100 Comics, or Graphic Novels, to Read Before You Die?

[Artistsean]

What would be the comics you think someone should read before they die?
I am starting a list, based on a book I saw at a store about the 1001 paintings you must see before you die (showing classics like Van Gogh and Picassos),
But I thought 100 was good enough.
They can be single issue comics or graphic novels, DC or Marvel or Dark Horse or whatever.
They can be mature content or children comics.
They can be about any subject as well, superhero or realistic or cartoony.
Which ones have the best art, or the best writing, or both?

If there is a thread like this already I am sorry for posting this.

Are there any comics that you think someone has to read before they die.

 

[Artistsean]

I should clarify, I am not asking for anyone to list all 100 comics.
I was just asking for some recommendations, so that I might start compiling a list or something.

 

[st barbara]

Okay i'll start by recommending any of the "Astro City" or "Top Ten" collections !

 

[Obi-Ron]

Anything by Osamu Tezuka, especially his 8-volume biography of Buddha or 11-volume time-jumping epic Phoenix

If I was making this list I'd have 19 down right off the bat.

 

[GNR]

from the top of my head at the moment...

• The American Way by John Ridley and Georges Jeanty
• The Authority by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch
• Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday
• The Golden Age by James Robinson and Paul Smith
• Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross
• Batman The Long Halloween/Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Time Sale
• Marvels by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
• New Frontier by Darywn Cooke and Dave Stewart
• Captain America by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting/Mike Perkins/Butch Guice
• Superman For All Seasons by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
• Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev
• Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• Thor Disassembled:Ragnarok by Michael Oeming and Andrea DiVitto
• Justice by Jim Kreuger/Alex Ross/Doug Braithwaite
• Casanova by Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba/Fabio Moon
• The Ultimates 1 and 2 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch
• Avengers Under Siege by Roger Stern and John Buscema
• Flash:Return of Barry Allen by Mark Waid and Greg LaRocque
• Rising Stars by JMS and Christian Zanier/Brent Anderson
• Green Lantern Rebirth by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver
• Thor Blood Oath by Michael Oeming and Scott Kolins
• Superman Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek and Stuart Immonen
• Young Avengers by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung
• Batman Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli
• Superman Red Son by Mark Millar and Dave Johnson

 

[tzarinna]

I like this list.

 

[film_geek]

Transmetropolitan vol 1 by Warren Ellis, Fables vol 1 by Bill Willingham, Preacher vol 1 by Garth Ennis, Lost Girls by Alan Moore.

there's a few to start off with.

 

[Artistsean]

I have read a few of the ones mentioned, and others I haven't gotten to yet.

What about Will Eisner, anything by him?
I am reading a compilation book by him right now called Life in Pictures. Don't know if its a must read but its a semi autobiography on his life, his art, his time in the war, his comic career and his comic friends, and the racism he faced.

I think eventually I will put all the comics mentioned together in a list, and people can tell me if they agree or dissagree. Or somethinbg like that, there is still time.

Oh, I just thought of one (perhaps) what about Little Nemo?

 

[High-Father]

The MaxImmortal by Rick Veitch

New Gods by Jack Kirby

All B.P.R.D.

All Astro City

Watchmen (of course)

Just to name a few ....

 

[Mladen]

No point seperating it out into single volumes if its something like Preacher or Sandman where the idea was carried through from its initial conception to completion by a single writer with a single vision. The distinction between volumes in those cases is pretty much arbitrary (and suggesting volume 1 in a lot of cases may not be the best choice).
when its several writers on a title (something like Hellblazer), then recommending a specific story may be the way to go (and saying: Collected in _____).

For me, the following are must-reads:

Little Nemo in Slumberland - Windsor McKay
Cerebus - Dave Sim
Preacher - Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
Sandman - Neil Gaiman
Akira - Katsuhiro Otomo
Y The Last Man - Brian K Vaughan and Pia Guerra
DMZ - Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth - Chris Ware
Strange Embrace - David Hine
City of Glass - Paul Aster, David Mazzucchelli, Paul Karasik
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore
Maus - Art Spiegelman
Understanding Comics - Scott McCloud
Epileptic - David B
Asterix - Goscinny and Uderzo
Tintin - Herge
The Nightly News - Jonathon Hickman

I don't personally exclude comic strips from these types of lists either (can't think of a reason not to include them?):
Peanuts - Charles Schultz
Calvin and Hobbes - Bill Watterson
The Perry Bible Fellowship - Nicholas Gurewitch

There's so much more, i'm inclined to make my own list if anyone were to ever read it.

A while back Scott O Brown at CBR did a piece on how to approach defining a 'canon' for comic books. its a good read if you're interesting in trying to create a method for which to evaluate and determine what has a lasting relevance in comics.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/authorlist.cgi?authorid=93

 

[Mladen]

Oh, I just thought of one (perhaps) what about Little Nemo?

