Completely Self-absorbed Top 100 Comic Runs You Need to Read

[PsychoGoatee]

Great write-ups as always! And I've also been meaning to read Giant Days sometime.

[Vector14]

I love the obscure entries on your list. Never heard of Beanworld before and now it's gone straight on my "maybe I'll buy that someday if it's cheap" list. Which is already full of stuff from here.

[Colin YNWA]

Great write-ups as always! And I've also been meaning to read Giant Days sometime.

Defo worth giving it a try and those Library Editions are lovely.

I love the obscure entries on your list. Never heard of Beanworld before and now it's gone straight on my "maybe I'll buy that someday if it's cheap" list. Which is already full of stuff from here.

Oh I'm chuffed a couple of folks have said they enjoy the obsure stuff. I do sometime worry that popping in these less obvious choices might come across as trying to look well read and be different. This really is a genuine list and one October YNWA would have whole heartly stood by, though accepting it would change each time he looked at it!

[Colin YNWA]

Number 76 - Ex Machina - Part 1



Number 76 - Ex Machina

Keywords: Superheroes, West Wing, US politics, Brian K Vaughan, re-read coming

Creators:
Writer - Brian K Vaughan
Art - Tony Harris and friends
Colours - JD Mettler

Publisher:

No. issues: 54
Date of Publication: 2004 - 2010

Last read: 2015

I love superhero comics and we've already had two series by Brian K Vaughan on this list and what you might not know is I'm also a big fan of The West Wing telly show. Given that its probably little surprise that


Copyright - DC Comics

makes my list and is Vaughan's highest entry. Well no surprise if you know the premise of the series. That being Mitchell Hundred, who had been the world's only known superhero is elected mayor of New York after the events of 9/11. The story details Mitchell's political career after he uses his super powers as 'The Great Machine' to prevent the second plane hitting the second Twin in that attack on New York. After these events he 'quits' his superhero life as he searches for meaning to these events and believing he can do more as a leader of people.

We also delve into his past as The Great Machine, and indeed deeper, as new threats develop and pressure comes at him from all sides in his current role as Mayor of New York. The series jumps through different times as we piece together Hundred's tale from childhood and foreshadow some terrible events in 2005 that the series eventually details.

Timing of how details of Hundred's life and adventures are laid out to the reader are important in the way the story unfolds. Timing is also a big part of why this series hit so hard with me and had such a big impact. Sometimes when you read a series matters, what's interesting to you when a series lands, or you pick it up and first read it just lands perfectly. This series is heading towards a re-read and I'm waiting with bated breath wondering whether it will read quite as well as I remember. Or whether I've moved on and while I'm sure it'll still be a great read, will it resonate in quite the same way? For now however I really rate this tale and it's my favourite of all of Vaughan's many works and is a great example of genre mashing and taking a sensation in another media, film or tv and twisting that. Something 2000ad has always done so well.


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I came across Ex Machina around the time I'd been lent the full set of the West Wing on DVD right in the midst of my full on superhero phase. So this really hit a sweet spot. I picked up a few set of the collections for next to nowt and dug in and it has to be said Brian K Vaughan hit all the beats I wanted the series to. The political manoeuvring does feel straight out of the West Wing playbook. It's fast paced, the dialogue strong and sharp and we regularly get the comic book equivalent of walk and talks as increasing pressures of the political landscape Hundred has to work through building in a stead way, creating and maintaining pressure and tension on that front. Heck he even sends a character to Mandyville (a reference for all West Wing fans out there). Or apparently so, a character seemingly built as important just seems to drift out the series with no real explanation. In this instance however they very much come back... but we'll not get into that here for fear of spoilers.

This is balanced with some great low key superhero storytelling. While the character work and political manoeuvring seem to be front and centre of the tale it never loses sight of the fact that it's fun, genre entertainment. Most issues and certainly all the arcs develop the superhero subplots... or main plots, which are the most interesting and significant in the story will depend on the reader. The balance between the two arenas is handled really well. I've seen that some folks feel this means the series falls between two stalls. Is it a superhero story, well yes, kinda. Is it a political thriller, again yes, kinda. For some by trying to be both it fails to be either really successfully. For me however it gets the balance just about spot on.

