Writer Mike Friedrich and artist Jim Starlin‘s brief collaboration on the Iron Man series introduced Mentor, Starfox, and Thanos in issue #55 (Feb. 1973). Friedrich scripted a metafictional story in which Iron Man visited the San Diego Comic Convention and met several Marvel Comics writers and artists. He then wrote the multi-issue “War of the Super-Villains” storyline which ran through 1975.
Writer David Michelinie, co-plotter/inker Bob Layton, and penciler John Romita Jr. became the creative team on the series with Iron Man #116 (Nov. 1978). Micheline and Layton established Tony Stark’s alcoholism with the story “Demon in a Bottle“, and introduced several supporting characters, including Stark’s bodyguard girlfriend Bethany Cabe;Stark’s personal pilot and confidant James Rhodes, who later became the superhero War Machine; and rival industrialist Justin Hammer, who was revealed to be the employer of numerous high-tech armed enemies Iron Man fought over the years. The duo also introduced the concept of Stark’s specialized armors as he acquired a dangerous vendetta with Doctor Doom. The team worked together through #154 (Jan. 1982), with Michelinie writing three issues without Layton.
Iron Man V1 #32 VF+ $26Iron Man #47 F $45Iron Man #66 FN+ $12Iron Man #100 FN $12Iron Man V1 #106 VF $6Iron Man #109 FN- $4Iron Man #112 FN- $4Iron man #113 VG+ $2Iron Man #114 FN- $8Iron Man #117 VF- $10Iron Man V1 #119 VF-NM $12Iron Man V1 #120 VF $12Iron Man #122 FN+ $15Iron Man V1 #123 VF-NM $14Iron Man V1 #124 VF $6Iron Man V1 #125 VF $13Iron Man V1 #127 VF $8Iron Man V1 #129 VF $7
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.
The series featured two or more Marvel characters in one story. The series was originally published from March 1972 through February 1985, and featured Spider-Man as the lead “team-up” character in all but ten of its 150 issues, and in six of its seven Annuals. It was the first major ongoing spin-off series for Spider-Man, being preceded only by the short-lived The Spectacular Spider-Man magazine.
During the 80’s Frank Miller was hired to continue the title and did so in a similar vein to previous writer Roger McKenzie. Resuming the drastic metamorphosis the previous writer had begun, Miller took the step of essentially ignoring all of Daredevil’s continuity prior to his run on the series; on the occasions where older villains and supporting cast were used, their characterizations and history with Daredevil were reworked or overwritten. Most prominently, dedicated and loving father Jack Murdock was reimagined as a drunkard who physically abused his son Matt, entirely revising Daredevil’s reasons for becoming a lawyer. Spider-Man villain Kingpin was introduced as Daredevil’s new nemesis, displacing most of his large rogues gallery. Daredevil himself was gradually developed into an antihero. In issue #181 (April 1982), he attempts to murder one of his arch-enemies by throwing him off a tall building; when the villain survives as a quadriplegic, he breaks into his hospital room and tries to scare him to death by playing a two-man variation on Russian roulette with a secretly unloaded gun.Comics historian Les Daniels noted that “Almost immediately, [Miller] began to attract attention with his terse tales of urban crime.” Miller’s revamping of the title was controversial among fans, but it clicked with new readers, and sales began soaring, the comic returning to monthly status just three issues after Miller came on as writer.
The character received an ongoing series, titled Frankenstein in the postal indicia and initially The Monster of Frankenstein (issues #1-5) and later The Frankenstein Monster as the cover logo, that ran 18 issues (Jan. 1973 – Sept. 1975).This series began with a four-issue retelling of the original novel, by writer Gary Friedrich and artist Mike Ploog. Several more issues continued his story into the 1890s, until he was placed in suspended animation and revived in modern times.
Supernatural Thrillers ran 15 issues (cover-dated December 1972 – October 1975). The title was one of four launched by Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Roy Thomas to form a line of science fiction and horroranthologies with more thematic cohesiveness than the company’s earlier attempts that decade, which had included the series Chamber of Darkness and Tower of Shadows. Whereas those titles generally presented original stories, these new books would instead adapt genre classics and other stories.
