I’m here. I’ll try to make a list. No one-shots, no single issue stories, no miniseries, no maxiseries, no full runs, no graphic novels - just multi-part storylines from ongoing series. Also, I won’t choose anything that’s essentially a series of miniseries - so my list is noticeably devoid of worthy series such as Hellboy and Concrete. I also don’t have anything from series that are harder to break up into “storyarcs” such as Top Ten or SLEEEEEEEPER!!!11!. I will cheat a little, though - I won’t mention Born Again, Year One, or Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? because those are too obvious.
I don’t think I’ll rank them, though. That’s just too much work.
Alias: Purple - The whole run of Alias is one of the Marvels of all time, but it wasn’t too tough for me to pick one storyline to represent its greatness. As the final story, Purple exemplifies everything that makes Alias so awesome. Essentially a character study set in the Marvel Universe, Purple is the culmination of all the character development and writing. People always used to say that Bendis’ strength is his dialogue, but I never thought that. If anything, I found his dialogue solid if occasionally prone to awkwardness. I think Bendis’ strength is dramatic build-up and pay off. (I suppose I’m leaving myself open to Secret War, House of M, and Avengers jokes here, but I stand by my statement.) Read this and Powers, and Daredevil of course. The final storyline in Alias stands as a brilliant way to end a series. You get the build-up, the pay off, the lovingly written send-off, and a whole bunch of good stuff in between, such as the clever re-imagining of the Purple Man as a truly creepy, fourth-wall breaking commentator. Michael Gaydos drew this to perfection.
The Authority: The Nativity - The entire Ellis/Hitch run of The Authority is one of the truly seminal (“seminal” means “born of the semen”) comics of our era. Each of their storyarcs upped the ante somehow. First, the Authority fought a nation of fascist supermen. Then they fought off an invasion from an alternate Earth. Finally, they fought Warren Ellis’ version of God. How do you top that? Well, in The Nativity, Millar and Quitely have the Authority fight the Marvel Universe. Simple yet brilliant. I think Millar is like the anti-Ellis - where Ellis’ work tends to be superficially cynical, he usually tempers his stories with some genuine idealism and hope underneath the layers. Millar’s work typically appears to be idealistic on the surface, but there’s just a mean cynicism underlying everything. I happen to find his brand of meanness kind of funny, in a twisted way, and The Nativity manages to find a good balance between the cynicism and the the idealism. Plus, Frank Quitely!
Avengers: Red Zone - This is my favorite Avengers story. Johns’ run was great, and the previous storyarc, World Trust, builds up nicely to Red Zone. It’s got everything a classic Avengers story needs: a threat that only the Avengers can fight, smartly-written character interactions, awesome art (Coipel), and each team member gets a chance to shine, with plenty of memorable moments throughout. Each issue raises the stakes and every time the team looks like they are on the ropes, they manage to pull together for one more stand. To me, the true test of a great superhero comic is if the character(s) in the story couldn’t be swapped out with an equivalent character/team. Red Zone only works as an Avengers story.
Batman: Broken City - It’s the 100 Bullets team taking on Batman! I remember this was originally serialized the issue right after the last issue of Hush, and people read the first Broken City issue and were like, “Huh? I wish Jim Lee were still drawing.” Damn heathens. After Year One and DKR, this is the definitive Batman story to me. Broken City captures everything that makes Batman such an enduring character. You get a bit of the detective, a bit of the broad-shouldered love god, a bit of the martial artist, a bit of the intimidating vigilante, and it’s all topped off with a healthy dose of the tragic little boy who lives deep inside of the Batman. The story’s the hardest Batman story I’ve ever read this side of Frank Miller. The noirish elements are in full effect, of course, but you get to see enough of Batman’s world (Gotham, some of his rogues gallery) that you know it’s a Batman comic. Azzarello even manages to offer some insight into Batman’s origin, which is so clearly not an easy accomplishment after several decades and hundreds of issues.
Catwoman: No Easy Way Down - I had a tough time deciding between this storyarc and the one that preceded it, Relentless. Ultimately, I’d say No Easy Way Down deserves to represent because it’s so much more different from virtually every other superhero storyline I can think of. In Relentless, Catwoman basically gets effed up to the point where her life is ruined and all her close friends/supporting cast feel the effects. You know all those stories that promise that “things will never be the same again!”? That’s sort of what Relentless did. (I don’t remember if it was marketed as such, though.) No Easy Way Down, the three-parter that follows, however, is the fulfillment of that promise. For three whole issues, we see Selina dealing with the aftermath of how her life has been destroyed, and how she deals with the relationships that have been hurt and damaged from the ordeal. Brubaker basically writes an indie comic into the DC Universe, and Javier Pulido’s impressionistic art captures the noirish sentiments. There’s resolution and tangible character development - it’s the most impressive character dissection I’ve ever read in a DC comic.
