My All-time Favorite Comic Books, 10-1

The final countdown...!

#10. Geoff Johns's Green Lantern

Creators: Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke, Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, various
Publication dates: 2004-2013
Issues: Green Lantern: Rebirth 1-6, Green Lantern 1-67, 0-20, Blackest Night 1-8

Green Lantern was already my favorite comic book franchise when Johns strolled into the story in 2004.  I thought I already had my definitive era in Ron Marz's Kyle Rayner.  Then Johns brought Hal Jordan back, and exploded the whole mythology.  I mean, literally, he took the basic building blocks and figured out the best possible expansion, and led the whole thing to its greatest heights.  It's the epitome of creative storytelling, the single best innovative run in superhero comic book history, one that will continue to be felt for years. I mean, even Larfleeze has gotten his own ongoing series now.  Larfleeze!  How awesome is that?  Saint Walker made it into the pre-New 52 Justice League, the Red Lanterns have had their own series since the DC relaunch, and Johns has made a strong case for a Sinestro series.  No one would have ever thought that possible before 2004.  That's the definition of a substantial legacy.

#9. Air

Creators: G. Willow Wilson, M.K. Perker
Publication dates: 2008-2010
Issues: 1-24

Along with 52 part of a very select group to top my annual QB50 list twice, Air was an unabashed obsession of mine throughout its publication, even though it struggled to find an audience that did not have the name "Tony Laplume."  But it was brilliant, typical of the Vertigo breed in having a distinct and imaginative mythology, but atypical in its intimate approach, like Sandman without all the Goth touches.  G. Willow Wilson managed to spin a conspiracy and hero journey into one yarn.  The closest proximity I've found since was the similarly short-lived Saucer Country.  As with most of my selections, widely deserves a much larger audience.

#8. Cobra

Creators: Mike Costa, Antonio Fuso, Christos Gage
Publication dates: 2009-2013
Issues: 1-4, Special 1-2, 1-13, 1-21, The Cobra Files 1-9

This is basically everything I loved about Superboy and the Ravers, The Great Ten, Seven Soldiers of Victory, and Young Avengers in a nonsuperhero title, and surprisingly with another famous franchise it managed to totally reinvent from the outset, featuring an obscure Joe named Chuckles in the mission of his life, a reboot timeline where Cobra is just being discovered.  And from there, it's basically the Assange/Snowden/NSA era well before any of those scandals broke, one brilliant bit of character exploration after another in a world of paranoia and secrets, an unexpected phenomenon publisher IDW never expected, assuming it had merely a good mini-series when it acquired G.I. Joe in 2008, leading to a series of extensions that eventually transformed the whole line with the sensational death of Cobra Commander.  You don't need to know or care about the franchise to love this saga.  You just need to love great comics.

#7. Sandman

Creators: Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, various
Publication dates: 1989-1996
Issues: 1-75

For simplicity's sake I'm sticking to the original series rather than also include subsequent additional materials, such as the recently-launched Sandman Overture mini-series.  Simply put, this one needs no introduction.  It's perhaps the most literary comic book ever published, filled with classical elements and one of the best-known mythologies outside of superheroes ever created.  It's a masterpiece.  Move along, move along.

#6. Bone

Creators: Jeff Smith
Publication dates: 1991-2004
Issues: 1-55

This one I owe entirely to a friend who was obsessed with it.  For a while, there was a very small cult audience obsessed with it.  And it expanded, thanks to word of mouth.  It started making in-roads to full-blown mainstream awareness.  There was talk of a movie.  All of this is for good reason.  Like a cartoon strip wedded perfectly to epic fantasy (such as you would never have believed possible until Bone), Jeff Smith's vision was a dream come to life, so popular Image for a while took over publication, until it went back to Smith's own company, where it completed its epic journey, only to be reborn in a series of reprints, where its legacy (as I've been hoping throughout this list for many other series) has grown.  Oh, and because it's my favorite phrase from Bone: stupid, stupid rat creatures...

#5. Wasteland

Creators: Antony Johnston, Christopher Mitten, Justin Greenwood
Publication dates: 2006-2014
Issues: 1-60

I've attempted for years to be an ambassador to this series, a classic post-apocalyptic yarn that explodes the genre into a startlingly rich landscape filled with intricate relationships between isolated figures.  Unlike The Walking Dead, Wasteland has made the riddle of what created the world after the Big Wet the whole point, except it's taken the whole journey to reach it.  In the meantime social politics have defined the story, especially the betrayals at the heart of life in Newbegin, the perfect representation of civilization after civilization's end.  My favorite character remains Michael, a sort of Wolverine if Wolverine had never joined the X-Men.

#4. 52

Creators: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Keith Giffen, various
Publication dates: 2006-2007
Issues: 1-52

DC's first weekly series in years, an ambitious effort to put out a new issue every week for a year, could have been its riskiest gamble ever.  Instead it turned out to be a stroke of genius, one of the best single comics it ever put out, following a hodgepodge of characters who could never have been mistaken for the mainstream (although some of them, including Booster Gold and the new Batwoman, received their own ongoing series as a result) as they embark on the greatest stories of their careers, including the Elongated Man's long-awaited response to Identity Crisis and Black Adam's shot at redemption.  The league of creators who wrote it remains a who's who, and to my mind in no small part to their participation in this book.  The company's later attempts to duplicate this remarkable accomplishment never seemed to capture the same interest from the fans, but that's to be expected, although I would highly recommend Countdown, while the bi-weekly Brightest Day is another winner.

