Today, we continue our countdown of your picks for the greatest comic book storylines of all-time with #84-81.
You voted (over 1,000 ballots cast and a little bit more than the last time we did this countdown) and you all sent in ballots ranking your favorite storylines from #1 (10 points) to #10 (1 point). I added up all of the points and here we are!
80. “A Game of You” by Neil Gaiman, Colleen Doran, Shawn McManus, Bryan Talbot and many inkers (Sandman #32-37) – 143 points (1 first place vote)
One of the most intriguing aspects of “A Game of You” is the way that Neil Gaiman was able to form a whole story arc just based around a seemingly minor character from an earlier storyline.
In “A Doll’s House,” Barbie was one of the inhabitants of a boarding house who got caught up in the dream vortex of Rose Walker.
Now, months later, Barbie (who once dreamed of being a princess in a fairy tale land) no longer dreams.
She lives in an apartment building with a few different folks, including a lesbian couple, Hazel and Foxglove, and Barbie’s best friend, Wanda, a trans woman.
However, circumstances reveal that Barbie’s dream land (which she no longer dreams of) is in trouble, and she is needed to stop the evil Cuckoo from destroying all the people of “The Land.” She does so, but unbeknown to her, the Cuckoo has agents on Earth, as well!
Luckily, another denizen of the apartment building is the witch, Thessaly (who became a major player in the Sandman mythos). Thessaly helps stop an attack on Barbie, and then goes into “The Land” herself, along with Hazel and Foxglove, to help Barbie (in The Land, she’s Princess Barbie).
The true identity of the Cuckoo is pretty awesome, by the way.
Eventually, as you would expect, Morpheus is drawn into the situation.
It’s an engaging tale by Gaiman made up of interesting, well-formed characters on a fantastical journey.
79. “Anatomy Lesson” by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette and John Totleben (Sage of the Swamp Thing #21-27) – 144 points (1 first place vote)
When Alan Moore took over Swamp Thing, he did something drastic in his first issue. He killed off Swamp Thing. That then led to the beginning of his first storyline (as the death of Swamp Thing was wrapping up the previous writer’s storyline) and the introduction of one of the most mind-blowing twists in comic book history.
There had been a number of other significant retcons with titles before, but they all paled in comparison to what Alan Moore did with “Anatomy Lesson,” where Jason Woodrue, the Florenic Man, reveals that the entire origin of Swamp Thing was false – Alec Holland was not transformed into Swamp Thing during a chemical explosion – instead, the chemicals animated a group of vegetation into THINKING it was Alec Holland.
This was a great shock to Swamp Thing’s system and he was sort of stuck in shock. Moore would use this time to explain the various inconsistencies of Swamp Thing’s origin by saying that there were many different Swamp Things who all had the same basic origin. Clever meta-fiction work by Moore.
Woodrue, though, was driven insane by the situation himself so Swamp Thing had to get over his/its shock over this new revelation to stop the crazed Woodrue (this includes the famous issue where Moore shows how the world views the Justice League as sort of detached god-like beings). By the end of this initial arc, after a brilliant re-introduction of Jason Blood and the Demon back into the DC Universe, Swamp Thing finally comes to terms with its new state of being and officially buried Alec Holland and prepares to embrace his/its new life.
Moore was ably assisted by the art team that was there when he joined the book, penciler Stephen R. Bissette and inker John Totleben – together, Bissette and Totleben delivered a stunningly rich art style, that was perfect for the moody stories Moore told.
78. “Planet Hulk” by Greg Pak, Gary Frank, Aaron Lopresti and Carlo Pagulayan (Incredible Hulk Vol. 2 #92-105) – 146 points (2 first place votes)
Planet Hulk was an interesting idea for a storyline in that it tried to finally address the whole “Hulk just want to be left alone” idea. In Planet Hulk, the Illuminati (led by Reed Richards, Tony Stark and Doctor Strange) decided that it would be best if they finally DID put Hulk somewhere where he could be left alone. So they tricked him on to a spacecraft headed for a peaceful uninhabited planet.
Of course, this being a comic in need of a conflict, the spacecraft is damaged and Hulk instead lands on a planet practically ruled by gladiator conflict. Since the heroes were in the midst of the Civil War at this time, no one noticed what had happened to the Hulk’s ship, so he was basically left alone to fend for himself on a planet where he was not necessarily the strongest one there was.
Naturally, Hulk DID eventually prove himself to be the strongest one there was, working alongside a group of gladiators who became his friends and blood brothers. Especially when the Red King turns his own people against him when he bombs his own people (killing his own son in the process).
Greg Pak did a very impressive job setting up this epic storyline slowly, and he did an especially cool piece of work developing Hulk’s “Warbound” compatriots.
The art was strong, from a number of different artists.
The story ends with a cliffhanger leading into the follow-up crossover, World War Hulk (as Hulk gets his revenge).
77. “E is for Extinction” by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Tim Townsend (New X-Men #114-116) – 148 points (1 first place vote)
This was the opening arc of Grant Morrison’s tenure on X-Men. Morrison revamped the look of the X-Men as well as the general status quo, as mutants are popping up with so much frequency that the Beast (who has mutated into a more animalistic, feline-looking version of his “normal” blue furry self – the idea of “secondary mutations” was also something Morrison newly introduced into the X-Men universe) discovers that if things continue as they are going, NON mutants will be extinct in a few generations! During this turbulent time in mutant history, a new villain made her mark. Cassandra Nova takes control of a seemingly defunct Sentinel base to decimate Genosha in a stunning sequence by Morrison and Quitely…
and the haunting reduction of the population…
16 million mutants killed in less than an hour! The X-Men, along with new member Emma Frost (who was one of the very few survivors of the Genosha attack), hunt down Nova and seemingly stop her…but it is too late, she has taken control of Professor X’s mind. What will she do with her new body? The X-Men will soon find out.
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