When I was younger, I really loved lists of great comics. It was a good way to get some leads on good stories.

One of these came from the magazine Comics Buyers Guide, which celebrated its 1600th issue (as well as the publication of the 160,000th comic book in North America) in December 2004 with a list of 1600 Comic Books You Need to Have! It's worth noting that it's not officially a best of list. They call it other things.
  • 1600 Comics you need to read!
  • 1600 Comics worth every penny!
  • 1600 Comics you want to have!
  • 1600 Comics as good as it gets!
  • 1600 Comics we all should own!
  • 1600 Comics you'd better get!
  • 1600 Comics for that desert island!
  • 1600 Comics better than the rest!


In the years since, I've used it for recommendations. But in the last few years, I just haven't been reading all that many comics, so I figured that trying to read through as much of it as possible would be a nice challenge, to read and reread some decent comic books. I tried last year to keep track on another site, but I figured I'd go for it here.

The comics, which do not appear to be listed in any particular order are...

  • Fantastic Four #36-52, Annual #2-3
  • Cosmo the Merry Martian #1-6
  • Amazing Fantasy #15, Amazing Spider-Man #1-50
  • Dark Horse Presents #51-62 (Frank Miller's Sin City)
  • JLA #1-4
  • Captain Marvel Adventures #22-46
  • Bone #1-55
  • League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1-6
  • Daredevil #1-11
  • Acme Novelty Library #1-15 (Jimmy Corrigan)
  • Solar The Man of the Atom #1-12 (Valiant)
  • Superman Volume 2 #71-82, Action Comics #680-691, Adventures of Superman #494-505 (The Death & Return of Superman)
  • Our Gang With Tom and Jerry #46-57
  • Ranma 1/2 Part 1 #1-7
  • Captain America #100-111
  • Megaton Man #1-10
  • Dynamo #1-4
  • Flash #129-139
  • Crisis on Infinite Earths #1-12
  • Akiko #1-18
  • American Flagg! #1-26
  • Raggedy Ann & Andy #1-39
  • Avengers #115-118, Defenders #8-11
  • All-Star Comics #34-38 (1947)
  • Zot! #30-36
  • Adventures of Peter Wheat #1-35
  • Powers #1-6
  • Mad #1-23
  • Miracleman #1-16
  • Normalman #1-12, Annual #1
  • Leave It to Chance #1-12
  • The Authority #1-12
  • Usaji Yojimbo Volume 3 #13-22 (Grasscutter)
  • Donald Duck Four Color Comics #9, #29, #62, #108, #147, #159, #178, #189, #199, #203, #223, #238, #256, #263, #275, #282, #291, #300, #308, #328, #339, #348, #367, #408, #422
  • Marvels #1-4
  • New Teen Titans #39-44, Annual 3 "The Judas Contract"
  • Ash Volume One #0, 1-6
  • Ms. Tree #10-55
  • Lone Wolf and Cub Volumes 1-28
  • Anthro #1-6
  • Strangers in Paradise Volume 1 #1-3, Volume 2 #1-14
  • The Incredible Hulk #1-6
  • Superboy #89-100
  • Thirteen Going on Eighteen #1-29
  • Justice League of America #100-102, 135-137
  • From Hell #1-11
  • Amazing Spider-Man #68-77 (Tablet of Time)
  • Stray Bullets #1-5
  • Batman #608-619
  • Magnus Robot Fighter #1-21 (Gold Key)
  • Green Arrow #1-10 (Kevin Smith/ Phil Hester)
  • Hate #1-15
  • Uncle Scrooge Four Color Comics #386, #456, #495
  • Avengers #167-168, 170-177 (Korvac Saga)
  • X-Men #111-142
  • Sandman #19-28
  • Groo the Wanderer #1-42
  • Deathlok #1-4 (1990)
  • Animal Man #1-5
  • Concrete #1-10
  • Inferior Five #1-5
  • Batman: The Dark Knight (Returns) #1-4
  • Aliens VS Predator #1-4
  • Truth: Red, White and Black #1-7
  • The Spirit January 4 1948- December 25 1949
  • Little Lulu Four Color #74, #97, #110, #115, #120, #131, #139, #146, #158, #165
  • Legion of Superheroes #290-294, Annual #3
  • Avengers #89-97 (Kree-Skrull War)
  • Superman #146-169
  • Elfquest #1-21
  • Squadron Supreme #1-12
  • Haunt of Fear #19-28
  • Batman #404-408 (Batman Year One plus one issue?)
  • Ultimates #1-13
  • Action Comics #507-508, 510-512 (Return of Jonathan Kent, the Superman/ Lex team)
  • Fightin' Army #75-92
  • Adventure Comics #340-355
  • Silver Surfer Volume 1 #1-7
  • Airboy Comics Volume 5 #11-12
  • Oz-Wonderland Wars #1-13
  • Conan the Barbarian #1-21
  • Camelot 3000 #1-12
  • Marvel VS DC/ DC VS Marvel #1-4
  • Thor #337-340
  • Sugar and Spike #1-33
  • Flash #95-100 (Terminal Velocity)
  • Astonishing Tales #25-28, 30-36
  • Cerebus #1-50
  • The Man of Steel #1-6
  • Boys' Ranch #1-6 (Simon/ Kirby)
  • Green Lantern Volume 2 #76-87, 89
  • Supreme #41-52B
  • Swamp Thing #20-64
  • Age of Bronze #1-16
  • Astro City Volume 1 #0-6, Volume 2 #1-22
  • Watchmen #1-12
  • Animal Comics #1-30
  • Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #1-3
  • Justice League of America Volume 1 #9-22
  • Invisible People #1-3
  • Classics Illustrated #1-27
  • Detective Comics #327-328
  • Kingdom Come #1-4


For my tally, I'm going to have to add this up, and there are some unresolved questions. Does the Spirit count under the Kitchen Sink reprints (roughly 25 issues) or is each weekly instalment one comic, which is closer to 100? The numbers don't seem to all add up either way, which is going to make efforts to tally these books convoluted.

Obviously, there are some major exclusions. It's not meant to be some official list of greatest comics. It's essentially varied recommendations from comics fans. It's credited to the CBG review gang, plus Craig Shutt and Andrew Smith.

There are some minor errors. Captain America #100 seems arbitrary for an opening as it concludes a storyline that began in Tales of Suspense. Solar #12 is part of the Unity crossover, so it seems more logical to cut off the run at #11. They seem to include the entire Death & Return of Superman arc without the Man of Steel issues, to say nothing of annuals or tie-ins in other titles. Why cut off the Lee/ Kirby Fantastic Four at Part 1 of the story introducing Black Panther?

One rule I'm making for myself is that if something is included for the sake of one story (IE- the Sin City issues of Dark Horse Presents) I'm still going to read the rest of the stories in those issues.