As I was flipping through Tony Isabella's 1000 Comic Books You Must Read (as I am wont to do from time to time), my attention was drawn by the section titled "The Greatest Comic Book of All Time!" (which he identified as Fantastic Four Annual #1). I disagree with that assessment, most likely because he was 10 years old when he read it for the first time and I was probably 20. That got me wondering: What's your "Greatest Comic Book of All Time"? It doesn't even have to be the greatest, just the one that, at the time you first read it, you thought was the greatest. Or it can be the one you consider the greatest now.
Well, Legionnaires?
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I have two greatest comics ever (I'm old, I collect a lot of debris.)
But besides Fantastic Four 51 (the BEST comic ever), at the time I read Superman Annual #11, I thought it was unbeatable. Alan Moore got what I thought was EVERYTHING in it; Batman and Robin and Wonder Woman. Superman's Fortress of Solitude. A return to Krypton, and appearances by Lyla Lerrol and Kara. And to cap it off - a knock down dragout fight between Superman and Mongul.
It's not hard to see how this book presaged "Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons; the art and story in this book, to me, are simply one of the greatest books ever (again, of which I have three or four.)
I could have chosen Avengers #1, I read that book until the cover literally fell off. Or Fantastic Four #25, the greatest Hulk Thing fight. But I settled on this . If you don't know why I urge you to go read it now!
I have a favourite climax, the one in Fantastic Four #23. I think it's wonderfully imaginative. The cover depicts the crisis the team faces. Image from the GCD.
I can't really say what I'd regard at the greatest comic ever, but just going from my early months of regularly collecting comics when I was aged 10, versus randomly getting comics here and there whenever I could and then having most of them thrown out when my family moved as had been the case prior to 1972, my selection would be Captain Marvel #27. That was actually the 2nd issue of C.M. I'd gotten, having previously gotten #22, which was rather meh. That had been my introduction to any version of Captain Marvel -- I wasn't yet familiar with the Fawcett Comics version from the Golden Age, nor had I even previously heard of the Kree soldier version, at least not that I recall. My first issue of the Avengers was #104, so I'd missed the entire Kree-Skrull War. Anyhow, C.M. #27 was the first comic I recall reading that left me rather awestruck at both the art & story. It made reference to the Kree-Skrull War as well as other hints of the broader Marvel universe as it stood in 1973, and to my 10 year old self, Starlin's art had a moody, detailed magnificence which I loved. And although I was coming in at the middle of an ongoing storyline, that didn't bother me as I was fascinated with this particular chapter of the story and from that point on, C.M. was one of the few comics series of which I didn't miss another issue for the remainder of its run (albeit that most of those before and after Starlin weren't quite as good). Having read a few of the pre-1972 issues of C.M., I wasn't particularly surprised that it had been cancelled as aside from the brief Thomas/Kane issues, and some of the earliest issues, most of it was pretty dreadful.
Admittedly, Starlin's run on Warlock was even better than his C.M. run, and there are many other fantastic comics published well before and long after C.M. #27, any of which would be more deserving of the title of "best comic ever", but for my 10 year old self in 1973, with a comics collection that didn't yet exceed a few dozen or so and easily fit on the small brick and board bookshelf in my bedroom, that early chapter of Starlin's first Thanos epic would easily have been my pick.
Batman #1 was a great issue. The first two Joker stories are among the strongest of the Golden Age: they'd be a good movie filmed as written. I'm also very fond of the Man-Monsters story. The Cat story provides a change of pace, and I like the humour shorts.
At that point the Batman stories in Detective were still 12 pages. The Joker and Cat stories in Batman #1 are 13, so they were likely written specially for the issue. The Man-Monsters one is 12. It was originally intended for Detective Comics #38, as the story from #37 ends with a blurb for it. (It has an interesting alternative depiction of the monsters). The stories in Detective went to 13 pages with "The Case of the Prophetic Pictures" in #42.
Thanks for bumping this back up to the top, Luke. I am acutely aware that I posted this topic, then didn't answer it myself. That's because I couldn't really narrow it down. Also, what I tend to remember as the "greatest" stories from my youth are multipart storylines, what some todat would describe as "arcs," such as "The Kree/Skrull War" or "The Stone Tablet Saga." To make matters worse, earlier this month I noted how annoyed this question makes me when asked by mundanes.
["Mundanes" is a term I learned from JD, but I'm going to stop using it in favor of "muggles," which means the same thing anyway without sounding as derogatory, which is not my intent. The reason I chose it over muggles in the first place is that I didn't want to "steal" it from Harry Potter, but from now on I will use the term "muggles" to refer to "those who do not read comic books." Or maybe "hodads." ;) ]
Then I realized I'm taking this question much too seriously. Of course there's no one "Greatest Comic Book of All Time." What I consider the greatest today I might not tomorrow. But this topic was intended simply to get a dialogue going and, although limited, the responses have been great so far! To that end I am going to nominate my "greatest"... (for today, anyway):
FANTASTIC FOUR #57:
This is one of several FFs up for consideration and, although it is only the first part of a three-issue story, I picked it primarily for the scene in which Dr. Doom steals the Silver Surfer's cosmic power... excuse me: power cosmic. In addition, it features the Inhumans prominently, not to mention the Sandman. NOTE: For a single-issue story my choice would have been King-Size Special #5 which, in addition to the introduction of the Psycho-Man, features not only the Inhumans and the Silver Surfer (in a back-up feature), but the Black Panther as well. Ultimately, though, that power-stealing scene tipped my choice in favor of #57.