10 Greatest DC Comics That Aren’t About Superheroes

Without DC Comics, there are no superheroes. The home of Superman set the standard that is still followed today, from the comics themselves to video games, TV shows, and even movies (and yes, even Marvel’s Kevin Feige agrees with that sentiment). It is impossible to imagine what the world of pop culture would look like if Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, Harry Donenfeld, Jack Liebowitz, and Max Gaines never came together. Where would we all be without Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster? Thankfully, we never have to worry about living in that reality, and DC has produced more superhero comics than a person could possibly read in their lifetime.

But the company isn’t just superheroes. It existed before them, focusing on cartoon animals and hard-boiled detectives until the Man of Steel came around, and has continued to tell tales that aren’t focused on superheroes. DC has an amazing library of crime, horror, and comedy titles that, more often than not, get overshadowed by the muscles and tights types. Many of these stories are more personal to the creators, or are able to dig into aspects of the human psyche that the all-ages books can’t.

Y: The Last Man

It’s pretty hard to come up with an original post-apocalyptic story these days. There are so many out there that finding a new angel, and making it work, takes great and inventive minds. That’s what happened with Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra. The series, which is set in a world where everything with a Y chromosome has died except for one man and his pet monkey, uses the idea to explore religion, national identity, sexism, and grief.

But what really makes Y: The Last Man so great is that Vaughn and Guerra find a way to end the story on a touching and somewhat sad but still hopeful note, reminding the reader that no matter what happens, humanity can overcome just about anything thrown at it.

Preacher

Perhaps the most obscene, vile, and disturbing comic ever published by DC Comics, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s Preacher is also pure and unbridled genius. Is it gross? Yes. Does it cross many a line? Yes. Is it hilarious and touching, and will it break your heart? Yes and yes and yes. The series, about a man with the power to control the world traveling the country with his girlfriend and a vampire looking for God, is an outsider’s look at American culture that doesn’t hold back its criticisms.

Ennis is known for pushing the envelope, but with Preacher he isn’t just going after superheroes or making jokes about things we’re not allowed to write on ScreenRant. Ennis is taking the rage of 1000 punk rock teenagers out on capitalism, religion, racism, and nostalgia, all while making the reader fall in love with — and despise — the three leads of the story. It is, without a doubt, his masterpiece.

It’s A Bird…

In the graphic novel It’s a Bird… writer Steven T. Seagle and artist Teddy Kristiansen look at what Superman means to the world not by telling a Superman story, but by telling Seagle’s. The book is an autobiographical look at Seagle’s life during a time when he was offered the chance to write the adventures of the Man of Steel while waiting to hear if he has the genetic mutation that causes Huntington’s disease.

The book sees Seagle struggling to understand the world Superman lives in while trying to process the long-gestating trauma he has kept buried deep down after seeing his grandmother suffer from the disease, and the worry that even if the disease lies dormant in him, he could pass it on to his children. It’s a Bird… breaks down the wall between writer and reader and will make fans see the people creating the comics they love in a new way. A more human way.

Gotham Central

While firmly set in the DC universe, Gotham Central focuses on an element of those stories that rarely get covered: what it’s like to be a cop in the worst city in the world. Written by Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka, with primary art by Michael Lark, this series gave readers a new look at the characters and stories they love by seeing them through the eyes of everyday people living in that world.

Between moments of trying to figure out how to arrest Mister Freeze and debating just how many Robins there are, Gotham Central is a police procedural akin to Law & Order, but with the occasional cameo by the Caped Crusader himself. And, with the stories being told by two of the best crime writers in the business, you can be sure that each tale is worth reading.

The Kents

The story of Superman is well known, but the story of his adopted parents, the Kents, has rarely been explored. Written by John Ostrander with art by Tim Truman, Tom Mandrake, and Michael Bair, The Kents uses the most famous comic book family from Smallville to explore the American Civil War, starting with Bleeding Kansas and delving into a family split in half.

The series in itself is an interesting look into American history, but also helps show how Superman became the hero he is by revealing what kind of people he was raised by. And not only is it an intriguing story, it may even teach you something you didn’t know about the country and how it came to end one of the greatest atrocities in human history.

