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Post by commond on Nov 1, 2023 7:30:06 GMT -5
I began collecting comics in 1988 with Uncanny X-Men #236 and Amazing Spider-Man #308, and my golden era for collecting comic books coincided with Tom DeFalco's run as Editor in Chief at Marvel. I realize that a lot of regulars on this forum had stopped collecting Marvel comic books by the time DeFalco took over, or had moved onto different types of comics, but we can't help when we're born and there was still something about the Marvel books on the stands that made me fall head over heels in love with the medium. So, they can't have been all bad. I decided to take a trip down memory lane and see if I can't find any curiosities or hidden gems among the books that were published during the DeFalco era. I'm looking from this purely from the point of view of a fan, both at the time and decades later. I'm starting off with books that were cover dated November 1987 since that's when they announced DeFalco was taking over in the Bullpen Bulletins.
November 1987
The first thing that stood out about November '87 was how many licensed books Marvel were putting out. Not only G.I. Joe and Transformers, but you had Thundercats, Masters of the Universe, Air Raiders, and Visionaries, not to mention the little kids stuff like Heathcliff, Bullwinkle and Rocky, Care Bears, and Muppet Babies. I'm not ashamed to admit that I liked most of these comics whenever I encountered them, especially if I was familiar with the TV shows or toys, but it's amazing how much of Marvel's output was dedicated to this stuff.
In terms of the main books, Avengers was at the tail end of Roger Stern's run. If you ask me what the great Avengers revival run was then I'd say the Stern run. I know a lot of people like the Busiek/Perez stuff, but I'll take the Stern run over that any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Simonson had finished his Thor run by this point, and the Fantastic Four was foundering post-Byrne. The Spider-Man books were dedicated to Kraven's Last Hunt, which was one of the great stories of the era, but perhaps not something DeFalco can take much credit for. The X-books were wrapped up in Fall of the Mutants, which was similar to my jumping on point the following year with Inferno.
Of the main books, the stuff that sticks out for me is Peter David kickstarting his Hulk run, which would lead to him being one of the few writers that didn't get turfed from a book during the DeFalco era, David Michelinie and Bob Layton's second run on Iron Man (which I collected the crap out of as a kid), and Ann Nocenti taking over on Daredevil. I was quite fond of Power Pack as a kid, and I thought the Englehart/Rogers Silver Surfer was a decent effort at relaunching a notoriously difficult solo series.
I can't say for certain, but Mantlo's Alpha Flight and Englehart's West Coast Avengers seem like the most "meh" titles of the time.
On the fringes, you have ElfQuest being reprinted with some dodgy coloring. You also have Groo. I thought Groo was fantastic when I was a kid, but have struggled to reconnect with it as an adult. I'm not really sure what was going on with Conan at this time, but CoTB #200 was published with the November cover date. The 'Nam was reaching the end of Golden's era. I've never been inspired to read beyond that.
The New Universe stuff was trucking along without the full support of the company. The redheaded stepchild of the Marvel line? You tell me.
Now for the curiosities! Bernie Wrightson does a Thing vs. Hulk graphic novel written by Jim Starlin? You don't hear much talk about that one. Charles Vess pencils a Hogun the Grim story in Marvel Fanfare? Keith Giffen is doing an Epic series about video culture? And what the heck is Blade of the Shuriken? American manga?
And my biggest takeaway overall? Why haven't I read Strike Force: Morituri?
I absolutely love this era of comics. I wasn't reading this stuff when it came out in '87, but I bought a lot of it from secondhand book stores, school fairs, flea markets, and wherever I could find old comic books. There were cooler eras to grow up as a fan, but god dang it, I'm claiming ownership of mine.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Nov 1, 2023 8:29:41 GMT -5
Strikeforce Morituri was certainly a high point of those years. So was Ann Nocenti's Daredevil.
Every era will be someone's favourite, certainly, but personally most of the Marvel books I read in those years was out of habit (the X-books, mostly). That being said, it is during that period that the Marvel Conan mags regained their position on my "must-read" list, for which I was definitely grateful. Ecstatically so, in fact.
The 1987-1994 years are however the time I started reading fewer and fewer Marvel titles, and more and more DC ones.
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Post by commond on Nov 1, 2023 8:46:55 GMT -5
I wouldn't call the DeFalco years my favorite era of comics, but they were my formative years. I had no choice in the matter. I wasn't picking and choosing the comics I was reading. Well, I was, to the extent that I was choosing what to spend my pocket money on, but I had no scope of what existed outside of the newsstands and those costumes were attractive to me.
