Thursday, March 22, 2018

Rank and File: The Year's Best Comic Stories, 1979!






Redartz:  Hello all; that time again: time to pick a year's worth of top comics. In this instance, we look at the year 1979. As always, the choices are tough to make; and some you may well disagree with. And of course it's subjective, especially to the extent that I haven't read every comic put out in any given year, so my choices are limited to those with which I'm familiar. Aaaaanyway, a couple other caveats for this episode: I try to spread the choices around, so for instance X-Men is represented with an annual, but not by a monthly book this go-round (and obviously, any Claremont/Byrne X-Men issue is prime fodder for a best-of list). Also, I didn't follow as much DC at that point in time, so the tally is Marvel-heavy. 

All that said, let's get to the picks. As always, the books chosen were published within calendar year 1979. Check out my choices, compare them to your picks, and tell me where I erred!

In no particular order:

 



Avengers 184- " Death on the Hudson", by David Michelinie, John Byrne and "diverse hands'. Great conclusion to an epic Absorbing Man battle, a provocative climax, great characterization, fine art; the whole works.











 


Amazing Spider-Man 195- "Nine Lives has the Black Cat", by Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard and "diverse hands" (hey, who were those guys- everyone inking by committee in 1979?). Loads of classic Spidey drama, the poignant intro to Felicia Hardy, and Pete just getting his lumps.....
 











 



Cerebus the Aardvark 10- "Merchant of Unshib", by Dave Sim. The earthpig was rapidly becoming a favorite of mine by this issue, with the return of "Red Sophia"...
















 Marvel Premiere 50- " From the Inside", by Alice Cooper,Jim Salicrup, Roger Stern, Ed Hannigan,  Tom Sutton and Terry Austin. Wonderfully strange story, with loads to absorb both mentally and visually.














 Adventure Comics 467- "Carlton Canary" by Len Wein, Joe Staton and Bob Smith, and "First Encounter", by Paul Levitz, Steve Ditko and Romeo Tanghal. A twofer; two great features sharing a wonderful (and underappreciated) title. Just plain fun, solid comics.















 X-Men Annual 3- "A Fire in the Sky", by Chris Claremont, George Perez and Terry Austin. A fantastic done-in-one, one of the best annuals ever. One reason why annuals were a highlight of the comic year.












 



Batman 321- "Dreadful Birthday, Dear Joker", by Len  Wein, Walter Simonson and Dick Giordano. A cool Joker tale with some top notch art ; how can you miss with that lineup?











 


Daredevil 163- "Blind Alley", by Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller, Klaus Janson and Josef Rubinstein. A phenomenal, gut-wrenching story of persistance and self sacrifice. One of the Hulk's finest guest appearances, and a Daredevil tale to rival the classic issue 7.











 



Micronauts 7- "Adventure into Fear", by Bill  Mantlo, Michael Golden and Josef Rubinstein. The Micro's team was really hitting it's stride by this issue, a fine tale with comedy, drama and Man-thing meeting a swamp buggy. Plus a beautiful cover!











 



Iron Man 128- "Demon in a Bottle", by David Michiline, John Romita Jr. and Bob Layton. A truly classic story of one man's battle with his personal demons.













Well, there you have them. Ten of the best from the tail end of the 1970's. What do you think; did this list cover the best, or did I miss some obvious betters? Put on your critical caps and fire away! 



11 comments:

Edo Bosnar said...

Oh, yeah, 1979. You really hit me in my sweet spot, as this is probably my favorite year of comics, ever. That's when I really hit my groove as a comics fan, discovering - among other titles - X-men, Daredevil and Iron Man, and I first began to pay attention to art of these two guys named Byrne and Perez.
With the exception of Cerebus and that particular issue of Batman, I had all of the books you pictured here. Interesting that you included Adventure Comics; I was a bit disappointed that the dollar comic period was over, especially since it featured some really good Deadman stories, but I was quickly won over by the Starman and Plastic Man features.

