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Best Science Fiction Comic Books

Top Science Fiction Comic Books

Comics have been around for a long, long time. More than a hundred years in some forms. Initially devised as a way to collect the daily strips into a single, sellable format, it was the release of Action Comics #1 in 1938 that really brought them around and superheroes became the dominant form of comic book attraction. This was the start of the Golden Age of Comics. Superman, the star of Action, was followed by many more heroes, many of whom came from the science fiction tradition.

These heroes were huge, important, and always with a backstory that would inform everything about them as characters. Most comics at this point were not single character books, instead being a compilation of shorter stories put into a single book. Comics like All-American, Sensational, Whiz Comics, and Detective Comics all had stable of recurring characters. Superman became the first superhero to become the title character of his own comic, and many more would follow.

World War II made the war comic popular, and though superheroics never stopped being popular, by the 1950s, they were playing second fiddle to genre comics from companies like EC. Horror, SciFi, Romance, and Western comics were big sellers in that period.

In the mid-1950s, Julie Schwartz at DC came up with an idea. He re-launched the superhero comic with new ideas, and as one of the founders of science fiction fandom, and an agent of science fiction authors, he often pointed characters towards science fiction origins, characters, and scenarios. Characters were re-invented, and many new ones appeared, and some existing characters were teamed together, starting with Justice League of America, who defined the Silver Age of Comics. Stan Lee took many of these same ideas and began to work with them at Marvel, starting a two-party system that would dominated comics for three decades.

The Silver Age concepts today may seem somewhat silly, but they reinvigorated superheroes, and created many of the tropes we understand in comics through to today. Things like team titles, cross-overs, multiple timelines within a single company's titles, the "Imaginary story" (also called "What if…", and especially the idea of single hero titles. This was the period when many of the anthology titles finally died off, and the use of a single hero across several titles was typical.

The series here represent the peak of science fiction in comics. Many series date back to the earliest days of comics, when even the term science fiction was new. Many have run decades, with reinventions, new teams of writers and artists, and even complete re-inventions. At one point or another, most of these series have been touched by the two hands that defined the Silver best – Julie Schwartz and Stan Lee!

Action Comics

(Grant Morrison)

Superman. He's easily the most recogniseable hero in the history of comics. You know when you see the symbol on his chest, or even just his perfect hairstyle, that you are looking at a superhero, and more over, that you're looking at Superman. From his beginning in Action Comics #1, through the Silver Age re-inventions, to radio, television, movies, and all the way up to today, he has stood as the single best example of what a superhero can be. And he is also a completely science fictional concept. The main idea for Superman is he's an alien who has been sent to Earth, and by traveling to Earth, he has gained super powers. That idea is utterly science fictional. Aliens, powers, a distant and destroyed planet, all of it could have happened in the pages of Amazing Stories or Astounding. The design of everything from his costume to his lair, the Fortress of Solitude, shows the influence of years of science fiction pulp covers and concepts. Action Comics, along with a half-dozen other long-running, full-time titles, has cemented Superman, and science fiction concepts, as the backbone of the comics industry. Why it tops that list: There is no other hero more iconic than Superman, and no other comic that better defined the perfect science fiction hero.

Fantastic Four

(Stan Lee)

Marvel needed a team. The Silver Age was in full swing, and the Justice League of America was the biggest deal in comics. Stan Lee was the head of Marvel at the time, and when told he needed to provide a team title, he decided to make the kind of comic he'd like to read. Writing the story, along with the already legendary Jack Kirby doing the art, Lee came up with a team that went into space and after being blasted with beta-rays, gained powers. The Fantastic Four was thus born! No other team comic better played with the science fiction themes of the danger of space along with the potential effects of it on humans. Fantastic Four looked at a team of very different individuals, Reed Richards, the somewhat stuffy intellectual super-scientist, played off the gruff muscle-head Ben Grimm, aka The Thing. Susan Storm, the Invisible Girl, reasonable and somewhat maternal in nature, is the yin to her brother Johnny's hot-headed Yang. The stories were huge, sometimes big enough to want to devour the planet, but they were always firmly rooted in the science fiction tradition of space, super-science, and high technology. Why it's on the list: Not the first Silver Age Super Team, but without a doubt the best.

