Years ago, I was given the book The A List: The National Society Of Film Critics’ 100 Essential Films as a birthday gift. It was a collection of essays by notable critics on 100 important movies. It’s something I’ve returned to every now and then, as I saw notable films for the first time, or rewatched a particular classic. I’ve had the book for over a decade, but there’s still some stuff I haven’t seen, and some movies that I got to quite recently (Killer of Sheep being the most current.) It gained value as I learned more about film, and why a particular work was notable.
When I got the book, I thought it would be cool to have something like this exist about comic books. And then I realized when reading a review of some comic or the other, that with all the content available online, it’s pretty easy to pull this off. I searched for reviews for notable comics. In some cases, I remembered a particular review that I remembered (Chris Sim on Achewood, Bendis’ intro to Incal.) For others, I looked up notable stories until I could find some interesting commentary.
Granted, it’s a bit haphazard. There are some inconsistencies in terms of what is considered a work, and it’s largely dependent on what writings I was able to find. In some cases, the review covers several notable stories from one writer or creative team. In others, it covers a single issue story, or maybe even a smaller tale from a larger anthology. I tried to limit myself to only having a maximum of three reviews from any particular critic. Some notable work isn’t included mainly because it wasn’t as easy to find the right kind of commentary on it; I need something longer than half a page, that covers why the work is good.
I’m limiting this to stuff that’s available free online, which excludes items from books or magazines. If I was editing a series like this, I’d include Art Spiegelman’s introduction to the daring autobiographical Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary, or one of Marc Sobel’s essays for Brighter Than You Think: 10 Short Works by Alan Moore: With Critical Essays by Marc Sobel (probably the one on “In Pictopia.”) I can’t vouch for every single review; it’s entirely possible that a critic has a dodgy reputation or some disqualifying feature that I’m unaware of and that a piece might not hold up to a second read.
There’s a bias in favor of material that is either very recent, or that has just been rereleased in a new format, simply because these are the types of reviews that are most commonly available now. It’s telling how several of the links I was guided to no longer work, and how some of the sources of reviews I remember reading are no longer available (the Fourth Rail comes to mind). I’m a bit surprised at how books that felt quite recent for me (Y The Last Man, Ultimate Spider-Man) don’t have commentary that is as readily available, even if it makes sense that there’s a larger audience for the newer stuff.
With all the caveats expressed, if you’re looking for one hundred pieces of commentary on notable comics, you’ve come to the right place.
- 7 Miles a Second: commentary by Keith Silva of Comics Bulletin
- 52: commentary by Douglas Wolk
- 1963: commentary by Darry Weight of the Unspoken Decade blog
- Achewood: The Great Outdoor Fight: commentary by Chris Sims of Comics Alliance
- Adolf: commentary by D. Avita Rothschild of Rational Magic
- The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius: commentary by Andrew Gilstrap of PopMagic
- Akira: commentary by Kathryn Dacey of Manga Bookshelf
- Alice in Sunderland: commentary by Michael Faber for The Guardian
- All-Star Superman: commentary by Don Ventura of the Comics Authority
- Amazing Spider-Man: The Night Gwen Stacy Died (Amazing Spider-Man #121-122) (Podcast): commentary by the Unofficial 75 Greatest Marvels Countdown podcast
- Amazing Spider-Man: Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut: commentary by Greg Burgas of Comic Book Resources
- Amazing Spider-Man: The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man (Podcast): commentary by the Superior spidertalk podcast
- Amazing Spider-Man: The Master Planner Saga (Podcast): commentary by the Unofficial 75 Greatest Marvels Countdown podcast
- American Born Chinese: commentary by Kevin Wong of Kotaku
- Astro City: Confession: commentary by Rob Stewart of 411Mania
- The Authority by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch: commentary by Colin Smith of Seqart
- Avengers: Ultron Unlimited: commentary by Doug Glassman of Collected Editions
- Avengers: Under Siege (Podcast): commentary by the Unofficial 75 Greatest Marvels Countdown podcast
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: commentary by Kim Fu for NPR
- Batman: Year One (Batman #404-407): commentary by Jake Hinsen for Criminal Element
- Batman: The Killing Joke: commentary by Osavaldo Oyalo for the Hooded Utilitarian
- Batman: Mad Love: commentary by Matt Draper for Crisis on Infinite Thoughts
- Batman: Strange Apparitions: commentary by Chris Sims of Comics Alliance
- Batman: Court of Owls: commentary be Joey Esposito of IGN
- Batman #251 “The Joker’s Five Way Revenge”: commentary by Phil Ricketts for the Random City podcast network
- Bitch Planet: commentary by Alex Abad-Santos for Vox
- Black-jack: commentary by Serdar for Genji Press
- Black Hole: commentary by Christopher Priest (the science-fiction author) for The Guardian
- Black Panther: Panther’s Rage: commentary by Tom Speelman for the Comics Alliance
- Bone: commentary by Matthew Allred for Great Work Review
- Building Stories: commentary by Douglas Wolk for the New York Times
- Cages: commentary by Tobias Carroll for Paste
- City of Glass: commentary by Shaneon Garrity for The Comics Journal
- A Contract With God and Other Tenement Stories: commentary by Andrew Colman for Tripwire
- Copra: commentary by Mark Peters for Salon
- Criminal Volume 1: commentary by Peter Aryan for Tor
- Daredevil: Born Again (Daredevil #227-233) Artist Edition: commentary by Dan Fadel for The Comics Journal
- Deadpool: With Great Power Comes Great Coincidence (Deadpool #11): commentary by Rick Austin of Fortress of Solitude
- Death: The High Cost of Living: commentary by Dean Compton for The Unspoken Decade
- Donald Duck: Lost in the Andes: commentary by Peter Schilling of Boingboing
- Earth X: commentary by chaosmechanica for IGN
- Eightball: Ice Haven: commentary by Ken Parille for Blogflume
- Lee/ Kirby’s Fantastic Four: commentary by Mark Peters for Paste
- From Hell: commentary by Jay Kinney for Boingboing
- Fun Home: commentary by Sean Wisley for the New York Times
- Ghosts: commentary by Reina Telgemeir for the Graphic Novel Reporter
- GI Joe #21: Silent Interlude: commentary by Chris Sims of Comics Alliance
- God’s Man: commentary by Sarah Boxer for Slate.
