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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 19, 2023 6:00:40 GMT -5
Today's entry has been seen several times already so once again I'm not going to spend a lot of time reiterating what y'all have said so far about 6. The Black Panther
I'm talking specifically about T'challa's Jungle Action series written by the oft-maligned Don McGregor. Denigrated by many as overly verbose for a visual medium, I've defended Mr. McG in the past by pointing out that, unlike many comics scripters past and present, he rarely wastes words telling us what the art is showing us, but uses it to provide sound, smell, taste, touch, emotion, and context, story elements a drawing alone can't provide. It's an approach that doesn't always work—it was all wrong for his brief run on Power Man--but it shone like gold here, especially when complemented by the densely expressive artwork of Billy Graham. I also enjoy the Black Panther series by Jack Kirby but it's so completely different in tone and feel it might as well have been done by Gahan Wilson or Bobby London. Cei-U! Here, kitty, kitty, kitty...! |
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 19, 2023 6:23:44 GMT -5
#6
Barbara Gordon( Batgirl/ Oracle)
First appearance: Detective Comics #359 ( 1967)
Creators: Gardner Fox/ Carmine Infantino
Series covered : Birds of Prey series (1996, 1999)
Series Team: Chuck Dixon/ Gary Frank/ Greg Land and more.
 There were many fans that thought the 1988 Alan Moore Killing Joke one shot was the end for Barbara Gordon. For sure, it put her in a wheelchair and seemingly ended her career as a crime fighter. They were wrong. In 1996 Chuck Dixon and Gary Frank introduced her next chapter in a one shot called Black Canary/ Oracle : Birds of Prey . In the series, Barbara Gordon became the Tech and information expert of the Dc universe and used it to send operatives on missions to continue the fight that she could no longer physically do The book proved popular enough to get more one-shots and an ongoing series in 1999.. Except for a period in the early 80’s, I’ve never been a Batman family fan , but this was far enough away from the Gotham environs, that it totally had me collecting the series every month. Black Canary was never better than the way she was written here, but the series utilizes many female characters like Catwoman, Powergirl, Huntress to carry on Babs mission. By far, the relationship between the Canary and Babs was the highlight of the book. The art team was stellar starting with Gary Frank , Greg Land , Ed Benes and supported by top writers. The book lasted 127 issues and was given several more volumes after it was done. Barbara's depiction here was so good, I thought it a shame when DC rebooted her back to walking again. 
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 19, 2023 6:35:30 GMT -5
6. Squadron SupremeThe Squadron Supreme, as opposed to the similar Squadron Sinister (four members of both teams, Hyperion, Nighthawk, Whizzer and Dr. Spectrum, are basically the same, wearing pretty much the same costumes and having the same power sets), are a group of heroes from an alternate Earth who first appeared in Avengers #85. Like the Sinisters, the Supremes are meant to be a Marvel version of the Justice League. They subsequently appeared a number of times, mainly in the pages of the Avengers (wherein their roster was expanded, so readers were introduced to new members, all with the same similarity to Justice Leaguers). Then in 1985 they got their own 12-issue limited series. The brainchild of writer Mark Gruenwald, it deals head-on with many of those questions that you find yourself asking when reading super-hero comics, i.e., why don’t these beings with virtually god-like powers actually tackle the world’s real problems, like warfare, poverty and disease, instead of just punching super-powered robbers or thwarting would-be super-powered world conquerors (whether home-grown or alien)? This is showcased by a debate its members have in the very first issue, when just such a thing is proposed by the Squadron’s Superman-analog, Hyperion. Despite some misgivings, most members decide to go along with the plan, with only Nighthawk (the Batman-analog) dissenting.  The first issue closes with the Squadron making a public announcement about their utopia program and revealing their true identities to the world, while Nighthawk (Kyle Richmond) quietly vows to oppose them. This sets the tone for the rest of the series. (art by Bob Hall and John Beatty)
