Ten Comics Worth Reading

I love comics. It’s one of THE best mediums for storytelling, although the image of superheroes has caused people to dismiss them as for weaker minds. Some truly brilliant stuff has come out over the years. Out of all the comics I’ve read, here’s a list of ten of my absolute favorites. I’ll spare you the usual praise of masterpieces like Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, etc., and bring you some different selections, all great reading.

Runaways
(Marvel, 2003-Current)

What was once apart of a line of comics aimed at getting kids and other manga fans into reading Marvel’s menagerie has turned into one of their very best titles. Brian K. Vaughn, one of THE best writers in comics these days (you’ll see more of him later…) produces a well-written story about kids rebelling against their parents and trying to live with each other, and then (in Volume 2) forming a superhero group. The dialogue is sharp, and hardcore Marvel zombies will giggle with glee as old-school heroes and villains make appearances (Cloak and Dagger in Volume 1, The Wrecking Crew and several former teen superheroes in Volume 2). Plus, in Volume 2, we have a great branching story, in which our heroes try to stop the son of the world’s most evil super villain from destroying everything in the future.

Top 10
(ABC)

Alan Moore is famous for many comics. Watchmen, From Hell, Swamp Thing, Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow…all classics of the medium. One of his most underrated comics is Top 10, a hilariously fun series about superhero (or ‘Science Heroes’, as they refer to themselves) cops enforcing the law in Neopolis, a city where every possible Sci-Fi and Fantasy character co-mingle. Every panel is filled with dozens of references to other series (ever see a Dr.Doom Charlie Brown?), and finding all of them is a good reason to reread the books. But where the book excels in just being fun to read. Its characterizations and subtexts aren’t as deep as other Moore works, but damn if I don’t have a good time reading this.

Batman Gothic (Legends of the Dark Knight #6-10)
(DC)

Definitely one of the creepiest stories to ever be written about the Dark Knight, it features Batman investigating a rash of murders of old crime bosses and others. It ultimately delves into Bruce Wayne’s childhood at a Catholic boy’s school and an old legend about a hidden church. Grant Morrison is able to intrigue and disturb with this tale, and it deserves to be read right after DKR and Morrison’s own Arkham Asylum.

GLA
(Marvel, 2005)

The Great Lakes Avengers are some of the suckiest superheroes to ever suck, including such luminaries as Doorman (who can let people walk through him and any object he stands in front of) and Big Bertha (a supermodel who can expand her body mass to incredible proportions). But Dan Slott, creator of Howard the Duck, makes these characters incredibly likable, especially their leader, Mr.Immortal, who’s problematic ability to never die plays a major part in the book. It’s also easiest one of the funniest comics I’ve read in a while (as Monkey Joe says), as it parodies other big Marvel events at this time. It makes happy to know that a Christmas special is coming.

Grant Morrison’s Animal Man
(DC, 1988-1990, #1-26)

Animal Man was once a throwaway hero from DC’s silver age, but Grant Morrison doesn’t seem to know how to NOT right a character well. This was also one of Morrison’s earliest uses of his trademark insane storytelling, where stories go from issues like animal rights and vegetarianism to the breaking of the fourth wall at will.

X-Force/X-Statix
(Marvel, 2001-2004, X-Force #115-129, X-Statix #1-26)

What once a horrible comic done by everyone’s least favorite artist, Rob Liefeld, turned into one of Marvel’s best starting in #115, when writer Peter Milligan and artist Mike Allred took over. A generic superhero title was turned into a parody of celebrity, with a team more likely to sign autographs than save the world. You also got to give it to Milligan for killing off almost the entire original team in the first issue. In fact, every story arc ends up with one of the team members dying, but the characters are so well-written, you actually miss them. Finally, we have Doop, a little green pickle-esque alien who acts as the team’s cameraman and may be the most powerful being in the universe. That’s got to have you intrigued.

Y-The Last Man
(DC/Vertigo, 2002-Current)

Another Brian K. Vaughn entry on this list, this series features a mysterious plague wiping out every male on Earth, except for a rookie escape artist and his pet monkey. Things only get wackier from there as he searches for his sister and girlfriend around the world, avoiding a group of fanatics who want to kill every remaining male. Vaughn’s great dialogue and stories that make you really anticipate the next issue are in abundance, plus because this is a Vertigo book, swearing, violence and all other controversial things are also frequent. This series does have a set ending (another year or two), so I suggest start reading now.

Defenders
(Marvel, Current)

I’ve only read the first issue of this, but it was damn good. The triple threat of Giffen, DeMatteis and Maguire, best known for making the Justice League funny back in the 80s, do pretty much the same thing with Marvel’s ‘other’ super team. Dr.Strange, Namor, Hulk and Silver Surfer are brought together once again to battle Dr.Strange nemesis Dormammu and his sister Umar, bickering all the way. It’s quite obvious I like parody books, isn’t it? But this series is definetly worth a look.

Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol
(DC, 1988-1992, #19-63)

Yes, Grant Morrison is one of my favorite writers. His run on Doom Patrol cemented that. This is one of my favorite comics, ever. It’s so absolutely bizarre, almost disturbing, yet so well-written and fun. Even more so than Animal Man, this is the one comic that took DC superheroes to places never even conceived. For example, we have a supervillain group called the Brotherhood of Dada, a pack against reason and reality, who trap the entire city of Paris in a multi-layered painting. And, astonishingly, it gets even weirder than that. You must read this.

Planetary
(Wildstorm, 1999-Current)

Written by Warren Ellis, this series has superhuman archaeologists discovering the 'secret history' of the Earth. References are made to superheroes (the major villains of the book are analagous to a certain quintet of heroes...), giant monsters, aliens, pulp heroes, Hong Kong action movies, and much more. Once again, this series is crazy, with another branching overall story that makes you want to read the next issue right now. Plus, Warren Ellis has since become one of comic's wackiest personalities (I highly recommend visiting his blog).

Other books worth checking out:
Preacher (DC/Vertigo)
She-Hulk (Current Series) (Marvel)
Mnemevore (DC/Vertigo)
Starman (DC)
Stray Bullets by David Lapham
Garth Ennis' The Punisher (Marvel)