Best Character Stories Ever.

thee great one

Master of TOG-fu.
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What are your favorite stories involving these characters?

Superman -
Batman -
Green Lantern -
Flash -
Teen Titans -
JLA -
JSA -
Spider-Man -
X-men -
Wolverine -
Daredevil -
Avengers -
Fantastic Four -
Iron Man -
Hulk -
Punisher -


For example mine are...

Superman - "Red Son"
Batman - Dini's Detective Comics
Green Lantern - Green Lantern "Rebirth"
Flash - "Rogue War"
Teen Titans - "Light's Out"
JLA - "The Tornado's Path" (Meltzer)
JSA - "Black Vengeance"
Spider-Man - "Sins Past"
X-men - "Phoenix Endsong"
Wolverine - "Origin"
Daredevil - "Hardcore"
Avengers - "Ultimates"
Fantastic Four - "1234" (Morrison)
Iron Man - "Extermis"
Hulk - "Dead Like Me"
Punisher - "Mother Russia"
Marvel Universe - "1602"
DC Universe - "Kingdom Come"
 
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not all are from comics and I don't know names but here is mine

Superman - first Bizarro
Batman - the vampire trilogy in elesworld
Green Lantern - justice league cartoon where he went to a world of GL's featuring that guy who looks like a golf ball.
Flash - tv show vs evil flash
Teen Titans - cartoon when robin used them to get to slade (i think is his name) and robin kicked all their asses
JLA - vs avengers
JSA - n/a
Spider-Man - 1st Venom arc
X-men - when magneto ripped the metal out of wolverine
Wolverine - "see above"
Daredevil - movie (dont read much of him)
Avengers - vs JLA
Fantastic Four -
Iron Man - ultimates v1
Hulk - grey hulk mr fixit
Punisher - spider-man cartoon where he had to stop Man-Spider
 
Superman - Red Son/Kingdom Come
Batman - I don't know. I don't think I've ever read a Batman story that I've truly loved
Green Lantern - Rebirth
Flash - One of Geoff Johns's stories
Teen Titans - Dunno
JLA - JLA: Earth 2
JSA - Dunno
Spider-Man - Millar's run
X-Men - E is for Extinction
Wolverine - Enemy of the State
Daredevil - The Devil in Cell Block D
Avengers - The Ultimates: Superhuman
Fantastic Four - 1234
Iron Man - Extremis
Hulk - The Ultimates
Punisher - One of Ennis's first three MAX arcs
 
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Superman - Kingdom Come (Because I dont read anything Superman)
Batman - I guess Dinis issues? They're good stories.
Green Lantern - Don't read it.
Flash - Not the current series, that's for sure.
Teen Titans - Don't read it.
JLA - JLA: Don't read it.
JSA - Don't read it.
Spider-Man - Millar's run. (Honerable mention: Sins Past)
X-Men - E is for Extinction. (This really made X-Men top notch again)
Wolverine - Origin.
Daredevil - Brubakers issues. (Excellent, excellent work. Made me want to pick up DD.
Avengers - Breakout. (Honorable Mention: Dissambled.)
Fantastic Four - Don't read it.
Iron Man - Extremis. (Ellis is genius. That is all).
Hulk - Don't read it.
Punisher - Mother Russia has been my favorite.
 
Superman - N/A
Batman - Broken Bat
Green Lantern - N/A
Flash - N/A
Teen Titans - N/A
JLA - N/A
JSA - N/A
Spider-Man - Millar's run.
X-Men - Planet X
Wolverine - Vendetta (don't read much solo Wolvey)
Daredevil - Out. as its the only DD book I own.
Avengers - Breakout
Fantastic Four - N/A
Iron Man - N/A
Hulk - N/A
Punisher - N/A
 
Superman - "Red Son" or "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?"
Batman - "Year One" or "Arkham Asylum"
JLA - "Liberty and Justice"
X-men - "E is for Extinction" or "Planet X"
Wolverine - "Origin" or the original mini-series.
Avengers - "The Ultimates" as a whole.
Punisher - "Up Is Down and Black Is White" or "The Slavers"
Marvel Universe - "Earth X"
DC Universe - "Kingdom Come"
 
Superman - Kingdom Come
Batman - Year One
Green Lantern - Rebirth and Wanted (the new arc)
JLA - Tornado's Path
JSA - Black Reign
X-men - Morrison's Run
Avengers - Everything without Bendis is good. "Ultron Unlimited" is pretty good.
Hulk - Planet Hulk
 
Superman - Red son or Kingdom Come
Batman - Dark Knight Returns
Green Lantern - Don't read any GL
Flash - Infinite Crisis (Bart Allen Kicks ***)
Teen Titans - Don't read the Titans
JLA - DC super teams aren't for me
JSA - See above answer
Spider-Man - Kraven's last hunt
X-men - Dark Phoenix saga
Wolverine - Enemy of the state
Daredevil - Murdock Papers
Avengers - Kree/Skrull war? I'm not sure
Fantastic Four - This man, this monster
Iron Man - Age of Innocence: Rebirth of Iron Man
Hulk - Dogs of war? I dunno, a tough choice
Punisher - Welcome Back, Frank
 
