Since most comic books are only 20-30 pages, there really aren’t a lot of short stories told in comic book form. It’s hard enough to tell a meaningful story in 20-30 pages, but to do it in fewer pages is a real art. But there are a handful of stories that are well done and worth seeking out. Here is a few short stories that I’ve come across that really expand the medium in short form.

Alan Moore is always credited with being one of the sources of the realistic, grim n gritty super heroes, but he was also worried about what was being lost. In Anything Goes #2 (a series put out to help fund the Ellison/Fleisher lawsuit for Fantagraphics), Alan Moore has a 12 page short story (with art by Don Simpson of Megaton Man fame) called Pictopia. In Pictopia, we follow Noctorno the Neuromancer as he strolls through the city of Pictopia. Noctorno doesn’t have enough money to live in the full color section of the city (usually reserved for superheros) and loves strolling through the Funnies Ghetto at the edge of town. He notices that there are changes in superheros and they aren’t as nice as they used to be. He commiserates with his lone superhero friend, Flexible Flynn about the changes. But when Flynn changes, it might be more than he can handle. Alan Moore has created a nostalgic look at comics that presages the nostalgia later seen with 1963 or Astro City.

In A1 Atomeka #1, there are a bunch of fun stories, but one stands out above the overs. Survivor, written by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons and illustrated by Eddy Current creator Ted McKeever, is a fresh look at Superman (who isn’t named here due to this not being a DC book). In this story, Superman feels nothing. No pain, no love, no anything. So he hatches a scheme to fix his lack of feeling and lays it out for his mortal enemy to find. It’s a wonderfully different look at Superman that is exciting and fun.

Piranha Press was a creator-owned imprint that DC Comics put out in the late 1980s as a place where independent comics writers and artists could do work under the banner of DC comics. Among other books that Piranha Press put out was a three issue anthology called Fast Forward. The first story in the first issue was written by Grant Morrison (All Star Superman) and drawn by Dave McKean (Signal to Noise) and is a simple talking head piece called “A Glass of Water”. The story features a middle aged librarian talking about her life, her past and eventually her end. It’s a moving story that is well told and McKean’s art shows only the woman’s face in almost every panel. But he does a wonderful job of using the art to draw you in. It’s a simple, but effective story that is extremely moving.

In “Attack of the O Squad” from Justice League America Annual #8, writer Dan Vado (The Griffin) and artist Evan Dorkin (Dork, Milk & Cheese) tell a hilarious story of a bored Justice League who don’t know about the new super villain group “The O Squad”. Formed by Starro, this group is composed of villains whose name ends in the letter O (Amazo, Bizarro, Chemo, Sinestro, etc). After internal squabbling about how they will split up the Earth, they finally agree and sign a contract. At that time, they figure out that T.O. Morrow’s name doesn’t end in O and they start squabbling again. All the while, the Justice League heroes are bored since there is no crime or disaster for them to do anything about. The story is one of the funnies superhero/supervillain stories and is well worth seeking out.