CBR Live! Archive
After Watchmen Checklist: How Many Of These Have You Read?
- by Brad Curran
- in General
You can download the checklist from the After Watchmen... What's Next? site.
Other than Identity Crisis (because it's Identity Crisis), I've read everything on the checklist in either trade or singles format. I'm... vaguely proud of that, I guess? Especially since I read the vast majority of them after reading Watchmen! In 2002, but still!
I've read less from the individual categories (I completely forgot Albion existed, for instance), but still have a pretty good showing there, although reading that Heroes collection will probably count against me karmically. There was some halfway decent stuff in there, though, I swear! Of course, I still gave a crap about Heroes back when I read it. Ah, how naive I was in the summer of '08.
Oh, and I'm just posting this now because DC sent me an e-mail reminding me of the the list/site's existence.
Special Overindulgent Bonus: All Of The Comics Listed On The Site That I Have Read:
Saga of the Swamp Thing vol. 1 (have volume 2, too; need to get on finishing that)
Batman: The Killing Joke (Got in the Complete Alan Moore DC Experience trade, or whatever that thing was called)
Planetary vol. 1
Ex Machina vol. 1
All Star Superman vol. 1 (Have the whole run in singles)
Superman: Red Son
Arkham Asylum
Kingdom Come
Animal Man vol. 1 (and vol. 2 and 3)
Top Ten vol. 1 (and vol. 2)
Heroes
Batman: The Long Halloween
Batman: Year One
52 vol. 1 (1-4 and the companion, actually)
DC: The New Frontier vol. 1 (I have the Absolute Edition!)
JLA vol. 1 (read all of it in some form, only own like 3/4 of it)
Doom Patrol vol. 1
Batman: Hush vol. 1 (in singles. I regret it to this day)
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore (that's what this is called!)
Superman For All Seasons
Seven Soldiers vol. 1 (all of it in singles)
Authority vol. 1 (have all of Ellis and Hitch's run in trade)
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1 (got volume 2 in singles)
Promethea vol. 1
V For Vendetta
Tom Strong vol. 1 (in singles)
We3
Invisibles vol. 1 (still need to finish this; to be honest, haven't seen it since I moved)
Global Frequency vol. 1 (in singles)
Sandman vol. 1 (and the two collections that are short story collections, pretty much, which could be why I can't read Gaiman any other way)
Y: the Last Man vol. 1 (and vol. 2; liked it okay, but it's no Runaways)
Ronin
Transmetropolitan vol. 1 (and vol. 2, from Sci-Fi Book Club. Liked it a lot, intend on finishing it at some point)
Preacher vol. 1 (one of the few comic runs I own all of in trades)
Fables vol. 1 (was pretty indifferent to this one, never read future installments to see if it would get better; wound up giving it to Greg Hatcher in exchange for Sebastian O, actually)
Losers vol. 1 (I am really bad at following up on these things)
It's a Bird (Great, great book; well worth picking up)
The Filth vol. 1 (I really wasn't in to this, except for Greg Feeley's cat)
Orbiter (one of my least favorite Ellis stories, although it wasn't bad, per se)
The Quitter (Harvey Pekar's greatest hits convinced me I didn't need to read any more Harvey Pekar, but it was nice seeing Dean Haspiel's art in that format)
Sloth (great GN from Gilbert Hernandez; well worth reading if you haven't picked it up)
Stuck Rubber Baby
Demo
So, I'd say that's a fair cross section of what DC has to offer that I own. Feel free to post your own list if you bothered to read this far and want to share.
- Posted on April 30, 2009 @ 12:30 PM






26 Comments
Tom Fitzpatrick
April 30, 2009 at 1:06 pm
The only titles I haven't read off your list is The quitter, Sloth, Stuck Rubber Baby and Demo.
tk.
April 30, 2009 at 1:12 pm
My list is a paltry six entries: Dark Knight Returns, Red Son, Kingdom Come, Justice, Transmet, and Y. They were all good, though, and I ought to read more of Y soon.
JackKing
April 30, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Heroes & Stuck Rubber Baby are the two I haven't read.
joshschr
April 30, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Off the DC list I downloaded, I own or have read everything but Transmetropolitan, Swamp Thing and most of Ronin and All Star Superman. I plan on correcting that eventually.
