Marvel – Page 2 – Comics Archeology

And that’s a wrap on 2024.

We’ve been through a lot: we finished the Worlds Finest retrospective with a whimper and the Dial H one with a bang, Doctor Doom is now in the 2010s, the Legion has completed its original incarnation (sort of), we’ve looked at some bonkers Legion Apocrypha, the Hero Origins has gone through most of the Golden Age heroes, the Doom Patrol is past the halfway point, and we’ve started both the Legion adaptations and the long journey towards the fifth anniversary of the site.

Next year will see the Five Years Later era of the Legion, the new Secret War for Doctor Doom, we will finish the Doom Patrol retrospective, the Hero Origins will eventually get past the Golden Age, and I will have a retrospective on the Jack Kirby Eternals.

In honor of the anniversary retrospective that revisited the first comics I ever read, let’s celebrate the end of the year with a rank superheroes based on how much they mean to me.
Some of the rankings will surprise you, because I don’t get to talk about them all that often.
So, without further ado…

#12: FLASH (Wally West)

First read: The Flash vol.2 #80 (1993)
Defining watch: the 1990s TV series
Defining read: the Mark Waid run (#62 to #129)

I was barely aware of the Flash because of his appearances on the Super Friends cartoon, but I hadn’t read any of his stories and he didn’t seem interesting.
But I was captivated by the 90s TV show, which was such a hit that Play Press launched a regular series that started publishing the Mark Waid run, right before the historically significant “Terminal Velocity” storyline (that’s where the Speed Force is introduced).
Yes technically speaking the original TV show features Barry Allen, but despite the name and the profession I find him to be basically Wally West in the way he acts.

Why I love him
There was so much joy and creativity in exploring what is supposed to be a very straightforward power. Wally had a fun personality that really reminded me of Peter Parker if he had a good life, and his supporting cast basically included the entire DC Universe since he was friends with everyone. Waid gave him a fully developed personality that made Wally feel like an actual person, keeping him grounded enough to be relatable while still enjoying the power fantasy.

What holds him back
Two things made me lose all interest in Flash: focusing too much on the Speed Force and Barry Allen. I just can’t fathom why anyone would want Barry instead of Wally.
Don’t get me wrong, Barry has some great stories (especially in the Cary Bates run), but I can’t find his personality interesting. AT ALL.
As for the Speed Force… one of the things that made me appreciate the Mark Waid run is that while superspeed SHOULD logically make the Flash win every fight against a non-speedster in 0.0000000001 nanoseconds, he could find believable ways to make the Flash struggle.
Nowadays the Speed Force can do EVERYTHING and it’s so overpowered that it breaks my suspension of disbelief.

#11: GREEN LANTERN

First read: The Brave And The Bold #173 (1981)
Defining read: Emerald Dawn (1989)

I’m a huge fan of science fiction, and the Green Lantern universe was a perfect blend of superheroes and sci-fi.
While I’ve never found Hal Jordan to be particularly interesting, my first exposure to him was the excellent miniseries Emerald Dawn which told his post-Crisis origin story.
I was also a fan of Kyle Rayner in the role: while his series initially ditched most of the old mythos, it was always in the background and eventually explored. Much like Wally I found Kyle more interesting than his predecessor, but it’s not such a bummer for me because the protagonist wasn’t really what drove me to the series.

Why I love them
For me the real Green Lantern draws were the mythology, the powers and the alien Lanterns.
Give me Kilowog and Salaak over any human Green Lantern any day.

Especially when you can go absolutely WILD with the alien designs and concepts.
Yes everyone knows about the ones created by Alan Moore (the sentient planet Mogo, the blind Rot Lop Fan, the superintelligent smallpox virus Leezle Pon)… but there’s TONS of others.
From the sentient gas cloud Flodo Span, to Volk who has a volcano for a head, to crystal ball with a mohawk Chaselon, to the hive mind of spores Collective, to the robot Stel, to whatever the heck Charqwep is supposed to be, to the Vulcan Saarek.

Yes, as in “Star Trek Vulcan”. That’s a canon character, not from a crossover.

