Avengers V1 (1980’s)

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.

Moon Knight V8 (2016)

Marc Spector wakes up in a mental institute with no recollection of his past or how he got there. The staff, led by Dr. Emmet, seems to have supernatural powers and thwart Marc’s attempts to recover his past. Marc is shown evidence that he is a mentally ill man who has convinced himself he is also Moon Knight, a vigilante he’s seen on the news. Khonshu contacts Marc and explains that Emmet is an avatar like him, one who is connected to the Othervoid god Ammit. Khonshu decides it is now time for him to completely dominate Marc Spector’s body. Marc denies Khonshu and fights him with the help of all of his alters. Marc accepts that whether they are the result of childhood trauma or Khonshu’s interference, his alters are a part of him and have been for most of his life. After defeating Emmet and Khonshu, Marc resumes his life as Moon Knight, determined to be a protector and crime-fighter on his own terms rather than as a tool of anyone else. Later, Marc and Khonshu resume their bond.

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born (2007)

The Gunslinger Born is an expansion and interpretation of events covered in The Dark Tower series, beginning with Roland Deschain‘s manhood test against Cort and ending with the last events of the flashback sequences in Wizard and Glass. Later arcs will “cover the time period between Roland leaving Hambry and the fall of Gilead“. The Gunslinger Born is followed by The Long Road Home, whose first issue was released on March 5, 2008.

X-Men Unlimited V1 (1990’s)

This title allowed new and lesser-known writers and artists to write and draw X-Men comics. The comics were also usually self-contained stories; with the exception of a tie-in to the Onslaught crossover. This was particularly unique during the late 1990s when most X-Men titles frequently had story arcs that were several issues long. It ran as a quarterly feature releasing four issues per year until late 2002 when it converted into a monthly title.

Hulk V5 (2022)

The uncontrollable rage of the Hulk has reached an all-new level, and nobody – including the Avengers – is prepared to handle it. But is it really the Hulk that people should be afraid of, or is there something missing to this puzzle? Join the creative team of Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley as they look to the stars for the next era of HULK!

The Incredible Hulk V1 (1968)

The Hulk first appeared in The Incredible Hulk #1 (cover dated May 1962), written by writer-editor Stan Lee, penciled and co-plotted by Jack Kirby, and inked by Paul Reinman. Lee cites influence from Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the Hulk’s creation. The Hulk’s original series was canceled with issue #6 (March 1963).

In the debut, Lee chose gray for the Hulk because he wanted a color that did not suggest any particular ethnic group. Colorist Stan Goldberg, however, had problems with the gray coloring, resulting in different shades of grey, and even green, in the issue. After seeing the first published issue, Lee chose to change the skin color to green. Green was used in retellings of the origin, with even reprints of the original story being recolored for the next two decades, until The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #302 (December 1984) reintroduced the gray Hulk in flashbacks set close to the origin story. Since then, reprints of the first issue have displayed the original gray coloring, with the fictional canon specifying that the Hulk’s skin had initially been grey. An exception is the early trade paperback, Origins of Marvel Comics, from 1974, which explains the difficulties in keeping the gray color consistent in a Stan Lee written prologue, and reprints the origin story keeping the gray coloration.

Lee gave the Hulk’s alter ego the alliterative name Bruce Banner because he found he had less difficulty remembering alliterative names. Despite this, in later stories he misremembered the character’s name and referred to him as “Bob Banner”, an error which readers quickly picked up on. The discrepancy was resolved by giving the character the official full name of Robert Bruce Banner.

Thor (1980’s)

Walt Simonson took over both writing and art as of #337 (Nov. 1983). His stories placed a greater emphasis on the character’s mythological origins. Simonson’s run as writer-artist lasted until #367 (May 1986), although he continued to write – and occasionally draw – the book until issue #382 (Aug. 1987). Simonson’s run, which introduced the character Beta Ray Bill, was regarded as a popular and critical success. Simonson’s later stories were drawn by Sal Buscema, who describes Simonson’s stories as “very stimulating. It was a pleasure working on his plots, because they were a lot of fun to illustrate. He had a lot of great ideas, and he took Thor in a totally new direction.” Asked why he was leaving Thor, Simonson said that he felt the series was due for a change in creative direction, and that he wanted to reduce his work load for a time. After Simonson’s departure, Marvel’s editor-in-chief at the time, Tom DeFalco, became the writer. Working primarily with artist Ron Frenz, DeFalco stayed on the book until #459 (Feb. 1993).

Doctor Strange V2 (1974)

Doctor Strange: Master of the Mystic Arts, also known as Doctor Strange vol. 2, ran 81 issues (June 1974-February 1987). Doctor Strange #14 featured a crossover story with The Tomb of Dracula #44, another series which was being drawn by Gene Colan at the time. In Englehart’s final story, he sent Dr. Strange back in time to meet Benjamin Franklin. In 2010, Comics Bulletin ranked Englehart’s work on Doctor Strange with artists Brunner and Colan ninth on its list of the “Top 10 1970s Marvels.”

Weirdworld (2015)

As part of the 2015 Secret Wars storyline, a series titled Weirdworld starring Arkon was released in June 2015 which featured other characters like Morgan le Fay of Earth-15238, Skull the Slayer, a variation of Jennifer Kale from Earth-11234 that is the Queen of Weirdworld’s Man-Things, and characters from The Saga of Crystar. Weirdworld is featured on the map of the storyline’s version of Battleworld as a floating island composed of fragments from many alternate reality magical realms like Polemachus, Crystalium, Klarn, and the original Weirdworld. By the end of the miniseries, Weirdworld manifested on Earth-616 in the Bermuda Triangle.

Marvel Team-Up V3 (2005)

Comics journalist Jonathan Miller summarized Marvel Team-Up in a retrospective article:

“The series was admittedly formulaic; either Spider-Man or that issue’s guest-star would encounter a menace and then by sheer chance cross paths with another hero who would lend a hand. The title’s guest-stars were an equal mix of A-list characters whose presence was likely to increase sales and fledgling heroes being given exposure in the hopes of launching them into stardom but who for the most part continued to languish in obscurity.”

The third Marvel Team-Up series launched in January 2005 and ran for 25 issues which starred a variety of characters.