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Post by Amoebas on Feb 10, 2019 14:54:45 GMT
Hard to choose, but if I have to... Marvel 2 in 1 > Quasar > Squadron Supreme > Hawkeye mini > Captain America Taking 2 in 1, from single issue stories into the whole Project Pegasus saga and onward was just great stuff (no disrespect to Ron Wilson, but getting Perez, Byrne & Bingham didn't hurt either). Myself, I'd order things Squadron Supreme > Quasar > Captain America > Marvel Two-In-One > Hawkeye I can't fault you for putting Squadron Supreme first, it is really really good. It was Kingdom Come long before Kingdom Come (or Identity Crisis, Injustice, etc.). |
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Post by Stephen Day on Feb 10, 2019 14:59:25 GMT
I can't fault you for putting Squadron Supreme first, it is really really good. It was Kingdom Come long before Kingdom Come (or Identity Crisis, Injustice, etc.). Yeah, a lot of people today forget what kind of influence that series had on the industry as a whole. |
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Post by mothman on Feb 10, 2019 15:24:43 GMT
Plus,Master Menace looke A LOT like Alan Moore.
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Post by chap22 on Feb 10, 2019 19:38:23 GMT
While no longer my favorite characters (although I still love both), thanks to cartoons, the Electric Company, and 60s reruns, Batman and, for purposes of this thread, Spider-Man were my gateway drugs to a lifelong comics addiction, and my first comic (along with Batman 315) was this one:  And the rest, as they say, is history. |
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Post by chap22 on Feb 10, 2019 19:44:25 GMT
Obviously the classic great runs are easy to name:
Stan/Jack FF
Stan/Jack Thor
Stan/Steve Doc Strange
Stan/Steve/Jazzy Johnny Spidey
Miller DD
Simonson Thor
PAD Hulk
Roy Thomas Avengers
Stern Avengers
Claremont X-Men (particularly with Byrne)
You guys can sing along, you know the rest. So in the next few posts, I’m gonna go into some of my favorites that get less “greatest of all time” love instead, by character, until I end with one dedicated to my favorite creator.
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Post by chap22 on Feb 10, 2019 19:51:58 GMT
Starting with the home of my favorite character, the ruggedly handsome gent in my avatar, there’s a clear, easy Mount Rushmore of FF runs in my head:
Stan/Jack
Byrne
Waid/Ringo
Hickman
Of those, Waid’s run is my personal fave, and I don’t think there’s ever been a better, clearer definition of who Reed is and why the FF do what they do than his very first issue, as encapsulated in Reed’s bedtime story to Val. It is IMO a perfect comic.
But other than those 4 there are some other great FF-adjacent books that hold special places in my heart:
FF vs. the X-Men by Claremont/Bogdanove — my favorite Sue moment ever wraps this one up, but it’s full of terrific moments for both teams, including another Reed bedtime story, this time to Franklin
Slott’s Thing solo book
Slott’s Spidey/Torch “I’m With Stupid” mini
Fraction’s FF book with the replacement team
The recent Zdarsky Marvel 2-in-1
And of course, large chunks of the old original 2-in-1, particularly Gru’s stuff as already being discussed herein
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Post by chap22 on Feb 10, 2019 20:00:12 GMT
As for Spidey:
the Stern/JRJr days fighting the Juggernaut, introducing Hobgoblin, etc are a personal fave
I actually liked the DeFalco/Frenz era too (and am an unabashed lover of their later Spider-Girl stuff)
Got my one and only published letter to the editor in an issue of Web of Spidey
Spectacular was probably my favorite of the solo Spidey books for most of the 80s and 90s from around the intro of Cloak & Dagger through the Owl/Ock gang war through the Answer & Spot and Spidey’s breakup with Black Cat, through Death of Jean DeWolff through Tombstone and on into the book’s high point with Harry as the Goblin
But much like Rob, my favorite Spidey book, and maybe my favorite Marvel comic of all time, remains the original 150 issue (plus Annuals) run of Marvel Team-Up.