- The Golden Age: commentary by Dean Compton for the Unspoken Decade
- Hawkworld: commentary by Colin Smith for seqart
- Hellboy: The Chained Coffin and Other Stories: commentary by Comics Recommended
- Here: commentary by Matt Seneca of the Comics Journal
- Hip Hop Family Tree: commentary by Rob McMonigal of Comics Patter
- I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets!: commentary by Terry Harpold for Interdisciplinary Comics Studies
- Impact Comics #1: The Master Race: commentary by Jon Benson, David Kasakove and Art Spiegelman
- Incal: commentary by Brian Michael Bendis
- It’s a Good Life If You Don’t Weaken: commentary by Amy Crehore for Boing Boing
- Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus: commentary by John Hodgman for the New York Times
- Judge Dredd: America: commentary by Douglas Wolk and Alyssa Rosenberg
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: commentary by Tim Callahan of Tor
- The Life and Times of Uncle Scrooge: commentary by Claire of the Literary Omnivore
- Low Moon: commentary by Marc Sobel of the Comics Journal
- Love and Rockets: Flies on the Ceiling: commentary by Jason Micelitch of the Hooded Utilitarian
- March: commentary by Scott Cerelund of Panel Patter
- Marvels: commentary by Darren of the m0vieblog
- Maus: commentary by Phillip Pullman for The Guardian
- New X-Men by Grant Morrison: commentary by Darren of the m0vieblog
- Nextwave: commentary by James Whitbook of i09/ Gizmodo
- Orbiter: commentary by Don Macpherson of Eye on Comics
- Perseopolis: commentary by Joy Press for the Village Voice
- Pluto: commentary by Harry Edmonson-Cornell for Seqart
- Preacher: Proud Americans: commentary by Charlotte Finn for the Comics Alliance
- Saga: commentary by Mark Peters of Salon
- Sandman: Season of Mists: commentary by Tim Callahan of Tor
- Sandman: Endless Nights: commentary by Jordan West for the Mary Sue
- Scott Pilgrim: commentary by Morgan Myers for the Rain Taxi
- Sheriff of Babylon: commentary by Scott Beauchamp of the Vulture
- Spider-Man: Blue (Podcast): commentary by Dan Gvozden and Mark Ginnochio of the Superior Spider-talk podcast
- Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt: commentary by Mark Ginnochio of the Chasing Amazing blog
- Stuck Rubber Baby: commentary by Glen Weldon for NPR
- Stray Bullets: commentary by Scott Cederlund of Panel Patter
- Superior Spider-Man (Podcast) commentary by Dan Gvozden and Mark Ginnochio of the Superior Spider-talk podcast
- Superman by Alan Moore: commentary by Mike Cicecchini of Den of Geek
- Superman: What’s so funny about Truth, Justice and the American Way?: commentary by Brandon Thomas for Bleeding Cool
- Superman For All Seasons: commentary by Don Ventura of Comics Authority
- Swamp Thing by Alan Moore: commentary by Andrew Edwards of seqart
- Tantrum: commentary by Neil Gaiman (from his introduction)
- Teen Titans: The Judas Contract: commentary by Tom Bondurant of Comic Book Resources
- Thor by Walt Simonson: commentary by Tom Speelman of Comics Alliance
- Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn: commentary by Tim Roll-Pickering of the 9th Art Form
- Torso: commentary by Lawrence Rider of Ninthart
- The Ultimates: commentary by Scott Beauchamp of the Vulture
- Uncanny X-Men: Dark Phoenix Saga: commentary by Darren of m0vieblog
- Uncle Scrooge: Only A Poor Old Duck: commentary by Keith Dooley of Comics Authority
- The Vision: commentary by James Whitbrook of i09
- Wasteland: The Apocalyptic Edition: commentary by Stephen Aryan of Tor
- Watchmen: commentary by Hillary Goldstein of i09
- Wolverine: commentary by Auggie DeBleck of Comic Book Resources/ Pipeline
- Wonder Woman: Hiketia: commentary by Rick Hunter of Vanishing Point Chronicles
- X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills: commentary by Alex Abad-Santos of Vox