introduction
It's tough to explain what "canon" is to someone unfamiliar with the term. If you look it up in the dictionary it deals with a group of religious texts generally accepted to be "true." In regards to comics, canon most of the time means events that "really" took place in the series, or have influence on later stories. The canon we're attempting to define here is neither of those.Â
In art, the canon can be seen as bodies of work that are indisputable masterpieces, works that will be held up for generations to highlight the best that the medium has to offer. In film, the canon includes Citizen Kane, The Godfather, and Seven Samurai. In music, Pet Sounds, Revolver, and Nevermind are seen as particular examples of genius. This project sets out to find what makes up the canon for sequential art.
Your immediate reaction might be "Watchmen! Done, easy" but I wanted to delve deeper than that, find other stories and comics that everyone holds to a higher degree. On this site you'll find the 100 most critically acclaimed comic books of all time and some information about each of them. Whether you want to start reading for the first time after watching a new super hero movie or you've been reading since Action Comics #1, I hope there's something of value you can find from this collection.