Comic Book Resources

Sandman is a worthy #1.

But I’m very proud of my X-men having such a strong showing, too.

Good, fun survey, Brian, thank you.

I was almost ready to go to bed when I saw this had popped up. I’ll just say that I was actually a bit surprised at myself when I found I wasn’t voting for the Claremont/Byrne X-Men in my Top 10 Favorites. But that run didn’t quite make the cut when I asked myself how often I had actually gone back and reread that stuff in the last several years. (I have read at least 3 TPBs of Gaiman’s Sandman, I believe, but it has not inspired in me a feverish desire to actually collect the full run. Most of what I’ve read, I borrowed from libraries.)

As I’ve promised before, I intend to post a copy of my own ballot, along with additional explanatory text for the 5 items on it which didn’t score anywhere in the Top 100, but I don’t have that text prepared yet, so I’ll have to come back with it later. Expect to hear from me again in a couple of days, still in this thread!

You forgot the introduction of Dazzler. For shame, sir, for shame!

Yay! Sandman!

Dazzler wasn’t a Byrne/Claremont creation, so it seemed wrong mentioning her.

Yeah, I was just heading to bed too. My thoughts tomorrow.

Thanks again, Brian.

Re: X-men

Can’t resist pointing out that all Claremont’s runs made this list with two notable exceptions:

1) Runs with Cockrum, who co-created the franchise as we know it today (and who would be my #2 pick after Byrne)

and

2) Jim Lee. I find this kind of funny when you consider that Lee was the hottest, best-paid megastar artist at the time, to the extent (if I recall correctly) that Marvel valued keeping him on the book more than they valued Claremont, ultimately leading to Claremont finally leaving the book he’d built up over the last decade while Lee stayed on board (but not for much longer).

Guess it just seems funny that the most hyped run didn’t stand the test of time (at least for this blog’s readers). Although I don’t recall there being much memorable story to it, so I guess it’s only fitting.

Shame Cockrum didn’t get more love, though, as I think he earned it (even just for the Xavier’s Dream saga alone. Still a favorite arc for me).

Well, so long as Claremont and Byrne didn’t win…

What? Me? Evil? Pshaw.

Yeah, but Dazzler first appeared in these pages, so even though they didn’t create her, they gave her LIFE!!!! Just like Victor von Frankenstein!!!!!

The Jim Lee run was fairly disjointed, and he wasn’t on the book all that long, so I wonder if people didn’t consider it. Those were some damned good issues, though.

Brilliant. The #1 spot couldn’t have gone to a more deserving candidate.

Thanks for doing this! It’s been a really great feature and the “100 Greatest Comic Book Runs” Master List is actually like an all-time “must read” list. It’s really staggering how much great work has come out of comics… this list proves it.

Kudos!

Not surprised. But still, glad to see X-men, with these creators, making it so high in the run.

Damnation!

I was so close with my prediction, but the right run won. I love the Claremont/ Byrne X-men, but Sandman is the highest echelon a monthly comic book can ever achieve.

The Jim Lee run was fairly disjointed, and he wasn’t on the book all that long, so I wonder if people didn’t consider it. Those were some damned good issues, though.

Wait.. What!?

I just want to say that I really enjoyed this list. I know there was some argument in a few of the other threads about the purpose of this list (and about lists like this in general), but I want to say that for those of us who haven’t had a chance to read all of these comics a list like this is very helpful.

Sure, I’ve read Sandman, I’ve read Preacher, I’ve read Frank Miller’s Daredevil, I’ve read bits of pieces of all the important X-men and Spidey runs, etc…you know, “the basics”. But, even though I’d heard about almost everything on this list, I never got around to reading Starman, or finishing up Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, or Geoff John’s JSA, or Warlock, or Alias, or Nexus, or…well, a lot of things on this list.

But, now I will. So, thank you.

This list helped point me in the direction of some really great comics. So, thank you Brian, and to everyone else who posted in the comments about other runs that didn’t make the list. I now have lots on my read pile, and that’s a great result for a project like this. Thanx so much!

Every step of this countodwn had me more and more worried that Sandman would make the top spot, but I have to count myself amongst the few who just don’t get it.
Not saying it’s bad, just that I’m not one of the weird kids at school who thought it was the be-all and end-all of graphic novels :).

I’m pretty satisfied too. #1 is one of the best comic books of all time. #2 is one of the best straightforward superhero comics of all time. Very deserving.

And I’d like to point out that I guessed correctly the #1 and #2 in the Top 100 runs contest. But I switched #3 and #4, and missed #5 completely.

It’s also cool (I suppose) that 9 of my 10 pics appeared in the list. More comments tomorrow.

I also guessed 4 out of 5 entries in the contest, but not in the right order (except for DD at #4).

Oh yeah, and the one I didn’t guess was Sandman.

So, yeah, I’m a blockhead.

I agree with Joe. I’m a huge nerd, but I don’t have the time or money to read everything great that’s out there. This list is an introduction to some comics that are new to me, a reminder to pick up some classics that I have been angling for but didn’t get around to reading, and a celebration of stuff I’ve loved for years now.

Plus, it’s actually quite GOOD. Very, very nicely done.

Thanks for putting the list together, Brian.

Personally, I’m most surprised that Sin City didn’t make the list. You can debate its merits but after the movie you’d think it would be more popular than Master of Kung Fu. I figure people used their Miller vote for Daredevil and then decided to spread things out with other creators.

