shaxper
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Posts: 22,701
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Post by shaxper on Sept 4, 2018 9:34:33 GMT -5
I was reflecting, just now, on how I largely haven't followed mainstream comics since the 1990s, and wondering what (if anything) I had missed. This got me thinking. I'm curious what everyone's "must read" books are for each decade -- not your favorite books, nor even necessarily the best books, but the individual issues and runs that every comic reader should be sure to experience.
My initial thoughts on this:
1930s:
- At least one early Superman story, preferably the one where he makes the warring dictators fight out the war themselves (what issue was that?).
- some pre-comic book pulp adventures -- The Shadow, Doc Savage, Fu Manchu, Conan, Lovecraft...something. Experience the genre that inspired the medium.
1940s:
- Batman #1 to see a darker, Golden Age Batman lynch a monster, as well as the original death of The Joker.
- Barks Four Color duck adventures. They're not just amazing; there's truly nothing else like them.
- Some Fawcett Marvel family material. Such an odd, but brilliant mix of powerful and intentionally kitsch/absurd that was such a mainstay fixture at the time.
1950s:
- some Atom Age horror, preferably from E.C.
- Weisinger Era Superman Family.
- "Old Look" Batman. I think every fan should see just HOW ridiculous the superhero genre can get, both because it's hilarious and because it's sometimes a lot more fun than you might expect.
1960s:
- Fantastic Four. The new take on superheroes that saved the genre and launched a universe, as well as some intense world-building and innovative Kirby concepts in the later issues.
- Brother Power The Geek. Yes, it's the grand-daddy of all CCF in-jokes, but it's also an illustration of just how weird Silver Age DC could get while it was looking for new ways to reach audiences.
1970s:
- Green Lantern / Green Arrow. Superheroes get socially relevant and start taking on real issues.
- Death of Gwen Stacey. The first comic book death that really mattered.
- The Kree/Skrull War. Superhero comics begin evolving into dense continuities with lasting repercussions.
- Some Marvel black and white mags. Such rich content and innovation jammed into these volumes.
- A warren horror mag or three.
- The first Thanos Saga. Incredibly good and incredibly imaginative. I think the superhero genre is still struggling to outdo this.
- A Contract with God. Arguably the first graphic novel. Certainly one of the first to use the comic book medium to tell a compelling and unforgettable series of real-world stories.
1980s:
- Grendel: Devil by the Deed. The first truly mature/sophisticated comic book that I am aware of, and still one of the best.
- Usagi Yojimbo: Samurai. I still feel this is a work everyone should be reading, and this is where the series first becomes amazing.
- Cerebus: High Society. True innovations of the comic book medium, as well as a compelling narrative.
- Batman: Death in the Family. Considering what a mega impact the Batman franchise had on the mainstream culture in 1989 up through the 2000s, it's probably necessary to read the story that was the beginning point for so much of that Batman's anti-hero persona (and no, I don't think Frank Miller can claim as direct an influence).
1990s:
- Unity. The Valiant Universe was a powerful presence and agitator of the comic book industry. This mega event is a solid sampling of all that Valiant was at the time, both good and bad.
- Sandman. It's just that amazing.
- The X-Cutioner's Song. I'll catch a lot of flack for this one, but if you want a complete snapshot of the best and worst of the X-Men franchise that dominated the mainstream in the 1990s, you'll find it all in this mega event that revels in fifteen years worth of back continuity and an impressively inflated cast of characters and licensed spin-off franchises.
Beyond that, I mostly stopped reading comics, so I can't comment on the late 1990s nor after.
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Post by badwolf on Sept 4, 2018 10:01:38 GMT -5
For the 90s, I'd recommend James Robinson's Starman. Like The Sandman (and at about the same length), this series tells a complete story from beginning to end, while also featuring smaller story arcs within. While the rest of the superhero books were going all eXtReMe, Starman contained real, deep human personalities and emotions. Like many people I moved away from the genre during this time, and missed this series first time round. I recently finished reading it in the omnibus format and am glad I did.
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Post by MDG on Sept 4, 2018 10:46:49 GMT -5
For the '40s, I'd add some Captain Marvel, Biro's work on Daredevil/Little Wise Guys, and The Spirit Sunday sections.
