December 1990

Aliens Vs. Predator #4
Cadillacs & Dinosaurs #4
Clive Barker's Hellraiser #5
Fantastic Four #349
Ghost Rider #10
Incredible Hulk #378
Legends of the Dark Knight #14
Mighty Thor #429
New Mutants #98
New Warriors #8
Robin #2
Sensational She-Hulk #24
Silver Surfer #46
Spider-Man #7
Wolverine #36

Lot o' stuff! I could have done without Elektra Lives Again....really wasn't worth the wait, in my opinion. Steed & Mrs Peel was awesome, as I wanted the real Avenegrs in comic form for a while. Maze Agency was always worth a wait, if there was one. hero Alliance was more than what you see on that cover; but, not a whole lot more. There was always a great concept straining to get out but never fully getting released. Way too much T & A to try to sell it to fanboys. It was more of a character-driven concept; but, the characters never really got fleshed out very well. LODK was Moench & Gulacy goodness and Fafhrd & Gray Mouser was Chaykin & PCR; you didn't get much better than that.

And Miracleman poked its head out. This is the Warhol/Dr Gargunza issue, where he has been revived by Mors and plots to escape the limitations of the pyramid basement.

On sale in December 1990

Aliens vs Predator #4 : concluding a fair but predictable story.

Books of Magic #2, with my favourite appearance of Zatana ever, and the absolutely most Constantine-ish scene with John Constantine that one could imagine. Neil Gaiman just got it. Beautiful art by Scott Hampton, too.

Cerebus #141

Conan the barbarian #241 : praise be to Crom, Roy Thomas is back and the book will once again be good, quickly rising to the ranks of each month's "must read first" list.

Daredevil #289

Elektra lives again HC: an interesting story by Frank Miller, finally closing the chapter on Elektra and Bullseye. The story, however, was simply ignored by later writers and is probably deemed apocryphal. (I enjoyed the fact that Matt Murdock, who is still the main character of the tale, never dons his scarlet costume).

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser #3 : still a brilliant little series.

Fantastic Four #349 : with a gratuitous cameo by the Punisher's logo, because this is the world's most collectible comic magazine!

Hellblazer #38

Iron Man #265 : I don't remember much about this issue, except that it's written by Byrne, drawn by Romita Jr. and that Stark wears a mullet.

Legion of superheroes #15 : all-out war with the Khunds, and many old characters die (a recurring theme in this new Legion book).

Master of Kung fu : bleeding black #1. As discussed in codystarbuck's thread on MoKF, this seems to have been a series of chapters meant for Marvel Comics Present, all presented at once. I was glad to see Chi address the problem of his dying, and to see him return to his earlier, more philosophical ways. This story made a lot more sense that the one that had appeared earlier in MCP. The art by Gene Day's brothers, Dan and David, evoked that of the much-missed artist who redefined MoKF at the end of its original run.

The Nazz #2 : It's not as smart a comic as it seems to think it is. Mostly violence and sex with some mysticism thrown in. But the general sense of uneasiness and unwholesomeness it brings with it would make David Lynch proud.

Nick Fury, agent of SHIELD #20 : a renewed storyline and the art of Jackson Guice helped make SHIELD one of my "must have" books of that era.

Silver Surfer #46 : I had been a big fan of Starlin's Warlock, and thought that the Magus saga had been one of the best stories from Marvel, ever (still do), but reintroducing first Thanos and now Warlock as active characters didn't strike me as a good idea (still doesn't, billions of dollars in MCU money notwithstanding).

Uncanny X-Men #273 : Yay! The X-Men are really back as characters, and are now going on a space adventure! I loved the art by Jim Lee.

X-Factor #63 : the art by Whilce Portacio made me overlook the so-so story.

Bought in January 1991:

Action Comics #662. I was never a Superman fan, but the issue in which Lois Lane finally finds out who Clark Kent is? I’m there!!!

Books of Magic #3, with lovely Charles Vess art accompanying the excellent Neil Gaiman story. Exploring the mystic realms of the DC universe!

Cerebus #142, chronicling more of the last days of Oscar Wilde (or his Estarcion stand-in).

Conan the barbarian #242 : more of the return of Roy Thomas to the title he made famous! Too bad about Red Sonja returning to her ridiculous iron bikini, but at least we have a lovely Jim Lee cover.

Daredevil #290 : DD vs Bullseye, again… but who’s in whose costume?

Fantastic Four #350 : a friend had told me that Walt Simonson’s FF was excellent, something I do not doubt… but I didn’t follow it. However, seeing how Ben got back to his “normal” rocky self instead of his starfish look seemed important enough to buy the issue. Oh, and we also learn that most of Dr. Doom’s appearances since the early Lee-Kirby days had actually featured Doombots. (Eyuchhh).

Hellblazer #39, with John Constantine spending more time contemplating his navel, in utter misery.

Legends of the Dark Knight #15. I bought it for the Gulacy art. I don’t much remember the story.

Legion of Super-heroes #16 : WAR!!! I really liked Laurel Gand as a statuesque stand-in for the Crisis-erased Supergirl.

