Top 5 Superhero Comics

Young Justice by Greg Weisman

I’ll admit, I am totally and completely biased here when I say YJ is my number one. I love the tv show and the tie-in comics are perfect. . well tie ins. They feel like they could be an episode it has just as much action, intrigue and character exploration. It just needs to be animated and have the voices. So I heartily enjoy it and love it, and I’m super excited for the new YJ: Targets coming out in June!

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont

This was actually the first superhero comic I bought, when I was six. All because I thought the cover looked cool, I didn’t understand ANYTHING about the dialogue inside. Again, I was six, my reading comprehension wasn’t that advanced for talk of mutation, gamma rays and sacrifice. I only really read it when I was in middle school when the internet was available so I could understand how momentous it was for the X-Men team. I always thought it was funny that I chose the comic that one of the biggest and well known story arcs in superhero history, all because the cover and the hair looked cool.

Birds of Prey: Sensei and Samurai by Gail Simone

Gail Simone is truly a great writer in developing such a tight female superhero group with wit, drama and political intrigue. This one was my favorite of the series not only in tying a past series of murders to the present, but finding out a bit about Black Canary’s backstory, the stoic calm that is Lady Shiva and Cheshire as a villainess. My only gripe is the art. I always known of the unrealistic body shapes/male gaze in comics but this was particularly unnerving. The boobs were so big and round and looked just uncomfortable, I can’t imagine why you would want that, but I’m not a guy so. . .

Batgirl of Burnside by Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart

This was one of the few comics in my high school library so it was really on a whim that I grabbed this but I really enjoyed it. Even though I don’t know much about the Batgirl mythos, I was able to jump in and understand it as I went along. It had an intriguing underlying mysteries, an absorbing friendship rift with Black Canary, funny meta commentary (and flashy villains) that comment on how superheroes have to adjust to viral trends and crazy fans and digs deeper into Barbara’s psyche.

Gotham City Sirens by Paul Dini

This was fun, and a good standalone as I didn’t really need to read anything previous to understand what was happening. Each girl had their moment to shine, while also getting into some villainous intrigue, deadly traps and funny moments. The ending was a real twist (to me at least) and kept me at the edge of my seat the whole time.