Given the themes explored here, Gruenwald’s Squadron Supreme has often been (and still is) compared to Alan Moore’s Watchmen, i.e., it’s sometimes called “Watchmen before Watchmen,” and some of its proponents even say it’s better than Moore’s now legendary story. I can’t say I agree with those assessments. There are certainly some similarities, as both a deconstructions of the superhero genre and contemplations of creeping fascism, among other things, but I think Gruenwald was telling something of a different story than Moore. I still think Watchmen is better, but the Squadron Supreme limited series still tells a damn good story, and one that I highly recommend.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Dec 19, 2023 7:19:51 GMT -5
6. X-Factor
First appearance: X-Men #1 (1963)
Spin-off: X-Factor (1986)
I like X-Factor. I don't love it. It's good comfort reading, but it doesn't wow or excite me. Still, as a spin-off, the premise was pretty brilliant: Xavier's first batch of students against the real world, realizing how poorly he prepared them to confront bigotry and intolerance. The idea of pretending to be mutant hunters as a means of getting to mutants in need was damn original, and the ethics the team subsequently wrestled with (are they truly serving the greater good or just fanning the flames of hatred) was rich as well. It felt like a more sober exploration of the core fundamentals of the X-Men mythos, especially as they kept finding mutants who needed them and had to deal with issues like where to house all of them (boy do I remember their taking in the Morloks!). X-Men was the superior comic, but X-Factor was, in some respects, a lot better considered. And the fact that it was ultimately permitted to evolve beyond its first incarnation and become something more was refreshing as well. The era when they are a team of high profile superhero mutants living aboard "ship" in New York City is probably my favorite.
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Post by foxley on Dec 19, 2023 7:21:25 GMT -5
There were many fans that thought the 1988 Alan Moore Killing Joke one shot was the end for Barbara Gordon. For sure, it put her in a wheelchair and seemingly ended her career as a crime fighter. They were wrong. In 1996 Chuck Dixon and Gary Frank introduced her next chapter in a one shot called Black Canary/ Oracle : Birds of Prey . In the series, Barbara Gordon became the Tech and information expert of the Dc universe and used it to send operatives on missions to continue the fight that she could no longer physically do A minor quibble, but it was John Ostrander and Kim Yale (especially Yale) who created Babs' Oracle identity and she first appeared as Oracle in Suicide Squad #23 (1989). |
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Post by commond on Dec 19, 2023 7:28:09 GMT -5
#6
Barbara Gordon( Batgirl/ Oracle)
First appearance: Detective Comics #359 ( 1967)
Creators: Gardner Fox/ Carmine Infantino
Series covered : Birds of Prey series (1996, 1999)
Series Team: Chuck Dixon/ Gary Frank/ Greg Land and more.There were many fans that thought the 1988 Alan Moore Killing Joke one shot was the end for Barbara Gordon. For sure, it put her in a wheelchair and seemingly ended her career as a crime fighter. They were wrong. In 1996 Chuck Dixon and Gary Frank introduced her next chapter in a one shot called Black Canary/ Oracle : Birds of Prey . In the series, Barbara Gordon became the Tech and information expert of the Dc universe and used it to send operatives on missions to continue the fight that she could no longer physically do I just wanna point out that it was John Ostrander and Kim Yale who turned Barbara Gordon into Oracle in the pages of Suicide Squad, and Denny O'Neal who kept the idea alive in Sword of Azrael. The same month that the first Birds of Prey one shot came out in '96, Ostrander and Kim Yale did an Oracle origin story in Batman Chronicles #5 (Oracle: Year One.) |
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Post by foxley on Dec 19, 2023 7:36:33 GMT -5
