http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=77305
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Eighties August 8 part IV: Best Crossovers Of The 1980s
By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)
It's day four of the Eighties August 8, we're at the midway point. The 80s marked the beginning of the company wide crossover. What started out as an exciting way of seeing different heroes interact with each other grew into an annual tradition until finally it spun out of control in the early to mid 90s... But for now, let's look back to when the going was still good.
8) - Evolutionary War (1988)
I really wanted to like the Evolutionary War, Marvel's first attempt at having a company wide crossover that solely played out in that year's annuals. The story featured Herbert Edgar Wyndham, a mad scientist turned uber powerful evolved human, who was determined to help guid mankind to the next phase of evolution through several schemes that brought him into conflict with a variety of Earth's heroes. As stories go, not the worst outline. But the sad truth of the matter: most of the material really wasn't very good.
The main problem with Evolutionary War was that only a few of the books really mattered to the actual story. Having the Punisher fight the High Evolutionary's footsoldiers who were killing drugdealers in Bogotá made for an okay but ultimately pointless story. Same goes for the Silver Surfer annual which saw the Evolutionary ask the Eternals to help map the Silver Surfer's DNA until he was able to convince them it wasn't a good idea.
Now, not everything is pure filler. While the X-Factor annual wasn't as pivotal as the cover suggested, it did feature a confrontation between Apocalypse and the Evolutionary which was a joy to read. And the finale in Avengers Annual I#17 remains a personal favorite of mine, with Captain America (as the Captain) desperately trying to get a makeshift team of Avengers together to help him deal with the High Evolutionary once and for all. The actual Avengers were disbanded at the time, still the Mr. Fixit Hulk, X-Factor's Beast, Hercules, Falcon, a newly reconstructed Jocasta and the criminal Yellowjacket (Rita DeMara) showed up to help save the world.
Even though yours truly didn't much care for the story I did buy the omnibus that came out a few years back, proving once again the old adage: If at first you don't succeed, resollicit!
7) - Fall Of The Mutants (1987)
The main reason this crossover didn't break into the top 5 is the simple reason it really wasn't a crossover at all. Following the success of 1986's "Morlock Massacre" storyline that ran through the pages of Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants and X-Factor, it was decided a new event was needed to boost sales.
Back when there were just three X-men related titles (written by only two people!), deciding what to do was easy. Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson came up with Fall Of The Mutants, a three month special event that would put the aforementioned teams of mutants through the wringer... without them ever meeting! The X-Men were in Dallas where they apparently sacrificed their lives fighting The Adversary, X-Factor was forced to deal with Apocalypse who assaulted New York with his four horsemen, one of which happened to be Angel. The New Mutants suffered perhaps the most personal loss: their teammate Cypher was killed during a mission against a forgettable Dr. Moreau type villain called the Ani-Mator.
Well crafted stories, one and all... But the only thing that really crossed over was the Fall Of The Mutants logo that appeared on the covers. There were, however, a few other titles who joined in on the fun. Captain America, Daredevil, Hulk, Fantastic Four and Power Pack all published Fall Of The Mutants tie-in issues with varying degrees of relevance.
All in all, 25 years later, Fall still holds up...
6) - Secret Wars II (1985-1986)
"Fear me, you lords and lady preachers, I descend upon your Earth from the skies!"
If only Secret Wars II had been as energetic and to the point as Queen's bombastic rock classic Seven Seas Of Rhye. Instead, the sequel to the smash hit of 1984 will mostly be remembered as longwinded, rambling and plagued by pedestrian art. In a nutshell: the Beyonder came to Earth looking for a purpose, which makes about as much sense as you asking an anthill for career advice.
That's not to say writer Jim Shooter's exploration of the nature of desire was either wrong or poorly thought out. Often profound, Shooter's story in fact preceded Wallstreet's Gordon "greed is good" Gekko by well over a year. Secret Wars II examined the ever changing human nature through the eyes of the naive but all powerful Beyonder, who in many ways learned about the world he'd entered like any newborn would... If that baby was capable of exploding planets and dropkicking Celestials, of course. Another often overlooked theme Shooter quite effectively touched on, was life in the mid 80s U.S., which he showed through the prism of Molecule Man and his chubby sweetie Marsha. Both had virtually limitless potential, but instead they were seemingly content holding down mediocre jobs, only to come home to watch mediocre television and stuffing themselves with junkfood. The most excitement they got was playing boardgames with friends. Was it bliss or were they blissfully trying to settle?
Secret Wars II ran for nine issues and had crossover tie-ins with just about every mainstream Marvel title. From Cloak & Dagger to Dazzler, from Uncanny X-Men to Power Man & Iron Fist, they all had to contend with a visit from the Jheri curled "one from beyond". While most writers were able to use the Beyonder in some way to progress the storylines they were actually interested in telling, there was still an undeniable sense of forced participation. After all, the one writing Secret Wars II also happened to be the one who signed their cheques.
5) - Atlantis Attacks (1989)
Atlantis Attacks is the first crossover Marvel actually put some P.R. power behind. In an attempt to boost sales for the multipart Summer annual crossover about Marvel's undersea ne'erdowells, they sent out sponges to retailers. Because, y'know... things get very damp around Atlantis and hey, you try and come up with something better. What, complimentary sea monkeys? Now that's just racist!
The editors took the lessons learned from Evolutionary War to heart, though. Instead of having eleven annuals that told pretty much standalone stories, they now constructed a 14(!) part connected story that saw the Deviant high priest Ghaur ally himself with Sub-Mariner's old enemy Llyra. Together, they planned to revive the Elder God Set using a complex five pronged plan that brought them into conflict with pretty much every superhero who had an annual out that year.
Not every chapter had the best possible art and some of it did still feel like padding (looking at you New Mutants Annual I#5), but all in all Atlantis Attacks told intriguing or at least fun stories. From the seven superheroines Ghaur kidnapped so they couldbecome Seth's brides, to Atlantis' inevitable invasion of New York which was secretly to facilitate a blood sacrifice needed to appease Seth... It was well thought out and felt like an actual event, instead of incidental skirmishes against semi-connected foes. As it stands, the final battle against Ghaur and Llyra remains one of the most underappreciated slobber-knockers of the late 80s.
4) - Secret Wars (1984 - 1985)
The year was 1984 and Marvel wanted to sell some toys.
While that might be a bit unfair, Secret Wars was created to help promote a line of toys and playsets based on Marvel characters. Back in 2011, writer Jim Shooter detailled part of the origin story of the first ever company wide mega crossover on his blog. Any fan of Marvel in the 1980s knows the set up of Secret Wars: a mysterious, all powerful force calling itself the Beyonder summons a number of Earth's superheroes and villains, as well as Galactus, to a patchwork planet named Battleworld. Once there, they have one simple instruction: fight each other, for whoever wins will gain their heart's desire.
The toyline wasn't that big a hit, but the book itself proved incredibly popular. Part of the appeal was the fact most of the heroes had undergone mysterious changes during their time away. Spider-Man had a new costume, She-Hulk had taken the Thing's place with the Fantastic Four, the Hulk had a broken leg and more. Finding out the how and why behind these changes, not to mention seeing most of your favorite heroes and villains interacting, brought readers back month after month.
Still, the maxi-series wasn't without its detractors. Both John Byrne and Secret Wars artist Mike Zeck have gone on record say how dull and unimaginitive they felt the book was. And Shooter's scripting could at times be a tad too overwrought and shouty, as Brian Cronin pointed out back in 2007: out of 12 issues worth of dialogue, only 14 sentences did not end in an exclamation mark(!). But I don't care, Secret Wars (or 'Geheime Oorlogen' as the Dutch publisher Juniorpress translated it) was the first crossover series I got into as a kid and I absolutely loved its grandiose scope.
3) - Contest Of Champions (1982)
You never forget your first time...
Contest Of Champions was originally intended to be a comics tie in to the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. For that reason a number of international superheroes like Talisman, Defensor and Collective Man were created. The project was well under way, penciller Pablo Marcos was already drawing the first scripts and then... the USA decided to boycott the event to protest Soviet Russia's military actions in Afghanistan (plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...). So, while Marvel's editors considered the project effectively defunct and moved on, nobody told Marcos. He dutifully kept working on the script he'd received. When he eventually sent in his art, wondering when he could expect the rest of the story, people were stunned. Still, the half finished storyline gave editors Mark Gruenwald, Tom DeFalco and writer Bill Mantlo the idea to finish the tale anyways.
The plot could easily be reworked, now featuring Grandmaster who used Earth's heroes to engage Death in a cosmic game of chance. Each picked a team of 12 heroes who had to compete against each other. If Grandmaster won, Death would restore his fellow Elder of the Universe the Collector back to life. and with an art assist from John Romita Jr. who had to update Marcos' depictions of the various characters and team line ups to reflect their then current incarnations, the three part Contest Of Champions was a fact. Not only does Contest hold the honor of being the first crossover, it's also Marvel's first ever limited series.
Ironically, despite the involvement of so many A-level creators, one massive mistake was made when they messed up the final score. The story claimed the game ended in a tie, but the decisive battle was won by Shamrock who in fact was on Death's team. This major whoops was later addressed in the 1987 Avengers and West Coast Avengers annuals.
