# So what is the greatest comic story of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927 "2002-12-15T20:16:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927/81 "2002-12-20T13:28:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bucky \* > **I wish I could remember the name of the Astro City story where a man is continually dreaming of a woman he has never met. It’s in one of the collected trades–maybe in Confessional? It made me cry the first time I read it, and every time since. It has actual super-hero action and beautiful emotional content.** Yes. It was an “1/2” issue and I’m not sure how it was originally distributed, but it is in one of the trade paperbacks. A very beautiful story. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927/82 "2002-12-20T15:04:25Z")
The story from Astro City #1/2, which I agree is a lovely story, is titled “The Nearness of You.” It was originally distributed with an issue of Wizard and was later released on its own with a new cover and a text backup story written by Busiek which doesn’t take place in Astro City continuity but which has a similar flavor. The story (but not the text piece) is collected in the “Confessions” TPB. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927/83 "2002-12-20T16:25:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bucky \* > \*\*Recently, “What’s so funny about Truth, Justice, and The American Way” was great. > > I also like “Bucky and Wonder Woman’s Wild Weekend,” but that’s not in print right now… \*\* Keep dreaming Bucky, you never know. I agree though, “What’s so funny about Truth, Justice, and The American Way” is one of my favorite single issue stories. There have been a few others in the Superman books lately that really merit attention. I’m not too good with titles, but I think one was “Missing,” and the one with Clark and the cop who became coffee buddies was excellent. Both very poignant, having more to do with Superman the Man, rather than Superman the…Superman. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927/84 "2002-12-20T16:40:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by New & Improved Scott \* > \*\*I think it’s differen than that. > > I mean, the Watchmen is rooted in the time of Reagan and post Viet Nam time in the US. As a reader, you have to imagine what it was like to read it during those years in order to fully appreciate how powerful a critique it was. > > I wouldn’t give it to my sixteen year old neighbor and expect him to see how strong those social commentaries are in the same way that I realised it when I read it as a sixteen year old. (Even then, it was a bit of work to set my mind back and try to think what the US was like in 86). > > And it is dated, and the themes it plays with aren’t front page news anymore, but history. And if it’s not front page news, it doesn’t pack the same punch as it did before. \*\* Wow - perhaps there should be a separate thread on Timelessness of Social Commentaries. **Scott** , I hear you that someone reading Watchmen today who didn’t experience the late 80’s would miss some of the immediacy of the commentary - that is a fact. But ultimately I have to agree with **Cliffy** - Watchmen stands and endures simply because it is great literature (fine, call it something else, but to me, it is lit) - the fact that it focuses on the happenings of that period in time is fine, but it transcends that… So many famous works have very specific commentaries on their times that mean NOTHING to us today unless we did a ton of research - obvious ones include _Gulliver’s Travels_ (full on satire of the England and Europe of the day), _Brave New World_ (sure you could argue that a lot of it is still happening, but it was meant to be a commentary of its time), _The Time Machine_ (class distinctions, anyone?) - just a starter list, but you get the idea. Oh and don’t even get me started on _A Clockwork Orange_. The point is - sure the book uses that time as a backdrop, but speaks to enduring issues. Sorry for the hijack - if you haven’t guessed, Watchmen gets my vote for best comic of all time. Period. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927/85 "2002-12-20T19:34:07Z")
Lone Wolf and Cub. Just amazing. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927/86 "2002-12-20T20:08:33Z")
I cast my vote for Watchmen. I too agree with Cliffy. Lots of great works reflect “dated” themes. The Jungle is still a great book despite the fact that they now shut down the meat packing plant if a human body falls in the vats. I can’t comprehend the notion that one human being owns another human being (despite the fact that I am married!:)), but Civil War era books still register as classics. Watchmen is entertaining, complex and brilliantly pencilled. I have been reading it once or twice a year for the better part of a decade and just the other day, I found a small detail that I had missed all the other times. A few other thoughts: Crisis- I like it for the scope and art, but for the most part, it is an exercise in nostalgia. Golden Age- I like this one a lot. KC- I wonder how much I would like it if it weren’t for the Ross Art. The story is good, but here, Ross does a better job than any of his other work, including Marvels. Starman #72- the finale to GG. Excellent stuff. Cheesy, but excellent. Box Office Poison- this 600 page “slice of life” TPB was one of the best things I have ever read. Probably the best characterization I have ever seen in a comic. Swamp Thing- I like this too, but I wanted to comment that the Swamp Thing’s trip to Hell has been collected in TPB. It is in Vol. 2 of Moore’s Swamp Thing. It had the single best page I have ever read in comics (being the one where Arcane asks how long he has been there). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927/87 "2002-12-20T21:33:45Z")
Apart from the obvious, (_Maus_– (know any _other_ graphic novels that won a Pulitzer prize?) --I thought I’d mention something a little more obscure: _[Buddha on the Road](http://www.stinz.com/cupton/comics/buddha/buddha.html)_, by [Colin Upton](http://www.stinz.com/cupton/index.html). Colin’s approach to cartooning is superficially similar to Art Spiegelman’s, in that it is deeply personal & philosophical. It’s also occasionally pants-wettingly funny. I think it was Harvey Pekar who described “Buddha on the Road” as “the most important graphic work of the 20th Century”, or something similarly slightly-hyperbolic. “Buddha on the Road” is a slight departure from the bulk of Colin’s _vignette_-style work, which often addresses the general by way the particular. _Chris_, which appears in one of Colin’s _Big Thing_ anthologies, is a sensitive (and often unsettling) account of “collateral damage” in the Gender Wars. [Sample Page](http://216.232.71.251/~larry/miscpics/upton-chris_sample.gif). The last panel of that story (not shown) makes me weepy. _Buddha on the Road_ , which cannot be adequately described in capsule-form, is about a man who finds himself in the unique position of being hired to perform a contract-killing, the intended “hit” of which being _God_. I hope it gets republished in graphic-novel form soon. Not-to-be-missed. Colin Upton is a genius. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927/88 "2003-01-08T22:06:06Z")
I can’t believe I forgot Wagner’s _Mage: The Hero Discovered_. I remember reading the comic books before they were collected into a single volume. It was so whimsically wonderful, as if the Arthurian Legends were true and everything had been going on under our noses the entire time (kinda like _Men in Black_). The second book looked awful, though. I passed on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-is-the-greatest-comic-story-of-all-time/142927.md?page=4)