IGN published a top 100 comic book heroes that made me crazy, both in its predictability (Hey! Superman and Bats are #s 1 and 2!), overinclusiveness (every single Robin except Damian Wayne (who is the most interesting one by far), as well as Superboy and Supergirl? Really?) and its attempts to be esoteric without providing sufficient justification (Groo makes the list, but they don’t really say what makes him so essential; James Gordon makes the list, but Aunt May and Uncle Ben don’t–nor does Jarvis; and Nova makes the list, but nobody really gives a shit about Nova). Maybe it was the list’s sketchy criteria for placement: “Picked by their cultural impact, character development, social relevance, general cool factor, and importance of storylines, these are the best of the best.
It made me so nuts, I made my own list. Yes, there’s a lot of overlap. But mine is better. Because I said so.
Note: If you’re just looking for a list without supporting arguments, you can jump to the last page of this post. But you can’t tell me I was wrong to put Thor at #33 unless you go and read why. So, read every page and then tell me why I’m full of $#!+.
Enjoy!
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Tags: Captain America, Comic books, Daredevil, Ed Brubaker, Fantastic 4, Filthy Muties, Flash, Frank Miller, Garth Freakin Ennis, Grant Morrison Sucks, Green Lantern, Hulk, Iron Man, Punisher, Spider-Man, Superman, The Avengers, The Caped Crusader, Wonder Woman, Zombies
We’re looking at Ennis’ entire run on PunisherMax. One of the greatest runs in the history of comic books. 
review another important book: PunisherMax. I can’t write about every issue of every Punisher book because between the miniserieses and one-shots and various volumes of “Punisher” titles there’s probably twenty or so separate series, and most of them are . . . Well . . . Shite. I could start with the Marvel Knights Punisher revival of the series, also written by Garth Ennis, but that was a very different sort of book. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but it was still Marvel Universe material without anything truly unique. Good for what it was, and great to see 
got his own series. One of the best-selling indie books of the year (#1 sold out, even though it was also offered for free comic book day). After Lord Baltimore unwittingly releases a horde of vampires, he goes searching to destroy their leader. Gothic steampunk horror.
Doug Moench, Bernie Wrightson, Angelo Torres, Mike Woods, and Jason Shawn Alexander, among many others. I saw this at my local shop (Victory Comics in Falls Church—holla!) and almost bought it immediately. But then I remembered I needed to have money for dinner that night. Maybe next time.
3. The Boys Vol. 8: Highland Laddie. More mayhem from Ennis and McCrea.
I know, I know. I already wrote about this once, and said I couldn’t really put together a definitive “best of” list. But I’ve done more research, much more reading, and I’ve come to conclude that I can! And have! This list builds on that old one—you can just ignore that post, in fact, and consider this one the superseder…..
Once upon a time, there was an Alabama man who wrote a 5-issue mini series for DC/Vertigo about war based on conversations he’d had with his cousin, a guy whose autobiographical experiences became the basis for Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. It was a powerful piece of work titled, “The Other Side.” But since nobody reads war comics, nobody heard of it. The dude then started up an ongoing Vertigo series called “Scalped,” but since nobody reads comics about Native Americans, only a few astute critics and nerdy Vertigo fans heard of it. It was enough, though, to get that man an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics.
