Welcome to the Comics Should Be Good Top 100 Comic Book Storylines poll!
The first Storylines poll was back in 2009. The last one was in 2013. We’re on an every four years schedule here.
It’s time to vote for your top ten all-time favorite comic book storylines!
Here’s the deal. You folks all vote via e-mail (send your votes to brianc@cbr.com) up until 11:59 PM Pacific time, October 31st. I’ll tabulate all the votes and I’ll begin a countdown of the winners starting some time in early November.
Sound good?
Okay, read on for the guidelines!
1. Vote via e-mail, to brianc@cbr.com.
2. Vote for your ten favorite comic book storylines. Vote for TEN – less than ten storylines and I don’t count your ballot.
3. Rank your ten favorite comic book storylines from #1 (your most favorite) to #10 (your 10th most favorite). I’d prefer it if you actually numbered your entry, #1-10. It’s easier for me to count.
4. Your top choice will be given 10 points, your second choice 9, etc.
5. A comic book storyline is a main plotline that continues under one title, whether it be the title of the comic it appears in (like Avengers Disassembled in Avengers or the Rock of Ages in JLA) or the title of a crossover (like Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wrath of the First Lantern, Kraven’s Last Hunt, Seven Soldiers, etc.).
Note that occasionally a non-explicitly labeled storyline might begin in one book and continue in another, like, say, the first Ra’s Al Ghul storyline going in between Batman and Detective Comics or the Magus Saga beginning in Strange Tales and continuing to Warlock’s own (resurrected) book or the Sise-Neg storyline beginning in Marvel Premiere and continuing into Doctor Strange’s ongoing title. Those storylines are allowed, and I think I can trust that you folks can figure out when something like that happened.
6. A comic book storyline must be at least two issues long. One-off stories need not apply. Sadly, that eliminates graphic novels like the great Asterios Polyp and Fun Home and one-shots like The Killing Joke, but, well, them’s the breaks.
7. Unless clearly labeled as a storyline, there is a 12-issue limit for storylines (this is to dissuade votes like “Preacher #1-60” as one storyline). Galactic Storm is clearly labeled a storyline, even though it lasts more than 12 issues, same with Church and State in Cerebus. For sake of ease, I recommend going by how the trade paperbacks split long runs up. But really, I am only picking 12 as an arbitrary number to keep people from trying to say, like, Warren Ellis’ run on Transmetropolitan was one storyline. It wasn’t. It was lots of smaller storylines that added up to a nice big narrative. Sort of like Preacher. They’re runs, not storylines. Don’t vote for runs for storylines. Anyhow, 12 is not some hard and fastened rule. If you know of a storyline that you think applies and it is a little more than 12 issues long, I’ll almost certainly end up allowing it. Just not “All of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee’s Daredevil is like, one big story, man.” Stop it.
8. When listing your storyline, just try to make it clear what you’re talking about.
9. I’ll make various decisions in the interest of fairness.
10. If you have questions/clarification requests, feel free to ask them to me via e-mail (at brianc@cbr.com. Subject your question something that makes it clear that you’re asking a question rather than voting, so I don’t toss your question into the voting folder. And don’t ask questions in your vote. Ask first and then vote). Here are some common things people often need clarifcation on.…
A. As noted by the first Ra’s Al Ghul storyline counting as a storyline, stories can count as stories even if they are not continuous. To wit, I’ll allow the “Elektra Saga” in Daredevil as being #168, 174-182, 187-190.
B. Serialized stories still count as storylines. So Maus counts, Jimmy Corrigan counts, David Boring counts, Ghost World counts, From Hell counts, “Weapon X” counts, etc.
C. Self-contained mini-series count as storylines.
D. Ultimates II counts as one storyline, Ultimates I counts as two storylines (the initial story where they fight the Hulk and then the second story where they fight the Chitauri).
D. 52 is not a storyline. There are individual storylines WITHIN 52 that you can vote for, but not 52 as a whole.
E. Long Halloween and Dark Victory are separate storylines.
F. Immortal Iron Fist is multiple storylines, but I’ll allow the Brubaker/Fraction run to count as one storyline.
G. Runaways Volume 1 can count as one storyline.
H. Green Lantern/Green Arrow’s “Hard Travelin’ Heroes” doesn’t count as a storyline. That’s a run, not a storyline. Like Mod Wonder Woman, it wasn’t intended as a storyline, it was intended to be a new direction. It just ended too soon.
I. Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Sage is a run, not a storyline.
Most importantly, have fun!
Now vote! ????