Since I first came into the expansive world of comics, The Sandman’s reputation lingered as one of the best ever written. It took me a while, entrenched in the caverns of DC’s and Marvel’s heroes to expand my mind. Years later and I’m thrilled to say the praise is well deserved.
Sandman is a epic following Morpheus, the god of dreams, as he is mistakenly captured and imprisoned by a madman for decades who originally wanted his sister, Death. After decades and lives of innocents ruined by his entrapment, he finds freedom and takes revenge on the sole surviving son of his captor, leaving Dream with a task: obtain what was pilfered from him. His pouch of sand, his helm, and his ruby derived from his essence. To retrieve these things he will walk amongst other worlds, coming across John Constantine and the psycho formerly known as Dr Destiny, challenge a denizen from hell, and travel through the world of reality, hell, and dreams as he must inevitably search for purpose after his revenge is done and his power restored…
This is one of those rare stories you can’t put down because you feel something original within it’s pages. Between Neil Gaimen’s fantastic writing and the talented artists, all of which put there hearts into this, are addictive to the eyes and heart. It is very abstract and the beginning is a bit vague so I can’t recommend this to people who want something action heavy or simple. I’d call this a thinking man’s kind of story. In the end, I will call Sandman one of the best pieces I’ve ever read and recommend giving it a shot. May the gaming gods bring you glory and sweet dreams.
4. Fantastic 4- Marvel’s first family and explorers into the strange and cosmic, despite the swarm of crappy movies, I always got love for Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing.
3. X Men- The Students of Xavier’s School helped start my descent into my love of Marvel. There has been tons of X Men over the years, so many I couldn’t list (near the next film I’ll get deeper into my favorites.) but they are awesome.
2. Teen Titans- I can’t lie, this is strictly on the list because of how much I loved the early 2000’s series but damn near 20 years later the friendship between Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beastboy stuck with me and that says volumes.
1. Guardians of the galaxy- I got introduced to the comics a year before the movie came out and fell in love with these flawed but cool characters. Starlord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccon, and Groot with awesome guest Guardians throughout make them my favorite.
3. A Riddler movie- Some of my favorite episodes of Batman the animated series and the show The Batman were the detective stories of Batman tracking down Riddler, I think being a welcomed change of pace from what we’ve gotten in recent years. I mean, imagine Seven with Batman answering riddles instead of observing the sins.
5. Shazam (volume 1)- I’m not a magic fan but I do love Black Adam, who stole every panel he appeared in for me. Menacing, intelligent, and powerful, he was a great way to start Shazam’s origin. After reading this, Adam became a favorite of mine.
4. Suicide Squad: Kicked in the teeth (volume 1)- I borrowed the first 3 volumes of the new 52 a year before the movie came out and absolutely devoured them. I loved a story based primarily of villains kicking ass and spouting dark 1 liners. Also, King Shark rules!
3. Flash: Gorilla Warfare (volume 3)- I love Grodd. I love the Rogues. This book boils down to Flash and the Rogues teaming up to stop Grodd and his ape army. It’s badass and ends with a awesome fight and a Easter egg I loved.
2. Aquaman: The Trench (volume 1)- Like many people, I never thought into Aquaman much. To quote Batman, “Arthur Curry, I hear you can talk to fish.) But the gorgeous artwork and epic fight got me on board instantly. 1 superhero vs a army of mutated piranha people, what’s not to love?
1. Batman: Court of Owls/ Night of the owls (volumes 1 and 2)- It’s not everyday a great Batman story comes out that has nothing to do with Joker. In fact, this story brings the history we thought we knew deeply into question and not only is Batman and the Bat-family at match by these creepy, damn near unstoppable assassins but they truly test what Batman stands for and that is the sign of a great story.