I should add my thanks to Brian for starting this off, and also cursing him, since I will end up spending massive amounts of cash on stuff I would otherwise have never bothered with. (I’d never even heard of Concrete, let alone known where to go about getting hold of a collection of the run).

I hope all the people who’ve commented that they didn’t vote will get their arses in gear for the next one!

Yes, MarkAndrew. The three-part Psylocke story was excellent, and the Captain America flashback was cool, and the issues in space were pretty neat, and Rogue in Antarctica was fantastic. When he switched to X-Men, the stories weren’t as good, but before that, they were really good.

I find it interesting that Starman had more 1st place votes than any book except Sandman (best I can tell). As a huge fan of Starman I can’t say I’m surprised that people who read it tend to love it. I would love to see the top 100 by the 1st place votes.

YAY! Thanks, Brian! You always come up with fun stuff to do on the blog.

I think I’ve read exactly one issue of the Claremont/Byrne run and that was Classic X-men #8 that I picked up at a convenience store. And I should really get Sandman out of the library because my memory is so fuzzy that about all I can remember is telephone ice cream and that I liked the serial killers’ convention issue. Da Fug has no geek cred

Before going to bed, a final tally. Comments later.

We have 102 runs (and 29877 pts)

- 38 runs are set in the Marvel Universe (11862 pts)
- 11 runs are X-Titles (3305 pts)
- 2 runs are Ultimate titles (679 pts)
- 40 runs if you get Marvel plus Ultimate Universe (12541 pts)

- 26 runs are set in the DC Universe (9457 pts)
- 3 runs are Bat-Titles (452 pts)
- 10 are Vertigo comics (4424 pts)
- 30 runs if you get DC plus Vertigo sub-universe plus Plastic Man retcon (9677 pts)

- 5 runs are set in the Wildstorm Universe (994 pts)
- 5 runs have female protagonists (960 pts)

- 84 are superheroes or close enough (23951 pts)
- 18 are non-superhero (5926 pts)

Sorted by decade the first issue in the run was published, we have:

- 1980s (32 runs - 9805 pts)
- 1990s (26 runs - 7181 pts)
- 2000s (25 runs - 6297 pts)
- 1970s (11 runs - 3740 pts)
- 1960s (6 runs – 2555 pts)
- 1940s (2 runs - 299 pts)

Sorted by associated creator:

- Grant Morrison (6 runs - 2754 pts)
- Stan Lee (5 runs - 2446 pts)
- Alan Moore (6 runs - 1851 pts)
- Chris Claremont (6 runs - 1820 pts)
- John Byrne (3 runs - 1809 pts)
- Garth Ennis (4 runs - 1579 pts)
- Jack Kirby (3 runs - 1322 pts)
- Neil Gaiman (1318 pts)
- Warren Ellis (5 runs - 1285 pts)
- Keith Giffen (3 runs - 1278 pts)
- Frank Miller (2 runs - 1199 pts)
- Brian Michael Bendis (4 runs - 1079 pts)
- Steve Ditko (2 runs - 1034 pts)
- James Robinson (921 pts)
- Brian K. Vaughan (2 runs - 854 pts)
- J. M. de Matteis (742 pts)
- Ed Brubaker (3 runs - 739 pts)
- John Cassaday (2 runs - 722 pts)
- Marv Wolfman (643 pts)
- George Perez (643 pts)
- Peter David (2 runs - 624 pts)
- Howard Porter (574 pts)
- Pia Guerra (547 pts)
- Kurt Busiek (2 runs - 541 pts)
- John Ostrander (2 runs - 541 pts)
- Geoff Johns (3 runs - 534 pts)
- Walt Simonson (514 pts)
- Alex Maleev (480 pts)
- Bryan Hitch (2 runs - 474 pts)
- Bill Willimgham (428 pts)
- Darick Robertson (418 pts)
- Mark Waid (2 runs - 378 pts)
- Dave Sim (370 pts)
- Gerhard (370 pts)
- Mark Bagley (364 pts)
- Roger Stern (2 runs - 334 pts)
- Paul Levitz (328 pts)
- Brent Anderson (323 pts)
- Jeff Smith (321 pts)
- Mark Millar (315 pts)
- Adrian Alphona (307 pts)
- John Romita Jr. (2 runs - 276 pts)
- John Romita (270 pts)
- Denny O’Neil (2 runs - 261 pts)
- Peter Milligan (2 runs - 255 pts)
- Brothers Hernandez (236 pts)
- John McCrea (232 pts)
- Joss Whedon (229 pts)
- Steve Gerber (218 pts)
- David Mazzucchelli (211 pts)
- Tom and Mary Bierbaum (208 pts)
- Tom Mandrake (205 pts)
- Will Eisner (204 pts)
- Joe Kelly (202 pts)
- Steve Englehart (184 pts)
- Mike Mignola (179 pts)
- Frank Quitely (176 pts)
- Mike Baron (174 pts)
- Steve Rude (174 pts)
- Neal Adams (162 pts)
- David Michelinie (152 pts)
- Bob Layton (152 pts)
- Mike Wieringo (150 pts)
- Brian Azzarello (150 pts)
- Eduardo Risso (150 pts)
- Kevin O’Neill (148 pts)
- Alan Grant (146 pts)
- Norm Breyfogle (146 pts)
- Michael Avon Oeming (134 pts)
- Paul Smith (133 pts)
- Marc Silvestri (133 pts)
- Christopher Priest (130 pts)
- Greg Rucka (122 pts)
- Alan Davis (122 pts)
- Paul Chadwick (120 pts)
- Joe Casey (117 pts)
- Robert Kirkman (115 pts)
- Mike Carey (114 pts)
- Peter Gross (114 pts)
- Ryan Kelly (114 pts)
- Mike Allred (113 pts)
- Sean Phillips (113 pts)
- Sergio Aragonés (110 pts)
- Mark Evanier (110 pts)
- Roy Thomas (109 pts)
- Jim Starlin (109 pts)
- Mark Gruenwald (107 pts)
- Mike Grell (104 pts)
- Stuart Immonen (103 pts)
- Michael Gaydos (101 pts)
- Kazuo Koike (100 pts)
- Goseki Kojima (100 pts)
- Denys Cowan (99 pts)
- Matt Wagner (98 pts)
- Stan Sakai (98 pts)
- Terry Moore (96 pts)
- Chris Ware (95 pts)
- Doug Moench (95 pts)
- Jack Cole (95 pts)

