checking it twice
I love favorites lists, but I hate canons. Or rather, I hate the idea of The Canon, some uber-list that represents the collective opinion of all the recognized authorities butting their heads together until a certain number of titles are left standing. It's notoriously hard to get new or marginalized works added to it, and it can be very off-putting to require newcomers to master everything on it before they'll be taken seriously. But I love individual people's lists of favorites; they're more diverse and idiosyncratic and they reflect tastes and personality.
So, here comes my current list of a hundred favorite comics. In some cases, I put down a partial run of a longer series. Comics corporations routinely treat the members of a creative team like interchangeable parts on an assembly line, and many a book has gone from gold to crap (and occasionally vice versa). For some of the really long or really old series here, I may not have read all of them, so I'm doing my best to form an opinion from what I've gotten my hands on. As with my list of films, there's no strict ranking, but the ones at the start are the ones I like the most. Here we go:
Amy Unbounded by Rachel Hartman
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Wendel by Howard Cruse
King by Ho Che Anderson
Elfquest by Wendy and Richard Pini
Pogo by Walt Kelly
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
Face by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo
Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio
Kabuki by David Mack
The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot
Percy Gloom by Cathy Malkasian
Digger by Ursula Vernon
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Dare by Grant Morrison and Rian Hughes
The Girl Who Would Be Death by Caitlin R. Kiernan and Dean Ormston
Leonard & Larry by Tim Barela
Phoenix: A Tale of the Future by Osamu Tezuka
Cud by Terry LaBan
Teknophage 1-6 by Rick Veitch and Bryan Talbot
Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
Eye of Mongombo by Doug Gray
Lucifer by Mike Carey et al.
Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
Brought to Light by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz
Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower
Chiaroscuro by Pat McGreal, David Rawson and Chas Truog
Charley's War by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun
Sisterhood of Steel by Christy Marx and Mike Vosburg
Zot! Book One by Scott McCloud
Naughty Bits by Roberta Gregory
Fortune and Glory by Brian Michael Bendis
Buck Godot: Gallimaufry by Phil Foglio
Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot
Bacchus by Eddie Campbell
Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
Elektra: Assassin by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz
Finder by Carla Speed McNeil
The Kin-Der-Kids by Lyonel Feininger
Nausicaa and the Valley of Wind by Hayao Miyazaki
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison et al.
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran
Kings in Disguise by James Vance and Dan Burr
Time Breakers by Rachel Pollack and Chris Weston
Goodnight Irene by Carol Lay
Mythos: The Final Tour by John Ney Rieber et al.
Yendie Wildcritter: Little Monster with an Attitude by S.E. Mills
Mobfire by Gary Ushaw and Warren Pleece
The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee and Trina Robbins
Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Snake and Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret by Michael Kupperman
Family Affair by Will Eisner
Powerhouse Pepper by Basil Wolverton
American Freak by Dave Louapre and Vince Locke
Desert Peach by Donna Barr
The Spiral Cage by Al Davison
X-Force/X-Statix by Peter Milligan and Michael Allred
Max and Lily by Kris Dresen
Tintin by Herge
Metaphysique by Norm Breyfogle
Oktane by Gerard Jones and Gene Ha
Strangehaven by Gary Spencer Millidge
Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay
Polly and the Pirates by Ted Naifeh
Concrete by Paul Chadwick
Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks
The Legend of Mother Sarah by Katsuhiro Otomo and Takumi Nagayasu
Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson
Where I'm Coming From by Barbara Brandon
Monkey Food by Ellen Forney
A Bit of Madness by Emmanuel Civiello and Thomas Mosdi
The Golem's Mighty Swing by James Sturm
Radical Dreamer by Mark Wheatley
Wandering Star by Teri Sue Wood
Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai
A Child's Life and Other Stories by Phoebe Gloeckner
Birth of a Nation by Aaron McGruder, Reginald Hudlin Jr. and Kyle Baker
Radioactive Man by Steve and Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison
Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore
Krazy Kat by George Herriman
Palestine by Joe Sacco
The Grasshopper and the Ant by Harvey Kurtzman
Heartbreakers by Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan
Finals by Will Pfeiffer and Jill Thompson
The Ballad of Halo Jones by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson
Small Favors by Colleen Coover
Manya by Jen Benka and Kris Dresen
God Save the Queen by Mike Carey and John Bolton
Narbonic by Shaenon K. Garrity
Tranzilla by Rahne Alexander
Southern Cross by Laurence Hyde
Dungeon by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim
Blood Syndicate 1-10 by Ivan Velez Jr., Dwayne McDuffie et al.