Superman - Kingdom Come
Batman - The Dark Knight Returns
Green Lantern - Rebirth
Flash - Divided we Fall (JLA cartoon where he beats the crap out of Luthor)
Teen Titans - Infinite Crisis (mostly the Superboy parts)
JLA - Identity Crisis or Justice
JSA - 52 #29
Spider-Man - Ultimate Spider-Man volume 1-6
X-men - Astonishing X-Men
Wolverine - X2
Daredevil - Bendis' entire run
Avengers - Breakout
Fantastic Four - Frightful
Iron Man - Civil War
Hulk - Planet Hulk
Punisher - MAX
 
Superman - Red Son, All Star Superman, Birthright
Batman - Arkham Asylum, Year One, RIP, Gotham Central, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Batman: The Animated Series
Wonder Woman - The Hiketeia
Green Lantern - Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, basically Geoff John's run
Flash - Still haven't read all of Geoff Johns's run but it's probably one of his arcs
Green Arrow - Year One, Quiver
Shazam - Jeff Smith's Monster Society of Evil
Teen Titans - Hm... definitely something from Geoff John's run... maybe Titans East since that was the final arc or the one in the future
JLA - JLA: Earth 2, Justice, Justice League Unlimited
JSA - Again, something from Geoff John's run. I liked Black Reign and the Ultra-Humanite arc
Spider-Man - Millar's Marvel Knights run
X-Men - Morrison's run, especially E Is For Extinction and I also liked Whedon's Astonishing X-Men and Pak's Phoenix: Endsong
Wolverine - Enemy of the State, Old Man Logan
Daredevil - Bits of Bendis and Brubaker's run, but probably The Devil in Cell Block D
Avengers - The Ultimates, the post-Civil War arc with the new team
Fantastic Four - FF: 1234, Millar's Ultimate Fantastic Four
Iron Man - Extremis, Iron Man
Hulk - The Ultimates, Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk
Punisher - Barracuda
DC Universe - Kingdom Come
Marvel Universe - Marvels
 
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Superman - Kingdom Come is the best story involving Superman. Superman: Peace On Earth is the purest and most distilled, especially as a character study.

Batman - Either Mask of the Phantasm or the Dennis O'Neill Knightfall novelization. DKR is a triumphant work, but the other two are better character explorations, I think.

Spider-Man - I'm hard-pressed not to say the first movie simply because it so embodies almost everything I love about the character and what he means. I need to read a ton of the more modern Spidey stuff, though(mainly Ultimate).
 
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Superman - I love my Superman iconic. Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow or [/i]All-Star[/i]
Batman - I can't pin down a precise story, but I really dig a bunch of the early 70's stuff from O'Neil. I've just caught up on it fairly recently, and it's got this weird sort of Steranko quality. There's this almost Steranko-like spy feel to it, and (hokey) Middle Eastern mysticism, and Batman's always getting attacked by jungle cats for some reason. There's this weird, hyper-pulpy style to it, but Robin's still running around, and it's all filtered through this satin 70's veneer. And actually, yeah. I can pick a story. The one where Ra's Al Ghul first appears, and kidnaps Robin, and Batman has to fight a leopard and solve a bunch of riddles and **** and then climb a mountain to save him. Yeah. I went there. Daughter of the Demon
Green Lantern - Sinestro Corps I guess?
Flash - Something with Geoff Johns. It's been a while, but I remember I liked near the end of the run, where he had spotlight issues for the various Rogues and Zoom came into the spotlight. Guggenheim's run was really good too.
Teen Titans - ****. Who cares?
JLA - DC One Million. I don't care. I thought it was badass. Honorable mention to pretty much all of JLI.
JSA - I haven't really read much JSA.
Spider-Man - or Spider-Man. And the movies kind of sucked, and I can't remember the TV series all that well, but it was cool.
X-men - Riot at Xavier's but ******* if all of New X-Men wasn't just badass. And AoA. It's cheesy like most X-Men stuff, but I just looooooved it when I was a kid.
Wolverine - **** Wolverine. Assault on Weapon Plus. That's the best you're gonna get, dick-head.
Avengers - Ultimates. The first arc.
Fantastic Four - Planetary, seriously.
Iron Man - Fraction's stuff has been good.
Hulk - The one from Bruce Jones where Bruce Banner's on the run.
Punisher - One of the Ennis runs, once it came over to MAX, after the one where the Elitist or whatever his name was shows up. I liked the one where he's got to break into a fortified Russian army base.
 