Gotham Central: Soft Targets - Again, it was tough for me to choose between this and another Gotham Central storyarc. Unresolved, the Harvey Bullock story, also stands out as one of the top tier DC stories of the decade. I’m going with Soft Targets because, frankly, the Joker is a bigger draw than Bullock and I think his presence makes this story slightly more iconic. Soft Targets is still my favorite Joker story. I am a fan of The Killing Joke and Azzarello/Bermejo’s Joker, but Soft Targets blew me away the first time I read it. I still pick up my issues and reread them occasionally. The story is about the Joker picking up a sniper rifle and randomly assassinating various people (government officials as well as completely random bystanders) during the Christmas shopping season. At first the cops have no idea who is behind the killings, but eventually the Joker reveals himself, and though the cops are obviously in over their heads, they still try to do their job. It’s a completely chilling story that somehow makes the Joker feel more villainous than most of his other appearances. Michael Lark’s realistic artwork is fantastic on this series. He really enhances the verisimilitude of the story.
Iron Man: Extremis - This is the definitive Iron Man story. It captures the essence of the character, updates him for today’s world, offers a concise reinterpretation of his origin, and shows what makes him relevant. He’s not just a former drunk or a typical superhero and “Armored Avenger.” He’s a futurist, someone who thinks ahead and honestly seeks to improve the world with his dreams. The foil Warren Ellis introduces in this story, Mallen, represents a lot of the cynicism that I think is Ellis’ trademark… But idealism ultimately triumphs. There are a lot of scenes in this story that display masterful characterization of Tony Stark, but I think the last page, when Iron Man, in a matter-of-fact way, states his mission purpose out loud, is as good as anything that’s ever been written about the character. I find something about the tone of the writing in this story very affecting to me personally. Oh yeah, and Adi Granov kicks ass at depicting visual scenes of glorious destruction. The action scenes are pretty, and the calm moments are well-composed.
New X-Men: Planet X - Morrison’s whole run is sexy, of course. But Planet X always stood out to me, not only for the nice plotting but also for the sexy subtext. I love how Planet X is a commentary on the state of corporate superhero comics and the X-Men titles in general. There’s such a great sense of ennui, and even though Morrison rails against rehashing old ideas over and over, he somehow manages to take old ideas and make them fresh. The difference is that Morrison tries to imbue lasting change, even though it’s obvious that the corporate side of things would never allow his fantastic ideas to stay undone in their fictional universe. It never fails to make me laugh how he kills Magneto in such a definitive way, and yet Marvel brought him back with a pithy explanation (IMPOSTER). Completely proves the point of Planet X. There are lots of reasons why I love this comic, but the commentary on the state of unimaginative stories is my favorite reason.
The Sandman: Brief Lives - My favorite Sandman storyline is probably one of the more straightforward stories of the entire series. I found it easier to digest than some of the other storylines, although Brief Lives is rather dense as well. It’s about loss, mortality, human frailties, and probably a whole bunch of other stuff that I’m not smart enough to discern. Still, there’s a poetry to this arc that stood out to me more than in any other Sandman storyline. I found the quest to find Destruction quite touching, and the payoff makes everything come together.
Wildcats: Serial Boxes - I don’t think the actual storyarc is called Serial Boxes. Each issue had its own title and Serial Boxes was simply the title of the TRADE, BABY, so I’m sticking with it. Joe Casey and Sean Phillip’s first few issues of Wildcats volume 2 were pretty nice, but I think with this, the Mr. Smith storyline, the creative duo really made a game-changing statement. Casey takes bits and pieces from the Wildcats mythos (particularly the Alan Moore era and even the WildC.A.T.s era) and mixes them into something completely new. There is no other superteam book like Wildcats volume 2, where the team isn’t really a team and they don’t fight traditional supervillains. Serial Boxes finds the remnants of the team moving on with their lives now that the war that served as their purpose of existence is over. Spartan, the newly christened Jack Marlowe, is in the midst of rebuilding and rebranding the Halo Corporation (which nicely lays the groundwork for Wildcats Version 3.0, one of the greatest comics canceled before its time). Grifter’s off being a loner, albeit one who is all too eager to find an excuse to get dragged back into the superhero world. Ladytron’s still hilariously maniacal and getting into hijinks. Maul’s gone back to being a scientist. Voodoo, the unknowing target of a superpowered serial killer, is just off being a party gal, living off Marlowe’s credit cards. This is actually quite a noirish superhero comic, without really engaging in most of the tropes associated with noir. Phillips’ fantastic art certainly helps convey that feeling, but there’s also a surprising undercurrent of dark elegance in the writing itself.
Whew. Is that ten? I feel bad for leaving off JLA: Rock of Ages and various Daredevil storylines (Wake Up, Hardcore, King of Hell’s Kitchen, The Devil in Cell Block D). Fantastic Four: Unthinkable should have been on there, too; or perhaps the two-parter which followed it. (What was it called? The 5th Wheel? That’s the one where Franklin still thinks he’s in hell and the team just tries to recuperate from the sufferings they endured in Unthinkable.) Fortunately, you guys already know how awesome those are.
My bonus track for this list would definitely be X-Force: Final Chapter, or the last X-Force arc before it was retitled as X-Statix. That was the one where [spoiler=]U-Go Girl dies.[/spoiler] This is probably the only superhero comic that ever made me cry. I didn’t just cry, I sobbed in the streets and rent my clothes asunder. I had the same reaction when I read A Season In Hell, a storyarc in Shade, The Changing Man. Both were written by Peter Milligan.
Go figure.