#3. The Death of Captain Marvel

Creators: Jim Starlin
Publication date: 1982
Issues: [graphic novel]

This is the comic book that made me a fan of comic books, and it is also among the first I ever read, and completely by accident, something my sister had randomly come across and I stole a look, and no joking, I was changed forever.  The death of any comic book character wasn't as common in 1982 as it is today, and the true testament of this event is that Captain Marvel remains respectfully deceased.  It's a surreal, literary exploration and epitaph for a character who was never really that popular but whose legacy was instantly cemented by this effort.  What more could you ask for?

#2. Kingdom Come

Creators: Mark Waid, Alex Ross
Publication dates: 1996
Issues: 1-4

You might notice that I love my comics to be literary, and no superhero comic was ever more literary, not to mention seminal in my own creative development, than this landmark event that peered into the future of DC's icons and saw nothing good.  Lois Lane dead.  Superman forced into retirement.  The next generation, led by Magog, the reverse of everything that had come before them.  Narrated by a simple preacher and steeped in religious imagery (this is the secret origin of my obsession with the number 7, and why I subsequently adopted the term "seven thunders" from the Book of Revelations for what I always assumed must be my own magnum opus, because it was used in the previews for Kingdom Come), this was both creators at their absolute finest.  One of them ended up chasing this achievement for years (Ross) while the other only occasionally revisited it (Waid, in The Kingdom event that was as close to Seven Soldiers of Victory as DC ever got before Grant Morrison), while Geoff Johns famously brought it all back in the pages of his Justice Society of America.  Even Magog eventually entered the regular canon and had an ongoing series.  Often seen as DC's response to Marvels, it is more accurately seen in its own distinctive light, which is ultimately a more hopeful version of The Dark Knight Returns, taken on the grand scale.

#1. "The Return of Barry Allen"

Creators: Mark Waid, Greg LaRocque
Publication dates: 1993
Issues: The Flash 74-79

I choose to include only one storyline from Mark Waid's extended run on The Flash for a specific reason, because it was the earliest and best example of the whole thing, which often lived up to its potential and sometimes didn't (and the best of it wasn't even in the pages of The Flash but rather Impulse), so it's better to remember what remains the most memorable than complicate matters.  Because "The Return of Barry Allen" is most certainly the best of it.  And for the record, it doesn't even feature Barry Allen.  This was years before Barry came back.  The Flash throughout Waid's run was Wally West ("and I'm the Fastest Man Alive"), the third speedster to carry the name, and he was keenly aware of the whole mythology, which before Geoff Johns on Green Lantern, Waid was the first to attempt a wholesale expansion, introducing the concept of the Speed Force and old as well as new faces to the family, including my personal favorite, Max Mercury, the Zen Master of Speed.  If there is any weakening to this legacy, it's perhaps that even Waid seemed to let it slip by the wayside after a while, perhaps after "Dead Heat" (acknowledged within the pages of Johns's The Flash: Rebirth with a cameo by the villain Savitar), while Johns himself in two separate runs (with Wally and Barry) went in different directions.  Better, again, to remember it at its most pure, most perfect, most serene, most effective, when it's Wally struggling with his role in the grand scheme of things.  James Robinson would later take the same basic concept to similar heights in the pages of Starman, but has no comparable single storyline to this one.  This is the one, if you love superheroes and their legacies, that you have to read.  This is the love letter of all love letters to the whole phenomenon.

(All covers via Comic Book Database.)

My All-time Favorite Comic Books, 15-11

The list continues!

#15. Grant Morrison's Batman

Creators: Grant Morrison, Andy Kubert, Tony Daniel, Chris Burnham, various
Publication dates: 2006-2013
Issues: Batman 655-658, 663-683, 700-702, Batman and Robin 1-16, The Return of Brice Wayne 1-6, Batman Incorporated 1-8, Leviathan Strikes!, Batman Incorporated 0-10, 12-13

Morrison's epic vision of the Dark Knight is best defined by the Damian arc, the introduction of the first Robin to actually be the son of Batman.  He's explained that the two major villains of this run, Doctor Hurt and Talia, Damian's mother and Bruce Wayne's one-time lover, not to mention daughter of Ra's al Ghul, are father and mother figures for the hero best known for a tragic secret origin concerning the deaths of his parents.  A new defining mark for a comprehensive understanding of Batman mythos, these stories are a true test of all the Caped Crusader's most cherished beliefs, and a stark commentary on his legacy.  I would have ranked the run higher on the list, except I've been struggling with how it ended, and while I've come out the back end in a soundly positive way recently, I think I still need to read through the whole thing again for a proper final appreciation.  There are three distinctive acts to be explored, the events leading up to "R.I.P.," which involve Doctor Hurt; the Batman and Robin era, which feature Dick Grayson under the cowl and a heavy focus on Damian; and the Batman Incorporated era, which features a whole league of new allies and the final reckoning of Damian.  It's possible to be a partisan of any one of these, and that's the real trick, because sometimes I think I prefer the first the best, and other times I'm convinced the other two are equal contenders.  But as a whole?  As with anything else Morrison does, it's epic ambition beyond any ordinary scope.

#14. Seven Soldiers of Victory

Creators: Grant Morrison, various
Publication dates: 2005-2006
Issues: Seven Soldiers of Victory 0-1, Bulleteer 1-4, Frankenstein 1-4, Guardian 1-4, Klarion the Witch Boy 1-4, Mister Miracle 1-4, Shining Knight 1-4, Zatanna 1-4

The only thing more ambitious than Grant Morrison's Batman is his Seven Soldiers of Victory, the last sprawling effort of his on this list (but not last project; he dominates with five out of the twenty-five selections, plus a share in a sixth; his closest competitors are half that, although one of them has the top two slots and another shared listing in the top five, being Mark Waid, while Geoff Johns is the other).  Simply put, this project was breathtaking, and the reason I became a devoted fan of Morrison's.  An innovative look at the superhero staple of the team book, this was a team that did not actually operate as a team throughout the majority of the story, instead leading their own separate but linked adventures.  The biggest strength was that Morrison was able to demonstrate the full range of his talent, as no two characters in this line-up were the same type.  His Frankenstein elevated the character so far that it resulted in a New 52 ongoing series that lasted for sixteen issues, while his Shining Knight led in part to Demon Knights.  Just an incredible creative achievement, something no other single creator could have pulled off, or probably even considered.

