# The Best Comic Book series, ever!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 13, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056 "2001-08-13T16:50:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SpaceGhostofArrakis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpaceGhostofArrakis)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/1 "2001-08-13T16:50:39Z")
So, this weekend I was going through my \* Preacher\* TPB’s, and I came to the conclusion that Garth Ennis’ \* Preacher\* was [Comic book guy] The best comic book series ever![/comic book guy].
I would like to hear your thoughts about the best Comic book series ever, altough I stand by my statements.
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### Author:  [@Mofo\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mofo_Rising)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/2 "2001-08-13T16:59:16Z")
Everybody knows the best comic book series ever made was Grant Morrison’s run on **Doom Patrol**.
What? Nobody knows that?
Sorry.
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### Author:  [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/3 "2001-08-13T17:33:08Z")
I agree with Mofo. I loved Morrison’s Doom Patrol, as well as the Invisibles. Recently, I have enjoyed The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
I never could get into Preacher, though. I hated Garth Ennis’ run on Hellblazer and wasn’t that impressed with what I saw of Preacher.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/4 "2001-08-13T17:41:15Z")
Preacher was indeed good, but I guess I’m too much of a prude to fully appreciate such brilliant concepts as a man who gets off to a giant meat-woman or an effeminate hedonist who enjoys violating unusual animal specimens. Don’t get me wrong, I did like it, but too much of it seemed like weirdness for weirdness’s sake, not for any true plot purpose.
Ditto Morrison’s Doom Patrol. The Brotherhood of Dada? Rebis fornicating with him/herself?
I like my comics a little more grounded. James Robinson’s **Starman** gets my vote.
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### Author:  [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/5 "2001-08-13T17:46:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by cmkeller \*
> \*\*Preacher was indeed good, but I guess I’m too much of a prude to fully appreciate such brilliant concepts as a man who gets off to a giant meat-woman or an effeminate hedonist who enjoys violating unusual animal specimens. Don’t get me wrong, I did like it, but too much of it seemed like weirdness for weirdness’s sake, not for any true plot purpose.
>
> Ditto Morrison’s Doom Patrol. The Brotherhood of Dada? Rebis fornicating with him/herself?
>
> I like my comics a little more grounded. James Robinson’s **Starman** gets my vote. \*\*
I admit Morrison often did weirdness for its own sake, but I at least found it fun.
I loved Starman up until the last few storylines, which never seemed to go anywhere. The Grand Guignol story took about four years to tell and wasn’t that great in the long run. Robinson’s heart kind of went out of the series, I think, and it just didn’t seem as well done as it had in the past.
I also liked his Leave it to Chance series that he just abandoned. I asked him at Comicon in 1999 if we were going to see another issue that year or possibly in 200 and he told me yes. I’m still waiting.
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### Author:  [@ModernRonin2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ModernRonin2)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/6 "2001-08-13T17:48:22Z")
Transmetropolitan?
-Ben
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/7 "2001-08-13T17:49:12Z")
I’ve just finished the sixth Preacher trade paperback, and was on the verge of starting a thread to praise the series when I saw this one.
**However**. Preacher falls far, far short of the title “best comic book series ever.”
It’s poinltess to pick any one “best” in any case; comics span many genres and tastes, and serve different purposes.
That said, Love and Rockets and From Hell are both much better. The former for the incredible depth and complexity of its characters and dramas, the latter for the astonishing level of research and verisimilitude evident on its pages.
Why couldn’t you have just started a thread titled “Preacher is an excellent comic book series?” Why does something have to be the best above all others to be worthy of discussion?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/8 "2001-08-13T18:35:07Z")
It depends on how you define “series.” I’d assume you don’t mean a limited run, but that also depends on how you define “limited.”
If you mean a ongoing series that was not conceived with an ending in mind, then the answer is simple: “Sandman.” However, Gaiman decided to end the series, so it’s again a matter of definition.
If you’re looking for a long run, then Superman and Batman both have held high quality for many years.