Superman - Red Son (just read this again yesterday and it is a truly, madly, deeply brilliant Superman character-story. Millar gets Superman when so many others don't), Superman for All Seasons, Birthright, All Star Superman, the Superman movies and (just for fun) Superman: Last Son (a tremendously fun story that had everything that was great about the movies with everything that was bad about them checked and fixed). Whatever happened to the Man of Tomorrow? is okay, but there's no way such a fuss would be made about it if Alan Moore hadn't written it.

Batman - The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, Batman Begins (and its novelisation), The Dark Knight (and its novelisation) Batman Forever (specifically its novelisation and large portions of its original script), Mask of the Phantasm

Robin - Year One, A Death in the Family, A Hero Reborn (the only stories you'll ever really need to read about any of the Robins)

Green Lantern - Rebirth

Flash - Barry Allen: The Life Story of the Flash (a great, clever biography 'written' by Iris Allen which too often goes overlooked. I haven't really read enough Wally stories to comment on him)

JLA - Kingdom Come

Spider-Man
- The first three volumes of Ultimate Spider-Man are some of the best and most fun comic books I have ever read. I'm afraid to read the rest, because apparently Bendis became some sort of shock-thirsty retard after that. Other than that, Lee's original run from the 1960s is really, really great for an awful lot of the time, when you take into context the time in which it was written. Peter Parker by Lee is actually much more complex and complicated character than the simple 'nerd who is actually a superhero' personification given to him in a lot of the stories today (as well as the movies).

Wolverine - Origin (pure, sheer, grand, excellence), Weapon X

Daredevil - The Man without Fear, Exposé (the issue where Ben Urich finds out that Matt is Daredevil and DD's origin is retold)

Avengers - The Ultimates

Hulk - Bits of Rampaging Hulk were pretty definitive, even if the rest of it wasn't great.
 
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I like this thread. I didn't know we had one but it's something i've thought about a lot. I start with the easier ones. but i'm kinda answering with 2 answers. One which is like the classic story and another is like the best standalone or for new reader. and yes i've got more DC than marvel.

Iron man - Armor wars and Extremis

Superman - Whatever happened... and Birthright

Batman - DKR

Green Lantern - Tricky.....probably Denny O'niell & Neal adam GL/GA

Flash - Probably the Blitz TPB by Johns. It's nearly the same plot as the dark knight movie, but for the flash. And that whole clicking thing *shudder*.

Green Arrow - Longbow hunters (classic), but Meltzer's Archer's quest arc seems to have more of an understanding of Green arrow than anything since.

JLA - Year One (mark waid) for the central 5, Justice for the whole team.

Daredevil - Man Without Fear (frank miller)

Fantastic four - Galactus trilogy

Spiderman - death of gwen stacy

Punisher - Valley Forge (garth ennis)

Avengers - Earth's mightiest mortal (joe casey)

DC Universe - Golden Age / New Frontier / Kingdom Come (depending on period)

Marvel Universe - Earth X ties everything together beautifully.



and here are some ones, where the best character story might not necessarily include said character.

Captain Marvel - Marvelman - dream of flying

The Spectre - Neil Gaiman's Murder Mysteries

The Question - The Watchmen

Edit: I noticed zombipanda already did this with planetary being the best fantastic four story
 
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Superman - Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow or All-Star Superman

Batman - Son of the Demon

Green Lantern - Everything since Rebirth

Flash - Crisis on Infinite Earths

Teen Titans - Judas Contract, Paper Rock Scissors

JLA - JLA: Earth 2

JSA - Black Reign

Spider-Man - Reign

X-men - Inferno, The Outback era, Messiah Complex, Days of Future Past/Present, God Loves Man Kills

Wolverine - Assault on Weapon Plus

Daredevil - Born Again and Frank Miller's run

Avengers - Acts of Vengeance and the Original Secret Wars

Fantastic Four - Days of Future Present and Unthinkable

Iron Man - Iron Man 2020, Armor Wars

Hulk - The Peter David era

Punisher - Punisher MAX, I liked his appearances in Civil War.

Vertigo - Sandman, Shade the Changing Man, Zatanna: Everyday Magic

WildStorm - Wildcats 3.0, Planetary, Authority: Brave New World/Transfer of Power, Stormwatch: Change or Die, World's End
 
ok i seriously will.

I like this thread. It's already thrown up a whole lot of stories i haven't heard talked about before on this forum. And I'm also quite surprised at how many people are putting Earth-2 down as the best JLA story ever. Is it really that good? Better than all the other JLA stories? I can see it being probably morrison's best stand-alone story, but i always preferred everything waid did with JLA. Morrison just tried to write more doom patrol stories with them, where they go into 4 dimensions or have an epic war across the universe. Maybe morrison had more out there concepts but Waid definitely had the characters, and I really love his quiet Aquaman in Year One, and the Martian Manhunter's first joke. Don't get me wrong i like both author's takes on it, and they pretty much tag-teamed through the first 60 issues anyway (like rucka & bru on gotham central...'cept with the JLA) it's good to have them both.
 

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