The Best Comic Books of 2025
Up front, these are my “favorite” individual comic book issues published in 2025. But since SEO/AEO demands mean “best” likely performs better, that’s how we end up here.
Since we’re focused on individual issues instead of full series, this list may wind up looking a bit different than what you see elsewhere, which is fine. I, myself, struggled with some of the series left off simply because while consistently very good month-to-month, they just didn’t have that one-issue peak.
But this is the best way to account for one-shots and all. And I’ve been publicly doing it this way since 2020. So not changing now.
No matter the format, however, I really enjoyed these individual issues and I hope you did as well. And if not, I hope this list provides some solid recommendations.
Have something you feel I slighted or “forgot” in this list? Go ahead and comment below.
TL;DR, here are my 25 “best” individual comic book issues of 2025:
(warning: spoilers abound for the rest of this article)
- Image: Assorted Crisis Events #3 (Deniz Camp/Eric Zawadzki)
Virtually everything Camp’s touched has turned to gold this year, in part because of his ability to make every story immensely relatable to our current moment. The best instance of that ability may be in this issue, where he builds tension in the act of “othering” that should be familiar to Americans right now, while never truly playing up either as the true villain. The close is affecting and powerful, too, as a summation of this story and how as humans, we all create our own narratives and heroes depending on our perspective and needs.
2. Image: The Power Fantasy #13 (Kieron Gillen/Caspar Wijngaard)
The Power Fantasy has continually committed to world-altering moves, while also ratcheting up the larger tension between its superpowers. Issue #13 felt like everything coming to a head, though, as — after a fake-out — Heavy actually (probably?) killed Etienne and really reset the board. There’s so much we know about this very rich and disastrous world, yet that death creates an even more expansive list of unknowns now.
3. Marvel: The Ultimates #17 (Deniz Camp/Phil Noto)
Camp’s Doom-focused issues (this one and last year’s #4) have arguably been the best of the current run of Marvel’s Ultimate Comics, as he channels this entire universe’s grief and struggle through him. The portrayal is heartbreaking as we get the true scope of how this Reed lost everything, had more taken from him, and remains tormented by it (before potentially being rewarded with the success he’s been desperately pining for the whole time).
4. Marvel: Fantastic Four #30 (Ryan North/Cory Smith)
Ben’s vulnerability is fertile ground, but is rarely pulled off as well as North does here. Removing Ben’s powers, he comes face-to-face with his mortality and limitations — and he believes the solution is the hard physical exterior he’s accustomed to. But it ends up that what he needs most is Alicia’s faith and belief in him, to help pick him back up.
5. Image: We’re Taking Everyone Down With Us #6 (Matthew Rosenberg/Stefano Landini)
I loved this whole series, but the finale really sticks the landing with a fun twist that you don’t really see coming in the moment, but makes a lot of sense in hindsight. Over time, the series abandons the vestiges of Annalise being a kid and by the end, she physically and mentally transforms into the ultimate combination of both of her parents — by effectively replacing them both.
6. Image: Escape #1 (Rick Remender/Daniel Acuña)
Acuña’s art throws you into the action immediately here in Remender’s World War II stand-in story, with animals playing the roles of both Allied and Axis powers. In a very short amount of time, the creative team pulls you into this war-torn world and effectively builds out our main character, Milton. And all while getting into the psychology of living inside perceived totalitarian rule.
7. DC: Absolute Batman #10 (Scott Snyder/Nick Dragotta)
Every issue of Absolute Batman has built upon this Batman’s mythos and what uniquely makes this Bruce Wayne interesting — primarily the fact that he turns himself into what he is WITH help and support around him (unlike the prime DC universe Batman). Those lessons and belief in himself is what Bane tries to prey on in this issue and many after, to the furthest reaches of brutality. I’d contend it’s most effective in #10, though.
8. Image: Everything Dead & Dying #1 (Tate Brombal/Jacob Phillips)
When the world around you is going to hell, there’s something calming in your normal processes and routines, and surrounding yourself with the people you care about. That’s also true for Jack, our main character here, who’s the last (local) survivor of a zombie plague and dedicates himself to keeping his friends, neighbors and family fed and on the same literal path they followed in life. When that’s all threatened, you quickly see what Jack’s lost, and the desperation he has to keep it, even in its current (dead) form.