6. Batwoman #0-42 (2011-2015)   First appearing in the 52 maxi-series, Kate 'Batwoman' Kane is the most significant and most interesting addition to the Bat-family in years. And her first series quickly established her as a strong presence in her own right. Not being a protege of Batman, she does not stand in his shadow, but is her own heroine. She was given an origin story significantly different to Bruce's to further establish her as a unique character and not just a distaff version of Batman. Add to that a strong supporting cast and this is a very good book indeed. That it is a book with a strong, non-stereotypical lesbian lead is just the icing on the cake. |
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Post by MWGallaher on Dec 19, 2023 7:39:31 GMT -5
6. THE HEAP in AIRBOY COMICS, Hillman Spun off from Skywolf in AIRFIGHTERS COMICS v.1 #3, December 1942, with its own feature as backup and occasional cover feature in AIRBOY COMICS #32 (October, 1946)-111 (May, 1953)  You can read the entire Heap saga here! It’s public domain! The Heap was exactly the kind of comic book I would have wanted at the very start of my comics collecting career: a monster’s journey, following a fearsome, misunderstood and hideous creature as it traveled the world, encountering strange situations and conflicts, and escaping to follow its instincts. I found it in SWAMP THING, an early favorite, and soon after that in Marvel’s Man-Thing, never suspecting at the time that path of the comic book swamp monster had been established decades before in an utterly unique backup feature. After four appearances as a threat to Skywolf ( not Airboy!), the folks at Hillman made the crowd-pleasing decision to install The Heap, a World War I German pilot, Baron Emmelmann, whose crash into a Polish swamp led to his resurrection as a mute, blood-drinking mass of ambulatory vegetation, as an ongoing feature. Initially acting as a sort of a pet to an American boy, The Heap became less of a general menace but a more selective deliverer of deadly justice to the wicked. As time went on, the feature’s creative team bothered less and less with tying The Heap’s stories into the comic’s aviation theme, delving into outright horror, morality tales, science fiction…it was sui generis in its day. The Heap was untethered to any home base, wandering across the globe, unable to share its thoughts with the reader. The closest contemporary that I can think of was Dick Briefer’s Frankenstein, which happens to be another favorite of mine, but that character could at least express himself, show some personality and intent. In The Heap, we see a feature that is in many ways a precursor to not only the obvious Man-Thing, Swamp Thing, Morlock 2001, Bog Beast, and Skywald’s own version of “The Heap” but also to characters like The Hulk, Werewolf By Night and The Zombie. It’s probably no coincidence that all of those, as well, are favorites of mine. I really dig seeing creators tackle the challenge of an ongoing feature based on characters that are not relatable in conventional terms, and the fact that Hillman was able to make such a successful run of it with The Heap is impressive. Reading The Heap’s adventures in their entirety is one of my 2024 goals, but every sample I’ve read so far has justified my confidence in including it here.
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Post by commond on Dec 19, 2023 7:52:32 GMT -5
#6 FF Vol. 2 #1-16 (2012-14)Spun off from Fantastic Four #579  What's this all about, you ask? Well, when I decided to become a contributor to this site, instead of a lurker, I made an effort not only to track down the classic comics folks were discussing, but to make up for some of the 20-odd years I spent not reading comic books. I haven't really scratched the surface of modern comics, but I can tell you a few things I like. Number one, I like the initiatives that Marvel made under Joe Quesda and Axl Alonso. Number two, I love motley crews. And number three, Mike Allred being allowed to play with Kirby's toys has been the greatest thing to happen to Marvel in the 21st century. The basic premise of this series is that Reed Richards asks Scott Lang to head up a temporary Fantastic Four team to look after the Future Fountain kids for four minutes while the Fantastic Four are off on a mission. Four minutes pass and the Fantastic Four don't return. Both Fraction and Allred have done better Marvel work than this, but I love this oddball take on the World's Greatest Comic Magazine.
