Best Marvel Story Arcs in the 90s?

aj583 · Post by **aj583** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 1:55 pm

Okay, so granted that the 80s/90s weren't the height of comic book history...BUT, this is when I got my start, and I'm very fond of some of the Marvel books I collected (i.e. McFarlane/Larson Spiderman, Keown Hulk, Lee X-men, etc.).

So the question is, for someone getting back into collecting the "good" Marvel modern comics, what should I go after? Just read some stuff on the Death of Kraven...sounded pretty cool. Never got the Wolverine mini-series.

What does the board suggest for great 80s/90s Marvel arcs?

inmyblood · Post by **inmyblood** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 2:58 pm

I highly recomend the X-Cutioner's song from Marvel.

The penciling is some of the worst I've ever seen in an X title but the story is one of the best

IMO.

cptfishstick · Post by **cptfishstick** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:19 pm

Oh, the memories of the 80's and 90's comics! This is when I got into comics too, so I have alot of history with thems.

Here are some recomendations. Not all that I have, but only the ones that imediatley come to mind. Maybee I'll post more later. Ommiting Valiants because those are a given

Great Arcs

Spider-Man: Kravens Last Hunt (best Spider-man Story ever & it just got rereleased in an uber collected edition)
Mage: The Hero Discovered the Arts not amazing, but the story is incredible. you can get the whole epic in a massive trade or hc.
Grendle: Devil By The Deed
Marvels got Alex Ross Famous, depicted marvel history admirably!
Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn Origin of Hal Jordan GL, best start point for new to Green Lantern Readers.
Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II Direct Continuation of previous
Green Lantern: The Road Back My Favorite GL Story from the 90's. However, its gl continuity heavy.
Batman: The Long Halloween One of the Best 90's batman arcs.
Spider-Girl (1-30) yes I'm Serious. If you like reading old school spider-man, then this is for you. The writing style of this is a serious throwback to old time spidey fun!

Important, and Relativley Decent Arcs:
Spider-Man: Venom Returns
Spider-Man: Carnage
Spider-Man: Revalations Its all about part 4 here. This ended the clone saga.
Batman: Nightfall Collected into 3 trades now. I recomend trades 1 & 2.

Weird as all-get-out Comics. Aquired Tastes, but Still Superb:

Elektra Assassin Beautifully painted mini, filled with the twisted minds of both Bill Sienkiewicz and Frank Miller.
Stray Toasters This is an Epic (marvel sublabel) creation by Bill Sienkiewicz. Weird, but really amazing visually.

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:11 pm

so can any of these be gotten on the cheap....

I have never read any of these....

MedicAR · Post by **MedicAR** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:26 pm

Jay Tomio wrote:- One of the most slept on series (which is unbelievable considering it involved the genius of the comics industry Alan Moore) was the Alan Moore/Davis run on Captain Britain.

I was unaware of these, were they released in the U.S., of was this done in Marvel's U.K. imprint?

Oh, and Miller's second run on DD was amazing!!

I don't remember the storyline, but Captain America #332-337 was great and #332 had one of the greatest covers of the 1990s.

stone384 · Post by **stone384** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 7:36 pm

Most them are fairly cheap. I have a bunch of these on the lists and I sell them for.50 ea.
M

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:48 pm

Elveen wrote:so can any of these be gotten on the cheap....

I have never read any of these....

OMG, you have never read Marvels ? It defined me as a comic book collector to a certain degree (closely followed by DC's Kingdom Come which if you have not read it I bet you would enjoy, I know I know the thread is about Marvel not DC)

Contact daydreams as I bet he has a set you could get pretty cheap... I HIGHLY recommend reading these.... damn, going to pull my set out again to read.

dellamorte · Post by **dellamorte** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:58 pm

Lots of good stuff already mentioned. I'll vouch for:

Thanos Quest
Kravens last hunt
Marvels
Daredevil 227-333
The Mcfarlane run on spidy was a lot of fun

I'll add New Warriors. I haven't read this since it came out but this book was a favorite of mine for about the first 30 or so issues.

aj583 · Post by **aj583** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:00 am

Thanks for the suggestions all.

