Top 100 Runs: First Look - 96-91

This is an interesting section of the list for me. First, here are the titles that were on the list from 96-91:

96. Denny O’Neil and Denys Cowan’s The Question
95. Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima’s Lone Wolf & Cub
93. Garth Ennis’ Hellblazer
93. Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos’ Alias
92. Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen’s Nextwave
91. Mike Grell’s Green Arrow

I remember having The Question and Green Arrow: Longbow Hunters, but I don't own either anymore.

I have really liked a lot of Denny O'Neil's work (Batman, Daredevil, Amazing Spider-Man), but the Question just didn't grab me for whatever reason.

Similar story for Mike Grell - although I am considerably less fond of his work. I was pretty enthused about Longbow Hunters. It was heavily promoted and the word on the street was that this was a can't-miss, must have book. I found it to be severely underwhelming. The art was excellent, as one would expect from Grell. But I felt the story was kind of unispired and plodding.

I remember thinking the same thing about John Byrne's Man of Steel. It was nice to see that DC was thinking that the character in question needed an overhaul. But I felt that Byrne and Grell both fell short. That neither pushed the envelope. I thought that what they did was obvious. I didn't even pick up any of the Green Arrow series, because I was so disappointed in Longbow.

There are also two titles I haven't read on this list:

Lone Wolf & Cub and Nextwave. But I've heard great things about both, and will likely read them someday. Especially Nextwave, as it has the benefits of being a relatively short series by one of my favorite writers (Ellis). I do have some issues of Nextwave, but not enough to be able to read the darn thing.

Now - Garth Ennis and Hellblazer. I have enjoyed Ennis' work starting with Hellblazer. It was an accident that I'd even come across Ennis, as I was getting back issues of the Jamie Delano Hellblazers and Ennis just happened to be the next writer.

What I discovered was that I didn't really like any of the Delano stuff - in fact, the three issues during the Delano run that I did like were by Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison.

Then Garth comes along and breathes life into this underdeveloped character. Until Ennis took over, I thought that Alan Moore had done more with John Constantine in a backup role in Swamp Thing than Delano had done with him as a lead character.

Giving Constantine cancer, coming up with a creative solution for Constantine promising his soul to a devil and Ennis' scathing take on the British monarchy was fresh and funny as hell. I only wish I'd kept reading further than issue 64. But I sure enjoyed what I did read, and this chance encounter led me to enjoy many more Ennis comics afterwards.

Alias was a lot of fun too. Again, I am haunted by not having the full series. I did have the first five issues, which were excellent. A plot to expose Captain America's identity? Strange, rogue agents and imminent death for Jessica Jones? Pretty cool stuff.

As usual, it was the pacing and dialogue that carried the day. You don't need me to tell you that Bendis does dialouge extremely well. The scene where Steve Rogers comes to see Jessica Jones and they have a chat about what went down was well done. Both characters shined. It's too bad that the character of Captain America was often not treated with this sort of respect.