Redartz: Hello gang; are you ready to delve into some of the finest four color offerings of that vintage year 1982? I am too, so let's jump right in. As always, the choices are simply my subjective picks , based upon personal enjoyment, history, and whether I've read it or not. After all, can't really make a call on an unfamiliar book...
Here we go:
Amazing Spider-man 229- "Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut", by Roger Stern, John Romita Jr. and Jim Mooney. One of the high points of Stern's admirable run on the title. A showpiece for Peter Parker's determination and self-sacrifice.
Dr. Strange 53- "The Land of the Pharoahs" by Roger Stern, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin. A very clever, entertaining climax to the all-too-brief run by the Stern/Rogers team. The intertwining with the classic Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four tale is most engaging. And Doc never looked better.
X-Men / Teen Titans- "Apokolips...Now", by Chris Claremont, Walt Simonson and Terry Austin. Arguably the greatest inter-company crossover ever. Claremont voices both teams, and both mega villains, perfectly. And Simonson inked by Austin? Spectacular.
Marvel Graphic Novel: The Death of Captain Marvel- "The Death of Captain Marvel", by Jim Starlin. A poignant tale of loss and nobility, with many fine moments among the gathered individuals. Starlin gives Mar-vell a sendoff worthy of a warrior. And Starlin's writing and drawing carry it off in fine fashion.
Legion of Superheroes 293- "Within the Darkness", by Paul Levitz, Keith Giffen and Larry Mahlstaedt. Darkseid is revealed as the power behind the "Great Darkness", one of the Legion's greatest sagas ever. This spectacular tale reveals why the Levitz/Giffen/Mahlstaedt Legion was my favorite DC title back then, even more than the Titans.
Love and Rockets 1- Numerous stories by Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez. Fantagraphics' long running series starts here, and with great artistic and literary form. Great, great reading.
Fantastic Four 243- "Shall Earth Endure?", by John Byrne. Everyone vs. Galactus, indeed. One of Byrne's best FF stories, art and story definitely at the top of his game. Loved seeing Spidey and Daredevil sit back and watch.
Ms. Tree's Thrilling Detective Adventures- Several stories by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty. Terrific old-school detective fare with great characterization. Beatty's art at times makes me think of Ditko, and that's a high compliment.
Marvel Graphic Novel: God Loves, Man Kills- "God Loves, Man Kills", by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson. A melodramatic, but affecting, tale of prejudice with Marvel's Mutants. Nice to see Brent Anderson's take on them.
Fantastic Four Roast- "When Titans Chuckle", by Fred Hembeck, Jim Shooter and just about everybody. Enough puns and visual jokes to fill a dining hall full of heroes, which is pretty much what happens. Absolutely, the "Just Plain Fun" book of 1982!
Another Marvel- heavy year, in my opinion. But the indies are really starting to make an impact, and DC still has a lot to offer. The new formats such as miniseries and graphic novels add some serious competition to the monthly newsstand titles. All things considered, it's a great year to be reading comics. Your thoughts and nominations?
16 comments:
Wow, what a year.
Can't argue with any of your choices, as most of them would probably appear on my list as well. I will contest this, about the X-men/New Teen Titans book: "Arguably the greatest inter-company crossover ever." For the longest time, I would have said the same thing, but I'm afraid it takes second place to John Byrne's excellent Batman and Captain America.
Also, while I generally agree that Marvel was still dominating the board at this point, you forgot to mention what was probably DC's crown jewel at this point: New Teen Titans. Wolfman and Perez were firing on all cylinders, and in 1982, we got the the introduction of Brother Blood, then the Starfire/Blackfire saga that was concluded in the title's annual, and also the runaways story just after that.
All Star Squadron was also excellent, and there was the big crossover with JLA that year as well.
You mentioned Byrne's FF (I also liked the Gladiator story in #249-250) and Legion of Superheroes, but other highlights of the year include the Hercules mini-series by Bob Layton, Marvel Fanfare, esp. issues 2, 3 and 4 with the Savage Land story-line, the final leg of Frank Miller's first run on Daredevil, and some excellent material from Pacific Comics: Grell's Starslayer and Aragones' Groo the Wanderer. Up-and-coming indie publisher First Comics also launched a new E-man series right at the end of the year. And finally, the first edition of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe all began coming out in 1982. Man, I was buying a ton of comics that year...