I've got X-Cutioner's song. I like this one as well, but was always told the X-Tinction Agenda was even better.

I'll check out Marvels and Thanos Quest. I never would have guessed Captian Brittan...that character never seemed interesting to me.

Cap 332 also looks very cool! Great cover.

aj583 · Post by **aj583** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:18 am

Hey, another one I really liked was the Death's Head II mini-series. Had a cool future story of the Marvel universe, with cameos from Wolverine and Cap.

A couple of my friends didn't like it as much, but I though it was really cool. Did anyone ever check this one out?

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:48 am

Knightt wrote:
Elveen wrote:so can any of these be gotten on the cheap....

I have never read any of these....

OMG, you have never read Marvels ? It defined me as a comic book collector to a certain degree (closely followed by DC's Kingdom Come which if you have not read it I bet you would enjoy, I know I know the thread is about Marvel not DC)

Contact daydreams as I bet he has a set you could get pretty cheap... I HIGHLY recommend reading these.... damn, going to pull my set out again to read.

seriously... the only comics I've really ever read are VALIANTS..... I casually know some things.... but not much...

(most of what I know about the X-men is from the movies.....i.e. had no idea the Jean Grey was hte Pheonix)

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:51 am

Knightt wrote:
Elveen wrote:so can any of these be gotten on the cheap....

I have never read any of these....

OMG, you have never read Marvels ? It defined me as a comic book collector to a certain degree (closely followed by DC's Kingdom Come which if you have not read it I bet you would enjoy, I know I know the thread is about Marvel not DC)

Contact daydreams as I bet he has a set you could get pretty cheap... I HIGHLY recommend reading these.... damn, going to pull my set out again to read.

maybe I'll do that.....

whetteon · Post by **whetteon** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:34 am

stone384 wrote:Most them are fairly cheap. I have a bunch of these on the lists and I sell them for.50 ea.
M

whetteon · Post by **whetteon** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:37 am

dellamorte wrote: I'll add New Warriors. I haven't read this since it came out but this book was a favorite of mine for about the first 30 or so issues.

Hell ya! I read my old books to death. I bought a bunch of minty fresh replacements last year. Glad to see another New Warriors fan. As a new comic collector and tiny teenager of about 12-14 years old, New Warriors and Dark Hawk, while goofy for most, was what comics were all about for me.

whetteon · Post by **whetteon** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:40 am

Definately Thanos Quest. But I'd recommend getting the second print (which bounds both issues 1 and 2 into a single book I believe). The first prints are getting expensive (at least for 90's books).

cobra_commander · Post by **cobra_commander** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:44 am

whetteon wrote:
dellamorte wrote: I'll add New Warriors. I haven't read this since it came out but this book was a favorite of mine for about the first 30 or so issues.
Hell ya! I read my old books to death. I bought a bunch of minty fresh replacements last year. Glad to see another New Warriors fan. As a new comic collector and tiny teenager of about 12-14 years old, New Warriors and Dark Hawk, while goofy for most, was what comics were all about for me.

This is such an objective thread isn't it?

Anybody that started collecting in the 90's is now listing New Warriors and Darkhawk!

OK since I also fall into the aforementioned category, I'll put down my list as well. I liked New Warriors and Darkhawk. I liked Bagley's early art (not that his style has changed that much).

I liked Deathlok, I liked the Marvel adaptation of the Robocop mini series, Ghost Rider I loved it all!

But even having said all of this, I was still disappointed with Image.

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:57 am

cobra_commander wrote:
whetteon wrote:
dellamorte wrote: I'll add New Warriors. I haven't read this since it came out but this book was a favorite of mine for about the first 30 or so issues.
Hell ya! I read my old books to death. I bought a bunch of minty fresh replacements last year. Glad to see another New Warriors fan. As a new comic collector and tiny teenager of about 12-14 years old, New Warriors and Dark Hawk, while goofy for most, was what comics were all about for me.
This is such an objective thread isn't it?

