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Post by Phil Maurice on Nov 6, 2014 16:37:56 GMT -5
We all like lists, so how about it? What do you consider to be the most important, significant, influential, ground-breaking, game-changing, or just all-around terrific single comic book issues in each decade, starting from the 1930s and ending wherever you wish? One issue per decade, please. For our purposes, a decade will run from 0 - 9 (ex. 1960s = 1960 - 1969). There are no right or wrong answers. Might be fun. Here's my far from definitive attempt:
1930s: Marvel Comics #1 - Edges out Action #1 for me because the Namor we see for the first time here is AFAIK the same one we see today, whereas Action #1 is "merely" the debut of the Earth-2 Superman. If I'm wrong, well, defer to my avatar. 
1940s: All Star Comics #3 - First superhero team
1950s: Showcase Comics #4 - First Silver-Age Flash (and possibly comic book, depending on who you ask).
1960s: Amazing Fantasy #15 - First Spider-Man
1970s: Incredible Hulk #181 - First (full) Wolverine
1980s: Daredevil #168 - First Ele(c)ktra
1990s: Superman (Vol. 2) #75 - Death of Superman. Not proud of this choice; I struggled with the 90s.
2000s: The Walking Dead #1 - A modern juggernaut
Care to try? |
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Nov 6, 2014 16:45:22 GMT -5
I love this idea and will take some time to think before making my list.
My one criticism of your list (beyond the obvious) is that it only acknowledges the superhero genre up until Walking Dead.
And is the goal to highlight the most important books to the industry in general, or the most significant debut appearances of characters who had an impact on the genre? New Fun Comics #1 might take the cake for the 1930s, FF #1 for the 1960s, Conan #1 for the 1970s, and Watchmen #1 for the 1980s if it's more about the industry and less about the characters.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 6, 2014 16:48:18 GMT -5
Sub-Mariner first appeared in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1.
I have Court in about 45 minutes. But I'll think about it.
I'd put Action #1 and Detective #1 both ahead of Marvel Comics #1. Probably Famous Funnies #1 as well.
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Post by Phil Maurice on Nov 6, 2014 16:52:50 GMT -5
I love this idea and will take some time to think before making my list. My one criticism of your list (beyond the obvious) is that it only acknowledges the superhero genre up until Walking Dead. And is the goal to highlight the most important books to the industry in general, or the most significant debut appearances of characters who had an impact on the genre? New Fun Comics #1 might take the cake for the 1930s, FF #1 for the 1960s, Conan #1 for the 1970s, and Watchmen #1 for the 1980s if it's more about the industry and less about the characters. I've left it as open as I could. Everyone will have their own reasons behind their choices; the criteria you use to gauge the very nebulous quality of "significance" is yours to determine. My list is largely unsurprising. Those that follow will likely be vastly more interesting. |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Nov 6, 2014 16:57:16 GMT -5
Sub-Mariner first appeared in Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1. I have Court in about 45 minutes. But I'll think about it. True, but maybe five people saw it. Definitely not successful and that title is a mouthful. Thank you for your consideration and don't forget to smile at the jury. |
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Post by MDG on Nov 6, 2014 17:07:52 GMT -5
I'll bite... 1930s: Action Comics #1 - I mean... c'mon...
1940s: Crime Does Not Pay #1 - Hugely successful title that symbolized the switch from superheros to "genre" books after WWII and led to the attacks on comics and implementation of the Code
1950s: MAD #1 - Probably the most original title to come out of the decade, with a huge influence on creators of the 60s and beyond
1960s: Amazing Fantasy #15 - First successful new comic character since the Golden Age and provided a tentpole for Marvel (just edging out Zap #1)
1970s: Conan the Barbarian #1 - One of the few non-superhero titles to be launched in the bronze age that had a healthy run (although without an original character)
1980s: Love & Rockets #1 - Long running, independent series that showed what could be done and gained a large audience (just edging out RAW #2)
1990s: Eightball #11 - First Ghost World
2000s: I was long gone by then...
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on Nov 6, 2014 17:09:02 GMT -5
I agree with the first 3, mainly due to lack of in-depth knowledge, but would suggest the following alternatives 1960s: Fantastic Four #1 The dawn of the Marvel Universe as we know it 1970s: Conan The Barbarian #1 At last a decent non-superhero book, and we got BWS hitting his straps(thats got to be reason enough right there) 1980s: Saga of Swamp-Thing #21 (I hope thats right)the arrival of Alan Moore 1990s: Spawn #1 Like it or loathe it, the first book to break Marvel and Dcs stranglehold on the charts 2000s: Ultimates #1 Millar and Hitch write the Avengers movie (I can see Dan's head exploding with me mentioning Millar ) As much as Spidey may be the bigger franchise now Stan and Jacks FF set the tone for the next 50 years of comics. Wolverine may well be the character with the most success to come out of the 70s, though Giant-Size X-Men #1 is much more significant, and also blows my suggestion away too on reflection. Moore's arrival on Swampy, IMHO, was the catalyst for all the "great" books of the 80s, Watchmen, Dark Knight, Bats Year 1 etc etc. In the 1990s I wanted to suggest Marvels, Kingdom Come, Preacher, and/or Authority as shining lights, but the Image juggernaut was just too damn big. |
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Nov 6, 2014 17:34:03 GMT -5
I'll bite... 1930s: Action Comics #1 - I mean... c'mon...
