Favourite Marvel Decade?

[Crimson]

Try not to go for the 60's for the creation of all the main characters alone... otherwise the 60's will win by default.

For me it would be the 80's.

Spider-Man had the amazing Roger Stern run followed by a great run by Tom DeFalco. We had Hobgoblin, Rose, Gang Wars, Juggernaut, The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man, the Black Costume... if you ask me the best time to be a Spider-Man fan. Only Stan Lee's run comes close.

Uncanny X-Men was well into Chris Claremont's legendary run, including some of his better albiet not as famous stories. You had all the spin offs like New X-Men, X-Factor and Exiles. The height of the X-Men's creativity if you ask me, even though I'm a big fan it's never achieved this since. The Australian years were great.

Haven't read much of the Avengers from that time but we got West Coast Avengers so yeah.

I loved the 1980's. How about you?

[Albert]

My problem is that I want to say late 70s/early 80s. But I went with the 70s, beacuse it seemed there were solid creative runs on all major titles then. You also get little gems like Tomb of Dracula, Master of Kung Fu, Man-Thing, Killraven, Howard the Duck, Omega the Unknown, Eternals, Inhumans, Ghost Rider.. plus some awesome Marvel team Ups and Two-in-Ones.

But alot of great stuff came out in 80 - 86, like Byrne's FF and Micronauts. So I chose the 70s over the 80s for one real reason, and that's Kirby.

[Righty]

The 70s: Spiderman was amazing, especially runs on both sides of the Goblin's last stand, which included showdowns with the Hulk and Luke Cage (Punisher debuted, too, but I've never gotten into that character). Hero for Hire was exploitative but cool, exposing young readers to new comic book settings, plots and characters. The alltime title in that department, which veered extremely away from the world of costumed modern heroes, and in the very least tied established books for popularity at the time, was Conan the Barbarian.

Monster books also broke new ground -- I was such a fan of their movies and genre that I subscribed to Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf By Night and Monster of Frankenstein (the biggest horror was when I discovered Marvel folded them in half vertically for mailing purposes!). Man-Thing was just as good, if not better than the legacies. Fantastic Four was my alltime favorite, and I really liked Thomas' new directions in the 120s-130s. Avengers in the early-100s were also great reads, but the most excitement came with the first big crossover event in the summer of 73: Avengers vs. Defenders. The latter was another cool new title, and I kept tallies of each battle to see which team ultimately won the war. Based on acquiring parts of the Evil Eye, the winner was clear: The Defenders.

The middle part of the decade took a bit of a dive in quality and creativity (except for Howard the Duck), until the New X-Men, which quickly caught up to the old reliables, even during the Cockrum days. Other artists that stamped the Marvel 70s were the Buscemas, Colan, Barry Smith, Ploog and Jim Starlin, whose Captain Marvel/Thanos arcs were classic. Kirby left and came back, but was not a factor. Writers leaving their mark included Thomas #1, Gerber, Englehart, Conway, Wolfman, Claremont. Sorry if I overlooked anyone from memory. Thanks for letting me wax nostalgic...

[Majinlex]

I went with the 00's. There were some great stories in the 80's and even in the 90's but for me, I've never been more excited reading comics than I've been in the last few years.

[Valen]

I started reading in the 80s, and the 90s were my boom time. Looking back though, I think I am enjoying the books more now then I ever have before. I can't remember anticipating issues at any time int he 80s or 90s. Now, there is something I look forward to every week. Of course, it could be that I am just getting older and my tastes are changing.

[Crimson]

I started reading in the 80s, and the 90s were my boom time. Looking back though, I think I am enjoying the books more now then I ever have before. I can't remember anticipating issues at any time int he 80s or 90s. Now, there is something I look forward to every week. Of course, it could be that I am just getting older and my tastes are changing.

I'd imagine the internet plays a part in that too.

I mean up until the mid 90's before the net really caught on all you had to go on was a little 30 word blurb advertising the next issue. Besides cons and some fanzines you had very little information about what was coming up.