Marvel Comics Presents #72 : Barry Smith gives us what would become the official origin of Wolverine (until it would be retcon-tweaked), complete with “natural” bone claws. Love BWS’s art as I do, I didn’t much like the Weapon X story, and I much preferred the heretofore-accepted (though unofficial) explanation that Logan’s claws were purely mechanical, and grafted to his adamantium-laced skeleton. Still… Gorgeous art.

The Nazz #3 : I would stay until the end, but it wasn’t that good, alas.

New Mutants #99 : gotta buy those Liefeld issues! They’re an investment, I tell ya!

Nexus #80 : oddly enough, I came to Nexus after Steve Rude left. I’ve since obtained a large percentage of the previous issues (brilliant suff!), but could read the end of Dark Horse’s run without the impression that the series wasn’t as good as it had been. And it was pretty good!

Nick Fury, agent of SHIELD #21 : the Jackson Guice neo-Steranko and neo-Colan approaches really worked for me.

Sandman #23 and 24 : absolute classics.

Swamp Thing #104 and 105 : Mike Hoffman was the wrong choice for Swampy, Wheeler’s story about fungal life coming from outer space made no sense, and the crisis between the Green and the Grey felt pretty contrived.

Uncanny X-Men #274 : the mag was back to my “must read first” list, after a looooooong time.

X-Factor #64 : nice art, but I very much doubt that the Japanese live as they did in the XIXth century.

Oh man! Usually, I'm too young to be able to contribute to these threads with nostalgia, having first experienced most classic comics as an adult, but I was THERE for these, and I sure remember my excitement! This was arguably the very month that I transitioned from clinging to a few favorite franchises (Superman, Batman, Spidey, New Titans) and becoming a true fan of the wider genre.

Action Comics #662: I bought six copies of this one and still have them. Clark reveals his secret to Lois!

Adventures of Superman #475

Adventures of Superman #476. I liked this one a lot more as an adolescent than I do as an adult.

Wish I owned Amazing Heroes #187! I'd never seen that cover until this very moment. If my LCS had carried the mag, I'm positive I would have bought it!

Amazing Spider-Man #345

Batman #460

Darkhawk #1 (my soon-to-be step son is currently getting into this series, and I'm planning to pass this one along to him)

Demon #9. Got rid of this run a long while back, and I'm wondering if it's time to reacquire it.

Detective Comics #626

Doctor Fate #25. I was in total awe when this one came out, but I quickly lost interest in the new direction.

Green Lantern #10. This was the point where I totally lost interest in the run. I was a fan of Hal Jordan (as depicted on the Super-Friends), and this Guy Gardner dude clearly wasn't him.

Though I was a HUGE fan of Jughead's Diner, my LCS never had any issues after #4. It wasn't until I was an adult and had Crimebuster to help me that I finally tracked these later issues down.

Legends of the Dark Knight #15. I had a subscription cuz it was Batman, but I really really didn't appreciate this title. In hindsight, while I still don't appreciate the title overall, Prey was a hell of a storyline!

Was I the only kid in America who didn't buy Marvel Comics Presents #72 and the issues that followed? Everyone else was so excited about uncovering Wolverine's origin. I was into the classic X-Men stuff and couldn't even explain to myself back then why someone who wasn't Claremont handling Wolverine felt inauthentic to me.

New Mutants #99. Technically, I didn't go back and buy this one until a month later, when I first became an X-Men fan.

New Titans #74. I really didn't like the shake-up that was happening with the title. From what I hear, it actually ended up being pretty good, but I dropped out an issue or two after this.

Dear God! How did I miss out on NFL Super-Pro Special Edition #1??

Robin #3. I was so excited to see Tim Drake finally become Robin but, even as a kid, I kind of knew this series sucked. Still, I bought them all, and I went on to buy every variant cover for Robin II: The Joker's Wild the following year.

I'm not sure when I stopped buying Groo, but it must have been prior to this month's #75.

Spider-Man #8. I think I knew I wasn't enjoying this run, but I was sure having fun collecting a title from issue #1 up. It helped that the covers were cool.

Superboy #14. I used a coupon out of the first issue to get a subscription. This was probably the final issue of that subscription. I was truly bored by the run, but I liked the TV series and the free poster I got for my wall!

Superman #53.

X-Men #274. I bought this one a few months later, having started reading X-Men with #275.

If only Usagi Yojimbo had been carried by my LCS. It would be several more months before I'd discover a few stray back issues at another LCS, and a full decade before I'd acquire this and all the other issues I'd missed from this run.

X-Men Classic #57. I don't recall why I picked up this issue, but it was the one that made me into an X-Men fan. It narrowly missed the list of ten comics that made me the collector I am in my Origin Story with Crimebuster.

I was starting my final semester at university in Jan '91, and starting my semester of student-teaching and didn't have a pull list at the time, but was picking up a few books off the racks when I could get to one of the comic shops in Boston. Memories are fuzzy, as after I graduated, I used some of the gift money to catch up on a lot of books that came out that last semester, so there is some doubt what I got off the stands when it came out and what I picked up in the catching up period, but I do remember keeping up with the following:

Books of Magic #3
Sandman 23
Sandman 24

and maybe Doom Patrol 41 and 42-I know I discovered it a couple issues into Morrison's run and tried to keep up with it, but there was a gap of a few months I couldn't find issues off the racks and caught up later, but I think it was later in the semester.

-M