Welcome to The Hooded Utilitarian’s International Best Comics Poll!
In May and June, we asked comics personnel of all stripes—creators, editors, journalists, academics, retailers—this question:
What are the ten comics works you consider your favorites, the best, or the most significant?
We received 211 replies from all over the world. Participants voted for newspaper strips, comic-book series and stories, graphic novels, manga, political cartoons, caricatures, magazine cartoons, and even a few things that one might not immediately think of as comics or print cartooning.
Below is a list of the top ten vote-getters. Click the title for an essay of appreciation about the work, which is accompanied by its publication history and a full account of the votes for it.
1. Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz
2. Krazy Kat, George Herriman
3. Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson
4. Watchmen, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
5. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Art Spiegelman
6. Little Nemo in Slumberland, Winsor McCay
7. The Locas Stories, Jaime Hernandez
8. Pogo, Walt Kelly
9. MAD #1-28, Harvey Kurtzman & Will Elder, Wallace Wood, Jack Davis, et al.
10.The Fantastic Four, Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, with Joe Sinnott, et al.
Click here for the list of The Top 115 vote-getters, ranked by number of votes with a notation of how many votes each listed work received.
Below is a list of the posts featuring the submitted lists of the poll participants. The lists are organized alphabetically by the participants’ last names.
A-Bo (Jessica Abel to Alex Boney)
Br-C (Matthew J. Brady to Tom Crippen)
D-E (Katherine Dacey to Al Ewing)
F-G (Duncan Falconer to Paul Gulacy)
H-K (Flint Hasbudak to Sean Kleefeld)
L-Mc (Terry LaBan to Sheena McNeil)
Me-Po (Ray Mescallado to John Porcellino)
Q-Se (Andrea Quierolo to Matt Seneca)
Sh-Sw (Joe Sharpnack to Jeff Swenson)
T-Y (Matt Tauber to Yidi Yu)
We are also presenting essays that discuss the results and issues related to them. The essays so far include discussions of the poll and the comics canon, the poll and women cartoonists, the poll and non-English European comics, the poll and manga, and the poll and the extended field of comics, and favorites vs. best. We’re certain other essays related to the poll will eventually be published as well. The essays to date (click the title and author to go to the post):
“The HU Lady List,” Shaenon Garrity
“Favorites vs. Best,” Noah Berlatsky
“Embalmed Ones, Fabulous Ones, Those That Tremble If They Were Mad,” Craig Fischer
“Manga and the Best Comics Poll,” by Kate Dacey
“Comics’ Expanded Field and Other Pet Peeves,” by Domingos Isabelinho
“Some Closing Thoughts on the Poll,” by Robert Stanley Martin
Finally, acknowledgements. My deepest gratitude to:
For contributing essays on the poll results: Derik Badman, J. T. Barbarese, Jeffrey Chapman, Katherine Dacey, Andrew Farago, Craig Fischer, Shaenon Garrity, Jeet Heer, Domingos Isabelinho, Matthew J. Smith, and Tucker Stone.
All the innumerable people who helped promote the poll, both publicly and privately.
To Noah Berlatsky, for agreeing to publish the poll, his essay on the top vote getter, and his constant efforts in support of the project.
To Ng Suat Tong, for his help in providing images for the list posts.
To Qiana J. Whitted, for her generosity in a moment of editorial need.