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Post by DubipR on Dec 19, 2023 8:09:45 GMT -5
Rainy day reading makes for the best comics reads #6- Measles (1998-2001) I had Jaime on the list, you knew Gilbert's coming soon, right? The world of Palomar from Gilbert Hernandez's side of Love and Rocket is wonderful. There's love, mobsters, other worldly presence and just a weird world you call relate to. As the tale of the inhabitants of that fiction town in Mexico, Luba's half-sisters, Rosalba and Petra show up later on the series, giving the chance for Luba to come to the US and have a second chance at life. Petra's daughter Venus, who is probably one of the funniest and cheeriest characters from Luba's family. She's loves her family, her friends, the world around her, movies and her love of comic books. Loves them so much, she's made movies with her mom as the superhero main. Measles is fun all-ages anthology with some great talent on there. Steve 'Ribs' Weissman who's brilliant Little Kids series is worth a read. The legendary Lewis Trondheim, who brings us a fun adventure. Jim Woodring's zany surreal world of art. Sam Henderson to name another. Jaime has a small series in here. But here, Gilbert's Venus shows how great life is; whether she's drawing comics, understanding a crush and heartbreak in 6 pages, or playing soccer to impress the boy she likes, Venus sets the record straight. It's almost 30 years later, like all of Gilbert's characters, she's grown up and has a family but that little glint in her eye is still there, showing the world that she's Venus.  |
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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 19, 2023 8:17:45 GMT -5
#6
Barbara Gordon( Batgirl/ Oracle)
First appearance: Detective Comics #359 ( 1967)
Creators: Gardner Fox/ Carmine Infantino
Series covered : Birds of Prey series (1996, 1999)
Series Team: Chuck Dixon/ Gary Frank/ Greg Land and more.There were many fans that thought the 1988 Alan Moore Killing Joke one shot was the end for Barbara Gordon. For sure, it put her in a wheelchair and seemingly ended her career as a crime fighter. They were wrong. In 1996 Chuck Dixon and Gary Frank introduced her next chapter in a one shot called Black Canary/ Oracle : Birds of Prey . In the series, Barbara Gordon became the Tech and information expert of the Dc universe and used it to send operatives on missions to continue the fight that she could no longer physically do I just wanna point out that it was John Ostrander and Kim Yale who turned Barbara Gordon into Oracle in the pages of Suicide Squad, and Denny O'Neal who kept the idea alive in Sword of Azrael. The same month that the first Birds of Prey one shot came out in '96, Ostrander and Kim Yale did an Oracle origin story in Batman Chronicles #5 (Oracle: Year One.) I didn’t know that. Well done. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Dec 19, 2023 8:39:56 GMT -5
Day Seven (#5)
Tales of Asgard I loved reading mythology, even as a little kid, and while I loved the Greek myths, it was always the Norse myths that I read and reread. Something about the harshness and the realism of the stories, and as I realized as I got older, the fatalism of the Norse myths just made more sense to me as a way of understanding the world. Odin was crucified; he plucked out an eye to gain wisdom; Balder was killed by his blind brother; when Loki is punished a la Prometheus, his wife caught the venom of the snake in a cup until she had to empty it and Loki roared in pain. The Norse gods’ actions had consequences. And over all of them hung the spectre of Ragnarok. Need I say more when it came to Jack Kirby’s Tales of Asgard, spun out of Thor? I never had a complete collection for various reasons, but whenever I read one, I was blown away by the otherworldly majesty of Kirby’s art. I was far more a DC kid than a Marvel kid, but I knew from greatness when it came to art, and Kirby’s art was great, at least by my standards, especially on Thor and the Tales of Asgard.   The collection of the first ten of the series is one of my favorite comics ever. The summer of ’68 is one of my best remembered sweet spots for comics and this was one of the highlights. I was desperately hoping it would become a regular reprint tile like Marvel Super-Heroes, et al., but it was not to be. I checked and double-checked the indicia and saw a term I had never encountered: “one-shot.” I knew what it meant, though. There would be no regular collection, no ongoing series. I was as crushed as I had been the day I realized there was no Santa. It only made my reading experience all the sweeter. That may also have been the day that I truly understood the concept of fatalism. Me and the Norse gods, livin’ large even with Ragnarok around the corner.