9. Marvel: Infernal Hulk #1 (Phillip Kennedy Johnson/Nic Klein)
Recent Hulk runs have spent a lot of time interrogating the relationship between Hulk and Bruce Banner. But Infernal Hulk does so in a much different way. With Hulk and Bruce severed from one another, what level of depravity is the former willing to embrace? The answer is this first issue is one of the goriest non-red band books Marvel has put out in awhile. Klein’s art is in peak form as he and Hulk tear through the surrounding people and scenery to create a startling new status quo for the character.
10. DC: Batman: Dark Patterns #9 (Dan Watters/Hayden Sherman)
Even the world’s greatest detective gets fooled now and again. And because of Batman’s reputation among readers, it’s understandable how you’re taken for the ride too here in Dark Patterns #9. The deception comes in part from your typical perspective with Batman. But as soon as it’s turned, you see that there’s more to the Rookery and this final standoff than a simple good v. bad resolution. This was truly one of my favorite series of 2025.
11. DC: Absolute Superman #7 (Jason Aaron/Carmine de Giandomenico)
Centering this issue on the Absolute Universe’s Brainiac, you get to see his humble and relatable origins — which quickly fall by the wayside to reveal a much more horrific legacy of unflinching hate and calculated maneuvering. Aaron’s Brainiac feels like an incredible threat to Superman because he is played as his polar opposite, down to his role with the working class.
12. DC: Absolute Martian Manhunter #1 (Deniz Camp/Javier Rodriguez)
Even in a year full of Camp writing achievements, Absolute Martian Manhunter uniquely stands out. Rodriguez’s art allows for a visuals no other current book will contain, using color and jagged edges to paint a complicated portrait of paranoia. It all ends with one of the more creative uses of the medium all year, as the Martian is revealed. This is the apex of what you can do with alternative universe storytelling in hero comics.
13. Marvel: Captain America #5 (Chip Zdarsky/Valerio Schiti)
Having someone who’s not an American — Zdarsky — write Captain America allows for a unique vantage point where he assesses the title, country and Steve Rogers from the “outside” to an extent. And as a result, Zdarsky interrogates it in a way that would be difficult for most born here (self included). The roles of terrorist and liberator are in the eye of the beholder, and having Steve and the readers both “out of time” here scratches at that idea incredibly well.
14. DC: Batman #1 (Matt Fraction/Jorge Jiménez)
Fraction’s Batman has the tall task of standing apart from the wide variety of depictions currently being published at DC, yet he succeeds here in this well-landed #1 issue. This Batman is not a stand-in for the police, but a public enemy of them (courtesy of Commissioner Vandal Savage’s corruption). He’s also rooted in the humanity of Bruce Wayne, too. Instead of a kick-punch solution, he’s looking for rehabilitation options as the first course of action.
15. IDW: Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1 (Patrick Horvath)
Obligatory: This reads far better if you’ve read its predecessor, last year’s Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees (#6 was my pick for best comic book issue of 2024). Picking up a decade after the events of the first series, Samantha is coming face-to-face with the consequences of her actions — in the form of victims’ grief. But rather than run from it, she embraces it in the first issue, letting us dive further into her warped psyche.
16. DC: Batman And Robin: Year One #9 (Mark Waid/Chris Samnee)
Samnee’s art alone would make it essential to pick AN issue of this series. But Waid’s writing around Robin’s grief and how it comes out with Alfred is what makes this particular issue shine as it pays off the cracks in the armor developing for Dick Grayson, and the (then) burgeoning relationship with Alfred. All of this plays out against ratcheting tensions with a significant cast of villains as well, setting up the series’ impressive sprint to the finish by issue #12.
17. DC: Green Arrow #20 (Chris Condon/Osvaldo Pestana Montpeller)
If you’ve read this one — and some of the other issues on this list — you may be sensing a theme. In a timely issue, we see both the short- and long-term impacts of corporate complacency and negligence, and how those become afterthoughts for everyone but the people directly effected. Condon’s confrontation with the Fresh Water Killer leans into questions of ethics, morality and the idea of fault. And who’s truly “right” is actively up for debate (for the reader and characters) throughout.