The Flash

(Susan Griffith And Clay Griffit)

There has always been a Flash. Well, at least since 1940. The first Flash, Jay Garrick, has stuck around, but in 1956, it was the appearance of The Flash in Showcase that launched the Silver Age, and brought the mantel of the Flash to a new name – Barry Allen. The original Flash Comics was cancelled in 1949, but was re-launched with Barry as the Scarlet Speedster starting at issue 105, just where the original had left off almost a decade prior. This re-invention was the first major retroactive continuity, or retcon, in comic book history. He would be given his own title, and would become a key part of the DC universe, not only on his own, but as a part of the Justice League of America. While he's obviously fourth or fifth fiddle in JLA, after Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, it's in his own title where history has been made many times. The 'multiverse' concept came to comics in the early 1960s in a Flash storyline "Flash of Two Worlds, " which forever changed the way comic timelines worked. Flash was key to nearly every cross-over event, and hugely important in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Why it's on the list: One of the most key DC titles, and introduced the 'Something Happened While In A Lab' that defined comics in the 50s and 60s.

Justice League Of America

(Alan Davis)

Following the events of Throne of Atlantis, it is deemed nessesary to create a new Justice League. This new superhero team is under the command of Col. Steve Travor, of the United States Military's A.R.G.U.S. division(Advanced Research Group Uniting Superhumans). Signing up for duty with this new incarnation of the JLA are Catwoman, Katanna, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Steve Trevor, Hawkman, Star Girl and the long-awaited return of 80s superhero, Vibe.Collects issues #1-6.

The Uncanny X-men

(Chris Claremont)

In the 1980s and 90s, everything was X-Men. With Chris Claremont's scripts, and more often than not, John Byrne providing pencils and plotting ideas, The Uncanny X-Men took a franchise that had been around since the 1960s and made it into the hottest property there was. The X-Men brought the idea of Mutants to comics, and that alone gets 'em on the list, but they also told stories that were relatable, human, fun, and often very funny. Also, Wolverine. No other character in comics had the impressive streak that Wolverine did of turning covers into sales! When prominently featured on an X-Men cover, the numbers would always increase! The post-1975 X-Men, the Uncanny X-Men, became so big at one time there were 6 regular X-Men titles, and three related groups with monthly Marvel titles! The idea of a single set of characters dominating a company's offerings was not new, but there was never anything like the level that Marvel took the X-Men to in the 1990s. But it's not just the popularity; it's also the storytelling, as classic arcs such as Days of Future Past and the Dark Phoenix Saga are among the finest pieces of sequential art ever released by a major company.Why it's on the list: – WOLVERINE!!!!!

The Manhattan Projects

(Jonathan Hickman)

Alternate history is a branch of science fiction that a lot of comics fall into. Image Comics gave Jonathan Hickman and James Pitarra the chance to put out an alternate history title based around the Manhattan Project, the work done to create the first atomic bombs. In The Manhattan Projects, that's just a front for a massive set of super-science projects that transform the Earth. The team has enemies, often from within, and the path of history after World War II is so different, and depending on how you look at it, either far more terrifying, or far more perfect. There is hardly a standard SciFi trope that isn't played with in the series. There's time-travel, dimension-hopping, talking dogs, irradiated scientists who gain super powers, evil twins, artificial intelligences, and on and on. The entire series is built around some of the most incredible minds of the twentieth century, but takes them down dark roads into areas you'd never expect them to go. The series is a massive work of art, and one made for adults. It's an incredible read, full of surprises. Why it's on the list: Easily the most mature work on the list, it's also a great example of what the most ambitious comics are doing today.

