Does anyone know who did the covers on the Milligan / Aparo run of Detective?

I believe it was Norm Breyfogle… it was actaully a crossover between Detective and Batman… Milligan wrote all issues and Aparo and Breyfogle doing the interior art.

So Greg, how about Blaze of Glory/Apache Skies by John Ostrander? I usually don’t like Westerns, but read this, and loved it!

I don’t own it, Tom. I’m always on the lookout for Ostrander comics, though, so I’ll have to keep that in mind!

Also, thank you for your review of Daredevil. I bought these as they were being released, and…THIS is what made me love Daredevil. Chichester’s writing is amazing, and he succeeds where others would have failed. The story is so powerful because it’s so average.

Thanks for these great recommendations. I’m putting together a back issue shopping list for the next time I’m in the states and this has helped a lot. But does anyone have an idea of where I could look for more ideas? Sorry Greg, but unless you’re planning on finishing I-Z in the next 3 weeks then I need another place to look!

Um, Greg, some of the links to popculture shock, like the ‘Avengers Forever’ review, are dead. Could you retify the problem? Been meaning to read your take on these comics. Thanks in advance!

sads: Yeah, I know about the dead links. I have to move the essays over to my old blog until I can update them here. Sorry about that! I’m trying to get it done when I can!

Hey, do you think you’ll be getting the rest of those dead links up anytime soon? I know people are bugging you with it but I’m just asking.

is there some reason I can only see the list up to Legends of the Dark Knight?

Is that ALL?!?

You’re slipping, Mr. Burgas.
I would have exPECTed the complete alphabet listing.

But still, all in all, an impressive comprehensive list.

Which, I’m sure, would put all the other bloggers to shame.

What?! No Sleepwalker? Oh, it looks like this is only the first half of the list…

Chris: That’s as far as I’ve gotten! I’m working on getting the dead links back up and I’m almost done with the ton o’ graphic novels I’ve bought recently, so I think I’ll be back to new stuff fairly soon. Sorry – I’M ONLY ONE MAN!!!!!!

No Love and Rockets?!?!? Without a mention of the greatest independent comic series, this list is dubious at best.

No Love and Rockets?!?!? Without a mention of the greatest independent comic series, this list is dubious at best.

Please, please tell me that you realize that the list is only up through “Le“

Greg, you are performing a valuable public service!

And I hope you are getting a kickback from the Back Issue Dealers.

Real happy to see the Killer on here, that is the best book no one has heard of.

Only one brief Fantastic Four run??

Very underrated, but I would include Power Man and Iron Fist #115 – 125 as comics everyone should own. Great art by MD Bright and top-flight characterizations of Luke and Danny. And the issues are super cheap, to boot!

Iron Maiden: I’m going through these in individual issue format, and those are the only ones I own in individual issues. The other stuff I own in trade paperbacks, and I haven’t gotten to those yet. So it will be a while until I get to those.

Krishna: Thanks for the tip. I’m always looking for stuff to track down!

It seems like your initial objective and your selection method are somewhat at odds with one another, at least when you reach a certain point. You say you started this project to review old comics, but by only reviewing comics you own in single issues, you preclude a lot of the great 70s and earlier material (I’m assuming you’re not some wealthy collector with a stash of Finger/Kane Batman lying around). This is not a complaint, mind you – CYSO is one of my favorite columns on the site – I’m just thinking maybe you yourself will be annoyed that certain comics you really adore are overlooked simply because you don’t own them in floppies.

Cass: True enough, but I own a lot of the older stuff in trade format, and I’m getting more all the time. So when I do get to the trades, I will get to a lot of the older stuff. I knew I wanted to do them in alphabetical order because that’s how my mind works, and I didn’t want to jump back and forth between floppies and trades, so I decided to stick with the one and then move to the other. You’re right, though – and people have pointed out that I’m lacking, say, Byrne’s Fantastic Four (not to mention the original Lee/Kirby stuff). That’s because I own them in trade!

Hell of a list Greg!

I have almost all of those! Missing Local, The Intimates, Hard Time, Firestorm #’s 80-100, Dreadstar #’s 41-64, and Automatic Kafka.

Two titles that come to mind that you are “lacking” is Legion of Superheroes – Legion Lost saga by DnA, and Chase.

I like your list because (with the exception IMHO of the above Legion comics) “Top Ten” lists are all over the internet and are comics that very likely collectors and fans 1) already have, and 2) are easily obtained. For example, Best Superman Stories? Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow? / For the Man Who Has Everything. Best Batman Stories? Year One / The Dark Knight Returns. All of these are very easily obtained and in all sorts of formats.