For the 50s, some pre-code crime and romance + non-EC horror and SF to show the range in quality and why Wertham's argument carried so much weight. And definitely MAD. (Maybe just a little bit of post-code romance and westerns to make it clear what was lost w/ the code--if the Weisinger Supermans don't make that clear.)
60s: A smattering of Archies; Goodwin-era Warren's; late-silver/early bronze DCs, esp. short-lived things like Bat Lash and Secret Six.
70s: Undergrounds (basically from '70-74), Arcade Magazine
80s: RAW, American Flagg, Journey, Jonny Quest, Rosa Ducks, Love & Rockets
90s: Eightball, Optic Nerve
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,701
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Post by shaxper on Sept 4, 2018 10:50:14 GMT -5
First I've heard of any of these. What am I missing? |
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Post by badwolf on Sept 4, 2018 12:08:55 GMT -5
I loved Optic Nerve! It's a poignant slice of life comic.
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 4, 2018 12:47:34 GMT -5
First I've heard of any of these. What am I missing? Journey is William Messner-Loebs' stories of mountain man Wolverine McAllister. It's set in the Michigan frontier and is just a really great character piece and historical adventure. Loebs was very much of the Will Eisner school on his art and even, to an extent, in his writing. His work here was critically acclaimed and helped lead to working at DC. Jonny Quest was Comico's continuation of the adventures of the cartoon character. It coincided with a new Jonny Quest series, in syndication; but, did not adapt the episodes. Instead, a variety of talent worked on individual stories of the Quest team. Creator Doug Wildey did some, as did Steve Rude, Marc Hempel & Mark Wheatley (who were a semi-regular team, on the series), Adam Kubert (the Jezebel Jade mini-series), Dave Stevens (covers), Wendy Pini, Joe Staton, Bill Sienkiewicz (cover), Ken Steacy, Dan Spiegle, Tom Yeates, Sam Kieth, Steve Leialoha, Al Williamson and more. William Messner-Loebs crafted most of the scripts, creating compelling adventures and expanding the characterization of the characters. he had one story told from Bandit's point of view, another was a comedic tale, seen from the eye of a video camera, recording for a time capsule. One deals with the death of Jonny's mother and the arrival of Race Bannon. In just a few short pages, Messner-Loebs made you fall in love with Mrs Quest and mourn her passing, with Jonny and Dr Quest. Another showed what Dr Quest brought to the team, besides scientific knowledge, as he defeats a group of kidnappers, with a garden hose spray nozzle! Optic Nerve was from Drawn & Quarterly and was one of the best alternative comics of the 90s. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 4, 2018 13:04:04 GMT -5
For the 30s, I would say the classic comic strips of the era, which influenced the comic book stories that followed: Terry & the Pirates, Tarzan, Prince Valiant, Wash Tubbs, Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie. Then, the early Superman stories, to see how different he was from the later ones, yet still the same kind of idealized hero.
40s- The Marvel Family, Batman, The Spirit, Plastic Man, Archie, Jingle Jangle Comics, Blackhawk, Walt Disney Comics & Stories.
50s-Uncle Scrooge, the EC stuff, Tor, early Richie Rich, Ditko horror and sci-fi
60s-The usual suspects; Gold Key adventure comics, especially Turok and Magnus and Space Family Robinson; the Warens
70s-usual, plus Star*Reach, Heavy Metal
80s-American Flagg, Jon Sable, Elfquest, Cerebus, Love & Rockets, Grendel, Neil the Horse; European stuff from Catalan and NBM
90s-Epicurus the Sage, Starman, Astro City, Negative Burn, Hellboy, Hate, Cud/Eno & Plum, Eightball, American Century, Sandman, Strangers in Paradise
2000s-I don't know, that's when I was pulling back from most comics. More independent stuff, than anything else.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2018 13:46:22 GMT -5
1930's
Dick Tracy, Popeye the Sailor Man, New Fun Comics, Detective Comics (Batman), Action Comics (Superman), and The Human Torch & Namor, The Sub-Mariner rivalry.
1940's
All-Star Comics - JSA, Captain America, Batman and Green (Alan Scott) Lantern, Wonder Woman, Police Comics #1 -- Introduction to Plastic Man, All Winners Squad (My favorite), and fell in love with Blonde Phantom.
