- Wolverine
– Claremont & Miller
- Secret Wars
– Shooter, Zeck, &
- Hercules
– Bob Layton
- Longshot
– Nocenti & Adams
- West Coast Avengers
– Stern & Hall
- Kitty Pryde and Wolverine
–
- Squadron Supreme
– Gruenwald, Hall, & Ryan
- Hawkeye
– Gruenwald & Breedings
- Cloak & Dagger
– Mantlo & Leonardi
- Vision and the Scarlet Witch – Mantlo & Leonardi
Runners-Up:
- Nightcrawler – Dave Cockrum
- Contest of Champions – Grunwald, Grant, & Romita Jr.
- Six From Sirius – Moench & Gulacy
- Fantastic Four VS X-Men – Claremont & Bogdanove
- Elektra Assassin – Miller & Sienkiewicz
- Punisher – Circle of Blood – Grant & Mike Zeck
- Rocket Raccoon - Mantlo & Mignola
Maybe it is just nostalgia, but Marvel mini-series seemed to have been far better back in the eighties than they do now. They told a complete and well-written story. Now, most of their mini-series seem to be an incomplete story told just to support another story going on in an event book or another ongoing book.
ReplyDeleteGreat list. I agree very much with Wolverine, Secret Wars, Squadron Supreme and the under-appreciated first Vision/Scarlet Witch mini. And West Coast Avengers was a treat too.
ReplyDeleteI'd bump Elektra: Assassin and Punisher (best first issue ever!) up into my personal top ten as well. I also fondly remember X-men/Alpha Flight, Magik, and Moonshadow.
Having said all that, it's not hard to see where DC started overtaking Marvel by raising the bar when you look at the impact of their 80's miniseries like Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen, Ronin, V for Vendetta, Black Orchid as well as the first huge reboot in Crisis. Aside from Elektra: Assassin and Moonshadow, Marvel wasn't really breaking new ground, just sticking to the tried-and-true superhero formula.
But they did do it very well, and the stuff on your list gives me a warm blast of pleasant memories, so thanks for the post. Top Ten lists are great.
Hey ash and dhole, thanks for the thoughtful comments.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Punisher miniseries as well, especially that amazing first issue, but the shift in the creative team for issue #5 has always left a bad taste in my mouth. Same thing for the X-Men/Alpha Flight, started well, but the art in that last issue is awful...
I couldn't appreciate Sienkiewicz's art on Elektra Assassin and it always seen rather dense to me for some reason.
thanks for reminding me of Magik with amazing art from the late great Buscema.
Two I'd add to the list - the Falcon miniseries written by Jim Owsley and the cyberpunky Machine Man miniseries written by Tom DeFalco with some nice Bary Windsor-Smith art in there.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, every few years I pull Secret Wars II out of the longbox and give it another go, trying to see if maybe I was being unfair in my assessment. And each time, I put it back a little sadder at the couple hours of life wasted re-reading that. Yeck.
Nice list - this is an awesome site! That Cloak and Dagger advert that was everywhere, that and that Alpha Flight themed subscription page.
ReplyDeleteAs for mini series I'd place Punisher Full Circle up, and WC Avengers. The 80's were great for Hawkeye. That said Secret Wars would be my number #1. So many sweet moments. In fact there was a cover I got on a Secret Wars sticker album from the UK that had the famous Zeck cover, with Thor and Mr Fantastic flying/stretching out of the space the logo usually ran in.
Damn if I can find it on the internet but it really polished it off nicely.
i'm glad Kitty Pryde and Wolverine made it to your list Jason. this was well written series with a great climatic showdown between Wolverine and an adversary that had previously gotten the best of him. this is one mini-series that never go the due credit it deserved.
ReplyDeletelove your blog...
ReplyDeleteopinions as they are , gotta disagree here...
Secret Wars
Longshot
Kitty Pryde And Wolverine
Contest Of Champions
all were lower-mediocre at best and ... Longshot went round and round to nowhere.. KPAW was campy with horrible art and a ridiculous kitty pryde samurai premise.,... contest of champions was also a one-note silly premise.. and secret wars was merely a shooter ego trip that went lukewarm aside from also being only a re-hash of the contest of champions expanded...
Nightcrawler deserves to be on the first list...
i dont see Magik , nor X-Men Vs Avengers here , both of which were better than half of the listed mentions...
Cloak And Dagger.. maybe its me.. just never got into them.. squadron supreme.. never got interested enough to read it.. the team just never attracted me for some reason...
and where is X-men /Micronauts ?......
which was arguably better than most listed here...
J.R.
Hey J.R., thanks for the comment and your opinions are always welcome here!
ReplyDeleteNever could get over the sudden story change, as well as creative team change for X-Men Vs Avengers. If Stern had been allowed to write what he wanted to write and if Silvestri had stayed on as the artist, it would definitely be in my favorite 10...
ReplyDeleteim going to have to check out squadron supreme , six from sirius , and punisher full circle... i highly respect the thought process put into ypur decision making .. i need to add more points to my perspective because i appreciate the "more than surface" information you utilize to endorse your choices ,.. i also love that although the group , especially our most esteemed host , can agree or disagree on certain items yet stil love them all for the efforts and entertainments they were... reading back through my prior comment i come across more serious than i meant to by far and apologize to any who might have found it too stringent in opinion.. something im working on and hope to get better at...
ReplyDeletei look greatly forward to more of your 10 favorite lists... perhaps your 10 favorite one-shots .... thank you again
Jake
You know... another limited series from the 80s that I really liked was Gargoyle. I believe J.M. DeMatteis wrote it, but I could be wrong. I do remember really liking it, but I was a BIG Defenders fan.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute, Punisher Full Circle or Punisher Circle of Blood?
ReplyDeleteAlso I really enjoy your blog, discovered it just recently.
Best regards,
MarvelFan
Thanks MarvelFan, you are correct, it's Punisher: Circle of Blood.
ReplyDeleteSecret Wars, WCA, and Hawkeye will do! I prefer the Avengers-centric stuff and Spider-Man plus some Daredevil goodness. Not really into X-Men or Fantastic Four.
ReplyDelete