The best comic books are those books which have a blend of drama, humor, intrigue, strong characters, and enjoyable plots and storylines. Sometimes the best approach to find the best comic books is to look for individual creators, as per the following list that I recommend:

- Alan Moore: this man is a legend in the comic books industry for the quality and variety of his writing. He was a successful comic book writer in England (2000 A.D., Miracleman, etc.) before joining the US comic book marketplace. Over the years he wrote the following stories for DC Comics: a critically acclaimed series about Swamp Thing; a seminal Batman graphic novel called The Killing Joke; the classic Bronze Age Superman story called "Whatever Happened To the Man of Tomorrow"; V for Vendetta, a thriller based in a near-future dystopia; and Watchmen, one of the most intricately crafted and critically acclaimed series ever published by DC Comics. Following that, he went on to other wonderful works for other publishers, including: Supreme; Top 10; The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; Tom Strong; and more. And these are his more commercial works! Alan Moore is amazingly talented - go read his stories!

- Robert Kirkman: this guy is writing a ton of stuff these days, but I am most familiar with his creator-owned series Invincible, the story of a young man who discovers that he's inherited his father's super powers and then has to cope with his life being turned upside down during his last years of high school and first years of college. It's great reading.

- Mark Waid: some people aren't happy with the work Mark did on the latest version of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but he's written lots of great stuff including a great run on The Flash; the JLA: Year One maxi-series; and Kingdom Come, the DC mini-series that introduced another near-future dystopia where DC's heroes are very different from today.

- Kurt Busiek: another guy who writes very warm, personable stories. Kurt is best known for three sets of work he's done. He wrote the critically acclaimed mini-series Marvels, which showed how the world reacted to the introduction of heroes like Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. His creator-owned series Astro City included some of the best standard super-hero stories created in the 1990's. Finally, he's the writer on the flagship Superman title and he's doing great stuff there.

You'll notice that I've limited myself to the super-hero genre of comic books, with a strong slant toward DC Comics. These are the books that I know best. There are a ton of other great comic creators who deserve recognition that I can't include due to space limitations. I strongly suggest that you use Google and Wikipedia to research the genre and find the comic books that are best for you.

Learn more about this author, Mark Dykeman.
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