I find it's a series that takes the foundational ideas from comics like Watchmen, at least Watchmen's surface level ideas, of superheroes reimagined in a 'real' way and builds on that in better and more interesting ways. It tries to imagine superheroes as they might really be, or at least the people under the mask. The Great Machine, Hundred's superhero identity is faced with a very mixed reception when he first appears. Appearing after a very typical and slightly mysterious superhero origin, he's hit by a fragment of an object that explodes near him. An object whose origins is shrouded in mystery for a great deal of time.

Some greet the appearance of a superpowered wonder with awe. Some treat it with understandable suspension and distrust. Others take a more cynical view and debate their motives and purpose. This becomes even more significant when The Great Machine prevents the second plane hitting one of the World Trade Centres towers. Before then Hundred was an outsider in the Mayoral election in New York, running as an independent. Afterwards he flies to victory as the city's greatest hero.

[Colin YNWA]

Number 76 - Ex Machina - Part 2


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The impact of the Twin Towers attack is central to the series on my reading and understanding Hundred as a character. I've seen reviews (and I've linked to a YouTube review below as an example of this.) that don't like the way the series uses the 9/11 attacks just to move the plot forward and doesn't do anything else with it. For me this really misses what I see Vaughan and co doing. After all, Vaughan does say in interviews he based the ideas of the series on his experience of watching the attacks from his Brooklyn rooftop and how these events really affected him. 

Hundred was already running for a political position prior to that terrible day. He already felt that he could achieve more good within such a position than merely as a costumed hero. This view is elevated after the attacks. He may well have saved one of the Twin Towers, but he believes he could have done more, saved both. He's filled with guilt that he didn't save both towers. It's here that we start to unpick the core of the series for me. If the classic superhero truism 'With great power comes great responsibility.' holds true, once someone gets a taste of the good they believe they can do by using their power for good won't they believe they could do even more with even more power?

So with this motivation what would someone do to get that great power, whatever their motives, how might that pursuit of power overtake them and actually start to compromise the good they do? Again this is a political thriller and we know from all good political thrillers (and let's face it real life!) that power is a very potent thing and once you have some characters often get lost in that pursuit losing sight of any pure aims they started with.

There are other key pointers in the series that this is its key theme. Hundred's mother is a very politically motivated individual, she raised Mitchell to understand its importance and the way it can be used to achieve great things, regardless of personal cost. The end of the series, which I'll not go into really underlines this point as well.

Heck even Hundred's name is an allusion to this... well it could be if I'm not over reading things which I can have a tendency to do, I mean Mitchell Hundred could just be a cool sounding name to Vaughan! I think it's more than that. The first 100 days someone holds political office can be seen as defining what they can achieve. More specifically there's an episode of the West Wing when the administration has 100 days left in its current term. Leo McGarry the president's Chief of Staff writes this on a whiteboard for the President's Team and lays out how much they can achieve, how many great things can still be done in those final 100 days. It's a focal point for that episode and a couple more (as I recall it's been a while since I watched it so sorry if I'm misremembering here!). So I don't think it's a coincidence that our lead in Ex Machina is called Hundred, it underlines that pursuit of power to try to do as much good as possible.

My reading into this is also a good illustration of how where I was at the time I read this impacted on how I read it and what I got from my personal reading! The key themes and ideas I see in the story and why the events of 9/11 in this fictional world are absolutely central to everything that motivates Hundred during the series.


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It also pulls out the other key feature of the series for me. How this is really a character driven piece, which can become a bit of a cliche thing to say. While I've focused on Mitchell Hundred here there are a host of fantastic characters in the series as well. In the political sphere there's Dave Wylie Hundred's deputy mayor and who was a good friend to Hundred prior to their election to office. The change in their dynamic as their relationship evolves and each learns more about the other in their new circumstance is a real highpoint in the comic. Journal Moore is an intern who impresses Hundred and thus earns a promotion to 'Special Advisor on Youth Affairs' helping Hundred keep in touch with a demographic he has lost touch with. Her role grows beyond that and she provides a key emotional switch in the story. Commissioner Angotti is head of New York's police force, who once tried to hunt down The Great Machine, but works with him in his political role, though tensions still remain.