A little off-subject here, but looking at the whole DC Trinity thing, what would be the best Wonder Woman story?

Moving along, your list is by no means obscure, but it is a great resource to find hidden gems.

Perhaps there should be other lists to complement yours:

– a list of excellent cancelled titles (Major Bummer, Chase, Chronos),
- a list of the Greatest Stories Never Told (I remembered there was one such list somewhere… and it
included 1963)
- a list of comics you should own featuring one character. For example: this is a list of the best Little Archie
Stories that I found in an old issue of The Comics Journal:

Little Archie # 20 – The Long Walk
Little Archie # 18 – On Mars / The Happy Gang / In Animal Land
Little Archie # 32 – Time Taxi
Little Archie #’s 1, 17 & 19 – In Animal Land
Little Archie # 21 – Pirates / The Secret Room
Little Ambrose # 1
Little Archie # 10 – Ark Antics / Civilized Savages / Little Ambrose: Balloon Boy
Little Archie # 13 – The Flash
Little Archie # 145 – You Win a Few
Little Archie Mystery Comics #’s 1 & 2

With the recent posts on Archie’s Freshman year, I remembered I had this list. It is easier to find a list of the best Little ARchie stories than of “big” Archie – although Freshman year and House of Riverdale (both by Battion Lash) would certainly qualify.

Anyway, again, great job and thank you for giving nerds like me these lists.

Have a great Labor Day Holiday everyone.

Best,

Luis Jaime

Luis: Chase is one of those ones that I only bought after I passed C, so it didn’t make it. I didn’t buy it when it came out (because I’m dim), but I did track down all the issues in the past few years. In the distant future, when I get back around to C, it will be on the list.

I’ve wanted to get the Legion Lost trade for a while now, and I may eventually. I tend to avoid the Legion mainly because I’ve read so much about its convoluted history that I fear I’d be lost, but I did hear that particular mini-series was pretty good. I know it’s in trade, though, so I’ll have to look for it.

Man, I don’t know about the Wonder Woman stories. I haven’t read enough. The Perez run was quite good, though.

That’s not a bad idea about doing comics you should own starring one character. That might be too ambitious for me. I don’t think I own enough comics to make a comprehensive list for many characters!

Thanks for reading, sir!

some things i noticed aren’t on the list that you should definitely check out if you haven’t:

-Garth Ennis’ Demon run, where Hitman was introduced. You mention Annual #2 in the Hitman write-up, but Ennis’ entire run was spectacular, particularly the last four issues (#s 55-58), which chronicle a war between heaven and hell. I believe #40 was his first issue, and the series ended with #58, but there may have been a fill-in or two in there somewhere.

-My favorite Legends of the Dark Knight story is Blades, from #s 32-34. I think it may exist in trade, so it’s possible you have it there, but if not, definitely pick these up from a dollar bin. Written by James Robinson with art by TIm Sale, it’s a fantastic story.

-Ron Marz’s Green Lantern run, particularly the first two years or so (#s 48-75 is the high point). For anyone that likes the “new hero learning the ropes” type of story-telling, this is second only to Starman. I particularly love Kyle’s split with Donna Troy in #70, his search for advice from other heroes in #s 71-73, and the funeral for Hal Jordon in #81.

-The first 3 or so years of L.E.G.I.O.N. might be DC’s all-time most underrated series. Giffen was plotting and Grant was scripting when both were in their primes, and it introduced Barry Kitson to mainstream comics. I’m convinced the series was a major influence on Y: The Last Man, because it had the equal parts funny/dramatic/soap-operaish, and every single issue ended on a splash page cliff-hanger. I don’t think the series exists in trade, but you can probably find it cheap on ebay. I’m pretty sure Giffen and Grant left with #39, which ended the golden era, but then Kitson was writer/artist from #40-50 and it was still pretty good.

-A reader above briefly mentioned it, but the short lived, late 90s DC series Chronos was really great and deserved more recognition. It was coming out ata time when I felt Starman had a slight dip in quality (when Tony Harris was only doing about one out of three issues and then left), and I really felt like this could be the next title to capture the Starman magic. It only lasted 12 issues (#1-11, plus a One Million tie-in), but I highly recommend it. The art doesn’t hold up well, and may be why the title never caught on, but the story-telling is fantastic.