And finally, the list submitters themselves, without whom this would not have been possible. They are:
Jessica Abel, Deb Aoki, Michael Arthur, Nate Atkinson, Derik Badman, J.T. Barbarese, Edmond Baudoin, Jonathan Baylis, Melinda Beasi, Terry Beatty, Robert Beerbohm, Piet Beerends, Alice Bentley, Eric Berlatsky, Noah Berlatsky, Sean Bieri, Corey Blake, Bobsy Mindless, Kristin Bomba, Alex Boney, Matthew J. Brady, Caroline Bren, Casey Brienza, Scott O. Brown, Alex Buchet, Kurt Busiek, Sean Campbell, Bruce Canwell, Greg Carter, Scott Chantler, Jeffrey Chapman, Hillary Chute, Seymour Chwast, Michael Clarke, Robert Clough, Brian Codagnone, Sean T. Collins, Barry Corbett, Roberto Corona, Jamie Cosley, Dave Coverly, Warren Craghead, Corey Creekmur, Tom Crippen, Katherine Dacey, Marco D’Angelo, Alexander Danner, Mike Dawson, Kim Deitch, Martin de la Iglesia, Camilla d’Errico, Francis DiMenno, Alan David Doane, Randy Duburke, Randy Duncan, Kathleen Dunley, Paul Dwyer, Joshua Dysart, Joe Eisma, Austin English, Jackie Estrada, Al Ewing, Duncan Falconer, Andrew Farago, Matt Feazell, Larry Feign, Bob Fingerman, Craig Fischer, Anja Flower, Erica Friedman, Shaenon Garrity, Richard Gehr, Larry Gonick, Jenny Gonzalez-Blitz, Diana Green, Jason Green, Steve Greenberg, Geoff Grogan, Patrick Grzanka, Paul Gulacy, Flint Hasbudak, Greg Hatcher, Charles Hatfield, David M. Heatley, Jeet Heer, Danny Hellman, Sam Henderson, Alex Hoffman, Ben Horak, Kenneth Huey, Jelle Hugaerts, Mike Hunter, Illogical Volume, Domingos Isabelinho, Cole Johnson, Jones, one of the Jones boys, Bill Kartalopoulos, Megan Kelso, Abhay Khosla, Molly Kiely, Kinukitty, T.J. Kirsch, Sean Kleefeld, Terry LaBan, Nicolas Labarre, Blaise Larmee, Carol Lay, Jeff Lemire, Sonny Liew, Alec Longstreth, Jay Lynch, John MacLeod, Matt Madden, Larry Marder, MariNaomi, Vom Marlowe, Ben Marra, Scott Marshall, Robert Stanley Martin, Chris Mautner, Joe McCulloch (Jog Mack), Sheena McNeil, Ray Mescallado, Jason Michelitch, Eden Miller, Gary Spencer Millidge, Evan Minto, Wolfen Moondaughter, Pat Moriarity, Pedro Moura, Todd Munson, Rachel Nabors, Mark Newgarden, Eugenio Nittolo, Rick Norwood, José-Luis Olivares, Tim O’Neil, Jim Ottaviani, Jason Overby, Joshua Paddison, Nick Patten, Marco Pellitteri, Michael Pemberton, Kai Pfeiffer, Stephanie Piro, John Porcellino, Andrea Queirolo, Casey Rae-Hunter, Ted Rall, Martin Rebas, Charles Reece, Hans Rickheit, Oliver Ristau, Chris Roberson, John L. Roberson, Sean Michael Robinson, James Romberger, Joshua Rosen, Marcel Ruitjers, Johnny Ryan, Giorgio Salati, M. Sauter, Kevin Scalzo, Val Semeiks, Matt Seneca, Joe Sharpnack, Scott Shaw!, Mahendra Singh, Ed Sizemore, Shannon Blake Skelton, Caroline Small, Kenneth Smith, Matthew J. Smith, Michelle Smith, Shannon Smith, Nick Sousanis, Ryan Standfest, Rob Steen, Matteo Stefanelli, Joshua Ray Stephens, Mick Stevens, Tom Stiglich, Tucker Stone, Betsey Swardlick, Jeff Swenson, Matthew Tauber, Ty Templeton, Jason Thompson, Kelly Thompson, Matt Thorn, Tom Tirabosco, Mark Tonra, Noel Tuazon, Carol Tyler, Marguerite Van Cook, Stefan J.H. van Dinther, Noah van Sciver, Sara Varon, Mike Vosburg, David Welsh, Mack White, Qiana J. Whitted, Karl Wills, Sean Witzke, Matthias Wivel, Douglas Wolk, Jason Yadao, Chris York, Rafe York, Yidi Yu.