- 84 are superheroes or close enough (23951 pts)
- 48 are traditional superheroes (15419 pts)
- 36 are non-traditional superheroes (8522 pts)
- 12 are nonpowered superheroes (2182 pts)
- 8 are comedic superheroes (1749 pts)
- 35 are team books (11065 pts)
- 18 are non-superhero (5926 pts)

Thanks for the list!

Byrne’s X-Men was on my list until the very end, when I re-arranged things and it ended up at number 11. Looks like it didn’t need my vote. It’s really, really great.

Every couple of years I give into the pressure and try again to read Sandman but I don’t think I’ve ever made it past issue ten. Too goth-y, too sentimental and too derivative of Moore’s Swamp Thing for my taste.

Should we post our lists? Maybe Brian could start a “what did you vote for?” thread.

This was more fun than forty cakes!

Hey! I used to wince every time I read it, but only now, after the very last entry, do I like all of the top five vote-getters on Rene’s “top creators” list. A happy ending!

THanks so much for putting this list together. It’s been fun.
Too bad about Young Justice and Birds of Prey, though.

I do like that a Cockrum cover kicks off the Claremont/Byrne entry.

Burgas - OK. I don’t think I’ve read any of the Pre X-men run.

Those… were not good, though.

So are we all going to share our top tens now?

Just in case, let me. I’ve already said what most of them were.

1. Kirby/Lee FF - and the Kirby name needs to go first. Lee’s dialogue was very effective, but ANY decent writer could have spun gold with those panels - I wish I could have a go at them. Whereas, as many have pointed out, Stan Lee really didn’t create or plot much of real significance without Kirby or Ditko (although the “New Avengers” with Don Heck was truly great).
Especially issues #35-65, with my very favorites #44 and 45, the intro of the Inhumans.Oh and 55 where Ben fought the Surfer. And, yeah, 48, 49, 50 51.
2. Kirby/Lee Thor and JIM - soooooo underrated, apparently. Especially #120-136 or so.
3. Sandman - I loved it from the first issue and followed it all the way breathlessly. I’ve read most of it over and over since. This winter I read it issue by issue to my wife when we’d go to bed each night. She especially liked the Calliope issue. It had so many highlights, (”Ramadan” breaks my heart a little more every time I read it) but I’d rank the Kindly Ones as my favorite. And 24 Hours. And Midsummer Night’s Dream. The whole of Brief Lives. Shit, all of it, I give up, make it number one and I’ll nod.
4. Kirby’s Fourth World - if it just had been allowed to continue for another year or two it probably would have ranked even higher. My vision of Heaven includes each lucky, righteous person coming through the Gate and getting their own free copy of the complete graphic novel, all 1111 pages, on oversize paper, with inks by Royer, Sinnott and Wally Wood. (Then Harpo Mark comes out with angel wings and runs around, somehow slipping his knee onto your hand while he honks his hidden horn, but that’s another story)
Some of my favorite moments ever in comics, especially “The Glory Boat”, “The Pact” and “Himon.”
5. Shooter and Swan’s Legion - deeply sentimental favorite for me, the comic that made me love comics as a little guy so verrrry long ago. It’s so terribly dated but so wonderfully nostalgic. I even love the ads. And part of me will carry a torch for Phantom Girl forever.
6. Ditko/Lee / Lee/Ditko’s Spider-Man - not sure whose name to put first there. So very brilliant, regardless.
7. Claremeont/Byrne’s X-Men - There was nothing else like this run, from when I was about seventeen to twenty. As a young Canadian, my favorites definitely included the intro of Alpha Flight (I think the first time I ever heard Vancouver mentioned in a comic, other than maybe in Captain Canuck). I was adolescently resentful but also thrilled that the story took place in Calgary. But really for me the greatest highlight of the run came early, issues #111, 112 and 113, with Mesmero and my favorite Magneto story ever. It set a bar that some subsequent X-Men issues matched but no, I think, surpassed.
8. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - in hindsight this is the vote that I think I’d lower a bit, but I enjoyed it so much, especially the War of the Worlds / Doctor Moreau issues. Along with LSH, I learned to first love reading from HG Wells, and no comic has ever adapted him so effectively and with such affection.
9. Moore’s Swamp Thing - and I call it that with a humble bow before the glory of Bissette and Totlebon.
Especially the Gotham City issues.
10. Thomas’s Avengers - along with old FF and then Thor, these were the back issues I hunted for most deliriously when I was fifteen and Vancouver got its first Comicshop. If you ever read this run in sequence you’ll see how it just gets better and better with John Buscema, and then Neal Adams comes in for the Kree/Skrull war and raises the bar another three notches, and then Barry Smith finishes it with a stunning three-parter, #98 - 100, my favorite Avengers issues of all.
My honorable mentions would go to Morrison’s Doom Patrol and Animal Man (both so good that I can’t believe they didn’t make my top ten), Moench’s Master of Kung Fu (I cherish my Gulacy-autographed “Cat”), Gerber’s Man-Thing (which helped make surviving adolescence possible), Kirby/Lee’s Captain America, and Shelton’s Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

