Previously On #100: My 100 Favorite Superhero Comic Book Runs Ever!

Welcome to a very special edition of “Previously On,” my weekly column that has somehow hit #100 this week. Since comic fans love to celebrate numerical occasions, I took the approach of #100 as motivation to compile my 100 favorite superhero runs across the Big 2!

A few details about the criteria, which is of course idiosyncratic and tyrannical:

+ I’m counting anything I love with more than six issues as a run. If pressed, I’d probably agree with you that Mister Miracle by Tom King and Mitch Gerads isn’t really a “run,” but I don’t like making lists without Mister Miracle anymore.

+ In a few instances I stretch this definition in order to include something awesome (See: Batman, Frank Miller’s).

+ As I mention in my list of the best comics of all time, I am at most a half animal half party machine, and can only read so many comics. There are probably great runs not listed due to pure oversight; Let me hear about them in the comments so I can check them out!

+ Watchmen is probably a superhero comic, but I didn’t count it here as it stretches the definition of “Big 2.” Spoiler: Doomsday Clock isn’t even close to making the list either, but for very different reasons.

+ Again, this is limited to the Big 2 publishers, DC and Marvel. I’m planning a non-Big 2 superhero universe post at a later date, primarily so I can gush over Black Hammer again.

Admittedly, this list feels a bit strange to me because I worked backwards extensively through various “essential” and “Best of” guides on Comic Book Herald to determine stories I love that weren’t yet on the “Best Comics of All Time” list. This led to the addition of 34 entries inside the top 100 within the span of really two or three working sessions.

So sure, if you want to call me on not ranking Cap by Brubaker and Epting high enough, that’s fair, as I’m working off a several years old memory of how thoroughly I enjoyed the run (I can’t wait to check that one out again as part of the My Marvelous Year reading club!).

Otherwise, I quite love everything on this list, and would you highly recommend the runs to both longtime and new comic book fans everywhere! Enjoy, and here’s to the next 100 columns!

Marvel Amazing Spider-Man GIT digital comics collection

100) George Perez Wonder Woman

By: George Perez, George Perez

99) Silver Surfer (Slott + Allred)

By: Dan Slott, Mike Allred

98) Black Panther by Christopher Priest

By: Priest, Various

97) The Green Lantern

By: Grant Morrison, Liam Sharpe

93) Planet Hulk + World War Hulk (Greg Pak’s Hulk)

By: Greg Pak, Carlo Pagualyan, John Romita Jr

92) Cable & Deadpool

By: Fabian Nicieza, Patrick Zircher

91) Spider-Man: Death of the Stacys

By: Stan Lee, Gerry Conway, John Romita, Gil Kane

90) Captain Britain & MI13

By: Paul Cornell, Leonard Kirk

89) Golden Age Wonder Woman

By: William Moulton Marston,

88) Doom Patrol (Young Animal)

By: Gerard Way, Nick Derington

87) Mark Waid’s Flash

By: Mark Waid, Various

86) Young Avengers

By: Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie

85) Black Widow

By: Marjorie Liu, Daniel Acuna

84) Inhumans

By: Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee

83) The Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 1

By: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby

82) Nighthawk

By: David Walker, Ramon Villalobos

81) Captain Britain by Alan Moore & Alan Davis

By: Alan Moore, Alan Davis

80) Thunderbolts

By: Warren Ellis, Mike Deodato

79) Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle

By: David Michilinie, Bob Layton

78) Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts

By: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko

77) Birds of Prey

By: Gail Simone, Ed Benes

73) Exiles

By: Judd Winick, Mike McKone

72) Justice League International

By: JM Dematteis, Keith Giffen

71) Black Bolt

By: Saladin Ahmed, Christian Ward

70) Manhunter

By: Archie Goodwin, Walt Simonson

69) Wolverine & The X-Men

By: Jason Aaron, Jason Latour

68) Deathstroke by Priest

By: Christopher Priest, Various

67) Midnighter (New 52)

By: Steve Orlando, ACO

66) Punisher: Welcome Back Frank

By: Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon

65) Venom by Rick Remender

By: Rick Remender, Tony Moore, various

64) Moon Knight (Ellis & Shalvey)

