DC Comics has been telling stories for over eighty years and in those eighty years, they've gotten a lot of famous firsts- from the first costumed superhero, Superman, to the first super-team, the Justice Society, to reigniting public interest in superheroes with the introduction of the Silver Age Flash and Green Lantern. The publisher has put out some of the greatest comic stories of all time, whether they're about the superheroes of the DC Universe or the creator-owned books of Vertigo.
With so many years of great stories to choose from, some of them are bound to be forgotten, even if they don't deserve that ignominious fate.
10 Flex Mentallo: Man Of Muscle Mystery
Flex Mentallo: Man Of Muscle Mystery, by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, is a surrealistic masterpiece starring Doom Patrol member Flex Mentallo, the Man of Muscle Mystery who flexes his muscles to change reality, as he investigates the disappearance of his friend the Fact. However, way more is going on than meets the eye.
Morrison uses Mentallo to tell a hallucinogenic story that traces the history of the comic medium and the effect of fiction on the author and the real world, using Flex to plumb the depths of a fictional world. Full of bizarre moments, the big concepts that Morrison was working with in the '90s, and Quitely's amazingly detailed art, this book is one of the greatest stories that few have read.
9 The Flash: The Return Of Barry Allen
The Flash: The Return Of Barry Allen, by writer Mark Waid and artist Greg LaRocque, is the story that really put Wally West on the map of as the Flash. Barry Allen, dead since Crisis On Infinite Earths, returns but he's a very different man—more violent than ever, Allen wants to be the Flash and the only Flash. After beating West, Allen sets himself up as the most powerful man in Central and Keystone City but there's more going on than meets the eye.
Until this story, readers weren't completely sold on West as the Flash but Waid really made an argument for why Wally West deserved to be the Flash in this story, as well as putting West on the path to becoming the fastest speedster of them all. The story's twist is the icing on the cake on an action-packed story that made Wally West a greater Flash than his predecessor.
8 The Flash: Blitz
The Flash: Blitz, by writer Geoff Johns and artist Scott Kolins, gives Wally West a new arch-nemesis in the form of an old friend- FBI agent Hunter Zolomon. Zolomon, injured in an attack by Gorilla Grodd, asks Wally for his help to go back in time and save him. When West refuses, Zolomon takes it on himself to use the Cosmic Treadmill but it backfires. He becomes Zoom and decides to teach his old friend a terrible lesson.
Johns was doing a bang-up job on The Flash up to this point but this was the story that cemented his status as one of the best Flash writers of all time. Zoom was the perfect foil for the Scarlet Speedster and would bedevil him, and others, throughout Johns's run on the book.
7 Final Crisis: Superman: Legion Of Three Worlds
Final Crisis: Superman: Legion Of Three Worlds, by writer Geoff Johns and artist George Perez, is ostensibly a Final Crisis crossover but one doesn't really need to know anything about that story to enjoy it. Superman finds himself in the 31st century just as Time Trapper and the Legion Of Supervillains attack. Superman and the Legion are going to need a lot of help to win and get it from a most unlikely place or places.
This story melded the three rosters of the Legion and pitted them and Superman against their worst foes. Perez's art is amazing and the story is full of surprises, promising to keep fans on the edge of their seats.
6 Batman: Year Two
Batman: Year Two, by writer Mike W. Barr and artists Alan Davis and Todd McFarlane, gets overshadowed by Batman: Year One but is still a great story in its own right. In his second year as Batman, Bruce Wayne falls in love Rachel Caspian, whose father was Gotham's first vigilante- the Reaper. With crime still running rampant, the Reaper resurfaces more violent than ever and Batman must stop his rampage.
Most readers know nothing about this story and that's a shame; it's very good. Filling in some gaps in Batman's history, it's a must a read for any serious Batman fan. It was also the inspiration for the animated Batman movie, Mask Of The Phantasm, itself an underrated classic.
5 JSA: The Golden Age
JSA: The Golden Age, by writer James Robinson and artist Paul Smith, is an Elseworld tales starring the heroes of DC's Golden Age. WWII is over and the costumed superheroes of America have new challenges to face, including a secret foe who has orchestrated the return of the greatest villain in recent human history.
This Elseworlds tale of DC's Golden Age is one of the most important JSA stories of all time and just an amazing read. Robinson and Smith's love for the characters shines through in every panel. A highlight of '90s DC, this story has unfairly fallen through the cracks.
4 Vigilante #17 & 18
Vigilante #17 & 18, by writer Alan Moore and artist Jim Baikie, sees superhero lawyer Adrian Chase, the titular Vigilante, hunt down a man who kidnapped his daughter, a daughter he had terribly abused. With the help of a prostitute named Fever, Vigilante tries to find the man and his daughter before it's too late.
Filled with Moore's trademark hyper-realistic style of writing, this two-issue story takes a Punisher knock-off and puts him into a terrible real-world situation. While this story is very dark and can be quite problematic by today's standards, it's still a great two-parter.
3 JLA: Earth 2
JLA: Earth 2, by writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, was the debut of the modern version of the Crime Syndicate, their first appearance since Crisis On Infinite Earths. When an airplane full of strange things crashes, the JLA learns of another universe- one where evil always wins. They cross over, trying to fix another world... but their evil counterparts also cross over to the JLA's world.
The Crime Syndicate was a huge part of the Silver Age Justice League and Morrison and Quitely's reintroduction of them brought them to life for a whole new generation of readers. Because of this story, the Crime Syndicate would go on to bigger and better things but most fans have never read this story.
2 JSA: Black Reign
JSA; Black Reign, by writer Geoff Johns and artists Rags Morales and Don Kramer, is one of the highlights of Johns's time on JSA and one of the best stories in the team's history. Black Adam and a team of former heroes have wrested control of Black Adam's homeland from a brutal dictator but the JSA doesn't trust the former villain and tries to end his reign before he can do something terrible.
Johns, Morales, and Kramer supply an action-packed story, one that pays off years of stories. Full of killer art and great characterization, this story supplied Black Adam with his new status quo and cemented his place as one of the most interesting characters in the DC Universe.
1 JLA: The Nail
JLA: The Nail, by writer and artist Alan Davis, is an Elseworlds tale that asks the question of what would happen to the DC Universe if the Kents got a flat tire on the day they would have found baby Kal-El. While many of the same heroes still exist, things are very different and get worse as mysterious technology ends up in the hands of the villains from a shocking source.
Davis kills it with this one. Easily of the best Elseworlds tales of the '90s, up there with Kingdom Come, it's a rollicking good time. The story's big twist is one for the ages as well, as fans will never foresee the identity of the mastermind of the whole plot.