Hey Brian Cronin, I sincerely thank you for all you’ve done. I check your site with most morning coffees and with each ginger tea or whiskey at night. Thanks for adding a little extra quality to my ife, you’re truly part of what’s so cool about the internet.

Hey, great call, buttler, that’s really funny. Brian I take it back , you need to work harder.

That’s the first issue of Byrne’s run, right?

Oh crap I just dug it out to check and you’re right.
Never mind.
Um, keep up the good work, Bri.

Eh, it’s hardly the first time we’ve had a different cover artist for something like this. It’s just a moment of cognitive dissonance, that’s all.

I just want to make sure everyone’s aware of another great run that didn’t make the list:

Ty Templeton, Dan Slott, and Rick Burchett’s Batman Adventures. It only lasted 17 issues, but it was really great. It was based on the DC Animated Universe even though Batman no longer had his own show at this point. Any Batman fan should definitely check it out.

The Chris Claremont/ John Byrne X-Men run I’ve simply never read. (Allergic to X-men, and not that keen on large teams. But given this showing may try a few trades sometime.)

I predicted Sandman winning. My reasoning was based on two main factors. First I’ve seen it win similar polls before. Second it is decidedly unusual, if you like it there is nothing else to “steal” the vote. (To give an example of what I mean. A Young Justice fan probably will like some Teen Titans runs, Runaways, Young Avengers, etc. When deciding final 10…. very doubtful if all the teen team runs will make the cut. Sandman… in my opinion… does not have any similar series of the same quality to provide “fraternal competition”)

Personal view on Sandman?? Undoubtedly a class series, don’t think it would have quite made my top 10. For me, my enjoyment of it varied hugely. I really, really enjoyed those issues that told short punchy self contained stories. But a lot of the very long sweeping story arcs left me baffled and bored. And ultimate problem? Didn’t strongly empathize with any of the characters…. now in Hitman…

Oh stop grouching… a darn good series won.

One small nitpick in the X-Men write-up, Issue #110 didn’t feature Cockrum but instead was drawn by Tony DeZuniga. It was a one-off Mesmero story that left Claremont and Byrne able to start with a brand-new story/beginning in issue #111.

Not to nitpick myself, but that story featured a guy called Warhawk, I believe, who was installing bugs at the mansion. You didn’t find out until much later (during the Dark Phoenix saga) that the Hellfire Club had sent him for that purpose. The Mesmero story itself didn’t start till #111.

Damn, I am a fanboy.

Rene, I think you’ve undercounted DC. By my reckoning, we’ve got 40 Marvel runs and 36 DC runs.

This has probably been my favourite feature ever on CSBG Brian - so thanks for putting it together.
Particularly grateful for the issue numbers so I can actually track down some of the runs I’ve missed and try them out. (very much enjoying Garth Ennis’s Hellblazer at the moment)

hey! why rob liefeld didnt make it? he deserved #1!!!!!

(just kiddin. dont kill me)

I said this in another thread, but I just love this…

Claremont’s X-Men is what brought e to comics in the first place, when I was a kid. It wasn’t the first thing I read but it was the first thing that hooked me. I dug into the back issues and explored all the character histories, felt like I knew the team personally, knew the first appearance of every X-Man from Cyclops to Gambit. I’d stay up all night plotting fan fiction, and drawing the characters, and my love for the superhero genre, and for comics as a whole, blossomed out of that first love.

And then I went to high school out of state, and there was no comic shop nearby and I didn’t have much money and I stopped reading comics. And in college, a friend leant me the first Sandman trade. Needless to say, that’s what brought me back. I was’t so interested anymore in first appearances or secret identities, and I didn’t fantasize about having superpowers myself quite so often. I was into high concepts, stories about stories, the fundamental elements of existence and how they interact with each other, and the greatest mysteries of life.

And then eventually I came to love superhero comics again too, when I discovered Moore and Morrison and Robinson, rediscovered DeMatteis and Priest/Owlsey and so on, and embraced comics as a medium to the point where I was spending like 40 horus a week writing an e-mail newsletter about comics as literature and mythology (this was a decade ago and it was called Voice & Vision, just in case anyone should happen to remember it). These days I don’t spend so much time on comics but I go to the shop every week, and I read these boards, and comics are still a big love for me. And it feels really special that my childhood gateway, and my re-introduction to comics as an adult, are number 1 and 2 on the list!

