What books define the DCU superheores each?

[Binker]

Like the topic's title says. What books define these characters? I'll start with the big three:

For Superman, I can think of Whatever happen to the Man of Tomorrow? And while it can be seen as a DCU story, Kingdom Come is a Superman story.

For Batman, its very easy for that as DKR would be on everyone's mind. And I would choose Arkham Asylum: Serious Home for Serious Earth as another since it goes into Batman's and his rogues' psychology.

And finally Wonder Woman, The Hikiteia is always suggested for readers who want to start about her. And for another title; I'd say The Once and Future Story, because its about spousal abuse, a subject I can see her on.

Your turn. What else can you think for those three and what stories/books could you say defines them like Flash or Green Arrow etc?

 

[Fred_Fury]

I like Arkham Asylum for Batman cause it shows that batman is just as crazy as his enemies except his madness is focused in a different direction.

 

[Fred_Fury]

double post

 

[The Batman]

Superman: What Ever Happened to the Man of Tommorow, Kingdom Come

Batman: Strange Appirations, Batman: Year One, O Neil/Adams, Kane/Finger's 1939-40 run

Wonder Woman: The Hiketa, George Perez's run, Moulton's original run on Wonder Woman.

The Flash: Mark Waids run, Geoff John's run, John Broome/Carmine Infantino's Barry Allen run

JLA: The Orignal Era, The Satellite Era, Grant Morrisons run

Teen Titans: Wolfman/Perez run.

Legion of Superheroes: The Great Darkness Saga.

 

[GNR]

I would put For All Seasons and Birthright under Supes regardless of continuity issues.

Bats,I would say Year One and LH.Still really want to read AS by Grant.

 

[Bullseye]

Batman - Year One, Hush, The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Legends of The Dark Knight Specials.

Superman - Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness' run on Superman, Superman for all Seasons, For Tomorrow.

Wonder Woman - Greg Rucka's run on WW.

Flash - Geoff Johns run on The Flash.

Green Lantern - Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams' run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow.

Teen Titans - Geoff Johns run on Teen Titans.

 

[CConn]

Superman - For All Seasons

Batman - Dark Moon Rising (Monster Men/Mad Monk)

Robin - Robin: Year One

Wonder Woman - The Hiketa

The Flash - Really anything in Waids or Geoff Johns' run.

Aquaman - Aquaman v4 #15-39

JLA - Justice

Green Arrow - Quiver

Teen Titans - A Kid's Game (TT #1-7)

New Teen Titans - Wolfman/Perez run

I know my Batman pick is a bit odd considering all the more famous Batman stories out there, but I think, all things considered, it may be the most balanced story in terms of the interpretation of the character. So...yeah.

 

[fifthfiend]

I actually really liked the first handful of Superman comics they ever did, where Superman bashes the Governor's door down to tell him to take that innocent guy off of Death Row, then he busts up that crooked-ass robber baron's mining operation and exposes the man's shameful treatment of his employees. At least for myself I think that's how I'd like to see him; 5th-dimensional imps and totalitarian space-gods and bank-robbing bandits notwithstanding, I think Supes works best as someone who's standing up for the little guy.

 

[BrianWilly]

Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia is quite good as a stand alone graphic novel. What I most recommend for someone who really wants to get into WW, though, is Rucka's arc starting with the "Down to Earth" trade. It details, quite intricately, just what exactly goes on in Wonder Woman's world, what her life entails on a regular basis, what her job is like, what her enemies are like, what her friends are like, just what exactly her beliefs and her ideals are and her thoughts on everything in the world, and how exactly the world responds to those ideas and the very presence of a Wonder Woman. If you only pick up a single Wonder Woman trade in your life, IMO this should be it. But if you had any sense at all, you'd read the entirety of Rucka's run.

Batman: For anyone who liked the animated series, the Hush saga is obviously a good place to start and pretty efficiently explains all that you need to know about relatively recent Batman continuity. Not to mention, it's a pretty damn good read.

Green Arrow: "Archer's Quest" is an absolute must-read. You might want to get the Kevin Smith reboot "Quiver" beforehand, just to get some idea of what exactly is going on, but Archer's Quest alone is probably enough.