Now the minimium ammount of time we have before we start to get hit by hype is 3 months. With big events we get about 6 months of hype and we don't have to leave our rooms for them to get to us.

[w00tmaster93]

I went with 2000's. Never before have comics been so epic and creative as they are now. I mean most titles are more interesting and compelling than TV shows now.

[Shellhead]

Marvel in the 70s was amazing. Stan Lee created some interesting characters, places and concepts in the 60s, but his characters didn't have much depth except in comparison with DC's bland icons and virtually everything from the Golden Age. Marvel

In the 70s, bold new writers like Jim Starlin and Steve Gerber built upon Stan's foundation, with explosive creativity and stronger characterization. Genres like kung fu, science-fiction and horror were not only explored, but added on to the mainstream Marvel Universe, creating a complex and fascinating setting for adventures. The X-Men went from a group of bland white school kids to an incredibly diverse team of young adults. The Defenders explored the boundaries of the team book concept. Female characters got their own titles, as did minority characters. Writers like Don McGregor and Doug Moench challenged the readers with mature characters and stories, without resorting to nudity or gore.

By the end of the 70s, the party was over. EIC Gerry Conway drove off some of the talent in 1976, then Jim Shooter alienated nearly everybody else with his heavy-handed edicts in the early 80s. Tom DeFalco presided over an era of sheer mediocrity from '87-'94, and then nobody was in charge by the mid-90s, as Marvel trashed its own product line and filed for bankruptcy. I don't like much of what Bob Harras and Joe Quesada did after that time, but I admit that they brought the company back to life and increased sales. They aren't selling to me, but they are definitely making some money.

[The Shadow]

I went with the 00's. There were some great stories in the 80's and even in the 90's but for me, I've never been more excited reading comics than I've been in the last few years.

Same here.

Though the 80's were a VERY close second.

The Hobgoblin stuff in Spider-Man was simply amazing... the Byrne FF, Simonson's Thor, Claremont/Byrne's X-Men all made it a tough choice.

[Brett P]

Riiiiight now! The MU is so intense these days!

Of course, I only started reading in 2000...:p

[Billage]

Unlike DC,Marvel is moving their characters forward and taking lots of chances.

Sure I may not pick up all the new books,but I am very satisfied with books like Initiative,Cap,DD,Iron Fist,Hulk and War Journal.

The Order is looking great too.

[DannyV_El_Acme]

I'd have to go with the VERY beginning of the 90s. This was the time when comics were starting to go darker, but were not the depressing wrecks they were later in the decade. Marvel had some EXCELLENT people working for them at this time(the Image founders, Claremont, Texeira, Mackie, and many more). It was also the time when my favorite all-time Marvel character made his first appearance: the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider.

[mac48hoser]

2000's have to be my favorite Marvel Decade. I almost said the 80's as that is when I started reading comics and read the Secret Wars and Spidey getting his black costume but now I am in my 30's and the old stories don't hold up like they used too. I think the new comics are written to a more mature audience than the old comics were and Marvel is also pulling writers from outside of the comic world with JMS, Joss Whedon, Orson Scott Card and they still have some of the best writers from in the comic world as well and the art just gets better and better overall.

[Mikl C]

HAHA!
90s!
And mi amigo who also likes them shall sip energy building steroids to the XTREME.

[Ult. Fireboy]

The current decade has my favorite stories in Marvel.

[Jonathan]

Marvel in the 70s was amazing. Stan Lee created some interesting characters, places and concepts in the 60s, but his characters didn't have much depth except in comparison with DC's bland icons and virtually everything from the Golden Age. Marvel

In the 70s, bold new writers like Jim Starlin and Steve Gerber built upon Stan's foundation, with explosive creativity and stronger characterization. Genres like kung fu, science-fiction and horror were not only explored, but added on to the mainstream Marvel Universe, creating a complex and fascinating setting for adventures. The X-Men went from a group of bland white school kids to an incredibly diverse team of young adults. The Defenders explored the boundaries of the team book concept. Female characters got their own titles, as did minority characters. Writers like Don McGregor and Doug Moench challenged the readers with mature characters and stories, without resorting to nudity or gore.