#13. The Great Ten

Creators: Tony Bedard, Scott McDaniel
Publication dates: 2010
Issues: 1-9

This remains one of my most treasured undiscovered masterpieces.  You can tell that it was underappreciated from the start, considering the name of the team and book, and the fact that the issue count was reduced by one while it was still being published, and what a dirty shame.  This is Bedard and McDaniel achieving what Grant Morrison did in Seven Soldiers on an issue-by-issue basis, brilliant character studies of superheroes with extremely limited exposure prior to the series.  If there is a lasting testament to the work accomplished here, it's August General in Iron's later appearances in the New 52 series Justice League International.  If it were up to me, there would already be a collected edition of this, and it would be a perennial bestseller.  Easily, easily one of the best comics I've ever read.

#12. Joe the Barbarian

Creators: Grant Morrison, Sean Murphy
Publication dates: 2010-2011
Issues: 1-8

The last of the solo Morrison projects (there would have been at least one in the top ten if I hadn't had so many competing favorites), and a story that as I was reading it wondered if it wouldn't read better as a whole than in installments, and as time passed I realized I was probably right about that.  I appreciate Joe more and more.  It's Morrison at his finest, employing the full range of his wild imagination but in an entirely approachable way (which is not always the case), the simplistic promise of We3 wedded with the best of his superhero stories.  This is truly a modern fairy tale, a fable in the tradition of the great 19th century achievements that is also uniquely its own, and for this creator a remarkably brief yet still expansive adventure.  It's everything it needs to be.  I believe, more than any other comic in this list, Joe the Barbarian has a long road ahead of it.  I don't think it will be forgotten soon, and in fact will become more and more fondly remembered the more people become aware of it.

#11. Superboy and the Ravers

Creators: Karl Kesel, Steve Mattsson, Paul Pelletier, Josh Hood
Publication dates: 1996-1998)
Issues: 1-19

90s comics were known for a number of things, but two of the prevailing trends that came to define it were bad girl comics and a renaissance of the teenage hero.  DC exploited the latter trend just as much as anyone else, and I think the happiest development was this perennially underrated gem, Superboy's second ongoing series for a few years.  It remains a touchstone, and a treasured favorite memory.  Everything I would later come to love about Seven Soldiers of Victory and The Great Ten were already well on their way to perfection in the nearly twenty issues of Superboy and the Ravers.  Beyond Superboy the rest of the cast became some of the best defined characters in all of comics: Sparx (the best of the Bloodlines generation), Aura, Half-Life (that's the grim-looking dude on the cover), Kaliber (perhaps the best single creation of the whole thing, and a featured player in John Byrne's Genesis), Hero, Rex the Wonder Dog, Kindred Marx, and even someone called the Flying Buttress.  Desperately deserves a big fat collected edition, needs to be remembered as the landmark series that it was.

(All covers via Comic Book Database.)

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.)

My All-time Favorite Comic Books, 25-21

Every comic book reader worth their salt has a list of their favorite comics, the ones they treasure the most and most recommend to new and fellow readers.  Here's mine:

#25. Spider-Man Reign

Creators: Kaare Andrews
Publication dates: 2007
Issues: 1-4

This is my personal favorite version of The Dark Knight Returns, one of the most famous Batman stories ever told.  Marvel was a little slow to respond to it, but along with the excellent Wolverine story arc "Old Man Logan," it was easily Spider-Man Reign that finally rose to the challenge.  Where Reign trumps DKR is its ability to capture the essential message of the lead character in a way that goes backward and forward.  In the future, Peter Parker is an old man who once more dons his costume to battle an insidious plot to enslave all of New York City.  It's the quintessential "pathetic loner" Spider-Man story, told evocatively and sparsely, featuring most of the familiar supporting cast although each of them in surprising ways.  When you picture Spider-Man you usually have the wise-cracker in mind, but far more deep to the core is a guy who has never fit in and never quite got over that feeling of exclusion.  That's what this story is all about, how the story ends for one of the greatest heroes ever.

#24. Mister X

Creators: Dean Motter
Publication dates: 1984-present
Issues: 1-14, Brides of Mister X, Condemned, Eviction, Hard Candy

One of the greatest comic book characters I've ever read isn't a superhero, but rather Dean Motter's archetypal retro-futurist creation, the reclusive Mister X, originally published by Vortex Comics but by increasing demand finally staging a comeback at Dark Horse with new graphic novel releases every few years.  Along with Motter has been a number of other creators who have helped shape one of the most breathtaking artistic achievements in comics history, comparable to Will Eisner's more famous Spirit, creating an impact that's still only beginning to be felt.

#23. Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Batman and Robin

Creators: Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason
Publication dates: 2011-present
Issues: Batman and Robin Vol. 1 20-22, Vol. 2 0-present

I've been increasingly impressed with this dynamic duo, who first came together for Green Lantern Corps and were later again paired together in the pages of Brightest Day.  Yet it's in Batman and Robin where Tomasi and Gleason have truly peaked (so far), creating a book that's almost a companion to contemporary Batman lore, offering the best commentaries on current storylines while also immersing themselves in the private lives of Bruce Wayne and his son Damian.  Key issues include #0 (Damian's origin) and 23 (a perfect eulogy to Damian's death).  Bucking every expectation, this has the potential to climb much higher.  Or Tomasi and Gleason can somehow top themselves in a different collaboration entirely.