There are others all of whom have a relationship with Hundred that shifts and twists as his needs in office change and his motives and need to compromise drift and change.

In Hundred's personal life many of his relationships likewise change as he grows in political confidence. Kremlin, was a father figure to Mitchell and technician to The Great Machine who helped kit him out. As the series progresses the stable loving relationship between the two really develops and changes in interesting ways as the pressures on both are exposed. Rick Bradbury Mitchell's best friend and head of security, who is incredibly loyal to Mitchell, and it could be said that Mitchell allows himself to use that. Mitchell's mother Martha plays an important role, she too is significantly impacted by Mitchell's rise to political power.

Again the common theme amongst these personal relationships and others not pulled out here, is the impact of Hundred's ambitions on them. The compromises he makes and the cost to those around him.

[Colin YNWA]

Number 76 - Ex Machina - Part 3


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This is a superhero story too on one level and as such there are a host of villains that are pretty cool and satisfying, in that villain way, as well. That aspect of the story is well served and balances the political thrill stuff with entertaining doses of high jinx and action. Again for me the balance is just about spot on.

In a large part this is due to Vaughan's ability to write comics that are satisfyingly long. Ex Machina is 50 issues with 4 specials. The other in my list, Y the Last Man is a bit longer, Paper Girls is 30 issues. It could be said that Vaughan knows how to write series in the mould of long form telly series that are so prominent these days. Indeed Ex Machina has been bought by Oscar Isaacs to make into a telly show, both Y and Paper Girls have had failed adaptations. You can easily see why (why they made it through telly development hell, not why they failed). He crafts stories that have room to breathe, that are centred on character, and have a really interesting high concept to pull the reader through that story. They manage to last so long (in comic form at least) as they grow these extensive casts so that the stories and concepts are centred on the folks within them.

It's a real gift he has. In Ex Machina everything might rotate around Mitchell Hundred, and other characters' relationship with them but there is plenty of space in the series for those characters to grasp you as well. Just as Aaron Sorkin managed in West Wing, there may be a central figure that drives things, but it's the ability to build a solid world filled with fascinating people around that central figure (or figures in the case of Paper Girls) that really make the stories work in the long run.

That is not to say that Vaughan writes with this in mind. In fact I'd suggest it's just a handy side product of the way he develops the story and it never feels forced or as if the comics are meant to be anything other than that. Unlike many other creators who seem to create their comics as pitches for other media. I trust that Vaughan writes the story to the length it needs to be to work best in the medium, no art form, that best suits that work and anything else is just good luck.

And since this is a comic I should of course talk about the art. There are a few artists who join in the series to add chapters here and there, but undeniably this is Tony Harris' series from an artistic perspective and his art is... fine. It's perfectly effective. The fact that it's very heavily photo referenced does hinder it somewhat. The technique used just screams off the panels and at times that frozen photographic image just simply does work that well. We're not talking about Greg Land, nothing is as stilted and unified as his stuff, but the potential pitfalls of leaning too heavily into this way of creating art is there. Movement can feel laboured and undynamic. Characters acting a little awkward and false. It's far from a bad job artistically, it's just not great. The design work is fantastic and the superpowered costumes look really solid and plausible. The colours largely by JD Mettler are really nice and really work well to add to atmosphere and tone. I'd suggest the colouring is probably the best thing about the art. Some folks will of course love this style as art is so subjective but for me it's just not one of the series' strengths, that's the story, plotting and dialogue. For me the success of these comics is very much down to Vaughan.


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Ex Machina might not be as talked about or as hailed as a number of other Brian K Vaughan series. In fact having read around to write this entry up it comes in for mixed reviews. For me however it's a perfectly balanced genre mash-up that is driven by fantastic characters and as is so often the case having written this up I'm very much looking forward to re-reading it and many of the doubts I may have had about that reread have lost their deposits!

