10. The Golden Age
This is easily one of the best superhero-based stories of all time. End of statement.

9. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
This probably shouldn't be on my list yet, but I just have a feeling it will be. This is the book I most want to buy and read, but I just haven't done it yet. It's written by the author of Wonder Boys and is a fictional tale of comics' golden age.

8. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
This was the only other book besides the next one on the list that was worth the time it took to read it in high school. If a book can overcome the fact that you're being FORCED to read it, it has to be good.

7. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
This is by far my favorite "forced" read. The imagery in this book is incredible, and the story is a great period piece. We watched the movie after we finished the book, and it sucked. So now I don't read the book if I want to see the movie. (I know...it's bass-ackwards, but I just love movies more. I'm a loser.)

6. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
A fantasy world look at the underground of London. Good stuff.

5. The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
The ultimate Batman story, which was responsible for changing the way the world saw Batman. The new, grittier superhero was a result of this book...but don't blame Frank Miller. This books is a classic read.

4. Jar of Fools by Jason Lutes
This book is a textbook example of storytelling, both plot and visual, and after finishing this book, there should be no doubt why.

3. Maus by Art Spiegelman
A survivor's tale of the Holocaust in comic form, where the Jews are mice and the Nazis are cats. This Pulitzer Prize-winning story will change your perceptions of comics forever.

2. Watchmen by Alan Moore
This was one of those books that everyone says you have to read, but you don't really understand why until you read it. It truly is an amazing book.

1. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
An amazingly funny story about the apocolypse. It begins:

"Current theories on the creation of the Universe state that, if it was created at all and didn't just start, as it were, unofficially, it came into being between ten and twenty thousand million years ago. By the same token the earth itself is generallly supposed to be about four and a half thousand million years old.

"These dates are incorrect."