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After building a firm base in the Silver Age, a new era, sometimes called the Bronze Age, was born. More risks were taken during this period resulting in more diverse and edgier titles being produced. Risk often equals reward and fortune favours the bold. The original titles kept to formula and expanded on their continuity. The seventies started with Jack Kirby leaving Marvel over rights to artwork. He Joined DC Comics and created his popular Fourth World characters. Stan Lee’s reign as Editor-in-Chief came to an end in 1972 but not before he created Luke Cage, Power Man. This appeared as Marvel’s first title featuring a black character in the main role. |
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The story was about a man that underwent an experiment which gave him steel hard skin and superhuman strength and who set himself up as a hero for hire.
Another character, Blade, part of a group of vampire hunters, also debuted around this time in the horror title, Tomb of Dracula.
Another horror comic Man-Thing was set in the swamp environment of the Florida Everglades.
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The story started with scientist Ted Sallis injected himself with an experimental serum to avoid the military taking it. After a struggle, he was thrown into the swamp where the serum interacted with the murky water. Sallis was mutated into a mindless monster that suffered agony in the presence of hatred and violent anger. The catchphrase was “Whatever knows fear, burns at the Man-Thing’s touch!” and some quality stories were produced. The Punisher, one Marvel’s earliest anti-heroes, first appeared at this time in the Spider-Man title and was a paid assassin who later worked for himself with his own agenda. Many new writers were coming on board to expand the history and continuity of the fledgling Marvel Universe, and in the process creating a juggernaut. |
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Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin and Jim Starlin were among the many new scribes creating fresh stories, characters and histories.
A lot of the stories written in this period were referenced to in the newer titles of the 1980’s.
This was when I first started reading them full time so that whetted the appetite to find and read them.
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Part of the fun was tracking down back issues to complete a story. One of my favourite titles, The Avengers, went from strength to strength with writer Jim Shooter and artist George Perez creating magic in the mid 1970’s. The House of Ideas was forging a new legacy. Jack Kirby returned to Marvel creating an epic series. The Eternals. Featuring the Celestials, giant humanoid aliens, created two new species from the DNA of prehistoric man. These species were the Eternals and the Deviants. Both races were immortal and destined to war with each other. Kirby both wrote and drew The Eternals series which was a visually stunning masterpiece. Click here to check out the Essential Ghost Rider Volume 1 TPB (Marvel Comics) |
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Neil Gaiman is remaking this series and it will be essential reading.
However, the biggest event to happen at this time, in the rapidly expanding Marvel Universe, was the birth of the All-new, All-different X-Men.
A new diverse team of mutants was formed to replace the old one with members coming from various countries around the world.
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The original team featured Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman and the Beast. Under the creative vision of first writer Len Wein, artist Dave Cockrum then writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne this became the biggest hit of all time. It laid the foundations of household name status for the characters Wolverine, Storm, Jean Grey/Phoenix, Cyclops and Nightcrawler. The high point of this series was the Phoenix saga in which the character Jean Grey sacrificed her life the save the world. This was an unexpected twist, which shocked a lot of readers. Under the helm of former writer Jim Shooter, who started the Editor in Chief job in 1978 and was there for nine years, Marvel comics began the period I can only describe as a renaissance in comic book storytelling. Pure genius. Click here to check out The Eternals By Jack Kirby Book 1 TPB (Marvel Comics) |
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Shooter maintained a tight reign on the type of stories that were produced during this period and often clashed with various writers.
This time for me is the one I look back on most fondly and have the strongest memories of.
The best creators told some of the best sagas in the business.
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Walt Simonson writing and drawing a well researched Thor, John Byrne, writing and drawing the Fantastic Four after leaving the X-Men title after disagreements with writer Chris Claremont. Frank Miller writing and drawing a darker version of Daredevil. Peter David crafted some superb psychological stories in the Incredible Hulk. Iron Man written by David Michelinie and pencilled by Bob Layton. The late Mark Gruenwald writing the Squadron Supreme which was drawn by Paul Ryan and The Avengers written by Roger Stern and drawn by the late John Buscema. The X-Men title, written by Chris Claremont, took popular young artists and elevated them to superstar status such as John Romita Jr, Marc Silvestri, Whilce Portacio and Jim Lee. All modern day classics. |
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The title became so popular that it spawned a franchise.
