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I think that any list of "Best Comic Books" should actually be a list of those books or stories that should be required reading for anyone wanting to get a taste of what the field has to offer. Certainly, there is a modicum of personal preference and bias inherent in the following list, but it should serve as a general introduction to the exciting world of four-color fantasy:

1. Action Comics #1 (1938), Detective Comics #27 (1939), and Marvel Comics #1 (1939): These three books laid the foundations for everything that would follow. Action #1 introduced Superman, the ultimate immigrant and the very personification of Truth, Justice, and the American Way. 'Tec #27 presented Superman's polar opposite, The Batman, a hero without any superpowers, but with a relentless desire for justice and the eradication of crime and criminals. Batman and Superman were the yin and yang of DC Comics, a distinction that continues to this day. In Marvel Comics #1, The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner got their starts, establishing Timely Comics as a worthy rival to DC. Timely would make its mark by being more involved with the real world, having their heroes actually go overseas to battle the Nazi menace, while Superman and Batman largely stayed here, protecting the homefront. Without this trio of books, the comic industry as we know it today might not exist.

2. Whiz Comics #2 (1940): The introduction of Captain Marvel, arguably the most popular superhero of all time. At the height of his popularity, Cap sold more than one million books per month. It took a lawsuit brought by DC for copyright infringement to eventually shut Cap down in the 1950s.

3. Crime Patrol #15 (1950): The introduction of the Crypt Keeper and the beginning of EC Comic's legendary horror line. Over the next several years, such magazines as Vault of Horror, Crypt of Terror, and Haunt of Fear would reignite comics readership, which had drastically declined after the end of World War II. Shocking, grisly, and gory, the books, and their publisher William Gaines, would find themselves the targets of a Congressional INvestigation in 1954, which lead to the voluntary formation of the Comics Code Authority, a self-regulating body that virtually eliminated horror and crime comics overnight. Nevertheless, the EC Comics line stands today as a shining example of high-quality storytelling and gorgeous artwork, well worth the time of any comic aficionado to search out.

4. Showcase #4 (1954): Much like the publication of Action

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