Issue #5 (August 1973) introduced the Living Mummy in a standalone story about an African tribal prince enslaved by Egyptians and mummified by an evil priest, who eventually reawakens in modern times. The character, created by writer Steve Gerber and penciler Rich Buckler, returned two issues later as the starring character in a generally 15-page solo series that ran from #7 to the final issue, #15 (June 1974 – October 1975). The cover logo during this time was “Supernatural Thrillers featuring The Living Mummy”.
King Conan #2 VF $4King Conan #3 VF $3King Conan #4 F-VF $2King Conan #6 VF $4King Conan #10 VF-NM $5King Conan #15 VF $5King Conan #18 F+ $2Conan the KIng #35 VF- $4Conan the King #38 F+ $2Conan the King #40 F+ $2Conan the King #44 F+ $2Conan the King #51 NM $8Conan the King #52 NM- $7Conan the King #53 NM $11Conan the King #54 NM $12
Marvel’s series of Star Trek comics began in 1979 with an adaptation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and continued for another two years. These tales take place during a second five-year mission of Kirk and the Enterprise that would have been featured in the never-produced Star Trek: Phase II TV series. Marvel’s license from Paramount prohibited them from using concepts introduced in the original series. They were only allowed to use the characters and concepts from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The series lasted 18 issues and ended in 1981.
John Byrne revitalized the slumping title with his run. Originally, Byrne was slated to write with Sienkiewicz providing the art. Sienkiewicz left to do Moon Knight, and Byrne subsequently became writer, artist, and inker. Various editors were assigned to the comic; eventually Bob Budiansky became the regular editor. Byrne told Jim Shooter that he could not work with Budiansky, although they ultimately continued to work together. In 2006, Byrne said “that’s my paranoia. I look back and I think that was Shooter trying to force me off the book”. Byrne left following issue #293 (Aug. 1986) in the middle of a story arc, explaining he could not recapture the fun he had previously had on the series. One of Byrne’s changes was making the Invisible Girl into the Invisible Woman: assertive and confident. During this period, fans came to recognize that she was quite powerful, whereas previously, she had been primarily seen as a superpowered mother and wife in the tradition of television moms like those played by Donna Reed and Florence Henderson.
Fantastic Four #218 VF-NM $5Fantastic Four #220 VF $3Fantastic Four #232 VF-NM $9Fantastic Four #235 CGC 9.8 White Pages $89Fantastic Four #239 VF+ $3Fantastic Four #242 VF+ $3Fantastic Four #244 VF $29Fantastic Four #245 VF+$9Fantastic Four #248 Newstand VF+$4Fantastic Four #248 VF-NM $4Fantastic Four #249 Newstand VF+ $3Fantastic Four #249 VF-NM $3Fantastic Four #250 NM $6Fantastic Four #251 Newstand VF-NM $5Fantastic Four #251 VF-NM $4Fantastic Four #253 Newstand VF+ $4Fantastic Four #253 VF-NM $4Fantastic Four #254 Newstand VF+ $4Fantastic Four #254 VF-NM $4Fantastic Four #256 VF+ $3Fantastic Four #277 NM- $8Fantastic Four #286 Newsstand NM- $12Fantastic Four #286 NM $12Fantastic Four #292 Newsstand VF+ $9Fantastic Four #293 Newsstand VF+ $6Fantastic Four #299 VF+ $5Fantastic Four #303 VF-NM $2Fantastic Four #314 NM- $4Fantastic Four #316 VF-NM $3Fantastic Four #323 NM- $4Fantastic Four #324 VF-NM $3Fantastic Four #326 VF-NM $2
The Defenders had a rotating line-up from 1972 until 1986, with Dr. Strange and the Hulk being more or less constant members along with a number of other mainstays such as Valkyrie, Nighthawk, Hellcat, the Gargoyle, Beast, the Son of Satan and Luke Cage, and a large number of temporary members. The publication was retitled near the end of the run as The New Defenders but featured none of the original members and only Valkyrie, the Beast and the Gargoyle of the former long-term members. The concept was modified in the 1993–95 series Secret Defenders, in which Dr. Strange assembled different teams for each individual mission. Later, the original team were reunited in a short-lived series by Kurt Busiek and Erik Larsen. In the 2000s, Marvel published a new miniseries featuring the classic line-up. Writer Matt Fraction and artist Terry Dodson launched a new Defenders series in December 2011.
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