By the end of the 70s, the party was over. EIC Gerry Conway drove off some of the talent in 1976, then Jim Shooter alienated nearly everybody else with his heavy-handed edicts in the early 80s. Tom DeFalco presided over an era of sheer mediocrity from '87-'94, and then nobody was in charge by the mid-90s, as Marvel trashed its own product line and filed for bankruptcy. I don't like much of what Bob Harras and Joe Quesada did after that time, but I admit that they brought the company back to life and increased sales. They aren't selling to me, but they are definitely making some money.

This pretty much perfectly sums up my standing on this topic, and says it much, much better than I can. :p

[paulski]

Try not to go for the 60's for the creation of all the main characters alone... otherwise the 60's will win by default.

For me it would be the 80's.

Spider-Man had the amazing Roger Stern run followed by a great run by Tom DeFalco. We had Hobgoblin, Rose, Gang Wars, Juggernaut, The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man, the Black Costume... if you ask me the best time to be a Spider-Man fan. Only Stan Lee's run comes close.

What Crimson said. Easily the 80's - nothing else has come close for me, especially at the moment.

[Steven F.]

I was the other 90's voter! That's right....I admit it. I love the 90's!

[Dorsai]

I think that Stan Lee poured a great foundation for Marvel and the comic industry in genral which leads to the present day. The styles, techniques, and printing quality make the art absolutely astonishing in many cases. The plethora of great writers from Vaugh to Kirkman to JMS etc. have made the jewels that have hit the shelf really sparkle.

There may be quite a bit that doesn't quite sit right with me but overall, I think now is the best time to be in comics.

[Mikl C]

I was the other 90's voter! That's right....I admit it. I love the 90's!

*high fives*
Let's strap on some pouches and muscles and go shoot things with over sized guns dude!

[BeastieRunner]

1970s for me. The 1980's is a close second and the 2000's are beginning to rocket up there with all this cool cosmic stuff.

[Citizen V]

As for me,i voted for the 1980`s.

[DaeJi]

Tough choice... I'm going with the 70's, followed by the 80's/00's and then 60's.

[reddog]

I started reading in 84 when i inherited several hundred 70's books and was hooked from then on. 80's were awesome and so were the early 90's. The late 90's with the whole image hysteria(God will rob liefeld ever draw ankles right) and that whole bankruptsy thing at marvel really sucked. I better not forget that horse#$% onslaught storyline. 2000's got me back in again though i'm currently more discouraged and yet the most involved then i have been in a long time. My pick is the 70's just because they were so much fun.

[rilokyle]

Generation X was my first comic book, so the 90s have nice memories for me.

However, a lot of my favorite stories come from Uncanny X-Men in the 80s, so I voted for that.

I will always love the 60s though- Polaris and Havok are born!

[UniqueFrequency]

I was the other 90's voter! That's right....I admit it. I love the 90's!

i voted for the 90's too! maybe 'cause i was born in 1984 so by the time i got into comics it WAS the 90's. i loved AOA, O:ZT, Onslaught and most of the 90's. i don't mind 2000s, but for me it has yet to capture that. everything is 'hype' nowadays.

[Hombre]

The Hobgoblin stuff in Spider-Man was simply amazing... the Byrne FF, Simonson's Thor, Claremont/Byrne's X-Men all made it a tough choice.

I could also add Miller, O'Neil and Nocenti's Daredevil and the X-Men universe as a whole - Wolverine, X-Factor etc. - which, as others note from time to time, really flourished under folks like Claremont and Louise Simonson throughout the eighties.

Truth to tell, I continued to find something challenging and entertaining even long after that. In my case, the last really great story I have read was Priest's "Big Trouble in Little Mogadishu", which ended in late 2003.

But my favorite decade, the one in which everyone looked just right, and the stories had, for me, a special allure and a fine balance between irresistible fun, peaks of great emotional impact, storytelling complexity, and a strong moral center, was the 1970s.

