Preamble
Just to be clear, this just a first stab at my list of the best comics. If someone into comics or new to comics asked for my recommendation this would be it. I doubt anyone else in the world would agree with me, but there's pretty much no way any one would be able to convince me that I'm wrong about what I like.
What I like
When I was younger I was all about characters and didn't really pay attention to who was writing and drawing them. Now I'm more about who is writing but I am still drawn to certain characters even when the writing is crap. When you see my list you'll also notice that I lean more towards Marvel; I grew up on Super Friends, Christopher Reeve, Batman the Animated Series, X-Men, Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and Bill Bixby's Incredible Hulk, so I think I was pretty balanced. However, as I got older I just didn't connect with DC's characters like I did those at Marvel and that's been pretty true for 20 years now.
What I don't like
Okay, this where people will get pissed off and stop reading. I'm not much into indies. Whenever anyone raved about some cool indie comic I would try to pick it up but I was almost always disappointed. Those I have liked generally didn't make a deep enough impression that I would still remember them now.
I was reading some DC comics every month until the new 52 but couldn't stand anything after that. I have no problem with reboots or trying something new, I just didn't find the books interesting. Even Batman which people were going on about just didn't capture me.
Not a Frank Miller fan. I liked Year One, but that's it. Dark Knight Returns? Good but I would have liked it better if someone else had written it based on Miller's plotting. Daredevil? Meh. Sin City? No. Etc..
I can't read a book if John Romita Jr. is drawing it. Just can't do it. His stuff from the 80s was alright, but from the 90s on he's just been horrible.
Favorite Writers
Mark Waid, Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Peter David, Mark Millar.
Favorite Books Today
All-New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Hawkeye, FF
Best Graphic Novels (or limited series)
Superman: Red Son
Kingdom Come
Wanted
Ultimates v1
Watchmen
Marvels
Best Runs
Mark Waid on Iredeemable
Jonathan Hickman on Fantastic Four
Chris Claremont on X-Men
Matt Fraction on Hawkeye
Peter David on X-Factor (both times)
Peter David on Incredible Hulk
Greg Pak on Incredible Hulk
David Jones on Incredible Hulk
Ed Brubaker on Captain America (I could read this 100 times and never get sick of it)
Brian Michel Bendis on Ultimate Spider-Man
Brian Michael Bendis on Avengers, Dark Avengers
Mike Mignola on Hellboy
Turn Arounds
Never liked Spider-man until Dan Slott.
Never liked Daredevil until Mark Waid.
Never liked Green Arrow until Kevin Smith but stopped liking him after.
Never liked Fantastic Four until Jonathan Hickman.
Never liked Hawkeye until Matt Fraction.
Favorite Characters
Magneto
Cable
Recent Cyclops (lame until he dropped Jean for Emma)
Batman
Doctor Doom
Thanos
Hulk
Luke Cage
Booster Gold
Hellboy
Posted from bed