The Comics Journal - Top 100 Comics List

Top 100 Comics List

The Journal published a 20th-century comics canon in its 210th issue (February 1999). To compile the list, eight contributors and editors made eight separate top 100 (or fewer than 100 for some) lists of American works. These eight lists were then informally combined, and tweaked into an ordered list.

1. Krazy Kat by George Herriman
2. Peanuts by Charles Schulz
3. Pogo by Walt Kelly
4. Maus by Art Spiegelman
5. Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay
6. Feiffer by Jules Feiffer
7. Donald Duck by Carl Barks
8. Mad Comics by Harvey Kurtzman and various
9. Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary by Justin Green
10. The Weirdo stories of Robert Crumb
11. Thimble Theatre by E.C. Segar
12. EC's "New Trend" war comics by Harvey Kurtzman and various
13. Wigwam Bam (L&R) by Jaime Hernandez
14. Blood of Palomar (L&R) by Gilbert Hernandez
15. The Spirit by Will Eisner
16. RAW Magazine, edited by Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly
17. The Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware
18. Polly and Her Pals by Cliff Sterrett
19. The Sketchbooks of Robert Crumb
20. Uncle Scrooge by Carl Barks
21. The New Yorker cartoons of Peter Arno
22. The Death of Speedy Ortíz (L&R) by Jaime Hernandez
23. Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff
24. Flies on the Ceiling (L&R) by Jaime Hernandez
25. Wash Tubbs by Roy Crane
26. The Jungle Book by Harvey Kurtzman
27. Palestine by Joe Sacco
28. The Mishkin saga by Kim Deitch
29. Gasoline Alley by Frank King
30. The Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
31. Poison River (L&R) by Gilbert Hernandez
32. Plastic Man by Jack Cole
33. Dick Tracy by Chester Gould
34. The theatrical caricatures of Al Hirschfeld
35. The Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko
36. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
37. Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau
38. The autobiographical comics from Yummy Fur by Chester Brown
39. The editorial cartoons of Pat Oliphant
40. The Kin-der-Kids by Lyonel Feininger
41. From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
42. Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
43. Amphigorey by Edward Gorey
44. The Idiots Abroad (Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers) by Gilbert Shelton and Paul Mavrides
45. Paul Auster's City of Glass by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli
46. Cages by Dave McKean
47. The Buddy Bradley saga by Peter Bagge
48. The cartoons of James Thurber
49. Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
50. Tantrum by Jules Feiffer
51. The Alec stories of Eddie Campbell
52. It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken by Seth
53. The editorial cartoons of Herblock
54. EC's "New Trend" horror comics by Al Feldstein and various
55. The Frank stories by Jim Woodring
56. Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer by Ben Katchor
57. A Contract with God by Will Eisner
58. The New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams
59. Little Lulu by John Stanley
60. Alley Oop by V. T. Hamlin
61. American Splendor #1–10 by Harvey Pekar and various
62. Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray
63. Hey Look! by Harvey Kurtzman
64. Goodman Beaver by Harvey Kurtzman and Bill Elder
65. Bringing Up Father by George McManus
66. Zippy the Pinhead by Bill Griffith
67. The Passport by Saul Steinberg
68. Barnaby by Crockett Johnson
69. God's Man by Lynd Ward
70. Jimbo by Gary Panter
71. The Book of Jim by Jim Woodring
72. The short stories in Rubber Blanket by David Mazzucchelli
73. The Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick
74. Ernie Pook's Comeek by Lynda Barry
75. Black Hole by Charles Burns
76. The Master Race story by Bernard Krigstein and Al Feldstein
77. Li'l Abner by Al Capp
78. Sugar and Spike by Sheldon Mayer
79. Captain Marvel by C. C. Beck
80. Zap Comix by Robert Crumb and various
81. The Lily stories (Daddy's Girl) by Debbie Drechsler
82. Caricature by Daniel Clowes
83. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
84. Why I Hate Saturn by Kyle Baker
85. The Willie and Joe cartoons of Bill Mauldin
86. Stuck Rubber Baby by Howard Cruse
87. The New Yorker cartoons of George Price
88. Jack Kirby's Fourth World by Jack Kirby
89. The autobiographical comics of Spain Rodriguez
90. Mr. Punch by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
91. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
92. The "Pictopia" story by Alan Moore and Don Simpson
93. Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham
94. The humor comics of Basil Wolverton
95. Los Tejanos by Jack Jackson (alias Jaxon)
96. The Dirty Plotte series by Julie Doucet
97. The Hannah Story by Carol Tyler
98. Barney Google by Billy DeBeck
99. The Bungle Family by Harry J. Tuthill
100. Prince Valiant by Hal Foster

The Village Voice cited the survey's ad hoc criteria:

"Putting Bernard Krigstein and Al Feldstein's eight-page story "Master Race," Hal Foster's 34 years of work on Prince Valiant, Al Hirschfeld's theatrical caricatures, all the horror comics EC published in the first half of the '50s and Robert Crumb's sketchbooks in the same category suggests that they've cast their net a bit wide."

Among the controversial omissions to the Top 100 was Dave Sim's Cerebus series. Sim and the Journal had periodically found themselves at odds in the years preceding the list's formulation. Issue No. 213 included eight pages of responses to, and defenses of the list; Journal columnist R. Fiore wrote "Dave Sim must now think you have a personal vendetta against him," and co-publisher Kim Thompson conceded, "If I had to do it over again, I'd squash together the Hernandez material into two entries put Cerebus and two other things in the vacant spots." Twelve years later, the omission was still being acknowledged by the Journal, which noted that Dave Sim's Cerebus "was conspicuously excluded."

Less surprisingly, given the magazine's longstanding editorial standards and preferences, the list was also light on the dominant genre of superhero comics. Editor and survey participant Tom Spurgeon wrote, "I voted for most of the men-in-spandex titles that made the list – Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Plastic Man – despite the sheer lousiness of some of those works' contributing elements." Ultimately, the Top 100 included six superhero works, including the deconstructionist Watchmen. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns was one well-regarded mainstream superhero project that was considered but ultimately not chosen, according to co-publisher Kim Thompson.