2) - Inferno (1988-1989)
Roughly a year after Fall Of The Mutants, the X-office unleashed an inferno on the poor children of the X. Flowing naturally from the pages of Uncanny X-Men, the crossover told the story of Limbo demons S'ym and N'astirh who planned to merge their realm with Earth to rule over both worlds. Over the course of the year leading up to the event, the coming catastrophe was strongly hinted at. The barriers between dimensions growing thin and S'ym's march to wrest control of Limbo from its ruler Magik was a plotline in both New Mutants and Uncanny X-Men. And then, when the demons managed to seduce X-Men associate Madelyne Pryor to become their Goblin Queen, the fuse was lit and no one could escape the exploding powderkeg that followed.
For three months' worth of issues, Limbo's ravenous residents rained down on New York, ready to take a massive chunk out of the Big Apple. The city itself became infected by outerdimensional evil, turning inanimate objects like cars, statues, mailboxes and payphones into vicious creatures out for blood. While the X-Men dealt with the main crisis, many of New York's heroes got in on the action trying to contain the effects of the incursion. The Fantastic Four helped keep the city safe from such varied menaces as Kang, Necrodamus and Graviton who all sought to benefit from the chaos. The event spawned the formation of a new Avengers lineup and caused Spider-Man's foe the Hobgoblin to strike a deal with N'astirh to become a true demon.
Even though they mostly didn't run into each other, thanks to the shared backdrop of a New York gone mad, Inferno felt like an actual intercompany crossover. Even if the actual, byzantine storyline played out in Uncanny X-Men and X-Factor where it taught a confused 8 year old the meaning of words like 'obtuse', 'opaque' and 'wtf did I just read?'.
1) - Acts Of Vengeance (1989)
.jpg)
Perfection.
Acts of Vengeance might just be the single best crossover Marvel did in the 80s... and it didn't finish until early 1990! Of course, naysayers complain about the blithingly simple plot: a cabal of high profile villains like Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin and the Red Skull join together to finally beat their most hated adversaries... by siccing bad guys on them they were unaccustomed to.
For those who claim that's a silly trick, yes... definitely. But it worked for the heroes so many times in the past. How often didn't either the Fantastic Four, X-Men or Avengers win a battle because they quickly switched opponents? The idea that a group of brainy baddies set aside their egos (as much as possible) to think of the perfect person(s) to take out their archenemies makes total sense. It did when I was a kid and it does today. And besides, it was just fun to see heroes try and deal with menaces they're unfamiliar with. Thor fought the Juggernaut, Iron Man found himself face to face with the Wrecker, Quasar had to adapt to defeat the Absorbing Man and a remnant from the first Secret Wars and what was left of the X-Men ran into the Mandarin. The resulting dust ups were a joy to read.
The cabal was brought together by Loki, who gleefully sat back and watched the mischief he'd caused. He also did nothing when holocaust survivor Magneto turned on his fellow cabal member Red Skull. Kingpin quickly abandoned his compatriots when the Avengers finally moved against them and Doctor Doom was too busy to notice anyway. He sent a bevy of baddies to fight a cosmically powered Spider-Man and also found time to sink the Avengers' floating island headquarters Hydrobase. Fun was had by all, unless you were one of the good guys, that is.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Naturally, these picks are solely based on my own, anything but unbiased preferences. Think I'm wrong or an absolute idjit for leaving out your particular fave? By all means, join the conversation!
It's day four of the Eighties August 8, we're at the midway point. The 80s marked the beginning of the company wide crossover. What started out as an exciting way of seeing different heroes interact with each other grew into an annual tradition until finally it spun out of control in the early to mid 90s... But for now, let's look back to when the going was still good.
8) - Evolutionary War (1988)
I really wanted to like the Evolutionary War, Marvel's first attempt at having a company wide crossover that solely played out in that year's annuals. The story featured Herbert Edgar Wyndham, a mad scientist turned uber powerful evolved human, who was determined to help guid mankind to the next phase of evolution through several schemes that brought him into conflict with a variety of Earth's heroes. As stories go, not the worst outline. But the sad truth of the matter: most of the material really wasn't very good.
The main problem with Evolutionary War was that only a few of the books really mattered to the actual story. Having the Punisher fight the High Evolutionary's footsoldiers who were killing drugdealers in Bogotá made for an okay but ultimately pointless story. Same goes for the Silver Surfer annual which saw the Evolutionary ask the Eternals to help map the Silver Surfer's DNA until he was able to convince them it wasn't a good idea.
Now, not everything is pure filler. While the X-Factor annual wasn't as pivotal as the cover suggested, it did feature a confrontation between Apocalypse and the Evolutionary which was a joy to read. And the finale in Avengers Annual I#17 remains a personal favorite of mine, with Captain America (as the Captain) desperately trying to get a makeshift team of Avengers together to help him deal with the High Evolutionary once and for all. The actual Avengers were disbanded at the time, still the Mr. Fixit Hulk, X-Factor's Beast, Hercules, Falcon, a newly reconstructed Jocasta and the criminal Yellowjacket (Rita DeMara) showed up to help save the world.
Even though yours truly didn't much care for the story I did buy the omnibus that came out a few years back, proving once again the old adage: If at first you don't succeed, resollicit!
7) - Fall Of The Mutants (1987)
The main reason this crossover didn't break into the top 5 is the simple reason it really wasn't a crossover at all. Following the success of 1986's "Morlock Massacre" storyline that ran through the pages of Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants and X-Factor, it was decided a new event was needed to boost sales.
Back when there were just three X-men related titles (written by only two people!), deciding what to do was easy. Chris Claremont and Louise Simonson came up with Fall Of The Mutants, a three month special event that would put the aforementioned teams of mutants through the wringer... without them ever meeting! The X-Men were in Dallas where they apparently sacrificed their lives fighting The Adversary, X-Factor was forced to deal with Apocalypse who assaulted New York with his four horsemen, one of which happened to be Angel. The New Mutants suffered perhaps the most personal loss: their teammate Cypher was killed during a mission against a forgettable Dr. Moreau type villain called the Ani-Mator.
Well crafted stories, one and all... But the only thing that really crossed over was the Fall Of The Mutants logo that appeared on the covers. There were, however, a few other titles who joined in on the fun. Captain America, Daredevil, Hulk, Fantastic Four and Power Pack all published Fall Of The Mutants tie-in issues with varying degrees of relevance.
All in all, 25 years later, Fall still holds up...
6) - Secret Wars II (1985-1986)
"Fear me, you lords and lady preachers, I descend upon your Earth from the skies!"
If only Secret Wars II had been as energetic and to the point as Queen's bombastic rock classic Seven Seas Of Rhye. Instead, the sequel to the smash hit of 1984 will mostly be remembered as longwinded, rambling and plagued by pedestrian art. In a nutshell: the Beyonder came to Earth looking for a purpose, which makes about as much sense as you asking an anthill for career advice.
That's not to say writer Jim Shooter's exploration of the nature of desire was either wrong or poorly thought out. Often profound, Shooter's story in fact preceded Wallstreet's Gordon "greed is good" Gekko by well over a year. Secret Wars II examined the ever changing human nature through the eyes of the naive but all powerful Beyonder, who in many ways learned about the world he'd entered like any newborn would... If that baby was capable of exploding planets and dropkicking Celestials, of course. Another often overlooked theme Shooter quite effectively touched on, was life in the mid 80s U.S., which he showed through the prism of Molecule Man and his chubby sweetie Marsha. Both had virtually limitless potential, but instead they were seemingly content holding down mediocre jobs, only to come home to watch mediocre television and stuffing themselves with junkfood. The most excitement they got was playing boardgames with friends. Was it bliss or were they blissfully trying to settle?
Secret Wars II ran for nine issues and had crossover tie-ins with just about every mainstream Marvel title. From Cloak & Dagger to Dazzler, from Uncanny X-Men to Power Man & Iron Fist, they all had to contend with a visit from the Jheri curled "one from beyond". While most writers were able to use the Beyonder in some way to progress the storylines they were actually interested in telling, there was still an undeniable sense of forced participation. After all, the one writing Secret Wars II also happened to be the one who signed their cheques.
5) - Atlantis Attacks (1989)
Atlantis Attacks is the first crossover Marvel actually put some P.R. power behind. In an attempt to boost sales for the multipart Summer annual crossover about Marvel's undersea ne'erdowells, they sent out sponges to retailers. Because, y'know... things get very damp around Atlantis and hey, you try and come up with something better. What, complimentary sea monkeys? Now that's just racist!
The editors took the lessons learned from Evolutionary War to heart, though. Instead of having eleven annuals that told pretty much standalone stories, they now constructed a 14(!) part connected story that saw the Deviant high priest Ghaur ally himself with Sub-Mariner's old enemy Llyra. Together, they planned to revive the Elder God Set using a complex five pronged plan that brought them into conflict with pretty much every superhero who had an annual out that year.
Not every chapter had the best possible art and some of it did still feel like padding (looking at you New Mutants Annual I#5), but all in all Atlantis Attacks told intriguing or at least fun stories. From the seven superheroines Ghaur kidnapped so they couldbecome Seth's brides, to Atlantis' inevitable invasion of New York which was secretly to facilitate a blood sacrifice needed to appease Seth... It was well thought out and felt like an actual event, instead of incidental skirmishes against semi-connected foes. As it stands, the final battle against Ghaur and Llyra remains one of the most underappreciated slobber-knockers of the late 80s.
