X-Men V1 (2000’s)

“Eve of Destruction” was part of a four-month period in 2001 on the two core X-Men books, as former X-Men writer Lobdell was brought back to wrap up the dangling plotline of the Legacy Virus and produce filler material while Marvel planned the highly anticipated arrival of Grant Morrison and Joe Casey as writers for the main two X-Men books. As a result, this can be seen as a “finale” to the X-men storylines from the 1990s era. It would be several years before Uncanny X-Men and X-Men crossed over with each other since this story.

Later in 2001, X-Men had its title changed to New X-Men and writer Grant Morrison took over. When Chuck Austen moved from writing Uncanny X-Men to New X-Men, the title returned to its old name of simply X-Men, with Salvador Larroca, who had been working with him on Uncanny X-Men doing the art. In 2007, the X-Men title would change once again into X-Men: Legacy.

Terminator: Hunters and Killers (1991)

In 1991 Dark Horse published the limited series Hunters and Killers, set during the war, where special Terminators with ceramic skeletons and genuine organs are created to impersonate leaders in the Russian resistance.

Justice League (1987)

The 1986 company-wide crossover “Legends” concluded with the formation of a new Justice League. The new team was dubbed “Justice League” then “Justice League International” (JLI) and was given a mandate with less of an American focus. The new series, written by Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire (and later Adam Hughes), added quirky humor to the team’s stories. In this incarnation, the membership consisted partly of heroes from Earths that, prior to their merging in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, were separate. The Giffen/DeMatteis team worked on Justice League for five years and closed out their run with the “Breakdowns” storyline in 1991 and 1992. The series’ humorous tone and high level of characterization proved very popular.

Predator: Day of the Hunter (2022)

Predator: Day of the Hunter follows Theta, a survivor hunting the Yautja who slaughtered her family. In a desperate, high-stakes hunt, she traverses space, encountering multiple Predators on a frozen tundra world, while determined to kill the monster that destroyed her life.

 

Eerie (1966)

Eerie was an American magazine of horror comics introduced in 1966 by Warren Publishing. Like Mad, it was a black-and-white newsstand publication in a magazine format and thus did not require the approval or seal of the Comics Code Authority. Each issue’s stories were introduced by the host character, Cousin Eerie. Its sister publications were Creepy and Vampirella.

The first issue, in early 1966, had only a 200-issue run of an “ashcan” edition. With a logo by Ben Oda, it was created overnight by editor Archie Goodwin and letterer Gaspar Saladino to establish publisher Jim Warren’s ownership of the title when it was discovered that a rival publisher would be using the name. Warren explained, “We launched  Eerie because we thought Creepy ought to have an adversary. The Laurel and Hardy syndrome always appealed to me. Creepy and Eerie are like Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre.”

Catwoman (1989)

The 1989 Catwoman limited series, written by Mindy Newell and with art by J.J. Birch, expanded upon Miller’s Year One origin. This storyline, known as “Her Sister’s Keeper”, explores Selina’s early life as a dominatrix and the start of her career as Catwoman. The story culminates with Selina’s former pimp, Stan, abducting and beating her sister Maggie, who, in contrast to Selina, is a nun. Selina kills Stan to save her sister, and gets away with it. Most of this is revealed in the former series, but is expanded upon in “Her Sister’s Keeper”.

Marvel Team-Up (1972)

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.

Cyber Force – Mini Series (1992)

The first story titled “Tin Men of War”, follows Carin Taylor, a mutant otherwise known as Velocity as she attempts to escape the forces of Cyberdata, a corrupt mega-corporation. Her attempts to evade Cyberdata’s task force, led by her sister, Cassandra Taylor a.k.a. “Ballistic” bring her into contact with the Cyber Force, a group of cybernetically enhanced mutant escapees from Cyberdata, consisting of StrykerCyblade, Heatwave, Impact and Ripclaw. After Velocity is rescued, the team explains to her that they were created by Cyberdata to enhance their mutant abilities, turning them into super-soldiers known as S.H.O.C.s (Special Hazardous Operation Cyborgs), but they escaped and formed Cyber Force, making it their mission to bring down Cyberdata for good.

Next Men V1 (1992)

The Next Men characters made a prototypical appearance as “Freaks” in a lithography plate that was published within the History of the DC Universe Portfolio in 1986. Byrne had originally pitched the series to DC Comics, but the series never surfaced there. With some changes, Byrne changed the concept to fit in with his work on the graphic novel 2112, to become the John Byrne’s Next Men series. Two characters from the “Freaks” artwork somewhat retained their physical looks and became the lead characters of the Next Men series: heroine Jasmine and villain Aldus Hilltop.

The Witching Hour (1969)

The series was published for 85 issues from February–March 1969 to October 1978. Its tagline was “It’s 12 o’clock… The Witching Hour!” and was changed to “It’s midnight…” from issue #14 onwards. The series was originally edited by Dick Giordano, who was replaced by Murray Boltinoff with issue #14. Nick Cardy was the cover artist for The Witching Hour for issues #1–6, 11–12, 15–16, 18–52, and 60. Stories in the comic were “hosted” and introduced by three witches, Morded, Mildred, and Cynthia.

After The Witching Hour’s cancellation as a result of the “DC Implosion“, the title was merged with The Unexpected until issue #209. The witches were later revived along with the hosts of the companion series House of Secrets and House of Mystery as important characters in Neil Gaiman‘s The Sandman.