Off the superindulgent list, things like The Filth and Global Frequency pique my curiosity. Animal Man and Doom Patrol are must reads eventually. I don't think there's anything on the list that doesn't have some draw for new readers, even if a lot of people would argue that Hush and Identity Crisis aren't good comics.
Dan Bailey
April 30, 2009 at 1:22 pm
From your list --
Batman: The Killing Joke (not particularly good, to be honest)
Planetary vol. 1
All Star Superman vol. 1 (I've read the first, I think, 9 as single issues ... I'll get around to picking up the last 3 someday ... having cut my teeth as a kid on Silver Age Superman, I didn't find this series at all special)
Top Ten vol. 1 (and vol. 2)
52 vol. 1
DC: The New Frontier vol. 1
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore
V For Vendetta
We3
Demo
Rogue512
April 30, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Brad
You should try fables again. I didnt like it the first time I read the trade. I tried 5 years late and am now on volume 9
Tom
April 30, 2009 at 1:55 pm
It's nice to see It's a Bird on the list.....That's one of my all time favorites, everybody should give it a read
Corey
April 30, 2009 at 2:00 pm
From the checklist PDF:
-All-Star Superman Volume 1 - Yes
-Batman: Arkham Asylum - no
-Batman: The Dark Knight Returns - Yes
-Batman: The Killing Joke - Yes
-Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days - Yes
-Fables Volume 1: Legends in Exile - Yes
-Identity Crisis - Yes
-Joker - no
-Kingdom Come - Yes
-The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume One - Yes
-Planetary Book 1: All Over the World and Other Stories - Yes
-Preacher Volume 1: Gone to Texas - Yes
-Ronin - Yes
-Saga of the Swamp Thing Book One - Yes
-The Sandman Volume One: Preludes & Nocturnes - Yes
-Superman: Red Son - no
-Transmetropolitan Volume 1: Back on the Street - Yes
-We3 - no
-Y: The Last Man Book 1: Unmanned - Yes
-V For Vendetta - Yes
Andy
April 30, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Everything on the superindulgent list except Heroes, Ronin, It's a Bird, and the last four. There's another 2-3 where I've read bits and pieces, but not the whole thing.
I read too many comics, but hey, at least they're the good ones, right?
Neal K
April 30, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I've read at least some of all of these, except for the following:
Ex Machina, Kingdom Come, Heroes, Superman For All Seasons, V for Vendetta, Ronin, It's A Bird, the Quitter, and Stuck Rubber Baby.
Of those, I own Ex Machina and Kingdom Come, just haven't gotten around to reading them yet.
I read way too many comics.
DubipR
April 30, 2009 at 2:53 pm
From your list, I've read them all BUT:
Heroes, It's a Bird, The Quitter and Demo. But I'm checking out The Quitter and Demo from the library.
Dan Felty
April 30, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Stuck Rubber Baby is a really good comic--a fictional account of growing comfortable with one's sexuality within early 1960s Mississippi. It was published by DC's Piranha Press in the mid-90s. Check it out!
benday-dot
April 30, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I've only read, and with the exceptions of Killing Joke and Kingdom Come (which didn't do a lot for me), also very much liked:
Saga of the Swamp Thing vol. 1 (the whole series up to Moore's departure, 6 volumes I think)
Batman: The Killing Joke
All Star Superman vol. 1 (Have the whole run in singles)
Kingdom Come
Animal Man vol. 1 (and vol. 2 and 3)
Top Ten vol. 1 (all the Moore volumes, as well as the spinoff whose name escapes me)
DC: The New Frontier vol. 1
Doom Patrol vol. 1 (as well as all the other Morrison volumes)
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore (that’s what this is called!)
Superman For All Seasons
Seven Soldiers vol. 1 (and the rest of the volumes)
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1 (and 2 in singles, the Black Dossier of course in HC)
Promethea vol. 1 (and the rest of the volumes)
V For Vendetta
We3
Sandman vol. 1 (and Brief Lives and Seasons of the Mist)
Ronin
Fables vol. 1 (not bad, but never thought enough of it to continue)
Mike Loughlin
April 30, 2009 at 5:50 pm
I haven't read:
Heroes (no interest)
The Filth (is it actually good, or just nonsense?)
Joker (doesn't look that good)
Albion (any good?)
Justice (kind of interested, don't want to buy it in 3 expensive volumes )
Lex Luthor (heard it starts good, ends poorly)
Superman: For Tomorrow (first 2 issues sucked, never bought the rest. Awesome Blur song, though)
The Originals (any good?)
Sentences (any good?)
Incognegro (any good?)
Can't Get No (any good?)
Silverfish (any good?)
Hellblazer: Original Sins (not sure I'd like it after Ennis' take on the character defined him for me)
The Other Side (on my to-get list)
Sloth (ditto)
Heavy Liquid (ditto)
100% (ditto)
Corey
April 30, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Mike, Silverfish is excellent! I highly recommend it, along with The Other Side.
The rest I don't have. I've kind of heard mixed things about Incognegro and Sentences, which kind of dampened my excitement for them. I'm sure I'll still get them eventually to determine for myself, though. Despite getting a fair amount of buzz, I never saw many reviews of The Originals after it came out. That's another I'd like to check out eventually. Can't Get No is supposed to be excellent. Don't have it yet, but want to get it.
Andrew Collins
April 30, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Ex Machina vol. 1
Heroes
Superman For All Seasons
Seven Soldiers vol. 1
Global Frequency vol. 1
Losers vol. 1
It’s a Bird
The Filth vol. 1
Orbiter
The Quitter
Stuck Rubber Baby
Demo
From your list, these are the only ones I haven't read. Seven Soldiers is still something I'd like to get around to, as well as the two Ellis books on the list, but none of them especially intrigue me to go out and buy/read them now. Too many other books and comics on my reading pile anyway...
FunkyGreenJerusalem
April 30, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Have Read:
Saga of the Swamp Thing vol. 1 (have volume 2, too; need to get on finishing that)
Batman: The Killing Joke (Got in the Complete Alan Moore DC Experience trade, or whatever that thing was called)
Planetary vol. 1
Ex Machina vol. 1
All Star Superman vol. 1 (Have the whole run in singles)
Arkham Asylum
Kingdom Come
Animal Man vol. 1 (and vol. 2 and 3)
Top Ten vol. 1 (and vol. 2)
Batman: Year One
DC: The New Frontier vol. 1 (I have the Absolute Edition!)
JLA vol. 1 (read all of it in some form, only own like 3/4 of it)
Doom Patrol vol. 1
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore (that’s what this is called!)
Seven Soldiers vol. 1 (all of it in singles)
Authority vol. 1 (have all of Ellis and Hitch’s run in trade)
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. 1 (got volume 2 in singles)
Promethea vol. 1
V For Vendetta
Tom Strong vol. 1 (in singles)
We3
Invisibles vol. 1 (still need to finish this; to be honest, haven’t seen it since I moved)
Global Frequency vol. 1 (in singles)
Sandman vol. 1 (and the two collections that are short story collections, pretty much, which could be why I can’t read Gaiman any other way)
Y: the Last Man vol. 1 (and vol. 2; liked it okay, but it’s no Runaways)
Ronin
Transmetropolitan vol. 1 (and vol. 2, from Sci-Fi Book Club. Liked it a lot, intend on finishing it at some point)
Preacher vol. 1 (one of the few comic runs I own all of in trades)
Fables vol. 1 (was pretty indifferent to this one, never read future installments to see if it would get better; wound up giving it to Greg Hatcher in exchange for Sebastian O, actually)
Losers vol. 1 (I am really bad at following up on these things)
It’s a Bird (Great, great book; well worth picking up)
The Filth vol. 1 (I really wasn’t in to this, except for Greg Feeley’s cat)
Orbiter (one of my least favorite Ellis stories, although it wasn’t bad, per se)
The Quitter (Harvey Pekar’s greatest hits convinced me I didn’t need to read any more Harvey Pekar, but it was nice seeing Dean Haspiel’s art in that format)
Sloth (great GN from Gilbert Hernandez; well worth reading if you haven’t picked it up)
Demo
Haven't read:
Superman: Red Son
Heroes
Batman: The Long Halloween - Started reading, having already, and loathed read Dark Victory, but couldn't stand it.
52 vol. 1-4 - Have read the first two trades... maybe if there's nothing else one day I'll finish it.
