My Top 5 Comic Storylines
DC? Marvel? Doesn’t matter, I’m ranking my overall top five comic storylines from the big two publishers. Now, keep in mind that I’ve only read a couple dozen full storylines, so this is by no means expansive or all-encompassing, but it’s definitely a decent starting point.
Honorable Mention: “The Coming of Galactus” by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
You can’t have a “best-of” comic list without Lee or Kirby, so I had to list my favorite story by the duo— and it just so happens to have a new movie adaptation of it in theaters now! The stakes of any story at Marvel had never seemed higher with not only the arrival of the Silver Surfer, but the Watcher himself forewarning the Fantastic Four of, you guessed it, the coming of Galactus, a billion-year-old planet-eating space god. This is peak Lee and peak Kirby in my humble opinion, but their output was consistent, so other opinions are accepted!
5. “Kraven’s Last Hunt” by J.M. DeMatteis & Mike Zeck
By far my favorite Spider-Man story, and definitely one of the darker ones, this run chronicles the rise and fall of Kraven the Hunter in one final attempt to one-up the webslinger. What stuck with me the most about this comic was Kraven’s ending. I won’t spoil it if you haven’t read it, but it was dark, surprising, and satisfying in that bittersweet sort of way. Also featuring some great art of course and very metaphorical stuff that I probably didn’t fully grasp when I first read it, but hey, that’s art for you.
4. “Kingdom Come” by Mark Waid & Alex Ross
Possibly the only Conservative comic story I like, and for good reason. Superman is retired, Batman is in a full-body exoskeleton to keep his old body spry, and the world is infested with young superheroes that care more about the glory than the good of being a hero. Of course, Clark has to come and teach all the youngsters a lesson on the good ol’ days, but I’ll be damned if the art, aesthetics, and overall themes don’t hit me at least a little bit.
3. “All-Star Superman” by Grant Morrison & Frank Quietly
My personal favorite Superman story, and also one that harkens back to Golden and Silver Age Supes despite being published well into the twenty-first century. Not only finding and nailing a certain indescribable tone (and the same can be said about the art style), it also nails each and every single one of the iconic Superman characters; From Lois Lane, to Lex Luthor, to Bizarro (who has one of the funniest lines in all of comics about Bizarro Batman being shot down by his parents), everyone should give this comic a try, at the very least.
2. “Marvels” by Kirt Busiek & Alex Ross
Seeing the world from that of an onlooker can be an interesting point-of-view, but when that world is chock-full of superheroes, it only makes sense a story like this would be told at some point in one of the main comic universes. From the point of view of a photographer at the Daily Bugle who may or may not know Peter Parker’s secret identity, look on from a street’s view as the Fantasticar flies overhead, Spider-Man swings past, Mutants are hated by the general public, or Tony Stark gives a patronizing remark on television. It’s all just so… Interesting. And empathetic. It’s hard to describe. But read it anyway.
1. “Born Again” by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
This run is the absolute epitome of “an iconic run of a character.” So much so that it was teased in a movie, adapted into a season of television, and then a different television series was named after it. So yeah, I can confirm it’s all warranted as the best Daredevil storyline. Also, yes, I admit this is a very dark story with dark themes and plot points, and yes, 18-year-old me reading it probably thought that was very cool and edgy, but now? It’s all just realistic. Drug addiction, greedy billionaires, insane patriotic killers, and the human condition to want to fight through it all even if all signs point to losing everything, it’s all just too real. Every page hits like a ton of bricks, and each line spoken by Wilson Fisk makes your blood boil. It’s relatable in an elevated sort of way, but that is what Frank Miller is great at, in my opinion. This isn’t necessarily a “must-read,” but it is if you’re a Daredevil fan in any sense at all.
Well, there we have it. My top five (for now) comic storylines. You may be wondering why there’s a complete lack of X-Men (my favorite team/comic), and the reason for that is simply because… I only recently got into X-Men. To be specific, I really got into X-Men with the release of “X-Men ‘97” in 2024, which is my favorite piece of X-media at this point, but that can of course, change. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my opinions, and don’t forget to buy tons and tons of comics from gooddealcomics.com! Or not, I’m not your mother.