#22. Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung's Young Avengers

Creators: Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung
Publication dates: 2005-2012
Issues: 1-12, Avengers: The Children's Crusade 1-9

To my mind still the most perfect of the monthly depictions of the Marvel universe, even if it lasted for one year and then years later for a reprise about as long.  Heinberg took the Infinity Inc. formula of looking at how the next generation of famous archetypes would perform (a thing Marvel had tried before in things like M2 and 2099) and perfected it, with an entire bumper crop of characters with the same angst as the '60s boom generation and all the room to explore and grow as their story continued.  Children's Crusade remains inexplicably underrated, even though it was the sequel to House of M years in the making and completely unexpected, as well as a natural sequel to Heinberg and Cheung's original run.

#21. Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's Challengers of the Unknown

Creators: Jeph Loeb, Tim Sale
Publication dates: 1991
Issues: 1-8

Later collected under the title Challengers of the Unknown Must Die!, this is Loeb and Sale's earliest and to my mind best collaboration, a complete deconstruction of the superhero narrative in a way Watchmen could only dream, literary and therefore mostly untouchable to anyone expecting traditional material.  And the fact that it features a group of undiscovered icons makes it all the better.

(All covers via Comic Book Database.)

Reading Comics #115 "The Dark Knight Falls - The End of Grant Morrison's Batman"

This post about the end of Grant Morrison's Batman, or more specifically his second run on Batman Incorporated, is months behind the fact mostly for one reason:

I didn't like how it ended.

In case you haven't read or heard about that, Batman Incorporated #13 basically ends on a cliffhanger, the return of Ra's al Ghul.  A cliffhanger, really?  After seven years?  So that was basically my reaction.  I was disappointed.  Here was the conclusion of a great comics run within an iconic character and arguably the best writer of this generation.  And it wasn't really a conclusion at all.

Or so it seemed.

Morrison had warned readers that they probably wouldn't be happy, that they wouldn't be pleased with the conclusion he ultimately reached about Batman.  And I guess I just failed to understand what he meant.  Part of the problem was Chris Burnham's art.  Burnham was on the title since its relaunch in the wake of the New 52.  It was immediately evocative of Frank Miller's work from The Dark Knight Returns, just as Greg Capullo has been in Scott Snyder's Batman.  But whereas Capullo took the challenge seriously, Burnham's always looked like a parody.  Great on Damian.  Not so much Batman.

But maybe that was the point.

Morrison's conclusion, as I'm now interpreting it, may have been very pointedly the opposite of Miller's Dark Knight Returns philosophy.  Miller envisioned Batman as an eternal warrior, impossible to defeat, even if the enemy is old age and retirement.  His is an ultimately triumphal story for the character, trumping even Superman himself.  Morrison seems to have said something differently entirely.

To reach Ra's al Ghul, to reach his return, Morrison used every other key member of the family, who at this point were as close to a family as they ever got.  Batman the father, Damian the son, Talia the mother.  Batman and Talia finally duel, with Damian caught quite literally in the cross-hairs, as exemplified in the best issue of the series, Batman Incorporated #8, the latest Death of Robin event.  The war doesn't end until the series does, however.

And what the was the ultimate shape of this war?  Batman creates the eponymous league of allies to combat Talia's Leviathan, its equal and opposite.  And the orouboros finally eats its own tail.  Batman's grand crusade becomes cyclical, even with a brand-new version of the "I shall become a bat!" epiphany.  The allies cancel each other out.  The would-be lovers reach their end at last, the dance concludes.  Batman does not win.

Batman doesn't win???  Batman doesn't win.

Let me say it again.  Batman doesn't win.  That's not at all what Miller prophesied.  Morrison came up in the comics scene in the midst of Batman's biggest creative boom.  There was Miller, Morrison himself (the psychological masterpiece Arkham Asylum), and Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, with Morrison recently chiming in on the theory that Batman actually kills Joker at the end of it.  Is he right about that?  It doesn't matter.  But it opens the door wide about what he really sees as the conclusion of the Batman story.

He doesn't see it ending ideally.  He doesn't see the Dark Knight rising.  He sees Batman fall.  This whole epic run has been The Dark Knight Falls all along.

He said he'd put all the toys back in the toy box.  The Incorporated allies are pretty much gone.  Damian is dead.  Talia is defeated.  And other writers continue Batman's never-ending quest for vengeance against crime.

But he's already indicated how he sees it will end.  The only way it can end.  Whether he's an old man or in his prime, Batman doesn't win.  And so he defeats his ultimate foe in the epic of all epics, and another villain just rises up to fill in the hole again.

This whole thing reminds me of the few issues he did after the fact following "R.I.P.," the last time we thought Morrison had concluded his Batman epic.  In Batman #s 701 and 702, he explains the missing pieces, the hole in things, between the events of "R.I.P." and Final Crisis, where Batman "dies."  They may be the finest issues he ever wrote in his Batman run.

Part of me is hoping he does something similar as a coda to Batman Incorporated, make his reasoning plain, explain the whole master plan.  It's not likely.  The one trademark of all Grant Morrison's stories is that he never spells them out.

