Top 5: Best Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale Stories

I'm going to be honest with you. I really, really hate Jeph Loeb's recent works. I loathe them to the point where in 8th grade, I wrote a freaking 3-page poem about them. (I named it "Elegy to Jeph Loeb's Greatness) However, his past works from the 90's to early 2000's were actually very good. In fact, I would say some of them are some of my favorite books. As I was compiling this list, I only had Top 5 Jeph Loeb stories in mind. As I had all of my picks in line, I realized that Tim Sale was the artist for all of them. So here it is, because nobody demanded it, my Top 5 Favorite Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale stories!

5. SPIDER-MAN: BLUE

Spider-Man: Blue was basically just a love letter to Spider-Man's past. As you read this, you can feel the love Loeb has for the character (which Dan Slott doesn't have)(which is surprising, because in Ultimatum he tried killing off Ultimate Spidey, only for Bendis to keep him alive in Pete's own title). Tim Sale's art tried to capture the classic Steve Ditko feel, making the book like a lost Spider-Man story from the late 60's. 

4. DAREDEVIL: YELLOW 

Daredevil is one of my personal favorite characters Marvel has in their arsenal. I feel blessed to be a Daredevil fan, since we're getting such a great DD series right now. Daredevil: Yellow has everything I love about the character crammed into one book. It's no Born Again, or Frank Miller's Elektra saga, but it's still incredibly good. Loeb uses the many villains of Matt Murdock's rogue gallery to create a tribute to Stan Lee's original Daredevil run.

3. BATMAN: HAUNTED KNIGHT

Haunted Knight was 3 stories all in one. Each one was a Batman adventure that took place on Halloween. While one wasn't the best, the other two are some of Loeb and Sale's best work. The Mad Hatter story was very creepy, and defined the underused villain for years to come. The Scarecrow story was very brutal, and  devled into Batman's first encounter with hm.

2. SUPERMAN: FOR ALL SEASONS

Superman: For All Seasons is my favorite Superman story, second only to Alan Moore's "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?". Superman: For All Seasons was told through the eyes of Pa Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and Lana Lang, showing what each of these characters thought of him. I thought issue 2 was the highpoint of the series, which delved into what effect Superman had on Metropolis in his first few months.

1. BATMAN: THE LONG HALLOWEEN

Batman: The Long Halloween is the story that inspired Christopher Nolan's the Dark Knight. This is the definitive Two-Face story in my opinion, adding a new layer to his tragic origin. Though Loeb recycled the format of the Long Halloween for "Dark Victory" and "Hush", making both of them incredibly predictable and bland, the Long Halloween crafted a shocking and intense murder mystery. I would say below  any of Frank Miller or Grant Morrison's work with the character, this is one of the best Batman stories ever told.