1940s: Crime Does Not Pay #1 - Hugely successful title that symbolized the switch from superheros to "genre" books after WWII and led to the attacks on comics and implementation of the Code
1950s: MAD #1 - Probably the most original title to come out of the decade, with a huge influence on creators of the 60s and beyond
1960s: Amazing Fantasy #15 - First successful new comic character since the Golden Age and provided a tentpole for Marvel (just edging out Zap #1)
1970s: Conan the Barbarian #1 - One of the few non-superhero titles to be launched in the bronze age that had a healthy run (although without an original character)
1980s: Love & Rockets #1 - Long running, independent series that showed what could be done and gained a large audience (just edging out RAW #2)
1990s: Eightball #11 - First Ghost World
2000s: I was long gone by then...
Mad #1 is a very good pick. For what it's worth, the first issue of Crime Does Not Pay is #22. It continued numbering from Silver Streak Comics. |
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Post by Pharozonk on Nov 6, 2014 17:47:37 GMT -5
Action Comics #1 and Showcase #4 would be on my list for the 1930's and 1950's respectively.
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Nov 6, 2014 17:54:42 GMT -5
1930's - Action Comics #1: I don't really think there's much debate on this, Sub-Mariner notwithstanding. 1940's - Captain America Comics #1: Surprisingly enough, the 1940's presented the biggest challenge for me. But just as Action Comics #1 introduced the superhero, I think it was Captain America Comics #1 that gave superheroes their raison d'etre. Why do we need superheroes? Because we need someone who can do what we can't - punch Hitler in the face. When I think of the Golden Age, I'm not thinking of the stories from the 30's where many of them debuted - I'm thinking of World War II, where the heroes were taking down the Axis. It's no surprise they faded in popularity when the war ended, because the war is when they really shined. And Cap #1 ushered all that in. 1950's: Crime SuspenStories #22:  "You have blood coming out of her mouth." "A little." 1960's - Fantastic Four #1: The start of the modern superhero as we know it, and everything Marvel. Without it, nothing we're reading - or watching in the theaters and on TV - would have happened. 1970's - Amazing Spider-Man #96: Just as Crime SuspenStories #22 ushered in the comics code authority, Amazing Spider-Man #96 ended it as an effective force. Stan wrote an anti-drug story at the request of the U.S. government. The code rejected it, so Stan published it anyway. It showed how out of touch and pointless the code had become, and how toothless it really was. In response, the code was revised, loosening restrictions, and allowing horror and suspense elements back into comics. The explosion of ideas that makes the early 70's so exciting - typified in anti-heroes like Punisher and horror books like Tomb of Dracula and Werewolf By Night - all of that was made possible by the code being relaxed. 1980's - Dazzler #1: Okay, this seems like a joke. But while there are probably better arguments for other books, like DKR or Watchmen or whatever, I'm going to make a case for Dazzler #1. In the 1970's the direct market was created and slowly built up some momentum. By the time the 80's rolled around, newsstand distribution was still by far the top means of selling comics, but there was a feeling that the direct market may be the salvation of a struggling industry. Sales were down all around in comics, and a big part was distribution - the DC implosion was directly caused by distribution problems due to the blizzard of '78. So in 1981, Jim Shooter decided to try an experiment to test just how strong the direct market was. They hyped up the release of their new series - Dazzler - and then they made it available through direct market sales only. Dazzler #1 was the first direct market only mainstream comic. The result? Dazzler #1 sold over 400k copies, more than double the average sales of Marvel's biggest books. From that moment, both DC and Marvel turned to the direct market and away from newsstands, and the rest is history. 1990's - Spider-Man #1: Everything that led to and then became Image - X-Force #1, X-Men #1, Image, Spawn, the speculator boom, the speculator bust, all of that - started with Todd McFarlane's Spider-Man #1 in the summer of 1990.