4) - Secret Wars (1984 - 1985)
The year was 1984 and Marvel wanted to sell some toys.
While that might be a bit unfair, Secret Wars was created to help promote a line of toys and playsets based on Marvel characters. Back in 2011, writer Jim Shooter detailled part of the origin story of the first ever company wide mega crossover on his blog. Any fan of Marvel in the 1980s knows the set up of Secret Wars: a mysterious, all powerful force calling itself the Beyonder summons a number of Earth's superheroes and villains, as well as Galactus, to a patchwork planet named Battleworld. Once there, they have one simple instruction: fight each other, for whoever wins will gain their heart's desire.
The toyline wasn't that big a hit, but the book itself proved incredibly popular. Part of the appeal was the fact most of the heroes had undergone mysterious changes during their time away. Spider-Man had a new costume, She-Hulk had taken the Thing's place with the Fantastic Four, the Hulk had a broken leg and more. Finding out the how and why behind these changes, not to mention seeing most of your favorite heroes and villains interacting, brought readers back month after month.
Still, the maxi-series wasn't without its detractors. Both John Byrne and Secret Wars artist Mike Zeck have gone on record say how dull and unimaginitive they felt the book was. And Shooter's scripting could at times be a tad too overwrought and shouty, as Brian Cronin pointed out back in 2007: out of 12 issues worth of dialogue, only 14 sentences did not end in an exclamation mark(!). But I don't care, Secret Wars (or 'Geheime Oorlogen' as the Dutch publisher Juniorpress translated it) was the first crossover series I got into as a kid and I absolutely loved its grandiose scope.
3) - Contest Of Champions (1982)
You never forget your first time...
Contest Of Champions was originally intended to be a comics tie in to the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics. For that reason a number of international superheroes like Talisman, Defensor and Collective Man were created. The project was well under way, penciller Pablo Marcos was already drawing the first scripts and then... the USA decided to boycott the event to protest Soviet Russia's military actions in Afghanistan (plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...). So, while Marvel's editors considered the project effectively defunct and moved on, nobody told Marcos. He dutifully kept working on the script he'd received. When he eventually sent in his art, wondering when he could expect the rest of the story, people were stunned. Still, the half finished storyline gave editors Mark Gruenwald, Tom DeFalco and writer Bill Mantlo the idea to finish the tale anyways.
The plot could easily be reworked, now featuring Grandmaster who used Earth's heroes to engage Death in a cosmic game of chance. Each picked a team of 12 heroes who had to compete against each other. If Grandmaster won, Death would restore his fellow Elder of the Universe the Collector back to life. and with an art assist from John Romita Jr. who had to update Marcos' depictions of the various characters and team line ups to reflect their then current incarnations, the three part Contest Of Champions was a fact. Not only does Contest hold the honor of being the first crossover, it's also Marvel's first ever limited series.
Ironically, despite the involvement of so many A-level creators, one massive mistake was made when they messed up the final score. The story claimed the game ended in a tie, but the decisive battle was won by Shamrock who in fact was on Death's team. This major whoops was later addressed in the 1987 Avengers and West Coast Avengers annuals.
2) - Inferno (1988-1989)
Roughly a year after Fall Of The Mutants, the X-office unleashed an inferno on the poor children of the X. Flowing naturally from the pages of Uncanny X-Men, the crossover told the story of Limbo demons S'ym and N'astirh who planned to merge their realm with Earth to rule over both worlds. Over the course of the year leading up to the event, the coming catastrophe was strongly hinted at. The barriers between dimensions growing thin and S'ym's march to wrest control of Limbo from its ruler Magik was a plotline in both New Mutants and Uncanny X-Men. And then, when the demons managed to seduce X-Men associate Madelyne Pryor to become their Goblin Queen, the fuse was lit and no one could escape the exploding powderkeg that followed.
For three months' worth of issues, Limbo's ravenous residents rained down on New York, ready to take a massive chunk out of the Big Apple. The city itself became infected by outerdimensional evil, turning inanimate objects like cars, statues, mailboxes and payphones into vicious creatures out for blood. While the X-Men dealt with the main crisis, many of New York's heroes got in on the action trying to contain the effects of the incursion. The Fantastic Four helped keep the city safe from such varied menaces as Kang, Necrodamus and Graviton who all sought to benefit from the chaos. The event spawned the formation of a new Avengers lineup and caused Spider-Man's foe the Hobgoblin to strike a deal with N'astirh to become a true demon.
Even though they mostly didn't run into each other, thanks to the shared backdrop of a New York gone mad, Inferno felt like an actual intercompany crossover. Even if the actual, byzantine storyline played out in Uncanny X-Men and X-Factor where it taught a confused 8 year old the meaning of words like 'obtuse', 'opaque' and 'wtf did I just read?'.
1) - Acts Of Vengeance (1989)
.jpg)
Perfection.
Acts of Vengeance might just be the single best crossover Marvel did in the 80s... and it didn't finish until early 1990! Of course, naysayers complain about the blithingly simple plot: a cabal of high profile villains like Doctor Doom, Magneto, Kingpin and the Red Skull join together to finally beat their most hated adversaries... by siccing bad guys on them they were unaccustomed to.
For those who claim that's a silly trick, yes... definitely. But it worked for the heroes so many times in the past. How often didn't either the Fantastic Four, X-Men or Avengers win a battle because they quickly switched opponents? The idea that a group of brainy baddies set aside their egos (as much as possible) to think of the perfect person(s) to take out their archenemies makes total sense. It did when I was a kid and it does today. And besides, it was just fun to see heroes try and deal with menaces they're unfamiliar with. Thor fought the Juggernaut, Iron Man found himself face to face with the Wrecker, Quasar had to adapt to defeat the Absorbing Man and a remnant from the first Secret Wars and what was left of the X-Men ran into the Mandarin. The resulting dust ups were a joy to read.
The cabal was brought together by Loki, who gleefully sat back and watched the mischief he'd caused. He also did nothing when holocaust survivor Magneto turned on his fellow cabal member Red Skull. Kingpin quickly abandoned his compatriots when the Avengers finally moved against them and Doctor Doom was too busy to notice anyway. He sent a bevy of baddies to fight a cosmically powered Spider-Man and also found time to sink the Avengers' floating island headquarters Hydrobase. Fun was had by all, unless you were one of the good guys, that is.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Naturally, these picks are solely based on my own, anything but unbiased preferences. Think I'm wrong or an absolute idjit for leaving out your particular fave? By all means, join the conversation!
1991 - Anatomy of a cover - Conan the Barbarian #247
http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=77306
Monday, August 25, 2014
Eighties August 8 part III: Best Teams Of The 1980s
By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)
In today's Eighties August 8 entry, it's all about teamwork. The 1980s were a watershed decade for superheroes (and villains!) banding together for a common cause. We'll be counting down the best teams or lineups of the 1980s.*
8) - Power Pack (debut: Power Pack I#1, August 1984)
It was 1984 and Louise Simonson just had an idea. Well, actually, the long serving editor on both Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants had been workshopping the idea for a series featuring children with powers for quite some time until editor in chief Jim Shooter gave "Weezie" the go ahead. Together with artist June Brigman, she came up with the four siblings Jack, Julie, Alex and Kate who after encountering the alien Khoffi gained wondrous powers which they sorely needed to fight such menaces as the Snarks and the Bogey Man.
Simonson, hailing from a family of four herself, partly based the children on popular kids' fiction she read when she was young, which always seemed to feature a foursome as well. Their powers were derived from Albert Einstein's E = MC2 (Energy, Mass, Speed of Light) equation, with gravity added to the mix. Joined by the aforementioned alien Khoffi and even Franklin Richards at times, the Power Pack battled evil, bickered amongst themselves and tried not to burden their parents with their alternate identities.
Next to Brigman's clear, inviting art, the main appeal of the book was the fact Simonson was able to make it accessible and enjoyable for all ages (the kids even had their own Inferno crossover!), without talking down to the readership or make a teen feel embarrassed for buying Marvel's first ever mainstream children's comic.
7) - New Mutants (debut: Marvel Graphic Novel I#4, December 1982)
When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the X-Men back in 1963, the book was about young teens trying to master their mysterious mutant powers, under the watchful eye of their teacher Charles Xavier. Almost twenty years later, very little of that original premise remained. Except for Cyclops, all of Xavier's first class had moved on and the current crop of X-Men were experienced and significantly older. Even 13 year old recruit Kitty Pryde didn't seem in any desperate need or assistance in using her powers.
In other words, professor Xavier felt like he was spinning his wheels even more so than usual. When the X-Men were lost in space for an extended period fighting the Brood, the professor (himself secretly carrying a Brood embryo) slowly started assembling a band of young mutants to help guide to adulthood. But it wasn't the 1960s anymore. The appropriately diverse, international new class consisted of Mirage, Wolfsbane, Karma, Cannonball and Sunspot, soon joined by Magma and Magik. Every single one of them a teen with incredible powers and attitudes to match.
