Marvel Comics introduced a fairly faithful version of Conan in 1970 with Conan the Barbarian, written by Roy Thomas with art initially by Barry Windsor-Smith, then John Buscema and Ernie Chan (aka Ernie Chua). The highly successful Conan the Barbarian series spawned the more adult, black-and-white Savage Sword of Conan in 1974, by Thomas, Buscema, and Alfredo Alcala. Savage Sword of Conan soon became one of the most popular comic series in the 1970s.
The Marvel Conan stories were also adapted as a newspaper comic strip which appeared daily and Sunday from September 4, 1978, to April 12, 1981. Originally written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by John Buscema, the strip was continued by several different Marvel artists and writers.
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 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.
Nova was created by Marv Wolfman and Len Wein in the fanzine Super Adventures in 1966. Seven years later John Romita, Sr. tweaked the design of the character’s uniform. Nova debuted in Nova #1 in 1976, written by Wolfman and drawn by John Buscema. Wolfman intended the teenage character to be an homage to Stan Lee and Steve Ditko‘s Spider-Man, down to his humble working-class roots and alliterative alter-ego. The original Nova series, The Man Called Nova, lasted 25 issues from September 1976 to May 1979. Dangling plot lines were resolved in issues 206-214 of Fantastic Four (also by Wolfman) and issue 24 of Rom the Spaceknight. The character then disappeared into obscurity until returning as a member of the original New Warriors team debuting in The Mighty Thor #411 (December 1989), and continuing through New Warriors #1-75, Annual #1-4 (July 1990—September 1996).
Nova V1 #5 VF-NM $7Nova V1 #8 VF-NM $8Nova V1 #9 NM- $9Nova V1 #10 VF-NM $6Nova V1 #12 VF- $6Nova V1 #14 NM- $14The Man Called Nova #16 VF $6Nova V1 #17 VF-NM $6Nova V1 #20 F-VF $3
After the Legion pushed new Superboy stories out of Adventure Comics in 1963, Superboy became the only comic book to feature original Superboy stories. Less than two years after the Legion itself left Adventure Comics, Superboy became the Legion’s new home. Starting with Superboy #172 (March 1971), the Legion appeared as an occasional backup feature. Once again, the Legion feature proved so popular that by Superboy #197 (Sept. 1973), the Legion had become the lead feature, and with the next issue, the title’s only feature. Although from issue #197, the cover logo read Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes (and replaced starring with #222), the official title (shown in the indicia) of the comic remained Superboy until #231 (Sept. 1977), when the comic became Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. In issue #259 (Jan. 1980).
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 #222 FN+ $2Fantastic 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 #252 VF- $8Fantastic 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 #257 FN+ $4Fantastic Four #258 FN $6Fantastic Four #262 Newsstand VF-NM $6Fantastic Four #273 VF-NM $4Fantastic Four #274 VF- $3Fantastic Four #277 NM- $8Fantastic Four #278 Newsstand VF-NM $7Fantastic Four #279 NM- $4Fantastic Four #280 VF $5Fantastic Four #281 VF+ $3Fantastic Four #282 VF $2Fantastic Four #283 VF $2Fantastic Four #286 Newsstand NM- $12Fantastic Four #286 NM $12Fantastic Four #289 VF $3Fantastic Four #290 VF $2Fantastic Four #292 Newsstand VF+ $9Fantastic Four #293 Newsstand VF+ $6Fantastic Four #299 VF+ $5Fantastic Four #303 VF-NM $2Fantastic Four #308 VF+ $3Fantastic Four #314 NM- $4Fantastic Four #316 VF-NM $3Fantastic Four #323 NM- $4Fantastic Four #324 VF-NM $3Fantastic Four #326 VF-NM $2
The first series started in 1975 with two giant-size issues before starting as a regular series, and was mostly bi-monthly during its existence. It initially teamed up Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner, who had lost his own series, from which it picked up the unresolved plots, especially that of the comatose Atlanteans. After a succession of writers and artists and a crossover with The Avengers, the plot gets resolved in issue #13 when Dr. Doom revives the Atlanteans, thus dissolving his alliance with the Sub-Mariner.
Issue #14 (Oct. 1977), which featured Magneto and Dr. Doom, was billed as the final issue of the series, and its plotline was resolved in The Champions #16. The following year, SVTU continued with issue #15 (Nov. 1978), a reprint of Astonishing Tales #4-5. Issues #16 (May 1979) and #17 (June 1980) featured the Red Skull and the Hate-Monger. The irregular publishing frequency of the final three issues was due to a legal maneuver to prevent DC Comics from trademarking the term “super-villain”.
The series saw the death of the Sub-Mariner’s 1940s sweetheart Betty Dean and the death of her murderer, Dr. Dorcas. Steve Englehart created The Shroud, a character partly inspired by Batman, shortly before he started to work for DC Comics on Detective Comics.
