You voted and now we continue our countdown of your votes for the top comic book one shots and "done in one" stories!
Enjoy!
30. "The Good, the Bad and the Uncanny" Silver Surfer #4 (1968)
Stan Lee, John Buscema and Sal Buscema collaborated on this extra-sized story (Silver Surfer was done as an over-sized comic book series when it launched in 1968) that saw Loki manipulate Silver Surfer into destroying Loki's hated step-brother, Thor. Loki also gave Surfer a power boost to make their battle an epic one and boy did everyone involved deliver...
The cover for the comic is as famous as anything, so I tried to fit as much as I could of the cover in the featured image.
29. “Joker’s Five-Way Revenge” Batman #251 (1973)
Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams and Dick Giordano bring the Joker into a new era with his story, which firmly re-established the Joker as a deadly villain.
Adams is just astonishing in this issue, right from the first page…
but he has other epic pages, like when the Joker gets the drop on Batman…
or this legendary shot of Batman in fast pursuit of the Joker…
Perhaps not since his very introduction had a single story been more important to the success of the Joker as a comic book character.
28. "Master Race" Impact #1 (1955)
In 1955, EC Comics tried in vain to keep going after the Comics Code ravaged their comic book line. It did not work out, but they tried valiantly. The most famous example of these "new type" of stories appeared in the first issue of the short-lived series called Impact.
Written by Al Feldstein and drawn by Bernard Krigstein, the story sees a man haunted by the memories of a Nazi concentration camp while he is on a subway in the United States. He thinks back to all the horrors of World War II and how he can't get past it, but then someone gets on to the subway and the man recognizes him as someone who tried to kill him during the war. Of course, as it turns out, the star of the story is actually the former commandant of the concentration camp!
So much for the "master race," huh? Since I only had four pages to share, I couldn't get in all of the amazing Krigstein art for this story as well as the stuff about how the narrator hated what the Nazis were doing but he didn't feel like he could stop them, so he just went along for the ride. Topical stuff even today.
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27. "There is No Hope in Crime Alley" Detective Comics #457 (1975)
In this beautiful anniversary issue (it's a weird anniversary, though, something like the 36th anniversary), Denny O'Neil and Dick Giordano introduce both the custom of Batman re-visiting Crime Alley on the anniversary of his parents' murder as well as the introduction of Dr. Leslie Thomkins, who soon became a key supporting cast member...
Powerful stuff.
26. "The Fantastic Four" Fantastic Four #1 (1961)
When Marvel decided to get into doing superhero comic books again, they had been doing short stories in anthologies for so long and had gotten so good at it, that when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby got together to do a full-length story for Fantastic Four #1, the creators basically told three full stories in one issue. The first story introduce the fascinating new heroes known as the Fantastic Four, who were unlike typical heroes of the time as they felt more HUMAN.
Then, the second story showed their iconic origin...
And finally, the third story saw them defeat the Mole Man on Monster Island.
It's a wonderful yarn and a great introduction for Marvel's new brand of superheroes.