Tag Archives: Best Comic Poll Lists

Participant Lists Q-Se

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The following lists were submitted in response to the question, “What are the ten comics works you consider your favorites, the best, or the most significant?” All lists have been edited for consistency, clarity, and to fix minor copy errors. Unranked lists are alphabetized by title. In instances where the vote varies somewhat with the Top 115 entry the vote was counted towards, an explanation of how the vote was counted appears below it.

In the case of divided votes, only works fitting the description that received multiple votes on their own received the benefit. For example, in Jessica Abel’s list, she voted for The Post-Superhero comics of David Mazzucchelli. That vote was divided evenly between Asterios Polyp and Paul Auster’s City of Glass because they fit that description and received multiple votes on their own. It was not in any way applied to the The Rubber Blanket Stories because that material did not receive multiple votes from other participants.

Andrea Queirolo

Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson

Editor, Conversazioni sul fumetto

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Casey Rae-Hunter
Contributing writer, The Hooded Utilitarian; Deputy Director, Future of Music Coalition

Ghost World, Daniel Clowes

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Ted Rall
Pulitzer-nominated editorial cartoonist; author, To Afghanistan and Back, 2024, Silk Road to Ruin

The Lascaux Cave Drawings

COMMENTS

The cave cartoons at Lascaux, France, because cartoons invented Art.

The obscene political cartoons about Roman officials found on walls at Pompeii, the oldest known editorial cartoons and bawdier than anything a newspaper would run today.

The postwar editorial cartoons of Bill Mauldin, roughly 1945-1955 (many are collected in the book Back Home), which are constructed using modern tropes and bravely call out American cultural hypocrisy.

Peanuts by Charles Schulz, the first truly modern comic strip, and consistently entertaining and philosophical.

The Far Side by Gary Larson, often forgotten today but still the most consistently funny comic I’ve read.

Jules Feiffer’s cartoons from 1955 to 1975-ish, which established the genre of alternative newspaper comics.

Life in Hell by Matt Groening, particularly the 1980s era that opened the field to new artistic approaches.

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, the first graphic novel to fulfill the form’s potential as literature.

Weird War Tales comics of the 1970s not because they’re objectively great. I just love them. So trashy, so fun. I wish there was a reissue.

Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling, the best syndicated cartoon in the U.S.

Honorable Mentions: Stephanie McMillan’s experimental environmental comics, Matt Bors’ editorial cartoons and graphic novel(s), Tom Tomorrow, Ward Sutton’s Onion satires.
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Martin Rebas
Cartoonist, Sömnlös [Sleepless], Ledsen

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller

COMMENTS

I went for a list of “coup de coeur” favorites; comics that I love, rather than trying for an objective list of best or most significant works (which would have looked very different). I wasn’t sure if the last vote should go to the Donald Duck comics of Carl Barks, or Krigstein’s “Master Race,” so instead, I threw Mark Millar’s Ultimates 2 in there, because I think it’s better than it gets credit for, and I had a hunch that Millar wouldn’t get many votes.

As someone who reads comics largely for the artwork and visual storytelling, there were lots of artists I wish I could have mentioned in the list — e.g. Dave McKean, Blutch, Mike Mignola, Moebius, Man Arenas — but none of their stories (that I have read) have really grabbed me. And while I actually prefer non-genre fiction and slice-of-life stories, I haven’t been able to find much of that in comics. Works like Asterios Polyp, From Hell, Cages, Blankets, Cinq mille kilomètres par seconde [5000 Kilometers Per Second], and Heute ist der letzte Tag vom Rest deines Lebens [Today Is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life] get pretty close to what I’m looking for, but there’s something missing.

So far, Locas is the best I’ve found. I also had to include Yotsuba&! on my list — while its slice-of-life stories tend to the cute and innocent side, you have to respect a comic that spends a chapter showing a child trying to make pancakes, and makes it riveting.
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Charles Reece
Contributing writer, Amoeblog

Ici même [You Are There], Jean-Claude Forest & Jacques Tardi

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Hans Rickheit
Cartoonist, The Squirrel Machine, Ectopiary

Moonshadow, J. M. DeMatteis & Jon J Muth

The International Best Comics Poll–Index and Introduction

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Welcome to The Hooded Utilitarian’s International Best Comics Poll!