Legion Of Super Heroes

(Otto Binder)

Another DC Silver Age creation, originally written by science fiction Otto Binder (one-half of the pseudonym Eando Binder, along with his brother), the Legion of Super-Heroes is a title that exemplifies the use of Science Fiction as a tool of DC's creatives. The Legion of Super-heroes was formed by three time-traveling super-powered teenagers, Saturn Girl, Lightning Boy, and Cosmic Boy, who eventually found a young Superman (then known as Superboy) and recruited him to join. This concept, taking established, mainline heroes like Superman, giving them teen versions and launching a new title was the first of what would become many pushes to hold a teen audience. The team grew to include dozens of members, some super-silly, several of whom ended up as the Legion of Substitute Heroes, and others representing the most creative characters of the 1960s and 70s. The stories often featured time-travel, space-faring, and usually both, with Superboy as a focus for the team. The title ran for decades, and has been significantly re-booted three times. Still, when you think of science fiction superhero teams, you'll come to the Legion of Super-Heroes pretty quick. Why it's on the list: If you're making a list of Science Fiction comic titles, and the Legion ain't on it, you're wrong.

Powers

(Brian Michael Bendis)

Deena Pilgrim is one of the greatest characters in the history of comics. The young, brash, sassy, and exceptionally Gen-X rookie detective assigned to team with veteran cop Christian Walker in a city of superheroes. Before long, Pilgrim discovers that Walker was once a hero himself, and also had a relationship with the victim of a homicide, a superhero called RetroGirl. The story goes from there, combining super-heroing with crime drama and eventually, with time and world-spanning, timeline-hopping, whack-a-doo fantastical happenings that just go above and beyond what you'd find in any other comic of that period. Writer Brian Michael Bendis provides stories that are clean, clear, without thought bubbles. Artist Mike Oeming's style is the kind of mildly abstracted yet still clean and strongly structured work that you find in the best comics. Combined, and with the two deeply tied as co-creators, the feeling is of a singular vision in two minds, and one that constantly ups the ante. Why it's on the list: Powerfully written, with concepts both light and heavy in tow, Powers is one of the truly great series.

The Amazing Spider-man

(Stan Lee)

Peter Parker got bit by a radioactive spider. We're all pretty familiar with that part of it, right? The Spider-man titles have ranged from great, serious comic fare, to light-hearted, teen-themed books, but The Amazing Spider-man has been a consistently great title since the 1960s. The writers have managed to take the story of a nerdy kid and make him into a superhero who is not only the hope for the city, but also the world. It's a comic that has brought its fans along for the ride, and Spider-man has one of the most die-hard fanbases in comics. In recent years, The Amazing Spider-Man has been willing to take a lot of risks, whether it's One More Day, in which Spider-man and Mary Jane sacrifice their marriage to Mephisto (in one of the most widely-despised stories of all-time) to the brilliant Spider-verse with intertwined storylines across many dimensions. The Amazing Spider-Man is the flagship of the Spider-man titles, and manages to be ambitious, no matter how traditional it is viewed. Why it's on the list: Well, he does whatever a spider can!

Transmetropolitan

(Warren Ellis)

Helix was a science fiction imprint of DC comics which barely lasted eighteen months. It produced two incredible titles, one of which was picked up by Vertigo and continued for five more years. Transmetropolitan, written by the amazing Warren Ellis and designed by the equally, yet differently, amazing Darick Robertson, it brings us the story of Spider Jerusalem, a gonzo journalist who is on a mission to keep Earth from falling into a dystopian hell. Well, into a more dystopian hell. The funny thing is, while it's a cyber-punk, transhumanist comic, it has so many ties to the present that it feels current even fifteen years after its finale. Jerusalem, and his Filthy Assistants, are trying to save the world from The Smiler, President Gary Callahan. He's got ties to right-wing hate groups, and even had his campaign manager murdered. The political intrigue, combined with the power of Ennis' characterizations of Spider, Filthy Assistants Channon and Yelena, and especially the nanobot cloud Tico Cortez, all make Transmetropolitan into an absolute paranoid and all too prescient joy! Why it's on the list: One of the finest examples of comic book cyberpunk, Ellis and Robertson created an incredible universe and peoples it with the finest characters!