Did I interpret it right?  At any rate, I'm feeling far better about that ending now than a few months ago.  Even if it doesn't paint Batman in the most flattering light.  But then, maybe that was the point.  Maybe Morrison was seeking to end the hero worship for a character who can be just as easily interpreted as a deviant and positively deranged as the ideal superhero who can overcome every obstacle.  He did that in Morrison's epic and still lost.  Maybe the cliffhanger itself is the message.  Or maybe it was no cliffhanger at all.

We've gotten a lot of good from this run.  We got Paul Cornell's Knight and Squire.  We got Andy Kubert's Damian.  We got Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason's Batman and Robin.  And more.  And hopefully more.  And perhaps the definitive Batman story yet.

All of this is to say, thank you Grant Morrison.  

Quarter Bin #50 "Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Bloodwynd, Waverider, Etc."

Comics featured in this column were not necessarily bought in a quarter bin.  This is a back issues column.

Armageddon 2001 #1 (DC)

From May 1991:

DC tends to be obsessed with superheroes from the future (Booster Gold, Legion of Super-Heroes) who are obsessed with superheroes of the present.  Waverider is no exception.  Armageddon 2001 was Waverider's big story.  It was all about one of the icons of today turning into tomorrow's tyrant (sort of like Harvey Dent's line in The Dark Knight: "You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain").  They say the original plan was for Captain Atom (the basis for Alan Moore's Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen) to be revealed as Monarch (something that ended up being done in the pages of Extreme Justice anyway), but instead (because it was always going to be someone obscure) it turned out to be Hawk, as in Hawk & Dove.  Hawk/Monarch eventually became Extant, who was the other villain in Zero Hour.  Still, like I said this was much more about Waverider.  The whole event was basically a crossover in the 1991 annuals (a yearly bonus issue that used to be a staple and has been staging a sporadic comeback).  Like the "Night of Owls" or "Death of the Family" or "Wrath of the First Lantern" crossovers recent fans might be familiar with, these annuals basically featured the same story with slight variations each issue, making it all the more relevant to care about Waverider himself, which is why this issue recounts his poignant origin, the Kingdom Come of its time.

Heroes & Legends (Marvel)

From October 1996:

The whole point of this jam issue is to commemorate the 1965 wedding of Reed & Sue Richards.  Although I suspect the real reason this was released was because of Superman: The Wedding Album released at the same time, featuring the long-awaited marriage ceremony between Lois Lane and Clark Kent, which featuring a similar jam session.  Every conceivable Marvel hero appears to make the Fantastic Four event pull off with as much incident as possible, just as DC's heroes gathered in Metropolis to give Superman peace of mind and a honeymoon.  I got this one because the cover was so vague I had no idea what was inside.  I just hoped it was interesting.  Another notable appearance in this issue is Phil Sheldon, the reporter who served as the guide in Marvels.

Icon #16 (Milestone)

From August 1994:

Milestone was the DC imprint filled with black superheroes, and Icon was its Superman.  In 1994 there was a crossover between the Milestone line and the Superman family called "World's Collide" (and that's...pretty much the whole story).  This issue was part of that.  The writer was the late Dwayne McDuffie, while the artist was M.D. Bright, who previously worked on Green Lantern.  I'd previously had a copy in my collection of a Superboy installment featuring the Boy of Steel's encounter with Icon's ally Rocket.  I guess Superboy could make a memorable encounter with any young female hero (his relationship with the Supergirl of that era was the highlight of any month it happened).  Here Superman and Icon are deathly dull and the story around them the epitome of paper thin crisis.  If DC wanted people to care about Milestone, this wasn't the way to go.  Milestone is better known today for Static, the teen hero who later starred in the Static Shock animated series and was briefly a part of the New 52 relaunch (and perhaps in hindsight it was a bad call to have artist Scott McDaniel figure out how to be a writer at the same time in the title).

Infinite Crisis #1 (DC)

From December 2005:

Obviously I read the complete Infinite Crisis as it was released.  I even made the rare decision to buy multiple covers of each issue.  The sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths was an epic examination of generations and perspective.  The classic line from this issue is Batman speaking to Superman: "But they need to be inspired.  And let's face it, 'Superman'...the last time you inspired anyone was when you were dead."  The truly memorable thing about Infinite Crisis, though, as that it truly did focus on Superman and Batman, as well as Wonder Woman.  Yes, there were thousands of other characters at play, but the Big Three were the focus.  They weren't the focus of Crisis on Infinite Earths.  In fact, they were rarely the focus of these crossover events.  Geoff Johns can sometimes be described as a fanboy by his detractors.  In this instance maybe it indeed took a fanboy to finally do an event centered on the three central figures of the DC landscape.  It sounds so obvious to do that, but it's one of those things that are so obvious that no one had really thought of actually doing it before.  So here's what it looks like, and it's glorious.

The Invisibles #21 (Vertigo)

From June 1996:

This counts as the second issue I've ever read of Grant Morrison's Vertigo opus.  Technically I've read the entire first collection of stories, but individually just the first and now this one, and it really figures. The Invisibles is about discovering the scary truths hiding just beneath the surface of the mainstream, and our guide for the journey is initiate figure Dane.  This issue catches up with him as he's trying to process it by revisiting his regular, mundane life of friends and family from the time before he got to look behind the curtain.  Part of the real charm of reading individual issues from the series is having a look at the letters columns.  Back in yon olden days, this was the window into the fan community behind a series.  In these Internet days, everyone thinks they're experts (or just cynical) about everything, and so they don't tend to know or talk about anything in particular except in snide, condescending remarks that mean nothing.  Letters columns were like monthly Wikipedia entries, talking about events and the significance of those events from individual issues.  The best creators used these columns as their personal forum, not only as an open dialogue but a way to express their personalities outside of the stories that were their first impression.  Today it's a mark of distinction to include them against the new standard; Brian Michael Bendis and Brian K. Vaughan are perhaps the best practitioners of this new underground vibe.  I mention all this because Morrison was one of the creators in those days who absolutely made the most of it, and sometimes he used it to craft a dangerous version of himself I contend may or may not have been true.  These days it's not as much fun as I once thought to reread old letters columns, but Invisibles is probably as reliable a forum as you'll find in that regard. 

