In defence of the 90s DC

[MajorHoy]

I stopped buying comics about 1997 for about ten years because I didn't like the way things were going, and with the increases in comic book prices (then I was paying 4,25$ cdn a book) and I found most of the art of the era (and the writing) a little lacking. I always kept up with Superman (what was going on) but not much other than that. Maybe because my favourite era is still late Silver Age/Bronze Age I am a little jaded. But I did enjoy some of the hype of the early 90's with the Death and Rebirth and the breaking of the Bat.

I took a "break" in 1995 (a little after Zero Hour) that lasted pretty much for fifteen years, with occassional "visits" along the way with some favorites, but usually for not more than a few months worth.

My problem was nothing seemed truly exciting and fresh . . . more and more it seemed like a lot of "been there, done that" at least two or three times before.

[Parch]

Ironically, the late 90s to early 2000s period, while being much higher in quality, holds the mark for being the lowest era in sales in comics history.

The reprecussions of the early 90's.
There really is a significant difference between the early 90's and the late 90's.

[Ghostbuster]

All take the 90s over the crap we are getting from DC now

[destro]

The Kyle Rayner run? It's really boring IMO. They try so hard to make Kyle an "everyman" like Peter Parker that he's basically a 90s cliche.

Agreed. He was Peter Parker with a ring.

[davidn15]

The Kyle Rayner run? It's really boring IMO. They try so hard to make Kyle an "everyman" like Peter Parker that he's basically a 90s cliche.

Darn, that's unfortunate.

[Free-Man]

Darn, that's unfortunate.

He's handled very well in MOrrison's JLA though.

[protonik]

Didn't Rob Liefeld become big in the 1990's?

late 80s actually. Same with the rest of them. It's associated with the 90s because that was when it exploded

[protonik]

The majority of the problems with the 90's seems to come from IMAGE, with things like BloodStrike, YoungBlood, Bloodpool, BloodYoung, StrikeBlood etc etc.

But yeah.. Marvel tried to get on the Liefield/Lee bus (too late) too with Heroes Reborn... disaster.. hopefully Lee/Liefield dont drive the DC bus into the wall this time around.

If you call those titles selling better than they had in years, by a large margin a disaster sure. They were brought back in house because of the banruptcy and not hitting contract specified sales levels that were not achievable in that market but not because of poor sales. Were they creatively successful? depends on the reader but the books were far & away not a disaster sales wise.

[protonik]

People like to forget that sales for Fantastic Four and Iron Man rose significantly under Jim Lee. Avengers and Captain America didn't do as well but still outsold previous series. Then there was the politics involved with the contract re-negotiations mid-arc. Liefeld walked but Jim Lee stayed on. Those final issues sold very well for Marvel still.
What's in question is if Heroes Reborn would have continued on or if it was always gonna be just 12-13 issues. I think that Marvel will never farm out their main titles ever again. This could have been a desperate attempt to stop sagging sales.

Marvel Knights was a farming out of the characters with more restrictions on what could be done based on the failures creatively of the Heroes Reborn runs. Marvel Knights was Event Comics and a separate entity.

[protonik]

The problem with the 90s wasn't that the overall quality was bad. It's that things like Death of Superman and the crap Image was putting out that caused the speculator's bubble to blow up. Once that bubble popped, the industry declined into where it is now.

The quality was never the issues. Those people weren't reading the comics they were buying. They were trying to make a fast buck and when that didn't happen they dumped the industry. They thought they were buying something scarce and when their copy of X-men no. 1 was being bought for a quarter they packed their bags & left.

[FIFTY-TWO (52)]

I keep hearing the word "90s" thrown around like an insult. Since that is when I started reading comic books, I have a fond nostalgia for that era, and want to defend it. So this thread is dedicated to all the wonderful things to come out of DC in the 90s.

Kyle Rayner
The modern age Superboy
Impulse
Young Justice
Kingdom Come
Starman
Mark Waid's Flash
The Death and Return of Superman

Metal Woman

Thank you. I could never understand the whole 90's accusation, especially at DC, considering some really great stuff came out of it, including Morrison's JLA and the Goyer/Robinson/Johns JSA.
And Kingdom Come was a commentary on the 90's fad that could be found at Marvel and Image.

[Mr. Holmes]

Darn, that's unfortunate.

Yeah I started reading comics at this time, and even then, I ended up looking back to Hal Jordan and preferring him by far. Literally every issue will have him do the most cliche things - sitting in coffee shop, whining about his girl problems, etc.

[Nomads1]

I thought DC did quite Okay in the 90's, creatively, that is. Marvel was the one that took the Image bus of crap.

Peace

[refrax5]

Yeah I started reading comics at this time, and even then, I ended up looking back to Hal Jordan and preferring him by far. Literally every issue will have him do the most cliche things - sitting in coffee shop, whining about his girl problems, etc.

Agreed. So much. Don't get me wrong, I like Kyle okay, but when people act as if he's such a great character and so much more interesting than Hal or John, I'm always a little baffled. Kyle was a total 90's stereotype. He was likable and there were some cool stories, but there was a lot of eye rolling stuff too.

[JaHawk2009]

Knightfall, No Man's Land & Dini/Timm collaborations.