8 Best DC Comics Graphic Novels That You Should Reading Update 03/2024

Best DC Comics Graphic Novels

DC is one of the oldest and most well-known publishers in the comics industry, so it has seen and participated in all of the major artistic changes and trends. DC even helped start some of these changes by publishing some of the most daring, experimental, and unconventional graphic novels in recent years.

In the 1980s alone, they made some of the best comics ever made. Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, and Jack Kirby, just to name a few, made some of the best comics ever made. DC and the people who make the comics they make have set the standard for the rest of the industry by breaking new ground wherever they can, most notably in their line of high-quality graphic novels.

1. Justice

Justice

Justice is the only full-length maxiseries that Alex Ross has done for DC. It breaks new ground for the publisher in almost every way. It starts with a harrowing and emotional picture of the world’s best superheroes failing miserably to stop nuclear Armageddon. The comic then moves to a searing indictment of the Justice League by none other than the world’s most famous supervillains, who ask one of the hardest questions DC’s heroes have ever been asked: why haven’t you used your powers to make real change? To stop world hunger? To stop the spread of diseases? To stop the spread of nuclear weapons

During Justice, the heroes of the Justice League are pushed to their limits and “epic scope” is defined in a whole new way because of its huge, full-page compositions and huge, huge paintings.

2. Doomsday Clock

Doomsday Clock was meant to be a tie-in to or an apology for DC’s Rebirth event, but it manages to do something that’s impossible: make a good, original, and worthy sequel to one of the best comics of all time, Watchmen. Geoff Johns honors Moore’s bold pioneering spirit by pushing the story into metafictional territory that hasn’t been done in mainstream DC canon before. He handles iconic characters like Dr. Manhattan with grace and creativity, allowing them to grow and change in the context of the DC Universe.

One of the best examples of comic book pastiche ever made is Doomsday Clock, which looks, feels, and reads like Watchmen down to the last detail. It also pushes the book in new and interesting directions.

3. Identity Crisis

Identity Crisis

Identity Crisis was one of the first DC comics to hire a well-known author to write its script. Brad Meltzer is the author of the book. This makes it different from other DC comics because Meltzer brings a new perspective to the table. Meltzer makes a bold move by focusing the story on B-list heroes and their families (especially Ralph and Sue Dibny) in order to show how being a superhero affects a family and how much it costs to be a hero.

The most impressive thing about this book is how close it gets to superheroes. It gives the reader a look behind the curtain at how superheroes have an effect on people’s lives and shines a light on the people who live with and love them.

4. The Killing Joke

In the same time period as The Dark Knight Returns, Batman: Year One, and Arkham Asylum: Serious House on Serious Earth, the Killing Joke was born. It is one of the most important Batman and DC stories because of both the quality of the people who made it and the unique format of its publication.

Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s story about the Joker and Batman’s relationship is one of the best examples of a true “graphic novel” from that era. It was published as a one-shot, prestige format comic and is one of the best examples of a true “graphic novel” from that time. People who work in the comics industry and outside of it have had a huge impact on their work because of The Killing Joke. People like Tim Sale, the artist who made Batman famous, and award-winning director Tim Burton have said that the book inspired their work.

5. New Gods

New Gods

It was one of Jack Kirby’s best stories, and it was one of the first examples of a DC author getting full creative control. At this point in his career, Kirby was able to write, script, and draw this epic story of warring deities that he came up with, wrote, and drawn himself. Fans and critics both say that Kirby’s New Gods is the best work of art he’s ever done. It’s widely regarded as some of the best comics art ever made. In New Gods, Kirby creates a complex mythology of his own that is based on religious tradition and philosophical questions. He raises questions about the human condition and the reality and cost of war.

Kirby also changed the comics industry forever with New Gods by asking DC to publish it and other Fourth World titles in a square-bound, collected format. Even though DC didn’t agree to his requests for these works, they would eventually implement the new format and introduce the now-ubiquitous trade paperback, which changed the face of the industry forever.

6. Kingdom Come

Kingdom Come is the first major work for DC illustrated by legendary comics artist Alex Ross. It shows a vision of the DC Universe in the future, with many of the main superheroes aging and retired and a new generation of violent, irresponsible metahumans taking over the world. Ross’s amazing artwork alone is enough to make Kingdom Come one of DC’s best comic books, but the brilliant story by Mark Waid is what makes it even better.

Waid takes a moment to think about what a mutually beneficial superhuman intervention into human affairs should look like. To do this, he tells his story through the eyes of an elderly minister, Norman McCay, who is led through the events of the plot by God’s angel of vengeance, The Spectre. To get to know the world of superheroes, McCay becomes a point of identification, a way for the reader to get to know the world and see it as it is.

7. Superman: Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow” Is A Beautiful Goodbye

Superman Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow

Preceding The Man of Steel by John Byrne, Alan Moore and Julius Scwartz worked together to write the last story of Silver Age Superman in 1986.

10 years after the Man of Steel went missing, a reporter interviews Lois Lane to learn more about his last moments. She talks about the last fights he had with his rogues’ gallery. The comic is an iconic send-off for DC’s most popular character, even though it isn’t canon. Even though it isn’t, it has been called one of the best even though it isn’t canon.

8. Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters Is A Violent And Gritty Reboot Of The Character

During The Longboy Hunters in 1987, Mike Grell was brought in to make Green Arrow new again. For years, they’d become less popular. His trick arrows have been gone for years now, and he now fights crime on the streets in the same way that has made Green Arrow famous for a long time.

It was a good thing that Green Arrow and Black Canary were together again when he moved to Seattle. In that place, his past came back to haunt him. The three-issue series is a violent and gritty reboot of the character that shocked and impressed people when it first came out.