CONCRETE (Dark Horse)
D.P. 7 (Marvel/New Universe)
EL DIABLO (DC’s Latino hero)

It’d be nice if DC collected Ennis’s Demon run with their new “lost” collections stuff they’re doing. Apparently they’re (sort of) collecting Chase.

I believe that the LDK “Blades” storyline is in a trade, but I in fact picked up the three issues recently in a cheapo bin (I think they were 3 for a dollar).

I dig Ron Marz on GL.

I really liked the 90s Chronos series myself. I think I have everything but the 1million issue. The art doesn’t hold up well, though? I don’t remember it being bad myself. I thought it was Paul Guinan (of Heartbreakers, which would deserve a CYSO feature) and Steve Leialoha, who are pretty good.

Rob, are you talking that fairly recent El Diablo mini (by Nitz and Hester) or the 90s one that Parobeck drew? I have the first half of the more recent one, and it’s decent.

I have the last issue of DP7, and surprisingly, it’s a pretty good read even not knowing the rest of what happened in the title.

And yes, Concrete is awesome too.

And I can’t think of anything else to recommend right now. I just like agreeing with other people, apparently.

Some more good suggestions …

I’ve never been able to find all of Ennis’s DEMON issues. I have a few, but the back issue boxes are surprisingly thin with those, confound it!

“Blades” is an interesting story, because I know many people like it. I also like it, but I don’t think it’s the kind of story that really resonates. It looks great, for sure, but it’s fairly predictable and doesn’t really get into the characters all that much. So while I own it and like reading it, I don’t think it’s something everyone should own.

I own GL #48-50, mainly because I wanted to read about Hal’s crack-up, but never read further than that. It’s not a bad suggestion, though, because I’ve heard good things about the early Kyle issues before.

Concrete is one of those comics, like Love and Rockets, that I’ve never read and probably should. But I also know that when I start buying them, it will be in trade format because they’re relatively old and somewhat hard to find, so even if I did own them, I wouldn’t have covered them yet!

I’m talking about EL DIABLO the 1990s Parobeck series. Sixteen issues that are good and cheap (probably cover price or less). I haven’t seen EL DIABLO mentioned in this blog, so it needs some love.

Someone did mention D.P. 7 once, claiming it was the best series of Marvel’s New Universe. I agree.

I think all the early CONCRETE stories are available in TPBs. Maybe the whole series is.

Mark Gruenwald wrote D.P. 7. Speaking of not getting enough love, he was a great writer who’s rarely mentioned these days. His best work includes:

* The original SQUADRON SUPREME 12-issue maxi-series.
* The year or two of CAPTAIN AMERICA where the Super-Patriot (now USAgent) replaces Cap.
* Good chunks of the QUASAR series.

Greg, I shall present you with the full list of comics I have purchased based solely on your reviews (and most of them without even having read all the way through),

Complete runs of: Ostrander’s Spectre,Animal Man 1-32,Arrowsimth, Avengers Annual 10, Avengers Forever
Aztek, Challengers of the Unknown, Clandestine, the Nocentis and Chichester DD run from 250 -300, City of Crime, Dr Fate 1 – 42, Doom Patrol, Enigma, The Extremist, FF 347-349, Flex Mentallo, Four Women, Hard Boiled, Hellstorm, Druid, LODk 28-36, LODk 86-88, Big Numbers 1, 1963.

and most of Atlantis Chronicles, PAD’s Aquaman, Major Bummer, Norm Breyfogle’s Detective run and half of Kelly Jones’ Batman run,

Phew!! I don’t know how I’m going to read all of this but I, ebay and a lot of back issue sellers thank you!

This is the very best resource for collecting old(ish) comics and it’s an awesome task you set yourself and achieved. You are the Dave Sim of comic critics!

BTW, why not the whole of Walt Simonson’s FF run or Cerebus?

Hanif: I actually don’t own Cerebus. It’s a huge hole in my collection, I admit. By the time I get to “C” in the trade paperbacks, maybe I’ll have purchased some or all of it. And I don’t own Simonson’s FF run in single issues, having started getting it in “Visionaries” trades when Marvel began publishing them. I own quite a bit of FF in trade paperbacks, so the FF stuff you should own will grow significantly once I get to the “F”s in my collection.

I’m glad that I’m a good resource for you! I hope you enjoy the comics, of course – now I feel all kinds of pressure because you based your purchases on my recommendations!

