The 50 Greatest Moments In Comics: #1-10

A number of these on the (whole) list are great, but it goes to show the shallowness of Comic Vine. The majority are "Sick, bro!"s or some arbitrary, forgettable piece from a comic less than five years old. The old stuff, the stuff regarded as classic because it is classic and not just a code-word for "something that happened in the past", is treated with only accidental reverence, like Tony finally asserted himself and said "You know, Stan Lee did make some good contributions," in the wake of Corey wanting every Mark Millar dystopia and Sara wanted every random hookup.

I'm a professional wrestling fan and try to think through it critically, so my thoughts can't be just the facts of the product. Say, if I'm going to comment on a match, I wouldn't want to write only "John Cena won." That's not really a statement on behalf of my end, but an end result. Hopefully I'd be thinking about the layout of the match, and how it was executed, and why it's important, and what it means. Comics, especially reviewed by the individual issue, should carry the same weight. We see it so often in CV's reviews: Here is the thing that happened. "Batman is cool." Maybe that's why so many of their Top 50 moments are of unimportant, faux-badass things. And maybe it's why the Off My Mind articles, interesting and fun though they may be, are always these in-canon debates and never pop questions like "Seriously, guys, how do we stop Judd Winnick from ruining this industry?"

At the end of the day there are no objective artistic criticisms, and these are all only opinions (a fact quickly pointed out by White Knights holding deep anti-intellectualism), but it's always worth nothing that opinions can still be poorly founded. Other Whiskey Media sites seem to have handled the concept well: Have fun and be silly while still holding an understanding of what makes your favorite media format tick. All our lists, for each person on the planet, will be vastly different and arguable. Every commenter would still throw in their "WHAT? YOU'RE CRAZY!" But with this site the question isn't your individual taste and preference, but your knowledge level and esteem for comics. The validity comes into question when arguments sound less like the mark of a scholar and more like a five-year-old in a Superman shirt claiming Superman is the best because he beats the bad guys up. Does that make sense?

Your podcast is funny and you're great personalities. Keep doing what you're doing, I suppose, but please don't settle.

A lot of people are beating up on Frank Miller. Though it's strange how much I heard people talking about that Green Lantern scene in All Star Batman and Robin.

On the spot, ... Some points could be argued about but anyway ... Nicely done...

Are you all kidding?

Death of Superman does not deserve to be on the list because it was cheap and nothing but a publicity stunt, and resulted in a couple of years of silly Superman stories (4 replacement Supermen, Mullet Superman, and then Red/Blue Superman?).

I remember the local news interviewing stupid people who never buy comics about it... I remember this woman saying she was buying it in the hopes that it became some sought-after comic whose value would skyrocket and 'pay for her children's college'. Yeah. Good luck with that. How much is it worth today?

The only good thing that came of Death of Superman, which DC (Geoff Johns really) turned around in the last couple of years, was the character of Hank Henshaw.

Death of Superman is, like some other events in the 90s, a lowpoint for comics and points to all the bad things about comics of that era. What else do you people want on this list? Xforce #1comes bagged with 1 of 5 different collector cards? Glow in the dark or hologram covers? Come on. Gimmicks are not great moments.

@Deadcool: this is not about story is about the top greatest moment in a comic not about the story an this moment was a big deal

I disagree with a lot, but credit is also due for compiling such a daunting list. Good job.

@tensor said:

this is not about story is about the top greatest moment in a comic not about the story an this moment was a big deal

Well, then a mere human kicking the ass of a superior being (Batman defeating Sups) sounds better than the random dead of Superman, oh well...

No. Just no.

I find it quite amusing people get upset over list, especially a list not including the mediocre death of superman, guess people skipped the part where it said

Everybody's got their favorite moments, but here are our picks for the indisputably GREATEST ones.

It's opinions, of course they are going to differ from everyone else, it's the great thing about opinions and why comic fans are some of the best people have conversations with because everyone is different.

How about Cap almost bout to kill Tony in Civil War

No Death of Gwen Stacy?

This is why it should be in the top 5, perfect reason taken from wikipedia:

'The death of Gwen Stacy had an enormous impact in the world of comic-book fandom. Before her, except possibly as part of an origin story, superheroes simply did not fail so catastrophically; nor did a loved-one of the superhero die so suddenly, without warning, or so violently. Because of this, some fans and historians take the death of Gwen Stacy as one marker of the end of the period they refer to as the Silver Age of Comic Books.''

Also, Death of Superman, Cap, and Mar-vell should be in that list. They still mark HUGE moments in comics. This top 10 fails.

This top 50 list seems somewhat DC biased..

Loved that moment when Guy Gardner got punched out, because it summarized so many things, it was more than just one character punching out another, it was a battle for leadership, but not in the way someone who hasn't read the comic might think - it was not a might-makes-right thing, it was all about exactly why Batman was the leader, because he knew how to analyze situations, find weaknesses and when was the right moment to strike. It shows that experience is more important than raw power. One panel had so many implications.
 