6. Black Adam (Shazam)- Before Billy Batson acquired the powers of Shazam, there was another from another time. Much like Marvel’s Dr. Doom, Adam uses his power to “protect” his people, even if that makes him a tyrant amongst them. I read the first book of Shazam’s new 52 and Black Adam stole the show every time he appeared. He was one of my top 3 favorite characters in Injustice to play as. Possessing super strength, speed, durability, magical lightning, and a vast intelligence, Adam is a good example of the road to hell being paved with good intentions.
5. Gorilla Grodd (Flash)- Another tyrant, Grodd believes he is the rightful ruler of his dimension of intelligent apes, and in New 52, believes himself the rightful bearer of the Speed Force; in the CW show he is test animal subjected to the particle accelerator. Either way, Grodd believes man is an inferior species meant to serve ape in a interesting play of reverse Darwinism. Besides being very intelligent, strong, and agile like most common apes, Grodd has telepathic and telekinetic abilities and is a cruel military strategist. Grodd’s brutal and badassness earn him this spot…and he blocked the Supersonic Punch Man! How much more pimp do you get?
4. Ozymandias (Watchmen)- I know, I know, I know Watchmen ain’t part of DC canon but it’s still a DC publication. What gets me about Ozymandias is how good he really is compared to the flawed “heroes” of Watchmen. Aspiring to be a modern day Alexander the Great, Adrian Veidt dedicated himself physically and mentally to become the best hero he could be, but at the horrific cost he will go to save the world from itself. Smartest man in the world, only the infinite intellect of Dr Manhattan can challenge him, in physical combat he’s unwatched, even catching a bullet with his bare hand at point blank range, Ozymandias is the rare villain that not only succeeds but actually proves more heroic than our actual heroes, the very definition of a grey character.
3. Sinestro (Green Lantern)- once the greatest of Green Lanterns, mentored by the legendary Abin Sur, mentor to Hal Jordan, and greatest threat to the Green Lantern Corps is Thal Sinestro. Using his green power to retake his homeworld when plunged into bloody civil war by cruel force, Sinestro was cast out by his fellow lanterns. In exile he came across the means to harness there greatest weakness against them, the gold light of fear. Soon he built his own deadly corp of fear mongering maniacs and murderers gifted at instilling fear in others to battle the Green Lanterns. Sinestro is a master of wielding the gold ring as well as having detailed knowledge on his former corps, he is a skilled warrior and strategist, both cunning and cruel. Essentially, he’s DC Vegeta. When examined, he is a fascinatingly deep character I highly recommend reading more into.
2. Joker (Batman)- He had to be here for 1 undeniable reason; I don’t think any villain has ever pushed a hero so far towards a breaking point than Joker has Batman. He crippled Batgirl, beat Jason Todd to death before blowing him up, killed Batman’s parents in the Tim Burton film, murdered thousands of innocents, helped turn Batman’s family against him, and even mentally tortured the shit out of Batman after his death in Arkham City. Crafty, reckless, brilliant, and heartless, Joker is the devil that came from nowhere really. I’ve read several origins for Mr. J, all different which is great, making him scarier and menacing. He’s been portrayed fantastically by Caesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, but mine favorite will always be Mark Hamill. Same with Conroy as Batman before you ask. Yes, 9 of 10 of Batman’s classics are Joker stories, but it’s well deserved.
1. Doomsday (Superman) – plain and simple my friends, for a very simple reason: he killed Superman. With all of Superman’s power, he couldn’t withstand this enigmatic beast, nor could the JSA either for that matter. Doomsday doesn’t have a grudge, he doesn’t want to take over the world or get rich. He just wants to kill and destroy. He’s extremely strong and can take a huge amount of punishment. There’s reason to believe he’s immune to mind attacks, it’s cited in Death of Superman that the inside of his mind is blackness and hate. This creature brutally beats Superman to death fair and square, taking everything Sups had to put him down. I love how simple and brutally torturous Doomsday is, earning him my number one spot. I hope you enjoyed my list, thank you for reading, and may the gaming gods be with you.
Savior Gaming 