Favorite Elseworlds stories?

[Jim Kelly]

Among the books labelled as Elseworlds my favourites were the Generations books from John Byrne--including the Batman & Captain America one-shot that kick started the series. After those, my faves would be World's Funnest, the Golden Age, Superboy's Legion, the Liberty Files and Thrillkillers. That's of those I actually bought--at a certain point I realized this was a lot of money (above the price of regular comics) for things that weren't supposed to matter and I became more selective about which ones I would get.

The Imaginary Tales have these beat. They were cheaper (at the time).

[Midnight_v]

JLA: DESTINY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JLA:_Destiny
The story was great, and I didn't really grasp the whole of it till the end. So there was that.
This stuck with me though "J'onn J'onzz reveals to Destiny that the original Manhunter, Paul Kirk, had died years earlier and J'onzz had assumed his identity It was actually J'onzz that Destiny had married."
Something about J'onn having otherworldy morals and and motivations strikes me as intriguing.
The art got me as well.

Speaking of which.

Kingdom Come... though probbably needless to call out at this point. The full book of ross art. It was my first time seeing something like that as a kid.

[LifeIsILL]

I don't know if it counts but the Smallville Season 11 comic. It's one of the better interpretations of Superman ever made.

It's way better than the actual TV show for sure.

[DrNewGod]

Superman & Batman: Generations 1 and 2
JLA: The Nail and Another Nail
Superboy's Legion

Generations definitely makes my Honorable Mentions list. So does The Justice Files.

Edit: I meant The Liberty Files

[Jim Kelly]

With the Alan Davis and Mark Farmer Elseworlds, these were almost sadistic in showing what could be done visually and storywise with the characters and then taking it away. As if DC got some perverse delight from withholding an answer to my prayers. I think Davis was/is the perfect DC artist--having a style that was a mix of all the greats--Neal Adams, Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, John Byrne, George Perez, Dave Cockrum, Dick Dillin, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Marshall Rogers, Joe Staton, Jack Kirby. He could do justice to any and every DC character.

[MRP]

It's a toss up for me between Batman: Gotham by Gaslight and Justice Riders....



-M

[BatmanJones]

With the Alan Davis and Mark Farmer Elseworlds, these were almost sadistic in showing what could be done visually and storywise with the characters and then taking it away. As if DC got some perverse delight from withholding an answer to my prayers. I think Davis was/is the perfect DC artist--having a style that was a mix of all the greats--Neal Adams, Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, John Byrne, George Perez, Dave Cockrum, Dick Dillin, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Marshall Rogers, Joe Staton, Jack Kirby. He could do justice to any and every DC character.

I agree with this so hard. I loved everything Alan Davis touched. The Nail and Another Nail are among my all-time favorite comics.

I love Elseworlds threads too. Always great to see what folks mention here.

[Sutekh]

Superboy's Legion is easily my favorite. Which is typically contrary for me, since I'm not a fan of Legion reboots, and yet love Legion AUs. For I am Legion, and I contain multitudes, or something like that...

Generations and Kingdom Come, not so much, for different reasons.

One thing that turns me off about some rare Elseworlds or Marvel's 'What If' stories is when a writer pens a 'Take That!' version of a story where some controversial action that fans complained about is dealt with differently, and everybody in the story dies gruesomely because of that choice, sort of 'proving' to the whiny readers that the story they didn't like was actually the best thing ever, and their choice would have sucked even more. Certainly not every AU is a 'Take That,' but there are a few out there that seem designed to address fan reaction to a controversial story, rather than actually explore something new or creative.

[BatmanJones]

I don't know if it's been mentioned but I'd count a lot of Morrison's Multiverse one-shots as Elseworlds stories even if an ever-increasing number of the characters are becoming part of continuity (partly in Morrison's GL).

I have a particular soft spot for The Just because I love stories about futures where the next generation is the focus (loved Byrne's Generations like many here) and too because I love Ben Oliver's art.

[dancj]

Good/Great

Red Son
Son of Superman
Gotham by Gaslight
Batman: Master of the Future
Batman: Holy Terror
Metropolis/Nosferatu/The Blue Amazon
Superman: The Dark Side
Superman: Kal (not great, but I love the final page twist)
Last Son of Earth/Last Stand on Krypton
Superman: True Brit (not great, but fun)
Superman: War of the Worlds
Elseworld's Finests: Supergirl & Batgirl
Elseworld's 80 Page Giant
The Golden Age
JSA: The Liberty Files
Kingdom Come
1001 Emerald Nights
The Super Seven (from the Adventures of Superman and Superboy annuals)
Citizen Wayne (from LotDK annual)

Mediocre

Dark Knight Dynasty
The Doom that Came to Gotham
Manbat
Robin 3000
Superman: Distant Fires
Speeding Bullets
Superman: At Earth's end
Generations 1 and 2 (not read 3)
Act of God
The Nail 1 and 2 (beautiful art, but the story isn't great)
Wonder Woman: Amazonia

Bad

Red Rain/Bloodstorm/Crimson Mist
Dark Joker: The Wild
Supergirl: Wings
The Island of Dr Moreau
Batman: Masque

[DrNewGod]

With the Alan Davis and Mark Farmer Elseworlds, these were almost sadistic in showing what could be done visually and storywise with the characters and then taking it away. As if DC got some perverse delight from withholding an answer to my prayers. I think Davis was/is the perfect DC artist--having a style that was a mix of all the greats--Neal Adams, Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, John Byrne, George Perez, Dave Cockrum, Dick Dillin, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Marshall Rogers, Joe Staton, Jack Kirby. He could do justice to any and every DC character.

I agree with this so hard. I loved everything Alan Davis touched. The Nail and Another Nail are among my all-time favorite comics.

I love Elseworlds threads too. Always great to see what folks mention here.

Agreed BatmanJones. I think I first saw Davis' work on The Outsiders, and he instantly went into a category for me alongside Adams, Perez, Byrne, Romita and Buscema. Jim Kelly hits it on the head in saying Davis can do any character well (some of my other favorites aren't that great with Batman, for example).

[EmeraldGladiator]

The Nail
Another Nail
Superboy's Legion

Funny all done by Alan Davis but I also loved
Ross' Justice but like someone said it felt like less of a elseworld but something different