I also agree with those that point out the omission of the Death of Gwen Stacy was a serious oversight.

Batman KOing Guy Gardner is Top 10

... Really? That's number 1? Batwagoners rejoice...

Are you sure these don't belong at the end of the list?

No Sandman? Animal Man? 100 Bullets? Fables? Preacher? You're really convinced that Dark Knight Returns is as good as it gets?

This kinda thing is why sites like comicbookresources and mightygodking will always get more respect than comicvine.

I would have thought "The Death of Superman" would have made the list.

@Zoom said:

Are you sure these don't belong at the end of the list?

No Sandman? Animal Man? 100 Bullets? Fables? Preacher? You're really convinced that Dark Knight Returns is as good as it gets?

This kinda thing is why sites like comicbookresources and mightygodking will always get more respect than comicvine.

Actually Sandman, Animal Man, Fables and Preacher had a moment in this list.
BB

That was a sweet countdown. :)

Defo Batman vs Superman is a top 3, no doubt about that.

@Billy Batson said:

@Zoom said:

Are you sure these don't belong at the end of the list?

No Sandman? Animal Man? 100 Bullets? Fables? Preacher? You're really convinced that Dark Knight Returns is as good as it gets?

This kinda thing is why sites like comicbookresources and mightygodking will always get more respect than comicvine.

Actually Sandman, Animal Man, Fables and Preacher had a moment in this list.
BB

That's great but they all got beat out by flipping Dark Knight Returns and a bunch of random moments from the most mainstream parts of comics history.

*checks the rest of the list*

Civil War, Final Crisis and Sacrifice? Are you flipping kidding me?

@Zoom said:

@Billy Batson said:

@Zoom said:

Are you sure these don't belong at the end of the list?

No Sandman? Animal Man? 100 Bullets? Fables? Preacher? You're really convinced that Dark Knight Returns is as good as it gets?

This kinda thing is why sites like comicbookresources and mightygodking will always get more respect than comicvine.

Actually Sandman, Animal Man, Fables and Preacher had a moment in this list.
BB

That's great but they all got beat out by flipping Dark Knight Returns and a bunch of random moments from the most mainstream parts of comics history.

In their defense mainstream doesn't mean it's not worthy of being in the Top 10....that said I don't think they even picked the right moments from said mainstream comics. :/

TOP 1: Batman beats supes ass

you do know that he was Holding back!

@Zoom said:

@Billy Batson said:

@Zoom said:

Are you sure these don't belong at the end of the list?

No Sandman? Animal Man? 100 Bullets? Fables? Preacher? You're really convinced that Dark Knight Returns is as good as it gets?

This kinda thing is why sites like comicbookresources and mightygodking will always get more respect than comicvine.

Actually Sandman, Animal Man, Fables and Preacher had a moment in this list.
BB

That's great but they all got beat out by flipping Dark Knight Returns and a bunch of random moments from the most mainstream parts of comics history.

Agreed that it and the others weren't as good as the Vertigo moments. Did comicbookresources and mightygodking their own list btw?
You didn't like Final Crisis?
BB

I don't disagree with any of the top ten but i would have like to have seen bane braking batmans back in knightfall and when joker became the joker in killing joke.

@Decoy Elite said:

In their defense mainstream doesn't mean it's not worthy of being in the Top 10....that said I don't think they even picked the right moments from said mainstream comics. :/

Well yeah, that's what I mean. Regular Marvel and DC are fine but it's like they took memorable moments from Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Captain America and Wolverine comics instead of comics as a whole since those moments, while mostly pretty good, are not even close to making it into my top 10.

@Billy Batson said:

Agreed that it and the others weren't as good as the Vertigo moments. Did comicbookresources and mightygodking their own list btw?

You didn't like Final Crisis?
BB

Comicbookresources did a fan vote of the 100 best comic book runs, which was very good.

In general, though, both sites just have better articles than comicvine because 1) the people who write the articles have read more comic books than the comicvine staff (particularly, things like Vertigo and...well things that are more than 10 years old that aren't about Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America and Wolverine) and 2) several members of the comicvine staff *cough*GMan*cough cough* wouldn't know a bad comic book if it punched them in the face and called their mothers fat.

We're talking about a staff that read Cry For Justice 7, a comic universally panned as the worst of the worst, a comic of pure disgusting shock value, a comic that made tons of people write off James freaking Robinson as a total hack.....and gave it a 4.5/5 rating. Staff reviews on this site are a total joke. You'd be better off flipping a coin to decide what you buy than you would be buying things that comicvine's staff recommends. Every review is a nothing but praise, like they expect the whole comic industry to collapse if they said something bad about it.