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### Author:  [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/9 "2001-08-13T19:07:54Z")
_Barefoot Gen_. Makes the likes of _Preacher_ and _Sandman_ look downright puerile.
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### Author:  [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/10 "2001-08-13T19:12:54Z")
Sandman, definitely, with a nod to Astro City.
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### Author:  [@that\_darn\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that_darn_cat)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/11 "2001-08-13T19:32:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by ModernRonin2 \*
> \*\*
> Transmetropolitan?
> -Ben \*\*
Ditto
I’m just like Spider Jerusalem. That is, if I was a hardbitten, cynical journalist with a taste for hard drugs and monkeyburgers in a grungy cyberpunk future.
“They made me into TV!, _sniff_”
“Eat your carabu eyes, Spider.”
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/12 "2001-08-13T19:54:12Z")
**Strikeforce: Morituri,** at least while Peter Gillis was writing it (issues #1-20). Damn, I wish someone would release that as a TPB collection…
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### Author:  [@FallenAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FallenAngel)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/13 "2001-08-13T20:02:22Z")
I would have agreed with you about Preacher if the dirty SOBs hadn’t just left the series HANGING and walked away from it. To be the best ever, I think it needed to be resolved or continued. The fact that “Salvation” ended with none of the storyline concluded torqued me to no end.
As a result, my vote would be for Johnny the Homicidal Maniac for the title Best Ever.
YMMV.
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### Author:  [@ebroeren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ebroeren)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/14 "2001-08-13T20:11:56Z")
My veto goes to “Sandman”, but I haven’t read Preacher, so I can’t decide between those two.
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/15 "2001-08-13T20:47:07Z")
Why would you veto Sandman? Maybe it’s not the best ever, but it’s definitely a contender.
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### Author:  [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/16 "2001-08-13T22:15:08Z")
Chalk me another vote for Sandman. It’s intelligent, insightful, and just plain fantastic. I used to buy the Preacher trade paperbacks, but, like others have mentioned, it got to the point where I was just going “Come on, Garth, you could do so much better.” It was weirdness for weirdness’s sake. The ending blew too.
After Sandman, I’d have to vote for Watchmen by Alan Moore. It gets special points for being an innovator, as well as a damn good story.
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### Author:  [@flickerwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickerwolf)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/17 "2001-08-13T22:20:52Z")
I am not an avid comic book reader, so my opinion is not worth flaming about…pleeese don’t hurt me.
In my humble opinion Jhonen Vasquez, creater of Nick cartoon show **Invader Zim** does the best twisted comics ever. Let me see…he has completed several comics about …unusual people…like **Johnny the Homiciadal Maniac** , about a (duh) homicidal maniac, and **Squee** , about a terror prone little boy, among several others. Those are my favorites.
Any other Jhonen fans who are dopers? Let me hear you speak!
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2001, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/18 "2001-08-14T00:11:32Z")
_Usagi Yojimbo_ by Stan Sakai
Mix action, adventure, wit, humor, Japanese history & folklore, & furry animals together & you get a whole lot of very cool fun.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/19 "2001-08-14T00:32:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by FallenAngel \*
> \*\*I would have agreed with you about Preacher if the dirty SOBs hadn’t just left the series HANGING and walked away from it. To be the best ever, I think it needed to be resolved or continued. The fact that “Salvation” ended with none of the storyline concluded torqued me to no end.
> \*\*
Uh, you do know that there are two trade paperbacks (_All Hell’s A-Coming_ and _Alamo_) after the Salvation storyline tied up, don’t you? Or are you saying that the end of that particular storyline was disappointing? FTR, I thought that _Alamo_ was a fantastic capper to a fantastic series. I love their work on Punisher, too.
Incidentally, besides Preacher, my faves include Astro City, The Invisibles, and Transmetropolitan. In no particular order.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-comic-book-series-ever/76056/20 "2001-08-14T00:44:05Z")
For me it’s a toss-up between _The Fantastic Four_, _The Inferior Five_ and _The Secret Six_, though I kinda like _The Seven Soldiers Of Victory_ and _Eighth Man_.
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