The early 1970s were a time of change for the Man of Steel. As Clark Kent shifted from being a newspaper reporter to a TV newscaster, his alter ego saw the destruction of all remaining Kryptonite on Earth! This period also featured many new villains, including Terra-Man, and the dramatic reintroductions of such foes as Lex Luthor — in green and purple armor!
During the summer of 1973, Englehart and artists Bob Brown and Sal Buscema produced “The Avengers-Defenders Clash” storyline which crossed over between the two team titles. “The Celestial Madonna” arc linked Mantis’ origins to the very beginnings of the Kree-Skrull conflict in a time-spanning adventure involving Kang the Conqueror, and Immortus, who were past and future versions of each other. Mantis was revealed to be the Celestial Madonna, who was destined to give birth to a being that would save the universe. It was revealed that the Vision’s body had only been appropriated, and not created by Ultron, and that it originally belonged to the 1940s Human Torch. With his origins clear to him, the Vision proposed to the Scarlet Witch. The “Celestial Madonna” saga ended with their wedding, presided over by Immortus. The Beast and Moondragon joined the team soon after. George Pérez became the title’s artist with issue #141 (Nov. 1975) which saw the start of a seven-part story featuring the Squadron Supreme and the Serpent Crown. In 2010, Comics Bulletin ranked Englehart’s run on The Avengers eighth on its list of the “Top 10 1970s Marvels”.
Witchblade is a comic book series published by Top Cow Productions, an imprint of Image Comics, which ran from November 1995 to October 2015. The series was created by Top Cow founder and owner Marc Silvestri, editor David Wohl, writers Brian Haberlin and Christina Z, and artist Michael Turner.
The Witchblade comic was adapted into a television series in 2001, as well as an anime, a manga and a novel in 2006. A feature film based on the comic, titled The Witchblade, was announced for a 2009 release, but was never produced. A second Witchblade television series was announced for development in January 2017.
In the view of comics historian Les Daniels, artist Curt Swan became the definitive artist of Superman in the early 1960s with a “new look” to the character that replaced Wayne Boring’s version. Bizarro World first appeared in the story “The World of Bizarros!” in issue #262 (April 1960). Writer Jim Shooter created the villain the Parasite in Action Comics #340 (Aug. 1966).
During his two years on the title, Roger Stern augmented the backgrounds of long-established Spider-Man villains, and with Romita Jr. created the mysterious supervillain the Hobgoblin in #238-239 (March–April 1983) Fans engaged with the mystery of the Hobgoblin’s secret identity, which continued throughout #244-245 and 249-251 (Sept.-Oct. 1983 and Feb.-April 1984). One lasting change was the reintroduction of Mary Jane Watson as a more serious, mature woman who becomes Peter’s confidante after she reveals that she knows his secret identity. Stern wrote “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man” in The Amazing Spider-Man #248 (January 1984), a story which ranks among his most popular.
David Michelinie took over as writer in #290 (July 1987) that led to the marriage of Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21. The “Kraven’s Last Hunt” storyline by writer J.M. DeMatteis and artists Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod crossed over into The Amazing Spider-Man #293 and 294. Issue #298 (March 1988) was the first Spider-Man comic to be drawn by future industry star Todd McFarlane, the first regular artist on The Amazing Spider-Man since Frenz’s departure. McFarlane revolutionized Spider-Man’s look. His depiction – large-eyed, with wiry, contorted limbs, and messy, knotted, convoluted webbing – influenced the way virtually all subsequent artists would draw the character. McFarlane’s other significant contribution to the Spider-Man canon was the design for what would become one of Spider-Man’s most wildly popular antagonists, the supervillain Venom. Issue #299 (April 1988) featured Venom’s first appearance (a last-page cameo) before his first full appearance in #300 (May 1988). The latter issue featured Spider-Man reverting to his original red-and-blue costume.
Other notable issues of the Michelinie-McFarlane era include #312 (Feb. 1989), featuring the Green Goblin vs. the Hobgoblin; and #315-317 (May–July 1989), with the return of Venom. In July 2012, Todd McFarlane’s original cover art for The Amazing Spider-Man #328 sold for a bid of $657,250, making it the most expensive American comic book art ever sold at auction.
The Predator hunts the most dangerous game… man. Now the Predator moves to the most dangerous hunting ground on the planet… the Paloverde State Penitentiary in Arizona. Tension is high in the prison as a convicted serial killer arrives, followed by a Predator bent on killing him and the man chasing them both… Cross.
Y: The Last Man is a post-apocalyptic science fiction comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra published by Vertigo from 2002 through 2008. The series centers on Yorick Brown and his pet Capuchin monkey Ampersand, the only males who survived the apparent global androcide. The series was published in sixty issues by Vertigo and collected in a series of ten paperback volumes (and later a series of five hardcover “Deluxe” volumes). The series’ covers were primarily by J. G. Jones and Massimo Carnevale. The series received three Eisner Awards.
Jonathan Hickman wrote a story arc in the Avengers and New Avengers comic, ending in the 2015 crossover Secret Wars. His return was announced in March 2019. Some days later, it was detailed that he would write two comic books, House of X and Powers of X, with penciling by Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva. Marvel Editor in Chief C. B. Cebulski said that “We are excited to have Jon back with the Marvel family, and we could not have asked for a better creative team to help usher the X-Men into a whole new era”
Both comics were released as a company wide relaunch of the X-Men. All the ongoing X-Men comics were cancelled: Uncanny X-Men, Mr. and Mrs. X, X-Force, X-23, and the Age of X-Man tie-in miniseries.
Black Hole written and drawn by Charles Burns was published as a 12-issue comic book limited series between 1995 and 2005. The first four issues were released by Kitchen Sink Press, before the publisher went out of business. Fantagraphics republished the first four issues and the remaining eight.
Set in the suburbs of Seattle during the 1970s, the story follows a group of teenagers who contract a mysterious sexually transmitted disease referred to as “the Bug, which causes them to develop bizarre unique physical mutations and subsequently become social outcasts, many of them running away from home to live in the nearby woodland.
Doomsday Clock is part of the DC Rebirth initiative, and it continues the narrative that was established with the 2016 one-shot DC Universe: Rebirth Special, the 2017 crossover event “The Button” and other related stories. It is a follow-up to the 1986–1987 miniseries Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins, and it introduces that story’s characters into the DC Universe, alongside a few original characters created for the book. Although Dan DiDio (then DC’s co-publisher) confirmed that it is a sequel to that miniseries, Johns originally declined to characterize it as such, viewing it as a standalone story, saying, “It is something else. It is Watchmen colliding with the DC Universe.”
