Polite Dissent

The recent issue of the Comic Buyers Guide, #1600, features the “1600 Greatest Comics of All Time.” I was considering posting about the list, but frankly that’s a lot of comics. Luckily, H at the Comic Treadmill saves me the hassle and has done an exhaustive review of the list himself. I agree with nearly everything he says, so go read it, and Dave Fiore’s comment too.

For me, the list lost all credibility when the Batman: Hush storyline was included on it. To put it mildly, I am no fan of the Hush storyline. It was a shallow piece of writing contrived to allow Jim Lee to draw a new “classic” character every month. And then they stole the Unknown Soldier for a villain. There is no way any legitimate list can contain this storyline in any “top list” (except maybe the “Top 10 Comic-book Storylines Scott Would Like to Pretend Never Existed.”)

I also disagree with the inclusion of Kevin Smith’s run on Daredevil and Green Arrow. His Daredevil story was a mish-mash of contriavances and cliches strung together as if to appear clever and groundbreaking when it was neither. What makes the inclusion of this storyline even more incredible is that there are no Frank Miller Daredevil comics on the list. Where is Born Again – the standard against which all other Daredevil stories will forever be measured?

I have never been a fan of Smith’s incarnation of Green Arrow. Green Arrow is a B-level character. A fascinating one, I’ll grant, but still a B-level hero. Smith’s re-invention of the character adds no new twists and instead brings back all of the excesses of the Silver Age. I had hoped those trick arrows were lost for good. None of the writers following Smith has written a particularly good story either. As far as I’m concerned, the Mike Grell “urban hunter” Green Arrow was the best this character has ever been.

What would I have added to the list? Hawk and Dove, of course. OK, just kidding about Hawk and Dove, but I would have expected there would have been more Steve Ditko on the list, Dr. Strange would have been nice.