1950's
Adventure in Mystery (Marvel), Police Action (Marvel), Journey to Mystery (Marvel), Strange Tales (Marvel), Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman -- to me they were my DC Trinity, and later on JSA, and then in 1959 -- Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish came to play with Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, and others followed.
1960's
Fantastic Four, Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Justice League of America, Uncanny X-Men, Strange Tales (Marvel), Daredevil, and the debut of Batgirl -- that captured my fancy in Detective Comics #359. The 60's were more into Marvel than DC -- because of the Fantastic Four and X-Men. Juggernaut was the main reason that i started reading the X-Men and the Justice League of America became a force in the 60's. The Master Planner Saga was incredible.
1970's
Spiderman -- The Death of Gwen Stacy hit me like a ton of bricks and started exploring around and read when I can and because of school and college -- I did not read much.
1980's and 1990's
Batman: Death in the Family -- the only thing that I really read back then along with WildCATS and IMAGE Comics Too busy with College and Career.
2000 and beyond
With Shaxper's insights -- Read T.H.U.N.D.E.R and Confesor's insights -- Tintin and started reading more DC Archives and Marvel Masterworks. Dynamite Comics became my favorite Publisher.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2018 16:03:46 GMT -5
It isn't explicitly stated, but I will limit must reads to comics and genre fiction, not general fiction. Standard caveats apply, I only include works I am familiar with, which will skew results, and my definition of must read is one that either established or clarified the genre or medium, one that informed my view (or the general perception) of the genre/medium or medium, or is a cornerstone work that defines what the genre or medium can do. They are touch points that I (or others) refer back to and use as standards of comparison when discussing comics or genre fiction. Some may be overlooked gems that provide a look in microcosm what can be done in the macrocosm of comics and genre fiction as a whole but haven't gotten enough exposure to be as influential as they could be. And then there are the limits of my memory as I likely forgot or overlooked stuff that should be included.
1930s
Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon
Weird Tales edited by Farnsworth Wright (includes a large chunk of the Lovecraft, Howard, Clark Ashton Smith etc. stuff)
Amazing Stories & Astounding Science Fiction
Action Comics #1-20 featuring Superman by Siegel & Shuster
Detective Comics #27-37 (the last couple were released early 1940)
Terry & the Pirates by Milton Caniff
1940s
Captain America by Simon & Kirby
Raymond Chandler
Orwell's 1984
Carl Barks' Ducks
Herge's Tintin
Will Eisner's The Spirit
Lee Falk's The Phantom
1950s
Tales from the Crypt
Weird Science
Faranheit 451 by Bradbury
Asimov & Heinlein's output
Peanuts by Charles Schultz
The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
The Flash in Showcase and #105-110
1960s
Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Fantastic Four #36-93
Strange Tales 110-146
Amazing Spider-Man 1-38, Annual 1 & 2 & Amazing Fantasy 15
Dune by Frank Herbert
Corto Maltese by Hugo Pratt
Creepy 1-30
Eerie 2-24
1970s
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
A Contract with God by Will Eisner
Gil Kane's Blackmark
Trudeau's Doonsbury
Barefoot Gen
Swamp Thing #1-10 by Wein & Wrightson
Giant Size X-Men #1, X-Men #94-130
Heavy Metal 1-33
Starlin's Thanos saga
Elfquest by Wendy & Richard Pini
Batman by O'Neill/Adams and Englehart/Rogers
Manhunter by Goodwin/Simonson
1980s
Incal by Jodorowsky & Moebius
X-Men 131-150
Miller's Daredevil
Moore's Swamp Thing
Neuromancer by William Gibson
Bloom County by Berkeley Breathed
Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Gaiman's Sandman
Epic Illustrated 1-34
The Price by Jim Starlin
Dreadstar #1-24
Maus by art spiegleman
Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai
Wonder Woman by George Perez
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright by Bryan Talbot
Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd
Thor by Walt Simonson
Alien by Goodwin/Simonson
1990s
Bone by Jeff Smith
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud
Fax from Sarajevo by Joe Kubert
Hicksville by Dylan Horrocks
Castle Waiting by Linda Medley
Planetary by Warren Ellis
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling
A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
Stardust by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess
Black Panther by Christopher Priest
Astro City by Kurt Busiek, Brent Anderson & Alex Ross
Good Omens & Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Palastine by Joe Sacco
Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore
Starman by James Robinson & others
Spectre by John Ostrander & Tom Mandrake
Finder by Carla Speed McNeil
Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot
2000-present
Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco
DC: A New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
Criminal by Ed Brubaker & Sean Phillips
Saga by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
March Books One through Three by John Lewis & others
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
-M
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Post by chaykinstevens on Sept 4, 2018 16:32:30 GMT -5
At least one early Superman story, preferably the one where he makes the warring dictators fight out the war themselves (what issue was that?). Action Comics #2 |
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Post by chadwilliam on Sept 4, 2018 23:22:50 GMT -5
Here are the first five years in my work in progress list:
1938
Action Comics 1 - 1st Superman; 1st Lois Lane.
