Comic Book Fans: What do you think are the greatest single issues?
 

Wizard is doing a list next issue, but wizard's lists are usually crap, so I figured the list made here would be better.

My obvious picks:

The Killing Joke
Whatever Happened To the Man of tommarrow
Hellboy The Corpse

The Killing Joke was an OGN and not considered a "single issue" of an ongoing series.

WHTTMOT was a multi-part storyline.

I would say my favorite single issue was probably Green Lantern #100. It made the fanboy inside me giggle.

Its a mini but for me, being a DC fan, its Identity Crisis #2. In a late silver age/early modern age setting, Sue being raped in the satellite, the mind wipes of the villains, and formation of the shadow league was powerful stuff.

X-Men 137 (Death of Phoenix)
Bone 10 (Great Cow Race)
Daredevil 181 (Death of Elektra)
Dark Knight Returns 1 (I know it was a mini-series but c'mon, what a great first issue!)
Avengers Annual 10
Batman Special 1

Tossing out a couple that come to mind:

FF #48 "The Coming of Galactus" (though the story runs through 49-50)
Spider-Man #50 "Spider-Man No More"

Amazing Spider-Man #258 (I think), the story "The Kid Who Collected Spider-Man." Spider-Man sees an article in the Daily Bugle about a young boy that's his "biggest fan," and pays him a late-night visit.

I don't remember the issue number, but it was either Superman or Superman: The Man of Steel, and shortly before the Death of Superman story began. "Metropolis Mailbag," where Superman and Lois spend Christmas Eve reading the fan mail that's been piling up all year. Superman tries to help as many people as he can, but he also has to explain to a young fan that being Superman doesn't mean he can do everything... like save the boy's father from a terminal disease.

Although this one was a 2-parter, either story stands out well on its own. Around the same time as the "Metropolis Mailbag" story, there was a 2-parter in the Superman titles called "Powerless." Clark learned that super powers can't stop everything... like the man next door that beats his wife every night.

Good one, I forgot about that one. Amazing SM #121 is good too (death of Gwen Stacy)

Damn, you beat me to it. This was a GREAT story!

That WAS a great story. Even the animated version was great. Ending had me teary-eyed.

I would say another favorite issue of mine would be Miracleman #15. The story is very old and before comics took their "dark" turn, but this issue was exponentially more disturbing than anything i've read since. Seriously, Alan Moore scares me sometimes.

I always like the issue of X-Men where Magneto tore the adamantium from Wolverine purely because I always wondered why he waited so long to it.

So many to choose from. Some personal favorites of mine:

• Avengers Annual #11 -- The Avengers vs. the Defenders. This comic is so awesome
• The issue of John Byrne's Fantastic Four where a pre-cosmic ray Reed Richards figures out how to stop Gormuu, in an homage to the Marvel Monster books of the late 50s and early 60s. This led into another awesome issue where the FF fought futuristic cowboy and valkyries on robotic horses, but the Gormuu issue is standalone.
• The Walt Simonson Thor where Skurge holds the Bridge at Gjallerbru. Or the Walt Simonson Thor where the last viking summons Thor. Or any issue of Walt Simonson's Thor.
• Just about any done-in-one issue of Astro City. I think my favorite is the one about the reporter who sees the Honor Guard battling the shark men.
• The Sandman story about Emperor Norton.
• Moore's Anatomy Lesson. Or his "For the Man Who Has Everything."
• The Marvel Team-Up where Spidey and the Human Torch fight the Sandman, but let him visit with his mother before they haul him back to jail.

I'll probably think of more later, but those are some good ones to start.

Some other good ones:

All the great standalone issues of Planetary that honor anyone and everything.

Was only a comic book collector for about 6 months years ago but I always like the early issue of Spiderman where Beast and Spiderman discuss the chance of Spidey's kid being a mutant and what mutants face.

That's the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this thread. It's a shame that more people can't read these stories because of all the legal issues surrounding Miracleman. (But what do I care? I've got it all in single issues or trades, so I can use them to make my friends jealous.)

And let's not forget Miracleman #14, which has my absolute favorite comic moment of all time.

They'd say I was getting soft, wouldn't they?

And since I'm talking about Alan Moore, another contender is "For The Man Who Has Everything".

The stand-alones issues of Planetary, as well as Spider-Man #50 are excellent choices.

Also:

Animal Man #5 - "The Coyote Gospel"
Transmetropolitan #7 - "Another Cold Morning"
Sandman Special #1 - "The Song Of Orpheus"

Byrne's FF 236 was good too

FF #48 is the single greatest comic book ever produced.

Avengers #4 anyone?

Animal Man #17 is a good one too. The standalone narrated by a dolphin. Good shit.

Yes!

That's the first issue of Marvel Team-up.

I believe that is Spider-Man #15 done by Erik Larson.


I'll throw in Y the last man #1. That still gets me everytime I read it. And Aquaman #4 by Peter David.

The actual issue number is 248, for anyone looking for it.

X-Factor #87. Perfect example of great writing and art enhancing each other.

Infinity Gauntlet #4
X-Men 137 (Death of Phoenix)
Superman 75 Vol. 2 (Death of Superman)
Amazing Spider-Man #121
Crisis on Infinte Earth 8

A couple of my favorites...

Batman Annual 11

The Thing Vol. 1 #3 - The issue in which Lockjaw tells Ben "never had anything to say, Ben"

Walking Dead #1

JLA Classified #9 - One of the few comics that made me sad

I really need to get my hands on this series. Dan Slott is about the only bright spot on the Marvel slate these days.