#50-41
#60-51
#70-61
#80-71
#90-81
#100-91





#40-31








40. Zot!
by Scott McCloud

originally published in: Zot! #1-36 (1984-1991)

Nominated by: coke & comics , Crimebuster , and shaxper

coke & comics says, "A girl named Jenny finds herself transported to a strange world, where she befriends its great superhero, a kid named Zot! Her brother is transformed into a monkey. There are some wild villains and some plot about a key.

The series returns after a hiatus, now in black & white, and now realizing that it's really Jenny's story more than Zot's. Zot will still have moments. His battle with 9-Jack-9 is one of the greatest superhero/villain battles ever. We learn secrets that have troubled me deeply ever since first reading, and a line by Uncle Max about 9-Jack-9 haunts me more than any sentence I've ever read in a comic. Seems more relevant now than ever.

The best issue of the series in my mind is entitled "Autumn" and focuses on Jenny's mom. It's about the struggle between dreams and practicality, about what we lost along away. And the power of senses to transport us back to a different time now gone.

Still one of the best works of comics I've ever encountered."




39. BPRD: "Plague of Frogs," "The Dead," "The Black Flame," "The Universal Machine," and "Garden of Souls"
by John Arcudi, Mike Mignola, and Guy Davis

originally published in:

BPRD: Plague of Frogs #1-5 (2004)
BPRD: The Dead #1-5 (2004)
BPRD: The Black Flame #1-6 (2005)
BPRD: The Universal Machine #1-5 (2006)
BPRD: Garden of Souls #1-5 (2007)
BPRD: Killing Ground #1-5 (2007)

Nominated by: Arthur Gordon Scratch , and @mrp (voting for "Hellboy/BPRD by Mike Mignola & co. (Hellboy: Seed of Destruction 1-4, Wake the Devil 1-5, Almost Colossus 1-2, Christmas Special, Box Full of Evil 1-2, Conqueror Worm 1-4, Third Wish 1-2, The Island 1-2m Makoma 1-2, BPRD: Hollow Earth 1-3, Soul of Venice 1, Dark Waters 1, Night Train 1, There’s Something Under my Bed 1, Plague of Frogs 1-5)")

Arthur Gordon Scratch writes, "This has been the most consistantly entertaining comic I've read in the past 20 years. Those first 5 story arcs are about Earth and its inhabitant's journey towards destruction. It is a fasinating one since you still have hope, even though the fact that the organism in charge hiring demons should have given us a clue...

At First, I can't say I was thrilled about Davis involvement in this, since this world was introduced to us by the gorgeous Mignola artwork, and I must confess that as much Sandman Mystery Theatre was a favorite of mine, I rejoiced whenever a guest artist was hired for a story arc (Lark, Watkiss!). But Davis grew on me as he really felt like a drive force in this venture, one that absent from it would probably have had the whole project collapse early on.

Though Hellboy isn't present in those pages, it turns out to be a blessing, as it allows co-writer to take control of the story in a way Mignola would never have allowed otherwise, and that is a good thing since he is a much more experienced writer than Mignola, who isn't that great at anything else but pulp and gothic pastiche, at least as his solo writing has demonstrated, too often relying on fist battles to conclude his storylines.

What Arcudi brought to this series was character depth and consitency, as well as a stern direction, and what more could you wish for.
The series is still going, and quite strongly, but it already has seen many phases, which I feel those five stories are the ground to, one that I have otfen revisited for no other reason than pure pleasure."




38. Planetary #1-12
by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday.

originally published in: Planetary #1-12 (1999-2001)

Nominated by: Slam_Bradley and Icctrombone , and Paste Pot Paul (voting for Planetary #1-26), and @mrp (voting for Planetary "1-26, Planetary/Batman, Planetary/Authority")

Slam_Bradley writes, "You can pretty easily call the entirety of the series one saga...but then it doesn't fit the criteria. But the first 12 issues deal with the question of Who is the Fourth Man? So that works out well.

In a lot of ways Planetary is Warren Ellis just having fun with genres. That's particularly true of the first twelve issues. He gets to play with Kaiju, Hong Kong action, pulp fiction, silver-age funnybooks...and he does so in a manner that is reverent and deconstructionist. In this he's aided by John Cassaday whose work always captures the feel of the disparate genres and is the perfect complement to Ellis' writing.