Justice League America #88 (DC)

From May 1994:

One of the best creative teams I've ever read in comics was Dan Vado and Marc Campos.  They briefly collaborated in the pages of Justice League America and Extreme Justice.  Fans will know the Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire era and to a lesser extent the Jurgens era (mostly thanks to "Doomsday"), but the sheer awkward humanity reached a crescendo in the aftermath of all that as Booster Gold struggled to recover from losing his original costume, which was really about losing all faith in the superhero community.  Booster and pal Blue Beetle were previously the very incarnation of the carefree spirit, two of the goofiest bastards ever.  In a lot of ways, the forgotten Justice League crossover event "Judgment Day" was the culmination of the Vado/Campos era.  This was the event where beloved neophyte Ice was temporarily killed off (she and Fire...yes, Fire & Ice...were another signature element of this era).  It was also the culmination of the Bloodwynd mystery.  Bloodwynd was a mysterious (hence the mystery) new member created in the Jurgens era.  Some fans will always be convinced that Bloodwynd was finally revealed to be an alternate persona for Martian Manhunter, but that's a stupid misunderstanding.  Bloodwynd was awesome.  By the way, Grant Morrison takes Bloodwynd for a joke of a typical '90s character, and possibly he has the Vado/Campos era in mind (Campos might be said to resemble the typical Image style, but in a DC context he was pretty unique).  If you ever wanted conclusive proof that I'm not a slave to all things Morrison, know that we differ on the subject of Bloodwynd (although the character apparently appears in Morrison's upcoming Multiversity, which will mark his first appearance in...two decades?).  "Judgment Day" in some ways was kind of the story that finally forced everyone to face the elephant in the room.  Was he worth all the mystery the team put up with all those years?  I still hope he makes a triumphant return.

JLA: Our Worlds At War #1 (DC)

From September 2001:

Our Worlds At War was the signature crossover event of 2001, but if it remains notable at all today it's because of the eerie parallels with a far more significant event from that year.  The parallels went so far as several issues of Superman comics being released soon after 9/11 with still more hauntingly relevant images.  This issue is from Jeph Loeb and features the complete text of Franklin Roosevelt's address to Americans following "the date which will live in infamy," interspersed as captions through the story.  Seems pretty heavy, but Loeb is also quick to put Superman at the front of the story (making this the precursor to Infinite Crisis).  This was a time when DC was paranoid about the Man of Steel's continuing relevance, so it tried to make him as edgy as possible.  Goading him into an all-out state of war seemed to be the best way.

JLA Secret Files & Origins 2004 (DC)

From November 2004:

Speaking of making Superman edgy, the other notable story from the period involving this instinct was the saga of Manchester Black as depicted in Action Comics #775.  When DC realized that the story could probably continue, Black's sister Vera helped found the Justice League Elite, which as you might guess was the Justice League but more...edgy.  Actually, there were only two bona fide League-worthy members, Green Arrow and The Flash.  The Secret Files specials were a favorite of mine, primers that included profiles and short adventures (and sometimes handy timelines).  This one put the JLElite in the spotlight, plus a few other notable upcoming stories, including the then-forthcoming return of Grant Morrison's Ultramarine Corps in the pages of JLA Classified.  

JSA #49, 51, 70 (DC)

From August & October 2003, April 2005:

Geoff Johns did a lot of notable material before I caught up with him, and his long work with JSA lasted until the Justice Society of America reboot that I actually did read (notable for the "Thy Kingdom Come" arc that heavily featured an in-continuity Magog from the original Kingdom Come).  His JSA was the first time I read unabashedly good things about what he was doing, fun stories that involved a return to prominence for Hawkman and the emerging menace of the complicated Black Adam.  The first two issues are part of the "Prince of Darkness" arc that might have been the culmination of anyone else's run.  It featured Mordru and focused on elements like Dr. Fate (one of the coolest and most versatile designs for any superhero; check out the Helmet of Fate event for a primer) and Eclipso.  Mordru's name doesn't resonate no matter where you look (except King Arthur lore), but in a lot of ways this whole story was like Geoff preparing for Infinite Crisis, where Mordru would be the prototype Superboy-Prime.  I got the latter issue because it because the modern and Golden Age Mr. Terrific on the cover.  Mr. Terrific was my favorite member of Geoff's Society (although he was an unfortunate victim of the New 52 launch, he did finally receive his first ongoing series...for a few issues).  The issue itself doesn't really feature him so much as include him.  The best inclusion is Walker Gabriel, star of another short-lived series, Chronos (which demands a complete reprint collection).  The villain this time is Degaton, another villain best known to Society aficianados.

The Possessed #4 (Cliffhanger!)

From December 2003:

This was the period in the career of Geoff Johns where he was pretty much doing whatever he wanted.  He was working on The Flash and JSA at DC, Avengers at Marvel, and side projects like this, which was basically his Image work (Cliffhanger! was an imprint of WildStorm, which was at one time a founding imprint at Image).  Actually, The Possessed reads a lot like Robert Kirkman's later The Walking Dead, although there's a little more emphasis on the bogeymen around which the regular human characters are trying survive.  Like Olympus, Geoff co-wrote this with Kris Grimminger.  These days it's superheroes superheroes superheroes (with the odd Vertigo anthology tale), but the existence of material like this is like a promise that one day he'll try something different again.  We'll see.

