When we posted a gallery of comics cover art drawn from Tony Isabella’s 1000 Comic Books You Must Read , some Wired.com readers got pretty riled up about excluded titles.

It was just supposed to be a sampling, people: We obviously couldn’t include all 1,000 of the titles in Isabella’s cool book. Nevertheless, readers’ comics picks proved pretty fascinating.

Ranking the fan blowback by writer, Sandman creator Neil Gaiman topped the readers’ choice list. Alan Moore was widely lauded for Watchmen as well as Swamp Thing and From Hell . Frank Miller and Grant Morrison rounded out the top four for a variety of their bold franchise reinventions.

A few commenters went epic-length. FlipM cited 24 titles “off the top of my head” that deserved must-read status. Others went deep with major love for a specific issue, like reader pjbeisser, who promised that Walking Dead No. 48 “will make you both sick to your stomach — and potentially cry like a little girl.”

For a close-up of fan favorites including Wanted , pictured above, check out comments and graphics in the comic book cover art gallery that follows.

Images courtesy Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Vertigo, Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics

Animal Man No. 5

The series took a minor DC character with the cheesy power of gaining the abilities of any nearby animal, and turned it into a clever, esoteric spin on superhero comics. Issue 5 features a Wile E. Coyote-type character breaking the fourth wall to escape an endless cycle of violence. Animal Man No. 26 is also excellent, as he learns about his fictional nature and confronts his author. –hokum

I would go for the 24 issues of Animal Man written by Grant Morrison. The mix of meta-linguistic, reality-warping, suburban superhero fantasy made more for me than four years studying psychology. –Lisandro

The Bone

I would be very disappointed if Bone by Jeff Smith isn’t somehow mentioned in the book. The series lasted 55 issues over the course of 10 years or so. Delightfully funny fantasy adventure. –avenger534

Y: The Last Man

I loved Y: The Last Man . A world without men is very thought-provoking, and I think Brian K. Vaughan did a good job imagining what it might be like. –Zometh

The Red Star

The Red Star , created by Christian Gossett, has to be on my top five list of all time…. In addition to being a phenomenal comic, [it] is also trying to drop the European comics model into the American scene and, unfortunately, suffering for it. Where the American market expects monthly deliveries of generally OK products, the European model supports more lengthy creations that often deserve the title of graphic novel. This is also a more humane model for the artists, who get to realize a complete vision from start to end, as well as for the readers, who are able to buy a complete story when it’s published in a single unit, instead of parsed out in pamphlets. –pyar

Walking Dead No. 48

I have personally enjoyed Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s Walking Dead . Also Kirkman and Ryan Ottley’s Invincible is one of my favorites right now. –joshriddell

Looking for a particular issue that will make you both sick to your stomach — and potentially cry like a little girl? First thing that comes to mind is probably, “No.” After reading comics for 20 years, I thought I had … read it all, seen it all, done it all. Then came Walking Dead #48 (2008)…. For those unfamiliar, it’s a black-and-white monthly book about a group of survivors who are struggling to make it day to day after a majority of the populace become zombies…. Intense! I finally got to meet Robert Kirkman earlier this year at the Baltimore Comic Con. Everyone in front of me had a stack of books for him to sign. This is the only one I had in hand. –pjbeisser

The Eternals and Jack Kirby

Get some Jack Kirby artwork under your eyes. In particular, notice his particular use of shadow, which might be termed “Kirbyoscuro,” and often looks not unlike biomorphic circuitry. I got to read a lot of his ’70s series. An outstanding series was his one for Marvel: The Eternals , about what happens when giant, ancient gods return to Earth. –Osirisrise

The Preacher

Preacher combines Clint Eastwoood’s Unforgiven with David Lynch’s Twin Peaks . Great stuff. –featuring_dave

Invincible

I feel comics are having a renaissance. Here are some titles I recommend to the old-school comic geek and the new readers alike:

Invincible , Image Comics, Robert Kirkman

Y: The Last Man , Vertigo (DC), Brian K. Vaughn

Powers , Image Comics, Brian Michael Bendis

The Walking Dead , Image Comics, Robert Kirkman

Hawaiian Dick , Image Comics, B. Clay Moore

Fables , Vertigo (DC), Bill Willingham –csmallfield

Hellboy

After my comic-book-collecting high-school years, Hellboy was the only thing that kept me reading comics! –monkut

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth

Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison. So sick. –sammyvicious

Sandman

Neil Gaiman’s Sandman is a masterpiece of this or any other medium. –MrJM

My suggestion: The Sound of Her Wings by Neil Gaiman, Sandman No. 8. –ianderthal

Sandman . Nuff said. –noodlelpugerine

Neil Gaiman’s Sandman … especially Brief Lives . –kaylan

Definitely need to read the entirety of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. –fencerf

