I’ve recently started reading golden age Batman comics and found that I love them way more than I thought I would. What comics have you read that were better than you expected?
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Planetary
Global Frequency
Both by Warren.Ellis
DC New Frontier
Flintstones as well
Batgirl 2009
Blue Beetle 2006
Supergirl by Peter David issues 75 80
Wonder Woman.Year One Ruka Scott
Earth 2 issue 17 on Taylor
New Krypton Geoff.Johns
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The Flintstones.
I love Hanna-Barbera, but Fred and crew never interested me that much (although, I did catch The Man Called Flintstone quite often when The Disney Channel would air it).
Mark Russell made me give two stones about Fred and the crew. I’d love to see a new Flintstones show based on his comic, as I’d watch it with rapt attention.
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Ironically I have been reading the early detective comics too. I can almost hear an old time radio announcer narrating every scene. And Batman was a killer…and a smoker! And true to form he always gets captured and put in a death trap, and has to escape like Houdini. Some of the politically incorrect stuff is really funny. Like the evil Hindus! I guess Hugo Strange is Batman’s oldest villain who’s still with us?
I typically roll my eyes whenever there’s a major reboot in comics. That being said, I think all of the rebirth titles I’ve read exceeded my expectations.
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Golden Age Batman is surprisingly fun.
I’ve run into a couple that I thought were going to suck and actually turned out all right like Justice League Task Force.
But several of my all-time favorites were things I went into expecting them to be decent but not as good as they turned out to be:
- Birds of Prey (1999-) (Mainly the Chuck Dixon run. I’d already heard good things about Gail Simone’s run and Tony Bedard’s run was a little disappointing compared to the two preceding ones, but I went into Dixon’s completely blind and really liked it.)
- The Question (1986-)
- Cary Bates and Greg Weisman’s Captain Atom run (that is, the bulk of the 1986 series)
- George Perez’s Wonder Woman run
- The Spectre (1992-)
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Injustice
I don’t usually go for the heroes go bad trope. It’s tired. It breaches character. It’s forced. It’s not why I am reading comics. It’s just plain bad as far as I’m concerned.
That doesn’t mean I don’t give it a try now and then out of morbid curiosity.
Injustice is that one time where I really had to step back on my beliefs and say: You know what, screw it, this is actually really good.
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I was surprised by Superman: American Alien. I also liked Streets of Gotham, if for nothing else, because it didn’t have Bruce or any other “cape” as a narrator.
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As far as exceeding expectations. I can only name ones that I went into never hearing about b4. Madame Xanadu I will fight for that comic as one of the best I’ve ever read. Nightwing: The New Order. The Omega Men Tom King 2015-2016. Camelot 3000, Huntress Cry for Blood. JL Gods vs Monsters. Read any or all satisfaction guaranteed.
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One that hasn’t been mentioned that I’ve been reading has been the Silver Age Doom Patrol stories by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani. In an era where DC was mostly doing stuff like Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane stories, this was a book that felt more in line in terms of character and drama that Marvel was doing at the time, while still having a weird and surreal vibe that sets it apart. Really good stuff!
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Yes, yes, yes. Planetary is so so good. I’m also agreeing with New Frontier, but Cooke’s work exceeds my expecations every time so I just always expect the best from anything he touched regardless.
I’ll also echo that much of the Rebirth launch exceeded my expectations and got me back into super hero books for the first time in a long, long time. Especially the Tomasi/ Gleason Superman run. I still feel extremely fond of that run. It’s very special.
Lastly, I’ll say Sweet Tooth. It’s a Vertigo book (RIP to the greatest publishing imprint of all time). As a huge Jeff Lemire fan, I still got around to Sweet Tooth relatively late. I had expectations based on already being a fan of Lemire’s writing and art. I was blown away though. It’s very unique and stands out among the over saturation of apocalyptic tales.
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@TurokSonOfStone1950 @Stray_Bullets I haven’t read Planetary. As a DC fan this is kind of embarrassing. I should get around to it. It always seemed like it might be darker in nature. Haven’t read it while I’m socially distancing because I was worried I’d get bummed out.
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Just read the first issue
You will be hooked
Has set up
Plus a flashback of
Version of the greatest Pulp heroes versus a version of the Justice League, with the fate of two wkrlds at stake
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Thanks
Here is my entry in my
Super Hero Genre History
On Planetary
2000 Planetary Warren Ellis John Cassidy The book’s primary concern is unearthing the confluence of influences that led to the idea of The Superhero as our modern culture now knows it. From Doc Savage to James Bond; the Lone Ranger, Green Hornet and The Shadow; Tarzan, noir Private Eyes and Fu Man Chu; 1950’s Sci-Fi B-Movies, Godzilla and Hong Kong action flicks; Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern; early Marvel comics, and more predominately, the work of Jack Kirby; the re-inventive, post-modern 1980’s DC comics work from English writers like Moore, Grant Morrision, Peter Milligan and company; all the way back to 19th century superhero precursors like Sherlock Holmes, Dracula and Frankenstein - - Ellis and Cassaday leave no stone unturned when it comes to excavating the heart of the superhuman myth as it existed in the 20th Century and continues to exist to this day.
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Lemire is spectacular.
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Hands down one of my favorites of all time. I’ve been obsessed with Black Hammer and all the Black Hammer Universe books.
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Yes indeed
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An indie comic I read recently called Blue Monday. I went into the first volume thinking it would be a fun diversion. It blew (no pun intended) me away. Seriously if you haven’t read it, go get it now.
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I found Mother Jones to be very entertaining and better than I assumed it would be. Also fell in love with Daredevil over the past 2 months-
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I completely agree! I thought a story of “Superman kills Joker” would be one-note but it’s probably my favorite comic series ever. It gets to the root of so many characters and is constantly keeping your attention as it goes from action to drama to romance to heartbreak and more.
Absolutely fantastic series- just be prepared to be put through the emotional ringer.
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