Quarter Bin #49 "From An Actual Quarter Bin, Part 3"

Comics featured in this column are not always actually from a quarter bin.  However, this is a rare occasion where they were, courtesy of a grand opening/preview sale for the second location of Escape Velocity in Colorado Springs earlier this year.

Blackhawks #1 & 2 (DC)
From November and December 2011:
One of the titles I was most looking forward to in the fall 2011 DC relaunch was Blackhawks, not because I have a particular affinity for beachfront property the classic Blackhawk concept but that it was being written by Mike Costa, who has earned my eternal respect for his Cobra comics over at IDW.  Those are some of the best things I've ever read in this format, and I'm continually surprised that their genius still hasn't been embraced by even a cult audience at this point.  They continue to be published because IDW itself has realized what it has, like Red 5's devotion to Atomic Robo.  (Seriously, people, Atomic Robo is fantastic.)  Yet I opted out of reading Blackhawks at the time based on an accurate and yet unfair snap assessment that it didn't properly evoke my Cobra memories.  The series was based less on the aforesaid classic Blackhawk (like a superhero version of the formative Air Force) and more a DC version of G.I. Joe.  Costa's Cobra (recently relaunched as The Cobra Files, for the record) is basically the antithesis of anything you might think about G.I. Joe.  It's all about espionage and deep character study, far less about war games.  Based on the original glances I took through its pages, Blackhawks looked like it was typical G.I. Joe war games, as if someone at DC had looked at Costa's name and only cared to see that it was associated with G.I. Joe and not what he was doing in the sandbox.  And to a certain extent, that's really what happened.  The thing is, Costa still made the most of it.  His Blackhawks are the good guys (until recently he only had token Joes in his Cobra), but in these issues (which I opted to sample based on the Collected Editions recommendation) there's a similar (if not exactly the same) focus on character rather than fairly generic action that I had expected.  Now I'm sorry I skipped reading this one.  It was quickly cancelled, and Costa was not welcomed back by DC.  Now I may even have to track down the whole collection.

Flashpoint: The Canterbury Cricket (DC)
From August 2011:
This is something I bought at the time and was forced to part with (along with many, many other treasured memories) when I sold my comic book collection last fall.  The whole reason I remain obsessed with the Canterbury Cricket is that it was the odd original creation during the Flashpoint event, and that seemed like something worth commemorating.  As his name suggests, the Cricket is British, part of the resistance movement during the Amazon/Atlantis conflict that was one of the many things happening in the background of Barry Allen's existential crisis.  He is also, as the name suggests, a giant cricket, although he used to be human.  One of the things fans of Marvel characters always say is that they're so relatably human, even the ones who don't look so human anymore like Ben Grimm a.k.a. Thing from the Fantastic Four.  And over at DC it's always been reliable that the characters who used to be human but aren't as much anymore get much better exploration, like Man-Bat, Blue Devil or even Jason Blood (the flipside of Etrigan the Demon).  Canterbury Cricket, as depicted by erstwhile editor Mike Carlin, is all about that, and what's interesting is that he views the transformation as a good thing, because he didn't like who he used to be.  It's a lot like Spider-Man but without the Great Guilt Trip.  I'd love for this character to appear again.

Flashpoint: Abin Sur - The Green Lantern #3 (DC)
From October 2011:
With the release of the woebegone Green Lantern movie in 2011, there was a good amount of bonus releases featuring characters from the franchise that year.  One of the things I loved about Flashpoint was that it found ample space to share this love, including several spin-off mini-series including this one featuring Hal Jordan's predecessor.  Abin Sur is one of the great characters in fiction who is technically dead the moment he becomes relevant.  He also had a comeback in Brightest Day, which ended at the end of the old continuity, otherwise he might have been the ultimate recipient of the fabled white ring of spectrum power.  He had another shot here.  Maybe I'm mixing up the stories now, but he ends the issue with a white ring here, too.  Throughout much of it he's also battling his doomed persona thanks to Sinestro.  In the lore Abin and Sinestro were actually pals.  Sinestro was in love with Abin's sister.  Like Canterbury Cricket I think there's ongoing potential in exploring Abin Sur's story.  It seems somehow wrong that with Green Lantern we not only get thousands of potential characters to follow but also a rich history that has barely been scratched.  You could go worse than to spend a little more time with Abin Sur.

Flashpoint: The Outsider #3 (DC)
From October 2011:
Technically the lead character in this one is in the title, another of the rogue genius manipulators who populate a lot of comics.  But this issue also features the Flashpoint version of Martian Manhunter.  Martian Manhunter is always fascinating.  His origins are unique and his relationship to humans is equally unique.  He's the real outsider here.  But what's perhaps more fascinating about the issue, written by James Robinson, is that it strongly evokes 52, the sensational experiment that proved weekly comics were possible in the modern era.  It weaves Black Adam into the story, more as a reference than a character, but that's enough.  I didn't get a chance to read most of the Flashpoint spin-offs (something I hope to rectify at some point), and this was in fact my first experience with this one.  It was a good issue to catch.