Superman For All Seasons
Batman: Hush vol. 1
Stuck Rubber Baby
Stuck Rubber Baby I'd like to check, but some of those other... something you should read AFTER Watchmen? REALLY?
Heroes and Hush are something you should read if you read and enjoyed Watchman?
red Ricky
April 30, 2009 at 10:27 pm
You know... And this is just my opinion of course; but Batman The Long Halloween doesn't belong in that list. I'm sorry, I know people love it, and I know the artwork is pretty; but as far as a Detective/WHoDunnit/Mystery story, IMHO the worst one to every involve the Batman character. If you read it in one sitting you'll notice that it's all over the place, you have multiple killers who manage to coordinate mafia hits without insider knowledge and also manage not to step on each other's holiday's without ever comming into contact with each other.
Oh, and the icing on the cake is that we are told that one of the killers managed to whack 3 Wiseguys the same night he was blown away, hospitalized, operated on and visited by friends and family. I mean, this guy manages to sneak out of the burn unit, find his victims (how he knew where to find them, we are never told) and sneak back in w/o anyone noticing.
If there's a such a thing as a Kaiser Soze Award, this guy gets it hands down!
Anyways, I would suggest reading any (or all 3) of the Legends of the Dark Knight Halloween Specials. It's by the same creative team and the writing is much better.
Also, any list that has Kingdom Come & New Frontier in it, should also include Robinson & Smith's The Golden Age. It is that good!
eaten by a grue
May 1, 2009 at 5:20 am
I'd add "American Born Chinese" by Vang to that list and pro'ly fuss about your Sandman comments; Gaiman was still getting his legs in volume 1. "A Game of You" is where it's at in that series, a definite must-read. I also thought "The Dream Hunters was pretty awesome, but that's more of an illustrated story than a graphic novel.
DanCJ
May 1, 2009 at 5:23 am
Out of the entire site there are only 8 books that I haven't read and two of those are on my shelf at home waiting to be read:
The Joker (waiting for tpb)
Justice (waiting for a cheap deal)
100% (not been impressed by Paul Pope, but if I see it cheap enough...)
Sentences: The Life of MF Grimm (no interest)
Incognegro (waiting for a cheap deal)
Can't Get No (Like Rick Veitch - hate poetry - not sure...)
Albion (on my shelf waiting to be read)
Cairo (on my shelf waiting to be read)
DanCJ
May 1, 2009 at 5:24 am
That list is a promotional list from DC. It's only got DC books in it.
Chad Nevett
May 1, 2009 at 7:10 am
Haven't read (and want to):
Top Ten vol. 1
Ex Machina vol. 1
Promethea vol. 1
Tom Strong vol. 1
Ronin
Losers vol. 1
The Quitter
Sloth
Stuck Rubber Baby
Haven't read (and have little desire to):
Superman: Red Son
Heroes
Batman: Hush vol. 1
Fables vol. 1
Blackjak
May 1, 2009 at 8:16 am
Fables Volume 2 (Animal Farm) is by far and away the better entry book.
Luckily, that was my first, as vol 1 was sold out.
Blackjak
May 1, 2009 at 8:20 am
On the DC list, I haven't read:
Joker
Ronin
Saga of the Swamp Thing (But I REALLY want to)
Superman: Red Son (Unsure, but I enjoyed the Countdown visit issue)
V for Vendetta (although I have read all that was originally printed in Warrior... for some reason the re-coloured edition puts me off... Is there a complete B&W version anywhere?)
Rusty Priske
May 1, 2009 at 11:23 am
I am currently collecting books based on the "Best Comic Runs" list put together on THIS site!
I just got Planetary Vol.1
Next up Hulk Visionairies: Peter David Vol. 1!
(And I REALLY hope this site does a limited series/graphic novel/one-shot poll!)
Dave
May 1, 2009 at 6:30 pm
I still find it hilarious that they're like "After Watchmen, what next? How about the cash-in webcomic based off a TV show that hasn't been well-received since the end of its first season! And how about a bunch of Batman books by one of the main guys we fired for ruining that show?"
I guess what I'm saying is that it's a complete joke anything Jeph Loeb has ever been involved in is being mentioned in the same breath as Alan Moore.