Recommend me some good DC Comics.

[Misterian]

Okay, I've been getting really into the DC Universe lately, so I'm looking for some really good comics to read.

specifically, I'm looking for any comics that are post-crisis and pre-flashpoint. So no New-52 comics for me.

And here's a short list of what DC Comics and story arcs I've already read.

Batman: Hush volume 1 (it was the only volume at my local library, I plan on reading more when the opportunity arises)

Superman: Red Son

Luthor

Death of Superman

Funeral For A Friend

The Reign of the Supermen

The Return of Superman

Scribblenauts: Unmasked (yeah, there was a comic based on the game, and it's my only exception toward my 'No New-52' rule)

With all that said, what DC Comic book would you recommend to me?

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Kingdom Come

What's so funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way

The Nail

Justice (yep its just called Justice)

Watchmen

V for Vendetta

 

[circularlogic88]

All Star Superman

Geoff Johns run on Teen Titans

Green Arrow: Quiver

52 (not countdown to final crisis, just 52)

Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle series (takes place after infinite crisis)

Gail Simone's run on Birds of Prey and Secret Six

Gotham Central

Superman: What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?

Some are a bit before infinite crisis but they're totally worth the read.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

You should at least read the New 52 run of Animal Man, that was fucking fantastic.

Blackest Night

The Grant Morrison run of Batman and Robin where Dick Grayson is Batman.

All Star Superman

The Long Halloween

Knightfall

The Judas Contract

Tower of Babel

Sandman by Neil Gaiman

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

Mandatory (some have already been mentioned): All-Star Superman, Sandman, Watchmen (duh), The Dark Knight Returns, Kingdom Come.

Old(ish) ones that haven't been mentioned:

The Black Ring (an Action Comics run starring Lex Luthor).

Grant Morrison's entire run on JLA.

Joker and Broken City (the two Batman series done by Azzarello.)

The Earth One Batman and Wonder Woman limited series (skip Superman: Earth One, it's garbage).



More recently: The New 52 Batman title with Scott Snyder is pretty good. Azzarello's run on Wonder Woman was also good, but it pissed off Wonder Woman fans, so 50/50....Omega Men, Prez, Grayson. All experimental titles that turned out pretty great. The New 52 was 90% bullshit, but with fifty titles that's still five or so good ones.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

Well for ones that haven't been mentioned already, I'd give the series Gotham Central a look just because its nice seeing exactly what goes on in the Major Crimes Unit of Gotham PD having to put up with their own crooked co-workers, petty internal politics, a city hero who's kind of an asshole, and all the raving homicidal lunatics that the city's infested with.
On a similar note, Arkham Asylum; Living Hell (not to be confused with A Serious House on Serious Earth), which goes into all the shit that can go wrong in Arkham through two characters; hook-handed guard Aaron Cash who you might know from the game series, and Wall Street fraudster Warren White. It has some interesting new bad guys (Jane Doe is freaking creepy), and adds a little to established bad guys by giving us a look at what they do when Batman isn't beating the crap out of them

 

[Cicada 5]

Peter David's Young Justice

Superman: Red Son

Wonder Woman The Circle by Gail Simone. Also try the George Perez, Phil Jiminez and Greg Ruck runs.

Marv Wolfman's Teen Titans

Gail Simone Birds of Prey

Kelly Pucket's Batgirl

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The Dark Knight Returns, Year One, The Killing Joke, Knightfall and The Long Halloween.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Another Superman suggestion.

For The Man Who Has Everything.

 

[Kolby Jack]

I totally understand hating the New 52, but DC Rebirth has got me back into it. So far I've subscribed to Action Comics, Detective Comics, Batman, Superman, The Flash, Titans, and Justice League. All of which are pretty good and none of which feel like the new 52. IMO if people don't want the new 52 to ever happen again EVER, it's important to show support for this new approach.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

(skip Superman: Earth One, it's garbage).