You've got some great choices posted,and I particularly have no argument with X-men Annual #3, which - as I noted a few days ago - is the best annual ever. I'd go so far as to say that's the best single issue of any comic published that year.

As for other stories outside of what you mentioned, of course, I could just mention the entire sweep of X-men, from #120 through 131, or, similarly, all of the issues of Iron Man leading up to the Demon in the Bottle story.
There's also Marvel Two-in-One #51 (featuring a fun done-in-one by Peter Gillis, Frank Miller and Bob McLeod) and #60 (a humorous story with the Impossible Man), Fantastic Four Annual #14 (by Wolfman & Perez), and Power Man & Iron Fist #58, a really solid story that introduced the character El Aquila.

Other outstanding stories, but not confined to a single issue:
Avengers #s 185-187 - Nights of Wundagore
Marvel Two-in-One #s 53-58 - Project Pegasus
Daredevil #s 159-161 - vs. Bullseye
Marvel Team-up #s 82-85 - Black Widow with amnesia, with Nick Fury and Shang Chi
Marvel Premiere #s 47-48 - introduction of the new Ant Man
The ongoing story lines Fantastic Four and Micronauts during much of the year were also really good. Also, Rom was launched, and DC started publishing its digest line. So yeah, 1979 was a friggin' awesome year for comics.

Anonymous said...


My comic collecting started revving up this year (and would become a full-on obsession in 1980).

Love the X-Men, Avengers and Daredevil picks, as well as those Ant-Man stories mentioned.

Single issues close to my heart:

X-Men #128 had the climactic battle with Proteus (and would kick off what would feel like a string of constant climactic battles in X-Men over the next year...)

Fantastic Four #208 had a terrific battle with the Sphinx and drew me into the whole Sphinx/Skrull aging ray/Search for Galactus storyline, which also had that fun Galactus vs. Sphinx fight in #213.

Avengers #181, my first Avengers I owned (after being hooked on my brother's collection) and worth a mention just for that Perez cover alone (cramming in every Avenger from the Korvac saga and one Henry Gyrich).

and I have a soft spot for a little Hulk/Captain America crossover in their respective issues 232 and 230 where they fight the Corporation, and Moonstone's in there, and Quasar, and it's all quite a lot of fun.

Great year.
-david p.

dbutler16 said...

Excellent idea for a post, and I have to say that 1979 might be the best year for comics ever.

Some great choices here! I especially love the addition of Micronauts #7.
Avengers #184 is a great choice, too, though there were a lot of great Avengers from that year. #186, 187, and 190 were all top-notch too, though if you're trying for one-and-done stories only, then that limits the choices a lot.
Also a lot of great X-Men choices, such as #127-128 but again, those are part of a continuing story. I do have a few of those Starman/Plastic Man Adventure Comics issues, but not the one you've listed. They are fun.
I was surprised that Amazing Spider-Man #200 wasn't on here, but then I see that it's for a January, 1980 cover date (though it of course came out in 1979) so that probably explains it.
"Demon in a Bottle" is a must, of course. great choice there.
I've never read Cerebus or Alice Cooper, though they might be interesting.
There are a lot of great Batman issues from that time, but Iv'e never read that particular one.
I'd have definitely found room for a Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes issue on my list.
I also thnk that Thor #281-282 and 284-290, Marvel Premiere #47-48 (with Scott Lang Ant-Man), The Brave and the Bold #150, Flash #276-278 and Master of Kung Fu #82 were all great 1979 issues. Tough to pick only ten!

Mike Wilson said...

Interesting timing ... I'm right in the middle of reviewing this year on my blog (though I go by cover date, not calendar). Can't argue with many of your choices, and I agree that the entire year's run of X-Men could make the list; I also agree with Edo on his Avengers, MTIO, DD, and MTU picks.