Soon you had a host of new X-Men related titles such as X-Force drawn by Rob Liefeld and a host of limited series featuring individual characters from the X-Men.
Even though most of the stories were set in America I could still relate to the themes contained within them whilst at home in London, England.
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The stories had worldwide appeal and were and still are translated into many languages besides English. Could the Marvel concept work in England with superheroes set in London? I think it can, with the right writer. A branch of Marvel Comics was set up in England called Marvel UK and many of the British talent now working for American publishers got their big breaks there. This was headed up by Dez Skinn who now produces U.K. based Comics International magazine. A great read. I’m developing my own superhero series, The Eight, set in London as my answer to the greatness of Marvel. Check out The GrowlerVerse. |
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Marvel always seemed to have the edge over DC Comics, which appeared somewhat distant, compared to Marvel’s family-like, behind the scenes atmosphere.
You felt like you knew the creators through various interviews and the like.
To add icing on the cake, an Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe was produced detailing all of the characters and their individual histories.
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Writers Tom DeFalco and then Bob Harras followed Jim Shooter as Editor-in-Chief in the late eighties and early nineties. Marvel was no longer simply a comic book publisher. It was a multi-million dollar juggernaut with the corresponding merchandising, TV and film development departments among others. The nineties brought a slightly cynical edge to comics and the Dark Age or Grim and Gritty era was upon us. Artists ruled the roost and good storytelling often took a back seat. Over exposure was common for certain characters including Wolverine, The Punisher and Spider-Man. This coincided with a boom in comic book sales in the early nineties where comics were seen as good investments capable of massive short-term returns. Click here to check out X-Statix Volume 1: Good Omens TPB (Marvel Comics) by Peter Milligan |
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A flood of new titles followed to capitalize on this and Marvel suffered the loss of several of its top artists who left to form Image Comics.
This was a big setback as the replacements often weren’t as good as their departed predecessors.
Stories lacked depth and direction and the company was a shadow of its former self.
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In the midst of all this, Marvel attempted to distribute its comics itself instead of using the then two main players, Diamond and Capital Distribution, so as to cut costs. They called their distribution company Heroes World. This experiment failed and the action resulted in Capital Distribution eventually going under. Marvel resumed business with Diamond Distributions who became the only show in town. The comic book industry boom eventually turned to bust and many titles were cancelled including the once mega popular Punisher. Shortly after this Marvel Comics went bankrupt due to bad business decisions by the owners and corporate battles for control of the company. |
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This period is described comprehensively in the book Comic Wars by Dan Raviv and is essential reading.
Desperately hiring its former artists Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, now at Image Comics, to reinvent several of its flagship titles, including the Fantastic Four under the title of Heroes Reborn.
Though this was successful it was offset by a lot of titles with mediocre storylines being produced at the same time.
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The Spider-Man character, also now a franchise with three different titles, went into terminal decline with the crazy idea to make Peter Parker a clone thus insulting long term readers. Marvel Comics was at an all time low. The seeds for their revival were laid in the creation of the Marvel Knights publishing imprint, which was created to revive some flagging characters, led by artist Joe Quesada with his Event Comics team. He successfully drafted some of the best independent comics creators to work for him and this proved a runaway success. Daredevil, a title on the brink of cancellation was reborn, written by the filmmaker Kevin Smith. Also the Punisher title was resurrected from limbo under the guidance of writer Garth Ennis and penciller Steve Dillon. |
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One of the best Marvel Knights’ revamp had to be writer Christopher Priest’s take on the The Black Panther, instantly elevating the character to the major leagues.
Marvel Comics began to bounce back from the brink and stabilized.
With the help of major film releases Blade and X-Men started striding back to full strength once more. In 2000, Joe Quesada replaced Bob Harras and became Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics.