Certain authors have a particular centrality, encompassing the spirit of the period as I see it, someone like Gerry Conway is probably the best example of that, but a great many of the folks at Marvel in the 1970s wrote or helped to write great little stories and sprawling arcs at times poignant, at times funny, often both.

To name only a few of them, they were: Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, Archie Goodwin, Gerry Conway, Steve Englehart, Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Don McGregor, Steve Gerber, Don Glut, Bill Mantlo, Marv Wolfman, David Kraft, Jim Shooter, Chris Claremont...

[Dagger]

Ooh this is sooo hard for me! I love the '90's to death! I love Lobdell's X-Men and Generation X stuff, and Niciezia's X-Men and X-Force stuff, Loeb's X-Force stuff, Ellis's Thor, Harras's Avengers, Kelly and Seagle's X-Men stuff, Seagle's Alpha Flight, Lobdell's 3 issue Fantastic Four stint, Waid's Captain America, the Kuberts were kings back then! But I also love stuff from the 80's. I loved Simonson's Thor, Byrne's Fantastic Four, The New Mutants, Power Pack, Power Man and Iron Fist, Stern's Avengers, Cloak and Dagger(my favorite), the New Defenders, Nocenti on Daredevil(my favorite DD), Dazzler(yes, I own this series, and it's not that bad, especially towards the end), Stern's Amazing Spidey, DeFalco's Amazing(I actually enjoyed his first run with Ron Frenz). I really enjoyed Kitty Pryde and Wolverine much more than I did the original Wolverine mini surprisingly. This is such a hard choice!

[Steven F.]

i voted for the 90's too! maybe 'cause i was born in 1984 so by the time i got into comics it WAS the 90's. i loved AOA, O:ZT, Onslaught and most of the 90's. i don't mind 2000s, but for me it has yet to capture that. everything is 'hype' nowadays.

I totally agree with this entire post!

I was born in 78, but I didn't start reading until 92. I have read comics from all the decades listed here though, and nothing has that magic and excitment I felt while reading in the 90's.

[Nefarius]

80s for me.It was a great time for spidey fans,we had Miller's run at Daredevil,Claremont's run at X-men,Byrne's F4 etc.Also,i was start reading comics back then,so maybe i'll be a little bit biased.

[Expletive Deleted]

The golden age is twelve, basically.

[Shellhead]

As I mentioned earlier, I chose the 70s. Here are some great stories and runs from that time period:

Avengers: the Kree-Skrull War
Avengers/Defenders: The Avengers-Defenders War
Avengers: the Korvac Saga
Defenders: the Headmen
X-Men: the Neal Adams issues
X-Men: the Dark Phoenix Saga (most of it was published in the 70s)
Spider-man: the Death of Gwen Stacy
Daredevil: the start of the Frank Miller run
Shang-Chi: the legendary Moench/Gulacy run
Strange Tales/Warlock: Adam Warlock versus Magus and Thanos
Jungle Action: Panther's Rage
Marvel Two-in-One: the Project Pegasus Saga
Marvel Premiere/Dr. Strange: the Frank Brunner issues, especially the Silver Dagger storyline
Amazing Adventures: Killraven
Astonishing Tales: Deathlok, the beginning of cyberpunk
Captain America & the Falcon: especially the Secret Empire and Nomad issues
Conan: legendary artwork by Barry Smith for most of the first two years of this series.
Fantastic Four: the Wolfman/Perez issues are pretty good, almost as good as their excellent work on DC's New Teen Titans.
Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle

[Norrin Radd]

The 80s.

Nothing compares with the 80s.

Why? Because just about every major title either had their greatest or second greatest runs in that decade (arguably I admit). You can't even say the same for the 60s.

Avengers: Roger Stern and co.
Iron Man: Michelinie/Layton
DD: Frank Miller and co.
Spider-Man: Roger Stern or Michelinie (take your pick) and co.
FF: John Byrne
Thor: Walter Simonson
X-Men: Chris Claremont and co.
Hulk: Peter David and co.
Captain America: Stern, Gruenwald, and Byrne

Then you have the formation of X-Factor and The New Mutants.