1939
Action Comics 13 - 1st Ultra-Humanite and therefore first major foe of Superman. In fact, the Humanite even harkens back to Superman's origins when Siegel and Shuster conceived him as a bad guy. This might explain the similarity between the two names: Ultra/Super, Humanite/Man. Also; a proto Luthor.
Action Comics 23/Superman 4 - Although AC 23 is Luthor's first appearance, I'd single out Superman 4 as the better of the two stories. Luthor challenges Superman to a battle of brain vs brawn in which the scientist claims he can duplicate any of the Man of Steel's feats through his inventions. You also get to sample Superman as a bit of a roughneck - "Isn't it about time I began testing your limits? Let's see... how about I toss you against this plane and see what cracks first - the metal or your skull."
Superman 1 - Reprints the first six or so issues of Action Comics so you get his debut plus the one where he forces the heads of two warring factions to fight and more.
Detective 29. Batman vs Dr Death. Third Bat-Man appearance but the first one where everything clicks - slam bang action from page to page, first major foe and someone who intentionally seeks out to match wits with the Caped Crusader, first indication that Bat-Man had a slew of gadgets at his disposal (in this case, suction cups and smoke pellets), first time Bat-Man gets shot, a nice fiery finale, classic moments - "Your choice gentlemen, tell me or I'll kill you", and some surprisingly nice Bob Kane artwork (most notably when Bat-Man is silhouetted against the room he's about to discover two gunmen hiding in).
Adventure Comics 40. First Sandman (unless World's Fair 1 predates it). A human based hero introduced too early to be a Batman rip-off and perhaps out of all the superheroes who came out of the Golden Age of Comics, the one with the most pulpish feel.
Marvel Comics 1 - First Marvel Comic, first Submariner (well, a movie theatre giveaway beat this issue to the punch, but it contains the same story), first Human Torch.
Mystery Men Comics 1-4 - Earliest appearances of The Blue Beetle. Fox's biggest hero and the first several issues give you an idea of how much was being made up on the go. He starts off as a Green Hornet knockoff, and has a new costume for the next two appearances, and by issue four has a close approximation to what he'd end up with. By sampling these first four tales back to back, you get to see how much of the early Golden Age was determined through trial and error, revisits to the drawing board, and just throwing whatever they could think of at any given moment and putting it on the page.
1940
Detective Comics 38 - First Robin. First boy sidekick (unless you count Junior Tracey in the Dick Tracey newspaper strip).
Batman 1 - First and Second Joker; First Catwoman; Batman's origin retold; a nice Hugo Strange tale prepared prior to the introduction of Robin which should give you an idea of what a solo Batman was like.
Reg'lar Fella 1 - First Hydro-Man, early Bill Everett. I don't think history should be written by the winners and this is a nice sample of something that isn't DC or Marvel (or Quality or Fawcett for that matter). Fast paced storytelling where the reader's catching his breath by the sixth panel and yet the hero's girlfriend adds a nice touch of sanity to the bizarre proceedings. "What if I wear this old costume ball outfit as a disguise and fight crime?" "I think you're crazy!". "What's that? Bob's just been turned into a puddle of water but is still alive? Let me finish my breakfast and I'll be right over!" "Am I the only one who finds this completely unbelievable?!?"
