10 Best DC Comics of the Decade

General Discussion
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We’ve got a month and a half left in the 2010s. So now’s the time to ask: what were your picks for the best DC books of the decade?

Here are my own picks, by year. (I reserve the right to change my mind until January 1st.)

2010 — Justice League: Generation Lost

The era between Blackest Night and The New 52 is often overlooked, but JLGL is a fascinating piece of what could have been.

2011 — Animal Man

The best of the New 52 launch titles, even eclipsing Morrison’s original run in its vision (IMO). Lemire’s best work.

2012 — Legends of the Dark Knight

A terrific digital first collection of some very unique Batman stories from an always changing cast of writers and artists.

2013 — The Sandman Overture

As a diehard Sandman fan, this new addition to the canon felt like coming home.

2014 — Grayson

The genesis of Tom King, and almost certainly the most fun book to come out of the New 52.

2015 — Convergence

Perhaps not the event itself, but all 40 of the tie-in series provided a rare nugget for every flavor of DC fan.

2016 — New Super-Man

Gene Luen Yang is a genius. In a Rebirth slate full of reinvigorated titles, NSM shone the brightest.

2017 — Mister Miracle

The comic that got everyone talking about the power of comics again.

2018 — Hawkman

They all said Hawkman was unfixable. Robert Venditti proved them wrong.

2019 — Lois Lane

This book feels like it fell out of my wildest dreams and into reality. A million stars.

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I have to agree about Animal Man. By far one of the best runs I’ve ever read. Not a single bad issue.

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I second Legends of the Dark Knight, Grayson, and New Superman as great books. New Superman gets the highest recommendation. I’m about to read the final arc, and then I guess it’s gone forever. I’m hoping they don’t kill him off at the end or anything so he can be used again in the future.

Convergence had me moderately enjoying it until the end at which point I turned on it. Haven’t read the tie ins.

Haven’t read any of the other titles.

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2010 - Blackest Night

I was kind of lost the first time I read this, but it got so much better the more I learned about the DC Universe. I also still can’t understand how Ivan Reis physically managed to draw some of those pages. His art is just unreal.

2011 - Flashpoint

This is a perfect example of how Geoff Johns can expertly blend huge scale w/ intimate character work. Amidst the war that threatens to destroy the world and the New 52 reboot, I think my favorite sequence is Barry’s realization that he has to sacrifice his mother to save everyone. It’s heartbreaking, but so well-done and a seminal Flash moment.

2012 - Batman

It’s amazing how Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo managed to make the Court of Owls instant classics w/in Batman’s rogues gallery. This may still be my favorite work that Snyder’s done.

2013 - Superman Unchained

I don’t see this title get much discussion, but it was one of the first books that got me into comics and I still love the story to this day. You just can’t go wrong when you combine Scott Snyder and Jim Lee.

2014 - Injustice: Gods Among Us Year 2

After an amazing first impression, Tom Taylor somehow upped the ante to ridiculous proportions in the second year of what is easily the best video game tie-in series I’ve ever read.

2015 - Justice League

We were fortunate enough to have the amazing Jason Fabok on art for the entire year, w/ the game-changing Darkseid War arc beginning in the summer as well.

2016 - DC Universe: Rebirth #1

Hands down, this is still the best single issue I’ve ever read. I jumped out of my seat in shock and excitement when I saw the Comedian’s button at the end.

2017 - Batman: White Knight

Between the brilliant premise of Joker being the hero and Sean Murphy’s gorgeous artwork, I was hooked on this from the beginning.

2018 - Doomsday Clock

It’s spanned 3 different years and isn’t even finished yet, but every issue has been a masterpiece and I can absolutely say that it’s one of the best comics I’ve ever read.

2019 - DCeased

Tom Taylor should be the only writer allowed to kill off dozens of DC characters at once. The zombie trope has been done a lot, but this one had brilliant twists and character work, and even brought me to tears on several occasions.

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Such a fun topic!

2010 - Gotta go with the tail end of Blackest Night. Even with everything he’s written since, BN is probably still my favorite Geoff Johns story of all time.

2011 - Flashpoint. But JUST Flashpoint, the 5-issue mini-series - it didn’t need all the crossovers and one-shots and big company reboot to be a great story. It stands all by itself just fine.

2012 - Earth 2. Really interesting take on more modernized golden age characters.

2013 - Superman/Wonder Woman. A great first story arc. Of course, I was one of the handful of fans who was willing to give the Clark/Diana relationship a chance at the time. (Cliana? Diark?) They had great synergy in this series.

2014 - The Multiversity. So much good material here. Grant Morrison at his crazy, off the wall best. Pax Americana gets nominated for my personal best of the decade.

2015 - Omega Men. My first introduction to Tom King hurting my heart.

2016 - Rebirth Special #1. Wally. Just … Wally. (Hey, don’t make me cry again, okay?)

2017 - Doomsday Clock. I have to read every issue multiple times, not just to get all the references to both Watchmen and the DCU, but to drink in all of that Gary Frank artwork. I can’t wait for the last issue, but I also don’t want it to be over…

2018 - Adventures of the Super-Sons. Absolute joy of a book. One of the few places where I can actually enjoy that little brat Damien, and it gave me my last glimpse of Jon as a young’in.

2019 - Young Justice - the best of the Wonder Comics wave for my money (though Naomi was very enjoyable as well).

It’s weird, as I went through this process, I found that there were some years where I wanted to put several entries, and some years where I really had to stretch to find something I felt was memorable. I wonder if that says more about me or more about comics…

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2011 Aquaman Geoff Johns

2011 Demon Knights Set in Medieval Times. Paul Cornell

2013 Earth 2 17 on.Tom Taylor

2015 Superman Lois and Clark Introduction of Jon Kent, their son. Dan Jurgens followed by Superman Rebirth in 2016, followed by Super Sons.

2016 DC Rebirth 1

2016 Wonder Woman Year One. Issues 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Rucka Scott

2016 Detective Comics Rebirth Tynion IV

2016 Flinstones Mark Russell

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