The Top 100 Comic Book Runs Master List

[Shurnuff]

From CBR 2008

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



The Top 100 Comic Book Runs Master List

* by Brian Cronin
* in Top 100 Comic Book Runs

Folks have been asking to see all the Top 100 runs (as voted on by about 700 Comics Should Be Good readers, who each ranked their ten favorite runs from an ongoing comic book series from #1-10, with each ranking given a different point total - #1=10 points, #2=9 points, etc., I then counted up all the points and presented them all as a countdown) as one master list, so, well, here ya go!

Enjoy!

100 (tie). Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library - 95 points (2 first place votes)

100 (tie). Doug Moench's Master of Kung Fu - 95 points

100 (tie). Jack Cole's Plastic Man - 95 points (1 first place vote)

99. Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise - 96 points (2 first place votes)

97 (tie). Matt Wagner's Grendel - 98 points (1 first place vote)

97 (tie). Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo - 98 points (2 first place votes)

96. Denny O'Neil and Denys Cowan's The Question - 99 points (1 first place vote)

95. Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's Lone Wolf & Cub - 100 points

93 (tie). Garth Ennis' Hellblazer - 101 points (1 first place vote)

93 (tie). Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos' Alias - 101 points (1 first place vote)

92. Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen's Nextwave - 103 points (2 first place votes)

91. Mike Grell's Green Arrow - 104 points (3 first place votes)

90. Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr's X-Men - 106 points (1 first place vote)

89. Mark Gruenwald's Captain America - 107 points (3 first place votes)

88. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Doctor Strange - 108 points (2 first place votes)

86 (tie). Roy Thomas' Avengers - 109 points (2 first place votes)

86 (tie). Jim Starlin's Warlock - 109 points (1 first place vote)

85. Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier's Groo - 110 points (1 first place vote)

83 (tie). Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Thor/Tales of Asgard - 112 points (1 first place vote)

83 (tie). Warren Ellis' Stormwatch - 112 points (1 first place vote)

81 (tie). Peter Milligan and Mike Allred's X-Force/X-Statix - 113 points (2 first place votes)

81 (tie). Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Sleeper - 113 points (2 first place votes)

80. Mike Carey, Peter Gross and Ryan Kelly's Lucifer - 114 points (3 first place votes)

79. Robert Kirkman's Invincible - 115 points (1 first place vote)

78. Joe Casey's Wildcats - 117 points (1 first place vote)

77. John Byrne's Superman - 119 points (1 first place vote)

76. Paul Chadwick's Concrete - 120 points (4 first place votes)

74 (tie). Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker's Gotham Central - 122 (1 first place vote)

74 (tie). Chris Claremont and Alan Davis' Excalibur - 122 (3 first place votes)

73. Christopher Priest's Black Panther - 130 (4 first place votes)

71 (tie). Chris Claremont and Paul Smith's Uncanny X-Men - 133 (1 first place vote)

71 (tie). Chris Claremont and Marc Silvestri's Uncanny X-Men - 133 (3 first place votes)

70. Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming's Powers - 134 points (1 first place vote)

69. Peter David's 1st Run on X-Factor - 140 points (2 first place votes)

68. Alan Moore's Top Ten - 141 points (3 first place votes)

67. Peter Milligan's Shade, the Changing Man- 142 points (4 first place votes)

66. Chris Claremont's New Mutants - 144 points (4 first place votes)

65. Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle's Batman - 146 points (2 first place votes)

64. Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - 148 points (2 first place votes)

62 (tie). Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo's Fantastic Four - 150 points (1 first place votes)

62 (tie). Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets - 150 points (3 first place votes)

61. Bob Layton and David Michelinie's 1st Run on Iron Man - 152 points (2 first place votes)

60. Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch's Authority - 159 points (2 first place votes)

59. Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams' Green Lantern (co-starring Green Arrow)- 162 points (1 first place votes)

58. Roger Stern's Avengers - 164 points (3 first place votes)

56 (tie). Alan Moore's Supreme - 168 points (2 first place votes)

56 (tie). Geoff Johns' Flash - 168 points (2 first place votes)

