The 10 Greatest Graphic Novels
Jun 23 '02 (Updated Oct 30 '05)
The Bottom Line UPDATED as of Oct. 30, 2005, read it again!
10.) "The Death of Superman"
"Most will remember this sad day as the day the proudest, most noble man they ever knew finally fell."
While this graphic novel isn't half as well-written as any of the other items on this list, I include it for two reasons: it was the graphic novel that got me hooked on comic books initially, and because it showed that even superheroes are not invincible (it was easier to foresee Batman getting his back broken in the "Knightfall" storyline or even that Robin could die in the "Death in the Family" storyline than it was that Superman could die). The shame with this storyline, and the reason why most don't take it seriously anymore, is because they completely undid it without any consequences, once again showing how unrealistic comic books are, when they brought Superman back. There were ways to bring him back with lasting consequences, to have him be affected by that change forever, but they didn't do any of those things, they made it into a marketing gimmick. But for the time, this comic book changed superhero comic books.
9.) The Punisher, "Welcome Back, Frank"
"All I have to do is stand up, walk a block and a half with six bullets in my chest, hope I don't pass out, and I'm home. After all, how hard can that be?"
Sure, the movie that was based on this particular storyline was a disaster (practically as bad as "Batman and Robin"), but the comic book is pure adrenaline from start to finish. Writer Garth Ennis takes an odd mix of humor, action (often with brutal violence, as the Punisher kills his victims in creative and unique ways), and in the midst of all the brutality, an unexpected bit of humanity that you don't normally see in a Punisher storyline. We don't just see the Punisher killing bad guys here, we also see the place that Frank Castle has to go at night to call his home, and the unlikely friends that he makes out of his neighbors. If only Ennis' later Punisher storylines were this great...
8.) Batman - "The Long Halloween"
"You know the system doesn't work. That justice can be decided like the flip of a coin."
I've read a lot of Batman stories that show the origin of one of his enemies, and none of them were really all that plausible. However, this story, which is essentially a retelling of Two-Face's origin makes him a truly compelling and believably character (it goes way beyond simply showing acid being poured onto his face). At the same time, it functions as a great murder mystery (and one with a genuinely surprising ending, unlike Jeph Loeb's other work, "Hush," which I will bad mouth at least one other time on this list before it's through). Needless to say, I don't want to spoil any of the surprises, but I can tell you that this story is good enough to be enjoyed even by those who aren't truly Batman fans (shame on you if you're not).
7.) Aquaman - "Time and Tide"
"It was as if he were born a loaded weapon, looking for somewhere to point, and ultimately he wound up aiming himself at me."
Leave it to writer Peter David to make a superhero whose only power is to talk to fish seem cool, but he actually pulled it off. Here, we see Aquaman as an outsider to the surface world, totally ignorant of its customs, and hating it for constantly rejecting him. At the same time, he doesn't truly fit in under the seas, taking the form of an ordinary human being. We also see Aquaman battling not just the usual super villains, but also his inner demons (discovering dark family secrets and facing apparent insanity). This is hardly the Aquaman from the Super Friends (shudder...) Check this one out for a big surprise.
6.) New X-Men, "E is For Extinction"
"Do you want to know the real message of evolution? All life winds up as manure."
I was shocked when I first read Grant Morrison's take on the X-Men as to how dark it was, showing the brutality of evolution itself, a concept that most writers overlook despite the fact that X-Men is about mutants, the next step in human evolution. The story begins with the revelation that homo sapiens are doomed to extinction within just a few generations. As if that wasn't harsh enough, the story features nothing short of a mutant holocaust, in which over sixteen million mutants are murdered all at once at the hands of Professor Xavier's evil twin sister, a truly sadistic villian who wants to do more than just destroy the X-Men, she wants to humiliate them first. The truly amazing part of this storyline, however, is the way it brings out the depth in characters such as Cyclops that has never appeared to exist there before, but which we wonder how we've never seen.
5.) Hitman - "10,000 Bullets"
"You point a gun at most guys an' it paralyzes 'em. It's like they're hypnotized starin' down the barrel, thinkin' about what it'll do to 'em. But it ain't the gun that's gonna tell 'em that. It's the guy holdin' it. It's his eyes."
This is no run-of-the-mill superhero. He's a hired killer, but with a conscience, refusing to kill cops or anyone who doesn't deserve it. Yeah, he's got some super-powers, but he hardly ever relies on them, trusting instead his instincts and his good buddy "Natt the Hatt," another hired killer who has given up swearing for the rest of his life to honor his deceased mother. This is probably the most underacknowledged comic book on the list, playing out like a great movie, where you find yourself really caring about the characters, despite the horrible career they've chosen (or rather the career that's chosen them), and saddened whenever tragedy inevitably but unexpectedly strikes.