18. DC: Batman and Robin #24 (Phillip Kennedy Johnson/Juni Ba, Carmine Di Giandomenico Miguel Mendonça)
PKJ’s entire run on Batman and Robin has been excellent. But the work with Memento has been particular standpoint. In #24, all of that comes to a head, putting both Bruce and Damian in positions where they need help, and digging into how they rely on one another. Damian’s conflict as someone wanting do good in and out of costume, while sometimes lacking the tools to do so, is also fertile storytelling ground.
19. Image: The Moon Is Following Us #10 (Daniel Warren Johnson/Riley Rossmo)
DWJ’s exploration into guilt and grief comes to an interesting and emotional conclusion in this final issue. After so much focus on Duncan trying to save Penny, it’s Penny who is able to save Duncan from the emotional weight and toll his life (and in particular, this fight to rescue her) has brought him. By playing with time, it also bridges the gap inherent with parenting, where children are never old enough to understand what their parents are doing for them, and accidentally, to them out of love.
20. Marvel: Daredevil: Cold Day In Hell #1 (Charles Soule/Steve McNiven)
Having Soule back on Daredevil is a welcome development, especially set against McNiven’s gritty alt-reality where our favorite heroes have aged and New York City has seemingly decayed around them. The Matt Murdock we’re introduced to is largely powerless and retired from hero work… until his powers return, of course. And he’s thrown back into the fight to help those who can’t help themselves.
21. Marvel: One World Under Doom #2 (Ryan North/R.B. Silva)
Doctor Doom and Valeria Richards debating one another is among the better dynamics you’ll find in comics, especially at this juncture where Doom is essentially all-powerful. And rather than commit to “heroes right, Doom wrong” as an idea here, North instead digs into what the heroes are capable of — yet don’t do — in this universe. And you almost come down on the side of Doom, if not for the parallels with our actual world playing out around Victor and Val’s conversation.
22. Mad Cave: Spectrum #2 (Rick Quinn/Dave Chisholm)
What and who is truly “normal” is at the heart of Spectrum, which plays with music and time via Chisholm’s gorgeous art throughout. The second issue really sets things off, though, as you see the ground start to seemingly fall out from under Ada and her reality as you understand it, engrossing you into what turns into a real page-turner the rest of the way.
23. DC: Superman: The Kryptonite Spectrum #4 (W. Maxwell Prince/Martin Morazzo)
I’ve never been a big fan of the Fifth Dimension stuff inside of DC Comics. Yet, with Prince, Morazzo and colorist Chris O’Halloran, it works and then some. Of course, it helps that what they’ve built with The Kryptonite Spectrum works so well, too. But in between all of the wacky visuals and popping colors in issue #4 is an understanding of Clark Kent’s curiosity and optimism that makes this series more than just Superman meets Ice Cream Man meets Alice In Wonderland.
24. DC: Absolute Wonder Woman #6 (Kelly Thompson/Dustin Nguyen, Mattia De Iulis)
Like her counterpart in the main DC continuity, Absolute Wonder Woman needs real opposition to work. In issue #6, she very much has it in the form of Hades, who offers both challenge and an opportunity to showcase how this Diana got to where she is. The juxtaposition of her cunning and cleverness versus Hades aims for fear and humiliation make for great character work all around.
25. Marvel: The Amazing Spider-Man #16 (Joe Kelly/John Romita Jr.)
Norman Osborn-as-Spider-Man wasn’t guaranteed to work. But the way Kelly is using it as a contemplation on both Norman and Peter’s legacies is working incredibly well — and arguably no better to-date than in issue #16. And if that wasn’t enough, Aunt May’s powerful pushback on criticism of Peter that conveys her strength and love for her nephew is also some of the best work on the character in a decade.
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Thanks for reading! And if there are other non-Marvel/DC books not included here, feel free to offer those up. While I read a lot of comic books, I can’t get to everything. But always happy to try and catch up on a great series.
Also, included below is a quick list of honorable mention issues, for some of the other top books that just missed above:
- Image: The Rocketfellers #5 (Peter J. Tomasi/Francis Manapul)
- Ahoy: Thanksgiving #1 (Mark Russell/Alain Mauricet)
- Marvel: Imperial #4 (Jonathan Hickman/Federico Vicentini, Iban Coello)
- BOOM: The War #1 (Garth Ennis/Becky Cloonan)
- DC: Poison Ivy #30 (G. Willow Wilson/Marcio Takara)