Mad

While it is technically a magazine now, Mad started off as a comic. It became a magazine 24 issues in to escape the cold grasp of the Comics Code Authority, allowing its creators, namely William Gaines, Harvey Kurtzman, Wally Wood, Will Elder, Jack Davis, and John Severin to continue to push boundaries. Over the years, Mad has had its ups and downs, but there is no denying its legendary status as one of the most beloved humor periodicals of all time.

Since the first issue of Mad came out in 1952, the book has lampooned everything and everyone under the sun. From beloved movies and shows to celebrities and politicians, no one has been spared from being satirized in its pages. The book has also been home to some of the most inventive artists in the business, including AL Feldstein, Don Martin, Mort Drucker, and Sergio Aragonés. And while Mad is mostly just reprints now, Edward E. Neuman will live on in the hearts and minds of every snarky kid.

Sgt. Rock

These days, it can be hard to imagine any comic series going for 100 issues, let alone 422, but that is (kind of) what Sgt. Rock did. The character, created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, made his debut in Our Army at War #81, with the rest of Easy Company showing up over time, and starting with issue #301, they took the title over, changing it to Sgt. Rock for the next 121 issues with Kanigher and Kubert working together on almost every issue.

A war title that lasted far longer than the war it was about (the sarge first appeared in 1959 and the book came to an end in 1988), Sgt. Rock allowed Kanigher and Kubert to explore just about every nook and cranny of the character they created. Sadly, Kanigher, who wanted to end the series with Rock dying, didn’t get the chance. The writer had long told fans that, in his mind, Rock died in 1945 and any appearances of the character past then were not real. In 2010, eight years after Kanigher passed away, DC made it official by revealing that Sgt. Rock was the last soldier to die in World War II.

Fables

Set in a world where fairy-tale characters are forced to leave their homelands and live in hiding in modern-day New York City, Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham’s Fables ran for an initial 150 issues before returning seven years later for a 12 issue follow-up. The series put a new twist on well-known characters like Cinderella, the Big Bad Wolf, and Pinoccio, but its most inventive take was combining every fairy tale Jack (Jack B. Nimble, Jack the Giant Killer, Jack o’Lantern, and even Jack Frost!) into a single person who lived all those adventures. Or, at least, that was what he claimed.

Fables was an endlessly engrossing series that kept readers on their toes. Willingham was willing to take the stories and characters in directions no one would have expected, and because of this he created something that was, at the time, truly unique.

Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen

Named after the classic series that ran for 20 years, Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber gave readers an unbelievable treat in 2019 when they teamed up for Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen. Building on what everyone knows about Jimmy Olsen — he’s a photographer for the Daily Planet who is best buds with Superman and tends to get into hijinks — Fraction and Lieber crafted one of the funniest comics of all time.

The 12 issue series sees poor Jimmy Olsen hiding out as someone tries to kill him. Along the way, he gets into a prank war with Batman, ends up getting married to a shapeshifter while drunk in Gorilla City, and ends up taking care of Dex-Starr the Red Lantern cat. And, if that wasn’t enough, the series also examines the origins of Metropolis.

The Invisibles

Perhaps the only comic to ever be saved from cancelation in part because of sex magik, Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles is nearly impossible to properly explain, but everyone who reads it is forever changed. The series, which ran for 59 issues, focuses on a cell of the Invisible College, a clandestine group working to bring down the the Archons of the Outer Church, an interdimensional group of gods who have quietly enslaved the minds of humanity.

Trying to decide what Grant Morrison’s masterpiece is a fool’s errand, as Morrison is the mind behind some of the greatest comics to ever see print, but The Invisibles is most certainly in that discussion. And The Invisibles is all the more amazing when you consider how he had to constantly battle DC’s editorial and legal teams to tell it the way he wanted to. Original printings of the comic often featured censored word balloons and images, much of which was fixed when the story was reprinted in trades.

Cast

Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Zachary Levi, Dwayne Johnson, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, Ewan McGregor, Idris Elba, John Cena, Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Xolo Mariduena

Created by

Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson

Character(s)

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, The Joker, Shazam, Darkseid, Amanda Waller, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Black Canary, Black Adam

Movie(s)

Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam!, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, Shazam! The Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Superman, The Brave and the Bold