Little Nemo is fantastic. McKay does some truly amazing things with that comic

 

[Obi-Ron]

How many made it to that list, Artistsean?

 

[Olivier]

Carl Barks' Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics (plus his Walt Disney's Comics and Stories ten-pagers)
Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse daily strips
a special thread would be needed to detail the essential titles by both

Alan Moore's From Hell
Alan Moore's Swamp Thing
Alan Moore's Promethea

E.C. horror & science fiction comics-- this one would also require a full discussion to pick the very best

 

[cerealkiller182]

What would be the comics you think someone should read before they die?
I am starting a list, based on a book I saw at a store about the 1001 paintings you must see before you die (showing classics like Van Gogh and Picassos),
But I thought 100 was good enough.
They can be single issue comics or graphic novels, DC or Marvel or Dark Horse or whatever.
They can be mature content or children comics.
They can be about any subject as well, superhero or realistic or cartoony.
Which ones have the best art, or the best writing, or both?

If there is a thread like this already I am sorry for posting this.

Are there any comics that you think someone has to read before they die.

Kinda off topic but there are quite a few of the 1001 things before you die books if anyone was interested. I believe theres books to read, songs to hear, and albums to hear. Theres definitely movies to watch because I own that one. Its not bad, there are a few surprising entries as well as some surprising left out


Id also like to add 30 Days of Night. Im surprised the setting hasnt already been used.THe art is real moody. Although I might be biased since iloe vampstories and Steve Niles work.

Big fan of the first League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volume. very cool, very creative

 

[Artistsean]

Thats cool, I just saw it in a store once and flipped through it... the works of art book.
I haven't counted it in a while but I am not sure we made it up to 100 yet. Also I am not sure how I would count it either. I guess just make a list out of the ones listed and people could write in and say which they agree with and which should be taken off.

Does that sound like it would work?

 

[cerealkiller182]

As good as any

I'd also like to add Orign (the Wolvie story) and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.

 

[Max J Power]

Some that haven't been mentioned:

Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont & John Byrne/Dave Cockrum
Daredevil by Frank Miller
Sin City by Frank Miller
The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
Hellboy by Mike Mignola
Astonshing X-Men by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday

 

[Gabe99]

Robot 6 Exclusive:
Fantagraphics to publish the complete Carl Barks

In what is sure to be one of the most acclaimed comics events of 2011, Fantagraphics has announced that they will be publishing a definitive collection of Carl Barks’ seminal run of Donald Duck comic stories. In an exclusive interview with Robot 6, Fantagraphics co-publisher Gary Groth revealed that the company – which announced their plans to publish Floyd Gottfredson’s Mickey Mouse comics last summer – had acquired the rights to reprint Barks’ work from Disney and that the first volume will be released in fall of this year. The comics will be published in hardcover volumes, with two volumes coming out every year, at a price of about $25 per volume.

Although the stories will be printed in chronological order, the first volume, “Lost in the Andes,” will cover the beginning of Barks’ “peak” period, circa about 1948. The second volume, “Only a Poor Old Man,” will cover roughly the years 1952-54 and feature the first Uncle Scrooge story. Later volumes will fill in the missing gaps, including his earlier work, in a process somewhat similar to Fantagraphics’ publication of George Herriman’s “Krazy Kat.”

For those who aren’t familiar with the name, the Barks library has been one of the great missing links in a time that many have dubbed the “golden age of reprints.” Acclaimed around the globe for his rich storytelling and characterization, as well as excellent craftsmanship, Barks has long been regarded as one of the great cartoonists of the 20th century, equal to luminaries like Charles Schulz, Robert Crumb and Harvey Kurtzman. He’s been one of the few major American cartoonists whose work has, up till now, not been collected in a comprehensive, manner respectful of his talent (at least not in North America), however, so this announcement comes as extremely good news for any who read and love good comics, let alone are familiar with Barks’ work.

Fantagraphics will release an official announcement about the project tomorrow. In the meantime, click on the link to read our exclusive interview with Gary Groth

From Hero Complex:
Wait, 'Inception' stole everything from Scrooge McDuck?

Is it fowl play? “Inception” is being hailed as a rare burst of true originality in contemporary Hollywood moviemaking but, as the above panel makes painfully clear, Christopher Nolan will soon be dealing with accusations that his complex dream-world heist film is really just a live-action adaption of a Scrooge McDuck comic-book story from 2004 titled “The Dream of a Lifetime.” Kudos to Videogum for uncovering this scandal. What, you think we’re blowing this out of proportion? Hey, listen, if it walks like a duck…

– Geoff Boucher

From CBR: Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #133

COMIC URBAN LEGEND: The rolling boulder scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark was an homage to a Carl Barks' Uncle Scrooge comic.

