I'll start this out with the ones that come to my mind...
STARMAN -- by Roger Stern & Tom Lyle. A wonderful, "traditional" book that almost felt like it belonged in the 60's-- if the writing at DC had ever been that good. You know it's a crime when the CREATOR of a book is kicked off by its EDITOR. Naturally, with each successive change in personnel, it continued to PLUNGE in quality.
POWER OF THE ATOM -- also by Roger Stern (and a number of artists whose names I forget). An early "let's fix a character who earlier got screwed over by others" project. Kinda like what we have lately with JSA, HAWKMAN, GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH. Except DC was still picking up steam when it came to screwing over their old, classic characters. At least it was cancelled, and not murdered like STARMAN. I just try to ignore anything done with Ray Palmer since.
JUSTICE SOCIETY -- It took so long to get these guys back from "Limbo" (or wherever it was they'd been consigned), and the series that resulted was a pure DELIGHT! Yet from all I've heard, SOME individual (who had no connection with the book whatsoever) managed to get it CANCELLED only a few issues in, because they persoally didn't like it and felt it ran counter to all the "New DC" stood for at the time (mainly, desecrating the names of its old, classic characters).
Posted by Pov on :
Marvel had a series, BLACKWULF, That I enjoyed alot. It was further proof that Tom DeFalco can write pretty well if you lock him away in his own corner and don't let him touch anything important.
It revolved around the Deviants, though they were never named as such, and featured art by Angel Medina for most of its 10-issue run. All too short.
HELLSTORM: PRINCE OF LIES was done in by its early mediocrity; by the time Warren Ellis and artist Leo Manco turned it into Marvel's best Vertigo book, the tide was against it. Still, that second half of its 20-odd issue run contains some of my favorite horror comics ever.
Posted by Beagz on :
Damage - The premise of the book had a lot of promise. And I was really hoping for it to catch on, but I think it was killed within 2 years.
I wonder what the chances are of it ever getting a second shot.
Posted by Lightning Lad on :
I kinda liked the New Universe titles in the mid to late 80's.
Star Brand and DP7 were my two favorites.
Not sure this one counts since it was more late 90's but Giffen's Vext was a great book that deserved to last more than 5 issues.
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
Here's a few (only ones that got canned to soon):
Heckler Vext Ray Chase Justice Society
Heroes for Hire (this was much welcomed at a time of Heroes Reborn, but got crappy)
Firearm (the best Ultraverse title by far IMO)
Posted by Outdoor Miner on :
That Justice Society book never had a chance. IIRC, the decision to kill it was made before the sales for #1 were even in.
Chase, Chronos, and the Challengers of the Unknown were mentioned on the other thread, but it's worth bringing them in here.
Posted by lancesrealm on :
quote:Originally posted by Lightning Lad: I kinda liked the New Universe titles in the mid to late 80's.
Star Brand and DP7 were my two favorites.
The only NewU title I read was DP7, but I really liked it. It went about 32 issues, so I guess sales just didn't pan out.
Posted by Kent Shakespeare on :
Other than JSA, none of those others mentioned ever tickled my fancy.
Only thing I can think off, off the top of my head, was Neil Gaiman's Miracleman, a short six or seven issues on the book.
Posted by Star Boy on :
quote:Originally posted by Cobalt Kid: Here's a few (only ones that got canned to soon):
Heckler Vext Ray Chase Justice Society
Heroes for Hire (this was much welcomed at a time of Heroes Reborn, but got crappy)
Firearm (the best Ultraverse title by far IMO)
Okay - we disagree re: JLTF, but agree about Ray. One of my favourite all-time comments. I made a colour photocopy (in the days before I had a scanner/priunter) of the page that showed the adult Ray laying dead on the ground with a bullet in the head, and stuck it on my wall... The surrounding text was very powerful, IIRC...
Ooh - and I just remembered that arc featured the 2010 (or so) versions of Flash (Bart Allen), Trumph (bald!) and Ray. They were all stock market manipulators (aka the Secret Society of Super-Heroes elseworld), but Bart was having second thoughts... and his decision to tell Ray off about it and his relationship lead to the scene mentioned above... Owch!
[ March 02, 2005, 06:27 PM: Message edited by: Star Boy ]
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
The Ray was one of my faves of the 90's. In my opinion, DC always needs at least one mega super-hero (re: not grim and gritty, not a martial artist/urban hero) that is not from the Silver Age to have their own comic.
Great writing, great art (Quesada, right?), and some damn good stories. The Ray Annual #1, where he couldn't save the people who died in that plane was very powerful. And I loved how Happy Terril (Golden Age Ray) was written.
Posted by Pov on :
Quesada only did the RAY mini, and covers for the ongoing.
quote:Ooh - and I just remembered that arc featured the 2010 (or so) versions of Trump (bald!)
You mean we gotta wait 5 more years for the man to get rid of that G-dawful comb-over??? Oh, the humanity!!!! Posted by Reboot on :
quote:Originally posted by profh0011: Yet from all I've heard, SOME individual (who had no connection with the book whatsoever) managed to get it CANCELLED only a few issues in, because they persoally didn't like it and felt it ran counter to all the "New DC" stood for at the time (mainly, desecrating the names of its old, classic characters).
Whereas now, they stand for screwing over everyone created post-1970
Posted by MLLASH on :
That person's initials wouldn't happen to be MC, would it?
He was all too happy to DECIMATE Legion continuity in the 90s, too, refusing to even allow the Pocket Universe Superboy to be in continuity (itself a band-aid forced by Wolfman & Byrne), forcing TMK's LSH relaunch to do that whole "mini-boot" with issues 4-5 and throwing the book off its intended track.