(I didn’t actually vote for Clarmeont/Byrne, because I’ve discovered so many brilliant comics since that I just couldn’t squeeze it on… although Claremont’s 16-year-long run as a whole probably would have made the cut)

This has been loads of fun Brian. Thanks!

Neither of these made my list, but I can’t say I’m surprised or disapointed at where they placed. I like both, I just like a lot of other stuff more. The issue of Sandman with everyone trapped in the diner (I forget which number it was, I think in the teens) is probably the best single comic issue I’ve ever read, and one of the greatest horror stories in any medium I’ve ever experienced. Sheer brilliance.

I re-read my Claremont/Byrne X-Men not so long ago and I was surprised at how well they stood up. So let me add some more points to Mister Midnight’s original 12 reasons as to why this run is so beloved by its fans: -

13) Every member had at least two definable characteristics. Okay, not such a big deal now, but in 1977, that was huge. Before the X-Men, teams were made up of three to five square-jawed, noble heroes, one woman and a hot-headed joker. Claremont and Byrne changed that forever.

14) The team was international, but the characters weren’t national stereo-types: The German had a sense of humour, the Russian never mentioned Communism, the Canadian wasn’t boring, the Irishman…okay, Banshee was a bit of a stereo-type but still a vast improvement on the Leprechaun-loving fellow of the earlier issues.

15) They were a family – they may have squabbled, but you knew that they loved each other and backed each other up to the hilt. Take the cameos by the Beast. He was at this stage a regular member of the Avengers, but Claremont and Byrne made it perfectly clear that they were just his co-workers, while the X-Men were blood.

16) They were terrible superheroes. A major theme of the series was that the X-Men were still learning to work as a team, they often got it wrong. They got captured by Arcade, Mesmero and Warhawk for god’s sake. Frog Man wouldn’t get captured by that shower. This gave the series tension, when they faced the really big-hitters like Magneto or the Hellfire Club, you really didn’t think they had it in them to win through.

17) It all happened in a self-contained universe. There were no crossovers with other heroes (except Power Man and Iron Fist), they only fought villains from their or Chris Claremont’s past. I think this helped in giving the reader the sense that they somehow part of a secret club. Certainly, the X-Men’s decline can be linked to their later over-exposure.

18) They were misunderstood, unlucky and never got an even break. Amazing, how few writers realise how important it is for the heroes to be underdogs.

19) It was sexy. Okay, maybe this one was just me, but the whole seduction of Jean Grey away from the vanilla Scott Summers by the kinky Hellfire Club, stirred something in my prepubescent heart.

I’ve got nothing against the Sandman - it’s a fine comic, but if Dikto’s Spiderman couldn’t make number one, then it really should have been the X-Men. It is the most influential comic series of the last thirty years, in fact, I’d go further and say that every superhero comic written since 1980 has its roots in this run.

When the war started, and there were pictures of Baghdad in rubble and reports of the museum being looted and no one could get an accurate count of civilian casualties, I pulled out issue #50, ‘Ramadan’, and read it again. And I felt a little bit better.

“19) It was sexy. Okay, maybe this one was just me, but the whole seduction of Jean Grey away from the vanilla Scott Summers by the kinky Hellfire Club, stirred something in my prepubescent heart.”

I liked how Morrison flipped that around a bit during his run, making it the whole seduction of Scott Summers away from the vanilla Jean Grey by the kinky Emma Frost.

Haha. The whiny, kitsch flavored poetry Goth fest that is known as Sandman!

It’s official this blog’s readers don’t got no taste!

“Haha. The whiny, kitsch flavored poetry Goth fest that is known as Sandman!

It’s official this blog’s readers don’t got no taste!”

I suppose the people who give out the Eisners also have no taste, as well as the people ho give out the Hugos, the people who give out the Bram Stoker awards, or the people who give out the world fantasy award.

Asshole.

If you don’t like the run, say so. But don’t make an ignorant comment like that.

I’d like to add that I certainly don’t think awards (or polls for that matter) are the last word in quality, but the Eisners are usually pretty reliable, and wombat pissed me off.

Back on topic: Thanks aheap for this poll Mr Cronin. It’s been good fun and, for the most part, I can’t argue with the results. Sandman is definitely a deserving number one, though it was only three on my list.

Eight of my 10 made it, with seven in the top 10 (guess I’m one of the masses).

The two ofmine that didn’t make it were:

9. Robinson/Casey/Ladrönn/Cable (I think it counts as one run, as they worked together and the run flowed seamlessly. Both had the same artist anyway, so call it Ladrönn’s run if you like.)
10. David/X-Factor (Current series)

I’m not surpeised my number nine didn’t make it, but I can’t believe PAD’s first X-Factor run beat the current X-Factor. Oh well.

Stuff that maybe should have been on the list:
Lapham – Stray Bullets
Larsen – Savage Dragon
Straczynski – Rising Stars
Straczynski and Romita Jr – Amazing Spidey
Lee and Buscema – Silver Surfer
PAD – Aquaman
Jones/Romita Jr – Hulk
Vaughn/Harris - Ex Machina
Priest/Bright - Quantum & Woody
Kieth - The Maxx
Miller - Sin City
Slott - She-Hulk

Sorry there are a couple of typos above.