This is probably the only Ellis that is going to show up on my main list. It's not as important or as personal a work as Transmetripolitan (which will at least get an honorable mention). But for me it's more "fun". Especially those early issues of Planetary that really set my mind on fire when they came out."




37. Swamp Thing: Dark Genesis
by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson

originally published in: Swamp Thing #1-10 (1972-73)

Nominated by: thwhtguardian , brutalis , and Arthur Gordon Scratch (voting for Swamp Thing #1-9),

thwhtguardian writes, "Nothing says horror comics like the combination of Len Wein and Berni Wrightson, with Wein's rich, dramatic narration and Wrightson's shadowy, all-most woodcut looking art you feel like you're seeing stills from a classic Universal horror film. I like the whole first volume with it's short, punchy stories giving you a little bit of everything the horror genre has to offer from classic Victorian stylings like in issue four above, to an almost noir feel in #7 to the schlocky B-Movie monster brawls of the 50's in #16 but though the first ten issues featured a similar smattering of tones the chemistry between Wein and Wrightson really did shine making me pick their run over choosing the whole volume."




36. Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Saga
by Pat Mills,John Wagner, Brian Bolland, and Mike McMahon

originally published in: 2000AD #61-85 (1978)

Nominated by: Paste Pot Paul and brutalis

Paste Pot Paul writes, "Dredd is tasked with delivering a vaccine for the 2TFruT plague in Mega-City 2 on Americas west coast, unfortunately for him theres the mutant ridden Cursed Earth to be crossed first, populated with dead presidents, T-Rexs, murderous Burger franchisees and some plain ornery folks. Told with tongue firmly placed in cheek, and featuring 2 of the greatest artists to ever grace the comics pages this was Dredd really arriving.

I turned 14 while this was coming out, the perfect age to be a comic freak and this was the perfect title to freak me out...and did I mention Brian Bolland?"




35. The Authority, volume one
by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch

originally published in: The Authority (vol. 1) #1-12 (1999-2000)

Nominated by: Paste Pot Paul , and hondobrode (voting for #1-4)

Paste Pot Paul writes, "This came at an interesting time for me, after 20 odd years of rabidly devouring every comic I could lay my addicted little fingers on, I was getting burnt out, who'd a thunk I would get bored with superheroes, and being the 90s and all, well just about everything was shite. I didnt like much at DC, the heroes had returned to Marvel (which I bought into for a year or so), but apathy and growing family saw my buying shrink to 3 titles(and within months to zero).

With its sister(?) title Planetary(which I heavily considered) this book blew me away, the multiversal characters, the ship, the Bleed...all with Hitch's amazingly detailed work and I was like a pig in ... a delightful playpen ...ahem.

As much as anything else here I loved Midnighter and Apollo, 2 strong, proud gay men, where their sexuality isnt an issue for anyone else in the team. I like how this was handled as straight forwardly as any of the relationships in the book, well from my straight white male high horse it seemed that way. I hope that those within the gay community saw them the same way.

Midnighter was such a cool badass mofo too..."




34. The Metamorphosis Odyssey
by Jim Starlin

originally published in: Epic Illustrated #1-9 (1980-1981)

Nominated by: @mrp , coke & comics , shaxper , brutalis , and Icctrombone

mrp writes, "Jim Starlin's cosmic epic of the struggle between life and death with the fate of a galaxy on the line. Aknaton, whose race the Osirosians are the ancestors of all humanoid life in the Milky Way seeds a long term plan to try to save the galaxy from the oncoming destruction at the hands of their long-time enemies the Zygoteans. He returns centuries later to collect the fruits of his efforts, 3 special beings and recruits the stone-cold killer Vanth Dreadstar to be their protector until they can see his plan to fruition. I disocvered these stories in high school and they turned my world upside down. I had been a fan of Starlin's stuff since I first encountered it in the Death of Thanos story running in Avengers Annual 7 & Marvel Two In One Annual 2, and heard about Dreadstar when I finally discovered comic shops, and soon tracked down these stories to see how it all began.

