superman"
• Detective Comics #439 - "Night of the Stalker"
• Detective Comics #500 - "To Kill A Legend"
• Crisis on Infinite Earths by Wolfman & Perez
• Batman: Dark Knight, Dark City by Milligan & Dwyer
• World's Funnest by Evan Dorkin, et al
• Hourman by Peyer & Morales
• JLA Obsidian Age + Trial By Fire by Kelly & Mahnke
• Action Comics #775 - "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, & The American Way?"
• JSA by Geoff Johns
• JLA: The Nail + Another Nail by Alan Davis
• Green Arrow: Archer's Quest by Meltzer & Hester
• Identity Crisis by Meltzer & Morales
• Green Lantern: Rebirth by Johns & Van Sciver
• Batman: Under The Red Hood by Winick & Mahnke
• The Countdown & Infinite Crisis saga by Johns & Rucka
• JLA by Meltzer & Benes
• Checkmate by Rucka
• Justice League by Johns
• The DC Rebirth/Doomsday Clock saga by Johns
• Wonder Woman: Rebirth by Rucka
• Deathstroke by Priest
• Doom Patrol by Way & Derington
• Justice League by Priest & Woods
• Dial H For Hero by Humphries & Quinones
• Hawkman by Vendetti
• Batman/Superman by Luen Yang

MARVEL

• Captain Marvel #29 - "The Metamorphosis"
• Fantastic Four by Millar & Hitch
• Old Man Logan by Millar & McNiven
• Fantastic Four by Hickman
• New Avengers by Hickman
• Secret Wars by Hickman & Ribic
• Immortal Hulk by Ewing & Bennet