I’m also surprised that there’s no Buffy. I’ve never read it myself, but I thought the Whedonites would be out in full force. (Maybe they decided it was better to vote for Astonishing X-Men?)

This poll inspired me to pick up all three trades of Morrison’s Animal Man on Ebay. Can’t wait to get started.
I’ve also realised I really need to read SwampThing and Starman.
I’ve also realised I really really need to read Ennis’s Hellblazer and more of Hitman, because Ennis is my number one.

I hope this poll has reminded us that the 90s wasn’t all Liefeld and crap.

For the next poll, I think the villains idea and the film adaptations idea are both pretty good.

I know I’ve been saying I’d rather have a limited series poll than a storylines poll. I subsequently thought that, since ’storylines’ is so broad, I’ll really get the best of the best recommended if we have a storylines poll. On the other hand, there is bound to be some overlap with this poll if we do storylines rather than limited series. For instance, what are the chances that the Dark Phoenix Saga, Season of Mists or the Judas Contract make the top storylines? So I’m sticking to my guns and advocating a limited series poll.

Only one of my Top 10* didn’t make the list, and that was THE DESERT PEACH by Donna Barr, a long-running piece of historical fiction starring Pfirsig Rommel, the gay brother of (WWII German army commander) the Desert Fox. It sounds like a farce, and as a war comedy it rivals MASH and Catch-22 without breaking a sweat, but it’s also extraordinarily human and powerfully moving, and it’s got some of the finest character work I’ve seen. And as a scripter and wordsmith Barr is out of this world.

If I had been completely honest I probably would have dropped one of my top 10 and also put in Barr’s other long-running series, STINZ, but I decided to just pick one because I knew she wouldn’t get nearly enough votes to be in the top 100 anywhere because hardly anyone seems to know her, and it’s always sort of a challenge finding her books in comic shops.

STINZ is the story of a central European “half-horse” (read: centaur) at the time of World War I; the first volume follows his life during wartime, and as the story progresses we get to know more about his culture, his family, his region… like in DP the book is full of rich characterizations and a mix of moving drama and (a little less) side-splitting humor, but this is book where Barr’s gift for words and language (in several different languages actually) bring her into a league of her own. And she also crafts an entire culture and story-world for Stinz that’s as unique and fascinating as just about any I’ve seen.

*Here are my other top picks, in case anyone looks at it and goes “hey, I love this books, I’m gonna check out Donna Barr’s work too! — 1. PROMETHEA 2. INVISIBLES 3. SANDMAN 4. Morrison’s X-MEN 5. DESERT PEACH 6. CONCRETE 7. STARMAN 8. TRANSMETROPOLITAN 9. BONE 10. STRANGERS IN PARADISE

“On the other hand, there is bound to be some overlap with this poll if we do storylines rather than limited series”

I think that would just help put things in perspective, gotta be a good thing.

I’d love a storylines poll! I think it’s the most evenhanded way to do it. Series, as we saw, work against writers who tend to tell smaller, complete stories like Alan Moore. Limited series poll’s work against almost any writer who’s done a significant amount of work at the Big Two, because most of their output is serial. But everyone writes storylines, y’know?

So basically, you want to engineer a list that fits more to your tastes? I don’t writers like Morrison or Moore were hurt at all by this list, they both made some very strong showings, actually.

Ummm, yeah, I want to engineer a list that fits more to my tastes, so that ALL writers are included, rather than just those who specialize in limited series, or just those who focus on ongoings. Me and my limited tastes.

Starting a sentence with Ummm is kinda rude. I was just pointing out that many writers were represented by this list, regardless of what type of comics they wrote. Moore being the best example. Plus, it could potentially discriminate against storylines that haven’t been reprinted as a graphic novel, since most of the well known and beloved serial storylines are the ones that have been reprinted. At the same time, titles like Sandman would be hurt, as all the well regarded storylines from that series would probably split the vote among it’s fans.

Hey Stefan, I thought I was the only other person who had ever heard of Deser Peach and Stinz, both EXCELLENT stories. I have the entire run of Desert Peach, and it is a hoot.

the only thing on my list that disappointed by not making the top 100 was the Roy Thomas/ Barry Windsor-Smith run on Conan. i think that the top 100 list worked out fairly well, though - there’s not a run on it that isn’t good.

let’s hear it for collective wisdom!

Haha. The whiny, kitsch flavored poetry Goth fest that is known as Sandman!

It’s official this blog’s readers don’t got no taste!

I’m sorry that cute l’il goth girl didn’t want to go to the prom with you in ninth grade.

On a completely unrelated note: Sandman is pretty good, and nothing like you imagine it’s like in your head. You should read it sometime.

Sally- Cool! Yeah, you’re the only person I’ve “met” too actually. I got into them because I used to write a review newsletter, and Donna Barr sent me an issue of DP for review. It was one of the coolest things I’d ever seen and I raved about it, and then she sent me a bunch more! It’s been years since I read it though ’cause I leant most of my collection to a friend across the country who never managed to get the back to me, and I’ve been traveling internationally ever since; we think those books are hard to find in the US, but try Ireland or Austria! Anyway, do you know if they’re still being published? Feel free to e-mail me: “inspirus” at Gmail.

wwk5d- All right, no rudeness intended, I just thought we were snarking. You’re probably right that Sandman and most of my other favorite ongoings would get split six ways to Sunday, although I’m not sure that’s a problem. I just think it would be cool to do a thread where more or less all complete comic stories are on an even plane wih each other. And yeah, with some stories it’s tricky. Claremont’s outback stories are among my favorites from my childhood, but there were years though where it was just one sprawling story, impossible to break down into conventient trade-sized runs. Then you’ve got Invisibles, or Deadpool, which were both one big story for their first two years. But I still think it’s worth a shot.