You have Larry Hama on GI-Joe.

I know I'm missing some.

[mac48hoser]

You all are making me want to go pick up some "Insert Hero Name Here: Essentials" trades to check out some of the old stories.

Not to hijack the tread, but any recommendations? Only for major titles please.

[Dagger]

Ooh, I forgot about the Moench and Sienkewicz Moon Knight. Arguably the best run in Marvel during the 80's.

[Reptisaurus!]

Not the nineties. I could argue any of the other three, though. The sixties had my absolute favorite runs, the seventies had the deepest and most personal writing in superhero comics (at least 'till Vertigo), the eighties had this insane variety with Epic and Star. And the aughts... too soon to judge.

[Crimson]

You all are making me want to go pick up some "Insert Hero Name Here: Essentials" trades to check out some of the old stories.

Not to hijack the tread, but any recommendations? Only for major titles please.

I'm not sure if many of the Essentials are up to the 80's.

From the 60's though I'd recommend the first bunch of Amazing Spider-Man Essentials by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko and John Romita.

And the 70's the Uncanny X-Men run by Chris Claremont... these might go pretty far into his run and it's well worth it.

[The Confessor]

Well, I couldn't really vote because you're only allowed to select one decade and I enjoy Marvel comics from every decade, especially 60's, 70's and 00's comics.

Marvel have been pretty consistantly good over the years I think, with perhaps with only a slight lowering of standards in the 90's. But then, even that decade produced wonders like Kurt Busiek's 'Marvels'.

[drwho]

Highlights

1. The Australian X-Men, First Mr. Sinister, Inferno, Mutant MAssacre, Sabretooth as a major baddie

2. Acts of Vengeance, Annuals that had stories that crossed over. I miss those.

3. She Hulk joins the FF, Pineapple Thing, An FF without Reed and Sue, Ben turns human for a whole lot of issues.\

I seemed to have posted this in error. IT was supposed to go in the favourite decade thread. Please merge or delete.

[jackolover]

Highlights

1. The Australian X-Men, First Mr. Sinister, Inferno, Mutant MAssacre, Sabretooth as a major baddie

2. Acts of Vengeance, Annuals that had stories that crossed over. I miss those.

3. She Hulk joins the FF, Pineapple Thing, An FF without Reed and Sue, Ben turns human for a whole lot of issues.\

I seemed to have posted this in error. IT was supposed to go in the favourite decade thread. Please merge or delete.

I missed the 80's.

I came in on the 90's,( after a long lay off), and my fav was the Clone Saga in that era. Everything else was crap.

My fav era is the naughtys, because of Ultimate, and CW, and now WWH and the coming Skrull thing.

Before that, I have to go for the golden age of Marvel in the 60's.

[Fatguy]

I voted the 90's, if only because I hate how nobody remembers anything but negatives from that era.

Poor, poor 90's.

[Babylon23]

While the 70's almost wins out just for sheer creativity (and for Tomb of Dracula), my favourite decade is definitely the 80's. The highlights:

Miller/Nocenti on DD
Stern and Buscema on Avengers
Byrne Fantastic Four
Stern/Byrne and Dematteis/Zeck on Captain America
Michelinie/Layton on Iron Man. Twice.
Moench/Sienziewicz on Moon Knight
Claremont on X-Men/New Mutants with his all-star artistic lineups - Byrne, Cockrum, Smith, JRJR, Macleod, Sienziewicz, Art Adams, Alan Davis etc.
Simonson on Thor
Stern/JRJR on Spider-Man
Louise and Walt Simonson on X-Factor
Dematteis/Zeck on Kraven's Last Hunt
PAD on the Death of Jean Dewolffe
Byrne on Alpha Flight
Bryne on Hulk
The Micronauts (although it started in the 70's, the bulk of the series was published in the 80's)

My least favourite period is the 90's, followed very closely by 'right now'.