Prize Comics 7 - Dick Briefer's first Frankenstein run begins. A nice sample of the what the Golden Age was like in its nascent form. It gives you an idea of how grotesque the medium could be when no seemed quite sure if superheroes were the only genre that could succeed. His monster looks like a badly stitched together hound dog with salivating tongue and all with the brain of a sadist.
Smash Comics 14 - First Ray. To be honest, I'm sort of picking The Ray at random here. I just think you can't go through the Golden Age without getting at least one story drawn by Lou Fine. The man was a diva.
1941
Police Comics 1 - First Plastic Man, Jack Cole. Closest we've gotten to what a MAD magazine superhero would have looked like. A great introductory tale that shouldn't be overlooked by the masterpiece that is Cole's run when he really got a feel for the strip.
Captain America 1 - First Captain America and Bucky; Simon and Kirby.
Captain America 3 - First work of Stan Lee though it's all text; first Red Skull though the character took some reworking to become the infamous legend he would soon become.
1942
Boy Comics 3 - First Chuck Chandler/Crimebuster. Lev Gleason really put a lot of care into their stories and it shows. The emotions feel real and the bad guys are sadists, there's no softening of the brutality here or any hint that emotional scars won't run deep for a long time in this tale. The way Chuck Chandler nearly loses his father after an assassination attempt only to actually lose him on the operating table when it seems like he's sure to recover really screws with your emotions. Lock Jaw is a great villain whose lower jaw is a steel plate sharpened to a fine point so he can earn those terrifying reports of him having bitten off a man's arm just to make a name for himself. He's unique and therefore stands out, but enough within the realm of possibility that one doesn't feel confident he couldn't be outside your window at this very moment. And Chandler has a pet monkey - not for comic relief, but simply because with his mother and father brutally murdered, he has nothing else. Thoughtful, provoking storytelling.
Superman 17 - For two stories. "Man or Superman?" - first time Lois Lane suspects Clark Kent of being Superman. Don't confuse Lois attempting to look behind Superman's disguise here with those often tedious, insulting stories from the Silver Age - this isn't Lois the Pest attempting to trick Superman into marrying her for the 734th time - this is Lois Lane the investigative journalist who doesn't take kindly to anyone attempting to pull the wool over her eyes. Lois started off as the champion Metropolis would have had had Superman never arrived upon the scene. Smart, brave, and fiercely moral especially when it came to helping the underdog, Lois was the one person in Metropolis willing to wade into a room full of gunman without super abilities. She was Superman's equal and she deserved to catch on to his ruse. Here she does not because she's nosey, but because she's tenacious and smart.
"When Titans Clash" - a powerful Luthor story which opens with the criminal scientist being electrocuted in the chair. Things only get more interesting from there as Luthor acquires a stone which makes him Superman's physical equal. An epic Superman/Luthor clash.
Superman 19 - "Superman - Matinee Idol!" Anyone who thinks you need to depower Superman to make him interesting doesn't get the character. Clark Kent and Lois Lane spend this entire tale in a movie theatre watching one of the Superman Fleischer cartoons perplexed as to just what the 'Superman' and 'Action Comics' referenced on the screen are and what's with all the animated references to The Daily Planet, Lois Lane, and Clark Kent. And why is animated Clark Kent heading to that store room, uh oh, better think fast real Clark...
All Star Comics 8 - First Wonder Woman; nice example of The Justice Society. I didn't include All Star 3 on this list, because while it does indeed boast the first appearance of the JSA, at this time (and in this issue as well) the team existed simply to sit around and tell stories of their individual exploits. Nothing wrong with that, but since this issue includes a nice overview of what was going on early in the careers of The Flash, Green Lantern, The Spectre, Dr Fate, etc and features the introduction of Wonder Woman, I thought I'd single this one out.
