Top 100 Comic Book Runs

[GogglesPizanno]

While I haven't been a regular comic reader in years, I found this list to be interesting (if a little predictable).

http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/04/18/the-top-100-comic-book-runs-master-list/

[tommyboy]

Wow, really? Bendis' Retread spider-man and Daredevil are better than Moore's Promethea, Morrison's Invisibles, Busiek's Astro City, Moore's Miracleman, Los Bros Hernandez' Love and Rockets, Eisner's The Spirit, Baron and Rude's Nexus, Paul Chadwick's Concrete, etc etc? Really?
That's just awesome.
Which is the trouble with subjective lists. I always disagree with much of them.
(And Claremont/Byrne Xmen should be about 257, not 2, in my opinion. Perfectly serviceable and enjoyable superhero comic, but not genre defining, mind expanding, life changing or even that great.)
Sandman is a valid first choice though.

[GhostMachine]

I've seen the list, and a lot of it is USDA Choice BS.

Can't agree with you at all, tommyboy. I do think the Claremont/Byrne run on X-Men is rated too high, but I'd put it in the lower half of the top 50.

NOTHING WHATSOEVER by Brian Michael Bendis should be on the list, as he's the most overrated writer I can think of at the moment. The current Brubaker run on Captain America being on the list, let alone at #17 is laughable (and I'm reading the series right now) and the Layton\Micheline first Iron Man run is rated too low. It should be in the top 40, not 61. The Stern & Byrne run on Captain America should be on the list, but it was so short (thanks to Jim Shooter, more or less) that I can see why its not.

[stumpy]

I like the idea of a list like this, because even if it doesn't match my tastes exactly, I should be able to read any run listed on it and at least think it was pretty good. To me that's useful because many (most?) of the runs listed are ones I haven't read at all. So, I should be able to pick one at random and, whether or not I would think they were "top 100" material, I would at least enjoy them.

But, then I see a couple of the runs I have read that I think were mediocre, though done by popular artists (at the time), and realize tastes are too individual (or at least mine are too skewed) for this to be a helpful guide.

[Alaric]

Steve Gerber's run on Defenders isn't even on the list?!? That's just... absurd.

[The Enigma]

I'm saddened to see Mark Gruenwald's Squadron Supreme totally missing from that list. It more than deserves a mention.

[bat1987]

As someone already said in that thread Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams run on Batman should`ve been on the list. Most Batman fans, including myself, consider it as one of the (if not the ) best runs on Batman.

[GhostMachine]

As someone already said in that thread Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams run on Batman should`ve been on the list. Most Batman fans, including myself, consider it as one of the (if not the ) best runs on Batman.

Top 20, easy. It and the far too short Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers run on Detective Comics should be required reading for any Batman fan.

[Alaric]

As someone already said in that thread Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams run on Batman should`ve been on the list. Most Batman fans, including myself, consider it as one of the (if not the ) best runs on Batman.

Agreed. It was the run that redifined Batman (and, incidentally, the Joker). Everything any of us think we know about the "real" Batman had its roots in that run.

[BWPS]

I haven't read most of these, so I don't guess I should be allowed to comment, but I'm glad to see Brubaker's Captain America so high! Bone must be way over my head because I didn't really get it. Geoff Johns Flash should be higher because it's awesome. And though I'm not suprised it wasn't on the list, Gail Simone's Agent X should forever be number one.

[Talavar]

Of course there are glaring omissions, but with Sandman, Y the Last Man, Fables & Lucifer all on there, I can't complain too much. 

[Podmark]

It's a list based on fan votes but pretty much everything on there is considered acclaimed to some level. I'm particularly pleased to see New X-Men on there and Invincible.

[zuludelta]

I think Usagi Yojimbo and Lone Wolf and Cub should be higher on the list (more the latter than the former, I guess). But at least they got in the top 100, so not all is lost when it comes to comic fandom.

Some glaring omissions:

- Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1984-1993): More than anything, this proved that independent B&W comics could be commercially successful (and how!). The writing and characterization were great, although the rotating art teams meant that there was little consistency in the book's look. It's a little ironic that a comic book featuring talking mutant turtles would have more mature storylines than many of their contemporaries of the day. Too bad that what we're generally left with these days are the animated versions of the characters (recent attempts to re-establish the original comic notwithstanding), which were always, in my mind, a poor interpretation of the originals.

- Larry Hama's GI Joe (issues #10 to #84): I think this 74 issue stretch elevated the GI Joe comic from crass toy tie-in to being one of the most intelligently written (some would even call it subversive, in a way) comics on the stands during most of the 1980s. And it was always a treat to see occasional regular penciler Ron Wagner's incredibly detailed art paired with Hama's dialogue. It's unfortunate that the series quickly saw a quick and distinct decline in quality (even with Hama still at the helm) by the time the 1990s rolled around.

- Sam Kieth and Bill Messner-Loeb's "The Maxx": Pop psychology meets the superhero metaphor. Kieth's quirky art and Messner-Loeb's earthy dialogue were perfect for this unconventional tale about a superhero who may or may not have been an imaginary creation borne out of a sexually abused woman's fractured psyche.   

- Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal: A somewhat unconventional samurai epic that details the travails of a disgraced swordsman who must kill 1000 evil men before he can finally be allowed to die and achieve his final rest. Of course, this brings up lots of thorny issues (what qualifies for an "evil" man worthy of killing?), and the protagonist and his cast also wax philosophical on the nature of things such as honour, the true value of living, the warrior's code, the relevance of rites and rituals in the martial arts, and other weighty topics.