The series was initially a 96-page quarterly anthology, featuring various DC characters – always including Superman and Batman – in separate stories. Comics historian Les Daniels noted that “pairing Superman and Batman made sense financially, since the two were DC’s most popular heroes”. When superheroes fell out of vogue in the early 1950s, DC shortened the size of the publication to that of the rest of its output, leaving only enough space for one story; this led to Superman and Batman appearing in the same story together starting with World’s Finest Comics #71 (July 1954). The title often depicted Batman gaining superpowers as a way to avoid having him be overshadowed by Superman.Lex Luthor and the Joker first joined forces in issue #88 (June 1957).
Worlds Finest #79 CGC Pedigree 7.0 Off White Pages $689
The first major development of the 80’s was the breakdown of Henry Pym, with his frequent changes of costume and name being symptomatic of an identity problem and an inferiority complex. After he abused his wife, failed to win back the confidence of the Avengers with a ruse and was duped by the villain Egghead, Pym was jailed. Pym would later outwit Egghead and defeated the latest incarnation of the Masters of Evil single-handedly, and proved his innocence. Pym reconciled with the Wasp, but they decided to remain apart. Pym retired from super-heroics, but returned years later.
This was followed by several major storylines, such as “Ultimate Vision” in which the Vision took over the world’s computer systems in a misguided attempt to create world peace; the formation of the West Coast Avengers; and “Avengers Under Siege” which involved the second Baron Zemo and the Masters of Evil taking over the mansion and severely injuring Jarvis and Hercules. “Assault on Olympus” featured Hercules’ father, Zeus, blaming the Avengers for his son’s injuries and brought them to Olympus for trial, and the “Heavy Metal” arc saw the Super Adaptoid organized several robotic villains for an assault on the team. New members during the 1980s included Tigra; the She-Hulk;Monica Rambeau (then going by the name Captain Marvel);Starfox (the brother of Thanos); Hawkeye’s wife, Mockingbird; and Namor, while Henry Pym emerged from retirement to join the West Coast Avengers. Spider-Man was again offered membership, but failed to gain admission due to security concerns by the Avengers’ government liaison.
The villain Nebula falsely claimed to be the granddaughter of Thanos. The team relocated for a period to a floating island off the coast of New York called Hydrobase after Avengers Mansion was severely damaged during the events in “Under Siege”. Hydrobase was later sunk during the Acts of Vengeance crossover.
DV8 is a comic book published by Wildstorm. The series revolves around the lives of a group of Gen-Active people (Called DV8, or referred to as “The Deviants”), initially living in New York City under the supervision of Ivana Baiul, who sends them on life-threatening black ops assignments.
DV8 #1B Envy – Michael Lopez Variant NM $4DV8 #1C Wrath- Gaetano Liberatore Variant NM $4DV8 #1D Lust – Kevin Nowlan Variant NM $4DV8 #1E Pride – Dave Stevens Variant NM $29DV8 #1F Gluttony – Glenn Fabry Variant NM $4DV8 #1G Greed – J Scott Cambell Variant NM $8DV8 #1H Sloth – Jim Lee Variant NM $8
The main character of The Sandman is Dream, also known as Morpheus and other names, who is one of the seven Endless. The other Endless are Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, who was once Delight, and Destruction, who turned his back on his duties. The series is famous for Gaiman’s trademark use of anthropomorphic personification of various metaphysical entities, while also blending mythology and history in its horror setting within the DC Universe.The Sandman is a story about stories and how Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, is captured and subsequently learns that sometimes change is inevitable. The Sandman was Vertigo’s flagship title, and is available as a series of ten trade paperbacks, a recolored five-volume Absolute hardcover edition with slipcase, in a black-and-white Annotated edition, and is available for digital download. Critically acclaimed,The Sandman was one of the first few graphic novels ever to be on the New York Times Best Seller list, along with Maus, Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. It was one of five graphic novels to make Entertainment Weekly‘s “100 best reads from 1983 to 2008,” ranking at No. 46. Norman Mailer described the series as “a comic strip for intellectuals.” The series is noted for having a large influence over the fantasy genre and graphic novel medium since then.
Civil War II, which debuted in June 2016, is a sequel to the 2006 “Civil War” storyline.
A new Inhuman, with the ability to profile the future, emerges and the ramifications ripple into every corner of the Marvel Universe. Lines are drawn, bodies fall, and the Marvel Universe will be rocked to it’s very core.
Civil War 2 #1 NM $6Civil War II #3 NM $5Civil War II #7 NM $5
This six-issue comic book series was written by John Wagner and illustrated by Kilian Plunkett; Steve Perry was a story consultant. It focuses on Boba Fett and his fellow bounty hunters (first seen briefly in The Empire Strikes Back) as well as Jix, a hireling of Darth Vader who infiltrates Jabba the Hutt’s gang of bikers (led by Gizman) to prevent their attempt to kill Luke Skywalker.
Two separate mini-comics were released with Micro Machines toys (with three alternative covers) and Ertl model kits. A pop-up comic was also made, entitled Battle of the Bounty Hunters. A one-shot comic titled The Jabba Tape also features Gizman around the time of Return of the Jedi and was illustrated by Plunkett.
Star Wars – Shadows of the Empire #1 NM $13Star Wars – Shadows of the Empire #2 NM $12Star Wars – Shadows of the Empire #3 NM $10
Madame Xanadu eventually got her own ongoing solo book when Matt Wagner and Amy Reeder Hadley teamed up for it in 2008, followed by more Wagner stories with artwork by many other equally amazing artists. The series went for 29 issues, exploring key moments in Xanadu’s very long life and centering in on the details of her magical powers more than any story had before. After the first couple arcs, most of the issues revolved around Xanadu’s actions at the margins of DC’s superhero community in the ‘40s, which makes the run a must-read for fans of DC’s Golden Age.
In her solo series, we discovered that Xanadu’s given name was Nimue Inwudu, and she was the third sibling after Morgan le Fay and the Lady of the Lake in Celtic mythology. They were descendants of the survivors of the destruction of Atlantis known as the homo magi, and thus all possessed inherent magical skills. After a particularly ill-fated affair with Merlin, she traveled the world and gained her immortality by besting Death in a card game.
The title is derived from a trademark self-referential comment often made by Spider-Man (as in “just another service provided by your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!”). The series began in October 2005 and was primarily written by Peter David. Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was canceled after issue #24, part 2 of J. Michael Straczynski and Joe Quesada‘s controversial “One More Day” storyline. Kurt Busiek has revealed that in 1995 he originally suggested “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” as the title of the series which was eventually published as Untold Tales of Spider-Man.
The Rook is a fictional, time-traveling comic book adventure hero. He first appeared in March 1977 in American company Warren Publishing‘s Eerie, Vampirella & Warren Presents magazines. In the 1980s, the Rook became popular and gained his own comic magazine title of the same name, The Rook Magazine.
The fourth volume of Green Lantern began in 2005 in the aftermath of Green Lantern: Rebirth, which saw the return of fan favorite Hal Jordan. In the beginning of the series Hal tries to re-acclimate into society and life, both as Hal Jordan: Test Pilot and Hal Jordan: Green Lantern of Sector 2814. As critically acclaimed writer Geoff Johns reinvents Hal Jordan and reintroduces him into the DCU he comes across various problems and threats throughout the run. With Coast City being rebuilt Hal takes residence there, even if barely anyone else has. The Manhunter Androids, Cyborg-Superman, Shark, Hector Hammond and Black Hand cause serious problems for Hal. The Black Hand who becomes immensely important later on in the series.
