I read comics I like every week. But there are some extraordinary comics that stand miles above the rest, ones that are still on my mind decades after their release in some instances. The books on this list are the kinds of stories I would recommend to even my friends who have never picked up a single comic book in their whole life.
I won't even blink before declaring this is the best comic book ever made. As much as I hate to go along with the crowd, sometimes there's a reason that everyone and their mother acknowledges something's greatness: because it really is that good.
If Watchmen is the greatest superhero story every told, than Kingdom Come may well be the greatest superhero story ever told using established characters. Despite a somewhat hokey ending, Kingdom Come is able to be equal parts satire, love letter, and traditional epic. If there is anyone you are trying to introduce to comics, this is what you should give them. It focuses on characters they already know and is less labor intensive than Watchmen.
Despite some really iffy art, and hard to read text, this marks another great achievement by Alan Moore. I mean the story starts out with a prologue between two characters arguing the merits of communism. Find any other comic where that happens.
Simon Spurrier and Jeff Stokley take an old idea from pulp fiction, and create something completely original. It is wonderfully intelligent and caustic satire which would not work as well in any other format. If this does not go down in the history books of comics fandom; then are world itself is truly a dystopian future.
Millar is great about messing with the Superhero status-quo. Not only did this event take unlikely directions and support each with believable reasoning, it also happens to be one of few 'event books' that actually held any sort of long standing changes to the universe in question. Marvel's Fear Itself and DC's Blackest Night had just about no consequences whatsoever. And while most of DC's Crises books and Marvel's House of M were more about finding excuses for major changes to the running books, Civil War was that major change. And for a guy who loves to kill people of as much as Millar does, the main Civil War book was actually somewhat tame with it's body count.
As homogenous as the comic book universe generally is, especially in team books, Priest's excellent multicultural ensemble proved to be one of Marvel's strongest alliances. It is a travesty that this book was cancelled after only seven issues.
The original X-Men back together for the first time! The team as would-be mutant hunters and the excellent addition of civilian mutants Rusty Collins and Skids. This book is proof that classic comics can still be every bit as exciting and intelligent as the edgy titles of the modern age.
Even though Mark Millar can go off the rails some times, he is also one of the best in the world at what he does when he's on his game. There is no better proof to Millar's talents than Ultimates 2. Millar confronted the moral superiority of America's post 9-11 foreign policy, he created a great sub-plot involving the credence of Thor's god-hood, and he developed (and destroyed) relationships that comic fans had never seen before.
Reggie Hudlin's run on Black Panther has been greatly underestimated. But other than possibly the original six-issue arc, this swan song written by Jason Aaron is this volume at its best. While other Secret Invasion tie-ins felt forced, Aaron used the event to prove once and for all exactly why the Black Panther is a bad ass.
I can't say that I have revisited this story-arc since issue #6 fist came-out, but this is the series that got me reading comics. From bulging muscles to government conspiracies, this series had everything I look for in a superhero comic. It's a shame that the series went so far downhill following Civil War.
Old school superhero favorites meet fresh faces and super-unknowns,this series brought an edge to comics that I loved and sadly see less and less of in the major Marvel and DC catalogs.
Possibly the best wide-ranging superhero murder mystery outside of Watchmen. Brad Meltzer took to writing this book like it was any other novel, not as a quick paycheck or just some dumb comic book. On top of that Meltzer showed a clear love of these characters and their history. It's a shame his run on Justice League of America was not as inspired.
