Redartz: Hello again, and welcome to another look at the best comic tales of the year. The year 1983, that is! As you may recall, when last we featured a "year's best" post, we offered up ten titanic tales (individual issues, by the way; not arcs- although they certainly may have been part of a continuing storyline). Then it was up to you to discuss/critique/substitute/expand our list with your own thoughts and nominations. And since we all remember the routine, let's waste no more time and get right to the good stuff.
In no particular order, here are my nominations for the ten best of calender year 1983 (cover dated Apr. 1983-Mar. 1984):
Amazing Spider-Man 248- "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" by Roger Stern, Ron Frenz and Terry Austin. I've said it before; possibly the best single Spider-Man story ever.
Saga of the Swamp Thing 21- "The Anatomy Lesson" by Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette and John Totleben. Moore's incredible run is just getting warmed up with this creepy masterpiece.
Thor 337- "Doom" by Walter Simonson. Walt introduces us to Beta Ray Bill, and to a whole new era of greatness for the Thunder God.
Captain America 281- "Before the Fall" by J.M. DeMattais and Mike Zeck. Very powerful, story and art both.
American Flagg! 1- "Hard Times" by Howard Chaykin. Socio-political commentary, sex, violence, and talking cats.
Legion of Superheroes 300- "The Future is Forever" by Paul Levitz, Kieth Giffen and Larry Mahlstedt (and a great group of former Legion artists). One of the best anniversary issues ever (and the pin-up is worth the 1.50 cover price alone).
Alpha Flight 6- "Snowblind" by John Byrne. Several issues of this series could qualify as greats, this one is notable for Byrne's sheer chutzpah in giving us several blank pages of art (?).
Fantastic Four 262- "The Trial of Reed Richards" by John Byrne. As above, many issues of this run could be selected; this issue is a perfect example of the strength of that run."
E-Man 3- "Dark Albatross Must be Rendered Inoperative, Lifewise" by Martin Pasko and Joe Staton. Some of the best X-Men satire you'll ever see.
New Teen Titans 38- "Who is Donna Troy" by Marv Wolfman, George Perez and Romeo Tanghal. A masterful tale of drama and friendship as Wonder Girl discovers her past, with some help from Dick Grayson.
So now it's up to you. What do you think of these choices? Winners or losers? How would you rank them; and are there other books from that memorable year you would see on the list? Have at it, folks!
11 comments:
Boy, '83 was a good year-! No wonder I got all pulled-back-in (big-time) after my college period of shallow, subscription-only acquisition!
HB
Ole Charlie was a senior in college and had no time for these treasures in 1983. However, in the mid-90s I did buy the first run on American Flagg which featured the issue above. (On the cheap at a small convention.) I really enjoyed the series.
Chaykin's art was quite good but sometimes maddening since you could not always figure out which character you were looking at or what the heck was being depicted.
Great choices!
I would swap out Alpha Flight #6 for Alpha Flight #1, which I thought was one of the best first issues ever!
X-Men had their 20th anniversary X-Men #175, plus the adventure in Japan with the Paul Smith Wolverine/Silver Samurai fight.
Daredevil #200 was good (with a great cover). Also, #196 was the memorable Wolverine guest-star appearance (back before that sort of thing happened every month).
Was Vigilante #1 from 1983? Fond memories of that one.
Also, was 1983 the year Marvel came out with the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe? Quick shout-out to that wonderful little resource for any die-hard Marvel fan back in the day.
Lots of good stuff!
-david p.
I picked up that Swamp Thing for reasons I can't recall and never followed the series after as I just wasn't into either him or the Man-Thing at the time.
And chutzpah, indeed! I remember feeling somewhat cheated by that issue of Alpha Flight. I could appreciate the concept at the time, but still ... I put down my 60 cents for a book that consisted substantially of almost-blank pages. I guess editorial was really giving J.B. a lot of leeway at the time.
Looking at the contrast between that and the issue of the FF just now, though, they seem to almost make up for one another as I remember that issue as having a lot of detailed work, particularly of all the aliens of the Byrneverse.
I'll go with Jon Sable #7, The Target. Great done-in-one story: https://comicvine.gamespot.com/jon-sable-freelance-7/4000-23709/
Also Moon Knight #28, one of the last Sienkiewicz issues, where he's doing some spectacular things with the art: http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Moon_Knight_Vol_1_28
I like Teen Titans, American Flagg and Alpha Flight on your list. Although that issue of Alpha Flight is when I dropped the series, as like Selenarch I felt cheated by those blank pages. In recent years I don't mind that issue, but at the time...!!