The Morningstar Option, Parts 1-3 . It’s a spinoff of Sandman without Gaiman writing but it’s fantastically written for the character. –Lucifer 00

Fables

Vertigo’s Fables , can’t believe that nobody has mentioned them yet. Twelve Eisners and counting. Also Hellboy , Sandman and Transmetropolitan are all required reading before you visit the casket. –kloudykat

Miracleman

I’d add a vote for Miracleman — though not sure which issues I’d include. Still amazed at how he took a character that was about as dorky as it gets (basically Captain Marvel/Shazam) and rework it into something really dark and chilling and intense. –ronb

Must reads, just from the top of my head, and in no particular order:

The Maximortal No. 3 by Rick Veitch

Nexus: God Con (Nos. 93 and 94) by Mike Baron and Steve Rude

Miracleman No. 15 by Alan Moore and John Totleben

Miracleman No. 19 by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham

Why I Hate Saturn by Kyle Baker

Planetary No. 1 by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday

The X-Men No. 143 by Chris Claremont and John Byrne

Ronin No. 1 by Frank Miller

Sin City No. 1 by Frank Miller

Marvel Comics Presents No. 72 Weapon X Part 1 by Barry Windsor-Smith

Strange Tales No. 178 — Who Is Adam Warlock? by Jim Starlin

Sleeper No. 1 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips

Animal Man No. 5 by Grant Morrison and Chas Truog (special mention to Brian Bolland’s cover)

American Flagg! No. 1 by Howard Chaykin

Human Target No. 1 by Peter Milligan and Edvin Biukovic

Tyrant No. 1 by Steve Bissete

Moonshadow No. 1 by J.M. DeMatteis and Jon J. Muth

Eightball No. 22 by Daniel Clowes

Sandman No. 8 by Neil Gaiman and Mike Dringenberg

Cages No. 1 by Dave McKean

From Hell No. 1 by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell

Big Numbers No. 1 by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkiewickz

Paul Auster’s City of Glass adapted by Paul Karasik and David Mazzuchelli

Daredevil No. 227 by Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli

And the list goes on. –FlipM

Wanted

Wanted by Mark Millar. Much better than the movie. –jhnshft

Superman No. 75

Death of Superman –jhnshft

Transmetropolitan

I feel like everyone should read Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis. A lot of the subject matter is amazingly funny, but there’s one cryogenics story that is pretty hard-hittingly sad. –Sliver

Transmetropolitan was fun, and I haven’t read Maus yet but want to someday. I quick-read Marvels at the comic shop earlier this year and it was excellent as well. –baccaruda

From Hell by Alan Moore and Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis were both excellent reads. –kwikdraw

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Sorry, but this list is too constrained for my tastes…. The most influential comic in the history of the genre, The Dark Knight Returns , wasn’t even mentioned, except in a post by another reader! There’s a complete world of very cool stuff out there that just went — zip! — right over this guy’s head. So here’s my list: Any issue of Heavy Metal with stories/art by Enki Bilal or Jean Giraud/Moebius; Shirow’s Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell ; Adam Warren’s Dirty Pair (if you have time for only one, go with Sim Hell ); Frank Miller’s Return of the Dark Knight . I close with my fave line from Warren: “Girls with guns! Crucial realm!” –rpbird

Green Lantern

Gonna have to go with the Adams/O’Neil run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow . Beautiful art and some hard-hitting tales make these classic books. Also worthy of seeking out is the Grant Morrison/Steve Yeowell series Zenith , taken from U.K. publication 2000 AD . Light-years ahead of its time. –jeemie

One of the best has to be Green Lantern/Green Arrow Nos. 85 and 86 with Speedy’s drug addiction. –Magician216

One of my all time favorites is Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn . It’s one of the first comics I read and still one of the best. Also, Kurt Busiek’s Marvels is amazing. –gpmeyer2

Valiant Comics

I loved the Valiant Comics with first 12 issues of Magnus, Robot Fighter , Rai , X-O , Dr. Solar , Turok , Archer & Armstrong , Harbinger and Eternal Warrior . Anything before Unity 2 . –halkyra

Watchmen

What about the Watchmen ? Rorschach’s character alone represents the living embodiment of paranoia. –mrnonel

Watchmen by Alan Moore, no doubt. –LupinYonsei

It may be a graphic novel but it has changed the world of literature and everyone needs to read it. –JordanEast

1) Alan Moore’s Watchmen — one of Time magazine’s top 100 novels of the 20th century

2) The Long Halloween

3) A Dame to Kill For — the best in Frank Miller’s Sin City series

4) Batman: Year One

5) For all you zombie fans: The Walking Dead series. –iamhouli

I’ve gotta say that Alan Moore’s Watchmen is a must-read. Definitely one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. –navoghosh

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