What is your all-time favorite year for comics?
May 24, 2021 14:08:30 GMT -5
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Post by dbutler69 on May 24, 2021 14:08:30 GMT -5
So what is your all-time favorite year for comics?
I am voting for 1979. I think 1975-1982 is the best stretch, and each of those years was a great year for comics, but I think 1979 is comics at its pinnacle. Why? Well…
Here are the highlights for me.
Claremont/Byrne X-Men. This year includes the Proteus/Mutant X story, which I think is just about as good as the Dark Phoenix stuff which immediately follow.
Moench/Zeck/Day Master of Kung Fu. We’ve got Brynocki, Shockwave, Zaran the weapons master, and of course Fu Manchu. Mike Zecks pencils looked a lot better once Gene Day took over the inks.
Micronauts – Written by Bill Mantlo, 1979 includes the entire Michael Golden run, issues 1-12. While the entire series was good, the Golden run was absolutely the high point of the entire series.
Iron Man – Michelinie/Romita/Layton. This includes the classic “Demon in a Bottle” story arc.
Treasury/Collectors/Tabloid size comics. I loved these oversized comics!
Digest Sized comics. These cute little comics were cool, too. A lot of stories for a good price. This was more of a DC thing than a Marvel thing.
The Avengers. John Byrne was the primary artist in the Avengers in 1979, and he did a spectacular job. A bit of a revolving door wit the writers, but they did a good job too. I especially love the issues written by David Michelinie, Steven Grant, and Mark Gruenwald. “YesterdayQuest” and “The Knights of Wundagore” are highlights.
Fantastic Four. Okay, the first half of 1979 is pretty forgettable (if you’re lucky) but the second half of 1979 has John Byrne on pencils (that name again!) and even the writing (by Marv Wolfman) got much better, so I have to wonder if Byrne had a hand in the plotting as well.
Justice League of America. We’re right in the thick of the beloved Satellite era. Gerry Conway (perhaps my favorite writer of the original JLA series) and Dick Dillon. I know some people don’t care for Dillon’s work, but personally I am a big fan of his Justice League work. Plus, we get yet another awesome JLA/JSA team-up!!!
Legion of Super-Heroes. While not the Legion at its absolute peak, this is still a very strong era for the heroes from the 30th century. Primarily written by Gerry Conway and penciled by Joe Staton, but there are a few Paul Levitz issues in here, and he’s my all-time favorite Legion writer.
Marvel Two-in-One’s Project Pegasus story. I do think MTIO was the best of the team-up books, and classic stories like this are the reason why. Several issue in this were drawing by John Byrne, some by George Perez, and one by Frank Miller for good measure!
Amazing Spider-Man #200. I’m not a big Spidey fan, but this was an anniversary issue done right!
Tomb of Dracula. Well, up until August, 1979 cover date, anyway.
Batman. Primarily written by Len Wein and drawn by the underrated Irv Norvick. It’s not the O’Neil/Adams pinnacle, but it’s still some very good Dark Knight stuff! We also get a few Denny O’Neil penned stories in Detective Comics. Better yet, we get a couple of Detective Comics written and penciled by Jim Starlin!
Here are some other comics which, while not the absolute top examples of the medium, were still very god comics which just go to show how much good stuff was around in 1979.
The Corporation – This is a series of loosely connected stories with an evil behind the scenes group called the Corporation. It appeared in various marvel comics from 1976-79, including Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Machine Man, and Deadly Hand of Kung Fu. Nothing earth shattering here, just a nice little Marvel continuity thing.
The Brave and the Bold – Jim Aparo drawing Batman!
Roger McKenzie's Captain America.
Steven Grant's Defenders.
Cary Bates The Flash
Roger Stern/Sal Buscema Incredible Hulk.
The Invaders. I really enjoyed this series. Plus, by now. It was mostly Alan Kupperberg on art, instead of Frank Robbins, which is a big plus for me.
Star Wars. Not a fan of the Carmine Infantino art, but Archie Goodwin did an excellent job scripting this series.
Super Friends. Laugh if you will, but this series, written by E. Nelson Bridwell, was better than it had any right to be. I wasn’t a big fan of the Ramona Fradon art, though.
Roy Thomas Thor. It ended kinda ugly with his overlong, over-complicated, and self indulgent adaptation of Die Nibelungen, but it was a good ride up until then.
