CBR's Comic Book Iron Men Countdown

[CBR News]

With this week's "Invincible" marking the second Robert Kirkman series to reach 100 issues, CBR took the time to spotlight the other North American comic creators to reach and surpass the century mark on a single title.


Full article here.

[Harlock999]

This was fantastic.

I absolutely love heavily-researched articles like this. Especially ones that showcase true creative achievements.

(Sorry, I just don't go in for the fluff pieces that basically say, "this book featuring snarky dialogue and homosexual couples is the future of comics!" or "this incredibly generic, yet mega-popular book from the mid-90s really influenced my childhood!" or "here's how I would change Star Trek!")

Anyway, great stuff with this one. Please keep it up!

[bluedevil2002]

Math seems a little off in some of these runs.

PAD on Hulk -- If you subtract the 330 pre-PAD issues from 467, you get 137. 5 annuals would make it 142, not 138.

Claremont on X-Men -- It's actually 202. 279-93 is 186. He did 11 of the first 14 annuals, and then the other 5 issues listed. (Annuals #1-2 were reprints, and he didn't write anything in Annual #13, so he should only be credited with Annuals #3-12, and 14.)

Basically, you don't just subtract the first issue from the last. You have to subtract the issue before the first from the last.

[coconutphone]

Wow fantastic read. Fascinating seeing names repeat over and over too.

[Garth Rockett]

Math seems a little off in some of these runs.

PAD on Hulk -- If you subtract the 330 pre-PAD issues from 467, you get 137. 5 annuals would make it 142, not 138.

There were a few issues in that run that weren't written by PAD (360 springs immediately to mind), so that's why you can't just subtract the final issue number from the one before the run. Never really read X-Men, but Claremont might have missed an issue here or there.

Under the rules of the article, shouldn't Thomas' first Conan run also be credited with the first 60 issues of Savage Sword of Conan, as well as the first 8 issues of King Conan?

His second run would also exceed 100 issues under the above rules, encompassing Conan the Barbarian 240-275, Conan the Adventurer 1-14, Savage Sword of Conan 190-235, Conan the Savage 1-6, Conan the Rogue and Conan: Ravagers Out of Time.

While Kirby's run on FF ended with 102, Lee stayed on for another year without missing an issue; that should be added to his total.

[nickmarino]

Wow. An impressive and inspiring list. Awesome work, Brian!!!

[bluedevil2002]

There were a few issues in that run that weren't written by PAD (360 springs immediately to mind), so that's why you can't just subtract the final issue number from the one before the run. Never really read X-Men, but Claremont might have missed an issue here or there.

I thought there might be some fill ins, which is why I didn't go too far in.

But I have the entire Claremont run. He didn't miss an issue, other than that one annual. And then I saw other runs with only select annuals listed.

Likewise, unless Gerhard missed one issue of Cerebus after he started, it should be 236 issues, not 235.

[Kenozoic]

SO glad that Dick Dillin was mentioned. He was the JLA guy when I was a kid, and one of the biggest influences on my style of drawing.

[astrakhan]

So glad to see Larry Hama get his due for GI Joe. I just started getting into GIJ recently--I picked up Classics Vol. 1-3 over the last month and it's truly amazing. On top of the comics themselves, he also did most of the original file cards, an unprecedented toyline/story link.

[usagigoya]

203 ISSUES AND COUNTING

Stan Sakai on "Usagi Yojimbo" ("Usagi Yojimbo" #1-38, "Space Usagi" #1-3, "Usagi Yojimbo Color Special" #1-2, "Usagi Yojimbo" #1-16, "Usagi Yojimbo" #1-current (#144))

FANTAGRAPHICS
Usagi Yojimbo Summer Special #1
Usagi Yojimbo (volume 1) #1 - #38
Usagi Yojimbo Color Special (volume 1) #1 - #3
42

MIRAGE
Usagi Yojimbo (volume 2) #1 - #16
Space Usagi (volume 1) #1 - #3
Space Usagi (volume 2) #1 - #3
22

DARK HORSE
Usagi Yojimbo (volume 3) #1 - 144
Usagi Yojimbo Color Special (volume 2) #4
Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai (OGN)
Space Usagi (volume 3) #1 - #3
149

total = 213

[Brian Cronin]

With Usagi, we're just going by Sakai's own count. He had #141 as the 200th issue of Usagi, so I just added the three issues that came after for 203. It really doesn't matter which issues you use to get to 203. Space Usagi, for instance, likely does not count.

-Brian

[Lee H]

What about Cary Bates on The Flash?

[The Moish]

PAD on Hulk -- If you subtract the 330 pre-PAD issues from 467, you get 137. 5 annuals would make it 142, not 138.

Close, but not quite. #360 (Bob Harris) and #389 (Tom Field) were fill-ins, but David also wrote #-1 making it 141 issues.

However, if anyone (like me) really wants to be technical about it, David also wrote Hulk: Future Imperfect #1-2, Incredible Hulk vs. Venom #1, Prime vs. the Incredible Hulk #0 (co-written w/ Gerard Jones & Len Strazewski), Savage Hulk #1 (lead story), Incredible Hulk: Hercules Unleashed #1 and Hulk/Pitt concurrent with his run on the main title, which would make it grand total of 148 issues.

[Andy E. Nystrom]

Great article. One nitpick though: if annuals count for other titles, they should also count for Lee on Amazing Spider-Man.

[Andy E. Nystrom]

I just noticed an interesting borderline case: Bob Haney on The Brave and the Bold. Despite a few missing issues here in there, there's enough of a run to count as him being the main writer for over 100 issues. The tricky part is his run begins prior to the Batman team-ups, so it's technically the same title, but there's less than 100 issues if you only count the team-ups as the series.