Rank And File: DC Comics' Numerous Titles!

Martinex1:  A few weeks ago, we inspected the Marvel catalog and tried to rank its various titles by listing and indicating our favorites.   It was a difficult task to say the least,  Not only were there many books to choose from, but the criteria was tricky    It basically came down to what titles we followed, collected, and liked.   Today we are going to dissect DC Comics.   I am going to rank my favorite books and then you can follow in the comments ranking the various titles' quality and your admiration for the DC catalog.

As I said previously, use whatever criteria you deem important in your assessment:  your passion, the number of issues you hold, lasting story power, overall art and creativity, cultural impact, etc.  All of those assessment attributes are fair game for this non-scientific study.  And be sure to tell us why you positioned the books the way you did.

I found that ranking DC was somewhat easier than the challenge with Marvel.  I think that is because I just followed less DC books.  But where I might offend some readers here, I really did not follow the "big" titles.  I wasn't really expecting to have the outcome that I did but this exercise definitely helped me see that I am more of a fringe DC fan.

Let's get started, here is my list of  DC favorites.   As with Marvel, I ranked these based on my Bronze Age attraction.  1) What books I had to have, 2) what runs are longest in my collection, and 3) what books are fondest in my memory.

So have fun critiquing my list, assessing your DC likes, and trying to convince others that books should move up (or down) the ranks.

Martinex1's Rank of DC Titles:

1)  Teen Titans:  Although this was not the first DC comic I purchased, the book was definitely an inspiration to try more DC titles.  I jumped into the title mid-stream with a "buy this book because of the cover" moment when George Perez' art jumped out at me.  I was enraptured by the story and had to have more, more and more.   I thought Marv Wolfman weaved a nicely complex tale and I liked all of the characters (even Robin who I previously thought was cheesy).  I have to say the feel of the book had twinges of Marvel's style with subplots, angst, and pathos.  But it was also all new to me with Titans Tower, evil villains, and my favorite characters Kid Flash and Raven.   I ate this stuff up.  I never read the original Teen Titans mag, but the "New" version made me more of a DC follower.
2) Firestorm:  I started to follow The Fury of Firestorm the Nuclear Man (whew - what a title!) right from the first issue.  And it was definitely a favorite of mine for a while.   Again, the story by Gerry Conway and art from Pat Broderick may have had more of a Marvel feel.   I liked the character's costume and appearance.   I liked the tension of Professor Stein and Ronnie Raymond's connection.  And I liked the day to day struggles of the teen hero.  I later collected the short-lived original series and enjoyed that as well.   For being a more "modern" creation, I thought DC developed some of the new villains rather well (particularly Killer Frost).
3) Justice Society of America: Appearing in All-Star Comics, the odd collection of old characters caught my attention somehow.  The issue depicted below is among the first ten comics I ever bought from a spinner rack.  The story inside was odd and I didn't really comprehend what was going on entirely.   Batman and Robin were older, the Flash was wearing a pot on his head, the Green Lantern wasn't the one I recognized, Dr. Midnight was cool, something was strange with the world, and the Huntress made her first  appearance on the last page.   I was hooked.  Over the years, I gravitated to the JSA.  If I saw them on a cover, I often picked up the book.  Outside of the Bronze Age, the JSA titled book that featured the old characters as well as the legacy youngsters was a good read.
4) Doom Patrol: I enjoy this team in almost all of its incarnations.  The original series really stretched the envelope for a late Silver Age title.  It often gets compared to the early X-Men because of character and thematic similarities, but I found the Doom Patrol to be stranger and more tragic.   The Robotman and Elasti-Girl characters caught my attention; and I think Elasti-Girl is one of the more interesting female characters of the era. I own a piece of Doom Patrol art from John Byrne's modern run.