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Post by commond on Nov 1, 2023 9:12:23 GMT -5
I forgot to mention that the cover to Marvel Age introduces the new line of G.I. Joe figures. These were the line of G.I. Joe figures that took New Zealand by storm, and along with the cartoon, displaced The Transformers as the premier toy line in the country.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,197 
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Post by Confessor on Nov 1, 2023 9:16:31 GMT -5
I was still buying a few Marvel titles during the first three years of this era. I especially liked David Michelinie on Amazing Spider-Man, though I feel that the comic was probably stronger in the 3 or 4 years prior to this. And of course the infamous Clone Saga was begun under DeFalco's stewardship, which was certainly a divisive episode in Spidey's history, though I quite like it, sprawling mess that it is.
The only New Universe title I collected was Justice, which was pretty good during this era. I was also reading 'Nam sporadically during this period and, actually, there's a lot to like about the first 30 or so post-Michael Golden issues.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Nov 1, 2023 15:10:59 GMT -5
And what the heck is Blade of the Shuriken? American manga? Blade of Shuriken was indeed American manga, but I think it was published by Eternity and Malibu, so DeFalco and Marvel would have had nothing to do with it, although Marvel did buy Malibu later. |
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Post by commond on Nov 1, 2023 15:54:52 GMT -5
And what the heck is Blade of the Shuriken? American manga? Blade of Shuriken was indeed American manga, but I think it was published by Eternity and Malibu, so DeFalco and Marvel would have had nothing to do with it, although Marvel did buy Malibu later. Thanks! The database I was using included it because of Marvel buying Malibu and the series becoming part of the Ultraverse. |
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Post by badwolf on Nov 1, 2023 16:12:39 GMT -5
This was a transitional period for me. I was still reading some mainstream books, but phasing out of them.
I agree about Stern's Avengers being the best of the series. I even love the last story arc, which IIRC was written by Ralph Macchio from Stern's plot or ideas. I don't think many care for it.
I enjoyed Power Pack as a teen. I don't think I could get into it now - a few years ago I bought the PP Classic TPB, but haven't been able to bring myself to read it - but I would absolutely recommend it for youngins.
AF and WCA were garbage... but I kept buying them because I guess I still cared about the characters. I'd never do that now, of course.
I was really into Elfquest at the time.
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Post by jason on Nov 1, 2023 16:57:35 GMT -5
Iron Man gets really good around this time too, especially with Armor Wars coming up, which also showed just how many armored character Marvel had (and that was just the characters who were in the story). As for the licensed books, that's likely an after-effect of the Shooter era. After Star Wars became a huge hit and helped save Marvel, they started getting their hands on pretty much every other licensed property they could, and this continued into the DeFalco era. Also, I kind of liked West Coast Avengers from this time period, after the battle for the Avengers Mansion, Avengers kind of got stale for most of the late 80s (though I did like Sersi), but WCA was just more interesting to me, and the California setting gave the book its own identity.
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Post by commond on Nov 2, 2023 21:27:26 GMT -5
December 1987
Marvel Age is hyping up Captain America's costume change and the shakeup in his book. The cover has him standing alongside the newly redesigned Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man. To this day, I'm still not sure how I feel about those looks. I realize Marvel wanted to do something substantial to mark their 25th anniversary, but the only change that worked for me was the Hulk going grey again and that was largely due to Peter David's clever Joe Fixit storyline.
I read bits and pieces of Gruenwald's Captain America run as a kid, but I've never had the urge to read the entire run. I do think he deserves credit for staying on the book for so long and bringing stability to one of Marvel's core characters and flagship titles (in theory, anyway.) The fact that he was an editor probably helped him survive the purge of the writers, but it was a significant run nonetheless. Likewise, you have DeFalco himself starting his run on Thor around this time, which was a stabilizer if nothing else.
I've always kind of wondered what might have become of Roger Stern's run on the Fantastic Four if things hadn't gone down the way that they did. Could he built off what Byrne did and added to the book's legacy?
Ann Nocenti tried to do her own version of Kraven's Last Hunt in the Spider-Man books this month. I don't remember it being as successful.
The biggest curiosity for the month is Marvel publishing Sam Glanzman's A Sailor's Story in hardcover. Glanzman had done a bit of work for Marvel around this time, but that's not what you'd call a typical Marvel book. I'm guessing Larry Hama pushed for its publication. Then again, I wouldn't have expected them to greenlight The 'Nam either, so whaddayaknow?
