Oh, it is indeed neat, and Perez more than did the character justice. It's pretty much non-stop action, with punch-ups and things blowing up (so, among other things, a bunch of that famous Perez wreckage debris as well).

[div]Batman and the Outsiders #2[/div][/b][/div]

I had just started collecting comics at this point. FF #258 and X-Men #173 were the first issues of both titles I had ever read.

So this month I had:
Alpha Flight #3
Still committed to this title.

Avengers #236

After the FF crossover a bit earlier, I'd stopped reading Avengers, but then picked this one up because I was curious about this whole, "Is Spidey joining thing?"

Batman & Outsiders #3
Same as Alpha Flight, I was really interested in this.

Captain America Annual #7
...not really sure why I had this one, because at that point I'd stopped reading the monthly series; the story was all right I guess - I recall that it had something to do with the Cosmic Cube and the Aquarian (Wundarr) was a guest star.

Defenders #124

At this point, I hadn't picked up an issue of Defenders for almost 2 years; the cover and some of the hype about the "New Defenders," with X-men leftovers joining the team, piqued my curiosity. I didn't stick around for long, though.

Fantastic Four #259
Probably still my favorite monthly series.

Hawkeye #2
I see that I didn't mention this earlier, but yes, I was definitely all-in for this (suprisingly, I see that the first issue of the Falcon mini-series came out this month; for whatever reason, I never got it at the time - I only read it decades later - not really sure why I decided to skip it back then. It may have just been due to my overall waning interest in comics at the time.)

New Mutants #9
New Teen Titans #35
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10
X-men #175

...all four of these were also still must-buys for me.

Purchased in July 1983 :

Alpha Flight #3. Why wasn't I more thrilled by this title, considering that I was a big Byrne fan? Perhaps it was because I felt little emotional connection with the characters (I basically only cared for Mac and Heather at that point) and because the art seemed a bit rushed. Not rushed as in "the artist can't draw", but because it involved a lot of short-cuts that even budding artist me could spot immediately. Things like replacing a background that''s painstakingly long to render by cool-looking geometrical forms, for example.

Arak #26. Another nice bit of historical fiction, in which I learned more about Constantinople. Unbeknownst to this reader, however, the high point of the series was now in the past. A pity, to, as its concept was brilliant.

Batman #364, found at the local newsstand (a rare treat). That was during the excellentMoench-Newton-Alcala era, and although it involved a circus (I hate circuses) its ongoing development of Jason Todd as the next Robin was an enjoyable read.

Conan #151. For completists only, really.

Daredevil #200, or "we really have NO IDEA how to handle the character after Frank Miller was through with him". Hornhead basically undergoes a "back to the basics" epiphany, reflecting that he has been acting strangely recently (heck, in my opinion he underwent a severe nervous breakdown after the death of Elektra, but that was better written off than addressed, I suppose). This uninspired post-Miller reset is in sharp contrast to what Ann Nocenti would give us a few years down the line, after Miller's second stint; Ann took the ball and ran with it, with no setting back of the clock.

Doctor Strange #61. Doc and Co. are facing Dracula and trying to put an end to the curse of vampires everywhere. The story itself is pretty good, but is another step on the deconstruction road that Marvel had undertaken after Jean Grey's death... a road that would write off a lot of the things that made the Marvel Universe such an interesting place. In just a handful of years, we would witness the death of several interesting B-listers (Spider-Woman, Iron Fist and more), the destruction of the Savage Land, the Skrulls losing their shape-changing abilities, the destruction of the Helicarrier, the death of all of Rom's supporting cast, the destruction of S.H.I.E.L.D, etc, etc. As a kid, I loved to build castle out of blocks and then tear them down; but there's a limit to what you can tear down in a fictional universe before you don't have any cool toys to play with anymore. I'm not sure eliminating vampires was a good move; it's the kind of major development that gets undone eventually, hurting our willing suspension of disbelief.

Fantastic Four #259. I didn't much like Terrax/Tyros as a villain. On the other hand, I like the idea of a villain trying a certain plan for the second time, fixing what had gone wrong the first time around; Doom would do that here (trying to harness the power cosmic, but not using himself as a Guinea pig), and he'd do it again a few years later (shooting the Baxter Building up in space, but blowing it up at the first opportunity). Not that such recycled plans were always a good idea... I would personally have blown up the building right where it was). John Byrne was still heading a great FF run.

Indiana Jones #10, worth the price if only for the Chaykin cover. Chaykin should SO have been the artist on this series, inking himself (or aided by Terry Austin).

King Conan #19. Under a lovely Mike Kaluta cover, a tale of piracy, royal abduction, romance and swordplay. The dawn of a truly great run, and still by far the best Conan title at the time.

Legion of super-heroes #304, featuring the Legion academy. I didn't quite get the idea of the academy... If there was a school to train rookie superheroes that might someday join the ranks of the LSH, why was Jacques Foccart (not only a rookie, but someone who had never even considered becoming a superhero) been inducted right after his first appearance? Anyway. I assumed that Laurel Kent (first time I heard of her) was a descendent of Superman, which was cool, but I thought her outfit (a red poncho under which she didn't seem to wear anything) wasn't very practical. Nevertheless, this new series (to me) was a treasure-trove of discoveries and story possibilities, and I loved it.

New Mutants #9. Oy, vey, survivors of ancient Rome still living today as their ancestors had 2000 years ago. It didn't make much sense in Tarzan and the Lost Empire, and doesn't here either. Why would a splinter group from ancient Rome not evolve as a society over all those centuries? Even for people steeped in tradition, that's hard to swallow. 

Official Handbook of the MU #10 : presented by the letter S, as they say on Sesame Street.

Ronin #2. Not a fan. I had liked the medieval Japan bit in the first issue, but this loosely-rendered dystopian future world didn't do much for me.

Savage Sword of Conan #92. Full review here . That's the issue in which someone from the production line drew a cigarette in Conan's mouth (as a joke), complete with a little cloud of smoke, and forgot to remove it. The editor apologized in a later issue, saying that maybe Conan briefly decided to try smoking and didn't like it... but that you'd never, ever, ever see him smoke again.

Star Wars #76, another good issue set in between the second and third films. My favourite era in Star Wars, in all honesty, as I wasn't all that thrilled by Return of the Jedi and was decidedly underwhelmed by everything that came after. (Yes, you too, "Heir to the Empire", you predictable done-by-the-numbers sequel).

Return of the Jedi #1, first of four parts spreading the Marvel Super Special material by inserting new splash pages not drawn by the main artists here and there and adding pin-ups at the end. I wish Marvel had used six issues, as for its original Star Wars adaptation, and used a more decompressed approach. The way this format came across, the story felt condensed and padded at the same time.

X-Men #174. Ooooh, those tentalizing hints that Maddie Pryor might be Phoenix reborn! But with Mastermind on the cover, we sort of expected that it would be another illusion. I must admit I was a bit miffed at seeing Mastermind back. Not that he's a bad villain, but Chris Claremont tended to have villains die or be convincingly written out of the picture in a permanent-looking fashion only to reappear after a few months, good as new, with no explanation whatsoever. At first it's like "we don't need to tell you everything, dear reader... not everything is explained in real life" but after a while it's as if nobody even bothers to come up with rational explanations.

It really is quite good. Just the right mix of nostalgia, respect for the original concept, new ideas, and the illusion of change. Plus revoltin' developments that don't drag on for years.