Comics Code Atrocity

The Long Halloween is a story of love, murder, and costumed freaks. Batman, Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent make a pact to take down organized crime in Gotham. This becomes increasingly difficult with a Holiday themed murder that takes place on Halloween night. Throughout the following year all of Batman's greatest villains decide they want a piece of the action and terrorize the city. Can Harvey keep it together? Can Batman find the Holiday Killer? And can someone please tell Tim Sale he has the coolest fucking character designs of all time!

Written by: Jeph Loeb 

Illustrated by: Tim Sale

What happens when the best, most noble mutant, Prof X, decides to get a little bad? Onslaught is a villain unlike any the X-Men have faced before. And when they can't handle the him, the Fantastic Four and Avengers find out they're even less of a match. Even the villains of Marvel have to try to stop the single most destructive mutant of all time (who grows more powerful collecting the powers of more mutants along the way). Maybe this is why humans fear mutants so much.

Written by: Mark Waid and Scott Lobdell

Illustrated by: Andy Kubert

(updated audio)

Flashpoint is a major DC event that centers around the Flash and his arch nemesis, the Reverse Flash. Something has happened causing everything, and everyone Barry Allen knows to change. His powers are missing, The Batman kills people, no one has heard of Superman, and a war between Atlantis and Themyscira is about to destroy the planet. How the Flash saves the world in this one will take everything he has, and some things he doesn't anymore!

Written by: Geoff Johns

Drawn by: Andy Kubert

The Umbrella Academy is a story as old as time; a wealth psychopath, who might be an alien, bought seven children with superpowers and trained them to be heroes. The grew up hating themselves, each other, and most of all their father. His death brings them all together again just in time to stop the end of the world. And then to save it again from themselves using lots of time travel.

Written by: Gerald Way

Illustrated by: Gabriel Bá

Kingdome Come is set in an alternate future, the villains have all died. The heroes still fight each other for glory, regardless of collateral damage. A retired Justice League returns to bring peace, through any means necessary. This is a story of what happens when the people with god like powers start to think they actually are gods, and that there decisions have no consequences. This book is jam packed with metaphors and lessons on the military of the United States, the idea of God, and what it truly means to be a hero. 

Written by: Mark Waid

Beautifully illustrated by: Alex Ross

The Walking Dead follows Rick Grimes as he wakes up in a living hell, where the dead eat the living. Those that have survived have turned into something even worse. In order for a man to survive, protect, and lead in a world like this, you have to compromise your soul. Episode 1 covers Rick's descent from being a good man, who wants to serve and protect, into becoming a mutilated murderer who thinks death and conflict can solve anything. Plus he grows a beard!

Written by: Robert Kirkman, 

Issues 1-6 illustrated by: Tony Moore, 

Issues 7-192 illustrated by: Charlie Adlard. 

The Marvel universe is fighting again but this time it's a little more complicated than previous Civil Wars. The Phoenix Force is coming to Earth and has its eyes set on Hope Summers. The Avengers want to "protect" the girl by locking her in prison. the X-Men, on the brink of extinction, fight back to protect the future of their species... even if it means losing what makes them good inside.   

Written by an all-star cast of: Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and Jonathon Hickman. 

With art by: John Romita Jr., Oliver Coipel, Frank Cho, and Adam Kubert.

East of West is set in an alternate reality (spawning from the civil war) where the States are divided, not in 2 but 7 nations. It has lots of blood, sweat, and tears. The main character is Death and he is out for revenge for the loss of his son. The other Horseman are just as pissed and trying to bring about the apocalypse. And while all that is going on you have several countries engaging in a war that will cause the destruction of civilization one way or the other. Robot dogs, native american ghosts, swearing oracles, and Texas as its own country.

Written by: Johnathon Hickman

Illustrated by: Nick Dragotta

(updated audio)

Kang the Conqueror is a unique villain in the Marvel universe, with an even more unique origin story. How did he come to be a innocent child of the 30th century, a hero and father to Reed Richards in the 20th Century, and basically have a lasting impact throughout all of time and every major event in the Marvel universe. Is he a villain of the future, a Pharaoh of the past, or a Young Avenger of today? This is a really messy one so buckle in as I go through this tangled web of origins and alternate realities.

Kang created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Brian Azzarello's graphic novel 'Joker' is a horrific, and realistic retelling of the Batman villain. This iteration is more crazy, more violent, and a whole hell of a lot more vial. Joker is a semi competent crime lord with a smile and far more ruthless when it comes to his crimes. The story is told through the eyes of Jonny Frost, a loser henchman that learns the lesson of following a storm. 

Written by: Brian Azzarello

Illustrated by: Lee Bermejo