As for Final Crisis, it was total crap. I generally love Grant Morrison's work but that book was lousy lousy lousy, a big event story for the purposes of being a big event story. Then again, I didn't read Superman: Beyond. Then again, why would I be expected to pick up a 3d glasses gimmick comic book to understand the big event book? "Final" Crisis. Give me a break. We knew it wasn't going to be the last crisis just like we knew that Batman and Martian Manhunter would come back from the dead.

@Zoom:

I'll check it out.

1) hmmm, I've seen that the staff have mentioned series i.e from Vertigo and Image a few times and made a few reviews about them but most of time they don't mention much from smaller publishers. So yeah, you're right. 2) LOL, just LOL.

Good thing that I haven't read it, lol. Too bad, it seems like Robinson had a good run with Starman. I guess people could turn over to the user reviews but the one review that was made out of that book received five out of five. Oh well.

Haven't read Final Crisis yet. Mostly because I skip events and either see it getting bashed or called "brilliant/the best event ever" by Morrison fanboys. Not really big on Morrison, he's written some nice stuff but not much of fan myself. So you read the trade/seven issues? Yeah, events should published and collected as a single series and not have multiple tie-ins. Hardly anyone stays dead.

BB

Good list.

What about the Death of Captain America? Or the birth of the Winter Soldier? Or Bucky becoming Captain America? Or Under the Hood with Red Hood appearing? Or Bane breaking Batman's back? or in the AoA 295 universe Sabretooth fighting Holocaust? Or Captain America walking up to Thanos face-to-face in The Infinity Gems? Or Thor facing Odin in the Destroyer armor? Or the heroes sacrificing themselves in the Onslaught finale? asdfghjkl!!

@Billy Batson said:

@Zoom:

I'll check it out.

1) hmmm, I've seen that the staff have mentioned series i.e from Vertigo and Image a few times and made a few reviews about them but most of time they don't mention much from smaller publishers. So yeah, you're right. 2) LOL, just LOL.

Good thing that I haven't read it, lol. Too bad, it seems like Robinson had a good run with Starman. I guess people could turn over to the user reviews but the one review that was made out of that book received five out of five. Oh well.

Haven't read Final Crisis yet. Mostly because I skip events and either see it getting bashed or called "brilliant/the best event ever" by Morrison fanboys. Not really big on Morrison, he's written some nice stuff but not much of fan myself. So you read the trade/seven issues? Yeah, events should published and collected as a single series and not have multiple tie-ins. Hardly anyone stays dead.

BB

Word. I remember the staff mentioning a Vertigo series once. There was a staff video where the staff just said "Codpiece" over and over. Like Codpiece is low hanging fruit already and he's a joke character that first showed up like 18 years ago and the staff thinks that just saying his name over and over is relevant. A couple of them probably read Doom Patrol. And by a couple I mean Inferiorego but the rest were like "Heh his name is Codpiece. Let's tell people" and then went back to reading mediocre Justice League stories while telling themselves that they were reading awesome Justice League stories.

I also heard Final Crisis was pretty good/okay from people who had read every Morrison book of the past decade but if I really have to read that much stuff to get any enjoyment out of the book, it's still a bad story. Continuity is good. I love shout outs to old stories. I hate when current characterization clashes with previous characterization. But as it turns out, I know Morrison can tell a story that's interesting to people who haven't read the piles of backstory. He just didn't do it with Final Crisis.@progenitor said:

What about the Death of Captain America? Or Under the Hood with Red Hood appearing? Or the heroes sacrificing themselves in the Onslaught finale? asdfghjkl!!

What about it? Those stories sucked.

Well, the Death of Cap was good except that you knew he was going to come back and while Brubaker used it as an excuse to tell awesome stories centered around Bucky and Falcon, it was still a storyline where a popular character was killed off for shock value before being brought back to life as soon as it was convenient, which is the epitome of lazy writing in comic books. On the other hand, Captain America was one of the best books on the shelf for a good while even though the title character wasn't even in the book, which is saying something. What I'm saying, though, is that if you were going to pick a moment of Brubaker's Cap run (and you picked several), Cap's death wouldn't be the one to hold up as an example of the best the comic industry has to offer.

Under the Hood was garbage. It retconned the best Loeb Batman story (take that as you will) into making absolutely no sense in order to resurrect a charismaless character and erase character development for Batman. Every writer that got ahold of Jason Todd from that point out would have a very different take on the character, resulting in an even less likable character than before who starred in Countdown of all things.

1. When Wonderwoman snapped Mawell Lords neck!

There no X-Men moments, that's just sad. The death of Superman no even in the top 10. Very sad.

LOL this list sucks, where the hell is the death of superman ?

Bane breaking Batmans back? wuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut

Kind of an awful list

Wow, way to really spit on Superman and his fans.

...wow this is bad