Greg,

Thanks for the list and thanks moreso for updatting and adding to it regularly. Your recommendations have led me to some great reading (I owe you for turning me onto Ostrander’s excellent Firestorm and Giffen’s underrated JLE!) and increased my appreciation of old favorites that I knew were good already. I don’t have the time to read all the comments here just yet, but I presume this is a place for your readers to make recommendations to you. Therefore, I strongly suggest you check out ‘Mazing Man (12 regular issues and 3 specials) by Bob Rozakis and Stephen DeStefano as well as Blue Devil 1-21 by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, and company. The Blue Devil stories in Showcase ’93 1-6 were also very good.

P.S. Speaking as one John Ostrander Fan to another (he’s my favorite comics scribe of all time), I’m suprised you’ve reglected to mention Grimjack 1-81 and the Demon Knight grphic novel by Johnny O, Tim Truman, Tom Mandrake, Flint Henry, and Tom Sutton. It’s good for your soul.

Jonathon: I missed your comment, so I do hope you come back at some point! I’m glad I was able to give you some recommendations, and thanks for the Blue Devil mention – I’ve read a few random issues, but I might have to track those down. I’ve always heard good things about ‘Mazing Man, even though the one issue I read I didn’t love (but I was also told that all of them together are very good). So there’s another one! I didn’t get GrimJack in single issues until much later on in life, and I passed “G” before I could get the later ones, where Gaunt has been replaced. So I’ve read the IDW trades of the early part of the series, but I haven’t had a chance to read the entire series as a whole. I’m sure I’ll put it on this list when I do, but until then, I must wait!

No problem, there, Greg. I’m just glad you responded to the above comments! It’s true that ‘Mazing Man works best when read as a whole. The first one I read was issue 5, which I found to be a very sweet and endearing story. I found the rest of the series within a month after that, which may have influenced my reading experience. ‘Maze is very much a character piece, so the “slice of life” events in the comic may seem a bit mundane to readers who’ve had no chance to learn about the characters or bond with them.

I’ve just recently found the complete Maze Agency in a quarter bin and scooped them all up for a song. I haven’t read them yet, but based on your review, I’m looking forward to them! I’m also currently on the lookout for Major Bummer. I loved Arcudi and Mahke on The Mask and this series looks like a blast to read! And getting a comment from Mr Mahnke himself; how cool is that?!

I’m on pins and needles awaiting the time when the broken links are fixed and the alphabet has been completed to Z. When you get towards the end of the alphabet, have you considered Wasteland (DC, 18 issues) by Ostrander, Close, Simpson and company? The title was a little hit-and-miss and had wildly inconsistant stoytelling, but it was never, ever boring. Besides, any comic that features a showdown between Santa Claus and Idi Amin must be doing something right!

Lastly, I’d like to put a word in for Bill Loebs’ run on Jonny Quest (Comico, 31 issues) and Mike Grell’s Jon Sable, Freelance (First, 56 issues) Thankfully, Sable is being reprinted in trade, but I doubt the formers two ever will be, which is a shame.

Keep writing, Greg, and I’ll be your loyal reader. See you in the funny papers!

You left off Astro City, Alien Legion, Grimjack, and Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children

Please don’t leave off Sandman, Starman (Robinson), Preacher, and Spectre (Ostrander)

Steven: Astro City is still going (sort of), and I don’t want to add anything until it is finished. I’ve never read Alien Legion or Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children. I own GrimJack in trades, so I’ll get to it eventually! As for the other four – fret not.

still loving this series! more please!

Ur, when is the list for P onwards coming out?

Cant wait to see Sandman and X-men (Jim Lee classics especially) and Siege and Secret Invasion and Secret War rank among what is listed thus far.

This is a pretty random question, but I figure this as good a place to ask it as any.

I’ve recently read Rick Veitch’s Swamp Thing run for the first time, which I really loved. It’s about as good a job of following Alan Moore as I can really imagine someone doing. So I looked Veitch up on Wikipedia to see what else he’s written, and I noticed three creator owned series that sound interesting: The One, Brat Pack, and Maximortal. Have you read these Greg? Any other commenters read them? I’m curious what people think of them and whether they’re worth trying to track down.

All three of those works by Veitch are good.

I agree with Brian, based on what I’ve read of them, Third Man. Definitely worth tracking down. I have all of the One and Maximortal, but haven’t read them all yet. I have just the first issue of Brat Pack, but it’s good enough that Steve Bissette wrote a whole book about it (see here: http://srbissette.com/?page_id=11537 )

Brat Pack’s ending was apparently changed from the original issues to the collection, but I’m not sure how.