GL Kyle Rayner: "New Journey, Old Path" is a pretty standard but nonetheless well-written book that gives a good look at Kyle's personality, his power level, his lifestyle and supporting cast, and the sort of things he's got to deal with on a regular basis. "The Power of Ion" is more interesting and "Brother's Keeper" is more emotional, but this one follows more of a traditional villain shows up, hero finds way to beat him story that's maybe a bit easier for newbie readers to latch onto. Get all three, if you can.

GL Hal Jordan: A lot of people really don't like it, but "Green Lantern: Rebirth" really got me to like the Hal character in spite of myself. Anyway, it's a great exploration into his history as it relates to the Corps, the League, and the other GLs against the backdrop of an epic, uplifting story about redemption. Which unfortunately involves yellow space bug fear demons, but if you can work around that...

JLA: The Obsidian Age, for me, really defines the height of JLA; the sort of epic, crazy, world-destroying threats involving the classic seven, more reserves stepping up to the bat than you can shake a tail at, the Earth being moved around its orbit by several Leaguers, zombies, magic, wrinkly old women, crazy Eskimos, and...last but not least...head-splitting time travel. It's the sort of story that Morrison and Waid really fine-tuned and sculpted and laid down the groundwork for in previous years, and Kelly just managed to get as right as it needed to be.

 

[Binker]

What I most recommend for someone who really wants to get into WW, though, is Rucka's arc starting with the "Down to Earth" trade. It details, quite intricately, just what exactly goes on in Wonder Woman's world, what her life entails on a regular basis, what her job is like, what her enemies are like, what her friends are like, just what exactly her beliefs and her ideals are and her thoughts on everything in the world, and how exactly the world responds to those ideas and the very presence of a Wonder Woman. If you only pick up a single Wonder Woman trade in your life, IMO this should be it. But if you had any sense at all, you'd read the entirety of Rucka's run.

And I believe thats what WB and Wheldon should look at for the film, right?

 

[Kitsune]

Judas Contract was a good one.

 

[Dwarf lord]

Superman: For All Seasons. Though he has incredibly little time spent in the costume, it defines him a hell of a lot more than anything else really. It takes the character back to his roots. Just a great, great, great story.

Batman: The obvious answer would be Batman: Year One, but I'd argue that defines Jim Gordon more. My answer would be The Long Halloween. It's really a Batman defining mystery and it goes through pretty much all the Rogues.

The Flash: Pretty much all of the 2nd Volume of Flash defined him best. I'd even go as far to say that it defined Barry better than any of his stories. But for Jay, I'd have to say it was the past JSA series.

More later.

 

[BrianWilly]

And I believe thats what WB and Wheldon should look at for the film, right?

Maybe for the sequel. IMO, Rucka's arc is really more grounded in the idea that she's been around for a while and has time to find her place in the world. As far as Whedon's first film aka "the origin story" goes, Perez' 80s revamp would translate almost flawlessly to the screen.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's funny how nobody's giving any suggestions for Bart Allen stories under the Flash. I guess we're all still in denial.

 

[fifthfiend]

It's funny how nobody's giving any suggestions for Bart Allen stories under the Flash. I guess we're all still in denial.

I'm in "This is ****ty and I'm having nothing to do with it"-al.

No denying it happened, it's just ****ty, and why would you have anything to do with it?

 

[Green Lantern]

Like the topic's title says. What books define these characters? I'll start with the big three:

For Superman, I can think of Whatever happen to the Man of Tomorrow? And while it can be seen as a DCU story, Kingdom Come is a Superman story.

For Batman, its very easy for that as DKR would be on everyone's mind. And I would choose Arkham Asylum: Serious Home for Serious Earth as another since it goes into Batman's and his rogues' psychology.

And finally Wonder Woman, The Hikiteia is always suggested for readers who want to start about her. And for another title; I'd say The Once and Future Story, because its about spousal abuse, a subject I can see her on.

Your turn. What else can you think for those three and what stories/books could you say defines them like Flash or Green Arrow etc?

