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Post by james on Dec 30, 2021 16:17:12 GMT -5
It occurred to me, as I was reading some current books, that I can’t remember the last time a final page of a comic just got me excited for the next issue. So I figured I’d ask what is everyone’s favorite final page that got them excited for the next issue? Here is mine: X-men 132. Byrne’s Wolverine is still unmatched.  |
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Post by james on Dec 30, 2021 16:31:05 GMT -5
Or this Cap 253  |
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Post by tolworthy on Dec 30, 2021 16:54:25 GMT -5
This isn't the last page, but it gives a better idea of the cliffhanger. The Thing (1983) #35. This had the cliffhanger that I was most excited about. In hindsight, it's because I didn't pay attention to the story. But I remember at the time being very moved and impressed by this story. In my mind, it was a hugely important story: it finally shows the real world downside of having powers - all the times that getting powers went wrong. We learn that a whole lot of people with powers need tablets and get painful side effects: you are basically pushing your body way past what it was designed to do. This story really hit me, like a revelation. I was sixteen and wanted stories to be serious!  It ends with Sharon realising the harsh reality of what it means to get powers - basically pain and drugs and entering a dark underworld, and Ben resolves to help her. I could not wait for the next issue!  Now in hindsight I was just not paying attention. The failed experiments were real, but were basically forgotten after this story. And the pain was not really a side effect of the powers, but the bad guy was just drugging his people: take away the drugs, and the powers are fine. So this story was not about the dark side of having power, I just didn't read it carefully enough. I remember being very disappointed in the next issue, because it was kind of "with one leap our hero was free". I held out some hope that it would still go super dark and emotional (I was sixteen, remember). Because the next issue is where Ben mutates. But that was another disappointment (to me). It was presented as this very important and meaningful thing, especially in the Barry Windsor Smith pages of triple sized FF 296 that continue the story. But after that Ben was fine, and more powerful than ever, and enjoying life more than ever. So the Thing #35 was the best cliff-hanger I ever read. But all because I was a self obsessed teenager who didn't pay attention and had created a different story in my head. I live in my own little world... |
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Post by kirby101 on Dec 30, 2021 17:03:09 GMT -5
Thor #219. Read this in college, even passed it around because the last page was such a mind blower. Thor in outer space, gets pulled onto a planet with an enormous snake like thing. And we need a second to see the scale of things. The conclusion didn't live up to this panel, but it still was a great cliffhanger.  |
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Post by badwolf on Dec 30, 2021 17:14:51 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #234:  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2021 17:25:56 GMT -5
That Punisher issue where he got plastic surgery and was turned into a black man.
I read it years after it was originally published and my source had just about every issue EXCEPT the sequel issue...
So it was a cliffhanger for quite some time.
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Post by kirby101 on Dec 30, 2021 17:52:25 GMT -5
Can't find an image to post, but the last page of Amazing Spider-man #32 certainly came through in issue #33.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 30, 2021 17:55:00 GMT -5
Foreshadowing.....  Foreboding....  Hope....  Fear....  The end?  |
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 30, 2021 18:05:10 GMT -5
This was a long cliffhanger, from New Gods #11, until the Baxter series and the publishing of "Armagetto"...  Then, the set up for Hunger Dogs......   |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2021 19:32:16 GMT -5
Great pages, guys.
Wish I could offer some British comic pages here, but despite my best efforts tonight (phrasing it so many ways), I cannot seem to find cliffhanger pages for the likes of EAGLE, MASK, etc. Hopefully I will at some point, as showing is better than explaining.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2021 21:02:39 GMT -5
This shocking moment on the last page of Ambush Bug #1 still haunts me to this day. Didn't see this one coming.  |
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Post by tarkintino on Dec 31, 2021 7:48:01 GMT -5
Captain America #111 (March, 1969). One of the most troubled of Marvel's roster seemingly let himself become the victim of Hydra's bullets, while the gripping, yet disparate reactions from the witnesses only made any follow-up a "must read" comic.  The Amazing Spider-Man #121 (June, 1973). The creative team and title at one of the peaks in Marvel history, delivering an unimaginable tragedy to two of the publisher's most innocent characters. No one saw this coming, and few would ever consider missing what was to come.  The Amazing Spider-Man #135 (August, 1974). The spectre of TASM #121-122 was a springboard for so much growing tension on top of the hero's melancholic behavior, so the idea that his former best friend not only learned his secret, but was ready to dig into a wound that had not healed (at that time) was yet another in a long lime of great TASM cliffhangers. 
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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 31, 2021 8:00:05 GMT -5
I think cliffhangers are overrated, on TV as well as in comics, but I must admit that several of those cited above ae pretty darn good.
Cei-U!
I summon this contrarian's concession!
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Post by MDG on Dec 31, 2021 9:07:32 GMT -5
Re-reading Claremont's x-men, he knew how to do cliffhanger endings so the reader had a real "gotta get the next issue" rush. But in the next issue, the cliffhanger was usually resolved pretty quickly and he just kept thinks moving to the next one.
The two cliffhangers I remember most from growing up were both from the Superman Virus X storyline, The first was from Action 363 when Superman, dressed as Clark, was caught in the office by Lois who'd see Clark infected w/ the virus. Then in 365, he was headed in is coffin into the sun and his last line was "In another second I'll be a pinch of cosmic dust."
I didn;t have a chance to buy 366 for almost 10 years to see how that worked out.
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Post by badwolf on Dec 31, 2021 11:58:29 GMT -5
I couldn't find a color version of this online, but here is the end of Captain America #228. I got this issue as a kid (one of my first comics I think) but didn't get to read the next one for a few decades...  As you might guess, Cap's shield protected them. |
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It ends with Sharon realising the harsh reality of what it means to get powers - basically pain and drugs and entering a dark underworld, and Ben resolves to help her. I could not wait for the next issue!
