A Definitive Ranking of Brian K. Vaughan’s Creator-Owned Series

Saga hit a major milestone last week with its 50th issue. The series helped to jump-start the current success of Image Comics and returned writer Brian K. Vaughan to the medium after working on television series like Lost. When it began, Vaughan promised it would last longer than his work on Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina combined. That pledge highlighted more than big plans; it pointed to Vaughan’s success in the creator-owned arena of comics.

While the writer has worked on some stellar superhero series, most notably the creation of Runaways, his most revered work has always been in the series he co-creates. With both Saga and Paper Girls well under way, it provides an interesting opportunity to look back at the writer’s career and judge what his greatest successes so far have been. That’s why we’re taking all of Vaughan’s creator-owned series and seeing how they stack up against one another. It’s one of the most difficult rankings ever assembled on ComicBook.com as each entry is a deserving member in this Elite Eight. It’s a list where every series is great, but there can still only be one that’s truly the best. Click ahead to see which one made the top spot.

8. We Stand On Guard

We Stand On Guard #1-6

Art by Steve Skroce

Colors by Matt Hollingsworth

Published by Image Comics

In retrospect, We Stand On Guard is best read as eye candy. Steve Skroce’s long-awaited return to comics offered some incredibly complex mechs and detailed violence. Each action sequence ought to make fans of the Moebius school drool. There’s also a solid allegory at the heart of the story about modern American colonialism. Vaughan removes the messiness of the Iraq War by shifting it to a future version of Canada. It’s empathetic and exciting, but also a story that Vaughan had already done to much better effect (as we’ll discuss later).

7. Y: The Last Man

Y: The Last Man #1-60

Art by Pia Guerra, Goran Sudžuka, Paul Chadwick, and Jose Marzan Jr.

Published by Vertigo Comics

This is one series in need of a critical reassessment. When it was being published, Y: The Last Man was part of the great second wave of Vertigo innovations and a fan-favorite. Looking back at the collected series, it’s still a lot of fun to read, but lacks the same punch it held in monthly installments. There’s a lot of very engaging melodrama and cliffhanger storytelling combined with some of Vaughan’s best characters. However, the story drags on longer than it’s sustainable, and many creative and thematic choices have aged poorly over the course of almost 15 years. The series is still great, but not as great as nostalgia might have us remember.

6. Paper Girls

Paper Girls #1-20 (ongoing)

Art by Cliff Chiang

Colors by Matt Wilson

Published by Image Comics

As Paper Girls gets deeper into its time-travel and technology mythology, it continues to improve. Yet the flaws from the very start of the series remain. An obsession with remembering a specific period in time often distracts from the core values of the series, never letting readers remember that the ’80s and ’90s were different from today. Chiang’s incredible designs and character work offer an almost overwhelming amount of charm and assuage those complaints. This is a series that may rise in esteem as it continues, but it’s far from Vaughan’s best current work.

5. Barrier

Barrier #1-5

Art by Marcos Martin

Colors by Muntsa Vicente

Published by Panel Syndicate

Non-digital readers ought to be excited that Barrier will finally be published in a physical format at Image Comics. It’s a great look at how language and culture impact relationships. Like all of Vaughan’s best work, Barrier emphasizes the individual over the systems to which they belong. It also uses a variety of clever mechanisms, unique to comics, to help readers empathize. This may be Vaughan’s most underrated work to date and one that will hopefully find a larger audience in print.

4. Ex Machina

Ex Machina #1-50 and Ex Machina Special #1-4

Art by Tony Harris, Chris Sprouse, John Paul Leon, Tom Feister, Jim Clark, and Karl Story

Published by Wildstorm

Whereas time may have taken some shine off of Y: The Last Man, it has done the opposite to its contemporary series Ex Machina. The politics of this series contrast realism and idealism, cynicism and optimism in a fashion that feels particularly relevant in 2018. There’s a bittersweet quality to each of the contentious topics covered, and Harris’ horrific action sequences are still excellent. While the finale of Ex Machina was divisive at publication, it seems prescient now. There’s a lot of mileage left in reflecting on this work about politics and futurism.

3. Pride of Baghdad

Pride of Baghdad (Original Graphic Novel)

Art by Niko Henrichon

Published by Vertigo Comics

Vaughan’s fascination with the Iraq War was best explored in this moving, gorgeous collaboration with Niko Henrichon. The lions roaming the streets of Baghdad during the initial invasion provide a wide variety of perspectives and deemphasize the American point of view. It’s a work reminiscent of Animal Farm, but with artwork that makes it as much a tearjerker as smart political allegory. It’s no surprise that Pride of Baghdad has made its way into high school and college classrooms as we reflect on this tremendous mistake and the associated human (and animal) costs.

2. The Private Eye

The Private Eye #1-10

Art by Marcos Martin

Colors by Muntsa Vicente

Published by Panel Syndicate

The stock of this particular series has skyrocketed in the wake of revelations about Facebook selling customer data. It seems increasingly likely that the catastrophe that led to this dystopian future is an inevitability. The Private Eye is more than a prescient take on technology and privacy though. It’s a whip smart story that combines noir and sci-fi into one of the most enthralling tales of the past decade. The world Martin builds around the characters requires readers to take their time and appreciate details, no matter how much they may want to rush ahead to the next revelation. Smart, gorgeous, and thrilling, The Private Eye is tough to beat.

1. Saga

Saga #1-50 (ongoing)

Art by Fiona Staples

Published by Image Comics

Saga is the perfect example of why Vaughan is beloved among modern comics readers. It’s a character driven drama that delivers plenty of melodrama and cliffhangers. It’s a political allegory that carefully examines contentious issues without sermonizing. It’s a collaboration that highlights an incredible artist, giving them plenty of space and opportunities to do their best work. At its 50th issue Saga was celebrated by multiple mainstream outlets, like The Atlantic and Slate, and they all struggled to summarize its complexity and the multi-faceted joys of reading the series. That’s because it’s not simply Vaughan’s best work to date, but one of the best examples of what a monthly comic can deliver to readers of all sorts. Saga is simply tops.