OK, I listen and participate in this sort of argument, er discussion every week at the local comic shop (the superb Comics and More, in Northampton MA- so old school he has no website) and there is never consensus on what is the best DC title.

For the purpose of this discussion let us follow a couple simple guidelines.
1. Justify your claim. For example, I’m stupid for Green Arrow, who is the best superhero EVER, but I would never argue that the current series is the best comic on the market.

2. Do not attack another person’s favorite book. Opinions are like noses, everybody has one and while it may not be to your aesthetic liking, there is no reason to point out how ugly it is. Let us keep this as intellectual as possible and keep our emotions in check.

So, lock up your inner fan boy and let us hear what your favorite book is and why.

Lets get the ball rolling.

My favorite book, without hesitation, is Justice Society of America. This multi-generational series takes the strongest elements of the Golden Age- the colorful heroic ethic, an overarching sense of noblesse oblige, the cornerstones of loyalty and fellowship- and uses them as the cornerstone of the modern incarnation of the first superhero team. The modern trappings of the superhero genre are all here, too, the angst, melodrama, and rich characterization, personified in the legacy incarnations of classic characters. Fighting side-by-side, original Green Lantern, legendary and puissant, and the new Hourman, brash and journeyman, each bringing a drastically different perspective and understanding of what makes a hero. The sum of two disparate generations of hero- one a merry adventurer of the nascent days of the genre, the other born of the grim-and-gritty Machiavellianism- would seem likely to be chaos. Yet, the overriding drive to serve the larger good of justice, and here we mean justice as the moral principle determining just conduct, not the Biblical eye-for-an-eye interpretation, conflates the old and new, making for stories that are very contemporary and classic at the same time.

Okay, so, picking one is going to be very difficult, as there are a few I think are very good, but for different reasons...

If I had to pick just one, I'd say Blue Beetle, I suppose. It's consistently one of the best superhero books out there, delivering fun characters, great action, and an interesting story every month. There aren't too many books from any company that I read that I believe deliver the same level of quality every issue.

So, that is my pick! However, with the return of Manhunter this summer, I may have to change that to my #1 DC comic, as it's another amazing book with the same problem as BB that no one seems to know it is great and therefore don't pick it up.

JSA and All-Star Superman!


All-Star Bats is good if you like things on the absurd/literal side.

As a huge Batman fan, I would go with Morrison's Batman. It is not for everyone, but Morrison does a great job of considering Batman's long history and applies it to more modern stories. It is better to read it as completed arcs, since individual issues can be confusing, but the pay off is worth it. Morrison also tackles complicated stories that many other writers are not capable of handling well. It requires more work on the readers' part, but it is worth it to me.

JSA would be my second. Johns does a great job of showcasing and utilizing the vast history of the DCU. Despite dealing with a multitude of characters, each one feels fleshed out and significant. He does a great job combining the old with the new.

My current favorites are All-Star Superman and Justice Society of America, in that order. They both share a distincive drawback, however: Inconsistency in shipping.

Booster Gold. By far.

There have been other writers at DC who have tried to recapture the glory days of the JLI, well mostly, just the relationship and comradarie of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. Johns has done this. it's an awesome light-hearted adventure with great storytelling that has yet to frustrate or bore me. seeing Jonah Hex and then Sinestro and Barry allen within 5 issues of each other was awesome, and i hope the series continues this tone and the pacing it has shown thusfar.

-R

Booster Gold, hands down. Funny, smart, well drawn (Dan Jurgens? What?!) Awesome supporting cast with Rip Hunter, Supernova, skeets and of course Ted Kord!

I read mosly in trade for DC (and I'm a bit behind on JSA). There are a few I'd rather not wait for the trades on:

Currently I'm enjoying Jonah Hex. They are solid cowboy stories. Brutal realism and dark irony rule these pages.

All Star Superman has been fabulous (Though the Bizarro storyline got old pretty quickly for me but that's just because I get sick of reading Bizarro-speak and Morrison went to freakin' town with it!). Giving Morrison the ability to tell a Superman story with no real continuity to deal with was brilliant.

Booster Gold is the Quantum Leap (or Exiles) of the DCU. I've always been a fan of the character. There's something about a big failure trying to be a super hero that I can't stop watching. Plus now he's teamed up with Blue Beetle again so how could you go wrong?

Can't argue with JSA, and people are making me want to pick up Booster Gold. I've also thought Brave and the Bold has been good, albeit inconsistent, as the creative team is always changing. I have to like a book that has had Hawkman teaming up with the Ryan Choi Atom, though (as Atom's own book hasn't even mentioned Hawkman). Birds of Prey has remained consistently good.

And while people will hate me for it (and as a New Gods fan, I kind of hate myself for it), I've liked Death of the New Gods.

JSA, followed by the Brave and the Bold.

I really can't choose between JSA and Green Lantern. Hmmm, both are written by Johns, any coincidence?

I agree pretty much with everything groverarrow1 stated regarding the JSA series. Writing a group book effectively is much more difficult than most people seem to think and Johns has a very good grasp on it. I'm less sold on the KC Supes storyline, but the book is still far and above most everything else being put out by DC currently.

As far as GL, I like to think it's not just because I'm such a Hal Jordan fan, but I'm sure that is a factor. I just love that he's brought relevance back to the Corps, and Hal in particular. He's delving some depth of character with Hal and is about to write a story on Hal's early days. Plus he's adding more depth with Sinestro and pulling together a lot of the older stories that were never really tied together.

I guess in rereading my post, the reasons I'm enjoying JSA are pretty much the same reasons I'm enjoying GL.

Those are all good choices, but Green Lantern is actually the best DC book on the market today. Geoff Johns is blowing the lid off the Green Lantern mythos and taking it in incredible new directions. You have to read Sinestro War.

Anyone else notice how many of these "favorites" are being written by Johns? JSA, Booster Gold and Green Lantern. I hope DC gave that guy a raise.

I will join in the chorus for All-Star Superman. It's a big, bold, beautiful book that has everything that was great about the silver age Superman flavored with modern sensibilities. I love talking to people who say that they hated the very idea of Superman until All-Star Superman made them into fans. The stories are deceptively simple, but with tons of sub-text and unstated ideas that are just on the verge of breaking loose but manage to never overtake the main story.