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Post by coke & comics on Dec 19, 2023 9:10:22 GMT -5
6. Thunderbolts
Thunderbolts #1-75, 1997-2003, by Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Bagley, Patrick Zircher et al.  Uh.. Spoiler warning if you haven't read Thunderbolts #1 yet. There are two ways to interpret this as a spin-off. The Thunderbolts were introduced in Incredible Hulk #449, a new team of heroes to fill the void left when the Avengers died in battle with Onslaught. They then received their own series. But... turn to the last page of issue 1, and you learn this team of heroes isn't as new... or as heroic... as it appeared. They were in fact the Masters of Evil in disguise! And thus this team's origins really date back to Avengers #6! Mind. Blown. Of course, where this series started isn't where it ended. A series about villains disguised as heroes was fun for a dozen issues, but Busiek was after something more with these characters, borrowing from his own work on The Liberty Project.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 19, 2023 9:11:08 GMT -5
6. WolverineYes, him again... And yet, I didn't care for his serial in MCP and never enjoyed his ongoing series. I think the character has suffered from a severe case of overexposure since at least the mid '80s. Even in the X-Men books proper, he never seemed to progress much after that point. But man, that first mini-series... It's been a very long time, but I can still feel the excitement of finding out what would happen in the next issue; it felt like the Earth was shaking. I especially remember how cool that silent, climactic fight scene with Shingen looked, all done in wide panels as if this were a samurai movie (cool enough that it was basically copied in the Kitty Pryde/Wolverine mini and in X-Men #173).  The miniseries fleshed out Logan without making him lose any of his mystery, and without contradicting anything (unlike, alas, the Weapon X serial and so many other later stories). We learned that he craved the discipline and nobility of the samurai, and saw him rise up to the challenge. In an ideal world, the character would have continued on this path and, we hope, eventually have found serenity. Naturally that would have meant sacrificing the status quo and caused lost sales in underoos, but we can dream. Those were good days for Wolverine as a character. His healing factor hadn't yet reached the level of magic, and he could be seriously injured by an old man with a wooden sword. He could still be a "normal" adventurer with a few tricks up his sleeve; one who could be hurt or killed by being stabbed or shot. One who didn't have imprinted fake memories but actually knew who his father was (that's in issue #1). One who was not god-like enough that any conflict would feel artificial. One of the happy moments of my comics-reading life.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,202 
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Post by Confessor on Dec 19, 2023 9:34:06 GMT -5
#6 – Cloak & Dagger (mini-series #1–4, 1983–84) + (ongoing series #1–11, 1985–87) + ( Strange Tales on-going series #1–11, 1987–88)  Spinning out of the pages of Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, today's entry is the first three solo series starring Cloak & Dagger. A large part of Cloak & Dagger's appeal is that they inhabit a darker side of New York City than the world that the likes of the Fantastic Four or the Avengers move in. Both their initial appearances and their early solo series were very much a journey to the seedy under-belly of the Marvel Universe. These are a pair of teenage runaways who inadvertently got involved in a criminal chemist's trials for a new synthetic type of heroin. Though they survived being dosed with the experimental drug, it gave them super-powers and now they haunt the seedy, crime-filled streets of New York, battling drug pushers, pimps, and child-murderers – and, unlike some other Marvel super-heroes, they are not afraid to kill. Something else that plays into the duo's appeal is their striking and memorable visual design, which was concocted by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Ed Hannigan. Lastly, an additional factor that really endeared the pair to me as a kid was that they were teenagers; when I was reading their early appearances in the '80s, they weren't that far away from my own age. I should also note at this juncture that I'm a big fan of poor old Bill Mantlo. The tragic accident he suffered in the early '90s robbed comics of one of its most promising writers IMHO – and Cloak & Dagger are arguably his greatest creation. In addition to penning the duo's earliest appearances in Spectacular Spider-Man, Mantlo also wrote their first four-issue mini-series and their later ongoing bi-monthly series. When the duo moved into the re-launched Strange Tales, Mantlo worked on the series up until issue #6, after which he briefly left Marvel for DC and inker extraordinaire Terry Austin took over the writing with mixed results. In all honesty, although Cloak & Dagger's first 4-issue mini-series is good, it's not a patch on the duo's earlier appearances in Spectacular Spider-Man. Some of that is down to Mantlo's dialogue feeling a little…I dunno, "bulky" or over-written (though it's still very readable). The second series was stronger overall and when Mantlo was on point, he delivered some really gripping and thought-provoking street-level comics. To sum up, I adore these two characters so much that I'm happy to read any of their early appearances, regardless of the overall quality. Back in 1984, getting them in their own comic, after having already fallen in love with them in the pages of PP:TSSM, was a fantastic thing for teenage me.
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