[Colin YNWA]

Number 76 - Ex Machina - Part 4

Where to find it

While this might not be as talked about as many of Vaughan's other works its still easily available from all the normal places. There are five deluxe editions out there - though it would seem the second one you might need to get second hand, though it doesn't look too hard to do. These are more available in paperback these days but the hardcovers exist if they are getting a little tricky to get hold of.

There's an omnibus collecting the whole thing if that's your bag, though that's going to be a chunky ol' thing.

All that of course means that they are readily available digitally.

I had the deluxe editions but stumbled across all the original floppies for bobbins in the aftermarket, so the collections went on the for sale pile. If you fancy the floppies I reckon you'll find them cheaply and easily enough too.

Learn more

Obligatory Wikipedia page

Maddogg Comics has an interesting and both spoiler free and spoiler based review of the series that I reference above and misses some of the key things from the series I read into it. Worth checking out for an alternative take.

Nice spoiler free review as ever from Near Mint Condition in their coverage of the omnibus.

I enjoy TV Tropes takes on this type of thing and Ex Machina has a fun one.

Screen Rant has a good article about the comicness of it all BUT BE WARNED IT'S SPOILER HEAVY.

There's plenty more out there and fair to say a lot is much less lavish in its praise than I am. You are a Google search away from a more balanced perspective.

What is all this?

Conscious that this is becoming a long thread and if you're wondering what the heck you've just read and can't be arsed (quite sensibly) to search back to find out I'll link to my opening posts that try to explain all this.

What this all came from

And of course a nerd won't do a list like this without setting 'Rules' / guidelines

Some thoughts on what will not be on the list.

[IndigoPrime]

This was an interesting one for me. I found someone on Facebook offloading a bunch of HCs of Elephentmen and Ex Machina, both of which I'd long been interested in reading. In the event, I found both really tough going, although I did initially enjoy Ex Machina. The premise worked for me. The art was solid. It grabbed the attention. But I kind of had to force myself to reach the end, and then happily offloaded the books.

The thing is, I don't really remember why. I don't remember a great deal about the story at all. Yet I could chat about beats in Saga and Y. All I recall is that I didn't enjoy it. Strange.

[Colin YNWA]

This was an interesting one for me. I found someone on Facebook offloading a bunch of HCs of Elephentmen and Ex Machina, both of which I'd long been interested in reading. In the event, I found both really tough going, although I did initially enjoy Ex Machina. The premise worked for me. The art was solid. It grabbed the attention. But I kind of had to force myself to reach the end, and then happily offloaded the books.

I had a simialr experience but with Elephantmen. I got it all digitally in a Humble Bundle and when I got to reading it loved it at the beginning. Surprisingly quickly though it burnt out on me and by the end (well as far as I got) as was skim reading and even that was bugging me a little.

In the case of Elephantmen it just seemed to run out a steam, start spinning its wheels and really not have much to say beyond what could be covered in a 12 issue mini-series. Which I know is a different view than many have but its where I landed.

For me Ex Machina is much tighter and gripping from beginning to end. Not sure it had anywhere left to go by that ending but getting there felt perfectly plotted and paced. Obviously other folks are going to have different experiences.

[AlexF]

I remember being really into this when it was first released - as you say, the timing of 9/11 and the West Wing made this feel like essential comics. But for some reason I think I stopped reading after about 20 issues or say, but cannot remember why - it might've been that the basic idea was SO COOL to me - what if a superhero tried to use his fame/power in a responsible way, not as a vigilante, but in this case as a politician - but then as the series went on it became cear that it's kind of impossible to show what might actually happen but also have it feel 'real-world' enough to satisfy. Like, someone THAT popular probably could make major changes to the system, if only in New York - but in the real world during the 2000s, it was exactly the time when US politics in particular was totally hampered by the executive and legislative branches constantly blocking each other and very little seemed to happen.
Same prpblem affected the West Wing - by Series 4 and on, it was ll just wheel-spinning, they never really managed to present fun/interesting/hopeful political changes, so they had to fall back on a good old 'underdog election' storyline to make the final series so much fun.

anyway, I should prb give Ex Machina a proper read! I really did love those first few issues, and agree it's probably the best Vaughan comic (maybe Private Eye is better, if only for the Marcos Martin art)

[BadlyDrawnKano]

I'm really glad to see Ex Machina on the list, like Alex I started reading it when it came out and really enjoyed it, but stopped and I'm not quite sure why. But back in 2022 I was fortunate enough to come across seven of the ten volumes in a charity shop for £2 a go, and then picked up the other three online fairly reasonably and thoroughly enjoyed reading it from start to finish.

