Cerebus (1977)

Dave Sim started Cerebus in December 1977 under his own Aardvark-Vanaheim banner and kept going until March 2004, ending exactly at issue 300 without the aid of any publisher. That finished run of about 6,000 pages became the standing proof for later self-publishers that one creator could set a huge goal, keep a schedule and reach the end. It opens as a sword-and-sorcery parody starring an aardvark and grows into a long political and religious saga. Start with the first collected "phonebook" volume, Cerebus, and keep going into High Society, where the series finds its voice. The later volumes are divisive, and plenty of readers stop partway.