Starman

(James Robinson)

The 1990s were an interesting, and often difficult, time for comics. James Robinson's Starman was easily the best-written regular series hitting the shelves back then. The story of a second-generation hero, Jack Knight, who took up the Gravity Wand and became Starman, it was really more a story about a guy with issues, a dealer in pop culture objects, and his relationship with his family: both real and imagined. Robinson's stories were big, sprawling, but there was always an emotional intimacy that he was exploring. The final storyline, which details Jack fighting nearly all his foes in the greatest battle Opal City would ever witness, is an absolute masterpiece of comic writing. The art, though, placed it in rare company. Stylish, unlike anything else on the market. Clean lines, but with a twist that brings to mind 1980s graphic design, 1970s comic art, and mid-century painterly works. The words and the art would continually play with one another in a way that made both better, and one of the truly great comics reading experiences. Why it's on the list: Fully imbued with Pop Culture, fantastic art, and super-smart storylines, Starman is the kind of comic that turns comic book readers into comic book fans.

Saga

(Brian K Vaughan)

One of the most exciting things to happen to comics over the last decade is Saga. Bryan K. Vaughn has written a story which is utterly contemporary, and Fiona Staples has turned those ideas into art that is cutting edge in nearly every way. It looks like no other artist alive, and her work amplifies the outrageousness of the story, the distance, and somehow even the inclusiveness of the storyline that works to blur gender, sexuality, and class distinctions within a space-faring series of adventures. Staples actually creates much of the story through her art, making this not merely the vision of Vaughn, but the kind of collaboration you'd see from the likes of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the 1960s. Vaughn's writing blends elements of Romeo & Juliet, Star Wars, the works of Ursula K. LeGuin, and Andre Norton. The result is a combination of science fiction and fantasy adventure that explores themes of love, longing, identity, and life during wartime. The series is brilliantly paced, and presents us with the love song of Alana and Marko, who are the kind of characters one embraces and holds close to their heart. Why it's on the list: One of the most brilliant comics of recent years, Vaughn and Staples blend undeniable creative chemistry into a comic art masterpiece.

The Incredible Hulk

(Greg Pak)

The Hulk has changed so many ways over the last 50+ years. He's one of the greatest of all Marvel's heroes, and he's the perfect example of a Silver Age character. A gamma bomb test leads the meek Dr. Bruce Banner to inherit the mantel of The Hulk! It's a classic Jeckyl & Hyde with an Atomic Age twist. Bruce Banner is reserved, intellectual, and non-emotional. When he transforms into the Hulk, he's a raging, smashing, super-machine who is nigh-indestructible. He's gone through many iterations, through love and loss, through periods of intelligent Hulk, through Mobster Hulk, through other people becoming Hulk, but the basic questions that the series asks are always the same – what would it mean if you were no longer you? What would you do if you were all powerful? Could you control yourself when you lost all intellect? These are big questions, and many writers have taken the challenge and time and again presented an incredible set of answers to those existential questions. Why it's on the list: Even before The Hulk was brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he'd been in the middle of a revival at the hands of writers like Peter David and Greg Pak, and that pushes it into the top 25.

Mystery In Space

(Gardner Fox)

Anthology titles are almost entirely gone these days, which is sad. They were the heart of comics for ages before the single hero title appeared, and when genre comics became the norm, they allowed for a variety of ideas to play. Mystery In Space was the greatest of the science fiction titles, and the one that launched so many characters over the fifteen years it ran for DC. Major science fiction writers of the day, like Otto Binder, Gardner Fox, and Edmond Hamilton, wrote for the series, while an incredible array of artists provided pencils and inking. Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Virgil Finley, Murphy Anderson, and even a young Frank Frazetta all worked on portions of Mystery in Space over the years, and created many of the most fascinating character concepts. The stories ranged from Space Cabbie, about the driver of a taxi that would ferry people from planet to planet, to the Galactic Knights, to Interplanetary Insurance, Inc., to the most famous of the science fiction heroes of all-time – Adam Strange. Created by Fox and Sid Greene, Adam Strange would help define what a Silver Age space-faring hero looks like. The adventures in Mystery in Space were big, flashy, and the perfect example of what was best about the 1950s and early 60s! Why it's on the list: It is how a lot of folks who grew up in the post-war era define scifi!