I disagree with this, I say pick it up. It's hard to get into at first, but if you stick with it I believe it pays off.

Also, I assume you want to skip the New52, because of Rebirth, but seeing how that's not a reboot, you may want to pick up some of the better ones for backstory, if nothing else.

What's so funny about Truth, Justice, and the American Way

I recommend this as well, but in case you have a hard time finding it, it's Action Comics #775. The movie's better, though.

Also, on the Superman side of things, pick up "Up, up and away". If you feel like going crazy and out of continuity, "Secret Identity" is fantastic.

Lastly, since this is mostly a gaming place and all, you can look up Marv Wolfman's DC Universe Online as a very last resort. It's not terrible, but it's pretty forgettable; still, it's technically the same post-Crisis framework (though certainly not in-continuity).

More recently: The New 52 Batman title with Scott Snyder is pretty good. Azzarello's run on Wonder Woman was also good, but it pissed off Wonder Woman fans, so 50/50....Omega Men, Prez, Grayson. All experimental titles that turned out pretty great. The New 52 was 90% bullshit, but with fifty titles that's still five or so good ones.

Morrison's run on the New52 Superman is good too, but I don't know if they've made a TPB out of it. I liked Azzarello's Wondy as well, don't know why fans were pissed off. If you've never read the character before, it's a good entry point, even if some of it is now retconned. Alternatively, there's almost universal praise for Perez's Wonder Woman (the original post-Crisis Wonder Woman reboot).

 

[Scarim Coral]

Since all of the good ones are taken, I would have to go with Superman: The Men of Tomorrow. I thought it was an intersting and a reverse take on Superman having a human character whose origin was similar to his.

Oh and also Batman: Year 100. Ok it's not the best but hey it's done by the same guy who did Battling Boy which I enjoyed.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I'm pretty deep into Morrison's run on Batman and it's great.

Definitely consider at least checking out Batman and Son up to Batman RIP

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

I disagree with this, I say pick it up. It's hard to get into at first, but if you stick with it I believe it pays off.

It does improve; the second and third volumes are much better than the first.

When I read the first volume, I was turned off for two reasons. Firstly, it had that long sequence where Clark's looking for a job and he just walks into a lab and solves some equation on the blackboard the scientists there had been working on for years. I've never bought into the idea that Superman is also some kind of super-genius; he's smart, certainly, but just walking into a lab and offhandedly solving unsolvable science problems is something Lex Luthor does, not Superman. If Superman was that smart, he'd have cured cancer or taken settlers to Mars. He'd do more good for humanity working in a lab 24/7 than he would flying around the place punching things.

The other problem I had with it was the villain. I cannot conceive of a less engaging or charismatic bad guy than what appeared to be the discarded mutant offspring of David Bowie and the Crow. I just didn't care. For a reimagining of Superman's origin story, making an original villain who was that lame and generic was a bad idea.

I liked Azzarello's Wondy as well, don't know why fans were pissed off. If you've never read the character before, it's a good entry point, even if some of it is now retconned. Alternatively, there's almost universal praise for Perez's Wonder Woman (the original post-Crisis Wonder Woman reboot).

From what I understand, fans were mainly annoyed that;

Spoiler

A) Wonder Woman was retconned as a Hercules-style love child, as opposed to being immaculately conceived from clay, and B) that the Amazons were portrayed as reproducing by seducing (and then killing) passing sailors every few decades, and then discarding the male children.

Neither of the changes bothered me terribly, but they pissed off fans because they were sexist or whatever.

 

[lazinesslord]

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow- Alan Moore
Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader- Neil Gaimen
The Killing Joke- Alan Moore
52 (Not Countdown, just 52)- Multiple writers
Blue Beetle- Not the new 52 version but the one that came after Infinite Crisis- Keith Giffen, John Rogers, Cully Hamner

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I disagree with this, I say pick it up. It's hard to get into at first, but if you stick with it I believe it pays off.

It does improve; the second and third volumes are much better than the first.

