Recommend a storyline!

[Rocket]

It seems like today, we are so quick to place something in the "it sucks" bin, so I'm thinking let's get together and suggest reading material to others.

I'm not suggesting we all recommend classics like The Korvac Saga or Crisis on Infinite Earths, but more stuff that may be an overlooked gem of yesteryear

It doesn't necessarily have to be the greatest story ever told, but just something you really enjoyed or connected with. I think this could be a great way for us comic lovers to go back and discover, maybe sometimes even re-discover some great moments in our favorite characters history.

For example, last week I went back and re-read The Blood Stone Hunt.


A six part adventure from the early 90's in Captain America. It was such a nostalgic experience that I'd love to hear more from people!

So let's hear em!!

[kujwa]

avengers #273-277 SPOILERS








masters of evil attack avenger's mansion. when this story came out i don't think there was every anything like it when it came to violence the way it was shown here. i remember reading these as an early teen and felt overwhelmed with how badly jarvis and herc were beaten. it blew my mind that they could put a god into a coma and then 3-4 issues later there's a small story arc about zues holding the avengers responsible for herc's injuries. i also love these issues because it elevated some B level villians into real bad asses.

[67wm]

off the top of my head these sprang to mind - haven't revisited these in a while, so my memory may be off on how 'good' they were

Captain America 372 started the Streets of Poison storyline. think it was a 6 parter also. second image there as a teaser




Squadron Supreme 1-12


Squadron Supreme - revamping of the Squadron by JMS and Gary Frank. liked what they did to 'ultimize' the characters for the most part, but the delays killed this book for me.


Alien Legion - not sure of any trades or multipart storylines. think the first series only ran about 20 issues. basically they were calling this a French Foreign Legion in space. a bunch of misfits and outcasts were thrown together in a military unit. there were subplots that ran throughout the series-worth finding and giving a read tho

[joefixit2]

Originally Posted by 67wm

Alien Legion - not sure of any trades or multipart storylines. think the first series only ran about 20 issues. basically they were calling this a French Foreign Legion in space. a bunch of misfits and outcasts were thrown together in a military unit. there were subplots that ran throughout the series-worth finding and giving a read tho

great series

[kujwa]

now that i'm home i took a look at my shelves and here's some that popped out to me.

criminal, the first omnibus. i bought this with no knowledge of it but i liked brubaker's work on cap.

the pro, be warned though it's HIGHLY offensive. i found this on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNRDGjjQwwE

[wktf]

Originally Posted by kujwa

avengers #273-277 SPOILERS








masters of evil attack avenger's mansion. when this story came out i don't think there was every anything like it when it came to violence the way it was shown here. i remember reading these as an early teen and felt overwhelmed with how badly jarvis and herc were beaten. it blew my mind that they could put a god into a coma and then 3-4 issues later there's a small story arc about zues holding the avengers responsible for herc's injuries. i also love these issues because it elevated some B level villians into real bad asses.

Awesome choice! Here's my review, from The Mighty Reviews, of this story. One of my absolute favorites:

Avengers Under Siege Marvel Premier Classic HC
Marvel Comics
Written by: Roger Stern
Drawn by: John Buscema and Tom Palmer
Cover by: John Buscema and Tom Palmer

In “Avengers Finale,” the closing chapter to Bendis’ mediocre “Avengers Disassembled” arc, Hank Pym turns to Tony Stark to ask him what he thought was the team’s “best moment.” This precipitates a trip down Avengers memory lane as this issue’s assemblage recounts some truly significant stories from Avengers history. Edwin Jarvis, the team’s butler and dear friend, speaks of the “Avengers Under Siege” story, Avengers # 270 – 277, which now is packaged in a “Marvel’s Premier Classic” hardcover format.

Bendis did his homework. No other story could have the same personal impact on Jarvis as this one. Back in the 1980s as Walt Simonson, John Byrne, and Frank Miller were making Thor, FF, and DD history, respectively, Roger Stern was quietly creating some of the best Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man stories ever published. You have to wonder why Marvel hasn’t given this guy his own line of “Visionary” trades beyond a single Spider-Man tpb. While I haven’t created a Top 5 list, I am confident that this particular Avengers story would be in my top 5 comics stories ever published from any publisher. I clearly remember reading these Avengers issues when they first were published, how shocked, horrified and thrilled I was and that I knew, at that time, that I was reading something historically ground-breaking. This thought is validated in Stern’s 1998 introduction to the book in which he says, “We received a flood of mail at the time, and – even now – whenever I run into longtime AVENGERS fans, [this] storyline is the one most often mentioned.”

