Good, accessible DC superhero books

Cafe Society
1

I just finished reading Justice and it got me to thinkin’ . . . when DC is on, they’re on. It was a cool story made better by Alex Ross’s unbelievably awesome painting.

I’ve been a Marvel guy most of my life (born early '80s.) In the 2000s I started exploring more Dark Horse, Image, Vertigo (I realize this is a DC imprint), manga, indies, comix, etc. Never really got too into the DC universe, though. It has always seemed intimidatingly complex (contrived?) to me. There’ve been how many earths and how many Supermen and who’s living in Doomsday’s body and what’s who’s real name now and why did he leave them to go solo and and and . . . you get my point.

I had some Supermans and some Batmans and some Superboys growing up, and a few other DC comics, but again: mostly Marvel. I’m more familiar with Marvel comics, I know the great majority of their characters, I’m comfortable in their universe.

Here are a few of the DC books I’ve read (not exhaustive):

-The whole Death of Superman arc. Read it when it was new and I was a kid. Loved it.

-The Dark Knight Returns. Loved it. Probably one of my top 10 favorite comics ever.

-The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Didn’t care much for it at all.

-Batman: Year One. Liked it a lot.

-The Killing Joke. Loved it.

-Kingdom Come. Loved it.

-Quiver. Liked it.

-Hush. Liked it but didn’t see what all the hype was about.

-Batman: Broken City: Liked it but IIRC got weaker as it went on.

-Batman: The Long Halloween. Didn’t really care for it, didn’t see what all the fuss was about.

-The Adam Strange miniseries from . . . 2005? This is a perfect example of something being “too DC” for me. It started off awesome but by the end I had no idea what was going on and I didn’t care.

-Justice. Again, I liked it, but I think I suffered from not knowing the universe well enough. I didn’t know the Metal Men so the first half (or so) of their involvement in the story was very confusing to me. I didn’t really get what role Dr. Sivana played. I don’t really know the Marvel family. I never figured out what part the Joker played in all of it (even if the rest of this paragraph is ignored, someone please explain this to me.) I didn’t get why Aquaman was so important or what was happening to Wonder Woman or who the Black Canary was(/why Green Arrow was wearing earplugs), and on and on and on. I like that they didn’t dumb it down much for fairweather DC fans like me, but I feel like you’d almost have to have a lifetime of DC fandom under your belt to truly grok all the nuances in that story.

So are there any major, accessible story arcs I should go to next? Anything with Crisis in the title would have to be a really hard sell, because that stuff just confuses me so much my eyes glaze over.

The more recent, the better, because I’ve read very nearly a lifetime’s worth of golden, silver, and bronze-age comics.

2

I’ve found the recent Power Girl series a lot of fun. I think it is on #11. Standard in some respects, but I’m enjoying the humor and Amanda Connor’s art work. But apparently the current creative team is leaving after #12, so it may well go to shit rapidly.

3

Though they deal with lesser-know characters, for fun, largely self-contained books, I’d recommend the (sadly) discontinued recent Blue Beetle series, Gail Simone’s renewed Birds of Prey run (along with the trades of the first run) and her Secret Six series, Gotham Central (though the trades are getting hard to come by), and Manhunter. Blue Beetle and Manhunter are legacy characters, but the history doesn’t bog them down overmuch. Simone’s Secret Six has two event spin-off trades prior to the current series that are helpful (and fun), but not, IMO, necessary.

For done-in-one collections, you might like Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, Batman: King Tut’s Tomb (best Riddler in years, IMO), or Batman: Detective (not a single arc, but a lot of very good Paul Dini stories). I’d also say Vixen: Return of the Lion is worth trying – the story is good, but the art is just gorgeous. There’s still a preview up at CBR.

4

Alan Moore did work for both companies, and anything he wrote ever is worth reading. He received acclaim in particular for Swamp Thing and Superman. The Watchmen is also DC, but for the advanced reader (which it sounds like you are.) Like 3 of the greatest runs ever in all comics were Moore’s work for DC.

Personally, I like the humorous runs (like the Justice League/Justice League International/Justice League Vol. 2). Annuals, like Marvel, tend to be self-contained stories. One of my favorite issues was Annual #1 from Flash Vol. 2 (the Wally West version.)