By: Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey

Amazing Spider-Man Marvel GIT comics collection

63) Ultimate Comics Spider-Man: Miles Morales

By: Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli

62) Injustice

By: Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo

61) Suicide Squad

By: John Ostrander, Luke McDonnell, Kim Yale

60) Grayson (New 52)

By: Tim Seely, Tom King, Mikel Janin

59) Ms. Marvel

By: G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona

58) Gotham Academy

By: Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, Karl Kerschl

57) Superior Spider-Man

By: Dan Slott, Ryan Stegman

56) Secret Six

By: Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham

55) Jack Kirby’s 4th World

By: Jack Kirby, Jack Kirby

54) Secret Wars (1984)

By: Jim Shooter, Mike Zeck

50) Squadron Supreme

By: Mark Gruenwald, Bob Hall

49) Hickman’s X-Men (House of X)

By: Jonathan Hickman, Pepe Larraz, RB Silva

48) Immortal Hulk

By: Al Ewing, Joe Bennett

47) Animal Man

By: Grant Morrison, Tom Grummett

46) 52

By: Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Keith Giffen, Various

45) Ultimates (Ewing & Rocafort)

By: Al Ewing, Kenneth Rocafort

44) Daredevil (16-81) by Bendis & Maleev

By: Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev

43) Thor: God of Thunder

By: Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic

38) Wolverine: Weapon X

By: Barry Windsor-Smith

37) New X-Men

By: Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Phil Jimenez

36) JLA by Morrison and Porter

By: Grant Morrison, Howard Porter

35) Age of Apocalypse

By: Various, Various

34) Multiversity

By: Grant Morrison, Various

33) Runaways

By: Brian K. Vaughan, Adrian Alphona

32) Black Panther: Panther’s Rage

By: Don McGregor, Rich Buckler, Billy Graham

31) The Omega Men

By: Tom King, Barnaby Bagenda

30) Guardians of the Galaxy (Abnett & Lanning Marvel Cosmic)

By: Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Paul Pelletier

29) The Immortal Iron Fist

By: Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker, David Aja

28) Hitman

By: Garth Ennis, John McCrea

23) Astonishing X-Men

By: Joss Whedon, John Cassaday

22) Ultimate Spider-Man

By: Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Bagley

18) Vision

By: Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta

17) New 52 Batman

By: Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo

11) Gotham Central

By: Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark

10) X-Force / X-Statix

By: Peter Milligan, Mike Allred

9) All-Star Superman

By: Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely

8) Starman

By: James Robinson, Tony Harris

7) Walt Simonson’s Thor

By: Walt Simonson, John Workman

6) Hawkeye

By: Matt Fraction, David Aja, Annie Wu

5) Frank Miller’s Batman

By: Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli

4) Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus Vol. 1 through Vol. 3 (1-104)

By: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, John Romita

3) Mister Miracle

By: Tom King, Mitch Gerads

2) Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison

By: Grant Morrison, Richard Case, etc

1) Jonathan Hickman’s Marvel-verse (2008 – 2016)

By: Jonathan Hickman, Dale Eaglesham, Mike Deodato, Esad Ribic, Dustin Weaver, Various

Comments

Brett says

February 10, 2020 at 10:56 pm

G’Day Dave,
Your list is great and there are many runs you have included which I had a blast reading and remain some of my all-time favourites !
The few I would add in as being worthy of a read are Excalibur by Alan Davis (including the issues written by Claremont), Batwoman by Rucka and JH Williams III, Earth 2 by Nicola Scott and James Robinson (then Tom Taylor), Hawk & Dove by Karl and Barbara Kesel (it’s criminal that this is not in print), Superman:Birthright by Waid and Lenil Francis Yu and Incredible Hercules by Van Lente, Pak and various artists (not the lest of which was for the hilarious sound effects !!!)
Of course there are more, but I don’t want to go too crazy !!
Thanks for the fantastic list!
Brett

- Dave says
  
  February 11, 2020 at 3:12 pm
  
  Great picks! I need to check out that Hawk & Dove run, that wasn’t on my radar.