The Avengers have battled nearly every cosmic menace imaginable from Thanos, to the Kree-Skrull War, to Korvac/Michael. This story, though, is a shockingly brutal street fight taken straight to them that brings the entire team to its knees and nearly succeeds in being the true “Avengers Disassembled” story. Baron Zemo, out for revenge against Captain America and Cap’s Avengers family for the death of his father during Cap’s earliest days with the team, has assembled the most powerful and brutal Masters of Evil team ever formed. They include the Wrecking Crew, Goliath/Power Man, Mr. Hyde, Tiger Shark, the Absorbing Man, and Titania. Also present are Blackout, the Fixer, Moonstone, and the Grey Gargoyle, among others. For a seven issue story, Zemo’s recruitment process and the build up to the Master’s assault against the Avengers takes a full three issues! Talk about tension!

Despite the power in the Avengers numbers, which included Hercules, Thor and the Captain Marvel/Photon, this Masters of Evil team is superior in numbers and strength. Zemo organizes this group of headstrong villains, keeps them in check, and achieves the unthinkable: he divides and conquers the Avengers by preying on their emotional or physical weaknesses (for example, Hercules’ resentment of the Wasp’s leadership, the Black Knight’s jealousy of the Wasp’s affection for Paladin, or Captain Marvel’s inability to cope against Blackout’s “Darkforce”), attacks and defeats Avengers individually, and through sheer brute force breaks into the mansion through the front door and takes over the place. The mansion then is destroyed from the inside. Hercules is drugged and brutally beaten into a coma and Mr. Hyde pummels both the Black Knight and poor Jarvis nearly to death. Captain America is captured, bound and forced to witness both Jarvis’ beating as well as endure Zemo and Hyde’s emotional torture as they destroy pictures of Bucky, his mother and his original shield. How the Avengers (and, in particular, Cap and the Wasp) deal with these defeats, come back to win, and cope with their losses is some of the best graphic story telling in comics history.

Buy this book. You won’t regret it. Now, if only Marvel would package the follow-up story where Zeus strikes back at the Avengers for the indignities and harm the Masters of Evil inflicted on Hercules. One can only hope they will.

[Babytoxie]

Originally Posted by 67wm

Squadron Supreme 1-12

Good call on this underrated series. It's one I re-read every few years, and it never gets old.

Originally Posted by 67wm

Alien Legion - not sure of any trades or multipart storylines. think the first series only ran about 20 issues. basically they were calling this a French Foreign Legion in space. a bunch of misfits and outcasts were thrown together in a military unit. there were subplots that ran throughout the series-worth finding and giving a read tho

Plenty of trades out there, both standard- and digest-sized, though I hear the digest reprints are full of problems: poor resolution, duplicated and missing pages, etc.? Can anyone confirm?

[VaultMan]

Originally Posted by kujwa

avengers #273-277 SPOILERS


masters of evil attack avenger's mansion. when this story came out i don't think there was every anything like it when it came to violence the way it was shown here. i remember reading these as an early teen and felt overwhelmed with how badly jarvis and herc were beaten. it blew my mind that they could put a god into a coma and then 3-4 issues later there's a small story arc about zues holding the avengers responsible for herc's injuries. i also love these issues because it elevated some B level villians into real bad asses.

Under Seige! great storyline

Originally Posted by 67wm

off the top of my head these sprang to mind - haven't revisited these in a while, so my memory may be off on how 'good' they were
Alien Legion - not sure of any trades or multipart storylines. think the first series only ran about 20 issues. basically they were calling this a French Foreign Legion in space. a bunch of misfits and outcasts were thrown together in a military unit. there were subplots that ran throughout the series-worth finding and giving a read tho

There's an Alien Legion Omnibus Part 1 out now. I agree! GREAT read!

[VaultMan]

Originally Posted by wktf

Awesome choice! Here's my review, from The Mighty Reviews, of this story. One of my absolute favorites:

Avengers Under Siege Marvel Premier Classic HC
Marvel Comics
Written by: Roger Stern
Drawn by: John Buscema and Tom Palmer
Cover by: John Buscema and Tom Palmer

In “Avengers Finale,” the closing chapter to Bendis’ mediocre “Avengers Disassembled” arc, Hank Pym turns to Tony Stark to ask him what he thought was the team’s “best moment.” This precipitates a trip down Avengers memory lane as this issue’s assemblage recounts some truly significant stories from Avengers history. Edwin Jarvis, the team’s butler and dear friend, speaks of the “Avengers Under Siege” story, Avengers # 270 – 277, which now is packaged in a “Marvel’s Premier Classic” hardcover format.

Bendis did his homework. No other story could have the same personal impact on Jarvis as this one. Back in the 1980s as Walt Simonson, John Byrne, and Frank Miller were making Thor, FF, and DD history, respectively, Roger Stern was quietly creating some of the best Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man stories ever published. You have to wonder why Marvel hasn’t given this guy his own line of “Visionary” trades beyond a single Spider-Man tpb. While I haven’t created a Top 5 list, I am confident that this particular Avengers story would be in my top 5 comics stories ever published from any publisher. I clearly remember reading these Avengers issues when they first were published, how shocked, horrified and thrilled I was and that I knew, at that time, that I was reading something historically ground-breaking. This thought is validated in Stern’s 1998 introduction to the book in which he says, “We received a flood of mail at the time, and – even now – whenever I run into longtime AVENGERS fans, [this] storyline is the one most often mentioned.”