STATUS: True

The fact that George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg's Indiana Jones was at least partially inspired by Carl Barks' classic Uncle Scrooge comics is fairly evident, as Indiana Jones' globe-trotting searches for lost artifacts are extremely similar to Uncle Scrooge's similar trips (along with his nephew Donald and his other nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie). This fact was made quite clear when George Lucas wrote the introduction to the 1980's collection of Carl Barks' comics, Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge McDuck: His Life and Times, and spoke directly about the influence

From Comics Alliance:
The Complete Carl Barks Coming in All New Color at Fantagraphics

Yesterday, Fantagraphics announced that they will be publishing the complete work of Carl Barks, the acclaimed cartoonist best known for his work on the Disney "duck books" like Donald Duck and stories in the larger Duckburg universe, including the creation of Scrooge McDuck. Known by fans as "The Good Duck Artist" because of his standout work at a time when most Disney cartoonists were anonymous, Barks ultimately became a name onto himself, drawing Donald Duck from 1942 to 1966 in stories that would later inspired Will Eisner to call Barks "the Hans Christian Andersen of comic books."

In an interview at Robot 6, Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth called the announcement a "get" comparable to their publication of the work of Peanuts creator Charles Schultz, and said that the publishing contract with Disney had been in the works for a couple of years. Groth says he hopes the new Fantagraphics editions of Barks's work will give American audiences a greater appreciation for Barks's work, which is highly regarded by European comics fans:

"What I want to do is publish books that will find a general readership, because he deserves one. He deserves as wide a readership as possible. He's accessible enough. He's not one of those arcane, obscure cartoonists that the general public wouldn't understand. His stuff can be read by children or adults, it can be understood on different levels. One of my goals is to publish it in a format that will reach that wider readership. I'm hoping parents buy it, read it themselves and also give it to their kids to read."

One of the greatest and often underappreciated cartoonists of the 20th century this side of the Atlantic, Barks currently has a great deal of work that currently out of print, while the rest had been released sporadically in black and white paperback editions by Gemstone, the publishing arm of Diamond Comics Distributors. Groth says these treatments of the material didn't make "much of an impression" on most readers, and now, Barks is slated to get the full Fantagraphics treatment, including a series of 30 hardcover editions that collects his work chronologically, each with a combination of short and long stories and background material, priced at $24.99 for 240 pages with complete recoloring by Rich Tommaso.


The first edition of the series is expected in fall 2011.

 

[Watchman]

Carl Barks' Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics (plus his Walt Disney's Comics and Stories ten-pagers)
Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse daily strips

I can't wait for these reprints.

For superheroes my favorites are,

Absolute Dark Knight
Watchmen
Flex Mentallo
All Star Superman
Also anything Jack Kirby did- The Fourth World Saga and the Fantastic Four Omnibus

Others besides the ones listed,

Love and Rockets series
Cerebus by Dave Sim
Work done by Daniel Clowes, Charles Burns, R. Crumb
The Golden Age work of Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Cole (Plastic Man)
Cages by Dave McKean
American Splendor

Far too many to list and very hard to keep it to a 100.

 

[Comics N' Toons]

READ THIS... if you dare:

 

[plushbug]

Working backwards from my most recent "damn, but that's GOOD" experience: the latest Hellboy trade, The Storm and The Fury. At the end of year that gave the world too damn many flavours of Ragnarok, this one did it right...beautifully written, drawn, paced, everything in this one just works.

Not that all the previous Hellboy trades wouldn't be on the list as well. Mostly great little atmospheric fruitcakes of folklore and horror and weirdness that I look forward to re-reading many times before I die.

 

[Art_of_Crime]

Watchmen
Sandman Preludes and Nocturnes and Seasons of Mists
Preacher vol 1-9
TMNT the first collection at least.
Superman: Red Son
Batman: Hush, The long Halloween, Dark Victory and Knightfall 1-3
Kingdom come

 

[Max J Power]

The publisher that puts out those 1001 (Works) You Must (Read/Watch/Hear/etc.) Before You Die did one for comics, compiled by Paul Gravett. His website has the full list.

http://www.paulgravett.com/index.php/1001_comics/1001_atoz/P0/

 

[Spider-Aziz]

This is a title Brian Cronin should consider

Batman: Hush, The long Halloween, Dark Victory and Knightfall 1-3

As one who likes those stories, I recommend you don't expect much of them (with exception to the one in bold), especially HUSH
Read Heart of HUSH, it's from Detective Comics and is under the Batman R.I.P label

 

[Harlekin]

Daytripper