Anybody that started collecting in the 90's is now listing New Warriors and Darkhawk!

OK since I also fall into the aforementioned category, I'll put down my list as well. I liked New Warriors and Darkhawk. I liked Bagley's early art (not that his style has changed that much).

I liked Deathlok, I liked the Marvel adaptation of the Robocop mini series, Ghost Rider I loved it all!

But even having said all of this, I was still disappointed with Image.

Image was comming out when I was collecting my VALIANTS.... I fell into the hype and bought some Image too.... but they could never get the books out on a timely basis.....

that turned me off so quick.....

cobra_commander · Post by **cobra_commander** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:16 am

Elveen wrote:
cobra_commander wrote:
whetteon wrote:
dellamorte wrote: I'll add New Warriors. I haven't read this since it came out but this book was a favorite of mine for about the first 30 or so issues.
Hell ya! I read my old books to death. I bought a bunch of minty fresh replacements last year. Glad to see another New Warriors fan. As a new comic collector and tiny teenager of about 12-14 years old, New Warriors and Dark Hawk, while goofy for most, was what comics were all about for me.
This is such an objective thread isn't it?

Anybody that started collecting in the 90's is now listing New Warriors and Darkhawk!

OK since I also fall into the aforementioned category, I'll put down my list as well. I liked New Warriors and Darkhawk. I liked Bagley's early art (not that his style has changed that much).

I liked Deathlok, I liked the Marvel adaptation of the Robocop mini series, Ghost Rider I loved it all!

But even having said all of this, I was still disappointed with Image.

Image was comming out when I was collecting my VALIANTS.... I fell into the hype and bought some Image too.... but they could never get the books out on a timely basis.....

that turned me off so quick.....

OK I'm gonna have another *SQUEE* rant about this and I don't care because it is related to the thread and it will help you decide which books to pick up Elveen (I hope).

It was one thing to be disappointed by Image when you picked up the books but it was even more gut-wrenching, IF you read all the books that those artists left at Marvel, collected them, thought they were GREAT, the books that got you hooked on the hobby etc. etc. and THEN picked up Image.

It was like in the middle of eating a juicy steak it suddenly turns into a turd sandwich.

For me the BEST portrayals of those characters will ALWAYS be by those artists and by forming Image they collectively managed to muck up an entire era of Marvel comics.

Imagine if all your favourite VALIANT creators decided to leave and form their own company at the height of their prime. And that company could not put together a decent story or a shipping deadline for love nor money?

What would you be left with?...Image

Anyway here's the books

Mcfarlane Amazing Spiderman
Written by Micheline. A lot of fun, some good storylines with MJ. The Venom stories in particular were AWESOME. Just excellent comic book fun. Cool Villains, cool story. It doesn't blow your mind like Solar or anything but its still what you want from a comic.

Keown Hulk
As Jay already mentioned Peter David had a great run on the Hulk. I always thought the Keown run was much better whereas the Mcfarlane Hulk run was a bit boring. In the Keown run you've got the whole storyline of the internal struggle Banner has with the big dumb green hulk and the smart less physical grey hulk.

Lee X-Men
Portacio X-men
Liefeld New Mutants
Will write later

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:29 am

cobra_commander wrote:
Elveen wrote:
cobra_commander wrote:
whetteon wrote:
dellamorte wrote: I'll add New Warriors. I haven't read this since it came out but this book was a favorite of mine for about the first 30 or so issues.
Hell ya! I read my old books to death. I bought a bunch of minty fresh replacements last year. Glad to see another New Warriors fan. As a new comic collector and tiny teenager of about 12-14 years old, New Warriors and Dark Hawk, while goofy for most, was what comics were all about for me.
This is such an objective thread isn't it?

Anybody that started collecting in the 90's is now listing New Warriors and Darkhawk!

OK since I also fall into the aforementioned category, I'll put down my list as well. I liked New Warriors and Darkhawk. I liked Bagley's early art (not that his style has changed that much).

