DC Comics has been giving readers superhero comics longer than anyone else, telling the stories of the greatest heroes and most dastardly villains ever. They helped set the standard for comic publishing for decades, giving readers some of the best books ever. One of the best parts of the publisher over the decades has been their flagship titles. These are the most important books in the line, the ones that get all of the attention, have the best characters and creators, and the ones that have the most impact on the publishing line. Now, obviously, there have been some DC flagship books that weren’t the greatest, but they’ve also given readers some all-time great flagship books.
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DC history over the decades has been defined at times by their flagship books. Some of them have become legendary, era-defining books that have gone down as some of the best comics of all time. These are the seven best flagship books from DC Comics, works that have exemplified everything that the publisher does well with comics.
7) Preacher
Vertigo changed comics in the ’90s, giving creators a home where they could tell any kind of story they wante, while also allowing them to own their works. There have been some fantastic Vertigo books, and the imprint had several flagships over the years, but the best of them is easily Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher. The story of Jesse Custer’s quest for God alongside his girlfriend Tulip and best friend Irish vampire Cassidy was a violent, irreverent, deep story about humanity, religion, America, love, family, and so much more. It’s a book that is praised to the high heavens (ironic, given the subject matter) and it changed the tenor of Vertigo, closing out the ’90s in epic style for the imprint.
6) Geoff Johns’ Green Lantern
If you would have told someone in 2000 that one of the bestselling, most important books of the ’00s was going to be a Hal Jordan solo book, no one would have believed you, but here we are. Green Lantern (Vol. 4), written by Geoff Johns with numerous artists including Carlos Pacheco, Ivan Reis, Doug Mahnke, Ethan Van Sciver, and more, became one of the bestselling books in the industry in the ’00s, especially after the amazing “Sinestro Corps War”. Basically, if you were reading DC in the mid to late ’00s, you were almost certainly reading this book, and it laid the groundwork for one of the greatest event books ever, Blackest Night.
5) Snyde/Capullo Batman (Vol. 2)
The New 52 has long been maligned, but it’s not completely terrible. In fact, it had one of the greatest flagship books of all time: Batman (Vol. 2). This is the epicenter of the legendary Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo run on the hero, and includes amazing stories like “Court of Owls”, “Death of the Family”,”Year Zero”, “Endgame”, and “Superheavy”. This book was amazing; Synder and Capullo were flawless together, and we also got back-up stories from James Tynion IV, Jock, and many more. It was the consistently best New 52 book and it remains a favorite of fans today.
4) Golden Age Action Comics
Most people would say that since DC Comics got it names from Detective Comics, that it would be a better flagship book for the Golden Age of the publisher, however, we all know that it’s really Action Comics. This is the book that introduced readers to Superman, and became one of the bestselling comics of its day. Like most Golden Age books, it was an anthology book, with numerous characters of all kinds appearing. Action Comics was a grab bag of amazing stories from the best creators of its day. While an argument can be made that it “doesn’t hold up”, the same argument can be made for any Silver Age Stan Lee comic, and yet everyone praises those. It’s of its time in the best possible ways, and DC wouldn’t exist without it.
3) Early ’80s New Teen Titans
The late ’70s were not great for DC Comics. The DC Explosion was supposed to be their ultimate shot in the sales way against Marvel but then we got the DC Implosion, as the numerous books of the Explosion floundered. Things were terrible, but then, something that no one expected happened: Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s New Teen Titans came out and wowed everyone. The Teen Titans had failed before, but this reboot found a way to connect with the audience thanks to its fantastic creative team. Everyone knows how great “The Judas Contract” is, but if that’s the only NTT story you’ve read, you’re missing out. This book was the perfect balance of character and action, and it remains amazing almost 50 years later.
2) JLA
Grant Morrison is the greatest team book writer in comics, and one of their best superhero works was JLA. JLA dropped in the mid ’90s and immediately became a massive hit thanks to positive word of mouth. The book vaulted to the top of the pack of DC books, and it did that by recapturing what made the Justice League so amazing: they were a team of the best DC characters fighting against the most dangerous enemies. The book was the flagship of DC Comics throughout the Morrison run, with Mark Waid writing some issues as well, and was the best book on the stands during that four year period. It’s a masterpiece of superhero action, and if you’ve never experienced it, you need to.
1) Justice League of America (Vol. 1)
The Justice League is the greatest team in DC history, and it was the flagship of the publisher from its premiere in 1960, until about the early ’80s, when New Teen Titans took that title. Throughout those 20-some odd years, Justice League of America (Vol. 1) was the best deal in superhero comics, giving readers the most bang for their, well, not buck, because comics weren’t even close to a dollar back then. It was a book that combined all of the biggest DC heroes, and a bunch of lower-level yet still awesome ones once the team started expanding, and threw that at threats that shook the universe, and had numerous multiversal crossovers over its run. It was everything that DC was about in the Silver and Bronze Ages, and it still stands up.
What’s your favorite DC flagship book? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
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