Chris Claremont was already in his early thirties when he started the book. So, even though the New Mutants rarely spoke like the hip and happening teens they were supposed to be, the trademark Claremontian soap opera type of storytelling was a wonderful match for all the obvious angst, heartbreak and insecurities any teenager has to deal with. For a short, blessed time New Mutants and Uncanny X-Men read like one continuous story, with the two casts sharing the school and interacting as they went about their ways. They may have been called X-Babies, but New Mutants helped mature the X-universe.
6) - New Fantastic Four (debut: Fantastic Four I#308, November 1987)
A change's as good as a rest, really.
By 1987, the Fantastic Four had been around for over 25 years. Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben had enjoyed tremendous success in that period, most notably thanks to John Byrne's staggering six year run in the early 1980s that revitalized the concept... All this made writing FF a daunting proposition to say the least, so incoming writer Steve Englehart simply decided he wasn't going to do that. Instead, he came up with a new Fantastic Four.
An issue or two after he took over, Englehart set things in motion. First, he had Reed and Sue decide they finally needed to focus on bringing up their son Franklin, leading to the decision to quit the team and leaving Ben Grimm in charge. Ben, still fuming over the fact Johnny Storm had married his old flame Alicia Masters, accepted the job and promptly invited Johnny's first real love Crystal to rejoin 'his' FF. And, just to add more fuel to the soap opera style fire, Grimm brought in Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura), who was struggling to cope with the fact she'd been sexually abused by the henchmen of Dr. Karl Malus. As a result, she was uptight, emotional and couldn't bring herself to even touch a man.
This blog covered the exploits of the new FF extensively back in late 2012, but in a nutshell: even though Englehart's take on Marvel's first family was unconventional... In essence four seemingly incompatible, emotionally fragile individuals who were constantly arguing, that is *exactly* the same kind of jarring effect the original Lee and Kirby Fantastic Four must have had back in late 1961. Back then, all the heroes liked each other and everyone was pretty much perfect... Stan Lee and Jack Kirby rewrote the rulebook and for better or worse, Englehart tried his best to emulate that type of characterization for the 80s.
And hey, at least we got the She-Thing out of it, right?
5) - Marauders (debut: Uncanny X-Men I#210, October 1986)
Even more so than the massive Masters of Evil incarnation that took over Avengers Mansion, the Marauders might just qualify as the single biggest supervillain group of the 1980s. The original band of baddies was comprised of ten more or less Omega level mutants, deadly on their own but absolutely lethal together. They were also an eclectic, colorful and immediately recognizable bunch, helped in part through a few familiar faces such as Savage Land native Vertigo, the bestial mercenary Sabretooth and former X-Man Polaris who was pressed into service after the psychic Marauder Malice took her over.
The Marauders seemingly came out of nowhere, as far as the X-Men knew anyway. A few months prior to their first outing as a team, individual members like Scalphunter made their presence known by picking off stray Morlocks but when they attacked in full force in 1986's Uncanny X-Men I#210, the gloves were off. The villains tore through the New York sewers, absolutely eradicating the Morlocks and even the combined but seperate efforts of the X-Men, Thor, Power Pack and X-Factor did little to stop the bloodshed.
The X-Men would fight with the Marauders on several occasions during the 1980s, and eventually it became clear they were merely the (cloned) pawns of the enigmatic mastermind calling himself Mister Sinister. But before they were picked off by the X-Men during the early hours of Inferno, the Marauders had proved crucial in ushering in the late 80s sense of gritty realism in comics. No one is guaranteed to come out alive... They also indirectly caused the creation of Archangel, the formation of the British X-offshoot Excalibur ánd the number four on our list.
4) - Outback Era X-Men (debut: Uncanny X-Men I#229, May 1988)
So it's come to this... and, wasn't it a long way down (under)?
Allusions to Leonard Cohen's song Dress Rehearsal Rag not withstanding, Chris Claremont was in fine form experimenting with the idea of the X-Men by the time the late eighties rolled around. So often these days, people complain about the cyclical nature of comics, the fact that "real change" is little more than an illusion. In the end, the proverbial reset button gets pushed, forcing all the toys back in the box. And while that might be true to some degree, consider the Australian outback era X-Men.
If, through some strange time portal, vortex or blue police box, fans of Uncanny X-Men in 1981 got their hands on any of these issues from 1988 on, they'd be hard pressed to recognize the comic they loved. Sure, Colossus and Wolverine are easily recognizable, and yeah that *has* to be Storm and Havok without his mask... But what is the Avengers villain Rogue doing there? Who are the others and why is there a diaper wearing aborigine in the front whirling a rock on a rope? The answers to these questions led to some very exciting stories indeed.
"Plus se change, plus se la meme chose" is one of Claremont's favorite French sayings and it holds up... The more things change, the more they stay the same. Sure, the X-Men looked radically different during their Ozzie days and Gateway had taken over the role of the Blackbird, but they were still fighting alien menaces like the Brood and protecting mutants from oppression on Genosha. Heck, they even kept the entire universe safe from destruction caused by a former red headed ally who was corrupted by universe altering powers. Sounds a lot like 1981 to me me.
Plus se change...
3) - West Coast Avengers (debut: West Coast Avengers I#1, September 1984)
If you could reinvent the wheel, how would it look?
Nowadays, after the billion dollar success that was the movie, having more than one Avengers comic on the stands goes without saying. But back in 1984 the idea of adding a second team of Avengers was revolutionary to say the least. Still, regular Avengers scribe Roger Stern dutifully scripted the initial West Coast Avengers limited series that saw Hawkeye and his new bride Mockingbird heading out to Los Angeles to set up an auxiliary Avengers operation. Over the course of four issues, they assembled Wonder Man, Tigra and Iron Man (James Rhodes) to help fight the menace of Graviton and the Blank.
The first mini proved to be a hit, so the Wackos (as the new team was affectionally called) were granted their own, monthly book penned by Steve Engelhart. Joined by artist Al Milgrom, Steve wrote most of the initial 40 issues, which explored what it meant to be the new kids on the superhero block. When they weren't fighting menaces like Ultron, Nekra and Master Pandemonium, they were out there having fun in the warm California sun.
West Coast Avengers never quite got the same respect as its parent title Avengers. Which is surprising, considering their adventures. An early highlight was the ambitious multipart timetravel epic Lost In Space-Time that saw the team spread out through time, the story spanning at least six eras before it ended with adding two new members to the team: Moon Knight and Dr. Hank Pym, who only months before that tried to commit suicide because he felt ashamed for his past failings. In the end, not even the introduction of classic members Vision and the Scarlet Witch helped rid the book of its "also ran" status. Eventually, Englehart left the book after creative differences, allowing John Byrne to take over, promptly rechristening the book Avengers West Coast.
It didn't help. Pretty art, though.
2) - Alpha Flight (debut: X-Men I#120, April 1979)
Sure, they made their debut in April of 1979, but Canada's premiere superhero team did not come into their own (series) until 1983's Alpha Flight I#1, written and drawn by one half of the creative team that gave them life: John Byrne. One tiny problem, though: he had no real idea what to do with them, because, as he readily admitted, their sole purpose was being able to survive a fight with the X-Men.
But their two issue stint proved exceptionally popular, so much so that Jim Shooter greenlighted the team to go solo. So here it is and there we went... And really, we didn't go anywhere in particular for most of the first year because the Canadian government had shut Department H and the team down. So even after banding together to stop the Great Beast Tundra in issue 1 and fighting the Master of the World alongside Namor and the Invisible Woman in issues 2 and 3, Alpha Flight wasn't seen together until they finally came to their leader Guardian's aid in issue 12... which ended with him dying.
Doesn't sound like too stellar a track record, and that's exactly what made Alpha Flight so memorable. They were understaffed, underpowered, ill equipped and ill tempered to deal with the menaces they had to face... but through it all, they preservered even though it cost them plenty along the way. John Byrne might not have been too sure what to do with the book, but that caused him to run with any crazy, off the wall idea that came to mind. Aurora's a schizophrenic? Sure! Northstar's gay with a penchant for older gentlemen callers? Hop to it! The newest member is an obese quadraplegic red head encased in living armor? Why not! Add to that villains like Pink Pearl, Gilded Lily, not to mention the Great Beasts and Byrne's first 28 issues read like a treasure trove of zany, frenetically charged devil may care macabre capers, all with great art and well under a buck.
Who could ask for more, eh?
1) - Post-Mansion Siege Avengers (debut: Avengers I#278, April 1987)
.jpg)
The culmination of Roger Stern's 5 year+ run on Avengers was the line up of Thor, Black Knight, She-Hulk, Sub-Mariner, his wife Marrina, Doctor Druid and their chairperson Captain Marvel. True, a far cry from the founders heavy early days when one would expect Iron Man, Captain America and either the Wasp or Yellowjacket on the team. But this colorful assemblage of heroes were more than able to hold their own, possessing a wide variety of skills, contacts and backgrounds in both scientific and mystical matters.
Under Roger Stern (not to mention the consistent art team of John Buscema and Tom Palmer), the Avengers had continued to grow and evolve, culminating in the election of its first ever trainee recruit Captain Marvel to the position of chairperson. As one sees too often in group books, only two or three members get the chance to really shine, leaving the others as little more than glorified bitplayers forced to spout interchangeable, expositionary dialogue.