The Avengers have battled nearly every cosmic menace imaginable from Thanos, to the Kree-Skrull War, to Korvac/Michael. This story, though, is a shockingly brutal street fight taken straight to them that brings the entire team to its knees and nearly succeeds in being the true “Avengers Disassembled” story. Baron Zemo, out for revenge against Captain America and Cap’s Avengers family for the death of his father during Cap’s earliest days with the team, has assembled the most powerful and brutal Masters of Evil team ever formed. They include the Wrecking Crew, Goliath/Power Man, Mr. Hyde, Tiger Shark, the Absorbing Man, and Titania. Also present are Blackout, the Fixer, Moonstone, and the Grey Gargoyle, among others. For a seven issue story, Zemo’s recruitment process and the build up to the Master’s assault against the Avengers takes a full three issues! Talk about tension!

Despite the power in the Avengers numbers, which included Hercules, Thor and the Captain Marvel/Photon, this Masters of Evil team is superior in numbers and strength. Zemo organizes this group of headstrong villains, keeps them in check, and achieves the unthinkable: he divides and conquers the Avengers by preying on their emotional or physical weaknesses (for example, Hercules’ resentment of the Wasp’s leadership, the Black Knight’s jealousy of the Wasp’s affection for Paladin, or Captain Marvel’s inability to cope against Blackout’s “Darkforce”), attacks and defeats Avengers individually, and through sheer brute force breaks into the mansion through the front door and takes over the place. The mansion then is destroyed from the inside. Hercules is drugged and brutally beaten into a coma and Mr. Hyde pummels both the Black Knight and poor Jarvis nearly to death. Captain America is captured, bound and forced to witness both Jarvis’ beating as well as endure Zemo and Hyde’s emotional torture as they destroy pictures of Bucky, his mother and his original shield. How the Avengers (and, in particular, Cap and the Wasp) deal with these defeats, come back to win, and cope with their losses is some of the best graphic story telling in comics history.

Buy this book. You won’t regret it. Now, if only Marvel would package the follow-up story where Zeus strikes back at the Avengers for the indignities and harm the Masters of Evil inflicted on Hercules. One can only hope they will.

[bat_collector]

If anyone asks why Spectre is one of my favorite characters, I'd just point them to this trade containing stories from the 70's.



Being a huge horror fan, I love these stories by Fleisher and drawn by Jim Aparo.

I think babytoxie's review in amazon says it best:

Woo-hah! I had a lot of fun reading this book.

The Spectre is one of DC's earlier heroes, first appearing in 1940. Murdered police detective Jim Corrigan returns from the dead to fight injustice with a double-whammy, both as his "formerly human" self and as the spirit of vengeance, the Spectre. In the early 1970s, writer Michael Fleisher and artist Jim Aparo revived the character in a form far more dramatic than his original Golden Age style. This revitalized Spectre dished out retribution to criminals in some fairly bizarre and gruesome forms: the body of an airplane hijacker is stripped to the bone. A homicidal hairdresser gets cut in half by a pair of giant scissors. A deceptive mystic is turned into glass and shatters into a hundred pieces. Yes, this hero has no qualms with killing! Fleisher and Aparo's approach to the Spectre was somewhat shocking for the time, but very effective (so much so that it was carried over to great effect in Ostrander & Mandrake's early '90s Spectre series, another work in dire need of reprints). Jim Corrigan and the Spectre share equal time, with Corrigan investigating the case and figuring out who's guilty, and the Spectre showing up to take names and dish out the supernatural punishment.

This trade paperback is sure to be a hit with fans of EC's classic horror comics. It's modern horror with more than a healthy dose of the surreal, and a morbid punch for the finish. And there's some elements that are obviously a nod to EC, such as variations on the classic interjection "Good lord! (choke)", or the victims' blood-curdling screams: "EEEEEYAAAAAAAH!!!!" The edge that the Spectre has over Tales from the Crypt is that you get an ongoing character to carry the action, plus the stories don't begin and end with bad puns.

For the most part, each story is around 12 pages, just enough to set up the plot and let the Spectre exercise judgment. The writing is tight, and the art... oh, the art! Beautiful work from Aparo: fine-line realism (just a hint of Neal Adams), which got my attention even as a kid and simply amazes me now. The book collects stories from Adventure Comics #431-440 and issue #4 of the `80s reprint series Wrath of the Spectre (the WotS series reprinted these shorter tales and added a then-recently completed story by Fleisher and Aparo that looks just as good as the earlier work). THE WRATH OF THE SPECTRE tpb is a well-deserved reprint of quality material.