What holds them back: bloating.
To begin with, too many Earth Lanterns… it was unique to have a couple of humans in the Corps, but now there’s like a dozen and there’s always at least three or four active at all times.
And as I’ve mentioned before: I don’t like the Emotional Spectrum stuff to begin with, because it’s way too close to magic and fantasy than to science fiction.
But it also leads to way, WAY too many corps!!! I was fine with the Sinestro Corps… basically the Yellow Lanterns… because it’s fun to have an evil version of the corps, and it was based on pre-existing lore.
But at this point there’s also Red Lanterns who represent rage, Orange Lanterns (okay there’s ONE guy, because orange is apparently the color of avarice, and admittedly it’s a neat idea that he doesn’t share the power), the Blue Lanterns for hope, the Violet Lanterns (retconned to be the Star Sapphire Corps), the Black Lanterns (because death is an emotion now), the White Lanterns, and things are so freaking stupid that we have the Ultraviolet Corps that represents “the Invisible Spectrum”. And we ALSO have a cosmic entity representing each of them.
The fact that I don’t care about the introduction of cosmic entities for this series should tell you a lot about just how much the Emotional Spectrum doesn’t resonate with me, considering the next entry.

#10: QUASAR

First read: possibly Quasar #32 (1992)
Defining read: the Cosmos In Collision saga (Quasar #19 to #25)

The first Quasar story I ever read was part of the “Operation Galactic Storm” of the Avengers, and I absolutely fell in love with the character.
I might have seen him earlier, because as a member of the Avengers I might have seen him first in a cameo on Spider-Man or perhaps I saw him on Avengers #311 because of Acts of Vengeance… the Italian publishing order of the Avengers was WEIRD in those years.

Why I love him
Where do I start… the space setting? The powers, blatantly based on Green Lantern but with a few twists? The cosmic entities? They all play a part for sure, but I was mostly fascinated by the way Mark Gruenwald wrote him as a character.
On the surface, Quasar SHOULD be boring. He’s a very chill character, thinking things through very analytically and with reason, and when he bothers with a secret identity it’s the most milquetoast stuff you could imagine.
But… you know when you read a comic book and you think “why is the protagonist thinking and acting like an idiot, when there’s a perfectly reasonable way to handle things?”.
You NEVER think that with Quasar. He will calmly assess the situation, try the sensible approach first, only escalate when there’s nothing else available, and avoid needless angst and drama.
You have no idea how refreshing that can be until you see it.

I was also fascinated by the whole cosmogony of abstract entities, how the whole thing played together, and by how pragmatic Quasar was dealing with them.

Also the Cosmos In Collision saga is an underrated masterpiece and one of the best comic book storylines ever written, ranging from very human scenes to absolutely bonkers cosmic nonsense.

It also has this badass scene that I adore.

What holds him back
There’s just a handful of great Quasar comics. Even his personal series, while lasting 60 issues, is only great in the middle… the first dozen or so issues are kind of bland, and the last twenty or so are awful. And he really didn’t do much while in the Avengers.
He’s still around, even after dying and resurrecting a few times… which is kind of a thing for him, something inevitable when you’re on a first name basis with Eternity and Death.
Marvel doesn’t seem to know what to do with him, but sometimes they remember the Protector Of The Universe is freaking cool.

I could probably do a retrospective on his series, some day.

9- BATMAN

First read: The Brave And The Bold #173 (1981)
Defining watch: Batman: The Animated Series
Defining read: not really anything

As mentioned, I wasn’t really a DC fan for quite some time: I grew up with very few DC stories, most of them unremarkable.
My first real exposure to Batman was through other media, specifically his TV show and his presence in the Super Friends… which I already found embarrassing to watch.
I do remember liking the 1989 movie a lot, but I wasn’t driven to look for more Batman comics… which weren’t easy to find.
So the celebrated Animated Series was the first time I really fell in love with Batman, and to this day when I think of his dialogue he has Kevin Conroy’s voice.
Since then I’ve read A TON of Batman stories, but I can’t say any of them is really a defining run for me… because I’ve never read a series or a saga while it was being published.
With the exception of Justice League stories, I’ve been exposed to every Batman solo book I’ve ever read AFTER the series or the saga had been finished years earlier.