One big reoccuring theme in the majority of books that are in the top 100 (not these two) is that the books were either not doing very well, or not much was expected out of them. This led to more creative freedom for the writers, which led to more popular stories for fans. Hmmm, creative freedom. Not that is an idea.

Fielding,

That tally for DC only included comic books with some tie to the DC Universe. They were for the DC UNIVERSE, not for DC COMICS. I didn’t count “Transmetropolitan”, for instance. Even if you want to count ALL the Vertigo titles, it still wouldn’t come to 36. Because some of those 10 Vertigo titles were already included in the “set in DC Universe” tally (like “Sandman”, for instance).

Now that the results are here, someone could do a tally by publisher, assigning all the Vertigo runs to DC comics, etc. And, I suppose, also assigning the an Icon comic like “Powers” to Marvel comics.

“I suppose the people who give out the Eisners also have no taste, as well as the people ho give out the Hugos, the people who give out the Bram Stoker awards, or the people who give out the world fantasy award.

Asshole.

If you don’t like the run, say so. But don’t make an ignorant comment like that.”

Jeph Loeb has won 4 Eisners

Both of these made my list! In fact, Sandman was my number one.

I think the only runs on my list that didn’t make it are:

Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers of Victory
Brian K Vaughan’s Ex Machina
and Gail Simone’s Birds of Prey.

I think the rest of my list made it. I don’t remember.

Brian, any chance of listing out a quick dump of the complete top 300 (or even just 150)? I’ve always enjoyed those lists when you’ve done them with your other “Top 100″ contests, especially seeing how many #1 votes never made it into the top 100.

Please?

Thank you for this poll. It’s inspired me to re-read some of the great runs I have in my collection and pointed me towards titles I need to give a try. Oh, and Sandman was an extremely deserving winner.

Hrm. I thought the order would’ve been reversed. I like both of these, though I don’t vote for either of them. Thanks for doing this Brian, it was fun.

Vic: I did qualify my statement in the following comment.

The Eisners do sometimes go to comics/crestors I think are undeserving, but generally Eisner winners are pretty good comics.

Loeb’s never actually won best writer (though Morrison hasn’t either). Two of those awards were Best Reprint Graphic Album - whoopey - and the other two were best limited series for Long Halloween and best single issue for Batman/The Spirit. Given that the artists on thos were, respectively, Tim Sale and Darwyn Cooke, I think the awards are justifiable (I think the work of Sale may also be a big factor in those Graphic Album awards too).

Speaking of Eisners: Brian, you forgot to big up Todd Klein for his work on the Sandman. It was sandtastic (sorry).

“this story has one of the most famous single panels in comic history.”

Ummm, a little help? For those of us that grew up DC fanboys and don’t know what panel you are talking about, anyone want to clue us (and by us I mean me) in?

jccalhoun - I’m not entirely sure, but I believe he means this panel: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/ScarComics/ComicsFragments/Uncanny-X-Men-132-pic1-Wolverine.jpg

Just threw this up on another thread, but I’ll put it here too!

One breakdown of the list that I haven’t seen yet is how many runs feature Marvel and DC’s flagship characters (I’m loosely defining “flagship” as the iconic ones that have maintained a presence in the comics since the beginning, or at least since around the silver age).

Marvel:

X-men - 6 runs
Avengers - 3 runs (4 if you count Ultimates)
Fantastic Four - 3 runs
Spider-Man - 3 runs (4 if you count Ultimate Spidey)
Daredevil - 3 runs
Captain America - 2 runs
Thor - 2 runs
Hulk - 1 run
Iron Man - 1 run
Dr. Strange - 1 run
Nick Fury - None
Silver Surfer - None
Sub-mariner - None

DC:

Justice League - 2 runs
Legion of Super-Heroes - 2 runs
Justice Society - 1 run
Teen Titans - 1 run
Batman - 2 runs
Flash - 2 runs
Green Lantern - 2 runs
Green Arrow - 2 runs
Superman - 1 run (2 if you count All-Star)
Wonder Woman - None
Aquaman - None
Captain Marvel - None

Don’t know what this proves exactly, besides I can’t get enough of these lists, but it’s kind of a (very) loose gauge of how inspiring the classic characters are for creators to generate memorable storylines.

About 60% of the master list is made up of lesser-known, often independent creations. Which may be why the general public don’t respect comics as much, maybe they assume that the above characters represent 100% of the market, when they’re really just a (diminishing) portion of the stuff out there.

Or maybe it’s all meaningless. Still, lists are fun.

JC — I assume Brian is talking about the reveal at the very end of #132. We believe that Logan has been sent plummeting to the center of the earth due to the gravity (?) powers of Shaw (?). As I remember, the first few panels are of an empty sewer tunnel, then we see a hand reach up from under the water to grab hold of something, and then in the last panel we see Wolverine pulling himself up, snarling and with claws out, vowing to kick some ass. (Sorry, I forget the actual words; I’m sure someone here has them.) It was the first time, I think, that Claremont and Byrne really nailed the classic take on Logan — feral, solitary, vengeful, vicious, and impossible to defeat.