55. Roger Stern and John Romita Jr.'s Amazing Spider-Man - 170 points (4 first place votes)

53. Geoff Johns' Green Lantern - 174 points (1 first place vote)

53. Mike Baron and Steve Rude's Nexus - 174 points (4 first place votes)

52. Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's All Star Superman- 176 points (3 first place votes)

51. Mike Mignola's Hellboy - 179 points (2 first place votes)

50. Jack Kirby's Fourth World - 180 points (2 first place votes)

49. Steve Englehart's Detective Comics - 184 points (3 first place votes)

48. Geoff Johns' JSA - 192 points (1 first place votes)

47. Joe Kelly's Deadpool - 202 points (6 first place votes)

46. Will Eisner's The Spirit - 204 points (7 first place votes)

45. John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake's The Spectre - 205 points (5 first place votes)

44. Keith Giffen and Tom and Mary Bierbaum's Legion - 208 points (4 first place votes)

43. Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Daredevil - 211 points (3 first place votes)

41 (tie). Steve Gerber's Howard the Duck - 218 points (1 first place vote)

41 (tie). Kurt Busiek's Avengers - 218 points (1 first place vote)

40. Alan Moore and J.H. Williams III's Promethea - 220 points (4 first place votes)

39. Mark Waid's 1st Flash Run - 228 points (2 first place votes)

38. Joss Whedon and John Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men - 229 points (2 first place votes)

37. Garth Ennis and John McCrea's Hitman - 232 points (6 first place votes)

36. Alan Moore's Marvelman/Miracleman - 234 points (3 first place votes)

35. Los Bros Hernandez's Love and Rockets - 236 points (5 first place votes)

34. Stan Lee and John Romita's Spider-Man - 270 points (3 first place votes)

33. Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona's Runaways - 307 points (3 first place votes)

32. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch's Ultimates - 315 points (5 first place votes)

31. Jeff Smith's Bone - 321 points (7 first place votes)

30. Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson's Astro City - 323 points (4 first place votes)

29. Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen's 1st Legion of Superheroes Run - 328 points (10 first place votes)

28. John Ostrander's Suicide Squad - 336 points (5 first place votes)

27. Grant Morrison's Invisibles - 349 points (10 first place votes)

26. Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley's Ultimate Spider-Man - 364 points (3 first place votes)

25. Dave Sim and Gerhard's Cerebus - 370 points (8 first place votes)

24. Garth Ennis' Punisher - 389 points (5 first place votes)

23. Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson's Transmetropolitan - 418 points (11 first place votes)

22. Bill Willingham's Fables - 428 points (6 first place votes)

21. Grant Morrison's Animal Man - 430 points (13 first place votes)

20. Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev's Daredevil - 480 points (9 first place votes)

19. Peter David's Hulk - 484 points (7 first place votes)

18. Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's Planetary - 493 points (7 first place votes)

17. Ed Brubaker's Captain America - 504 points (4 first place votes)

16. John Byrne's Fantastic Four - 508 points (7 first place votes)

15. Walt Simonson's Thor - 514 points (5 first place votes)

14. Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol - 524 points (12 first place votes)

13. Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's Y the Last Man - 547 points (6 first place votes)

12. Grant Morrison and Howard Porter's JLA - 574 points (7 first place votes)

11. Marv Wolfman and George Perez's Teen Titans - 643 points (15 first place votes)

10. Grant Morrison's New X-Men - 701 points (14 first place votes)

9. Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis's Justice League - 742 points (13 first place votes)

8. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher - 857 points (21 first place votes)

7. James Robinson's Starman - 921 points (35 first place votes)

6. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man - 926 points (19 first place votes)

5. Alan Moore's Swamp Thing - 942 points (30 first place votes)

4. Frank Miller and Klaus Janson on Daredevil - 988 points (12 first place votes)

3. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four - 1030 points (37 first place votes)

2. Chris Claremont and John Byrne's X-Men - 1182 points (28 first place votes)

1. Neil Gaiman's Sandman - 1318 points (42 first place votes)

 

[Megazell]

Unless I missed it - I did not see Watchmen on that list...

On another note -

56 (tie). Alan Moore's Supreme - 168 points (2 first place votes)

This book is actually what saved Superman. Read this series then take a look at what Superman was reading like back then...When Supreme went down...DC swept in and took all of what made Supreme an interesting book and put that shit right into Superman canon.