Why I love him

What holds him back
On a personal level, the fact that I didn’t grow up with his comics.
But on a more general role, Batman is WAY overexposed and WAY overhyped.
I don’t think you’ll ever find a comic book fan that doesn’t think Batman is cool, but that has translated into DC Comics believing Batman is the only character that sells.
There’s just WAY TOO MUCH BATMAN, not helped by how much he’s overhyped by edgelords who think Batman is the only superhero they’re allowed to think is cool.

That and the Bat-God. The amount of readers (and sadly writers) who GENUINELY believe “Batman can beat anybody with prep time” is just ridiculous.

8- HULK

First read: Tales To Astonish #67 (1965); we’ll see that in the retrospective
Defining read: the Peter David run, Incredible Hulk #328 to 467 (1987 to 1998)

The Hulk was the backup feature of the Fantastic Four, during the Star Comics publishing era.
I picked it up in the transition from the Mantlo to the Peter David era, which I followed religiously.
I slowly discovered that while he wasn’t particularly complex during the “Hulk Smash!” era, his series was remarkably enjoyable even back then.
Even if the Peter David incarnation… or I should say incarnations, given the various personalities… is still the lens through which I see the Jade Giant, he’s had plenty of great runs.

Why I love him
Over the years, and thanks in no small part to Peter David, both Hulk and Bruce Banner have turned into some of the most complex characters in all of comics.

The “Hulk Smash” aspect can get really dumb, but at the same time there IS something cathartic about a rage monster who just kicks all kinds of ass.

And let’s face it, he needs some love.

What holds him back
Some runs can be way too dumb, others way too depressing, others way too complicated.
But what hurts him in my personal ranking is that he can’t keep a consistent supporting cast or a status quo for too long. Which is one of the most interesting parts about the series, for sure, but it also means that whenever he’s in a situation that you like it won’t last long.

7- SUPERMAN

First read: either Action Comics #426 (1973) or Superman #330 (1978)
Defining read: Death Of Superman (1992)

After knowing him from a couple of very disappointing stories and the embarrassing Super Friends cartoons, I didn’t think much about Superman.
Until in 1993, Play Press published the saga about his death. Shortly thereafter, I read John Byrne’s “Man of Steel” relaunch. Which made me realize Superman was actually interesting!
Play Press then went on to publish both the stories following his death, and a separate book called “Superman Classic” was publishing the post-Crisis stories in chronological order.
Which means that Superman, together with Flash, was the first DC series I started to buy regularly… sort of, because they weren’t as easy to find and I initially missed A LOT of them.
The saga of Superman’s self-exile from Earth, featuring the introduction of the Eradicator and which I read on “Superman Classic”, remains my favorite Superman saga to date.
I started to lose track of him around the 2000s, with the double knockout of Play Press moving to the direct market and by a lot of creative decisions I didn’t care for… but I occasionally check on what the Man Of Tomorrow is doing.

What I love about him
I think every superhero fan goes through the “Superman is boring” phase.
Technically speaking that’s where I started, but after discovering the post-Crisis Superman first and then reading earlier stories… I couldn’t possibly disagree more.
Today I appreciate a lot about him: there’s immense history, there’s a whole mythology that grows and mutates over the years, there’s a rich cast of characters and villains and powers and everything that makes comic books great.
Plus, for all the talk about Batman being the more complex character because he’s dark and broody… what’s more complex than a regular guy with the powers of a god that still manages to stay humble and decent and wants to help everyone?

What holds him back
A lot of Golden Age stories are really boring, A LOT of Silver Age stories are EXTREMELY dumb, and after the 2000s he’s plagued by constant retcons and reboots.But what really hurts him is that, unlike everyone higher on the list, I didn’t grow up reading him so I lack that sort of emotional attachment.

6- CAPTAIN AMERICA

First read: possibly Captain America #138 (1971)
Defining read: DeMatteis run, Captain America #261 to #300 (1981 to 1984)

Starting out as a Marvel reader, it’s probably no wonder that my “paragon of heroism” character is Captain America. He also happens to be my older brother’s favorite superhero.
You’d think a patriotic hero wouldn’t be appealing to someone who’s never set foot in the United States… if you didn’t know Captain America.