I’m sure I missed some stuff, but you get the idea.
I am voting for 1979. I think 1975-1982 is the best stretch, and each of those years was a great year for comics, but I think 1979 is comics at its pinnacle. Why? Well…
Here are the highlights for me.
Claremont/Byrne X-Men. This year includes the Proteus/Mutant X story, which I think is just about as good as the Dark Phoenix stuff which immediately follow.
Moench/Zeck/Day Master of Kung Fu. We’ve got Brynocki, Shockwave, Zaran the weapons master, and of course Fu Manchu. Mike Zecks pencils looked a lot better once Gene Day took over the inks.
Micronauts – Written by Bill Mantlo, 1979 includes the entire Michael Golden run, issues 1-12. While the entire series was good, the Golden run was absolutely the high point of the entire series.
Iron Man – Michelinie/Romita/Layton. This includes the classic “Demon in a Bottle” story arc.
Treasury/Collectors/Tabloid size comics. I loved these oversized comics!
Digest Sized comics. These cute little comics were cool, too. A lot of stories for a good price. This was more of a DC thing than a Marvel thing.
The Avengers. John Byrne was the primary artist in the Avengers in 1979, and he did a spectacular job. A bit of a revolving door wit the writers, but they did a good job too. I especially love the issues written by David Michelinie, Steven Grant, and Mark Gruenwald. “YesterdayQuest” and “The Knights of Wundagore” are highlights.
Fantastic Four. Okay, the first half of 1979 is pretty forgettable (if you’re lucky) but the second half of 1979 has John Byrne on pencils (that name again!) and even the writing (by Marv Wolfman) got much better, so I have to wonder if Byrne had a hand in the plotting as well.
Justice League of America. We’re right in the thick of the beloved Satellite era. Gerry Conway (perhaps my favorite writer of the original JLA series) and Dick Dillon. I know some people don’t care for Dillon’s work, but personally I am a big fan of his Justice League work. Plus, we get yet another awesome JLA/JSA team-up!!!
Legion of Super-Heroes. While not the Legion at its absolute peak, this is still a very strong era for the heroes from the 30th century. Primarily written by Gerry Conway and penciled by Joe Staton, but there are a few Paul Levitz issues in here, and he’s my all-time favorite Legion writer.
Marvel Two-in-One’s Project Pegasus story. I do think MTIO was the best of the team-up books, and classic stories like this are the reason why. Several issue in this were drawing by John Byrne, some by George Perez, and one by Frank Miller for good measure!
Amazing Spider-Man #200. I’m not a big Spidey fan, but this was an anniversary issue done right!
Tomb of Dracula. Well, up until August, 1979 cover date, anyway.
Batman. Primarily written by Len Wein and drawn by the underrated Irv Norvick. It’s not the O’Neil/Adams pinnacle, but it’s still some very good Dark Knight stuff! We also get a few Denny O’Neil penned stories in Detective Comics. Better yet, we get a couple of Detective Comics written and penciled by Jim Starlin!
Here are some other comics which, while not the absolute top examples of the medium, were still very god comics which just go to show how much good stuff was around in 1979.
The Corporation – This is a series of loosely connected stories with an evil behind the scenes group called the Corporation. It appeared in various marvel comics from 1976-79, including Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Machine Man, and Deadly Hand of Kung Fu. Nothing earth shattering here, just a nice little Marvel continuity thing.
The Brave and the Bold – Jim Aparo drawing Batman!
Roger McKenzie's Captain America.
Steven Grant's Defenders.
Cary Bates The Flash
Roger Stern/Sal Buscema Incredible Hulk.
The Invaders. I really enjoyed this series. Plus, by now. It was mostly Alan Kupperberg on art, instead of Frank Robbins, which is a big plus for me.
Star Wars. Not a fan of the Carmine Infantino art, but Archie Goodwin did an excellent job scripting this series.
Super Friends. Laugh if you will, but this series, written by E. Nelson Bridwell, was better than it had any right to be. I wasn’t a big fan of the Ramona Fradon art, though.
Roy Thomas Thor. It ended kinda ugly with his overlong, over-complicated, and self indulgent adaptation of Die Nibelungen, but it was a good ride up until then.
I’m sure I missed some stuff, but you get the idea.