Flashpoint #5 (DC)
From October 2011:
I read the complete Flashpoint mini-series itself in 2011, and it was a highlight of my year, a year I was trying to quit comics.  It was a very good very bad thing to happen.  It was brilliant.  Geoff Johns had brought Barry Allen back in The Flash: Rebirth, and then spent about a year in the subsequent ongoing series before launching this event based entirely around him.  It was a little disappointing for some fans to think he'd be walking away after it (Geoff spent half a decade writing the Wally West version of The Flash), but he'd already accomplished the unthinkable.  Barry Allen's previous highlight was dying in Crisis On Infinite Earths.  He was made into the central character when Marv Wolfman wrote a prose adaptation of his own story.  It was Mark Waid who pushed the franchise into a more central position, but it was Flashpoint that made it possible for everything to pivot around the Scarlet Speedster.  Geoff envisioned the ultimate conflict between Barry and his nemesis Eobard Thawne, Professor Zoom.  Thawne tricked Barry into changing history and affecting an entire alternate reality.  Another of the side stories in the world of Flashpoint was that Thomas Wayne never died and it was him who became Batman.  This final issue makes this particular element so much more poignant when Barry has managed to correct the timeline, but with a message from Thomas to his son Bruce.  An animated movie based on Flashpoint is due to be released in July, and there has been some criticism (possibly only among Flash fans) that the Batman element has been retained as a key element.  It really should be.

Sovereign Seven #1 (DC)
From July 1995:
I read the complete Sovereign Seven as it was originally released in the '90s (fun fact! Power Girl eventually became a replacement member of the team).  It was a big sensation at the start, mostly because Chris Claremont was the writer.  Claremont made his name making the X-Men into legitimate icons in the '80s (the upcoming Days of the Future Past movie is based on one of Claremont's best stories, as was the Jean Grey/Phoenix arc from the second and third films).  He was a genius at team dynamics and mythology.  That's what Sovereign Seven was all about.  Each of the members from this team were exiled royalty from alien worlds.  The result was more fantasy than superheroics.  I suspect this may have been one of the reasons fans became disillusioned.  Maybe another was that it was difficult to tell how this creator-owned series related to the rest of the DC landscape.  Ham-fisted attempts at better integration (hence Power Girl) were made later, but by then it was too late.  Please note to creators of new characters in a shared universe: it's never a good thing to be isolated, and it's never enough to have cameo appearances in your own book.  You need to appear elsewhere.  You need to be accepted into the family in the family.  It might seem scary to lend your shiny new character to someone else so soon, but that's where the real strength of the concept shines.  Claremont further annoyed fans by ending the series by apparently suggesting his characters were fictional in their own world, too.  I think there's still room for a serious revival, and Claremont need not necessarily be involved.  Although it would be far less likely to happen without him.

Vertigo Preview (DC)
From 1992:
This was the most sensational discovery for me, the vintage preview book for the launch of DC's Vertigo imprint.  The flavor of what was to come had already begun in Neil Gaiman's Sandman and other projects, but this was the dawn of a whole new era.  There's an introduction from recently departed iconic Vertigo editor Karen Berger to kick off the festivities.  Then previews of all the books of the official freshmen class.  First off is Gaiman's own Death: The High Cost of Living, spinning off from Sandman.  Death is the ultimate Goth Chick, even better than the real thing.  Peter Milligan, long associated with Vertigo and another of the writers of the '80s British Invasion, is represented with Enigma.  The reliable J.M. DeMatteis is present with Mercy.  Anne Nocenti, one of the longest-tenured women in comics, has Kid Eternity.  Grant Morrison, of course, must be here too, and it's with Sebastian O, though he'd win much greater Vertigo acclaim with The Invisibles, in some ways his magnum opus.  Black Orchid is featured with Dick Foreman and Jill Thompson.  Animal Man, which Morrison had helped shape into the Vertigo groove, is here with Jamie Delano.  Doom Patrol, also shaped by Morrison into the proper configuration, is here with Rachel Pollack (Pollack and Delano and Milligan were all reliable Vertigo staples in the early days).  John Constantine, Hellblazer, is written by Garth Ennis with art from frequent collaborator Steve Dillon.  Ennis would stake his Vertigo fame with Preacher years later.  Milligan also has Shade the Changing Man.  Nancy Collins has Swamp Thing (in its '80s Alan Moore incarnation perhaps the prototypical of all prototypical Vertigo, besides '70s horror comics like House of Mystery).  Of course the coup de grace for this whole preview is an exclusive (i.e. original) Sandman tale from Gaiman, which is pretty much exactly Gaiman giving his pressing and introduction to the whole venture.  Pretty awesome.

X-Men 2099 #1 (Marvel)
From October 1993:
In the brief period where my brothers were the ones in the family who read comics (they were both older than me), they read Star Wars and X-Men and Batman comics.  They caught the 1992 bestselling X-Men relaunch.  I got to read a lot of "Knightfall" because they did.  One of them got the complete collection of the original zero issues from Zero Hour.  And then they stopped and scoffed at the whole thing, much like they did their appreciation of Hootie and the Blowfish.  I remained fans of both comics and Hootie.  A lousy psychiatrist would say I did that because I spend my life trying to catch up to my brothers.  I prefer to believe it's because I still appreciate these things.  Sometimes when someone believes they've outgrown something, they just never go back.  That's just how it is.  The discovery I most appreciate from my brothers is X-Men 2099.  The whole 2099 line was a brief experiment to revamp the Marvel landscape with new incarnations set in the future.  People still talk about Spider-Man 2099 (well, sometimes), but to my mind the money remains with X-Men 2099.  My perennial problem with X-Men comics in general is the same I have with all Marvel comics: they only pay lip service to the conflicts at the heart of their concepts.  X-Men 2099 is everything a mutant fan ought to love.  None of the faces are familiar but they're all engaged in the same tragic struggle you love from all the ones you do know.  Like the rogue members who began populating the comics you remember (Wolverine, Storm...Rogue), these guys were all outsiders even to each other.  Someday, much like my Flashpoint ambition, I hope to read the complete X-Men 2099.