Dreadstar #2-7 happened in 1983, so I'll put in issue 4 with this cool cover: http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Dreadstar_Vol_1_4
Sword of the Atom #1 introduced an Atom that I actually liked, and an intriguing new world to explore: http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Sword_of_the_Atom_Vol_1_1
I've never been able to get into Simonson's run on Thor, even though I like Simonson and I like Thor. I prefer the Kirby and Buscema versions.
As much as people complain about Jim Shooter, my understanding is that Byrne received full art compensation for the pages with blank panels. That was generous and a way to reward his top selling artist.
It may seem a little out of the box, but I really liked 1983's run of Firestorm the Nuclear Man.
Thanks for the comments so far, everyone!
Regarding the (in)famous blank pages in that issue of Alpha Flight- I was an art student at the time, and found it to be an amusing bit of ' concept art'. Selenarch, you make an excellent point about the contrast with the FF issue. I hadn't realized it, but both of those ( and the Amazing Spider-man) came out the same month, which was Assistant Editors Month. Perhaps that helps explain some of JB's art doings...
It's hard to argue with most of these choices. Some alternate possibilities could include:
One of the Hobgoblin stories from Amazing Spider-Man (#244, 245, 249, or 250)
The Punisher/Cloak and Dagger story in PPSSM #81-83; I personally also have a soft spot for PPSSM #88, where Spidey and Black Cat fight Mr. Hyde, but I don't know if it belongs with the Year's Best.
Uncanny X-Men #169 or 170, first appearance of the Morlocks.
Brave & Bold #200, where the Earth-1 and Earth-2 Batmans team-up (sort of).
G.I. Joe #21, which delves into Snake Eyes past.
Any issue from All-Star Squadron #21-25, an extended story with Ultra-Humanite, Cyclotron, Amazing Man, and the debut of Infinity Inc.
Any early Jon Sable issues.
And some sentimental favourites: MTU 135 (with Kitty Pryde); MTU 138 (with Sandman helping Spidey against the Enforcers); Avengers 236 (guest-starring Spidey); early issues of Batman & the Outsiders; LSH 305 (where Shrinking Violet's secret is revealed); Nathaniel Dusk (McGregor and Colan, what else to say?); and Infinity Inc. #1
A few single issue stories I'd throw out from the year, Avengers 229, Iron Man 170, and Hawkeye 4.
Avengers 229: Hank Pym takes on Egghead and his team. As a man and scientist. No "super powers" or size changing. It really was a scenario where he got to show his worth. After so many failed attempts to create scenarios, he finally gets his day.
Iron Man 170: Tony Stark is too drunk to don the armor so Jim Rhodes becomes Iron Man.
Hawkeye 4 (the last in his limited series): Hawkeye gets married, goes deaf and has some adventures along the way...
(Whoa-oh-oh-oh-woha
There she stood in the street
Smilin' from her head to her feet;
I said, "Hey, what is this?
Now maybe, baby,
Maybe she's in need of a kiss."
I said, "Hey, what's your name?
Maybe we can see things the same.
"Now don't you wait, or hesitate.
Let's move before they raise the parking rate."
All right now, baby, it's a-all right now.
All right now, baby, it's a-all right now.
(Let me tell you now)
I took her home to my place,
Watchin' every move on her face;
She said, "Look, what's your game?
Are you tryin' to put me to shame?"
I said "Slow, don't go so fast, don't you think that love can last?"
She said, "Love, Lord above,
Now you're tryin' to trick me in love."
All right now, baby, it's a-all right now.
All right now, baby, it's a-all right now).
This was near the end of my comic reading days. I was going off to college and didn't figure I would have any time to do any reading (turns out I was right). I had the FF issue, the LSH #300, and the Captain America issue and they were all great stories. I was also into the Batman and Detective series during that time (with Killer Croc and the later issue of Detective with the Gene Day cover) and I did follow both of them for a few months after I started school until I got so busy that I had to give them up, too.
Great suggestions, everyone! Several mentions of Jon Sable today; I've never read any but will have to check it out.
Mike W. - those Hobgoblin issues just missed my list. All part of that excellent Stern run.
Prowl- was that Hawkeye miniseries pretty good overall? Another I missed.
Garett- nice call on Sword of the Atom. Good solid series with some sharp Kane artwork.
Graham- your story seems to be shared by many, dropping comics as college dawned. Might be worth a post to discuss that. Stay tuned...
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