Not this particular line up, though. Thor was appropriately godlike, She-Hulk sounded like her familiar, sassy self, the Sub-Mariner displayed his trademark pomposity while Black Knight showed he was first and foremost a scientist. Even new recruits like Marrina and Doctor Druid were valued, vital and instantly distinguishable members of the team. In many ways, that makes these "post Mansion Siege" era Avengers like Cap's Kooky Quartet, the first ever line up change that saw Captain America heading up a team that consisted of Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. One'd hardly consider them Earth's mightiest, but for the briefest of times, they were.
Sometimes, history repeats itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Naturally, these picks are solely based on my own, anything but unbiased preferences. Think I'm wrong or an absolute idjit for leaving out your particular fave? By all means, join the conversation!
In today's Eighties August 8 entry, it's all about teamwork. The 1980s were a watershed decade for superheroes (and villains!) banding together for a common cause. We'll be counting down the best teams or lineups of the 1980s.*
8) - Power Pack (debut: Power Pack I#1, August 1984)
It was 1984 and Louise Simonson just had an idea. Well, actually, the long serving editor on both Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants had been workshopping the idea for a series featuring children with powers for quite some time until editor in chief Jim Shooter gave "Weezie" the go ahead. Together with artist June Brigman, she came up with the four siblings Jack, Julie, Alex and Kate who after encountering the alien Khoffi gained wondrous powers which they sorely needed to fight such menaces as the Snarks and the Bogey Man.
Simonson, hailing from a family of four herself, partly based the children on popular kids' fiction she read when she was young, which always seemed to feature a foursome as well. Their powers were derived from Albert Einstein's E = MC2 (Energy, Mass, Speed of Light) equation, with gravity added to the mix. Joined by the aforementioned alien Khoffi and even Franklin Richards at times, the Power Pack battled evil, bickered amongst themselves and tried not to burden their parents with their alternate identities.
Next to Brigman's clear, inviting art, the main appeal of the book was the fact Simonson was able to make it accessible and enjoyable for all ages (the kids even had their own Inferno crossover!), without talking down to the readership or make a teen feel embarrassed for buying Marvel's first ever mainstream children's comic.
7) - New Mutants (debut: Marvel Graphic Novel I#4, December 1982)
When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced the X-Men back in 1963, the book was about young teens trying to master their mysterious mutant powers, under the watchful eye of their teacher Charles Xavier. Almost twenty years later, very little of that original premise remained. Except for Cyclops, all of Xavier's first class had moved on and the current crop of X-Men were experienced and significantly older. Even 13 year old recruit Kitty Pryde didn't seem in any desperate need or assistance in using her powers.
In other words, professor Xavier felt like he was spinning his wheels even more so than usual. When the X-Men were lost in space for an extended period fighting the Brood, the professor (himself secretly carrying a Brood embryo) slowly started assembling a band of young mutants to help guide to adulthood. But it wasn't the 1960s anymore. The appropriately diverse, international new class consisted of Mirage, Wolfsbane, Karma, Cannonball and Sunspot, soon joined by Magma and Magik. Every single one of them a teen with incredible powers and attitudes to match.
Chris Claremont was already in his early thirties when he started the book. So, even though the New Mutants rarely spoke like the hip and happening teens they were supposed to be, the trademark Claremontian soap opera type of storytelling was a wonderful match for all the obvious angst, heartbreak and insecurities any teenager has to deal with. For a short, blessed time New Mutants and Uncanny X-Men read like one continuous story, with the two casts sharing the school and interacting as they went about their ways. They may have been called X-Babies, but New Mutants helped mature the X-universe.
6) - New Fantastic Four (debut: Fantastic Four I#308, November 1987)
A change's as good as a rest, really.
By 1987, the Fantastic Four had been around for over 25 years. Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben had enjoyed tremendous success in that period, most notably thanks to John Byrne's staggering six year run in the early 1980s that revitalized the concept... All this made writing FF a daunting proposition to say the least, so incoming writer Steve Englehart simply decided he wasn't going to do that. Instead, he came up with a new Fantastic Four.
An issue or two after he took over, Englehart set things in motion. First, he had Reed and Sue decide they finally needed to focus on bringing up their son Franklin, leading to the decision to quit the team and leaving Ben Grimm in charge. Ben, still fuming over the fact Johnny Storm had married his old flame Alicia Masters, accepted the job and promptly invited Johnny's first real love Crystal to rejoin 'his' FF. And, just to add more fuel to the soap opera style fire, Grimm brought in Ms. Marvel (Sharon Ventura), who was struggling to cope with the fact she'd been sexually abused by the henchmen of Dr. Karl Malus. As a result, she was uptight, emotional and couldn't bring herself to even touch a man.
This blog covered the exploits of the new FF extensively back in late 2012, but in a nutshell: even though Englehart's take on Marvel's first family was unconventional... In essence four seemingly incompatible, emotionally fragile individuals who were constantly arguing, that is *exactly* the same kind of jarring effect the original Lee and Kirby Fantastic Four must have had back in late 1961. Back then, all the heroes liked each other and everyone was pretty much perfect... Stan Lee and Jack Kirby rewrote the rulebook and for better or worse, Englehart tried his best to emulate that type of characterization for the 80s.
And hey, at least we got the She-Thing out of it, right?
5) - Marauders (debut: Uncanny X-Men I#210, October 1986)
Even more so than the massive Masters of Evil incarnation that took over Avengers Mansion, the Marauders might just qualify as the single biggest supervillain group of the 1980s. The original band of baddies was comprised of ten more or less Omega level mutants, deadly on their own but absolutely lethal together. They were also an eclectic, colorful and immediately recognizable bunch, helped in part through a few familiar faces such as Savage Land native Vertigo, the bestial mercenary Sabretooth and former X-Man Polaris who was pressed into service after the psychic Marauder Malice took her over.
The Marauders seemingly came out of nowhere, as far as the X-Men knew anyway. A few months prior to their first outing as a team, individual members like Scalphunter made their presence known by picking off stray Morlocks but when they attacked in full force in 1986's Uncanny X-Men I#210, the gloves were off. The villains tore through the New York sewers, absolutely eradicating the Morlocks and even the combined but seperate efforts of the X-Men, Thor, Power Pack and X-Factor did little to stop the bloodshed.
The X-Men would fight with the Marauders on several occasions during the 1980s, and eventually it became clear they were merely the (cloned) pawns of the enigmatic mastermind calling himself Mister Sinister. But before they were picked off by the X-Men during the early hours of Inferno, the Marauders had proved crucial in ushering in the late 80s sense of gritty realism in comics. No one is guaranteed to come out alive... They also indirectly caused the creation of Archangel, the formation of the British X-offshoot Excalibur ánd the number four on our list.
4) - Outback Era X-Men (debut: Uncanny X-Men I#229, May 1988)
So it's come to this... and, wasn't it a long way down (under)?
Allusions to Leonard Cohen's song Dress Rehearsal Rag not withstanding, Chris Claremont was in fine form experimenting with the idea of the X-Men by the time the late eighties rolled around. So often these days, people complain about the cyclical nature of comics, the fact that "real change" is little more than an illusion. In the end, the proverbial reset button gets pushed, forcing all the toys back in the box. And while that might be true to some degree, consider the Australian outback era X-Men.
If, through some strange time portal, vortex or blue police box, fans of Uncanny X-Men in 1981 got their hands on any of these issues from 1988 on, they'd be hard pressed to recognize the comic they loved. Sure, Colossus and Wolverine are easily recognizable, and yeah that *has* to be Storm and Havok without his mask... But what is the Avengers villain Rogue doing there? Who are the others and why is there a diaper wearing aborigine in the front whirling a rock on a rope? The answers to these questions led to some very exciting stories indeed.
"Plus se change, plus se la meme chose" is one of Claremont's favorite French sayings and it holds up... The more things change, the more they stay the same. Sure, the X-Men looked radically different during their Ozzie days and Gateway had taken over the role of the Blackbird, but they were still fighting alien menaces like the Brood and protecting mutants from oppression on Genosha. Heck, they even kept the entire universe safe from destruction caused by a former red headed ally who was corrupted by universe altering powers. Sounds a lot like 1981 to me me.
Plus se change...
3) - West Coast Avengers (debut: West Coast Avengers I#1, September 1984)
If you could reinvent the wheel, how would it look?
Nowadays, after the billion dollar success that was the movie, having more than one Avengers comic on the stands goes without saying. But back in 1984 the idea of adding a second team of Avengers was revolutionary to say the least. Still, regular Avengers scribe Roger Stern dutifully scripted the initial West Coast Avengers limited series that saw Hawkeye and his new bride Mockingbird heading out to Los Angeles to set up an auxiliary Avengers operation. Over the course of four issues, they assembled Wonder Man, Tigra and Iron Man (James Rhodes) to help fight the menace of Graviton and the Blank.
The first mini proved to be a hit, so the Wackos (as the new team was affectionally called) were granted their own, monthly book penned by Steve Engelhart. Joined by artist Al Milgrom, Steve wrote most of the initial 40 issues, which explored what it meant to be the new kids on the superhero block. When they weren't fighting menaces like Ultron, Nekra and Master Pandemonium, they were out there having fun in the warm California sun.