The most significant thing about this run of the X-Men for me was that I had a torrid, year-long and completely imaginary relationship with Kitty Pryde when she first joined the group. I was 13. She was 13. We were perfect for each other. I had no trouble making myself fictional for her.

Haven’t seen any debate on best story arc in Sandman. I imagine there would be some votes for the Kindly Ones, but I’d lobby heavily for Brief Lives. An epic road trip, the whole dysfunctional family in crisis, a talking dog, love, sex, death, and the seeds of Dream’s demise. A story on such a wide scale that works because it’s driven by the inner lives of its characters. Cataclysmic, but in the end probably the least melodramatic and genre-specific of the story arcs. So adult. And Jill Thompson — seriously! I think it’s the high-point of the series.

My Top Ten…

1) Michael A. Stackpole on X-Wing Rogue Squadron - I owe that comic book series for getting me into comic books, man. I was a Star Wars nerd as a kid, so I read all the Star Wars comic books, and there was no series like that one that kept me coming back, poring over the art, rapt by the script and plotting. For me, there’s no possible other #1, even though I know there’s probably not another soul on the planet who agrees.

2) Jim Aparo on Batman - After Batman Begins came out, I decided to check out Batman, a character I’d always enjoyed on TV and in movies, as a comic-book character, since those were his origins. The first trade paperbacks I picked up were Death in the Family and Blind Justice, if memory serves. And I was hooked.

3) Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams on Batman - Obviously, I picked up more Batman after that, and you can’t get into Batman, either trades or single issues, without running across a whole lotta Denny and Neal. They really helped define the character.

4) Grant Morrison on JLA - Made me care about superheroes other than Batman. I couldn’t give a fig about a superhero if it wasn’t Batman. And by carefully making Batman the coolest character in his League, but also make every other character necessary and interesting and fun, Morrison made the JLA, and by extension, the DCU, matter to me.

5) Joss Whedon on Astonishing X-Men - Made me give the Marvel U. a try. My friend Matt forced me to try Astonishing, said it wasn’t wrapped up in MU continuity, didn’t interact much with the rest of the MU…”It’s basically out of continuity,” he told me (turns out he was wrong.) He handed me the first hardcover, and I really was astonished. No one and nothing had EVER made me care about a Marvel character. When I was growing up, Marvel’s characters were like the X-Men (hated the name), Spider-Man (hated the powers and the cartoon), and of course Captain America (grew up in a liberal home, so I thought I was supposed to hate America–I was disabused of that notion later by my parents, who explained to my the complexities of the liberal position). They were the enemy, because even though I didn’t read comics, I knew I liked Superman and Batman. Finally, I now had a reason to involve myself in the MU, which, although it will never appeal to me like the DCU does, has a richness to its tapestry, particularly in decades not starting with “199″ or “196.”

6) Frank Miller on Sin City - In those days when I was a kid, comics was Dark Horse. I knew about DC and Marvel, and had even read the issue when Superman died when it first came out (on the bus on the way to school), but Dark Horse published Star Wars, so what Dark Horse published, I read. I read Concrete, I read The Mask, I read The Shadow…the one that stuck in my head the most, probably because I was way too young to appreciate it, was Sin City. I mean, all of the stuff Dark Horse was making (except Star Wars) was way over my head, but Sin City was so visceral and resonant that it reached me in a way that some of the other stuff didn’t.

7) Ed Brubaker on Captain America - Captain America, in a lot of ways, represents so many of the disappointing qualities of America to me. At least, his early stuff does. But go figure, for the last 30 years he’s been the bleedingest heart in the Marvel U.

Gerard Jones/Cully Hamner on Green Lantern Mosaic - Best Green Lantern book ever published, and nobody read it. Go out and hunt your bargain bin for it (which is where I found the entire series) and you won’t regret it. This is fantastic, fun GL storytelling, the kind that Hal Jordan had abandoned long before for brooding angst and self-doubt, and it’s really well put-together.

9) Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams on Green Lantern/Green Arrow - When Hal abandoned the fun storytelling that eventually became a part of Mosaic, this was where he went. This was a great series that introduced me to Green Arrow and really started expanding my DCU interests from the Big Seven to all the other ones. Books like this are the reason I’ll ravenously devour a book like Bloodhound; if it’s DCU, I’m giving it a chance. (Not to say Bloodhound didn’t deserve that chance–it was a damn good book.)

10) Geoff Johns on Flash - Geoff Johns’ Flash is the Flash to me. He’s the first writer I read on the Flash, and he defines the Flash. Well, he and Grant Morrison and Mark Waid.

Runner-up: Mark Waid on JLA. Morrison was my first taste of a lot of DCU characters, and Waid gave me another dose. DC hit a home run with Morrison, and made it back-to-back by following him with such a solid winner of a writer.

Mason, the words are something to the effect of “Now it’s my turn.”

Favorite Sandman arc was Season of Mists. Gaiman’s depiction of Lucifer was so charismatic and original. Mike Carey did fantastic at keeping him cool in the Lucifer spin-off, which is also a great read.

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