5

I’d be hesitant to recommend any ongoings at the moment, since most of the big ones are transitioning between story arcs, authors, etc. The only one that’s continuing to perform, IMO, is Morrison’s Batman & Robin

Some of the trade collections are pretty good though:

  • Morrison’s All-Star Superman
  • the aforementioned Blue Beetle
  • Gail Simone’s All-New Atom was awesome. Stop immediately when she’s no longer the author.
  • Geoff Johns’ JSA run was pretty good throughout, and the Sinestro Corps War for Green Lantern was great (you might need to wiki some of the backstory, but should otherwise be fine)
  • Johns & Busiek’s Superman: Up, Up, and Away was good.
  • Rucka’s Detective Comics run with Batwoman was good writing, and amazing art… but not in trades yet.
6

If you liked Year One, Batman: Year Two was excellent. 3/4 of it was illustrated by Todd McFarlane.

And I have a personal predilection for Lobo.

7

I’m really surprised this thread hasn’t drawn more interest. I was under the impression there were a lot of DC fans here. Hell, a guy with DC in his name twice didn’t even have much to say. Uninteresting thread title? Poorly written OP?

8

Actually, I was going to start a thread like this at some point. My gf wants to get more into comics and I was trying to think of books I could suggest. She’s already read Transmetropolitan.

9

Coming from someone who started as “the girlfriend who follows into the comic shop” I would highly recommend anything by Gail Simone. She’s never disappointed, and she writes the strongest, most believable, and most dynamic women in comics.

I’ve not yet read it, but I’ve heard her current series (Gotham City Sirens?) is pretty good. I’ve got the entire run of her work on Birds of Prey - absolutely my fav, but they’re back issues from a couple years ago. Since I had a subscription, I don’t know what their TPB status is.

10

Comics questions are pretty hit or miss here.

11

To answer the OP:

Kurt Busiek’s Superman has been great from Up, Up and Away onwards. Grant Morrison’s JLA was just amazingly creative and fun and definitely accessible and Mark Waid kept it going strong after he left (I’d stop reading after Joe Kelly’s The Obsidian Age arc). I agree with you on Hush but Judd Winick’s Under the Hood used elements of it to great effect a bit later. I’m a fan of Batman and he has had lots of good stuff recently: I loved Morrison’s Batman up till R.I.P. and am just waiting awhile before I pick up the more recent trades. Paul Dini’s contemporaneous Detective Comics was also very good and I think very accessible to the Batman newbie. Gotham Central was excellent and I wish it hadn’t been canceled. 52 was pretty unique and lots of fun. Altough it’s a bit older than the rest of the stuff I’m recommending, The Golden Age by James Robinson has a very modern feel to it and it’s a great story. Finally, although it has crisis in the title Identity Crisis was much more accessible than the others and I liked it very much. Be warned that lots of fans hated it with a passion and that, should you read it, it’d be best to do that before reading the Batman titles or 52.

If I had to pick only one title from the list above it’d probably be JLA but they’re all fun and worthy of a read IMHO.

Alan Moore is nearly always great. I’d pick either V for Vendetta or Top 10 and save Watchmen and From Hell for later. Sandman, Fables and Lucifer are all great titles from Vertigo and I think would go down well with a new reader. Sandman became an instant classic but Lucifer was exceptionally good and I think more people should read it. My sister reads comics only sporadically but whenever I buy a new Hellblazer trade she jumps on it. Garth Ennis wrote the best stories on that title IMO (Son of Man excepted). She also loved Bone. Morrison’s WE3 was exceptional and Fun Home was just so amazing that it should be required reading to comics lovers. I understand that Love and Rockets is pretty popular among the ladies.

12

Gail’s current series are ‘Birds of Prey’ (2.0) and ‘Secret Six’. She also just wrapped up her ‘Wonder Woman’ run. ‘Gotham City Sirens’ is by Paul Dini and he’s not really bringing his A game. I wouldn’t give it to most of the guys I know, let alone another woman that I’m trying to convince to read comics – it’s not that it’s terrible, but there’ s lots better out there and it slides into T&A territory now and again without strong story to compensate for it.

13

Darwyn Cooke’s “DC: The New Frontier” is absolutely fantastic. It’s a 2 volume story that is “just another retelling of the origins of the Justice League”, but it’s much much more than that. Truly gorgeous artwork, fantastic characters, great writing. Your library should have a copy.

14

My comic book experience is very similar to yours. I don’t follow the month to month or week to week story lines and just buy the graphic novels that interest me. I have read almost all the ones you listed as well. So here are a few I have read and enjoyed that you may also like:

The Trinity series. It has been collected into three Graphic Novels. The story focuses on Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman and their impact on the DC universe.
There is also an older stand alone graphic novel called Trinity that focuses on the three and is also good.

The Superman/Batman series. Collected over several Graphic Novels. Some are outstanding but all of them are good (so far at least).

Batman Arkham Asylum. A good stand alone graphic novel. A classic really.

Gotham Central. This one I am not sure you would like as it is different. Think Law & Order crossed with Batman.

That’s a few off the top of my head.