Doom Patrol

(Gerard Way)

The team comic came of age during the 1960s, and Doom Patrol was one of the best examples of a purpose-built group. Like the Fantastic Four as a reaction to the Justice League, Doom Patrol was a reaction to Fantastic Four, and apparently the X-Men was a reaction to Doom Patrol. Comics in the 1960s were a twisted web indeed. The classic series is one of the most fascinating of the Silver Age. The team was gathered by wheelchair-bound Doctor Niles Carter and consisted of Elasti-Girl, Negative Man, Robotman, Mento, and perhaps most telling of influence on the X-Men, Beast Boy, whose secret identity was, wait for it… Garfield Logan! The adventures were great, and surprisingly less hokey than many Silver Age adventures. Like Fantastic Four, they wore largely matching uniforms, and they were often shown battling foes from The Brotherhood of Evil, something like the Doom Patrol's version of Flash's Rogues Gallery. Doom Patrol has been re-launched half-a-dozens times over the years, attracting some of the biggest names in comics writing and art, but it's that first team that will always captivate! Why it's on the list: An essential DC comic team, and one that made even secondary Silver Age teams seem very cool!

Tom Strong

(Alan Moore)

The master, Alan Moore, created America's Best Comics in 1999, and Tom Strong was intended to be the on-going centerpiece. Well, that and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Tom Strong is, in many ways, an amalgam of many different heroes from the Golden Age of Comics and Science Fiction. He's part Doc Savage, part Superman, part Iron Man, and part Buckaroo Bonzai. Raised in a high-gravity chamber, and regularly ingesting a native West Indian root that keeps him young and strong, he's a super-star with a wife, Dhalua, and daughter, Tesla, who have long-life and powerful bodies. Oh yeah, and there's a steam-powered robot. And maybe that's the best thing about Tom Strong – the fun interplay with history. In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, he's using his encyclopedic knowledge of the history of genre fiction to create a densely-layered world, and in Tom Strong, he created a world where his main character could go through various comic concepts. Tom Strong often played out adventures with his younger self, with a fuzzy bunny version of himself, and even an Archie-like universe! It's both a spoof of early science fiction and superhero comics, as well as a loving homage. Why it's on the list: Super smart, and super fun, Tom Strong may be Alan Moore's most entertaining titles.

Invincible Iron Man

(Brian Michael Bendis)

Of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, Tony Stark is the only secret identity that holds much interest. And it's not all Robert Downey, Jr. infusing the role with his own sort of 12-step charm; it's been there all along in the comics. Though the degree of his neuroses and addictions vary, what doesn't is the dual life he leads, and in a way, an anti-Superman. Stark is outrageous, boisterous, while Iron Man is heroic and not entirely without faults. The battle between Stark and Iron Man is often difficult, and the way it plays out across pages of the comic is intense, especially for the work that was happening in the 1970s. Though his storyline has been up-and-down in popularity over the years, it's never been anything less than phenomenal storytelling. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, along with Larry Leiber and Dan Heck, developed the character into one of the most brilliantly nuanced comic book heroes of all time. The first cover of The Invincible Iron Man, from 1968, looks like it could have been from 1988, or even 2008, which is a rare thing; Iron Man is somehow timeless. Why it's on the list: A brilliant character and a title that seldom goes wrong.