A few more I'll mention: Warlord 21 (where Travis Morgan confronts and kills his own son ... or so he believes);

Flash 275 (the death of Iris--apparently sales were down and they were trying to shake things up; it's actually a well-written story, with great art by Alex Saviuk);

Superboy & the Legion 253, 254 (introduction of the League of Super-Assassins, one of whom eventually joins the Legion);

JLA 171, 172 (death of Mr. Terrific--a pretty good JLA/JSA crossover);

DC Comics Presents 17 (great Superman/Firestorm team-up against Killer Frost)

There were some notable issues that came out in that span, though the stories weren't necessarily top-notch: Conan 100 (death of Belit ... and you thought the "death" trend started in the 80s!); Amazing Spider-Man 200 (Spidey's confrontation with the Burglar ... who also dies); Superman 338 (Kandor is finally embiggened, though the overall story is a bit goofy); Action 500 (recapping Superman's life story). Len Wein's run on Batman was consistently good, as was MOKF and even Mark Gruenwald's Spider Woman, if I remember right.

Finally, a few sentimental favourites: MTU 80, 81 (Spidey teams up with Clea and Satana to save Doc Strange); MTIO 52 (this is the issue that gave me my appreciation for Moon Knight); Avengers 189-191 (Hawkeye takes down Deathbird by himself, and the rest of the team fights Grey Gargoyle alongside Daredevil).

Dr. O said...

Not too long ago (last year?) I found a $1 copy of that Avengers #184 that I snatched up because it is among the first (if not _THE_ first) issue of Avengers I ever owned.

Martinex1 said...

Edo and D Butler - you both could have written my response. 1979 may be my favorite year of comics for all the reasons mentioned. I’m surprised we didn't bump into each other at the spinner rack - my perspective is so similar to yours.

I know folks have a nostalgic attachment to periods in The Bronze Age - and this is my favorite. Byrne at his peak on Avengers and X-Men. Perez also in fine form. Throw in Michael Golden. And Sal Buscema doing his thing. Wow.

I’m giving this one to the Micronauts. (I admit being a super fan). That first year of Micronauts may be the best inaugural year of any comic book. The X-Men ultimately were better and definitely more impactful, but that first year of Micros is stellar. Mantlo and Golden at their best.

Cheers.

Redartz said...

Thanks for commenting, guys! Apparently 1979 was a big year for many of us!

Edo- you mentioned many terrific books, of which several were among my 'finalists'. You're right, 79 was an awesome year in comics.

david p.- you picked a great time to get into comics! The turn of the decade really was a high point in the medium. Amazing stuff being produced by the mainstream publishers, the indies starting to make an impact, the abundance of different formats (digests, treasuries, graphic novels, etc.}- what an incredible time.

dbutler16- Amazing Spider-Man 200 was another finalist; it came down purely to personal preference. Issue 195 really struck me with all it's drama, it hearkened back to the pathos of the Lee/Romita era; hence it was my pick over 200. But that was a top-notch anniversary issue.

Mike W.- glad to get your input on some of DC's offerings that year. I'll have to check out your posts to get more details. Actually, everyone should; consider this a recommendation!

Dr.O- well picked; that would have been a fine issue with which to discover the 'Assemblers'...

Marti- good call on the Micronauts. That book grabbed me from issue 1, and took us all for a great ride.

Mike Wilson said...

Redartz, thanks for the shout-out ... if my traffic suddenly spikes, I'll know why! ;)

Charlie Horse 47 said...

What is your blog site? I've never been shy about comments LOL

Mike Wilson said...

Charlie, it's eruditegorilla.com ... Red and Marti were nice enough to put a link in the sidebar, or just click on my name above my comments.

Killraven said...

Hey I can join the party on this one!

I agree with everyone on everything about '79. It was a beautiful thing.

I also had every issue shown sans Cerebus.
I'll pick the Avengers out of your list. I agree that was a great ending.

I would also like to mention the X-Men Proteus story. That one scared me, and Wolverine, to death. Great leadership shown by Cyclops. Loved it.

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