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Post by chap22 on Feb 10, 2019 20:02:18 GMT
Iron Man:
Michelinie 1
Michelinie 2
Fraction
O’Neill (the Rhodey era)
Not much more I can really say about Shellhead...he’s never really been my favorite and I come in and out on him pretty easily
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Post by chap22 on Feb 10, 2019 20:05:28 GMT
Thor
Well, Simonson is the be-all, end-all for me, but after that, big fan of:
Aaron
Stan/Jack
JMS
Fraction’s run was decent
And up until all the Thunderstrike stuff, I thought DeFalco’s run was a lot of fun too
But I feel special recognition needs to be made of Gillen’s Journey into Mystery run with Kid Loki — fantastic stuff there
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Post by chap22 on Feb 10, 2019 20:27:41 GMT
Daredevil
I’d argue that since the late 70s ol’ Hornhead has had more truly great runs than any other comic. Oh and apparently Bendis wrote his book for a while too, but I guess no 50+ year old comic is perfect. But even after Miller, when you can fire off this many high-quality runs, you’re clearly doing something right. In my personal order of enjoyment:
Waid/Samnee
Nocenti
Brubaker
Smith/Quesada
Kesel/Nord
Soule
JMD (probably my least favorite of his Marvel work, but still pretty good)
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Post by Amoebas on Feb 10, 2019 20:35:45 GMT
Fantastic Four
#1 era for me will always be the time of the Kirby Creative Explosion. The "Marvel Method" lent itself to the artist making many/most of the story decisions and boy oh boy did Kirby ever run with it.
FF #41-94 - the Inhumans, Silver Surfer, Galactus, the Negative Zone, Ronan, the Kree, Him, Black Panther, the Power Cosmic, Klaw, Psycho Man, Blastaar, Annihilus, Prisoner/Latveria; they just kept coming. Getting Joe Sinnott on inks over Chick Stone or Colletta didn't hurt none either.
JB's run is 2nd followed by...
Lee/Kirby 1-40
Thomas/Wolfman/Perez/Pollard/Byrne
Waid/Ringo
Any Karl Kesel penned FF story takes 6th.
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Post by Amoebas on Feb 10, 2019 20:38:07 GMT
Avengers
Michelenie/Shooter/Byrne/Perez
Busiek/Perez
Thomas/Buscema/Adams/Buckler
Stern/Buscema
JB's West Coast
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Post by chap22 on Feb 10, 2019 20:38:23 GMT
Avengers
I’ll start this with the run that made me an Avengers fan:
Surprisingly it’s Englehart/Milgrom’s West Coast Avengers book. It is this book that made me a Hawkeye fan, a Hank Pym fan, and I still count Lost in Space-Time as one of top 3 favorite Avengers stories ever. After that:
Stern/Buscema
Busiek/Perez/Davis/Dwyer (and of course, KDB/Pacheco’s adjacent Avengers Forever)
Hickman
Englehart
Michelinie (prior to issue 200, the only thing to ever happen to the Avengers worse than both Bendis and Byrne’s run on WCA)
Rascally Roy
And for as much shit as I give him, I guess I should admit I really liked Bendo’s Dark Avengers, and I liked Siege and Avengers Prime a good bit too
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Post by Amoebas on Feb 10, 2019 20:44:05 GMT
Thor
#1 is (again) with the Kirby #114-160 is just magical with the Magog arc being the absolute best.
Simonson is 2nd (and I personally like the stories more when Sal Buscema took over on art)
I give a shout out to the Warren Ellis days
and other than 3 three I really don't get Thor much any other time.
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Post by Amoebas on Feb 10, 2019 20:46:54 GMT
Captain America
Stern/Byrne - just incredible
DeMatteis/Zeck/Neary
Waid/Garney
Englehart/Sal Buscema
Gruenwald's run (minus the Ron Lim, just awful to look at imo).
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