Anyway, just to add a few choices of single issues as candidates for the year's best stories:
What If? #36 - a fun little story about the FF without powers, also by Byrne.
X-men #166 - an epic double-sized issue concluding the Brood saga, with wonderful art by new artist Paul Smith.
New Teen Titans #18 - a really strong done-in-one featuring an obscure character introduced in the original Teen Titans series, the Russian hero Red Star (who used to be called Starfire).
Batman Annual #8 - a Ra's al-Ghul story by Mike Barr, with lovely art by Trevor von Eeden (and colorist Lynn Varley really deserves a shout-out for that one).
Edo, I’m glad to hear someone else mention BATMAN ANNUAL 8. At the time, that thing went off like a hand grenade among my circle of artist friends. Yes, Lynn Varley’s colors were exceptional but what really blew us away was Trevor’s art making an unexpected quantum leap into extreme dynamic stylization. Right out of the gate, he’d been a dependably solid penciller, his draftsmanship gradually getting sharper and more defined over the first few years of his career — and then suddenly, from out of nowhere, we got THIS — imaginative, experimental page layouts combined with angular, graphic figures and harsh-but-crisp inks. It was like some unholy mash-up of Neal Adams, Marshall Rogers, Chaykin, Kreigstein and Toth — and it was effing GLORIOUS. He did a few more stories in a similar style but the ANNUAL remains his masterpiece.
Speaking of STARSLAYER, I wasn’t a big fan of that series, but there was a backup strip in issues 2 and 3 that my artist pals also lost their minds over — a funky little retro thing written and drawn by some guy named Dave Stevens.
So yeah, there was a whole lot of terrific comics in 1982.
b.t.
1982 was indeed a great year. I agree with Edo on many counts.
Let me also throw out that I really liked the Cobra and Mr. Hyde story in ASM that followed the Juggernaut tale. Stern was firing on all cylinders.
One DC title that debuted in 1982 and I was picking up regularly was “The Fury of Firestorm The Nuclear Man”. Lengthy title but an enjoyable read. And I liked the Pat Broderick art; it fit the characters.
I’ve been a ROM fan as mentioned before - the storyline with Hybrid and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from ‘82 was quite good. Rogue has some nice moments. (Hard to believe that character is more than 35 years old...yikes)!!
New Mutants also debuted in a graphic novel.
Of the books you depicted I have to go with the FF - that was a must have book at the time. The Inhumans’ Attilan on the moon story captured my imagination.
But how can you not include TEAM AMERICA?!!!? They were iconic, trendsetting, incomparable and also from 1982! I literally read the first issue at the dentist office. The pain is memorable!
Martinex, yeesh, I knew some joker would *have* to bring up Team America, even as I studiously avoided mentioning it. As I've noted many times before, I'm still trying to figure out why I loyally followed that series from start to finish - while not really liking it the entire time...
b.t., yes, Batman Annual #8 really blew my mind back then - the cover alone is amazing, but then that great story, with von Eeden's superb art... simply a masterpiece.
Wonderful choices Redartz. I only acquired The Death of Captain Marvel earlier this decade and wept as I read it. Astonishing work from Starlin.
I was enjoying Bill Mantlo's run on the Hulk in this year. Banner's mind was in the ascendant and Sal Buscema was joined on art duties by joltin' Joe Sinnott, bringing that classic look to the book. #272, wherein the change occurred, was thrilling to me. Was it the best of the year? Maybe not but you never forget your first 'Hulk with Banner's mind' story ;-)
Edo, I loved Paul Smith's arrival on the X-Men and was sorry he left so soon.
Quick mention for the most gorgeous sequence of JLA covers drawn by George Perez in this year. I confess to being somewhat disappointed that he didn't contribute to the interiors.
Resonding YES to the Captain Marvel and especially X-Men graphic novels, Spider-Man v. Juggernaut, Great Darkness, X-Men/Teen Titans, Fantastic Four v. Galactus and Fantastic Four Roast!
Would also add the early New Mutants stories (graphic novel, plus I loved their fight with the new grey/blue Sentinels), X-Men Brood saga, and Daredevil, I believe, was in the #181-191 range that year? which was full of amazing stories (DD #181 is an absolute classic, but I also loved "Child's Play" with the Punisher, "Guts" and "Roulette", plus a whole lot of the Hand bringing back Elektra!).
