2008 Meta-List | 2009 Meta-List
This meta-list of the top 100 comic books of 2008 is compiled from over a hundred "best comics of 2008" lists from critics across the internet.
This is based on an idea and a lot of work by Dick Hyacinth. Dick published a meta-list of the best comics of 2007 and was working on a 2008 meta-list when he stopped blogging. Fortunately, Dick had published links to the 2008 lists. I went through every list, compiled everything into one spreadsheet, and then quantified the data to produce this meta-list. Thanks to Dick for his part in this project.
Methodology: I gave each critic 550 points. Critics who wrote unnumbered lists distributed their points evenly among the books on their lists, while critics with numbered lists distributed their points according to a formula created by Chad Nevett. I only counted lists that had five or more books; for numbered lists with more than 20 books, I only counted the top 20. I also only counted general "best of" lists, not lists limited to a certain genre or type of comic book.
I'll post more analysis and information about the meta-list in a future post, but for now, here is the Best Comics of 2008 Meta-List:
| Rank | Points | Title |
| 1 | 2356 | Bottomless Belly Button , by Dash Shaw |
| 2 | 1511 | Acme Novelty Library #19 , by Chris Ware |
| 3 | 1266 | All Star Superman , by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely |
| 4 | 1181 | Too Cool To Be Forgotten , by Alex Robinson |
| 5 | 1112 | What It Is , by Lynda Barry |
| 6 | 1086 | Ganges #2 , by Kevin Huizenga |
| 7 | 988 | The Alcoholic , by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel |
| 8 | 981 | Skyscrapers of the Midwest , by Joshua Cotter |
| 9 | 876 | Kramers Ergot 7 , by various |
| 10 | 803 | Capacity , by Theo Ellsworth |
| 11 | 769 | Swallow Me Whole , by Nate Powell |
| 12 | 767 | Scalped , by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera |
| 13 | 766 | Omega: The Unknown , by Jonathan Lethem,Karl Rusnak, and Farel Dalrymple |
| 14 | 730 | Skim , by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki |
| 15 | 662 | Three Shadows , by Cyril Pedrosa |
| 16 | 634 | Travel , by Yuichi Yokoyama |
| 17 | 575 | Love and Rockets: New Stories #1 ,by Jaimie Hernandez and Gilbert Hernandez |
| 18 | 573 | Gus & His Gang, by Chris Blain |
| 19 | 504 | Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@&*!, by Art Spiegelman |
| 20 | 488 | Burma Chronicles , by Guy Delisle |
| 21 | 474 | Criminal , by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips |
| 22 | 471 | Local , by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly |
| 23 | 465 | Freddie and Me , by Mike Dawson |
| 24 | 461 | Good-Bye , by Yoshihiro Tatsumi |
| 25 | 453 | Essex County Vol. 3: The Country Nurse , by Jeff Lemire |
| 26 | 422 | Jin and Jam #1, by Helen Jo |
| 27 | 418 | Tamara Drewe, by Posy Simmonds |
| 28 | 412 | Achewood , by Chris Onstad |
| 29 | 397 | The Education of Hopey Glass , by Jaime Hernandez |
| 30 | 381 | Echo , by Terry Moore |
| 31 | 368 | The Amazing Remarkable Monsieur Leotard , by Eddie Campbell |
| 32 | 367 | Alan's War , by Emmanuel Guibert |
| 33 | 359 | The Lagoon , by Lilli Carre |
| 34 | 354 | Casanova , by Matt Fraction and Fabio Moon |
| 35 | 339 | Joker , by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo |
| 36 | 338 | Berlin: City of Smoke , by Jason Lutes |
| 37 | 317 | Willie and Joe: The WWII Years , by Bill Mauldin |
| 38 | 308 | Powr Mastrs vol. 2 , by C.F. |
| 39 | 304 | The Umbrella Academy vol. 1 , by Gerard Way and Gabiel Ba |
| 40 | 303 | Slow Storm , by Danica Novgorodoff |