West Coast Avengers never quite got the same respect as its parent title Avengers. Which is surprising, considering their adventures. An early highlight was the ambitious multipart timetravel epic Lost In Space-Time that saw the team spread out through time, the story spanning at least six eras before it ended with adding two new members to the team: Moon Knight and Dr. Hank Pym, who only months before that tried to commit suicide because he felt ashamed for his past failings. In the end, not even the introduction of classic members Vision and the Scarlet Witch helped rid the book of its "also ran" status. Eventually, Englehart left the book after creative differences, allowing John Byrne to take over, promptly rechristening the book Avengers West Coast.
It didn't help. Pretty art, though.
2) - Alpha Flight (debut: X-Men I#120, April 1979)
Sure, they made their debut in April of 1979, but Canada's premiere superhero team did not come into their own (series) until 1983's Alpha Flight I#1, written and drawn by one half of the creative team that gave them life: John Byrne. One tiny problem, though: he had no real idea what to do with them, because, as he readily admitted, their sole purpose was being able to survive a fight with the X-Men.
But their two issue stint proved exceptionally popular, so much so that Jim Shooter greenlighted the team to go solo. So here it is and there we went... And really, we didn't go anywhere in particular for most of the first year because the Canadian government had shut Department H and the team down. So even after banding together to stop the Great Beast Tundra in issue 1 and fighting the Master of the World alongside Namor and the Invisible Woman in issues 2 and 3, Alpha Flight wasn't seen together until they finally came to their leader Guardian's aid in issue 12... which ended with him dying.
Doesn't sound like too stellar a track record, and that's exactly what made Alpha Flight so memorable. They were understaffed, underpowered, ill equipped and ill tempered to deal with the menaces they had to face... but through it all, they preservered even though it cost them plenty along the way. John Byrne might not have been too sure what to do with the book, but that caused him to run with any crazy, off the wall idea that came to mind. Aurora's a schizophrenic? Sure! Northstar's gay with a penchant for older gentlemen callers? Hop to it! The newest member is an obese quadraplegic red head encased in living armor? Why not! Add to that villains like Pink Pearl, Gilded Lily, not to mention the Great Beasts and Byrne's first 28 issues read like a treasure trove of zany, frenetically charged devil may care macabre capers, all with great art and well under a buck.
Who could ask for more, eh?
1) - Post-Mansion Siege Avengers (debut: Avengers I#278, April 1987)
.jpg)
The culmination of Roger Stern's 5 year+ run on Avengers was the line up of Thor, Black Knight, She-Hulk, Sub-Mariner, his wife Marrina, Doctor Druid and their chairperson Captain Marvel. True, a far cry from the founders heavy early days when one would expect Iron Man, Captain America and either the Wasp or Yellowjacket on the team. But this colorful assemblage of heroes were more than able to hold their own, possessing a wide variety of skills, contacts and backgrounds in both scientific and mystical matters.
Under Roger Stern (not to mention the consistent art team of John Buscema and Tom Palmer), the Avengers had continued to grow and evolve, culminating in the election of its first ever trainee recruit Captain Marvel to the position of chairperson. As one sees too often in group books, only two or three members get the chance to really shine, leaving the others as little more than glorified bitplayers forced to spout interchangeable, expositionary dialogue.
Not this particular line up, though. Thor was appropriately godlike, She-Hulk sounded like her familiar, sassy self, the Sub-Mariner displayed his trademark pomposity while Black Knight showed he was first and foremost a scientist. Even new recruits like Marrina and Doctor Druid were valued, vital and instantly distinguishable members of the team. In many ways, that makes these "post Mansion Siege" era Avengers like Cap's Kooky Quartet, the first ever line up change that saw Captain America heading up a team that consisted of Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. One'd hardly consider them Earth's mightiest, but for the briefest of times, they were.
Sometimes, history repeats itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Naturally, these picks are solely based on my own, anything but unbiased preferences. Think I'm wrong or an absolute idjit for leaving out your particular fave? By all means, join the conversation!
1981 - Uncanny creative differences
I left, as I have stated many, many, MANY times, because I finally hit the end of my rope when it came to Chris and me (and sometimes Chris on his own, and sometimes me on my own) plotting out very specific scenes for very specific purposes in advancing the story, then seeing the finished issue and finding Chris had scripted the scene as something else entirely.
Shooter, at one point, had offered me script approval -- I would be sent a copy of Chris' script to "edit" before it went to the letterer -- but that sounded like too much extra work, especially since I would be expected to do it gratis. So, since I was already set to write the FF, with Bill continuing to pencil, when Bill decided to go with Doug over to MOON KNIGHT, I decided to pencil FF, too.
There was never so much as a single instance of me wanting to do something, Chris wanting to do something else, and Weezie choosing Chris' idea over mine.http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=35290&TPN=16
From "Comics Creators On X-Men" (Titan Books - 2006):
Why did you leave X-Men at that point?
John Byrne: I know exactly why. Chris and I were getting further and further apart on who the characters were, and what the characters were about. When Roger Stern was our editor, he worked closely with Chris, to make sure the stories came out as close to what Chris and I plotted as possible. Jim Salicrup, who replaced Roger, sort of leaned in my camp. Then Louise Simonson came in as the editor and she came from the school of thought that says the writer is the important guy. All of a sudden, I had no power. I started to develop what I call my 'Argh' moment -- which is, 'How deep can I delve into this issue before I hit something that makes me go, "Argh!"?' There was one particular issue [X-Men #140] where Colossus is pulling a tree trunk out of the ground with a chain on the splash page, and I went, 'Argh!' right on the splash page because of the way Chris wrote it. I said, 'Okay, this is obviously telling me it's time to go.' There was also a little piece off to one side where Chris and I had argued a great deal about who the characters were and how the characters act, and what they say and what they do and I realised that the Chris version of the characters was what was seeing print. They way Chris wrote it was what was seeing print, regardless of what I thought it was in my head while I was drawing the pages. So if I didn't like what Chris was doing, that meant I didn't like the characters. So when I hit that 'Argh' moment, I basically picked up the phone and called Louise and said, 'I can't do this any more.' I was originally going to stay on for another couple of issues, but ultimately I didn't. The characters deserved better than for me to turn in what was going to be a whole lost less than my best work. So I just left.
From Byrne Robotics in 2010:
>>The way you've described it, JB, you really didn't get tired of the X-Men, just aspects of the collaboration.
Byrne: Yes and no. I certainly grew tired of plotting one thing, and then having Chris script it as something else. That rather goes against the notion of a "collaboration".
But I did get tired of THOSE X-Men. As I've noted elsewhere, I strongly disagreed with Chris' characterizations, and, eventually, I realized that since those were what was seeing print, those were who the characters "really" were. So if I didn't like what Chris was writing, I didn't like the characters!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Eighties August 8 part II: Best Titles Of The 1980s
By Jef Willemsen (clarmindcontrol.blogspot.com)
In the second part of Eighties August 8, we'll be counting down the eight best titles of the 1980s. Now, we can all agree that books like Simonson's Thor, Miller's Daredevil, Byrne's Fantastic Four and of course Claremont's Uncanny X-Men belong on that list by default. But that would make this entry far too predictable. Instead, let's focus on some of the lesser known gems of the decade.*
8) - Power Man & Iron Fist
Not too many characters considered typical 70s creations were able to survive and thrive in the 80s... But somehow, Luke Cage and Daniel Rand beat the odds. One a relic of the blackploitation rage of the mid 1970s, the other Marvel's response to the Kung Fu craze of the same time period. Odds of them being able to support a monthly book after disco went out of style were unlikely. In fact, Marvel actually did cancel their solo titles, but decided to give the two another chance, bringing them together as Power Man & Iron Fist.
Somehow, an instant, almost effortless chemistry occured between the tough, street smart Power Man and the slightly naive, spiritual Iron Fist. Their adventures ran the gamut, ranging from mystical menaces like Master Khan to super powered mercenaries such as Constrictor and Sabretooth. The book effortlessly switched between complicated detective style stories in which barely a punch was thrown and broad, silly romps featuring characters like the unapologetically unbelievable Black Mariah.
Add to that a rich, varied supporting cast including the likes of Colleen Wing and Misty Knight, and you were sitting pretty, storywise... Which is exactly what Power Man & Iron Fist did until September 1986's issue 125, the final issue of the series that ended with Iron Fist's death (don't worry, he got over it).
7) - Damage Control
So, what happens after your favorite heroes have defeated a villain, trashing half of New York in the process?
The late great Dwayne McDuffie and artist Ernie Colón finally answered that question with Damage Control, a 1989 four issue limited series about Ms. Hoag and her employees who specialized in clean up and reconstruction after super powered conflicts. Now, if you think corporate machinations, tons of paper work and construction crew banter sounds boring, think again... I'll bet the Punisher doesn't show up in your reception area, loaded for bear. And oh boy, was it fun.
But even though Damage Control was first and foremost a comedy, McDuffie did use it to add a whole new dimension to the Marvel Universe . Despite all the infectious silliness and the giddy oneliners, the book showed for the first time the very real, human impact of superhero conflicts. The Avengers, Fantastic Four and all the other New York based heroes may go home after a fight, but they don't exist in a vacuum. Their actions have consequences and Damage Control was on hand to help out (even if they did drop Avengers Mansion back in the drink after they tried to salvage it following Acts Of Vengeance).