Omaha the Cat Dancer by Kate Worley and Reed Waller
Hate! by Peter Bagge
Cages by Dave McKean
The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton, Dave Sheridan and Paul Mavrides
Hmm. Maybe with that out of my system, I can dig up the inspiration to go back to making some of my own comics.
So, here comes my current list of a hundred favorite comics. In some cases, I put down a partial run of a longer series. Comics corporations routinely treat the members of a creative team like interchangeable parts on an assembly line, and many a book has gone from gold to crap (and occasionally vice versa). For some of the really long or really old series here, I may not have read all of them, so I'm doing my best to form an opinion from what I've gotten my hands on. As with my list of films, there's no strict ranking, but the ones at the start are the ones I like the most. Here we go:
Amy Unbounded by Rachel Hartman
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Wendel by Howard Cruse
King by Ho Che Anderson
Elfquest by Wendy and Richard Pini
Pogo by Walt Kelly
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
Face by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo
Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio
Kabuki by David Mack
The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot
Percy Gloom by Cathy Malkasian
Digger by Ursula Vernon
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Dare by Grant Morrison and Rian Hughes
The Girl Who Would Be Death by Caitlin R. Kiernan and Dean Ormston
Leonard & Larry by Tim Barela
Phoenix: A Tale of the Future by Osamu Tezuka
Cud by Terry LaBan
Teknophage 1-6 by Rick Veitch and Bryan Talbot
Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
Eye of Mongombo by Doug Gray
Lucifer by Mike Carey et al.
Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel
Brought to Light by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewicz
Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower
Chiaroscuro by Pat McGreal, David Rawson and Chas Truog
Charley's War by Pat Mills and Joe Colquhoun
Sisterhood of Steel by Christy Marx and Mike Vosburg
Zot! Book One by Scott McCloud
Naughty Bits by Roberta Gregory
Fortune and Glory by Brian Michael Bendis
Buck Godot: Gallimaufry by Phil Foglio
Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot
Bacchus by Eddie Campbell
Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
Elektra: Assassin by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz
Finder by Carla Speed McNeil
The Kin-Der-Kids by Lyonel Feininger
Nausicaa and the Valley of Wind by Hayao Miyazaki
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison et al.
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran
Kings in Disguise by James Vance and Dan Burr
Time Breakers by Rachel Pollack and Chris Weston
Goodnight Irene by Carol Lay
Mythos: The Final Tour by John Ney Rieber et al.
Yendie Wildcritter: Little Monster with an Attitude by S.E. Mills
Mobfire by Gary Ushaw and Warren Pleece
The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee and Trina Robbins
Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Snake and Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret by Michael Kupperman
Family Affair by Will Eisner
Powerhouse Pepper by Basil Wolverton
American Freak by Dave Louapre and Vince Locke
Desert Peach by Donna Barr
The Spiral Cage by Al Davison
X-Force/X-Statix by Peter Milligan and Michael Allred
Max and Lily by Kris Dresen
Tintin by Herge
Metaphysique by Norm Breyfogle
Oktane by Gerard Jones and Gene Ha
Strangehaven by Gary Spencer Millidge
Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay
Polly and the Pirates by Ted Naifeh
Concrete by Paul Chadwick
Zombies Calling by Faith Erin Hicks
The Legend of Mother Sarah by Katsuhiro Otomo and Takumi Nagayasu
Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson
Where I'm Coming From by Barbara Brandon
Monkey Food by Ellen Forney
A Bit of Madness by Emmanuel Civiello and Thomas Mosdi
The Golem's Mighty Swing by James Sturm
Radical Dreamer by Mark Wheatley
Wandering Star by Teri Sue Wood
Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai
A Child's Life and Other Stories by Phoebe Gloeckner
Birth of a Nation by Aaron McGruder, Reginald Hudlin Jr. and Kyle Baker
Radioactive Man by Steve and Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison
Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore
Krazy Kat by George Herriman
Palestine by Joe Sacco
The Grasshopper and the Ant by Harvey Kurtzman
Heartbreakers by Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan
Finals by Will Pfeiffer and Jill Thompson
The Ballad of Halo Jones by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson
Small Favors by Colleen Coover
Manya by Jen Benka and Kris Dresen
God Save the Queen by Mike Carey and John Bolton
Narbonic by Shaenon K. Garrity
Tranzilla by Rahne Alexander
Southern Cross by Laurence Hyde
Dungeon by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim
Blood Syndicate 1-10 by Ivan Velez Jr., Dwayne McDuffie et al.
Omaha the Cat Dancer by Kate Worley and Reed Waller
Hate! by Peter Bagge
Cages by Dave McKean
The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton, Dave Sheridan and Paul Mavrides
Hmm. Maybe with that out of my system, I can dig up the inspiration to go back to making some of my own comics.