5) Unexpected : One of DC's terror titles, I enjoyed this anthology series.  I have to admit that as a youngster a couple of the tales had me sleeping with the lights on.  But I still liked reading about the witches, muck monsters, creepy twists and twilight craziness.
6) Justice League of America: Obviously this series is the powerhouse title of DC. I have followed some of its incarnations (the humorous take by Giffen and DeMatteis) and its offshoots in Europe and International.   My collection has some spurts of JLA and much depends on who the artist was; George Perez again gained my attention.  But the title may have been slightly soured for me by the Super Friends cartoons.  And as you may have noted, the big three have not ranked on my list at all yet.   They were just not my super-team as I was Marvelized.   But looking at my collection, I have a pretty reasonable number of issues in my long boxes.
7) Flash: Whether Barry Allen or Wally West, I like reading about this guy. Marvel has Quicksilver, but he never made it as a top tier hero.   The Flash captured my imagination with his super-speed.  And his Rogue's Gallery is top notch with Captain Cold, Heatwave, Mirror Master, Gorilla Grodd, the Top, and all of the rest.   I've written about the Flash before.  Maybe he should be higher on my list.
8) Green Lantern: The Green Lantern's power can tend to be a bit deus ex machina in its use, but I have always been intrigued by the character because his true strength is in his imagination and force of will.   Creativity as a super-power can make a great comic theme, and there were some stories that I felt really captured that spirit. I am not a big fan of the Green Lantern and Green Arrow team stories, although the art is tremendous and I can appreciate their timeliness; I enjoy more the space opera stories centered on the chaos of galactic threats.

9) The Brave and the Bold:  Okay, get ready to throw your computer at me... I prefer Batman as a team player!  Yes, I know he is the ultimate loner, the dark knight detective, the brooding and grim fist of justice, but I need some balance.  Even Robin will do.  So for me, TBatB was a great book. The creators often used oddball guest stars and I ate it up.  It could be hit or miss, and was definitely at its peak in the Neal Adams era, but I like the team-up books in general and this was a good one.
10) Batman and the Outsiders: See above. Ha.  There was something about Batman leading a group of C-Listers that really grabbed me.   And Metamorpho is just one of my weird favorites.
11) Metal Men: I know that neither the team nor the book is generally considered top-notch fare, but this is a sentimental favorite of mine.   I have a nostalgic affinity to the Metal Men.  I don't even own that many tales, but the team just brings back early childhood reading memories when silly characters like these sparked the imagination.
12) Hawkworld (Hawkman):  Boy, did I get drawn into the 1989 series by Timothy Truman!  I always thought that the Hawkman look was pretty cool and better than other winged characters, but Truman wove an interesting tale about Thanagar and its flying police force.   I haven't read it for a long time and it may require a review at some point to see if it holds up, but it definitely put Hawkman on my radar.

13) Impulse:  I have mentioned this character and book before.   The art and style may not be for everybody, but I found that the balance of humor, character development, and emotion really made this a great book.  It commented well on the human condition, and at times could have me laugh out loud.   It is something I should reread and a book that I recommend.  It was not perfect and some issues were clunkers, but as a whole it was a nice reading experience.
14) Shade, the Changing Man:  This was one book by Steve Ditko that I actually searched for; it had weirdness written all over it.  Rac Shade, a fuguitive here from another dimension used his Miraco-vest to project distorted images of himself as he traversed dimensions and Earth, hunted by his ex-girlfriend and her parents.  Peter Milligan developed another Shade title in the 90s that was equally strange if not more so.
15) Sugar and Spike:  How can I not give credit to the kiddie antics of Sugar and Spike that entertained me so much as a youth?   And on the recommendation of Redartz I have been searching out some of their books.

So those are my top 15 DC titles!  That list can surely change as time passes, and I am sure that some of my omissions will cause some serious debate. I have to say that the big three (Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman) just never were my go-to for comic reading.  As mentioned above, I liked Batman in certain situations.  I have a respect for Wonder Woman and she makes it into my honorable mentions because of the great work of George Perez and later work by John Byrne.   Superman, however, is one of my least appreciated and least read characters; I just never found him that interesting.  I have intermittent issues starring Supes, but I always though his powers, his character development, and his supporting cast were exaggerated and dated.

Honorable Mentions do include Wonder Woman, Freedom Fighters, Dr. Fate, Spectre, Phantom Stranger, Starman, Batman, Detective, Atom, Adam Strange, Plastic Man and Black Lightning.

Not Making the Cut:  Superman, Action Comics, Robin, Birds of Prey, Green Arrow, Team Titans (ugh), Nightwing, and Lobo.  

So that is it folks - there were some obvious choices and some books that I am sure you will disagree about. That is okay; I am curious to see what you put on your personal lists.  Make them as long or as short as you like  Make Superman number one if you choose!  I am sure you will bring up some titles that I have totally forgotten.   Have fun and I look forward to your comments.  Cheers!