Actually, the FF had a good run that year besides the excellent Galactus trilogy 2.0...a nice two-parter where Doom regains the throne, the Gladiator story mentioned above, and I really love that one-off #248 with the creepy alien "dream" story with the Inhumans and the alien kidnapping the moon.
Oh yes, also Hulk had a fun rematch with the U-Foes (with his new Banner-brain) and Captain America met Vermin.
Hang on, didn't the Wolverine mini come out that year? That's gotta make the list!
And it's not a story, but Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe debuted that year And X-Men Special Edition #1 came out reprinting Giant-Size X-Men #1, a story I'd been dying to read, so there's that too.
Wow. 1982 was great.
-david p.
Now you're into my "Golden Age" of comics! Pretty much everything I was thinking of has been mentioned: DD (especially the Angel Dust story with Punisher); New Teen Titans (I agree on the Red Star and Brother Blood stories, plus Terra's debut in #28); Legion (Great Darkness Saga, whoo!); and that great JLA/All-Star Squadron crossover (Crisis on Earth Prime).
I was buying off the rack, so Love & Rockets and Ms. Tree (and even Rocketeer, which b.t. mentioned) weren't on my radar, but all are great books. Just to add a few sentimental favourites:
Amazing 238, 239 (first Hobgoblin); Spectacular 65 (Spidey vs Kraven) and 69-70 (Cloak and Dagger plus Silvermane); X-Men 159 (vs Dracula). I also liked Nocenti's (too short) run on Spider Woman. G.I. Joe was good too, although it didn't really hit its stride for a couple years. And I have to mention the Marvel Tales run (beginning with 138) reprinting the classic Lee/Ditko Amazing Spider-Mans ... I still have some of them.
From Terry in Virginia:
Cool topic, but...
... in 1982 I was still in my 5-6 year hiatus from comics, so I missed out on a lot. Somewhere near the end of that year I gradually eased back in. I remember Peter Parker/Spectacular Spider-Man featured Spidey hanging out a lot with The Black Cat and being drawn by Al Milgrom. I also recall getting a couple of the Mike Zeck Captain America issues. Both pretty good series at the time, although not necessarily "great."
But I definitely bought that New Teen Titans/X-Men crossover. That was a fantastic comic book. So were some of the Marvel Graphic novels. I got the Dreadstar and the Death of Captain Marvel, but for reasons that escape me, I never picked up the X-Men. I'm putting it on my wish-list.
As others have noted, DC was just coming out of a very long slump in quality. New Teen Titans was their new "flagship title" for the decade. My only regret is I sold #2 a couple of years back, not realizing that the debut of Deathstroke made it far more valuable than the premiere issue. Another highlight at DC was All-Star Squadron and, of course, the Legion's Great Darkness Saga, the latter of which I only recently completed collecting all 5 issues.
Dreadstar made his Epic debut in 1982, and the first 10 or more issues by Starlin were fantastic. I agree that plenty of good stuff was coming out of the independent publishers like First and Pacific, although my favorite, American Flagg, didn't start until about a year later. I'd like to revisit some of that era, like Starslayer, Sable, and Grimjack, which I never collected but kinda wish I had.
Finally, let's not forget about Moon Knight by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz, which was still going strong in '82. This was before Bill went all Picasso on us in New Mutants, Stray Toasters, and Elektra: Assassin, when his art reminded my of Neal Adams.
This was a good time for me to return to comics. I'm sure there are still gaps from that period that remain unaddressed, but eventually.....
Terry in Virginia
Thanks for all the fine comments and equally fine nominations!
Edo- you've piqued my interest mentioning that Captain America/Batman book. I've never seen it, but if Byrne did it, it's gotta be good reading. That, and you've also tipped me off to that Batman Annual. Many thanks for the leads!
b.t.- Great call on Rocketeer! Definitely a high point for the year. For any year.
Anthony- glad you enjoyed the picks today! Also, good observation about the JLA during the period. Excellent covers, but the interiors didn't quite match up.
david p- that Wolverine mini just missed my list. And as for the Fantastic Four, pretty much any issue that year could qualify as a 'best of'. That was one INCREDIBLE run...
Terry- a good time to work your way back into comics, indeed. I was amazed , putting this post together, just how MUCH quality work was produced that year. One of the Bronze Age's best years, imho.
