1989 - rec.arts.comics 1980s awards

The Rec.arts.comics Eighties Awards!!

(Originally conducted as part of the 1989 poll.)

Ah, newsgroups. The Facebook of the 1980s. The sample size of voters seems to be around 50 votes or so. While it’s a small sample size, it’s definitely interesting to see the compiled results.

Favorite writer:

Alan Moore.............22

Frank Miller............8

Dave Sim................8

Chris Claremont.........4

Gilbert Hernandez.......2

Tied with 1 vote:

Mark Gruenwald, Phil Foglio, Scott McCloud, Walt Simonson, Roy Thomas, and Matt Wagner.

Favorite artist:

Bill Sienkiewicz.......12

George Perez............4

Dave McKean.............3

John Byrne..............2

Alan Davis..............2

Jaime Hernandez.........2

Kevin Maguire...........2

Steve Rude..............2

Dave Sim................2

John Totleben...........2

Tied with 1 vote:

Sergio Aragones, Stephen Bissette, Brian Bolland, Gerhard, Steve Lightle, Scott McCloud, Todd McFarlane, Frank Miller, Kevin O'Neill, Walter Simonson, Jim Starlin, and Bryan Talbot.

Favorite new character or team:

Excalibur...............4

Sandman.................4

Concrete................3

Elementals..............3

Jenny (from Zot!).......3

Nexus...................3

Miracleman..............3

Kitty Pryde.............3

Rorschach...............2

Zot.....................2

Tied with 1 vote:

Animal Man, John Constantine, Maggie Chascarillo, Cutey Bunney, Damage Control, Dreadstar & Co., Dynamo Joe, Elektra, Grendel (Hunter Rose), The Judge (Cerebus), Justice League International, Marshall Law, Kevin Matchstick, Chester Monroe, Billy Nguyen, Omaha, Torquemada, Stinz, The Tick, Venom, and Watchmen.

Favorite continuing series:

Cerebus................12

Swamp Thing.............4

Love and Rockets........3

X-Men...................3

Daredevil...............2

Zot!....................2

Tied with 1 vote:

Amazing Spider-Man, Akira, Avengers, Concrete, Detective Comics, Dreadstar, Excalibur, Grimjack, Hulk, Legion of Super-Heroes, Lone Wolf and Cub, Miracleman, (Claremont's) New Mutants, Nexus, Omaha the Cat Dancer, Sandman, (Simonson's) Thor, and The Tick.

Favorite limited series:

Watchmen....................21

Dark Knight..................7

V for Vendetta...............5

Crisis on Infinite Earths....4

Tied with 1 vote:

The Adv. of Luther Arkwright, Black Orchid, Dr. Fate, Elektra: Assassin, Elfquest, Fantastic Four vs. X-Men, Kings in Disguise, Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, The Longbow Hunters, Mage: The Hero Discovered, Nausicaa, Stinz, X-Men vs.  Avengers, and Villains and Vigilantes.

Favorite storyline of any series:

American Gothic, from Swamp Thing....4

Born Again, from Daredevil...........4

Church and State, from Cerebus.......4

The Elektra Saga, from Daredevil.....3

High Society, from Cerebus...........3

Quest for the Key, from Zot!.........3

The Asgardian Wars from X-Men and New Mutants........2

Crisis on Infinite Earths............2

Tied with 1 vote:

The Armor Wars, from Iron Man, Batman: Year One, from Batman, The Brood story, from X- Men, Devil's Legacy, from Grendel, A Dream of Flying, from Miracleman, Gothic Empire from Nemesis the Warlock, The Fear from Detective Comics,  The Great Darkness Saga  from Legion of Super-Heroes, Kings in Disguise, Nightcrawler limited series, Miracleman Book 3, Planet Earth from Zot!, The Sin-Eater, from Spectacular Spider-Man, The Spider War from Omega Men, Spider-Woman vs. the Viper, from Spider-Woman, The Surtur Saga, from Thor, The Trial  of Henry Pym from Avengers, The second Trigon story from the New Teen Titans, Vida Loca from Love and Rockets, and Watchmen.

1981 - Captain America

I've already posted on Roger Stern and John Byrne's wonderful, but short run on Captain America. However, I wanted to follow up on the Red Skull trilogy which was planned to start with Captain America #257, but never saw the light of day...

Roger Stern from Stern Talk! (http://sterntalk.yuku.com/forum/view/id/1)

The short version is that office politics and hassles led to our leaving the series. Next up would have been a Red Skull three-parter. And after that...well, John always wanted to see Cap take on some American Neo-Nazis.

 "Nazis...I hate those guys!" [...]

 Those pages were never scripted, but a plot to all three issues exists...or at least, existed. If a copy is still around, it's buried in my files or a box somewhere.

 A little over five years ago, there was actually some interest in John and me producing all three issues as a special of some sort. But then, other parties at Marvel started screwing John around.

 Still...maybe someday.

 and furthermore:

That was going to be our Red Skull trilogy. After we left Cap, I toyed with the idea of turning the story into a graphic novel. But later writers did some things with the Skull that would have invalidated the story. A couple of years ago, there was some talk of having John and me revisit the story as a special project “ sort of "What if Roger and John hadn’t left Captain America?" But then John started having major creative differences with Marvel. I guess the story will have to remain "The One that Got Away." For now, at least. I never say never.

