First! Comics Poll

I think I have most, or all, of John Sable Freelance somewhere, I was really kind of into it in a spin on Moon Knight comics I was reading elsewhere.

Joe Staton did do E-Man, it was really cartoony. I have a couple of those somewhere too.

But this can't be anything except Flagg, can it? The only one of these I know exactly where the issues are. And I'm going to get them later this morning now.

I am cheating for voting for the actual best comic, which is Lone Wolf and Cub.

Rick Geary's Classics Illo versions of The Invisible Man and Great Expectations were both BEATIFUL, but then I'm a Geary worshiper, especially in his 80s prime.

I'm friends with Bob Schreck and there have been many allusions to the crazy early days at Comico but i have been remiss in pressing him for juicy stories abt it. Gather the 'mainstream indie' scene in those days was pretty bonkers behind the curtain.

I haven't read any of these!

Moorcock and Chaykin collaborated on this GN prior to First Comics

lol didn't know about this would totally read it. will put on my want list next to that Bester "Stars My Destination" GN

re: Mars - I remember this being really interesting and unusual. when Hempel turned up later on Sandman I was like "oh yeah, THAT guy!" It was thinking about this series that actually led me to creating this poll. Never read the entire arc, altho I know it's been reprinted

I remember Mars as being the weirdest among these; the hardest for my 13 14yo brane to get at. Hempel is fkin awesome.

I just remember an issue where they come across the "ghosts" of the dead crewmen, who are all frolicking around sexing and taking drugs or whatever and then they disappear or something...? definitely strange.

man I need to chase these down. Probably vote for Flagg since I have all of that, but there's a bunch of here I want still to read (Evangeline, Mars) and the random issues of Sable and Grimjack I had were great

I dont have all of Flagg, I just have the first twelve issues

I have most of the first 12 and a smattering from 13-29ish but have been putting them together piecemeal over the last 18 years and have no idea where all of them are or which ones I have

totes looking forward to reading them one day though

once Chaykin started bringing other artists in it went downhill pretty abruptly. I have fond memories of Alan Moore's fairly ludicrous run but haven't read it in years.

surprised at the love for Sable tbh

kinda can't believe sic has never read AF!

I read the first 3 in '94 iirc

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nexus with the surprise win!

Erk! Was I really the only Flagg voter?

I thought I voted Badger but must have voted for something else. Grimjack maybe?

american flagg kinda sux imo

wrong

but yeah results are weird, coulda sworn I voted for AF! too

the problem with Flagg is you have the first 12 issues and then the other 38.

yeah there's no getting around that sadly

Nexus definitely sustains its quality longer ... but then there are days I think this is possibly the best single page of comics ever drawn

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pv9JmuoNuVE/TQwPZYJ_6ZI/AAAAAAAARig/w4hpQ-VXoZs/s1600/americanFlagg1.jpg

It sparks a good question though: what comic running more than say, 36 issues, was consistently good to great?

First one that springs to mind is Love and Rockets.

Moore's run on Swamp Thing...? Kirby/Lee runs on FF and Thor obviously

I would say Simonson's Thor too.

Don't know about beginning-to-end great, but there have been runs of good-to-greatness that long in ongoing titles.

Fantastic Four, mid-20s to mid-60s or so. The full 102-issue Lee-Kirby run, not so much.
Cerebus, for many many years
Bendis & Brubaker on Daredevil
Lee-Kirby Thor?

xpost

I guess the full Lee-Kirby FF counts as good, though the highest highs in the 30s-50s make the last couple of years look worse than they actually are by comparison.

But there aren't as many as you might think. Ditko and Lee for Spider-Man and, if you don't worry about page count, Dr. Strange.

def Cerebus

Cerebus would fail the Flagg test if I had to judge it as a whole, but I totally agree it had as long a solid run as I've ever seen.

Usagi Yojimbo would be on my list.

Usagi -- I've never read it, but I've only read good things about it.

Garth Ennis's run on the Punisher.

Invisibles is pretty great all the way through, excepting those early issues with the terrible Yeowell art I guess

At the time they were coming out I felt p dismissive of certain issues (mostly b/c they felt too au courant to me at the time), but in hindsight I think the whole run of Hate is awesome.

was thinking of mentioning that myself

Does Kirby's Fourth World count? Multiple concurrent titles instead of one long running title.

I love Kamandi but it wasn't the most consistent thing.

Yeah, I was going to mention Fourth World as an umbrella title but I got distracted by the shiny internet.

Problem is didn't Mister Miracle continue on after the main saga was done and get kind of meh?

Also I haven't had a chance to read them in forever(are they in print as a collection these days?) but I seem to recall Messner-Loebs' Journey being great all the way through

Mister Miracle does pretty much just peter out sadly at the end (altho the final wedding issue is fun) - that might have been after the 36-issue mark had been passed tho, I'm not sure

little lulu

Tintin, Blueberry

so... Badger is basically David Lee Roth, right?