Ten very beloved old comicbooks in 60 seconds

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Amazing Spider-Man 251,(Jonah's dark secret, final Stern showdown with Hobgoblin aboard his rushing auto-piloted battle van, with the secrets of the original Green Goblin---and Spidey's life!---in balance)

Why did it rock: a new, mystery character had taken over the costume and weapons of the Green Goblin, to become the Hobgoblin. Along with the mystery man's identity, we were treated to his discovery of files kept by the original Goblin villain, with secrets ensnaring many prominent New Yorkers, whose paths cross as Spider-Man tries to understand what's happening. He realizes his own secret identity is also among those files, but he can't know for certain. He can only look for the Hobgoblin. This is the story where's he's got his wish, and it's drawn in a very exciting style by Ron Frenz and Klaus Janson.


Daredevil 219 ("Badlands", a costume-less Matt Murdock in a stand-alone noir classic)
Why did it rock: all the badness and secrets came from ordinary people. The only hero is a biker-leather clad stranger who the sheriff and others want dead, before he blows the top off the sleazy secrets of the town. Definitely the precursor to SIN CITY~!



Cap 332 (Why it rocks: The government tries to take over the identity of Captain America, which they say originated in FDR's office. Cap QUITS!),


X-Men 188(Great battle with Rom the Spaceknight's old foes, the Wraiths, with the mutant inventor Forge in the middle. It rocks due to Kurt(Nightcrawler)'s wavering devotion to the cause, the horrid future shared by their mysterious guest Rachel, and, er, Storm going for a swim)

Fantastic Four #49 (the quartet are so outgunned by Galactus and his emotionless herald, with no solution in sight! The atmosphere: palpable!)


Incredible Hulk 260, (tense battle with Bruce's rival for Betty, erupting volcano, Japanese monster movie robot, mysterious other culture and Japanese director character)

Thing 22 (the end of Battle World from Secret Wars, and Grimm's relationship with Tarianna and the tragic end of Ben Grimm),

Avengers 276 (Eat it, Masters of Evil! a huge superteam of villains gets awfully close to destroying Earth's Mightiest over several issues of plotting, sabotaging, and ambushing...awfully close),

Hellblazer 43 (Knob this, three aspects of Hell! British streetwise mystery man Constantine's classic cancer struggle comes to a satisfying, menacing, meta-physical ending),

Conan “Red nails” wherever that first appeared.


Boom! That's Ten! I didn't even get


Marvel Team-Up 133 (Doctor Faustus attempts to destroy the mind of Reed Richards)

Peter Parker 76 (Black Cat brutalized by Doctor Octopus; the copy I read was almost as banged-up!)

Captain America #40 Cap's successor Bucky takes on the Skull's stand-in for Cap, in the middle of a politically-intriguing effort to launch a third party candidate for President!

Hulk 340 goes in there, too, mostly for being the best of a very intense run I watched for like few others!

What would I really bump, though? I think this is the spirit in which my friend Colin proposed this idea. So very many also-rans. It's usually a series, for me. I have made the unfortunate discovery, going from this list, that ten to twelve really is the golden age for these things, but now making my own comic is the excitement! Fortunately, not all my list is from that period. After all, I had not yet read Doctor Strange, or Grant Morrison!
As it is, I still haven't read the new SHIELD, Agents of Atlas, FF, and many others; that's just my list of stories that hit me like no others, top of my head. It is easier to list runs I liked, for some reason, but here you go, thanks!

Comments

  1. Bigby WolfMay 17, 2011 at 9:40 AM

    Daredevil 220 "Badlands" Of course if people actually read what they wrote/posted they would realize that it is Daredevil 219. But who am I to argue with you ole' pal ;)), Hellblazer 43, Conan “Red nails” is in my Top 25 very beloved old U.S. comic books list as well. I had completely forgotten about "Badlands" until about a year (maybe less). But it was a very poignant story so it enters my top 25.

    ReplyDelete
  2. HolmesMay 20, 2011 at 2:53 PM

    Sweet...that beat up PP 76 was mine, as were a few others in the list.

    ReplyDelete

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