6) - New Defenders
Like Power Man and Iron Fist, the original Defenders hail from the 1970s and were reinvented, albeit it far too briefly, for the new decade. By its very nature, membership of the Defenders was mostly fluid, the only constants being Doctor Strange who often acting as the team's leader, and Valkyrie who stayed at Strange's home which incidentally also served as the unofficial team's inofficial gathering place. By November 1983, writer J.M DeMatteis decided to shake things up. Defenders changed to New Defenders with issue 125.
Beast (Hank McCoy) had decided what the team needed was more structure and organization. Long serving members Gargoyle, Valkyrie and her unwilling ward Moondragon were game, joined by Beast's former X-Men teammates Iceman and Angel (who bankrolled the operation). And so, the Defenders 2.0 were born.
My love and affection for this colorful rag tag band of heroes is no secret, the formation and adventures of the New Defenders were covered on this blog some time ago. When DeMatteis left (ironically after realizing writing a 'real' team stymied his creativity), Peter B. Gillis took over and told some truly dark, creepy stories that took the former non team to places few mainstream books dared venture at the time. Don Perlin and Kim DeMulder provided solid and appropriately moody art for the book, but in the end it was cancelled so Angel, Beast and Iceman could appear in the new X-Factor series. Wotta sassafrassin' shame, really.
5) - Squadron Supreme
Don't call them the Justice League...
... Though, really, they are. Originally dreamed up by Roy Thomas in 1971 during his Avengers run in order to poke some gentle fun at DC's premiere superteam, these alternate reality heroes spent the next decade and a half popping up occasionally to cause random mischief until Mark Gruenwald took them under his wing. Starting in September of 1985, the 12 issue Squadron Supreme limited stories told the story of what would happen if Earth's mightiest decided to become benevolent dictators, taking over control of the world for a year in an attempt to fix its many woes.
Because of the very nature of the Squadron Supreme (i.e. not being household names), Mark Gruenwald was pretty much allowed free reign. He could let the Squadronners do and experience things very few if any mainstream superheroes had by then. When Lady Lark broke up with Golden Archer, the furious, spurned hero brainwashed his ex girlfriend, forcing her to love him unconditionally. The radioactive Squadron member Nuke accidentally caused the cancer that killed his parents. And, perhaps most tragic of all, the team's inventive genius Tom Thumb succumbed to cancer as well, but not before his desperation caused him to betray his personal code of honor by trying to steal a cure that in the end proved ineffective.
The series was a prime example of Gruenwald at his best: telling ground breaking stories that were always rooted in the inevitability of the human condition.Well before Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns revolutionalized and matured the genre, Squadron Supreme led the way.
4) - Sensational She-Hulk
"What if... She-Hulk knew she was in a comic book?"
John Byrne took a concept that might as well have been a throwaway, semi-funny What If? one pager and turned it into Sensational She-Hulk, Shulkie's second 80s solo title. The main gimmick was the fact Jennifer Walter was well aware she was a comic book character and she was absolutely fine with it. Byrne initially only wrote the first eight issues of the book, before he was unceremoniously discarded.
He'd eventually return in the 1990s, taking over with #31 and delivering some nice work until he quit again with #50. But his arguably best, most original work can be found in those first 8 issues, with She-Hulk gleefully indulging in breaking the fourth wall and what it meant to be in a comic. Not sure about the best way to defeat Stilt Man, she checked the villain's Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe entry. Threatened by a seemingly inescapable menace, she simply tore her way through the pages, crossing a mock double spread advertisment to get to safety.
All in all, it's goofy, silly fun that still holds up.
3) - Spider-Woman
Much like the She-Hulk, Marvel ordered the creation of Jessica Drew in 1977 simply to make sure other companies couldn't copyright the female counterpart of a popular character. Spider-Woman was launched in March of 1978, after her initial appearance in Marvel Spotlight I#32 sold surprisingly well. One little problem, though... No one really knew what to do with her.
Oh, sure... There were plenty of theories and most of them were either implemented or strongly hinted at. Writer Marv Wolfman gave Drew an origin that implied she wasn't a woman at all, but an actual arachnid given human form by the High Evolutionary. Eventually, it was revealed HYDRA had planted these false memories within Jessica, but that didn't help matters much. Drew was mostly rudderless, between writers Wolfman, Gruenwald (him again?) and Michael Fleisher who turned her into a bounty hunter. It wasn't until Chris Claremont took over the book with January 1981's issue #34 that the book finally found its bearings.
Claremont and his creative compatriot Steve Leiloha salvaged Spider-Woman, distilling the essence of the character as a fringe superheroine and taking it to the next level. Over the course of 13 issues, Jessica Drew quit the bounty hunting business, moved to San Francisco with her best friend Lindsay McCabe, started a new career as a private investigator and made the city by the bay her own. The change came with a completely new, distinctive supportive cast: Drew's landlord and love interest David Ishima, the tough as nails but secretive police lieutenant Sabrina Morrel and many more... Including old enemies like Morgana Le Fay, the elder god Ch'ton and Viper, who may or may not have been Jessica's mother Meriem.
Spider-Woman under Claremont and Leialoha had its very own, distinct look and feel which in itself is an achievement for a bi-monthly book. That alone makes it well worth remembering and checking out.
2) - Moon Knight
Ever since he made his debut back in 1975, Moon Knight has been unfavorably called "Marvel's Batman".
A rather unfair comparison... Sure, they're both caped crusaders who prefer to stalk criminals at night, travel by helicopter and wear their insignia on their chest that are like an ever so handy bullseye. But the comparison really stops there, as Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz proved with their run on Moon Knight.
In many ways, the book was far ahead of its time. Placed against the backdrop of a gritty, grimey pre-Giulliani urban renewal New York, Moon Knight told urban parabels and presented highly stylized pieces of comic book art that dangerously walked the highwire between the sublime and the ridiculous. Take for instance the striking cover of Moon Knight I#24, which features Moon Knight and Stained Glass Scarlet. She looks imposing and important, but is actually a former nun who killed her criminal son by becoming a crossbow wielding vigilante. As one does.
Suspension of disbelief is essential for the enjoyment of comics, and Moon Knight is a prime example of that philosophy. Moench's stories were tremendously aided by Sienkiewicz's atmospheric art. Over the course of their run, Bill's prefered technique matured: slowly abandoning the Neal Adams style he had been emulating in the beginning to start experimenting with a far more abstract, expressionistic style. The fluent, ever changing mood and personality of the schizophrenic Moon Knight allowed Sienkiewicz to take a variety of truly fascinating approaches portraying what could otherwise have been fairly pedestrian crime stories. For proof of that statement, go check out "Hit It!", the first story in Moon Knight I#26.
Pure poetry in motion...
1) - Doctor Strange
The Doctor is in!
Strange to think he ever was out, if one reads Roger Stern's lengthy stint on the sorceror surpreme's second and bi montly solo book, aptly called Doctor Strange. Stern chronicled the adventures of the Doc for a fair chunk of the early 1980s, pitting him against a variety of foes both mystic and more down to earth. However, the quintessential 80s Strange didn't appear until Stern was joined by artist Paul Smith, who had been garnering quite a bit of attention at the time because of his work on Uncanny X-men.
For some borderline mystical reason, Smith's crispy, clear lined art proved to be a perfect match for the often arcane otherworldly messes Doctor Strange got himself involved with. The result was a comic that not only looked incredible, it also told particularly fascinating tales, often within the space of a single issue. Both webmaster Jason Shayer and yours truly happen to be unabashed fans of the Stern/Smith Strange, as we covered in times past (like say here & here).
What it boils down to, is the very root of the Marvel Universe. The one, defining aspect that sets it apart from its erm, shall we say, Distinguished Competitors: the only reason why the fantastical is so engrossing, is the fact that it is tempered with an undeniable sense of identifiable humanity.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Naturally, these picks are solely based on my own, anything but unbiased preferences. Think I'm wrong or an absolute idjit for leaving out your particular fave? By all means, join the conversation!
In the second part of Eighties August 8, we'll be counting down the eight best titles of the 1980s. Now, we can all agree that books like Simonson's Thor, Miller's Daredevil, Byrne's Fantastic Four and of course Claremont's Uncanny X-Men belong on that list by default. But that would make this entry far too predictable. Instead, let's focus on some of the lesser known gems of the decade.*
8) - Power Man & Iron Fist
Not too many characters considered typical 70s creations were able to survive and thrive in the 80s... But somehow, Luke Cage and Daniel Rand beat the odds. One a relic of the blackploitation rage of the mid 1970s, the other Marvel's response to the Kung Fu craze of the same time period. Odds of them being able to support a monthly book after disco went out of style were unlikely. In fact, Marvel actually did cancel their solo titles, but decided to give the two another chance, bringing them together as Power Man & Iron Fist.
Somehow, an instant, almost effortless chemistry occured between the tough, street smart Power Man and the slightly naive, spiritual Iron Fist. Their adventures ran the gamut, ranging from mystical menaces like Master Khan to super powered mercenaries such as Constrictor and Sabretooth. The book effortlessly switched between complicated detective style stories in which barely a punch was thrown and broad, silly romps featuring characters like the unapologetically unbelievable Black Mariah.