And one more little tidbit, from Comics Feature #1 where Stern discusses his post issue #255 run: "After the first of next year there will be a two- or three-part story with the Red Skull in which the Skull's real face will be revealed for the first - and last - time. Following that will be stories with Arnim Zola and the Ameridroid."

Thanks to the fine folks at http://forum.superpouvoir.com, I have the following unpublished (and unlettered) pages to share with you. Enjoy!

Avengers Under Siege Premiere HC out this Wednesday!

Don't miss this. One of the more powerful story of the 1980s. A Stern and Buscema classic presented in this fabulous hardcover format.

Avengers Under Siege Premiere HC

Written by ROGER STERN 

Penciled by JOHN BUSCEMA 

Home are the heroes, but the villains are waiting for them! Avengers Mansion becomes the site of one of the team's greatest battles when Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil take down Earth's Mightiest Heroes one by one, one seemingly forever! Plus: an odyssey of Avengers, Alpha Flight and Atlantean civil war! Guest-starring Ant-Man, Doctor Druid and Paladin, later of Thunderbolts fame! 

Collecting AVENGERS #270-277. 192 PGS.

Saying Goodbye To Spider-Man...

This wonderful article (tinyurl.com/2ecrdpy) Saying Goodbye To Spider-Man by Matthew H. Kleinertsums, up my feelings about the current "Brand New Day" direction of the Spider-Man titles. Although growing with Spider-Man in the 1970s and 1980s, I too felt betrayed and dropped the title for the first time since putting it on my pull list in 1983... Thankfully I haven't read any of the current One Moment In Time storyline.

1983 - Michael Golden's Dr. Strange Portfolio

While Michael Golden only drew one issue of Dr. Strange (#55) and contributed a couple of covers to the series, this portfolio gives us a tantalizing look at what might have been had he become the regular artist.

1986 – X-Factor

X-Factor - #1-6, Annual #1

February-October 1986

Writer: Bob Layton/Jackson Guice

Art: Jackson Guice/Keith Pollard/Joe Rubinstein/Bob Layton

Unfortunately in late 1985, Jim Shooter approved the X-Factor story line that reunited the original X-Men and would resurrect Jean Grey. The blame for bringing back Jean Grey has passed between John Byrne, Chris Claremont, and Jim Shooter like a hot potato.

Claremont didn't like the idea at all and approached Shooter. However, according to Claremont, Shooter “felt the marketing arguments in favor of resurrecting Jean far outweighed what I felt was the critical damage being done to the canon.”

In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Bob Layton had the following to say about Jean's return:

"I have to give the credit/blame to John Byrne. In the initial premise that Jackson Guice and I submitted, Jean Grey was not part of the group. Mike Carlin, editor at the time, pulled me aside one day and said "Hey, how would you like to have ALL of the original X-Men back?"  Apparently John Byrne had come up with a way to revive her and, of course, why would I refuse to use her?

Was bringing Jean Grey back a mistake? In my opinion, absolutely. There's no question that this was a bad idea, but financially Marvel couldn't pass up the opportunity to make wads of cash. They compromised one of Marvel's greatest story lines to make money."

The biggest casualty in bringing back Jean Grey wasn't Jean, but rather Cyclops. Scott Summers was portrayed rather pathetically in that he abandoned his wife and child to go gallivanting around with an old flame, with whom he avoided mentioning that he was married.

While I have to admit it was fun to see the original X-Men together horsing around, Iceman and Beast hanging out together, and setting up that familiar love triangle between Angel and Cyclops. But, I wonder if they would have been better off setting up Angel with Jean and reuniting Cyclops with his wife?

With that said, the basic idea behind X-Factor was a clever one. Taking advantage of mutant hysteria to locate mutants under the guise of a mutant-hunting organization was solid, especially when they got concern that their goal was fostering more mutant prejudice.

The X-Factor event started in Avengers #263, which had the Avengers come across a mysterious cocoon, and Fantastic Four #286, which freed Jean Grey from the cocoon and realized what the Phoenix entity had done to her.

X-Factor #1 brought together the original X-Men and they decided to form the X-Factor organization under the watchful eye of Cameron Hodge, who would later become a thorn in their side.  Their first story arc had them track down a young pyrokinetic, Rusty Collins. Their second story arc led them into a confrontation with the mysterious Apocalypse and his Alliance of Evil. X-Factor #6 introduced Apocalypse (he did have a brief cameo in the shadows of issue #5) who would go on and become one of the X-Men's deadliest foes.

The creators of X-Factor didn't stay onboard for very long. Creative differences were stated as the reason for Layon's departure, as well as deadline problems, according to Louise Simonson.

Bob Layton stated it was mostly politics, so much so that he was never asked to do any other X-book.

In X-Factor #5's next issue blurb, a special note announces that "creator/writer Bob Layton takes leave of X-Factor". Louise Simonson took the helm as X-Factor's new writer and stay on for several years. Jackson Guice left the book with issue #7.

Top 10 Favorite Marvel Villains Created in the 1980s

Top 10 Favorite Marvel Villains Created in the 1980s

1. Hobgoblin
2. Selene
3. Kurse
4. Mr. Sinister
5. Nimrod
6. Scourge of the Underworld
7. Venom (The Symbiote)
8. Belasco
9. S’ym
10. Typhoid Mary

Honourable mentions:

11. Tombstone
12. Nuke
13. Malekith
14. Nasty’rth