If you like Veitch’s stuff, his Roarin’ Rick’s Rarebit Fiends series, with his dream comics, is pretty interesting. Depends on how much you like people’s dreams, of course. His Vertigo series from a few years back, Army @ Love, didn’t do a whole lot for me. I understand Can’t Get No was decent.

Third Man: Yeah, I haven’t read them. I always think about getting them, but I just don’t. It doesn’t help that I wasn’t impressed by Army @ Love and Can’t Get No was just okay (in my humble opinion). But I always think I should give one or all of those comics a chance, just because they do have a pretty good reputation.

Oh, and I forgot to say, I believe that Veitch has somewhat recently (past 5 or so years) reprinted some or all of the stuff that Third Man mentioned. He also did a collection (or collections) of some of the old Epic Illustrated stuff that he did.

One of the things about Army @ Love that made me not like it was that the art just didn’t work. Somehow, Veitch inked by…Gary Erksine, iirc, just didn’t look that good. I like Veitch solo and I like Erksine, but the 2 together just wasn’t that good.

Secret History??

I just realized Miracleman was skipped over, which surprises me given that 1) you obviously have read and highly enjoyed it as it made your top 20 runs list, and 2) it seems at least somewhat unlikely that you own it in trade given how rare they are.

So what gives? Are you actually one of the few people on the planet that own the Miracleman trades, or is there some far more nefarious reason it was skipped? I’m actually going to be rereading the run for the first time in 12 or so years in the near future, and I’ll be sad if I can’t consult your always wonderful analysis after I do. And really Burgas, if you’re not here to meet my needs, then what are you here for??

Most likely when he was doing M, he didn’t have the comics, and being the anal retentive OCDer that he is, won’t get back around to Miracleman until he’s at M again. He’s so WEIRD!

And hey, Third Man, you asked for Veitch, you got Veitch! BACK OFF!!!!

But oh, back around 15 years ago or so, I went to Toronto for a school related trip, and at one point went through a book store that had a Miracleman collection (Golden Age, maybe?). I SOOOO regret not using that funny colored money to pick it up!!!

Whoops, I’ve missed some comments. Sorry!

Rubso: I haven’t reached “S” yet, so you’ll just have to wait and see if Secret History shows up! I do like it quite a bit, though, so we’ll see!

Third Man: I do indeed own the Miracleman trades and I don’t own the single issues, so it will be a while before I get to the book. Yes, it will show up on this list someday, because it’s such a brilliant comic.

I got the trades in the early 1990s, before the kerfuffle really took off, so I guess I got lucky. It’s very odd that the trades are rarer than the single issues, but I guess that’s the way it is!

@ Third Man- I haven’t read BratPack, but the other two by Veitch (The One and Maximortal) are both very good. I’d especially recommend Maximortal. Had I a Comics You Should Own list, it would be on there.

After almost two decades of searching(and saving), I finally was able to get my hands on the Miracleman series. I’ve just finished Moore’s run, and. . . wow! It seems a cliche to say(or type) that, but it really is as excellent as everyone says. These issues are far from mint, but I’m not a collector, so much as a reader. And I feel like I could be missing out since issues 23 and 24 were not included in the set. But then I think to myself, “Self, you also have a copy of the Warrior 1982 summer special. Don’t you think that is some consolation?”
My self thinks it is.

Greg,

I know one of your stipulations is that any comic series included here has to be one that is no longer ongoing.Now that DC comics has done their “New 52″ relaunch, there are many titles in their back catalogue that have been canceled and are valid nominations. With that in mind, I would like to recommend “Secret Six” (both the regular seies, the mini series, and the “Villains United” mini) by Gail Simone and (mostly) Nicola Scott. I could heap ihgh volumes of praise on this series here, in this tiny little text box, but I think the comics would do a better job speaking for themselves. These are definately comics I should own!

Also, have you conisidered Archie Comics “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures” series? I came across my back copies that I bought when I was nuts about the cartoon show and have been re-reading them. Despite the being based on the cartoon show turtles, this series is suprisingly good. Check them out if you get the chance.

good list but what about french comic books?!

kurgan: Since I’m going through my back issues right now, they’re going to be pretty much English language comics. I do have The Killer on this list, which was originally in French! When I get to collected editions and graphic novels, they’ll have to be translated into English because I don’t read French. But I’ll probably have some when I do get to the collected stuff, because I have more French comics in that format than in single issues.

i have in my mind the Soleil-Marvel collaboration, now i’m trying to find the most iconic comic books translated to english…Thorgal, XIII, Lanfeust of Troy