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 5, 2018 7:18:58 GMT -5
Interesting choices, but I would modify your list a bit with a few additions... 1960s: - Fantastic Four. The new take on superheroes that saved the genre and launched a universe, as well as some intense world-building and innovative Kirby concepts in the later issues. - Brother Power The Geek. Yes, it's the grand-daddy of all CCF in-jokes, but it's also an illustration of just how weird Silver Age DC could get while it was looking for new ways to reach audiences. 1970s: - Green Lantern / Green Arrow. Superheroes get socially relevant and start taking on real issues. - Death of Gwen Stacey. The first comic book death that really mattered. - The Kree/Skrull War. Superhero comics begin evolving into dense continuities with lasting repercussions. - Some Marvel black and white mags. Such rich content and innovation jammed into these volumes. - A warren horror mag or three. - The first Thanos Saga. Incredibly good and incredibly imaginative. I think the superhero genre is still struggling to outdo this. - A Contract with God. Arguably the first graphic novel. Certainly one of the first to use the comic book medium to tell a compelling and unforgettable series of real-world stories. - Grendel: Devil by the Deed. The first truly mature/sophisticated comic book that I am aware of, and still one of the best. - Usagi Yojimbo: Samurai. I still feel this is a work everyone should be reading, and this is where the series first becomes amazing. - Cerebus: High Society. True innovations of the comic book medium, as well as a compelling narrative. - Batman: Death in the Family. Considering what a mega impact the Batman franchise had on the mainstream culture in 1989 up through the 2000s, it's probably necessary to read the story that was the beginning point for so much of that Batman's anti-hero persona (and no, I don't think Frank Miller can claim as direct an influence). 1990s: - Unity. The Valiant Universe was a powerful presence and agitator of the comic book industry. This mega event is a solid sampling of all that Valiant was at the time, both good and bad. - Sandman. It's just that amazing. - The X-Cutioner's Song. I'll catch a lot of flack for this one, but if you want a complete snapshot of the best and worst of the X-Men franchise that dominated the mainstream in the 1990s, you'll find it all in this mega event that revels in fifteen years worth of back continuity and an impressively inflated cast of characters and licensed spin-off franchises. Beyond that, I mostly stopped reading comics, so I can't comment on the late 1990s nor after. 1960s-- Irv Novick and Frank Robbins' run on Batman: it was the return to Batman being a serious detective with the darkest Bat-stories of the decade, truly removing any guilt-by-association with the 1966-68 TV live action series. The Amazing Spider-Man: The most important character created in the decade, and one who went from popular to phenomenon, particularly with the start of the John Romita era (which also elevated the Green Goblin into Spider-Man's most important villain, arguably one of the top two at Marvel). By that time, the creative output was leaving most of the Marvel roster in the rear view mirror. Warren's horror comics--picking up where EC left off, Eerie and Creepy not only pushed the horror comic genre to new heights (and utilizing some comics' great artists at the top of their game for covers and interiors), but created a model so popular, that other publishers--including Marvel & Charlton--jumped on the bandwagon, but never matched what Warren had established. 1970s-- Batman: the Adams/O'Neil run. Picking up where Robbins and Novick left off, Batman was the Darknight Detective with a series of stories that still define the best of the character to this day--yes, more than Miller's work. You mentioned the Gwen Stacy storyline, but I would add most of ASM from 1970 to 1975; granted, after the Stacy/Green Goblin deaths, some plots to follow referenced that (Warren/Jackal/clones/Harry), but Spider-Man/Parker--who already matured by the end of the 60s, had taken on a greater sense of the price of adulthood with so many of the stories written in this period, continuing the golden age of the character. 1980s-- The New Teen Titans. How many "win" columns did this check off? One could say it was the most successful reboot of an old title / characters since Captain America's 1964 return, with an increasingly popular run well over 50 straight issues. Certainly a "must read" title of the decade. Crisis on Infinite Earths: To be very brief, DC redefined the idea of comic multiverses, the maxi-series and the shake-up comic like no other. Everything after this landmark series has been trying to "do one better", usually with tired "Shock" or death gimmicks. When it happened in COIE, it had real meaning to the story at a time when comics were willing to take chances that were unthinkable (with "A" list characters) just a decade before. |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Sept 6, 2018 4:27:43 GMT -5
All good choices already mentioned, but I'd say that Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan by Marvel are both essential 70's series in terms of quality and historical importance. I believe it was the first real breakout, non-superhero, hit from Marvel or DC since the 50's and indirectly lead to Marvel licensing Star Wars which in many ways saved Marvel and the industry...at least according to Jim Shooter.  |
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