Last week, I limited myself to currently published, ongoing series. This week, I’m essentially reversing that rule. To qualify for all-time favorite (not necessarily most important), a series must have a beginning, middle and something close to an ending. Age of Bronze, my favorite current series, does no qualify yet, because Eric Shanower could conceivably totally butcher the ending. I doubt he will, but it’s possible. The comics on this list are completed and cannot ever be ruined. (So, for example, Daredevil would not qualify; “Daredevil by Frank Miller” would, as it is a defined run, though its “ending” is rather open.)

Picking five was hard. Damn hard. From Hell. Bone. Maus. Lee and Ditko’s Amazing Spider-Man. Robinson’s Starman. JLI. Bryan Talbot’s astonishing Alice in Sunderland. The Spirit. Even Watchmen. Great comics, perhaps better on some levels than my choices and certainly more “important” than one or two of my picks. But none of them made the list. These are my favorite comics:

5. The Fourth World comics of Jack Kirby, by Jack Kirby. These comics are the zenith of superhero adventure. Jack Kirby honestly packs more pure awesomeness into each issue than most other titles manage in a decade, and the Fourth World is so ridiculously awesome that Jack needed four titles to contain all the excellence. Each title exhibits a distinct and important part of a massive universe of adventure: noble and conflicted Orion is torn by the weight of his history in New Gods; determined and unconquerable Scott Free seeks only quiet, but cannot turn away from injustice and is trapped only by his heritage in Mister Miracle; the creative and free-spirited Forever People are hounded by the ultimate evil; and the human element, Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen finds himself swallowed by events that dwarf even the Man of Steel.

Superhero comics simply don’t come bigger, bolder or more exciting than Jack Kirby’s exclamatory opus.

4. Terry and the Pirates, by Milton Caniff. While Jack Kirby took adventure to its most ludicrous heights, Milton Caniff created the framework within which all adventure comics would operate. Although a few adventure strips existed prior to Terry’s 1934 debut, Caniff codified and established the sensuality of the femme fatale in comics form. Rapid-fire pacing, balanced dialogue that could convey information and capture a character’s persona, and panel-to-panel transitions were taken to new levels, and Caniff’s artwork got better and better with each month that the strip ran. The ingenuity of the characters and the unending surprises keep this strip fresh long after I’ve tired of most action-adventure tropes.

Yeah, some of the depictions of China might not float today, but Caniff’s artistry and exciting, twist-filled stories of pure adventure are far more than influences on all action stories told since then. They’re rip-roaring good times.

3. Popeye, by E.C. Segar. Popeye was only 50% as adventurous as Terry, but Popeye was also 70% more hilarious, and which pushes him up to the third slot on my list. Elzie Segar’s thuggish sailor gets into plenty of adventure, but it’s Segar’s brutally violent slapstick pacing as well as his hilarious slaughtering of the English language that make Popeye a truly brilliant comic that inspired tons of watered-down, less-interesting incarnations.

It’s violent, it’s got cussing, and it’s funny as hell. Segar’s character designs are brilliant, but the strips themselves are timeless. Plus, where else can you see a belligerent sailor punch and kill a horse with a single blow!

2. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, by Alison Bechdel. Emotionally bruising and literarily astute, Alison Bechdel’s memoir of coming to terms with her own homosexuality while finally connecting with her own deeply closeted father is one of the most ambitious comics of all time. Hell, forget about being ambitious, it’s brilliant. Bechdel’s literary parallels would make my college professors weep tears of joy, and she manages to make these observations within the context of a sharply written, powerfully drawn story that compels you to keep turning page after page, even though you know it’s not going to turn out well.

No comic has ever plumbed the depths of two human souls the way Fun Home has. It’s a tremendous accomplishment, and a powerful statement about coming to terms with yourself and it’s just an incredibly accomplish book by any standard. I stand in awe of Bechdel’s authorial prowess.

1. Palomar, by Gilbert Hernandez. If my home burns down and, by divine intervention, I can only one book (because I’m not saving a book if my home is burning), this 500-odd page hardcover collection of Beto’s “Heartbreak Soup” stories from Love & Rockets is the one. Though Bechdel is masterful in capturing the fragile humanity of herself and her father, Gilbert Hernandez manages to one-up her by crafting an entire village from the ground up. Full of exploitive tourists, serial killers, over-active children, lotharios, sexy young ladies and a whole mess of magical surreal conditions, Palomar’s simply the most complete picture of the human condition found in comics form. It’s funny and sexy, it’s tragic and complicated, it’s surreal and completely unlikely. And Beto’s art captures it all in its full glory.

Sure, Luba and the cast have appeared in other stories, but this single volume, this singular collection of characters and setting together under the guiding vision of one gifted creator, is easily and without much debate at all, my favorite comic.

So what are you favorite comic runs, and why?

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