Superman: For The Man Who Has Everything
Batman: The Long Halloween
Nightwing: Batman: Year Three, and Teen Titans: Judas Contract
Flash: Blitz
Green Lantern (KYLE F**KING RAYNER): Judd Winick's run. ALL of it.
Aquaman: Volume Four
JLA: Morrison and Waid's
Teen Titans: Judas Contract, Terror of Trigon, and the rest of Wolfman and Perez's run
Green Arrow and Arsenal: Archer's Quest
Supergirl: Crisis on Infinite Earths #7, and The Great Darkness Saga
Legion of Superheroes: The Great Darkness Saga

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm in "This is ****ty and I'm having nothing to do with it"-al.

No denying it happened, it's just ****ty, and why would you have anything to do with it?

I wouldn't. I dropped the series after 2 issues. I was just commenting on how no one even acknowledged that Bart was the Flash now by suggesting stories for him. Even Dwarf Lord, who suggested stories for every other present-day Flash, neglected him.

 

[The Question]

It's funny how nobody's giving any suggestions for Bart Allen stories under the Flash. I guess we're all still in denial.

Simple. Bart is not The Flash.

 

[fifthfiend]

I wouldn't. I dropped the series after 2 issues. I was just commenting on how no one even acknowledged that Bart was the Flash now by suggesting stories for him. Even Dwarf Lord, who suggested stories for every other present-day Flash, neglected him.

What I think this comes down to is come time to define Bart Allen as a character, it sure as hell ain't gonna be this ****ty-ass incarnation of the Flash.

I might have said that first arc of Teen Titans, in which he remakes himself as Kid Flash, except nothing from Teen Titans ever went anywhere long enough to count as definitive of anything. They were sort of en-route to redefining who and what Bart Allen was supposed to be, then they totally short-circuited that with this weak-sauce Great Leap Forward nonsense they've got him on.

So at that point it comes down to whichever given issue/arc of Impulse / Young Justice you care to mention.

Just to change up a bit, but as far as Wally West goes - Terminal Velocity. I mean it defined the Speed Force, established Wally and Linda as one of DC's Great Loves, and in general moved Wally as a character up to an altogether higher level of super-heroing.

 

[The Question]

So at that point it comes down to whichever given issue/arc of Impulse / Young Justice you care to mention.

Basically. Things just really started going downhill for Bart once Geoff Johns' Titans relaunch came around. So sad.

 

[fifthfiend]

Basically. Things just really started going downhill for Bart once Geoff Johns' Titans relaunch came around. So sad.

I mean, I even liked the whole Bart standing up to Wally, trying to take responsibility for his own destiny, kind of a thing they had going on. It's just then they pretty much dropped it, then Bart pretty much sort of just coasted along character-wise for the all of three actual story arcs worth of Teen Titans that they managed to do before everything went all Infinitely Critical all over the place.

 

[The Question]

I mean, I even liked the whole Bart standing up to Wally, trying to take responsibility for his own destiny, kind of a thing they had going on. It's just then they pretty much dropped it, then Bart pretty much sort of just coasted along character-wise for the all of three actual story arcs worth of Teen Titans that they managed to do before everything went all Infinitely Critical all over the place.

Yeah. Although, I didn't even like how he was handled early on in Teen Titans. Back in YJ, he was already going through a very interesting character arc. Learning about responsibility after seeing (and feeling) a clone of his die, quiting the team, and coming back to help when Anita's dad died and all hell broke loose with Secret. In Teen Titans, it seems that that was entirely forgoten, and Johns just had Jericho shoot him in the knee (which, compared to feeling his own clone die in a situation where he easily could have, would have been an inconsiquential psychological experience despite it obviously being quite painful), and becoming a new, far less interesting character.

 

[GNR]

I would recommend GL Rebirth to any new comers to GL.Purely Fu**ing awesome.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Just to change up a bit, but as far as Wally West goes - Terminal Velocity. I mean it defined the Speed Force, established Wally and Linda as one of DC's Great Loves, and in general moved Wally as a character up to an altogether higher level of super-heroing.

I agree with everything else about Bart, but I especially agree about Terminal Velocity. It's one of the reasons Waid's run is still my favorite Flash run.

 

[Spike_x1]

Superman: Man of Steel (I'm surprised nobody's even mentioned it yet), For All Seasons, For The Man Who Has Everything

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, and Hush

The Flash: Blitz, and Terminal Velocity

Aquaman: Veitch's run