In May and June, we asked comics personnel of all stripes—creators, editors, journalists, academics, retailers—this question:

What are the ten comics works you consider your favorites, the best, or the most significant?

We received 211 replies from all over the world. Participants voted for newspaper strips, comic-book series and stories, graphic novels, manga, political cartoons, caricatures, magazine cartoons, and even a few things that one might not immediately think of as comics or print cartooning.

Below is a list of the top ten vote-getters. Click the title for an essay of appreciation about the work, which is accompanied by its publication history and a full account of the votes for it.

1. Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz
2. Krazy Kat, George Herriman
3. Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
4. Watchmen, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
5. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spiegelman
6. Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
7. The Locas Stories, Jaime Hernandez
8. Pogo, Walt Kelly
9. MAD #1-28, Harvey Kurtzman & Will Elder, Wallace Wood, Jack Davis, et al.
10.The Fantastic Four, Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, with Joe Sinnott, et al.

Click here for the list of The Top 115 vote-getters, ranked by number of votes with a notation of how many votes each listed work received.

Below is a list of the posts featuring the submitted lists of the poll participants. The lists are organized alphabetically by the participants’ last names.

A-Bo (Jessica Abel to Alex Boney)
Br-C (Matthew J. Brady to Tom Crippen)
D-E (Katherine Dacey to Al Ewing)
F-G (Duncan Falconer to Paul Gulacy)
H-K (Flint Hasbudak to Sean Kleefeld)
L-Mc (Terry LaBan to Sheena McNeil)
Me-Po (Ray Mescallado to John Porcellino)
Q-Se (Andrea Quierolo to Matt Seneca)
Sh-Sw (Joe Sharpnack to Jeff Swenson)
T-Y (Matt Tauber to Yidi Yu)

We are also presenting essays that discuss the results and issues related to them. The essays so far include discussions of the poll and the comics canon, the poll and women cartoonists, the poll and non-English European comics, the poll and manga, and the poll and the extended field of comics, and favorites vs. best. We’re certain other essays related to the poll will eventually be published as well. The essays to date (click the title and author to go to the post):

“The HU Lady List,” Shaenon Garrity

“Favorites vs. Best,” Noah Berlatsky

“Embalmed Ones, Fabulous Ones, Those That Tremble If They Were Mad,” Craig Fischer

“Manga and the Best Comics Poll,” by Kate Dacey

“Comics’ Expanded Field and Other Pet Peeves,” by Domingos Isabelinho

“Some Closing Thoughts on the Poll,” by Robert Stanley Martin

Finally, acknowledgements. My deepest gratitude to:

For contributing essays on the poll results: Derik Badman, J. T. Barbarese, Jeffrey Chapman, Katherine Dacey, Andrew Farago, Craig Fischer, Shaenon Garrity, Jeet Heer, Domingos Isabelinho, Matthew J. Smith, and Tucker Stone.

All the innumerable people who helped promote the poll, both publicly and privately.

To Noah Berlatsky, for agreeing to publish the poll, his essay on the top vote getter, and his constant efforts in support of the project.

To Ng Suat Tong, for his help in providing images for the list posts.

To Qiana J. Whitted, for her generosity in a moment of editorial need.

And finally, the list submitters themselves, without whom this would not have been possible. They are:

Jessica Abel, Deb Aoki, Michael Arthur, Nate Atkinson, Derik Badman, J.T. Barbarese, Edmond Baudoin, Jonathan Baylis, Melinda Beasi, Terry Beatty, Robert Beerbohm, Piet Beerends, Alice Bentley, Eric Berlatsky, Noah Berlatsky, Sean Bieri, Corey Blake, Bobsy Mindless, Kristin Bomba, Alex Boney, Matthew J. Brady, Caroline Bren, Casey Brienza, Scott O. Brown, Alex Buchet, Kurt Busiek, Sean Campbell, Bruce Canwell, Greg Carter, Scott Chantler, Jeffrey Chapman, Hillary Chute, Seymour Chwast, Michael Clarke, Robert Clough, Brian Codagnone, Sean T. Collins, Barry Corbett, Roberto Corona, Jamie Cosley, Dave Coverly, Warren Craghead, Corey Creekmur, Tom Crippen, Katherine Dacey, Marco D’Angelo, Alexander Danner, Mike Dawson, Kim Deitch, Martin de la Iglesia, Camilla d’Errico, Francis DiMenno, Alan David Doane, Randy Duburke, Randy Duncan, Kathleen Dunley, Paul Dwyer, Joshua Dysart, Joe Eisma, Austin English, Jackie Estrada, Al Ewing, Duncan Falconer, Andrew Farago, Matt Feazell, Larry Feign, Bob Fingerman, Craig Fischer, Anja Flower, Erica Friedman, Shaenon Garrity, Richard Gehr, Larry Gonick, Jenny Gonzalez-Blitz, Diana Green, Jason Green, Steve Greenberg, Geoff Grogan, Patrick Grzanka, Paul Gulacy, Flint Hasbudak, Greg Hatcher, Charles Hatfield, David M. Heatley, Jeet Heer, Danny Hellman, Sam Henderson, Alex Hoffman, Ben Horak, Kenneth Huey, Jelle Hugaerts, Mike Hunter, Illogical Volume, Domingos Isabelinho, Cole Johnson, Jones, one of the Jones boys, Bill Kartalopoulos, Megan Kelso, Abhay Khosla, Molly Kiely, Kinukitty, T.J. Kirsch, Sean Kleefeld, Terry LaBan, Nicolas Labarre, Blaise Larmee, Carol Lay, Jeff Lemire, Sonny Liew, Alec Longstreth, Jay Lynch, John MacLeod, Matt Madden, Larry Marder, MariNaomi, Vom Marlowe, Ben Marra, Scott Marshall, Robert Stanley Martin, Chris Mautner, Joe McCulloch (Jog Mack), Sheena McNeil, Ray Mescallado, Jason Michelitch, Eden Miller, Gary Spencer Millidge, Evan Minto, Wolfen Moondaughter, Pat Moriarity, Pedro Moura, Todd Munson, Rachel Nabors, Mark Newgarden, Eugenio Nittolo, Rick Norwood, José-Luis Olivares, Tim O’Neil, Jim Ottaviani, Jason Overby, Joshua Paddison, Nick Patten, Marco Pellitteri, Michael Pemberton, Kai Pfeiffer, Stephanie Piro, John Porcellino, Andrea Queirolo, Casey Rae-Hunter, Ted Rall, Martin Rebas, Charles Reece, Hans Rickheit, Oliver Ristau, Chris Roberson, John L. Roberson, Sean Michael Robinson, James Romberger, Joshua Rosen, Marcel Ruitjers, Johnny Ryan, Giorgio Salati, M. Sauter, Kevin Scalzo, Val Semeiks, Matt Seneca, Joe Sharpnack, Scott Shaw!, Mahendra Singh, Ed Sizemore, Shannon Blake Skelton, Caroline Small, Kenneth Smith, Matthew J. Smith, Michelle Smith, Shannon Smith, Nick Sousanis, Ryan Standfest, Rob Steen, Matteo Stefanelli, Joshua Ray Stephens, Mick Stevens, Tom Stiglich, Tucker Stone, Betsey Swardlick, Jeff Swenson, Matthew Tauber, Ty Templeton, Jason Thompson, Kelly Thompson, Matt Thorn, Tom Tirabosco, Mark Tonra, Noel Tuazon, Carol Tyler, Marguerite Van Cook, Stefan J.H. van Dinther, Noah van Sciver, Sara Varon, Mike Vosburg, David Welsh, Mack White, Qiana J. Whitted, Karl Wills, Sean Witzke, Matthias Wivel, Douglas Wolk, Jason Yadao, Chris York, Rafe York, Yidi Yu.