Favorite comics of all time

[maxlords]

What are your favorite comics of all time? I'm not talking "I love Superman comics" or "Archie is so keen!". I mean specifics people. Hopefully this thread will lead people to check out a few books that they've never read before!

Some of my all time favorites (just a handful in no real order):

Blue Devil 1-31 (DC, 80s)
The Thing From Another World #1, 2, TFAW: Climate of Fear 1-4 (Dark Horse, 90s)
Give me Liberty 1-4 (Dark Horse, 80s)
Solar: Man of the Atom 1-60 (Valiant, 90s)
Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1-28 (Dark Horse late 90s, First Comics 80s)
Transmetropolitan 1-60 (DC Vertigo, 90s)
Amazing Spider-man #329-350 (Erik Larsen run, Marvel, 90s)
Amazing Spider-man #471-545 (Stracyznski run, Marvel 00s)
Aliens B&W 1-6, Color 1-4, Earth War 1-4, Genocide 1-4 (Dark Horse, 80s-90s)
Xenozoic Tales 1-14 (Kitchen Sink 90s)
Miracleman 1-24 (Eclipse, 80s)

There's a few specifics for ya! Please feel free to add!

[Flashback2012]

I'll try to be as specific as possible but I think it'd be easier to list runs...

Kurt Busiek's Astro City, particularly the original run and especially #1/2
Paul Dini's run on Detective Comics, Batman: Streets of Gotham, and Gotham City Sirens
Paul Cornell's run on Action Comics
Scott Snyder's run on Detective Comics has been pretty good and worth reading (I just like it when writers get the Joker right and this is one case)

There's plenty more that I can't think of off the top of my head. One of my guilty pleasures is Crisis on Infinite Earths but I'm loathe to recommend that to anyone.

EDIT: Forgot one...Judd Winick's run on Batman. I normally cannot stand Winick and his incessant need to constantly drop his agenda into comics but his re-do of Jason Todd as the Red Hood is top notch and the character is much needed punch in the arm to the Batman-verse. I love the idea of Jason being the black sheep who didn't trot down the same path as the other Robins and plays by his own set of rules. DC has of course abused the concept since and I've no desire to read the Red Hood book they're doing in Sept. but the original run Winick had was admittedly very good.

[slapdash]

I'll put a shout-out for Usagi Yojimbo. It's been around a long time, and for a good reason. It's damn good, sometimes light-hearted, sometimes quite serious, you get some Japanese culture and history, all with a rabbit ronin with a sword as the focus. What's not to like?

[Mayhem]

Of course I have to second Usagi Yojimbo, considering I've been reading it for around 15 years now. Plus you know you're considered a well-known fan to its creator, Stan Sakai, when he includes you in the celebration #100 issue heh.

[slapdash]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that! And I think I had a letter I wrote ABOUT that issue published not long after...

[kirin jensen]

I'm probably going to forget more than a few, given my love for comics and how many I read.

Road to Perdition. Gorgeous art and a great story by Max Alan Collins.

Persepolis. Quickly becoming a cheap reference point for lazy reviewers to cite (along with Art Spiegelman's Maus) to shore up their bona fides as knowledgeable comics readers, but with good reason. Great coming-of-age biography set in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

Maus. An absolute must-read.

Fax from Sarajevo. Joe Kubert's compelling story of his friend's struggle to survive during the Bosnian conflict.

Anything by Frans Masereel.

Six Novels in Woodcuts by Lynd Ward.

Jar of Fools and Berlin by Jason Lutes. Jar of Fools is an elliptical study of people who are lost in their own lives. Poetic, but a bit abrupt in its ending. Berlin is a multvolume story of people in Berlin at the time of the rise of the Nazi state. Compelling.

Mouse Guard.

I'm going to stop there. I really need to make a detailed list, not to mention notes on which are out of print.

[Mayhem]

Ah, another Mouse Guard fan! Always good to find more of them heh...

[maxlords]

Fax from Sarejevo is brilliant and heart-wrenching.

[XYXZYZ]

I liked superhero comics up until the Image boom started getting stale, and I started getting into manga in 1992 or thereabouts (wasn't much to choose from back then, Mai the Psychic Girl and whatever Viz and Darkhorse titles would pop up.)

So, my all time favorite single comics, counting graphic novels (GN) as a single comics, are-

Excalibur #42
Uncanny Xmen #273

Savage Tales #1
Savage Sword #4
King Size Conan the Barbarian #1

Orion (by Masamune Shirow) (GN)
Mai the Psychic Girl Vol.1 (GN)
Maison Ikokku Vol... 3? (GN)
Urusei Yatsura Vol.1 (GN)
Ranma 1/2 Vol.1 (GN)

Bone (One Volume Edition) (GN)
Cerebus - High Society (GN)
Cerebus Church & State I (GN)
Cerebus Church & State II (GN)

And I'll add more with I think of them.

[slapdash]

If we're talking graphic novels as well as regular titles, I'll put in Blankets by Craig Thompson as a fine, fine read.

[Baloo]

Including manga? Well, I must say Blackjack by Osamu Tekuza is definitely one of the best things I've ever read.

[TonyTheTiger]

Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory probably together rank as my favorite of all time. But that depends on my mood as I have too many favorites to list.

Pretty much the entire run of Superman/Batman is great, give or take a story arc or two.

Absolutely anything Captain America written by either Mark Waid or Ed Brubaker. The two of them define what I feel is Cap in his purest form.

Superman: Red Son. Probably the single best Elseworlds.

I have a soft spot for Superman: Godfall. It's not a "great" story but it's just charming and fun. Something I think too many people forget are what comics are all about: Having fun.

The Sonic The Hedgehog comic is very good. So good, in fact, I read through the entire run up until this point.

The new Mega Man by Archie is also shaping up to be great. Which is good since the previous Dreamwave one sucked ass.

Udon's stuff is also generally very good, although terrible with release schedules.

I generally don't read much manga but a few stand out:

Dragon Ball (I'm a huge Dragon Ball fan in general.)

Dragon Half (I have a thing for cartoon teenage redheads. Sue me. And Dragon Half also happens to be one of the best satires of anime/manga in general along with Project A-Ko.)

[Guyra]

Definitely The Nikopol Trilogy for my part. Other comics that I rank high are Transmetropolitan, Y - The Last Man, and Preacher.

And I have to agree with Superman: Red Son - I'm no big fan of superhero comics, but this one was a stroke of genius. ^^

[kirin jensen]

Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze is pretty amazing.

Silent Invasion is great though out of print.

Kyle Baker's The Cowboy Wally Show deserves a mention, if only because it's one the funniest things I've ever read.

[kafa111]

boris the bear
probably the funniest/most awesome comic ive read

[Parodius Duh!]

Howard the Duck, both the marvel magazine and marvel comics issues kick major ass. The New Guardians of the Galaxy is fucking badass, their base is the severed head of a celestial!!!!!!!

Infinity Gauntlet is an epic read.

Ive been reading Secret Six since their limited series in '05, Just finished Blackest Night (as well as all the tie in issues), epic fucking read! dont know why DC decided to reboot their comics immediately after finishing blackest night/brightest day.....to say the least Im done with DC for a while.