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 2, 2023 23:49:21 GMT -5
December 1987Marvel Age is hyping up Captain America's costume change and the shakeup in his book. The cover has him standing alongside the newly redesigned Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man. To this day, I'm still not sure how I feel about those looks. I realize Marvel wanted to do something substantial to mark their 25th anniversary, but the only change that worked for me was the Hulk going grey again and that was largely due to Peter David's clever Joe Fixit storyline. I read bits and pieces of Gruenwald's Captain America run as a kid, but I've never had the urge to read the entire run. I do think he deserves credit for staying on the book for so long and bringing stability to one of Marvel's core characters and flagship titles (in theory, anyway.) The fact that he was an editor probably helped him survive the purge of the writers, but it was a significant run nonetheless. Likewise, you have DeFalco himself starting his run on Thor around this time, which was a stabilizer if nothing else. I've always kind of wondered what might have become of Roger Stern's run on the Fantastic Four if things hadn't gone down the way that they did. Could he built off what Byrne did and added to the book's legacy? Ann Nocenti tried to do her own version of Kraven's Last Hunt in the Spider-Man books this month. I don't remember it being as successful. The biggest curiosity for the month is Marvel publishing Sam Glanzman's A Sailor's Story in hardcover. Glanzman had done a bit of work for Marvel around this time, but that's not what you'd call a typical Marvel book. I'm guessing Larry Hama pushed for its publication. Then again, I wouldn't have expected them to greenlight The 'Nam either, so whaddayaknow? Sam was pretty well respected in the business, from his work for Dell, Charlton and DC. He was also known for his war comics, working on Dell's Combat, Charlton's various war titles, especially The Lonely War of Captain Willy Schultz, in Fightin' Army (with writer Will Franz), and his USS Stevens stories, for DC, based on his experiences in WW2; plus, his long run on The Haunted Tank, in GI Combat. He did three stories for the second version of Savage Tales magazine, which was edited by Hama, which were part of the USS Stevens series of stories., in 1986. That magazine also featured the two The 5th to the 1st Vietnam stories, by Doug Murray and Michael Golden, which kind of acted as a "pilot" for The Nam, in that the were well received enough that they started talking about doing a series, set in Vietnam, following a soldier on his one year tour of duty, in Vietnam, which became the premise for the first year of The Nam. I have not read or seen interviews relating to this; but, my suspicion is that the Glanzman stories, from the last three issues, in 1986, were equally well received and Hama may have pitched the idea of Sam doing a full memoir, which was A Sailor's Story, the next year. He then also did work for Marvel's short-lived Semper Fi, on a recurring feature about the early Marine Corps, in the Revolution and War of 1812. Both being veterans (John Severin also did some work for Savage Tales and Semper Fi, and was a veteran) probably made a bit of a connection and it is possible that Hama might have been acquainted earlier with Glanzman, via his connection to Wally Wood, who was doing work for DC when Glanzman was also working on The Haunted Tank and some of the mystery titles, plus some of the other war books, before they were cancelled. Hama also did a little work on DC's Men of War series and he used Russ Heath and Jack Abel on GI Joe stories, both of whom illustrated his stories, at DC. So, Hama definitely knew the top guys in the war comics field, who were still working. Glanzman also did a story in The Nam. I believe he also did some teaching at the Kubert School and was well respected by those guys, especially Tim Truman, who used his 4Winds imprint to publish some of Glanzman's. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew each other before his work at Marvel and that was the basis of Hama getting work from him on Savage Tales and Semper Fi, as well as doing A Sailor's Story. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 2, 2023 23:58:18 GMT -5
ps I liked some of Gruenwald's run on Cap, but never felt he brought the depth that Stern or JM DeMatteis brought to it, or Roger McKenzie. I don't think his allegorical stories worked as well, either. However, he had some excellent adventures and I kind of came back to the book for the Streets of Poison storyline, after walking away from it, for quite a while. I'm not a fan of the whole Captain era, as it didn't feel true to Steve Rogers. One, I can't see him just giving up the name, because some bureaucrat says so, without a major fight (in words, rather than fists) and I definitely do not see him operating in that costume color scheme. Not with a supposed patriotic theme. It would be red, white and blue or it would not have a patriotic theme, like Nomad. The idea that the government could block him from wearing those colors is something he would fight, even in court (which would have been a great story, with Matt Murdock as his lawyer). This is a guy who fought to become the test subject of Operation Rebirth; he doesn't just give in so easily. Not his generation, and not Steve Rogers, specifically. I know the idea was to get him out of it, use John Walker to contrast Steve's values and have him return (ala Nomad); but, the execution was shaky on that.
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Post by codystarbuck on Nov 3, 2023 0:05:08 GMT -5
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Post by Cei-U! on Nov 3, 2023 0:54:26 GMT -5
I dropped out of comics completely around the time Shooter was canned so I'm pretty near totally unaware of this period at Marvel (though the handful of material I've read, like Byrne's run on WCA, leaves me cold), so I'm interested to see what commond has to say about it.
Cei-U!
I summon the terra incognita!
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Post by Icctrombone on Nov 3, 2023 4:42:19 GMT -5
I was buying about 3-4 comics a month during the start of 1987. Avengers, WC Avengers, FF were the books I held on to even though the stories were lackluster. It wasn't until Defalco's years in the 90's that I increased my buying. I added Hulk, Silver Surfer, Guardians of the Galaxy, New Warriors and Namor. I enjoyed the 90's, gimmicks and all.
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