Roger Stern & Johnny Romita Jr’s Spidey – I have yet to read anything that wasn’t really really good (B+) from Stern. After Stern left Spidey I dropped the book and never picked it up again until JMS shoke him up. Great stuff and I still love JR Jr’s Spidey. He’s got one of the best Spidey looks down cold, esp with Klaus Janson inking. Great pic.

Geoff Johns’ GL – I’m in there with everyone else. Johns is turning GL into one of the best titles in the DCU. In fact, I think this is the best GL has been since Englehart was at the helm. High praise.

Nexus – Baron & Rude. I voted for this. Comics don’t get any better than this. My complete run is one of my very favorites. Real sci-fi done extremely well in comics. Rare to have a really good sci-fi series esp one that has run for what ? 30-35 years. The quality has always been extremely top shelf. Can’t get enough Nexus.

All Star Superman – Couldn’t believe the rush from reading # 1. I was blown away. I knew it was going to be good but…. I immediately reread it the second time slowly savoring the whole thing and soaking the essence through my fingertips. SIlver Age inspired of course but oh the execution was like a symphony orchestra on paper. Can’t remember right off who colored that but they did one heck of a job. Voted for this one too.

Mignola’s Hellboy – Great series and it never ceases to impress but not in my Top 10, though probably in my Top 100.

Apodaca, I feel like you missed my point, or maybe that we just disagree.

Brian’s original posts asking for votes included “Vote for your top 10 top (and by top, I mean your favorites) comic book runs by creators”. That’s why we’re seeing a “favorites” list as opposed to a “best art” list.

I suppose it could be argued that some creators in the comic book medium do NOT create and publish their comic books to entertain. However, those books are in the vast minority, and tend to be short-lived and/or financially unsuccessful.

Were we debating web comics, where the content is generally free to view, I would gladly embrace the idea that a notable amount of the product presented in that particular corner of the medium is art with an intent other than entertainment. However, the discussion here is based on physical comic books, which will be distributed and sold. People must have a reason to purchase a work within this genre, so entertainment is a definite factor.

Granted, that entertainment can be of a multitude of varieties. Aspen Studios still sells enough books that they haven’t gone away; is it because of compelling story and characterization, or is it more likely because Michael Turner and his stable have a visual style that people love? The Boys came back from cancellation at Wildstorm/DC to enjoy a new life at Dynamite. The story is only part of the appeal there; if Garth Ennis told a good story in that title without gerbils in rectums and compulsive masturbators, his sales would undoubtedly be lower than they are now. In that case, shock is a driving force in entertainment. Marvel adopted Powers and put it under their Icon imprint. The artwork is just fine, but I’m willing to believe most people discovered it because of Brian Michael Bendis’ entertaining story.

At the end of the day, something about the product needs to convince the customer to pay $3 or more for the product, and I don’t see a lot of comic book readers plugging their favorite “artistic” product without citing why they are ENTERTAINED by it.

I see where your point-of-view is coming from in a larger sense, but I don’t think it applies to the topic at hand. It’s good in theory, but not applicable in practice.

As for a more diverse medium, I completely agree, and never stated anything to the contrary. However, I feel that some people think they are acting in the interests of that more diverse medium but in fact are closing doors and purposefully excluding the majority to do so.

Hellboy’s a weird one for me. The art is some of the best ever, and I like the basic set-up of the story, but the writing does nothing for me. It just doesn’t flow right.

Nexus is something I really, really, really, really, really need to read. I recently lost an auction on ebay for a full run of it. I may just break down and buy the hardcovers. We’ll see.

Here’s a thought: If y’all a more thorough write-up, submit one.

Eh, I don’t mind the dudes who just commented “I don’t like the capsules.” That was fair enough. It was capsules or no list, and I thought capsules was the better choice, but it’s totally fair to be “I don’t like them,” especially because, who WOULD prefer them to full paragraphs? So that’s okay.

Just avoid being petulant, and I’m cool with the complaining.

Or anyone for that matter.

–Bulletpoint style of writing

–Allows for limited expression

–Not that much quicker

–To Type

As we move further toward the top runs, we should see more and better description and analysis not less, but it seems that’ s what we’re getting.

Stern has had wonderful runs on Spider-Man, Captain America, The Avengers, Dr. Strange, Superman, The Legion of Super-Heroes and probably others I’m forgetting right now. Most writers would be lucky with just one classic run. Stern has a least a half-dozen. Oh, yeah, and he edited some of Claremont & Byrne’s best X-Men stories, too.

Stern’s work may not always be earthshaking, but it’s fun escapism, and isn’t that a large part of what mainstream comics are for? For my money, I’d rather read a Roger Stern story like Avengers #1 1/2, Dr. Strange/Dr. Doom Triumph & Torment, or Superman vs. The Incredible Hulk than anything something like The Authority any day of the week.

I figured alot of people would have issues with it being this high up, especially considering it’s so new. And I wrestled with putting it on my list or not. That being said, I wasn’t reading comics when Roger Stern was writing Spider-Man, and although I now will be getting back issues or tpbs of these runs, I admit I’m selfish and really only considered runs that I read from my childhood to present, and didn’t really consider the predecessors that were the foundations of the books I loved.

That was about 30 years ago though, and today Vonnegut’s one of the most honored American writers of his century.

Certainly, “genre” work does have its challenges in gaining acceptance, but it does break through sometimes. In terms of superhero novels, Soon I Will Be Invincible was well-received, and then you’ve got the Adventures of Kavalier & Clay…

On another topic, to me there is definitely a distinction, in any medium, between works I consider my “favorites” and works I’d consider “great.” I’m compiling my “favorite” songs of all-time and they include Weird Al Yankovic’s “Dare To Be Stupid,” Chris Deburg’s “Lady in Red,” Wham!’s “Careless Whisper,” because those songs have special memories to me. They’re not in the same league as “Nightswimming” or “Hallelujah,” and I’d never claim they were… at the same time, they’re still proudly on my list.

And I think Claremont made my top ten in this list, even though these days I’d have to take nearly all those classic stories with a grain of salt.

I assumed American critics and literates were a lot more inimical to fiction containing fantastical elements, but I got the idea mostly from reading accounts by science-fiction or fantasy writers and fans that spoke of how the establishment sometimes viewed them with prejudice in the years before the 1960s. I didn’t read much about how things are in more recent years. That, and also considering how critics of some other media (like cinema) can look down on works that feature fantastic elements, action scenes (like Sin City does), etc. I jumped to wrong assumptions.

While I read a fair amount of American fiction, and I also read interviews by my favorite writers, I usually don’t read critical reviews, and I’ve never set foot inside an American school of any kind, so my view is that of an outsider, and lots of it was suposition. But I’m glad to know that readability isn’t considered a flaw, and that fantastic elements aren’t shunned. I wish things were like that here too. But except for Magic Realism, South America never did have a strong science fiction/fantasy literature. It’s a bit like, because we live in a poor country with a lot of social inequality, “serious” fiction must never have any element that could be seen as escapist.