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He immediately began implementing his restructuring plan, proved on the Marvel Knights imprint, throughout the publisher. Together with new Marvel President Bill Jemas, he turned the comic book publishing section of the company around and revitalised it completely. The Ultimate Universe was created to update Marvel’s core characters, free of continuity baggage and so be fresh for new readers. This was a roaring success with all the Ultimate titles constantly in the Diamond top ten comic book charts. He lured the hottest comic book talent to work on Marvel characters with emphasis on strong writing. Authors like the critically acclaimed Brian Michael Bendis who created the great title Powers at Image Comics came onboard to write Daredevil and Ultimate Spiderman. Bendis is an amazingly prolific writer who holds his quality throughout his work. Click here to check out Runaways Pride and Joy: Volume 1 TPB (Marvel Comics) by Brian K Vaughan |
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Babylon 5 TV series creator J M Straczynski breathed new life and added depth into Spider-Man, Grant Morrison and Mark Millar rejuvenating the X-Men and Neil Gaiman a real literary heavyweight also jumped onboard.
Popular independent artist Mike Allred with writer Peter Milligan created a title, X-Statix, with a unique take on mutants as celebrities and often mirrored and parodied real world events.
Strong characterization was now the name of the game but the action was still present and often explosively jaw dropping in scale.
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A ratings guide was introduced so comic books could be created for specific audiences and the MAX imprint was created so more adult themes could be explored and labelled as such. Storylines were adapted to fit into trade paperback formats so they could be reprinted easily. Joe Quesada has been compared to a new Stan Lee for our time for his editorial successes as has Brian Bendis for his prolific writing which is always top notch. Having read the comics now being produced I can totally agree with these comparisons. All of the creators and comic book titles mentioned above are but a fraction of the people who have worked for Marvel Comics and the characters created. The future is looking bright for Marvel Comics who have some of the best comic book talent in their stable. |
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X-Men Reloaded and Avengers Disassembled were two recent initiatives designed to keep Marvel’s titles fresh, which is a constant mission.
New Avengers by Brian Bendis, Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon, Runaways by Brian K Vaughan and She Hulk by Dan Slott are always recommended reading.
Young Avengers by Allan Heinberg really broke the mold for quality.
These are just some of the series recently produced.
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The epic House of M mini-series brought massive changes and it’s aftermath, Decimation, served to further renew the Marvel Universe. Warren Ellis and artist Stuart Immonen produced the ground breaking new team book, Nextwave, that simply must be read. Civil War was a massively successful storyline which had the heroes fighting amongst themselves written by Mark Millar and illustrated by Steve McNiven. The Hulk was brought back to the forefront with the two epics Planet Hulk which saw the character exiled to another world and World War Hulk where he returned to exact revenge. Both written by Greg Pak The X-Men stable was reborn to greatness in the amazing Endangered Species and Messiah Complex storylines. Click here to check out X-Men: Messiah Complex TPB (Marvel Comics) by Ed Brubaker and Mike Carey |
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Marvel’s cosmic characters burst back on the scene with the Annihilation and Annihilation:Conquest epics which gave birth to the Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy series.
But one of the most stunning moves was the huge Secret Invasion mini series which told a tale of the alien Skrulls infiltrating the Marvel Universe from way back and preparing the ground for conquest.
Crafted by Brian Bendis and drawn by Leinil Yu.
This was followed up by the storylines Dark Reign and Siege by Brian Bendis and Olivier Coipel which resulted in the Heroic Age of Marvel Comics.
Click here to check out Secret Invasion TPB (Marvel Comics) by Brian M Bendis and Leinil Yu
With a host of big budget movies being constantly released featuring Marvel Comics characters, like Iron Man, the Ultimate Avengers animated movie, Hulk, Thor, Captain America and the Avengers more people will be exposed to the genius of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and the house they built.
Marvel Comics were bought out by Disney who will be able to insure that Marvel characters will be around for many years to come. Immortality beckons!
Exciting times ahead!
So, if you’re looking for original escapist stories with fantastic visual storytelling and cutting edge graphic design then check out Marvel comic books, past and present.
Nuff said!
