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Staff Ranked

Best Single-Issue Comics Ever Written

mike mike | 4 Issues | Jun 6, 2026

The greatest standalone single issues in comics history, stories so complete and powerful that they stand alone as masterpieces without needing to be part of a larger arc.

Watchmen
#1

Watchmen

Watchmen (1987)

1

Watchmen #1 opens Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's masterwork, introducing the Comedian's murder mystery and a world where the existence of a real superhero has upended global politics.

Issue #1
#1

Issue #1

Batman: The Killing Joke (1988)

Jul 01, 1988

2

Batman: The Killing Joke is Alan Moore's definitive Joker story, a single issue that redefined both characters and sparked decades of debate about how dark superhero comics should go.

Spider-Man!; The Bell Ringer; The Man in the Mummy Case; There are Martians Among Us
#15

Spider-Man!; The Bell Ringer; The Man in the Mummy Case; There are Martians Among Us

Amazing Fantasy (1962)

Jun 05, 1962

3

Amazing Fantasy #15 is the most important single issue in Marvel history, introducing Peter Parker as Spider-Man and establishing the moral foundation of the entire Marvel universe.

Superman, Champion of the Oppressed
#1

Superman, Champion of the Oppressed

Action Comics (1938)

Apr 18, 1938

4

Action Comics #1 from 1938 is where it all started, the debut of Superman and the birth of the superhero genre itself in a single 13-page story.

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