Oh yeah...that shitty Superman Returns movie story key pieces from Supreme's run also.

 

[Exodus]

Unless I missed it - I did not see Watchmen on that list...

Watchmen's a mini-series. These are/were all continuing series (either regular or a series of minis).

 

[Megazell]

Watchmen's a mini-series. These are/were all continuing series (either regular or a series of minis).

OK - I guess.

 

[clayizaiken]

wow, did this run not get any votes???

 

[tajshan]

man katz to this very day - still talk about Byrne and Claremont's run on the X-men

 

[tajshan]

Unless I missed it - I did not see Watchmen on that list...

On another note -

56 (tie). Alan Moore's Supreme - 168 points (2 first place votes)

This book is actually what saved Superman. Read this series then take a look at what Superman was reading like back then...When Supreme went down...DC swept in and took all of what made Supreme an interesting book and put that shit right into Superman canon.

Oh yeah...that shitty Superman Returns movie story key pieces from Supreme's run also.

really?

 

[Megazell]

really?

Yeah.

It's sad because if you go to a con you can pick up the TPB of Supreme for cheap ($1 to $4) then you read it and you are like...This is some good shit. It will seem familiar to you though because like I said DC bite hard in that shit.

 

[tajshan]

Yeah.

It's sad because if you go to a con you can pick up the TPB of Supreme for cheap ($1 to $4) then you read it and you are like...This is some good shit. It will seem familiar to you though because like I said DC bite hard in that shit.

I never really got into Supreme because I felt, well knew, he was a blantant Clark knock off so I can't relate to what you're referring - unless you mean the whole, bringing back Kandor, Superfamily and all that other stuff - or preferrably AllStar Superman.

 

[Shurnuff]

man katz to this very day - still talk about Byrne and Claremont's run on the X-men

And a very good run it was!!!!
The Byrne /Claremont X-men run was what got me hook, line, and sinker into buying comics!!!!
Not Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, The Fantastic Four, or The Hulk. It was the Byrne/Claremont X-Men run, great artwork and great story line!!!!!

 

[Megazell]

I never really got into Supreme because I felt, well knew, he was a blantant Clark knock off so I can't relate to what you're referring - unless you mean the whole, bringing back Kandor, Superfamily and all that other stuff - or preferrably AllStar Superman.

Yeah all of that.

Also small things like...there was an issue of Supreme where he could have caught a crook that was robbing a bank.

The press and other people asked him why he did not get involved because he could have stopped it.

He basically said humans need to solve their own problems. He would only step in for events that were above the head of humans. He also stated that had he flown in at the speed needed he would have destroyed windows and shit.

2 issues later Superman (even Flash) stop going super sonic in the streets...

 

[tajshan]

Yeah all of that.

Also small things like...there was an issue of Supreme where he could have caught a crook that was robbing a bank.

The press and other people asked him why he did not get involved because he could have stopped it.

He basically said humans need to solve their own problems. He would only step in for events that were above the head of humans. He also stated that had he flown in at the speed needed he would have destroyed windows and shit.

2 issues later Superman (even Flash) stop going super sonic in the streets...

I agree with you about that Supreme, that was great writing and added a realistic depth to the character.
But as far as the Superman mythos - call me a stickler but I liked the John Byrne revamp; having Clark be the last of his race made him unique. Now they got Kryptonians coming out of the wood work so what does that make Superman - just another Kryptonian.....

 

[Megazell]

I agree with you about that Supreme, that was great writing and added a realistic depth to the character.
But as far as the Superman mythos - call me a stickler but I liked the John Byrne revamp; having Clark be the last of his race made him unique. Now they got Kryptonians coming out of the wood work so what does that make Superman - just another Kryptonian.....

Dude if DC can make money selling living ice cream that happen to be the real father of Superman - They would do it in a heart beat.

I think Marvel is the same now too.

The indie books are where it's at now for story with grit and resolve.

 

[heavyhand]

next year JMS' run on Thor better be on that list

 

[Shadowless_Fist]

Did I miss seeing Bendis/Bagley Ultimate Spider-man?
I thought they made a great team and the fact they stayed together as a team for 100 issues was worthy of note.
There is nothing more annoying then falling in love a book, only to have the team that made get hooked leave a few issues in.
But great list!