I liked Deathlok, I liked the Marvel adaptation of the Robocop mini series, Ghost Rider I loved it all!

But even having said all of this, I was still disappointed with Image.

Image was comming out when I was collecting my VALIANTS.... I fell into the hype and bought some Image too.... but they could never get the books out on a timely basis.....

that turned me off so quick.....
OK I'm gonna have another *SQUEE* rant about this and I don't care because it is related to the thread and it will help you decide which books to pick up Elveen (I hope).

It was one thing to be disappointed by Image when you picked up the books but it was even more gut-wrenching, IF you read all the books that those artists left at Marvel, collected them, thought they were GREAT, the books that got you hooked on the hobby etc. etc. and THEN picked up Image.

It was like in the middle of eating a juicy steak it suddenly turns into a turd sandwich.

For me the BEST portrayals of those characters will ALWAYS be by those artists and by forming Image they collectively managed to muck up an entire era of Marvel comics.

Imagine if all your favourite VALIANT creators decided to leave and form their own company at the height of their prime. And that company could not put together a decent story or a shipping deadline for love nor money?

What would you be left with?...Image

Anyway here's the books

Mcfarlane Amazing Spiderman
Written by Micheline. A lot of fun, some good storylines with MJ. The Venom stories in particular were AWESOME. Just excellent comic book fun. Cool Villains, cool story. It doesn't blow your mind like Solar or anything but its still what you want from a comic.

Keown Hulk
As Jay already mentioned Peter David had a great run on the Hulk. I always thought the Keown run was much better whereas the Mcfarlane Hulk run was a bit boring. In the Keown run you've got the whole storyline of the internal struggle Banner has with the big dumb green hulk and the smart less physical grey hulk.

Lee X-Men
Portacio X-men
Liefeld New Mutants
Will write later

I never thought what the creation of Image did to Marvel.....

good analogy......

You know I am hopoing the dentist has some of these books..... I know that I need to read some of these books...... as always thanks for the advice.....

(when I finally get out to the dentist... I will need to ask for specfic numbers of what these books are..... maybe this week....

)

cobra_commander · Post by **cobra_commander** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:53 am

Elveen wrote:
cobra_commander wrote:
Elveen wrote:
cobra_commander wrote:
whetteon wrote:
dellamorte wrote: I'll add New Warriors. I haven't read this since it came out but this book was a favorite of mine for about the first 30 or so issues.
Hell ya! I read my old books to death. I bought a bunch of minty fresh replacements last year. Glad to see another New Warriors fan. As a new comic collector and tiny teenager of about 12-14 years old, New Warriors and Dark Hawk, while goofy for most, was what comics were all about for me.
This is such an objective thread isn't it?

Anybody that started collecting in the 90's is now listing New Warriors and Darkhawk!

OK since I also fall into the aforementioned category, I'll put down my list as well. I liked New Warriors and Darkhawk. I liked Bagley's early art (not that his style has changed that much).

I liked Deathlok, I liked the Marvel adaptation of the Robocop mini series, Ghost Rider I loved it all!

But even having said all of this, I was still disappointed with Image.

Image was comming out when I was collecting my VALIANTS.... I fell into the hype and bought some Image too.... but they could never get the books out on a timely basis.....

that turned me off so quick.....
OK I'm gonna have another *SQUEE* rant about this and I don't care because it is related to the thread and it will help you decide which books to pick up Elveen (I hope).

It was one thing to be disappointed by Image when you picked up the books but it was even more gut-wrenching, IF you read all the books that those artists left at Marvel, collected them, thought they were GREAT, the books that got you hooked on the hobby etc. etc. and THEN picked up Image.

It was like in the middle of eating a juicy steak it suddenly turns into a turd sandwich.

For me the BEST portrayals of those characters will ALWAYS be by those artists and by forming Image they collectively managed to muck up an entire era of Marvel comics.

Imagine if all your favourite VALIANT creators decided to leave and form their own company at the height of their prime. And that company could not put together a decent story or a shipping deadline for love nor money?