| 41 | 297 | BodyWorld , by Dash Shaw |
| 42 | 275 | Fluffy , by Simone Lia |
| 43 | 273 | RASL , by Jeff Smith |
| 44 | 270 | MOME , various |
| 45 | 267 | Black Jack , by Osamu Tezuka |
| 46 | 264 | Complete Little Orphan Annie vol. 1 , by Harold Gray |
| 47 | 257 | Sammy the Mouse #2 , by Zak Sally |
| 48 | 255 | Fight or Run, by Kevin Huizenga |
| 49 (tie) | 243 | Blue Pills , by Fredrik Peeters |
| 49 (tie) | 243 | Abandoned Cars , by Tim Lane |
| 51 | 242 | Little Nothings , by Lewis Trondheim |
| 52 (tie) | 238 | Ochre Ellipse #2, by Jonas Madden-Conner |
| 52 (tie) | 238 | Madman Atomic Comics , by Mike Allred |
| 52 (tie) | 238 | Monster Men Bureiko Lullaby , by Takashi Nemoto |
| 55 | 234 | Paul Goes Fishing , by Michel Rabagliati |
| 56 | 232 | Goddess of War , by Lauren R. Weinstein |
| 57 | 229 | Bat-Manga! , by Jiro Kuwata |
| 58 | 226 | Nat Turner , by Kyle Baker |
| 59 | 225 | Inkweed, by Chris Wright |
| 60 | 223 | Monster , by Naoki Urasawa |
| 61 | 221 | Boy's Club #2, by Matt Furie |
| 62 (tie) | 220 | Army @ Love , by Rick Veitch |
| 62 (tie) | 220 | Curio Cabinet , by John Brodowski |
| 62 (tie) | 220 | Empire Park, by Jason Shiga |
| 62 (tie) | 220 | P.S. Comics #4 , by Minty Lewis |
| 66 | 217 | Disappearance Diary , by Hideo Azuma |
| 67 | 213 | Popeye vol. 3: Let's You and Him Fight! , by E.C. Segar |
| 68 | 212 | American Flagg! , by Howard Chaykin |
| 69 | 211 | Captain America , by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, and Luke Ross |
| 70 | 210 | Jamilti and Other Stories , by Rutu Modan |
| 71 | 205 | The Walking Dead , by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard |
| 72 (tie) | 202 | B.P.R.D. , by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, and Guy Davis |
| 72 (tie) | 202 | Lucky vol. 2 #2, by Gabrielle Bell |
| 74 | 197 | My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down , by David Heatley |
| 75 | 196 | An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories vol. 2 , by various |
| 76 | 195 | Wormdye , by Eamon Espey |
| 77 | 191 | Glamourpuss, by Dave Sim |
| 78 | 188 | Fables , by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham |
| 79 | 185 | Gary Panter , by Gary Panter |
| 80 (tie) | 183 | Blue Beetle #25 , by John Rogers and Raphael Albuquerque |
| 80 (tie) | 183 | Far Arden , by Kevin Cannon |
| 80 (tie) | 183 | Fishtown , by Kevin Colden |
| 80 (tie) | 183 | Interiorae #3, by Gabriella Giandelli |
| 80 (tie) | 183 | Petey and Pussy , by John Kerschbaum |
| 80 (tie) | 183 | Welcome to the Dahl House , by Ken Dahl |
| 86 | 180 | Tokyo Zombie , by Yusaku Hanakuma |
| 87 | 165 | How to Be Everywhere, by Warren Craghead |
| 88 | 162 | Solanin , by Inio Asano |
| 89 | 157 | Angry Youth Comix #14, by Johnny Ryan |
| 90 | 156 | Northlanders , by Brian Wood and Davide Gianfelice |
| 91 | 155 | Mesmo Delivery , by Rafael Grampa |
| 92 | 152 | Speak of the Devil , by Gilbert Hernandez |
| 93 (tie) | 147 | Cat Eyed Boy , by Kazuo Umezu |
| 93 (tie) | 147 | Don't Cry for Me, I'm Already Dead, by Rebecca Sugar |
| 93 (tie) | 147 | Dungeon, by Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar |
| 93 (tie) | 147 | Judenhaas, by Dave Sim |
| 93 (tie) | 147 | Only Skin #3, by Sean Ford |
| 93 (tie) | 147 | Deitch's Pictorama , by Kim Deitch,Seth Deitch, and Simon Deitch |
| 93 (tie) | 147 | Heavy Liquid , by Paul Pope |
| 93 (tie) | 147 | Y: The Last Man , by Bryan K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra |
Other "Best Comics of the Year" Meta-Lists:
2005 Meta-List | 2006 Meta-List | 2007 Meta-List
2008 Meta-List | 2009 Meta-List
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