New Teen Titans

(Marv Wolfman)

The Teen Titans were another attempt to bring known superheroes to the teen audience. And unlike the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Teen Titans weren't young versions of the heroes, but instead their side-kicks and other heroes influenced by them. The original Teen Titans were a successful title, but it was in the 1980s, when the title was taken over by Marv Wolfman as the writer, and George Perez handling the pencils. The pair defined the feeling of the New Teen Titans when they took over the title in 1980. They produced iconic storylines that moved the Titans through harrowing adventures. Perhaps the peak of the title's creative period was the story arc The Judas Contract. The team has to deal with an existential threat to their very lives from Terra, a psychotic young woman with the ability to manipulate Earth matter. The storyline was a major best-seller, and helped to propel the title into becoming one of the defining series of 1980s comics, and Wolfman and Perez into the most in-demand of all creative teams in the DC Universe. Why it's on the list: The New Teen Titans' sixteen year run helped to keep comics appealing to teens, and maintained an incredibly high level of creativity all the way through.

Alpha Flight

(John Byrne)

O Canada. Alpha Flight was another of Marvel's mutant team series that followed out from the X-Men. A team of Canadians, the series broke a lot of ground in the 1980s, dealing with ideas that had seldom been a part of the mainstream of American comics. Helmed by John Byrne, he gave Marvel its first openly gay regular character in Northstar, a Bigfoot-like creature called Sasquatch, a hero dealing with multiple personalities, and many more. The stories are fun, and every bit as impressive as those dealt with by the X-Men, but it's also dealing with the changes in society, much moreso than the bigger name title. While Alpha Flight was originally intended simply to be a part of Wolverine's backstory, the team took on a sprawling mythology of its own, and at various times was both at odds with and supporting the X-Men, as well as the other mutants in the Marvel Universe. While the title ended in 1994, the idea of Alpha Flight has continued, been given a couple of re-boots, and still remains one of the 1980s most impressive teams. Why it's on the list: Byrne's writing was top-notch, and it's not just an X-Men rip-off: it manages to do one better!

Animal Man

(Grant Morrison)

The character of Animal Man has been around a good long time, but it wasn't until the late 1980s when Grant Morrison took over Animal Man as its own title that things started to get really interesting. Buddy Baker is something of an everyman in a world full of super heroes. He connected with audiences so quickly that what was supposed to be a mini-series was quickly turned into a regular series. Morrison's take on the character was at once mystical, but also human, in nearly equal measure. He deals with his family, but also with the actions of others, which brought in issues of environmentalism and vegetarianism to DC storylines. This aspect alone made Animal Man a rare treat. After 26 issues, Morrison moved on and left it in the hands of Peter Milligan, who gave the series a sense of six issues that were influenced by William S. Burroughs and surrealistic literature. Jamie Delano would break ground, fully exploiting the more adult nature of the Vertigo imprint to present a serious, adult storyline in which Animal Man became an animal avatar and the defender of the animal kingdom. Why it's on the list: Animal Man was a massive hit that broke serious ground.

Y: The Last Man

(Brian K. Vaughan)

The early years of the twenty-first century were an impressive time for comics, and Y: The Last Man was one of the most important titles to debut. The base concept is simple – every male mammal on Earth simultaneously dies. All of them except for Yorrick and his monkey Ampersand. The world has been shaken by the plague that killed all the men, and the amateur escape artist Yorrick is out in the world trying to figure out what the hell is going on. The story tackles a lot of concepts that have seldom been worked out through comics before. There's the natural idea investigated about what does a single-sexed world look like, and can it operate. There's the lonliness concept, and what does it meant to be the last of something. There's the natural fit for telling the 'what hath man wrought?' with the plague. We don't get a definitive answer as to what the plague really was or why Yorrick and Ampersand survived, but even without it, it's an amazing read! Why it's on the list: It might be the first great comic series of the 21st Cenutry!