What would you be left with?...Image

Anyway here's the books

Mcfarlane Amazing Spiderman
Written by Micheline. A lot of fun, some good storylines with MJ. The Venom stories in particular were AWESOME. Just excellent comic book fun. Cool Villains, cool story. It doesn't blow your mind like Solar or anything but its still what you want from a comic.

Keown Hulk
As Jay already mentioned Peter David had a great run on the Hulk. I always thought the Keown run was much better whereas the Mcfarlane Hulk run was a bit boring. In the Keown run you've got the whole storyline of the internal struggle Banner has with the big dumb green hulk and the smart less physical grey hulk.

Lee X-Men
Portacio X-men
Liefeld New Mutants
Will write later

I never thought what the creation of Image did to Marvel.....

good analogy......

You know I am hopoing the dentist has some of these books..... I know that I need to read some of these books...... as always thanks for the advice.....

(when I finally get out to the dentist... I will need to ask for specfic numbers of what these books are..... maybe this week.... )

Here's the important Uncanny X-Men books of the "Lee era"
#248 1st Lee art on X-men
#268 is when Lee becomes the regular artist and basically starts stirring *SQUEE* up but you should get...
#256-#280 because Lee does some great work in most of those issues as well and #266 and #267 is the intro of Gambit, not drawn by Lee but also a pretty cool story.

"Portacio" Uncanny X-men takes over from #280 and #280 281 282 intro the "new team" and more importantly another pretty cool character Bishop.

Keown Incredible Hulk
You can go from about #369 to #393. #377 is the landmark issue when the grey and green hulks personalities "merge".

Mcfarlane Amazing Spiderman
#298 - #328 with #300 being the landmark 1st Venom.

But all of these books can be a kind of second priority to the ones I pm'd you about. Those are the "must" reads

BTW If you need pictures you can check out the covers at Mile High

X-men
http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/b ... number=241

Spidey
http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/b ... number=321

Hulk
http://www.milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/b ... number=241

Knightt · Post by **Knightt** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:03 am

I would not worry about 'good reads' in regards to Marvel etc... focus on Valiant.

And didnt I include a copy of Astro City #1 vol 1 in the box of stuff I just sent to you ? DUDE... read THAT and tell me that it isnt a good read. I would go after Astro City before I would even bother with Marvel, DC, Image or whatever... seriously.

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 3:06 pm

Knightt wrote:I would not worry about 'good reads' in regards to Marvel etc... focus on VALIANT.

And didnt I include a copy of Astro City #1 vol 1 in the box of stuff I just sent to you ? DUDE... read THAT and tell me that it isnt a good read. I would go after Astro City before I would even bother with Marvel, DC, Image or whatever... seriously.

yes Astro City #1....I pulled it out last night.... I will check it out when I get home.....

(BTW.... I pulled a bunch of stuff out of the group you sent me!)[/url][/i]

aj583 · Post by **aj583** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:08 pm

Hmm...looks like the common treads are McFarlane Spiderman, Keown Hulk, Lee's X-mean and the New Warriors. Never checked out New Warriors.

What's the story behind the New Warriors? Where they all mutants or simply a super powered non-mutant crew?

I always thought Nova seemed pretty lame. I'll hold judgement in case I ever read one.

Thanks all.

stone384 · Post by **stone384** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 9:15 pm

The new warriors (1st series) is one of my all time favs. It is extremly underrated and should be fairly cheap to find (which is a shame since it desearves better) it filled the niche that runaways/young avengers does now. A team of young teen heroes who had a connection to older heroes. They were considered young avengers. The original team featured mostly established heroes but were b-listers at best. You will get more out of the series if you have some knowledge of marvel history, but it is not necessary. For me this was a throwback book to the old marvel books like two-in-one, team-up etc...always fun. The quality was always high especially art wise. The issues towards the end did suffer a bit in the writing, but you would do well to get the whole thing. Very entertaining read. I was surprised when it ended and subseqent attempts were disappointing.
M

aj583 · Post by **aj583** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:20 pm

Cool! Thanks for the synopsis.