Q. What's the purpose of this site?
A. If I asked you what the 10 greatest comic books of all time were, you'd probably have a different list than I do. And if I asked 100, or even 1,000 people, we'd probably all have different lists. However, if the same comics keep coming up again and again, we reach some sort of common consensus, otherwise known as "the canon." And that's the point of Comic Book Canon, to have the most definitive collection of opinions, ranks, lists, etc etc, in hopes to cultivate a list of some of the greatest comic books of all time.
Q. How did you come up with this ranking?
A. I scoured the internet and compiled as many greatest comic books/graphic novels/manga/bande desinee/historietas/fumetti/manhua/manwua lists I could find and then put all of them into a ranking algorithm. Based on the scope of the list or the quality of the site some are worth more than others, but I want to include as many opinions as I can.
Q. How many lists are included?
A. As of the 2025 list, it is 655 lists. That's quite a big jump from the 83 of the previous update, but there's still a lot of work to be done. I still another 500+ lists I'd like to add, and that's not counting all of the new ones I'll discover.
Q. When is the next update?
A. This project had updates in 2023, 2024, and then in 2025. Ideally, I'd like to update this site yearly, but given how long it takes to update the actual site, it might not be for another two years (google sites might be easy to use, but it's incredibly time consuming unfortunately). It takes an annoying amount of time to update everything manually on this site, and I think my time is better spent adding new lists to the project.
Q. So will it be yearly or twice a year, when will you know?
A. I'll probably post an update on the site in late 2026 and let everyone know when the update is coming.
Q. So if there might not be an update until 2027, what will the site be doing?
A. That deadline is only for the main "All Time" ranking. In 2026 I plan on posting smaller lists on specific characters or genres. For now, the plan is to release a list of the greatest Wonder Woman, X-Men, Horror, and European comics this year.
Q. Oh, cool. So do you really think this book is better than that book?
A. That's not really the point of the project. Don't get too hung up on the individual placements, think of it more as a collection of really, really, really good comic books that a loooot of people recommended.
Q. How do you count runs compared to single issues or graphic novels?
A. I tried to include all storylines from one writer or artist's run in a single entry. So for example, The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past are combined into Chris Claremont's X-Men. However, Claremont's God Loves, Man Kills is counted as a separate entry because it was a non canon event that took place outside of the month to month series he was doing at the time.
Q. If that's the case, what's up with It's A Good Life, If You Don't Weaken, why is it a different entry from Palookaville?
A. Honestly, this one just slipped by me and has already been corrected for the next release.
Q. Same thing with Dragonball & Dragonball Z and Aya of Yop City & Aya: Claws Come Out?
A. Yup, same thing.
Q. This list seems entirely dominated by American comics, what's up with that?
A. Year after year, this is the most consistent feedback I get, and I am working hard to remedy this. As of the most recent update , the majority of the lists used are either from non-English language sources or focus on non-English language books. I am trying my best to prevent the list from being dominated by American superhero comics. As of the most recent update, 354 lists, or roughly 54% of the total sources included, focus on non-anglosphere comics
Q. I see you've added a Manga ranking to the site, is the plan going forward to separate manga and western comic books?
No, that's not exactly the plan. After the feedback from the last update I decided to add more international lists. While I was doing this I figured why not make both an all encompassing list and region specific lists., so going forward there'll be a few big updates. I'll have the 100 Greatest Manga list, consisting of manga, manhwa, and manhua, as well as 100 Greatest Bande Desinee, which will list all the non English-language European comics. In addition to these individual lists, they will also be combined into the larger 200 Greatest Comic Books of All Time list.
Q. Oh wow, lots of new lists, what's the release schedule looking like on those?
A. The Manga list was already published, and the European Comics list should be some time this year.
Q. Speaking of the Manga list, where are the little review blurbs on the detailed page?
A. Unfortunately because not all of the manga are popular in the English language world or even released here in the States, it was extremely difficult to find English based reviews for most of these works, so I decided it was best to just leave off the blurbs. Sorry y'all.
Q. You have some awesome books here that I've never heard of, where can I buy some of these?
A. I recently set up a partnership with bookshop.org. If a comic is available from that site I have linked it on the Detailed Rank page.
Q. Bookshop.org, what's that? I've never heard of it.
A. Bookshop.org is a wonderful site that directly supports smaller, local, independent bookstores. When making a purchase you can select if you want the profits to be donated to a specific bookstore (when I use the site my profits go to supporting Inkwood Books in New Jersey) or donated to the pool which is split between the 2000+ independent bookstores that they support.
Q. Wow, that sounds awesome. Does ordering through the links also help you?
A. Yes, I receive a small commission from every book that's ordered through the affiliate links on the site.
Q. The book I want isn't on Bookshop.org, what do I do?
A. Unfortunately I don't have a link to help with that. I would suggest going to your local bookstore or comic shop and asking them to order it for you, they would love to help you find a book. If they don't have it, I'd recommend trying your local library. Libraries are great, the staff is incredibly knowledgeable, and they're free! I cannot sing the praises of libraries enough.
Q. This sounds like a cool project, do you plan on doing this for any other mediums?
A. Nope, there's already a bunch of sites that do this and have actually been a great help. I reached out to them for advice on the rankings and they were all incredibly helpful.
Q. Where can I find these rankings?
A. Here they are
They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? - an aggregate ranking of 16,874 Greatest Movies of All Time lists
They Shoot Zombies, Don't They? - an aggregate ranking of 4,094 Greatest Horror Movies of All Time lists
TreasureTV - an aggregate ranking of over 4,000 Greatest Television Shows of All Time lists
Acclaimed Music - an aggregate ranking of over 1,450 Greatest Albums of All Time lists
Play That Game - an aggregate ranking of over 1,300 Greatest Video Games of All Time lists
Acclaimed Video Games - an aggregate ranking of over 800 Greatest Video Games of All Time lists
PWNRank - an aggregate ranking of over 85 Greatest Video Games of All Time lists
Video Game Canon - an aggregate ranking of 80 Greatest Video Games of All Time lists
The Greatest Books - an aggregate ranking of 666 Greatest Books of All Time lists
Q. Good work with all of this, how can I help?
A. Thanks for asking, there's a few way you can help. Tell a friend, get someone who's not into comic books into comic books. If you'd like to have a more physical way of helping shoot me an email at comicbookcanon@gmail.com, there are still some entries on the starting list page without writer/author information and would love help with data entry. And I would never expect anyone to, but if you'd like to support financially, feel free to donate at https://ko-fi.com/comicbookcanon. Whatever gets donated goes 100% back into CBC. In all honesty it will literally just cover the cost of having to pay for the website.
Q. Last question, this website is based on critics' and reviewers' opinions, but what are your favorite comics?
A. Oh wow, thanks for asking. My three favorite comic books are Sandman, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, and My Favorite Thing Is Monsters. Some other titles that I love are Marvels, The Crow, Y: The Last Man, and It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth.