10 DC Graphic Novels You Must Read Before You Die

The definitive ranking of DC's greatest hits.

by Ewan Paterson
DC Comics

Although the purpose of this article isn't to venture into the great Marvel-DC divide, it's fair to say that America's Burbank-bound publisher have hit out more than their fair share of seminal storylines over the years.

Time and again, writers, artists, colourists and inkers have set about refuting the notion that comics are nothing more than idle funny-books. In doing so, DC are able to boast an entire library of all-time greats - books that stand up and proclaim, with great dignity, that comics can be so much more than they're often held to be.

And that's no small feat, mind you. Of all the thousands of comics published the only one to make it onto Time's 100 Greatest Novels of all time is a DC work. That, and when you think of the most iconic storylines of the medium - those that extend beyond the Marvel bullpen era - you think DC; you think of the Frank Millers, the Alan Moores, the Denny O'Neils. All of them, in some way, defined their careers at DC.

While this list can serve a purpose in definitively ranking the publisher's greatest hits, it's also worth noting that we've tried to include books that fans old and new should be able to seek out and appreciate. It's a tricky medium out there, and while it can look a tad intimidating on the surface, we can all do our bit to help people find their footing, be it with DC, Marvel or otherwise.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.