I think Colin encapsulates what's so great about the series perfectly, and my favourite aspect was the relationships between the characters and how they develop, and as mentioned, compromises are made, and I liked how provocative it could be. There were a couple of issues where from a historical point of view they seem overly serious as they tackled subjects like gay marriage and legalising marijuana, whereas in the UK we've been fortunate enough to live in a country where the former has been legal for over a decade now, while with the latter according to a recent cbs news article "recreational weed is legal are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington", but I don't think it's to the series' detriment, and it still works as a fascinating debate about issues which thankfully are no longer illegal.*

Again, that's not a criticism but rather than an observation, and overall this is one of my favourite comics series, and would definitely make the top 100 if I were to create a similar list.



*Though I do understand mixed opinions when it comes to marijuana, and while it's plausible in the past I may have dabbled with it I don't now, and am aware of the negative aspects of the drug, but feel its use was so widespread it's better that it's legalised rather than something criminal organisations can make millions from.

[Colin YNWA]

I'm really glad to see Ex Machina on the list, like Alex I started reading it when it came out and really enjoyed it, but stopped and I'm not quite sure why. But back in 2022 I was fortunate enough to come across seven of the ten volumes in a charity shop for £2 a go, and then picked up the other three online fairly reasonably and thoroughly enjoyed reading it from start to finish.

I remember being really into this when it was first released - as you say, the timing of 9/11 and the West Wing made this feel like essential comics. But for some reason I think I stopped reading after about 20 issues or say, but cannot remember why - it might've been that the basic idea was SO COOL to me - what if a superhero tried to use his fame/power in a responsible way, not as a vigilante, but in this case as a politician - but then as the series went on it became cear that it's kind of impossible to show what might actually happen but also have it feel 'real-world' enough to satisfy. Like, someone THAT popular probably could make major changes to the system, if only in New York - but in the real world during the 2000s, it was exactly the time when US politics in particular was totally hampered by the executive and legislative branches constantly blocking each other and very little seemed to happen.
Same prpblem affected the West Wing - by Series 4 and on, it was ll just wheel-spinning, they never really managed to present fun/interesting/hopeful political changes, so they had to fall back on a good old 'underdog election' storyline to make the final series so much fun.

These two comments do seem to sum up perfectly the contrasting views on Ex Machina. It does seem to divide opinion, even amongst Vaughn devotees.

I'm fighting with Badlydrawnkano block of course!

[Colin YNWA]

... and overall this is one of my favourite comics series, and would definitely make the top 100 if I were to create a similar list.

You should you really should its surprisingly good fun - and unsurprisingly challenging. In fact you all should. This serves as a good reminder that I'd love to see other folks drop in their top 10s (not that one), top 20s, top 100s, whatever to add to the discussion.

[Colin YNWA]

Number 75a - Kingdom - Part 1

A quick note at the start of this one as it's the first of entries with a letter as a suffix to its entry number. Basically this is to accommodate additions to the list. So an entry 75a was the original entry at position 75. 75b (next time, well after a Not on the list entry) is one I've added after I 'finished' my list as I'd either forgotten it when I first created the list (in four examples) and just felt I had to include them for the list to reflect my self absorbed countdown accurately. OR I've read the comic for the first time since finalising the countdown and that new comic can't be ignored it's so good. I place these additions at the same number as comics I think are as near as dammit as good to me the original entry at that number. So I think entry 75b (whatever that will be, join me next time(ish) to see) is as good as Kingdom... wow that's going to be good!



Number 75a - Kingdom

Keywords: 2000ad, Archetypal, Dabnett, All action

Creators:
Writer - Dan Abnett
Art - Richard Elson
Colours - Richard Elson + Abigail Ryder

Publisher: Rebellion

No. issues: 25ish US sized comics by my rough estimates (using 2000ad in Staged, but any errors are mine.). Oh and there's a novel as well.
Date of Publication: 2006 - 2020...but maybe, hopefully ongoing...

Last read: 2020

So I'm going to make a very bold statement and use this entry to see if it stands. Okay... right then here we go.


Copyright - Rebellion

is the ultimate 2000ad strip.

That's not to say it's my favourite, or the best. Rather it's the most 2000ad of 2000ad strips, the definitive series, that encapsulates what makes a great 2000ad strip, that sums up the comic more than any other series...

...hmmm... bold claim huh, let's see how it stands up to scrutiny shall we (I genuinely don't know as I type this I'm writing this one on the hoof).

Well okay before we get to that let's quickly sum up Kingdom for those who've not been playing attention, or any new readers who haven't been here for the last few years while Kingdom has been on hiatus.

Kingdom debuted in Prog 2007 (the year named X-Mas edition that is) in December of 2006. The series follows the adventures of Gene the Hackman and initially his pack of dog soldiers. Genetically modified warriors built to defend humanity, the reminisce of which has gone into suspended animation hiding largely, in a world ravaged by giant insectoid monsters 'Them' that now dominate the Earth's surface. Auxes as these warriors are called patrol the Earth fighting Them and responding to 'His Master's Voices'. The remaining communications from the hiding human race.

In the first series Gene's pack is wiped out fighting Them and Gene finds a land bridge from what we have discovered is his territory, Antarctica, to the mainland Australia. So alone he crosses the bridge to explore the world and try to find his masters. The rest of the series is a mix of post-apocalyptic combat and exploration as Gene encounters other packs, some humans survivors, Masters, awakened from their hibernation and eventually Aux Drift, a large settlement of Auxes . He tries to settle down with his mate Clara Bow and raise a family, as you might imagine though this doesn't go as he wishes and as the series went on hiatus in 2018 we learn that Them have evolved and in a new form, presenting a new threat to the world as Gene and his remaining companions retreat into a forested background.

I list 2020 as there was a fun one off special that year that crossed over Kingdom and Shako as Gene encountered the giant polar bear in a story that is adjacent to the main plot.

[Colin YNWA]

Number 75a - Kingdom - Part 2


Copyright - Rebellion

So my reasons for loving this series are pretty clear. Its top, classic genre fiction, with plenty of action, but so much more under the bonnet. Job done, let's move on hey. Well no, I'd like to tackle that proposition I posed at the start of the entry. Why do I think this might be the ultimate 2000ad story. The most 2000ad story in 2000ad, the definitive example of what makes a good addition to The Galaxies Greatest.

To start to tackle this I'd actually like to look at another, much less remembered series, 2001's Killer by Steve Moore and Staz Johnson inked by David Roach. I see real parallels between the two in that both feel like pure 2000ad. Killer however demonstrates this isn't an easy thing to pull off. The story centres around Madoc Blade, a gladiator in a space tournament to the death. He thought he'd got out of the game but events, and machinations of the tournament's overlords pulled him back in. The typically taciturn hero, hard and worn, full of action movie cool, battles a host of aliens and other combatants in the ring. All while the real enemy, the power behind the games, twist events to meet their own agenda. 

The series came out during Andy Diggle's 'shot glass of thrillpower' period - I'll just quickly acknowledge that turn of phrase has been misrepresented, but excuse me using it as a handy shorthand here. A time when there was a need for tighter, punchier tales and this one just seemed to fit the bill perfectly. It was constructed on so many 2000ad tropes. The hard, brooding, reluctant hero who lets the action do the talking. A cool variety of beasties and dastardly enemies to fight. Combat that's hard and brutal, the violence doesn't hold back. The cool cynicism and reflections on how society will drag out the worst in itself. The fact that you can't trust figures of authority and the real enemy is 'the man'. It's all there and all so constructed to push the right buttons for a 2000ad reader.

Yet it failed so badly and after 9 Progs disappeared into the mists as a largely forgotten, entirely unmemorable, story. Nice art aside I should note.