DC Comics classic comics recommendations (and some Marvel too)

[Harry Dresden]

Hi everyone!!!! Lately I've been bored with DC and all his new52 stuff and Convergence so, I decided to try classic comics, focused on the PRe-Crisis era. My knowledge of this period is very poor, so I'm waiting to hear recommendations from everyone. The same happened with Marvel, with his annual cross-overs and his "Bendis-verse" I want to read more of his classic stuff (60-80 era). My knowledge of Classic Marvel is limited to the famous runs such as John Byrne FF, Simonson Thor, Frank Miller Daredevil, Kirby FF and Spider-Man, but I want to discover the small classic gems that Marvel has (when they did better comics) Thanks in advance!!!

[shamus]

For DC you might want to check out the Jack Kirby Omnibus series that tells the epic story of The New Gods of Apokalips and New Genesis: Orion, Mister Miracle, the Forever People and Darkseid among others. The only draw back being they are out of print and can be pricey. Worth it in my opinion.

[JBatmanFan05]

I love pre-FP pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC, but it's just different from Marvel. No really neatly defined runs so much once you get past a certain point.

If you like Batman, I'd read the Strange Apparitions TPB (out of print). A good little loose run of late 70s stories. Also, Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin and/or Tales of the Batman: Len Wein are also good collections. Slightly post-COIE is a Legends of the Dark Knight: Alan Davis...which is a great little run of Batman stories that are lighter than many Batman comics of 1987.
If you like Ra's Al Ghul....get the old DC logo Tales of the Demon TPB (unrecolored version) and the 2012-released Batman: Birth of the Demon TPB collecting three Ra's graphic novels.
Legends of The Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle Vol. 1 is gonna be a Batman-fan must-have when it comes in July...some very memorable post-COIE Batman stories with great art.

Also, just read Crisis on Infinite Earths. It's just a great and fun story.

[Judge Dredd]

I love pre-FP pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC, but it's just different from Marvel. No really neatly defined runs so much once you past a certain point.

If you like Batman, I'd read the Strange Apparitions TPB (out of print). A good little loose run of late 70s stories. Also, Tales of the Batman: Archie Goodwin and/or Tales of the Batman: Len Wein are also good collections. Slightly post-COIE is a Legends of the Dark Knight: Alan Davis...which is a great little run of Batman stories that are lighter than many Batman comics of 1987.
If you like Ra's Al Ghul....get the old DC logo Tales of the Demon TPB (unrecolored version) and the 2012-released Batman: Birth of the Demon TPB collecting three Ra's graphic novels.
Legends of The Dark Knight: Norm Breyfogle Vol. 1 is gonna be a Batman-fan must-have when it comes in July...some very memorable post-COIE Batman stories with great art.

Also, just read Crisis on Infinite Earths. It's just a great and fun story.

Some great suggestions here, Alan Grant's run on Batman is post crisis but some of the best Batman stories. Steve Englehart had a good Green Lantern run right before Crisis on Infinite Earths. Any Superman stories involving Elliot S Maggin and Curt Swan are worth reading, Superman Vs Brainiac or Superman vs Luthor have some pre-crisis but also post-crisis stories. Alan Moore's Superman stories are a great and pre-crisis. Flash had the trial of Barry Allen not the best Flash story but it was good, I enjoy Carey Bates on the book, the art from Carmine Infantino is great.

Jack Kirby's Fourth World omnibus are amazing and contain all of his New Gods saga over 4 volumes really really good stuff. From Kirby I would also suggest Kamandi, The Demon, Challengers of the Unknown, The Losers, OMAC, and they also have Jack Kirby omnibus that collect some random stories but they contain his work on Green Arrow very good stuff from him at DC during the 70s.

[Nathan Irwin]

Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams

Neal Adams' collected Batman works

New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Perez

Legion of Super Heroes by Ppaul Levitz and Keith Giffen - especially "The Great Darkness Saga"

The Justice League/Justice Society team-ups were a DC staple for 25 years. They are collected in a series of 6 (I think) softcovers, going all the way back to the Silver Age

Is the Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers run on Batman available in a collection?

For Marvel:
Claremont/Byrne X-Men
Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Jim Shooter and Roger Stern on The Avengers - especially "The Kree-Skrull War," "The Korvac Saga," and "Under Siege"
Jim Starlin on Warlock / Captain Marvel / Thanos or anything cosmic
Marv Wolfman's FF
Early Defenders, especially Steve Gerber's run
Roy Thomas' Inavders (if you can put up with the art)

[JBatmanFan05]

Is the Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers run on Batman available in a collection?

Strange Apparitions TPB (out of print) is the best place to get it, because ONLY that collection includes the Englehart/Simonson issues and Wein/Rogers issues.

[Pa5cal]

I thoroughly enjoyed the Kelley Jones approach to Batman thought I am unconventional with my love of comics in the sense that drawn more to art than story when choseing (I'm an artist, so there you have it). But the interactions with the Swamp Thing was pretty cool I thought
KelleyJones_Batman522.jpg

[John Aston]

As far as DCU-proper goes, their sweet spot is the post-Crisis to roughly through the mid-90s and then there is Vertigo. You could almost pick out at random something published during that time period and strike gold.

[AJpyro]

Does the J.M.Demattis JLI count? Cause I got it recently and it was great.