What I love about him
God knows we need him more than ever.

What holds him back
Not much: while I can’t think of too many runs that were particularly bad, and he’s been consistently a well-written character… he’s INCREDIBLY close to the hero immediately higher than him on the list, being ranked lower just because I tend to like more his villains and his setting slightly less.

5-IRON MAN

First read: Avengers #227 (1983). From his series, Iron Man #219 (1987)
Defining read: the second Michelinie run, Iron Man #215 to #250 (1987 to 1989)

Iron Man isn’t in the Avengers in the few issues I had published by Corno, so I first saw him in the Avengers series published by Star Comics.
But Iron Man as a regular series was published by Play Press, which started by publishing the second Michelinie run. They also eventually published the first Michelinie run as a backup feature, which came very close to translating the O’Neil run but stopped right before it.
While there are plenty of good runs, my favorite remains Len Kaminski (Iron Man #278 to #316, 1992 to 1995).

What I love about him
Sure there’s the technology and the armors, which are always fun to track of and see him gradually integrate new inventions into later designs…

…but he’s also incredibly human. His flaws and his sheer determination to do what is right… once he’s done self-destructing for the millionth time… are endlessly entertaining.

Plus the technological aspect means that he can very easily be used to comment on the latest technologies and their impact on the world.

Much like Superman is based on the idea of “What if a good man was not corrupted by absolute power?”, Iron Man is “What if a billionaire was actually a good person?”.
Granted, you could say the same about Batman, but Batman is not ABOUT him being rich.

What holds him back
Like with Captain America, I still make an effort to check whatever he’s doing. But I tend to like Iron Man’s recent series more than Cap’s, and I find his world and villains more interesting.
He still does get occasional bland series, and growing up I didn’t read him as closely as others higher in the ranking.

4- AVENGERS

First read: probably Avengers #55 (1968)
Defining read: the Roger Stern run, Avengers #224 to #285 (1983 to 1987)

Considering the high ranking of Captain America and Iron Man, perhaps it’s not too shocking to see that they are topped by a team that includes BOTH.
Helped by the fact that, growing up reading them, I was immediately exposed to both a very rich history of their members but also to an easy introduction to the whole Marvel Universe.

What I love about them
I tend to prefer the Avengers to the Justice League not just because I grew up reading them, but from a fundamentally different approach.
The Justice League seem to be colleagues first and friends second, and rosters that don’t include a majority of big players tend to underperform.
The Avengers on the other hand seem to have more camaraderie and are vastly superior in how they handle the frequent changes in the roster while keeping their identity.
Even when EVERYONE HAS BEEN AN AVENGER.

What holds them back
Brian Michael Bendis, overexposure after the success of the movie, and a couple of unappealing runs in the early 2020s. Plus, while the frequent changes are a strength in my opinion, they also mean that if you like a new addition that isn’t popular they won’t stay for long.

3-LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES

First read: Legion of Super-Heroes #288
Defining read: the Great Darkness Saga

Not a big surprise, I know.
But the fact that they are so high for me is a testament to the quality of the comics. As you have seen I grew up WAY more of a Marvel fan than a DC one… and I identify more as such to this day.
And I didn’t grow up with the Legion: I only had the Great Darkness Saga for the longest time!
After that I came across a few Who’s Who of the Five Years Later era, which didn’t look appealing, and tried to read a couple random issues of that… which wasn’t easy thanks to publishing shenanigans.
Not that the 5YL era did much to help, being completely inaccessible to a casual reader.
I immediately fell in love with the Reboot Legion when Play Press published the two “number zero” during Zero Hour… but other than a few cameos on Superman, I wouldn’t be able to read any of them until I got my hands on American comics starting in the 2000s.

What I love about them
There’s the science fiction aspect, which is more prevalent in the Legion than in most other superhero books.
There’s the possibility to explore an entire universe that is both familiar because it’s based on the modern DC one, but it’s also vast enough to be its own thing.
There’s the chance of absolutely anything happening! All the tropes of a standard superhero universe… sci-fi, magic, fantasy… but you have considerable more freedom because you don’t have to take into account the effects on other books, or you can do things that would absolutely make the 20th/21st century unrecognizable from real life but you can get away with if you’re in the 30th/31st.
And of course, like the Avengers, the variety granted by a vast team of various backgrounds, abilities and personalities. Which also allows you to do even more soap opera stuff than other superhero books.

