1: Jim’s Big Ego:The Ballad of Barry Allen

Honestly, this is my favorite representation of The Flash. Jim Infantino focuses on the loneliness of living in a different time frame than everyone else around you where of every moment for the rest of your life stretches out like a long afternoon. It’s the height of terrifying monotony.

Also, Jim Infantino is the nephew of Carmine Infantino, which gives him major comics credibility, and adds a more personal layer to this song.

2: Peter Mulvey: November
(to get an MP3 of this, follow the above link, scroll down to “Brother Rabbit Speaks / Rain” and download the sample song)

The comic connection only comes out in the full title, “November in Calvin and Hobbes.” That title instantly sets the colors for the song, and the lyrics perfectly reflects the tone of the Watterson’s late-fall sunday strips.

3:Barenaked Ladies: Same Thing
(The song begins about 3:15 into that clip)

I like this song because the second verse reminds me so much of growing up as a comic fan. Not just because the first comic that I bought on my own was an issue of The Fantastic Four, but I remember (like most geeky teenagers in the mid-90s) reading Wizard and thinking that I might one day live off of my comic collection.

Of course, the industry is still recovering from that kind of thinking.

4: Paul McCartney & Wings: Magneto and Titanium Man

This is not exactly one of the greatest songs of all time, but it is catchy (like everything, good or bad, that McCartney has written). I like it because of how obscure the choices of Magneto and Titanium man are. None of these characters had any non-comic exposure in the mid-70s, and using that group adds to the comic feel more than more archetypal villains like Lex Luther or The Joker would have.

5: The Tragically Hip: It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken

I don’t know if this is actually connected to the comic of the same name by Seth, but the tone is so close to that of the comic that I’m going to include it. Plus, it’s just a beautiful song.