When I read the first volume, I was turned off for two reasons. Firstly, it had that long sequence where Clark's looking for a job and he just walks into a lab and solves some equation on the blackboard the scientists there had been working on for years. I've never bought into the idea that Superman is also some kind of super-genius; he's smart, certainly, but just walking into a lab and offhandedly solving unsolvable science problems is something Lex Luthor does, not Superman. If Superman was that smart, he'd have cured cancer or taken settlers to Mars. He'd do more good for humanity working in a lab 24/7 than he would flying around the place punching things.

The other problem I had with it was the villain. I cannot conceive of a less engaging or charismatic bad guy than what appeared to be the discarded mutant offspring of David Bowie and the Crow. I just didn't care. For a reimagining of Superman's origin story, making an original villain who was that lame and generic was a bad idea.

I liked Azzarello's Wondy as well, don't know why fans were pissed off. If you've never read the character before, it's a good entry point, even if some of it is now retconned. Alternatively, there's almost universal praise for Perez's Wonder Woman (the original post-Crisis Wonder Woman reboot).

From what I understand, fans were mainly annoyed that;

Spoiler

A) Wonder Woman was retconned as a Hercules-style love child, as opposed to being immaculately conceived from clay, and B) that the Amazons were portrayed as reproducing by seducing (and then killing) passing sailors every few decades, and then discarding the male children.

Neither of the changes bothered me terribly, but they pissed off fans because they were sexist or whatever.

I don't mind the change that Wonder Woman is the child of Zeus and Hippolyta. It certainly fits with the whole Greek Hero theme like she is in line with other Greek Heroes such as Hercules, Persesus, etc.

But yes the whole Amazon's bording ships and raping men and selling off the male babies as slaves to Hepheastus was pretty stupid.

But the part that the males are that slaves in Hepheastus' mines intregues me in the sense that what became of them and how did Wonder Woman react to this?

 

[SirSullymore]

But the part that the males are that slaves in Hepheastus' mines intregues me in the sense that what became of them and how did Wonder Woman react to this?

Spoiler

Wonder Woman was appalled by this and tried to rally the male amazons (pointing out that she is using the term brothers for the first time). Turns out that Hepheastus is a kind figure that treats them as sons. They are more his assistants than his slaves.

To answer the OP, I recommend Justice League: Generation Lost to anyone who will listen. It's about former members of the JLI (the 'joke' or 'loser' Justice League) being forced together again to fight a conspiracy that only they know about.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

But the part that the males are that slaves in Hepheastus' mines intregues me in the sense that what became of them and how did Wonder Woman react to this?

SPOILER: rant incoming.

Spoiler

They eventually get freed by Hephaestus and settle on Themyscira at the end of Azzarello's run, only for Meredith Finch (the writer who came after Azzarello) to kill them all off in an extremely poorly conceived plotline that - ironically, I think - ended up making the Amazons way more two-dimensional and bloodthirsty than Azzarello ever portrayed them as.

DOUBLE SPOILER

Spoiler

This random old witch lady appears out of nowhere to literally usurp the throne from Diana with an evil clone made with black magic. Then the clone agrees to a three-day truce to determine who is the better ruler or whatever, and then goes out and murder all the Manazons during the truce. Their main beef is that Wonder Woman isn't around to help the Amazons defend Themyscira...because she's working with the Justice League to, you know, save the world every other week. This is when they're fucking Amazons. They're supposed to be some of the best warriors in the world, and they were getting by just fine without Wonder Woman before she became their queen.

x3 SPOILER COMBO BREAKER

Spoiler

Their justification for killing the Manazons is that they have the same warrior spirit as the Amazons and will inevitably start fighting them, except they're men, so they'll win because they're men and men are stronger than women. It's some Amazons-Attack level bullshit, and it kinda ruined the title for me, so I'd definitely recommend stopping at the end of Azzarello's run.

So, yeah. Read Azzarello, and drop the title when it passes over to Finch.

/rant