I also think that what is often mentioned as a bug for the Legion, its various reboots, can also be seen as a feature.
You have multiple continuities that are almost self-contained: not only you can compare and contrast what different continuities have treated characters and concepts, but you have a strange sense of finality.
The Legion is perhaps the only superhero franchise that not only has an ending, it has multiple endings AND it’s also still ongoing.
While I disagree with the idea that a series that has a finale is inherently superior to one that goes on indefinitely, in a way the Legion manages to have it both ways.
Not to mention the Legion might have the least toxic fandom in all superhero comics, from what I’ve seen.

What holds them back
DC editors and the constant need to turn back the clock for nostalgia.
Even as a Reboot fan, I rather liked the Threeboot. But when they were both shoved aside to favor the uninspired Retroboot, which turned everything back to where the end of Volume 3 had left off… it was VERY unappealing to me.
And Volume 3 is one of my favorite incarnations of the Legion! But that was a truly atrocious decision that felt more like a cheap fanfiction than an actual story.
The fact that the following reboot was handled by Bendis meant it became the ONLY incarnation of the Legion that, to this day, I haven’t read yet.
And considering that’s the only Legion reboot that is not followed by another one after its end, leaving to the Legion without a regular book for the first time in decades… I guess I’m not the only one that didn’t care for that version.

2- SPIDER-MAN

First read: Amazing Spider-Man #72 (1969)
Defining read: Spectacular Spider-Man #72 to #77 (1982 to 1983)

It’s coming up in a couple of weeks in the retrospective.
I already really liked the Spider-Man stories I read in the books I owned since before I learned how to read… but those issues of Spectacular Spider-Man were the ones that convinced me to become a regular reader. Not just of Spider-Man specifically, but of Marvel and superhero comics in general.

What I love about him
Sure Spider-Man is cool, but what I really loved was Peter Parker’s life.
His character development, his social life, his love life, his personal growth… often Peter’s life was more interesting than Spider-Man’s adventures, and you really grew attached to his friends and family over the years. Wanting to know what they were up to, even when no superhero stuff was involved.
The quintessential everyman superhero, who taught me to never give up and that there is no situation that can’t be improved by laughing at the world and at yourself.

Not to mention the best love story of all comics.

What holds him back
For the longest time, Spider-Man was my favorite superhero. Until 2007 when Marvel killed him for me with “One More Day”. I haven’t been able to come back since.
I’ve seen good stories with him in other books, sure, and I still love him… but Marvel has fundamentally forgotten how to write Spider-Man.
I mean, they CAN write him in other series and specials…

…but on his regular series, they’ve been stuck on an endless cycle since then.

And I get it: being a hero even when things are going bad is a quintessential Spider-Man trait.
But they double down on thrashing his life, on giving him more and more fantastical situations… at this point Peter Parker has been the world’s richest man for a while, you can’t expect me to still believe he can be broke the next week.
I’m still hoping they’ll put him out of his misery at this point… but it’s been almost twenty years.
It’s taking Spider-Man levels of hope to cross fingers for him to return to a decent run (and to Mary Jane).

Twenty years have taken their toll. While Spider-Man is still very important to me, there’s only ONE book that has managed to overtake him.

1-FANTASTIC FOUR

First read: Fantastic Four #110 (1971)
Defining read: the Byrne run, Fantastic Four #232–295 (1981 to 1986)

Over the years I’ve recognized how complex they are as characters and how well they play together… from Reed’s boundless optimism, to Susan’s moral compass, to Johnny’s enthusiasm, to Ben’s humanity… these guys truly are the bedrock of the Marvel Universe.

What I love about them
In addition to THAT they are more consistent than the Avengers: they do have changes in the roster sometimes, but the foundation stays the same.
They have the occasional disappointing run, but much fewer than Spider-Man and never to the same abysmal extent. And unlike the Legion I’ve been reading them consistently as far back as I could.
Not to mention they truly extend to the furthest reaches of the Marvel Universe, while still staying connected to their human roots.