lukewarmwater

What do you think is the greatest comic book of all time. I'm listing the major ones and a few minors that I sort of have to guess at. Please list your own if its not on the list.

Icon769

Preacher

lukewarmwater

which volume? all of em?

Spiderbite

Amazing Fantasy #15/The Amazing Spider-man (the first 50 issues). I read these when Marvel Tales was reprinting them as a teen-ager in the mid 80's and could always relate to a lot of the problems Peter Parker went thru (as most teens could) and always liked to imagine myself in his shoes. It just seemed more real than any other comic book.

I could read Batman, Superman, Fantastic Four, etc. and others but never could quite relate to them as I could on those early Spider-man stories.

The Bus

A close one between Sandman and Maus.

iconoclasm

hmm, some pretty big omissions here:

dectective comics/batman/legend of the dark knight(batman)
superman/action comics
spawn
amazing spiderman/web of/ spiderman(spiderman)
the x-men
wolverine

i have to admit i would have made a MUCH different list than the ones in the voting column so i just voted "other"

But i have to admit, some comics like sandman series, or legend of the dark knight or spawn, those are darker comics and not for everyone, the people that like that genre, will absolutely love them, but they are not exactly like superman and wonder woman.

lukewarmwater

I think it's a pretty good list. I looked at a bunch of sources for the greatest comic books of all time and those were always in the top ten or twenty. I should have added akira, but ah well there's an other option.

HokieGAK

Cerebus! For the first 150 issues, nothing has ever even come close.

Crocker Jarmen

Those are all highly regarded comic books, yes. But you'd think you could have more than one slot up there for something that isn't a superhero comic.


The work of Robert Crumb - In particular, the lastest issue of Mystic Funnies. Made up of three of the strongest stips Crumb has done in ages.

Love and Rockets

From Hell

Chester Brown's I Never Liked You and The Playboy Stories
Seth's It's A Good Life If You Don't Weaken
Joe Matt's hilarious Peepshow

The Acme Novelty Library

Will Eisner's latter day graphic novels, like A Contract With God

Hate

Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica and the rest of the Riverdale gang.

Eightball for the 'Ghost World' strips and especially 'Ice Haven'

The first 13 issues of The Invisibles. The final story, 'Best Man Falls' still breaks my heart.

Mhepburn20

If this list is looked at as the greatest comic book trades of all time then it is a very good list. And generally it would seem to be what the OP was going for or else he would have just listed titles rather than specific storylines.

movie diva

My favorite is Batman Year One followed by Watchman

Giantrobo

There is no "greatest" and certainly no "Greatest of all time". Only, "A Personal Favorite that happens to be popular with others".

darkside

I wouldn't even know where to start, but Detective Comics has had an amazing run and might get a nod for best ever for that reason.

reverie

I don't think I could pick a favorite.. too many good ones. But, there was one comic that I always really looked forward to picking up every month, so by default I'll have to go with "Preacher".

Kudama

Well played sir! How could you pick a favorite of any comic, song, movie, moment, sensation, physical law of reality, etc. ? Even my favorite animals shift with respect for capability and/or paternal affection.

Sheesh. The last time I even had a favorite color was seventh grade and then I noticed all the other ones.

I will say that I really love most if not all the comics listed in the poll, though.

My personal favorite comics are Marvel Fanfare #'s 1 & 2. They were the second and third comics I ever bought as a collector and Michael Golden has been my main influence as an artist.

fujishig

Any particular story arcs that stand out to you, or are you just nominating them as "best series?" For the life of me, I can't remember runs of spawn or wolverine that I would qualify for best ever, but I'm interested in your opinion. Even Uncanny X-men, I would only truly consider the Claremont/Byrne days as "classic," especially the Dark Phoenix Saga.

For that matter, Byrne's run on Fantastic Four (Trial of Galactus stands out) and Simonson's run on Thor also stand out to me. Wolfman and Perez had a great run on New Teen Titans. Don't know if they're the best ever, but as superhero fare goes they're classics.

As someone already mentioned, Cerebus is also up there, and I would include Bone. Perhap's Frank Miller's Sin City?

bryce0lynch

Miracleman was _very_ good, especially by starting with 'A Dream of Flying.' Miracleman Book3 was/is very good; it turned things around post-Watchmen. Issue #17 in Book 4 absolutly stunned me as no other comic ever had, or has.

The Antipodean

The question is, is the question "greatest comic book" or "greatest comic book STORY"? Big difference there. Judging from the questions, it's STORY, and I have to go with "Watchmen" just because I"m always finding new layers to it.

If it's greatest comic book TITLE as iconoclasm seems to want, no question for me, Amazing Spider-Man is the best comic ever published. Spawn should be nowhere near ANY "greatest" list of anything IMHO.

Superboy

That's a Wizard list of greatest comics. Ignoring independent works (even some that has found mainstream appeal) is typical of them. Blankets was a favorite of mine when it came out.

madara

Never found comic books to be too intelligent for me but when I owned toy comic store in early 90s I do remember reading some spawn, sandman and I really got into catwoman. The long darked haired purple suited one, not that spandex sexual crap they do now.

dugan

For me, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is definitely up there.

fumanstan

I haven't ready a few of those, but out of the ones that I have read I picked the Dark Phoenix Saga. I picked up Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns because of the high praise, and was underwhelmed by both.

hiccup

It would be tough for me to pick just one as the Greatest of all time as it depends on what genre each comics is from. I'd probably place either Maus or Watchmen as number one though if I had to choose. I'm sure that I'm omitting something as at the moment I'm not really coming up with much. I must say that I greatly enjoy Hellboy & BPRD (have read anything and everything related), Y the Last Man, and 100 Bullets. It'd probably be very difficult to call them the very best though.

Sin City is also probably up there as one of the classics IMO.

boredsilly

Whether it's Title, story, or issue I couldn't pick a favorite. I'm a fickle bastard and my preferences change with the wind.

auto

My vote would go to Sandman for its near flawless run.