My All-time Favorite Comic Books, 20-16

Continuing my list:

#20. Grant Morrison's JLA

Creators: Grant Morrison, Howard Porter, Frank Quitely, various
Publication dates: 1997-2005
Issues: 1-17, 22-31, 34, 36-41, JLA: Earth 2, JLA Classified 1-3, One Million 1-4

The seminal point of 1990s DC comics where the icons started acting like icons again, setting the stage for how they would be uniformly depicted at the start of the new millennium, bringing together all the big guns back to the Justice League after years of second-stringer line-ups, arguably setting up the whole career of Geoff Johns.  This was Grant Morrison's version of the mainstream following notable runs in various Vertigo reinterpretations of heroes he was perhaps dooming once more to obscurity.  And he went big.  Every story an event.  The standout for me remains the "Rock of Ages" arc that reads like a preview of Morrison's later Final Crisis, with the particular highlight of #13, the "Darkseid Is" issue, one of the greatest scripts he ever wrote.  The sheer amount of imagination on display here, from the throwaway breakout character Tomorrow Woman to the Hawkman stand-in Zauriel who introduced an important piece of Morrison's mythology to the Ultramarine Corps and even Prometheus, one of the most important new villains of the past twenty years, and all the way to One Million, a vision of the future, there's so much to love here.  Needs reminding.

#19. Flashpoint

Creators: Geoff Johns, Andy Kubert
Publication dates: 2011
Issues: 1-5

The importance of this mini-series event in my personal comics experience cannot be overstated.  For a lot of fans, it became the gimmicky story that allowed DC to recreate its entire line-up from scratch with the New 52, but for me, it was a flashpoint of a different kind entirely.  (There's another Flashpoint, by the way, 1999's version from Pat McGreal and Norm Breyfogle, totally unrelated but perhaps equally worthy of inclusion on this list.)  I tend to like DC's alternate realities.  The Tangent experiment was for a long time a particular touchstone.  What sets this one apart is its clear emphasis on reflecting directly on known characteristics by turning them just a degree on their side rather than wholesale revision.  Most famously there was the Thomas Wayne Batman, who helps inform the story's emotional conclusion.  But it's really a story about Barry Allen, Geoff Johns' Barry Allen, a character he brought back in the same manner he'd done for Hal Jordan seven years earlier.  But he had this big story waiting for Barry, a piercing character study unlike any other crossover event before or since.  And I found what I've so far experienced of the spin-off books to be equally inspired.  I still intend to read through them all, but for now, the core title itself is more than enough to cement its place in my appreciation.  I was about to walk away from comics forever, half out of necessity and half because I'd lost my love for them.  And then this happened and reminded me about all the magic possible in the stories of costumes adventurers.

#18. Chuck Dixon and Devin K. Grayson's Nightwing

Creators: Chuck Dixon, Devin K. Grayson, Scott McDaniel, various
Publication dates: 1996-2006
Issues: 1-70, 101-106, 1,000,000 (Dixon), 71-100, 107-117, Nightwing and Huntress 1-4 (Grayson)

People like to make the comparison anyway, and it's a little easy in some regards, so let's go out and just say it: Dixon and Grayson's epic Nightwing saga was DC's answer to Frank Miller's classic Daredevil story about Elektra and the Kingpin.  Nightwing had Tarantula and Blockbuster.  It remains the longest and best Dick Grayson story ever attempted, creating an independent legacy for the first Robin's transition into his own man, and in some ways an impossible story to follow.  Many writers have tried, using some of the same basic elements, key among them being a relocation away from Gotham City, out from the shadow of Batman.  Dixon got the ball rolling with the introduction of a whole supporting cast, a battery of villainous foes to call Nightwing's own, most of them revolving around the auspices of Blockbuster, whose tragedy was that his moment of glory was interrupted by a health crisis.  Grayson picked up the ball and introduced Tarantula, a femme fatale who gave Nightwing his own Terra, and then plunged the hero into still murkier waters, which in some ways is also being revisited today.  It's unthinkable that one creator would follow another and not only complete their story but do it in such a fashion that not only remains controversial but elevated it to operatic proportions.  But that's what happened here.  The likes of which will probably never be seen again.

#17. Grant Morrison's Action Comics

Creators: Grant Morrison, Rags Morales
Publication dates: 2011-2013
Issues: 0-18

Morrison's All Star Superman was immediately recognized as its own kind of classic, depicting a version of the Man of Steel that spoke to the whole legacy of the character in much the way he would also do for Batman.  Yet his New 52 revamp may yet prove to be the more definitive.  Borrowing elements introduced by Geoff Johns in a different era of Action Comics, Morrison's Superman was a god among men struggling to be human and superhuman at the same time, drawing all manner of outrageous individuals towards him in the process, including the Legion of Super-heroes, Mxyzptlk, and a boy who stole his cape (the story in the 0 issue), plus one exceptional alternate reality (#9) that proves he can write a great Superman no matter the circumstances.  The ending should be viewed as a classic in its own right, how it turns into just another fight for the character who can sometimes be considered too powerful for his own good.  Morrison gets that, but that's nothing but an afterthought for someone who truly understands Superman.

#16. Stuart Immonen's Superman

Creators: Stuart Immonen, Karl Kesel, Mark Waid
Publication dates: 1994-2004
Issues: (as writer/artist) Adventures of Superman 530, 534, 573-577, Action Comics 738-748, 750-753, 758, Alpha Centurion Special Special 1, Superman: End of the Century, (as artist) The Final Night 1-4, Superman: Secret Identity 1-4

Here's a sorely overlooked milestone of the 1990s Superman comics, and to my mind the single best run.  There are a number of other issues where Immonen provided solely the art, but for my purposes here I'll stick with the ones he wrote and drew, because his talent in this dual capacity should be emphasized all the more for the reason that it's been overlooked since, plus two key projects where he provided only the art.  Simply put, Immonen's Superman was iconic simplicity, the exact opposite of everything the '90s are known for.  He also best depicted the Man of Steel's continuing fight against Lex Luthor, not the Luthor who was a red-haired clone of himself but one who formed his own budding supporting cast, including the since-forgotten Contessa, the only equal the criminal genius ever knew.  These are not only some of the best Superman comics, then, but some of the best Lex Luthor stories ever, highlighted by the brilliant Action Comics #741, in which Immonen juxtaposes the classic narrative of Chanticleer from The Canterbury Tales with Luthor's relationship to his infant daughter (another tragic lost element from this period).  It didn't matter which version of the 90s Superman was featured, whether it was Electric Superman, Mullet Superman, or Classic Superman, Immonen aced them all.  The Final Night remains one of the most unique event books ever in huge part to Immonen's art.  Until All-New X-Men he's never found a project nearly as worthy of his talents.

(All covers via Comic Book Database.)