4.) Batman - "The Dark Knight Returns"
"You don't get it, boy... This isn't a mudhole, it's an operating table. And I'm the surgeon."
Frank Miller proved to be the greatest Batman writer of all time with this graphic novel, showcasing an older version of Batman (whose body is as much of an obstacle as anything his enemies can throw at him), and who has found that there are more sinister forces at work in the world than simply The Joker. Here, the Batman fights the system itself (eager to rehabilitate criminals that are incapable of rehabilitation), which has taken even Superman, and turned him against Batman to stop his crusade. Miller doesn't wimp out on this fight either, the reader is actually treated to an all-out brawl between Superman and Batman (rather shamelessly lifted into the pages of the regular Batman comics during Jeph Loeb's "Hush" storyline, even though he can be forgiven given how great a writer he is). The surprise in that fight is how well Batman is able to handle himself, proving that his brains will always be a match for Superman's sometimes blind and foolish strength.
3.) The Sandman, "The Kindly Ones"
"Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like 'maybe we should just be friends' or 'how very perceptive' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart."
In the prior version of my list of the 10 best graphic novels of all time, I included "The Dolls House," a different collection in the Sandman storyline. Upon further thought, however, I've decided that "The Kindly Ones" is an overall better story, and more representative of what writer Neil Gaiman is truly capable of (his comics are simply an art form, more sophisticated than most any novel lacking picture that I've ever read). While this collection near the end of the Sandman storyline may seem difficult to follow, since it has frequent references to characters and plotlines from prior issues, some of that is attributable to Gaiman's style of writing, which has this unique way of plucking you out of whatever environment you're in that makes sense, and sending you into a dreamlike place (in fact, the storyline is about the world of dreams itself) that is disorienting and confusing, and when you're done reading it, you're left to wander aimlessly for a few minutes until you return to the waking world. It's simply that good.
2.) Animal Man, "Deus Ex Machina"
"I'm the evil mastermind behind the scenes. I'm the wicked puppeteer who pulls the strings and makes you dance. I'm your writer."
This one is the most innovative and experimental graphic novel on the list, challening the conventions of the medium much like The Beatles did with music, and pushing it so many years ahead of its time that no one has yet surpassed it. The line quoted above are the words of writer Grant Morrison, but not just because he was the writer of the comic. Grant also introduced himself into the comic as a character, coming face to face with the character who he brought to life with his writing.
That alone should be enough to capture your interest to check out this revival of what was a rather lame and infrequently used character in the DC universe. However, if that's not enough, what about comic book characters that become aware that they're in a comic book, and try to break free? Or a universe where comic book characters exist when they're not being used and have been long forgotten (such as the superhero team "The Inferior Five," which if you haven't heard of them, is exactly the point).
Underneath this challenging gimmick, however, is also a deeply emotional story about a man who was helpless to prevent himself from losing everything he cared about, even with all of his powers (the ability to take on the attributes of any animal in the vicinity). Plotwise, you probably won't be able to follow the story unless you've read the prior two Animal Man graphic novels (which are also highly recommended, even if not quite as groundbreaking as this one), but for anyone who's ever loved the comics medium, this is one that you simply can't pass up.
1.) Preacher, "Until the End of the World"
"You gotta be one of the goods guys, son: 'cause there's way too many of the bad."
This is it, the best graphic novel of all time. It grabs you with a brutal ferocity from page one, as much like a young version of the main character, Jesse Custer, we're forced to witness the brutal murder of Custer's father. That could describe the origin of a certain well-known superhero who dresses in tights and lives in a cave under his mansion, but the similarities stop there. Custer's father, who departed the words of wisdom quoted above to his son, was not murdered by a random killer on the streets, but rather by order of his depraved mother-in-law, who serves as about the most frightening bad guy the comic book industry has ever seen.
And it doesn't pull any punches either. In this collection of the best stories ever taken from the amazing "Preacher" storyline, we witness Custer's upbringing, seeing not just his father murdered, but everyone who was close to him. We see him trapped in a coffin underwater as a form of punishment whenever he dared to speak back to his grandmother. But throughout it all, we see the making of an unlikely hero. He doesn't go around dressing in tights and saving people, he curses, he drinks, he smokes, and at times, he even kills. Perhaps he's even more ruthless than the bad guys. But through it all, he's still a good guy, who, with his power of "The Word" (which allows him to command anyone to do anything, and they have no choice but to obey) giving anyone who's ever lacked a voice just that.
It's heavy, it's bloody, and it's not for younger audiences, but unlike say, Grand Theft Auto, it doesn't celebrate violence for the sake of violence. And underneath it all, "Preacher" is believe it or not a love story, one of the most compelling I've ever read. All of which, when coupled with Steve Dillon's emotion-capturing artwork which looks like nothing else, make this the greatest collection of comic books ever.
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