In 1991, Marvel revised the entire lineup of X-Books, centered on the launch of a second X-Men series, simply titled X-Men. With the return of Xavier and the original X-Men to the team, the roster was split into two strike forces: Cyclops’ “Blue Team” (chronicled in X-Men) and Storm’s “Gold Team” (in Uncanny X-Men).
It’s first issues were written by longstanding X-Men writer Chris Claremont and drawn and co-plotted by Jim Lee. Retailers pre-ordered over 8.1 million copies of issue #1, generating and selling nearly $7 million (though retailers probably sold closer to 3 million copies ), making it the best-selling comic book of all-time, according to Guinness Book of World Records, which presented honors to Claremont at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.
Never betray a Bounty Hunter – especially if it’s Boba Fett!
Years ago, Valance and fellow bounty hunters Bossk and Boba Fett took on a mission that went sideways in a bad way after Valance’s mentor, Nakano Lash, violently betrayed them. Valance’s team barely escaped with their lives. He never thought he’d face his old mentor ever again…until Lash finally resurfaces under mysterious circumstances. Every bounty hunter in the galaxy wants a piece and Valance is hell-bent on getting to the prize first. He has score to settle—but so does Boba Fett!
Daredevil debuted in Marvel Comics‘ Daredevil #1 (cover date April 1964), created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett, with character design input from Jack Kirby, who devised Daredevil’s billy club. When Everett turned in his first-issue pencils extremely late, Marvel production manager Sol Brodsky and Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko inked a large variety of different backgrounds, a “lot of backgrounds and secondary figures on the fly and cobbled the cover and the splash page together from Kirby’s original concept drawing”.
Writer and comics historian Mark Evanier has concluded (but cannot confirm) that Kirby designed the basic image of Daredevil’s costume, though Everett modified it. The character’s original costume design was a combination of black, yellow, and red, reminiscent of acrobat tights. Wally Wood, known for his 1950s EC Comics stories, penciled and inked issues #5–10, introducing Daredevil’s modern red costume in issue #7.
The Micronauts began life as comic book characters thanks to a fortuitous accident on Christmas 1977. Marvel Comics writer Bill Mantlo’s son Adam opened a new present, a line of the Mego Corporation‘s Micronauts action figures. Seeing the toys, Mantlo was instantly struck by inspiration to write their adventures. Convincing then Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter to get the comics license for these toys, Mantlo was hired to script their series.
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.
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The Earth has been STOLEN! The sky burns while mysterious cosmic objects crash down from above, wreaking havoc across the world – and the Avengers are the last line of defense between Earth and the mysterious forces threatening to tear it apart. It’s time to ASSEMBLE almost everyone who has ever been an Avenger! All of the Avengers you know and love come together to face threats beyond any they’ve faced before – including the Black Order and the Lethal Legion. These two teams of powerful villains bent on destroying each other have arrived on Earth, and they don’t care who gets caught in the crossfire. And when the mysterious Challenger faces off against the Grandmaster, can the Earth survive the destruction they unleash? The Avengers are engaged in a game of cosmic proportions, but they don’t know the rules…and not everyone will survive! Plus: Who is Voyager? Valerie Vector, the forgotten founding Avenger, is revealed. And fan-favorite Avenger, Hulk, returns to the fold as the stakes in the battle for Earth become clear! Tension is high and peril is imminent, but there’s no option to surrender for the relentless Avengers!
The underlying difference between this title and the other Spider-Man titles was that Marvel Knights Spider-Man was done with a more mature slant (in style if not content), thus the “Marvel Knights” prefix.
Intended to replace the canceled Spider-Man’s Tangled Web series, Marvel Knights Spider-Man was originally supposed to be written by Kevin Smith, but due to scheduling problems he was replaced by Mark Millar. When Millar completed his year-long story arc, he was followed by writer Reginald Hudlin.
With the consolidation of the Marvel Knights line, Marvel Knights Spider-Man was renamed The Sensational Spider-Man as of issue 23. At this time, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa took over writing duties on the book.
The 1990s saw the Green Hulk return. In issue #377 (Jan. 1991), the Hulk was revamped in a storyline that saw the personalities of Banner, Grey Hulk, and Savage Hulk confront Banner’s past abuse at the hands of his father Brian and a new “Guilt Hulk” persona. Overcoming the trauma, the intelligent Banner, cunning Grey Hulk, and powerful Savage Hulk personalities merge into a new single entity possessing the traits of all three. The Hulk also joined the Pantheon, a secretive organization of superpowered individuals. His tenure with the organization brought the Hulk into conflict with a tyrannical alternate future version of himself called the Maestro in the 1993 Future Imperfectminiseries, who rules over a world where many heroes are dead.
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Gabriel Cruz gave his life to Weyland-Yutani–In the case of an alien attack he barely survived, almost literally! Recently retired, Cruz is trying to patch things up with his abandoned son with the help of his friend, a Bishop-model android, but his re-entry into civilian life is not going smoothly…and his encounters with the deadly Xenomorph are far from over.
Strange Tales switched to superheroes during the Silver Age of Comic Books, retaining the sci-fi, suspense and monsters as backup features for a time. Strange Tales‘ first superhero, in 12- to 14-page stories, was the Fantastic Four‘s Human Torch, Johnny Storm, beginning in #101 (Oct. 1962). Here, Johnny still lived with his elder sister, Susan Storm, in fictional Glenview, Long Island, New York, where he continued to attend high school and, with youthful naivete, attempted to maintain his “secret identity” (later retconned to reveal that his friends and neighbors knew of his dual identity from Fantastic Four news reports, but simply played along).
The title became a “split book” with the introduction of sorcerer Doctor Strange, by Lee and artist Steve Ditko. This 9- to 10-page feature debuted in #110 (July 1963), and after an additional story and then skipping two issues returned permanently with #114. Ditko’s surrealistic mystical landscapes and increasingly head-trippy visuals helped make the feature a favorite of college students, according to Lee himself. Eventually, as co-plotter and later sole plotter, in the “Marvel Method“, Ditko would take Strange into ever-more-abstract realms, which yet remained well-grounded thanks to Lee’s reliably humanistic, adventure/soap opera dialog. Adversaries for the new hero included Baron Mordo introduced in issue #111 (Aug. 1963) and Dormammu in issue #126 (Nov. 1964). Clea, who would become a longtime love interest for Doctor Strange, was also introduced in issue #126.