Current Events > DC fans - need non-only-Batman graphic novel recs.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I bought Kingdom Come months ago and I absolutely loved it. Same with All Star Superman.

Batman being in it is fine, i just didnt want a flood of Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, The Long Halloween etc responses.

52

52

The premise is that during one of their many events Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman all retired their hero persona for a year due to various reasons. 52 was a comic published weekly set in that year focusing on mostly D listers along with some new characters like Batwoman at the time. It's easily one of the best and most impressive comics DC has ever made.

EDIT: Seems like I'm not the only one

Watchmen.

Not sure if it fits...
Joker by Brian Azzarello. Joker gets released from Arkham and we follow the crime boss side of his business, from the view of one of his men.
While Batman do appear, it is at a minimun.

I typed the first two suggestions out before realizing you probably included Batman villains, not just the actual Batman character but whatever <_<

Arkham Asylum: Living Hell is centered on Warren White, an investor who embezzled billions of dollars from pension and insurance funds, who gets the bright idea to have his trial transferred to the notoriously corrupt Gotham and go for an insanity defense. The furious judge sentences him to indefinite treatment in Arkham Asylum. It's got a big plot, but I just quite enjoyed seeing the inner workings of Arkham.

Gotham Central, as you might expect, focuses on the GCPD and how a police department works when a dude in a bat costume occasionally leaves criminals chained to a lamp post.

Moving away from Batman entirely, Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow is a Superman story. A reporter interviews Lois for a story on Superman's last days since she was the last person to see him before he disappeared ten years ago.

Lex Luthor: Man of Steel is probably a pretty standard Superman story: Lex Luthor has some dastardly plot to kill Superman, Superman has to stop it. The twist here is that you're seeing it from Lex's perspective. Really good insight into how delusional he is about Superman. If you like this one, I do recommend the Joker series that Foppe recommends. They're written by the same guy.

Superman: Red Son is an Elseworlds story similar to Marvel's What If? series. This one's a "What if Superman's ship crash landed in Soviet Russia?" Kal-L becomes a champion of communism and America still hates communism.

If you want to count the Vertigo line, there is the original Books of Magic mini-series. And I feel you can never go wrong with Sandman, Preacher, and Transmetropolitan.

Superman For All Seasons.
Action Comics 775
Secret Six
Nightwing the original ongoing from 1996/1997

Superman: Birthright might be something you like, TC. It's very light on action, but does a really good job of exploring Clark's personality and motivation. It's the comic that changed my mind on Superman and made me love the character.

non-only Batman was a weird way to phrase that.

Check out some of the Grant Morrison Justice League.

The Return of Barry Allen is a really good classic Flash story. Just get the one by Mark Waid. Idk anything about the Geoff Johns story under the same title.

My DC recs:

Fair warning, these are all from the original creators and might be difficult to track down in GN format.

Pre-1970s

Enemy Ace by Bob Kanigher and Joe Kubert - solid Kubert artwork as usual, Kanigher is a bit melodramatic as a writer but it works. Plot is about a WWI German airplane pilot who is believed to be an unsympathetic killing machine by both his comrades and enemy combatants. Actually, he's not. Generally episodic/one-off stories, I believe a couple recurring. The GN I have is Showcase Presents: Enemy Ace, black + white newsprint.

Doom Patrol by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani - Again episodic/one-off stories, some recurring towards the end. Fun series where the female character is the heavy, and the typical manly hero faints and is pretty useless. Also there's a cool robot man and the ending is a punch in the gut. Great art and writing. It looks like you can get Archives, Showcase Presents or The Silver Age versions.

Plastic Man by Jack Cole - One of the best. He did have a few ghosts towards the end of the run, but it's generally easy to tell a Cole issue from say, a Kotzky (Kotzky IIRC draws Plas like a horror monster). Very fun and inventive comic, highly recommended. There are some out of print Archives versions.

Superman by Siegel + Shuster - I recommend the Daily Strips, the stories are tight and its possibly the purest vision of Superman you'll ever read (a chaotic good troll). Look for 1939-1942 to start off.

1970s

Do yourself a solid and read JACK KIRBY. Anything he did at DC in the 70s is pure gold: great artwork, basically unrestricted in his storytelling, did his own writing with IMPACT. My recommendations are:

Kamandi - after the Great Disaster, sentient humans are in short supply. Sentient animals, on the other hand...
Awesome story, great characters, #29 is my favorite. There's an Omnibus from 2018 that looks to be OOP, but it's worth it.

Fourth World - actually four titles (New Gods, Mister Miracle, Forever People, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen). Possibly his greatest work - the writing is mind blowing. I have the Absolute Edition but there's other options; Box Set and Omnibus. As a follow-up, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers. Whatever you do, do NOT read anything Fourth World that isn't written by Kirby. I've never seen a different writer understand the theme of the comic, Apokolips/New Genesis, or hell, even Darkseid.

The Demon - fairly short but otherwise fun; might be a gateway to Prince Valiant.

Post 70s

I'm only gonna give you one rec here
Hitman by Ennis and McCrea - Ennis with oversight is Ennis at his best. McCrea can handle panels and spreads with equal impact. You know how you read a comic and some dumb corporate mandated crossover breaks up the story? Doesn't happen with Hitman. The ending is beautiful--the writing is beautiful--the artwork is beautiful--the comic is a representation of the best in the worst of us. Read Hitman! There's some old OoP collections but the first Omnibus comes out in July.

Bump. Love the recs so far. I have a lot to check out.

Last bump

So would you like other non-DC or superhero recommendations, or are you only interested in that? Vertigo (still pissed DC pulled the plug on it) had some phenomenal titles. Image and Dark Horse as well. IMO the best comics are usually not from the Big 2.

PeteyParker posted...

* Superman: Red Son (2003)
* The Golden Age (1993)
* Mister Miracle (2017)
* Strange Adventures (2020)
* Batgirl: Year One (2003)

Came to say red son. It's a interesting take on a "villain" superman cause he's not really a villain he still has a good heart he is just misled due to growing up and working for the soviet union.

Also I'd say death of superman just for historical sake. It's nothing amazing but it was considered one of the biggest moments in comic history

Omega Men

It's a Kyle Rainer GN. As far as I can remember, no other major DC characters are in it. Not even other lanterns.

Geoff Johns run of Aquaman is fantastic. Penguin: Pain and Prejudice is a solid read.