Xombi

(John Rozum)

DC was killing it in the 1990s by introducing new comic imprints that were geared towards specific audiences. The Milestone Universe was an attempt to draw a multi-cultural audience by presenting comics with black, Hispanic, and Asian lead characters like Static, Icon, and the Blood Syndicate. Xombi was certainly the best title of the bunch, as it served as Milestone's answer to DC's Vertigo comics. More adult than the other Milestone titles, it tells the story of Dr. David Kim, a researcher who ends up injecting himself with nanomites, microscopic robots, who end up making him functionally immortal, though they also devour his lab assistant as a part of repairing him on their first go-round. The stories were dark, mixing magic and science to tell a story of a man who may or may not want to die but can't in a world that may or may not want him to exist. This theme is a big part of what made Xombi so great, and one that makes it a title that is worth seeking out. The art of Denys Cowan is wonderful, and would influence artists throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Why it's on the list: The Milestone experiment didn't quite catch on, but it left this fantastic comic that even Alan Moore loved.

Cyberella

(Howard Chaykin)

DC's science fiction line Helix didn't last long, but it gave us two phenomenal titles that can't be ignored. Cyberella was written by the amazing Howard Chaykin with art by Don Cameron. It takes Chaykin's typical dark views of the world of media and popular culture and mingles it with a cyberpunk universe where the populace is under the sway of a cartoon character called 'lil Ella, and after time, it becomes a super-powered being called Cyberella. Cyberpunk has been the focus for several comics, but none really hit the mark on what the modern world has turned our fictional characters into. Chaykin's years of writing some of the most cutting-edge comics in the world have given him an eye for the dark and sinister within the joyous and beloved, and moreover, he's developed a fondness for female characters that are powerful and complicated, sometimes devious and deceptive, but seldom the damsel in distress. The art here is perfect for a cyberpunk comic, and would not look out of place in one of today's high-end High Fructose-like art magazines! Why it's on the list: Chaykin is always good stuff, and here he is at his science fiction best!

Green Lantern

(Robert Venditti)

Among the long-lasting heroes in the DC Universe, Green Lantern has changed with the times, and the Silver Age version of Green Lantern was phenomenal, introducing the most widely-known version of the galactic, power ring-enabled space cop. Gifted the ring by the Guardians of the Universe, he defends Earth with a vengeance. The stories were written by so many different writers, and handled by a ton of different artists, but the look of Green Lantern, influencing much of the look of the Silver Age, including the Fantastic Four. The run that really turns Green Lantern from an interesting re-invention into becoming one of the most important of all the Silver Age titles were the final 14 of the run. Written and drawn by the legendary team of Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, the last issues were among the first mainstream comics to deal with the problems of the real world, including things like heroin addiction. Though this run didn't sell well, and the series ended not long after, the ripples from it are still felt through to today. Why it's on the List: Green Lantern is an incredible character, and this title is just about the most important of all the versions to carry his name!

Strange Adventures

(Selwyn Seyfu Hinds)

DC, under the leadership of Julie Schwartz, gave itself over to the science fiction concept thoroughly, and Strange Adventures was one of the best of all their titles. The first of their Scifi anthologies was Strange Adventures, it actually pre-dated the Silver Age when it was first released in 1950. The recurring characters that appeared are legendary among fans – Space Museum, Captain Comet, Deadman, Immortal Man, Star Rovers, Star Hawkins, Enchantress, and many incredible stand-alone stories that drew oohs-and-ahs from fans. The talent working on the title, from Gardner Fox and Arnold Drake writing, to Carmen Infantino and Neal Adams handling the art. Strange Adventures was the title that made it possible for greater exploration into the world of science fiction, and the one that served as the template for so many genre anthology titles that came afterwards. Perhaps the most memorable recurring characters in Strange Adventures were the Atomic Knights. On a far-off planet, the Atomic Knights mounted their noble, mighty, over-sized dalmatians for their adventures. Yes, on the surface, it's a weird concept, but the stories were powerful and entertaining, and maybe the best examples of how DC managed to take the silliest of concepts and turn them into compelling stories. Why its on the list: Probably the defining science fiction anthology title for at least a decade!