1982 is a HUGE year for the Marvel chunk of my collection, and yet I wasn't purchasing new comics at all at that point (still had several subscriptions that my Dad was collecting at his house while I was in college). Winter of '84 (after graduating in Dec '83) was when the Patron Goddess of Comic Collectors smiled upon me, and availed me an opportunity to pretty much purchase nearly everything I'd missed over a NUMBER of the titles above. . . at largely less than half of cover price. Between a very odd local used book store, and a tiny local comic book convention, I filled in massive gaps with this little mini-Platinum-Age all its own. Titles I'd always loved, and ones (like Daredevil) that I'd eschewed. So many books were so good-- and this was the point where I never took a hiatus again until finally giving up for good a very few years ago (maybe four, now?).
I'm not sure if there's anything I could add to everything listed above, in fact.
The only thing I'll submit is that for my money, Anthony (up above) wins the thread with his, "You never forget your first 'Hulk with Banner's mind' story-" --- Ohhhh man, that is the most truly truest true thing I've heard all day-! Nice one, Anthony-! (And for myself, that would refer to end of Hulk#122/#123/#124--!)
HB
That was really my last big year to collect comics. I loved many of the ones cited earlier. I was really into the Byrne FF, the Titans, X-Men, and All-Star Squadron, but the LSH/Darkseid battle was fantastic. I also enjoyed the Hercules and Wolverine mini-series, and I wish I had gotten more of Stern's run with ASM.
I also really enjoyed the ongoing sagas with Batman and Detective Comics during that year, with Don Newton and Gene Colon providing some great visuals. I discovered Newton when he was drawing the Phantom and I remember thinking that he would do great on Batman....so glad that eventually happened.
Red, re: Batman & Capt. America. Oh, it's definitely good reading, and worth getting, as our pal Doug noted in his own review of the book back at BAB a few years ago, complete with lovely samples of the art.
Since the Wolverine mini was mentioned, I have to say that I wouldn't put any of those issues on my year's best list. To be sure, back then I eagerly snapped it up - as I did anything even remotely connected to the X-men - but if I'm being honest, I enjoyed the Hercules mini I mentioned above far more. I think that first solo outing for Wolverine was solid and nothing more, and looking back on it with decades of hindsight, it was definitely a big step toward that character's super-stardom and then over-exposure (which I did not and do not like).
Finally, I'm glad several others here mentioned the Hulk and Rom; given what a big fan of both Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema I am, I'm a bit embarrassed that I didn't mention either of these myself.
Edo- You're quite right, Doug did cover that book. And I even commented on it. Just goes to show you how diversions and middle age forgetfulness can fog your memory!
Sorry, I meant Gene Colan, of course. Stupid autocorrect. I was equally enthused to see him draw the Dark Knight as I was with Newton. I wished Tom Palmer had come along for the ride, but it was still enjoyable.
Regarding the Wolverine mini, I realize that people's taste vary (for the record, I hated the Batman annual with TVE's art, but I'm definitely in the minority), but I did like it, especially the art. Was never a big Clairmont fan.....he always reminded me of Albert Brooks' world's worst mine bit. In hindsight, I probably would have tempered my enthusiasm had I know that we would soon be bombarded with All Wolverine All The Time. I was long gone by that time though.
Great year. In my opinion, the multi-part Brood Saga is the end of the "classic" era of the title. Good story, nice art from Paul Smith and Dave Cockrum.
As a connoisseur of Bronze Age reprints, I have to mention that the Stern/Rogers/Austin era of Doctor Strange has long been one of my "holy grails" of reprints. Still waiting for it!
Not much to add, except that in a 4 year slump for the Avengers there were 2 (comparatively) bright spots, one of which was the Molecule Man story (with Tigra) in 215 & 216 and the other was the Ant Man/Hawkeye team up in 223 both in 82.
I think the Death of Captain Marvel is the first properly grown up comic book. You can almost see a lightbulb going on over Alan Moore’s head as he (doubtless) read it.
Lots of love for the Galactus story in FF 250, but I think the earlier one Redartz highlights ends with Frankie Raye becoming the new herald, so that was surely a bigger deal?
Also Byrne’s Surfer one off which was remarkable not so much for its writing or art so much as the fact that it happened at all.
JA – I recently completed Doc Strange (I mean ST, the 69 series and the 74 series), so looking forward to powering through some quality weirdness. Can’t wait to get to your Stern issues. Always loved the doctor.
Richard
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