And then the Zero Hour destruction of the JSA... GRRRRRR.... maybe I better head back to the "BAD 90s COMICS" thread.... I apparently still have issues to work through!
Posted by profh0011 on :
"That person's initials wouldn't happen to be MC, would it?"
Mmmmmmmmmmm... COULD be!
"refusing to even allow the Pocket Universe Superboy to be in continuity"
I long thought of that as a work of sheer GENIUS, under the circumstances it was done. Think about it: EVERY Pre-Crisis SUPERMAN story was no longer valid; but virtually every SUPERBOY story STILL WAS!! The absurdity of that, and how neatly it fit into the Post-Crisis "New DC Universe" showed how much Paul Levitz cared about what he was doing, and set an example for others of what CAN be "done with what's there"-- IF someone only chooses to. So having someone who wasn't even the LEGION's editor suddenly barging in and saying, "YOU CAN'T DO THAT ANYMORE!", after all the work that had already been done ("bending over backwards" to please TPTB) was just the height of absurdity (not to mention unmittigated arrogance personified).
"forcing TMK's LSH relaunch to do that whole "mini-boot" with issues 4-5 and throwing the book off its intended track"
Well... that's NOT quite how I see it. ALL ANYBODY really had to do-- was NEVER mention Superboy in any stories they were planning to do for the foreseeable future. The LEGION is a book about the future-- it shouldn't "have" to spend all its time looking back, just because the book is being written by some obsessive-compulsive fanboys-turned pros. But what it really comes down to was, Keith Giffen threw a temper tantrum and NEEDLESSLY re-booted the Legion's universe TWICE in TWO MONTHS. A more sensible head might have just cooled it... until the wave of editorial opinion swung back the other way.
By the way-- does anyone know SPECIFICALLY why Mark Waid was FIRED as Editor of the LEGION back when? It suddenly hit me the other day that Waid has PERSONALLY wiped out TWO whole timelines on his own since then-- and I'm wondering if, in some way, it isn't some kind of "payback" for what happened to him when he was (ahem) "in charge" of the book 17 years ago.
Personally, in light of all the RE-rebooting going on around DC, my feeling that "everything" DC has published since 1986 are "Elseworlds" (and I do mean EVERYTHING) is only being strengthened. I'm still waiting to see the Earth-1/Silver Age LEGION return in their own-- ahem-- "Elseworlds" stories, that would ignore everything (and I mean EVERYTHING!!!) that happened since the Crisis. It CAN be done. All someone at DC has to do is really WANT to bad enough.
Posted by MLLASH on :
I don't blame Giffen for throwing his tantrum. It was called for. Someone NEEDED to be throwing a fit about the "Let's see who can pee on the Legion and Justice Society the most" mindset that was forming at DC at the time.
Posted by profh0011 on :
Well... it seems to me that since MC was doing a #1, KG decided to do a #2...
Posted by MLLASH on :
I see your point that cooler heads should have prevailed, but being a bit of a short fuse myself sometimes, I sure can empathize with KG.
On a not-really related note, I was floored to see MC listed as editor of JLA CLASSIFIED # 4 (Giffen/Maguire's humorous Superbuddies followup). WTF?!?!?!
Posted by Stargazer on :
I liked- Primal Force Dr. Fate Damage Manhunter (Shaw) Suicide Squad
Posted by Cobalt Kid on :
I wasn't really considering Suicide Squad as part of this era, since I consider it the era right before, when DC was still kicking ass and producing a plethora of damn good comics. In other words, I totally agree 'Gazer that Suicide Squad was freakin' awesome and something incredibly cool and original to come out! The first 30 issues or so were some of the best of the 80's.
Lash- I think you've pretty much summed up DC's attitude in the 90's: "who can pee on the Legion and JSA the most". Of course, lots of other characters got an unwanted golden shower during this period too...
Posted by profh0011 on :
While I started this as a companion to the other thread, I'd happily expand its range to earlier or later periods. Good comics are good comics, no matter how few issues they ran!
STEEL, THE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAN -- Gerry Conway has a lot to answer for over the years (his tenure as Marvel's EIC in particular) but I LIKED this book. A WW2-superhero take on THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, with art by Don Heck, who'd been seriously getting the shaft from fans & lousy inking jobs for years by then. Teamed with Joe Giella (if memory serves) this was the best Heck's work had looked in years, and would only be out-done by the 2 issues of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA he did inked by Brett Breeding (if only THEY had become a regular team). Sadly, this was a victim of the infamous "DC Implosion".
STARS AND S.T.R.I.P.E. -- Lee Moder's anorexic figures really got on my nerves on the LEGION, but here his "clean" style fit perfectly. At the time this came out, I found my tastes were changing more in favor of "light-hearted" material, and this book quickly became a fave of mine. At least Courtney became and has remained a steady member of the revived JSA, but she often is made to look much older than she should in that book.
OMAC (One Man Army Corps) -- FORGET the entire NEW GODS-FOREVER PEOPLE-MISTER MIRACLE-JIMMY OLSEN complex; never mind THE DEMON and KAMANDI; this was my FAVORITE Jack Kirby book from the early 70's!!! Talk about unrealized potential. Even generally bad inks couldn't destroy all the wild ideas Jack was employing here, or the fully unrestrained high-octane ACTION involved. The last story was cut short one episode too early, but luckily a couple of fans in England picked up the ball and did an unofficial OMAC #9 a few years ago-- which proved to be VASTLY superior to the ultra-violent atrocity Jim Starlin foisted on readers so long ago. NOBODY's really "gotten" this character since (with the exception of John Byrne, but HIS mini-series was so dark & convoluted it wound up self-destructing by the end) and I wish Kirby had been able to do more issues.
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