Add to that a rich, varied supporting cast including the likes of Colleen Wing and Misty Knight, and you were sitting pretty, storywise... Which is exactly what Power Man & Iron Fist did until September 1986's issue 125, the final issue of the series that ended with Iron Fist's death (don't worry, he got over it).
7) - Damage Control
So, what happens after your favorite heroes have defeated a villain, trashing half of New York in the process?
The late great Dwayne McDuffie and artist Ernie Colón finally answered that question with Damage Control, a 1989 four issue limited series about Ms. Hoag and her employees who specialized in clean up and reconstruction after super powered conflicts. Now, if you think corporate machinations, tons of paper work and construction crew banter sounds boring, think again... I'll bet the Punisher doesn't show up in your reception area, loaded for bear. And oh boy, was it fun.
But even though Damage Control was first and foremost a comedy, McDuffie did use it to add a whole new dimension to the Marvel Universe . Despite all the infectious silliness and the giddy oneliners, the book showed for the first time the very real, human impact of superhero conflicts. The Avengers, Fantastic Four and all the other New York based heroes may go home after a fight, but they don't exist in a vacuum. Their actions have consequences and Damage Control was on hand to help out (even if they did drop Avengers Mansion back in the drink after they tried to salvage it following Acts Of Vengeance).
6) - New Defenders
Like Power Man and Iron Fist, the original Defenders hail from the 1970s and were reinvented, albeit it far too briefly, for the new decade. By its very nature, membership of the Defenders was mostly fluid, the only constants being Doctor Strange who often acting as the team's leader, and Valkyrie who stayed at Strange's home which incidentally also served as the unofficial team's inofficial gathering place. By November 1983, writer J.M DeMatteis decided to shake things up. Defenders changed to New Defenders with issue 125.
Beast (Hank McCoy) had decided what the team needed was more structure and organization. Long serving members Gargoyle, Valkyrie and her unwilling ward Moondragon were game, joined by Beast's former X-Men teammates Iceman and Angel (who bankrolled the operation). And so, the Defenders 2.0 were born.
My love and affection for this colorful rag tag band of heroes is no secret, the formation and adventures of the New Defenders were covered on this blog some time ago. When DeMatteis left (ironically after realizing writing a 'real' team stymied his creativity), Peter B. Gillis took over and told some truly dark, creepy stories that took the former non team to places few mainstream books dared venture at the time. Don Perlin and Kim DeMulder provided solid and appropriately moody art for the book, but in the end it was cancelled so Angel, Beast and Iceman could appear in the new X-Factor series. Wotta sassafrassin' shame, really.
5) - Squadron Supreme
Don't call them the Justice League...
... Though, really, they are. Originally dreamed up by Roy Thomas in 1971 during his Avengers run in order to poke some gentle fun at DC's premiere superteam, these alternate reality heroes spent the next decade and a half popping up occasionally to cause random mischief until Mark Gruenwald took them under his wing. Starting in September of 1985, the 12 issue Squadron Supreme limited stories told the story of what would happen if Earth's mightiest decided to become benevolent dictators, taking over control of the world for a year in an attempt to fix its many woes.
Because of the very nature of the Squadron Supreme (i.e. not being household names), Mark Gruenwald was pretty much allowed free reign. He could let the Squadronners do and experience things very few if any mainstream superheroes had by then. When Lady Lark broke up with Golden Archer, the furious, spurned hero brainwashed his ex girlfriend, forcing her to love him unconditionally. The radioactive Squadron member Nuke accidentally caused the cancer that killed his parents. And, perhaps most tragic of all, the team's inventive genius Tom Thumb succumbed to cancer as well, but not before his desperation caused him to betray his personal code of honor by trying to steal a cure that in the end proved ineffective.
The series was a prime example of Gruenwald at his best: telling ground breaking stories that were always rooted in the inevitability of the human condition.Well before Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns revolutionalized and matured the genre, Squadron Supreme led the way.
4) - Sensational She-Hulk
"What if... She-Hulk knew she was in a comic book?"
John Byrne took a concept that might as well have been a throwaway, semi-funny What If? one pager and turned it into Sensational She-Hulk, Shulkie's second 80s solo title. The main gimmick was the fact Jennifer Walter was well aware she was a comic book character and she was absolutely fine with it. Byrne initially only wrote the first eight issues of the book, before he was unceremoniously discarded.
He'd eventually return in the 1990s, taking over with #31 and delivering some nice work until he quit again with #50. But his arguably best, most original work can be found in those first 8 issues, with She-Hulk gleefully indulging in breaking the fourth wall and what it meant to be in a comic. Not sure about the best way to defeat Stilt Man, she checked the villain's Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe entry. Threatened by a seemingly inescapable menace, she simply tore her way through the pages, crossing a mock double spread advertisment to get to safety.
All in all, it's goofy, silly fun that still holds up.
3) - Spider-Woman
Much like the She-Hulk, Marvel ordered the creation of Jessica Drew in 1977 simply to make sure other companies couldn't copyright the female counterpart of a popular character. Spider-Woman was launched in March of 1978, after her initial appearance in Marvel Spotlight I#32 sold surprisingly well. One little problem, though... No one really knew what to do with her.
Oh, sure... There were plenty of theories and most of them were either implemented or strongly hinted at. Writer Marv Wolfman gave Drew an origin that implied she wasn't a woman at all, but an actual arachnid given human form by the High Evolutionary. Eventually, it was revealed HYDRA had planted these false memories within Jessica, but that didn't help matters much. Drew was mostly rudderless, between writers Wolfman, Gruenwald (him again?) and Michael Fleisher who turned her into a bounty hunter. It wasn't until Chris Claremont took over the book with January 1981's issue #34 that the book finally found its bearings.
Claremont and his creative compatriot Steve Leiloha salvaged Spider-Woman, distilling the essence of the character as a fringe superheroine and taking it to the next level. Over the course of 13 issues, Jessica Drew quit the bounty hunting business, moved to San Francisco with her best friend Lindsay McCabe, started a new career as a private investigator and made the city by the bay her own. The change came with a completely new, distinctive supportive cast: Drew's landlord and love interest David Ishima, the tough as nails but secretive police lieutenant Sabrina Morrel and many more... Including old enemies like Morgana Le Fay, the elder god Ch'ton and Viper, who may or may not have been Jessica's mother Meriem.
Spider-Woman under Claremont and Leialoha had its very own, distinct look and feel which in itself is an achievement for a bi-monthly book. That alone makes it well worth remembering and checking out.
2) - Moon Knight
Ever since he made his debut back in 1975, Moon Knight has been unfavorably called "Marvel's Batman".
A rather unfair comparison... Sure, they're both caped crusaders who prefer to stalk criminals at night, travel by helicopter and wear their insignia on their chest that are like an ever so handy bullseye. But the comparison really stops there, as Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz proved with their run on Moon Knight.
In many ways, the book was far ahead of its time. Placed against the backdrop of a gritty, grimey pre-Giulliani urban renewal New York, Moon Knight told urban parabels and presented highly stylized pieces of comic book art that dangerously walked the highwire between the sublime and the ridiculous. Take for instance the striking cover of Moon Knight I#24, which features Moon Knight and Stained Glass Scarlet. She looks imposing and important, but is actually a former nun who killed her criminal son by becoming a crossbow wielding vigilante. As one does.
Suspension of disbelief is essential for the enjoyment of comics, and Moon Knight is a prime example of that philosophy. Moench's stories were tremendously aided by Sienkiewicz's atmospheric art. Over the course of their run, Bill's prefered technique matured: slowly abandoning the Neal Adams style he had been emulating in the beginning to start experimenting with a far more abstract, expressionistic style. The fluent, ever changing mood and personality of the schizophrenic Moon Knight allowed Sienkiewicz to take a variety of truly fascinating approaches portraying what could otherwise have been fairly pedestrian crime stories. For proof of that statement, go check out "Hit It!", the first story in Moon Knight I#26.
Pure poetry in motion...
1) - Doctor Strange
The Doctor is in!
Strange to think he ever was out, if one reads Roger Stern's lengthy stint on the sorceror surpreme's second and bi montly solo book, aptly called Doctor Strange. Stern chronicled the adventures of the Doc for a fair chunk of the early 1980s, pitting him against a variety of foes both mystic and more down to earth. However, the quintessential 80s Strange didn't appear until Stern was joined by artist Paul Smith, who had been garnering quite a bit of attention at the time because of his work on Uncanny X-men.
For some borderline mystical reason, Smith's crispy, clear lined art proved to be a perfect match for the often arcane otherworldly messes Doctor Strange got himself involved with. The result was a comic that not only looked incredible, it also told particularly fascinating tales, often within the space of a single issue. Both webmaster Jason Shayer and yours truly happen to be unabashed fans of the Stern/Smith Strange, as we covered in times past (like say here & here).
What it boils down to, is the very root of the Marvel Universe. The one, defining aspect that sets it apart from its erm, shall we say, Distinguished Competitors: the only reason why the fantastical is so engrossing, is the fact that it is tempered with an undeniable sense of identifiable humanity.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Naturally, these picks are solely based on my own, anything but unbiased preferences. Think I'm wrong or an absolute idjit for leaving out your particular fave? By all means, join the conversation!
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