2000's - Walking Dead #1: If there's one thing true about comics today, it's that the tail is now wagging the dog. Movies and TV based on comics rule pop culture, but the comics themselves are barely hanging on in many cases. Comics are now basically a just testing ground for new properties. Nothing symbolizes this shift more than the success of Walking Dead. 2010's - to be determined
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Nov 6, 2014 18:26:42 GMT -5
2000's - Walking Dead #1: If there's one thing true about comics today, it's that the tail is now wagging the dog. Movies and TV based on comics rule pop culture, but the comics themselves are barely hanging on in many cases. Comics are now basically a just testing ground for new properties. Nothing symbolizes this shift more than the success of Walking Dead. It's thread crossing a bit, but this was my thought on shaxper's 90's implosion thread, in comparison to other entertainment industries (I used video games for example) where the ideas and characters may be popular to the majority of people but the source material is unknown or only popular after it is transformed into another medium. Video games grew within themselves, not relying (and still really not to this day) on pandering their idea via anything else. I don't think that's why in the future we may see "significant issues" other than their significance in movies, games, fashion, etc. If anything, I would say there's never been a successful transfer from a video game to any other form of entertainment. And yet it's a billion dollar industry that's not even had half the life comics have had, and they still struggle. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2014 18:47:37 GMT -5
1930s - Action Comics #1
1940s - Archie #1
1950s - MAD #1
1960s - Amazing Fantasy #15
1970s - Giant-Size X-Men #1
1980s - Amazing Spider-Man #300
1990s - Preacher #1
2000s - The Walking Dead #1
2010s - Batman #1 New 52
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Nov 6, 2014 20:39:20 GMT -5
I'm going to concentrate on the influential highlights
1930s-Action Comics #1
1940s-Pep # 22 Intro of Archie Andrews
1950s-Crypt of Terror # 17-Ec Comics first full fledged horror comic which went on to influence legions of horror authors and film-makers as well as to start the ball rolling for the EC comic book line which would include Mad which influenced the style of American comedy for the balance of the 20th century
1960s- Fantastic Four #1- no FF,no Marvel
1970s-Conan #1-Superhero comics where dropping in sales in the late 60s/early 70s and publishers were desperately looking for the next trend. So they turned to watered down horror comics and, thanks to the Cimmerian, barbarian comics. Without these 2 genres, who knows if the comic industry as we know it would have survived
1980s-Saga of Swamp Thing #21- set a new standard for mature storytelling in mainstream comics leading to Vertigo and more
1990s- Youngblood #1-set a new low standard for immature storytelling in mainstream comics. God help us but it wound up more influential than my 1980s pick (because it took very little thought or talent)
2000s-Walking Dead #1 I guess
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Post by Phil Maurice on Nov 6, 2014 20:56:44 GMT -5
I'll cop to a transparent, even desperate attempt to avoid Action #1. Is there a credible alternative? Famous Funnies? New Fun Comics? I'm still grasping at straws.
MAD #1 is a great pick. I also like the idea of CSS #22 being the tipping point for the sweeping changes to follow.
Conan #1 is certainly very significant. I have a bit of a blind spot for sword-and-sandal stuff; not my cup of tea, but absolutely worthy of inclusion.
I'm behind the curve on many of the great independents as well. Glad I can rely on CCF posters for a solid education.
ETA: Honestly, Archie/PEP never entered my mind and I've no idea why. Talk about a durable, adaptable, near-perfect property! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2014 23:36:01 GMT -5
Going to work backwards....
2010s-Saga #1-set the market trend for indy books, crossed over to win Hugo awards, brought new readers into the market, creating an indy book besides Walking Dead that reached and has stayed in the upper echelon of sales charts since it started. Also illustrated by a female artist so raised some issues/awareness of the roles and perception of women working in the industry in today's market, and brought a fair number of female readers to the table and raising issues of perception and treatment of women in general in the hobby
2000s-go with others pointing to Walking Dead, not just for the tv show, but what has become a sales juggernaut in the trade paperback market getting trades out of the ghetto of comic shops and into places like Wal-Mart, Meijers, Target and other big box discount retailers, and an indy selling in numbers comparabel withthe top big 2 books month in and month out.
1990s-Bone #1-bringing publishing juggernaut Scholastic into the comic publishing business, creating a long running successful indy book aimed at a younger audience that opened doors to other reading in the genre, and one that has become a perenniel everrgreen seller that is still bringing new readers into the game
1980s-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-hey kids there's life outside the big 2-this book solidified the indy market and the success of it paved the way for the growth of many other small press books, and it became a cultural phenomenon both in comics and outside the genre and in pop culture as a whole.
1970s-I am going to go off the board here and say the most significant comic publication (not comic book) of the 1970s was the first Overstreet Price Guide published in 1970. It revolutionized and standardized the back issue market, raised the awaeness of the comic as collectible, and reshaped the way the industry worked in a lot of ways, and the collector market of comics is just now beginning to emerge form the shadow cast by the Overstreet Guide.
1960s-Amazing Fantasy #15-one success is a fluke, two is a cornerstone of something to build on, and while the FF was the first success, the success of Spider-Man was the second cornerstone of the Marvel juggernaut and with 2 cornerstones you have a foundation you can build on.
1950s-Showcase #4-1st Flash, revitalized the flagging super-hero market which would then go one to once again dominate the industry
1940s-All Star Comics #8-first appearance of Wonder Woman-the archetype for the super-heroince, who would emerge as an icon of the feminist movement and a pop culture phenomenon not just in comics. Broke the doors of the he-man woman haters boys club of the super-hero genre.
1930s-Detective #27 for the same reasons I chose AF 15 for the 60s. One success can be a fluke, the second proves the viability of something; Superman was a huge success and created the super-hero, but with Batman we had proof the genre and concept was bigger than a single character and was a viable concept that could grow an entire industry around...
-M
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