This is quintessential Starlin in its pure form, not filtered through the lens of the Marvel mythos. Here you will find all the thematic core ideas he riffs on throughout his oeuvre, all his strengths, weaknesses, tics and tendencies, the pure cosmic mind-trip that is a Starlin story unchecked by the needs of editors to maintain their IP, to keep the illusion of change in their characters/stories while in reality telling a never-ending story that maintains a status quo, or to meet the standards of the Comics Code. This one has it all for the Starlin fan, and for others seeking to go on a cosmic mindtrip of an adventure in comic book form."




33. New Teen Titans: The Judas Contract Era
by Marv Wolfman and George Perez

originally published in: New Teen Titans #38-40, Tales of the Teen Titans #41-50, and Tales of the Teen Titans Annual #3

Nominated by: shaxper , and Icctrombone (voting for "Teen Titans the Judas contract New Teen Titans 39-44/ Annual #2") and Paste Pot Paul (voting for "Teen Titans 42-44 Ann3 The Judas Contract")

shaxper writes, "I think it's important to differentiate between 'The Judas Contract' and the era in which 'The Judas Contract' was produced. While the story, in and of itself, is unequivocally the team's best multi-part storyline ever published, it's representative of something larger happening to the title at the time. While the New Teen Titans had already been in print for three years by this point, Wolfman and Perez did absolutely everything noteworthy to the team between January of 1984 and February of 1985. Perez's art suddenly came alive on a level we'd never seen before, Wolfman's characterizations became deeper and more incisive, and suddenly all these major transformations began taking place that caused this team to feel like a real family, experiencing real life and finding themselves irrevocably changed by it, instead of just being another superhero team experiencing disposable adventure after disposable adventure.

Donna Troy learned her true past, the depth of her friendship with Dick Grayson was meaningfully and repeatedly explored, Dick underwent his most transformative moment in (at this point) seventy seven years of publication, the team had their greatest battle with all of their greatest villains at the same time, (of course) the story of Terra came to its unforgettable conclusion with an ending so poignant that even the most stoic of readers likely shed a tear, and Donna Troy's personal journey that bookends this stretch culminates with her marriage to Terry Long. It was the perfect ending to a perfect run, and George Perez seemed to agree, leaving the title only three months after.

Though I often reference the New Teen Titans as being one of my favorite superhero teams of all time, truly everything great about that title and property happened in this one thirteen month stretch in which characters came alive and grew and changed for both better and worse. This is the most palpable and real that traditional superheroes have ever felt to me."




32. Doctor Strange by Ditko & Lee
by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee

originally published in: Strange Tales #110, 111, 114-146, and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (1963-1966)

Nominated by: @mrp , shaxper , Crimebuster, and Paste Pot Paul

mrp writes, "Ditko and Lee craft the saga of a man who becomes the Sorcerer Supreme. 110 and 111 give us a glimpse of Dr. Strange, Master of Black Magic and then 114 shows us how he became such and then the series kicks into the tale of his rise from those origins until he, the student, has become the master and all the trials and tribulations he faces along the way. By the time Ditko leaves with 146, the transformative journey is complete and we've been taken on a hell of a roller coaster ride through mystic battles, strange dimensions and cosmic entities, a thrill ride second to none in super-hero comics for me. Ditko's masterful craftsmanship and plotting, and Lee's distinctive voice combine here to weave a tale that brings us Nightmare, Dormammu, Eternity, Clea, and more, it features good vs. evil, romance, enlightenment and a whole lot of adventure and strange milieus. It is both a visual treat and an engrossing story with lots to chew on. "




31. Justice League of America: The Unknown Soldier of Victory
by Len Wein, Joe Giella, and Dick Dillin

originally published in: Justice League of America #100-102 (1972)

Nominated by: brutalis and Icctrombone

brutalis writes, "The very best of all the JLA/JSA annual cross-overs. Celebrating the 100th issue of Justice League America and uniting them with not only the Justice Society but the 7 soldiers of Victory. This one had it all true believers (sorry Stan) and it cemented my love of the Golden Age heroes. This was the one to try and top of super team-ups. A noble sacrifice by a hero allowing these classic heroes to escape their trap ends this story poignantly and brings another group of heroes back to life.

A classic then and a classic now. This is what had me hooked on collecting Justice League from here on. A great story and splendid Dick Dillin artwork (Mr. JLA!) that gave you everything you needed and then some more! 3 Super Teams united to fight villainy and doing their best without squabbles, without the extreme violence and without killing by the heroes. This is what comic books used to be all about!"